Through the Looking Glass
by The Celestial Sky Dragon
Summary: Blake is a young man from the real world, who was minding his own business, when a glowing mirror attracted his attention. Now, he finds himself stuck in a world of famous Fairytales, with no quick way to get home. How will this young man cope with his new life? And how will he be able to handle the Royals and Rebels? Will he ever make it home? Or is He stuck there Forever After?
1. Welcome to Ever After High

**A/N:**

 **Hello everyone, my it has been a long time, for people who read my fics at least. I would like to apologize for the lack of posting. You see, my cousin thought it would be funny to pour soda on my computer, completely killing it, so now I am out of a computer which means it's gonna be much harder for me to do what I do. I've been typing on my Ipod with an Apple Keyboard I borrowed from a friend, and trust me, it's a pain in my ass when I have to look at a tiny fuckin screen for hours on end trying to write a chapter to anything. In fact, I recently got into this awesome series called Ever After High, of course this chapter is going to be the first chapter in my rendition of this series.**

 **So, as I was finishing up Aloha Alola's 20th chapter, I was starting Chapter 1 of my Ever After High story, when this travesty was granted to me from the hellfire down below. So, in order to fix my computer, it's gonna take more than three hundred, might as well just buy a new goddamn set up at that point. So until then, expect slow updates...**

 **For this story, I ended up rewriting it eleven fucking times. First, I wanted to do a continuation of the series, since for some goddamn reason, all of the good series keep getting canceled for some goddamn reason or another. But that failed, I decided to write a story, where the son of the Knave of Hearts, was fighting to free Wonderland from its curse, that was a fail, I wrote one where Raven was trapped in the real world and needed to get back to Ever After before her mother destroyed the world, failed, wrote a story about the son of James Hook, and his life from Legacy Day though everything else in the series, fail, and finally I have written this story, which I hope you all enjoy.**

 **I have decided, in order to stop myself from restarting, I am posting Chapter one of this story, and I am not taking it down, changing it or anything of the story. I have gone through several revisions and have edited it to the best of my ability, but I am only human. I am continuing with this story, and it may seem a little cliche, but honestly, I don't give a shit, I'm doing this for myself, first and formost, so I do hope that you all enjoy this story, for however long it is. One thing that annoyed me was how Ever After High has short episodes, but it is a web series so it's understandible. So if it seems cliche, over the top or anything else, well I apologize.**

 **I don't know what the title of this story even means, it sounded cool to me, due to how the main character gets to Ever After in the first place, also it's a good reference to Alice: Through the Looking Glass, and What Alice Found There, an excellent book that I have yet to read, because the American School System priorities bullshit over good literature every day of the week.**

 **So, I do hope you all enjoy this story, leave a like, and a review if you enjoy it...shout out to my friend Mike who will read this later on, I fuckin miss you bro, get your ass back to New Hampshire soon so we could party and shit...have a nice day...**

Ever After High

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 1

Welcome to Ever After High

It was rather early in the morning for Blake, he hadn't recovered from the summer months and was now suffering for it in school. Once he had gotten used to staying up late with his friends, and playing video games, it was hard to return his internal clock to normal. So he suffered the consequences of it in school when he tried to stay up in class. That usually get him yelled at by his teachers and got him some very poor grades too. Even though it had been his second week, he still hadn't gotten used to his new schedule. He stretched his limbs as he got out of bed, gathering his clothes for the day before ducking into the bathroom for an early morning shower. He wasn't going to let his sister get into the bathroom first because if she did, he would never be able to get out in time.

He was a sixteen year old young man, of rather average height. He often times spent his days inside playing video games, but he did love skateboarding and parkour so he did get out of the house. His friends almost always forced him to leave his house, shortening his time playing video games and wasting time inside. He had fair colored skin, from the time he spent out in the sun, and bright green eyes, his black hair covering them slightly.

Once he was done showering, he got dressed in his favorite outfit. A black tee shirt with a fat brown cat on it, known on the internet as Pusheen. It was holding up a white sign with a heart emoji on it, a cute smile on his face. He donned a pair of skinny jeans, which were bright green in color. He put on his neon green Osiris shoes, which had bright pink laces on them. Around his waist was a black and orange seat belt with a Charizard on it, as it was his favorite Pokemon. Finally, he put on a green varsity jacket with long white sleeves and stripped green cuffs.

Once he had brushed his hair, making sure it was nice and neat, he grabbed his backpack, which had his laptop and text books, his knee pad and elbow pads and finally his skateboard which he used to get to school. It was a much better option than taking the bus or asking his mother to give him a ride to school. She didn't have to work until nine so she loved getting an extra hour of sleep in the morning. He brushed past his older sister Mary as she made her way into the bathroom, her phone stuck to her ear as normal.

"Hey sis, I'm heading off...see you at school." he said.

"Yeah sure, so anyway Morgan, I saw this cute top and I just had to buy it, I'm gonna wear it to school, you'll totally love it."

He rolled his eyes as he walked into the kitchen, grabbing his keys, a muffin and a bottle of water before heading out the door. The sun was steadily rising, and it was slightly cool this morning. The early risers we're already making their morning commutes, and some kids were waiting at street corners for their school buses to pick them up. He missed that part of his life, but now that he was a Sophomore in Highschool, he didn't have time to waste waiting for a bus. Sure he could have taken one, but that took out the excitement in skating to school, especially because most of the streets were empty in the early morning.

He had made his own personal map of which streets to take, having already skated them before during the summer. They usually had no cars so he didn't have to worry about being hit or anything of the sort. He usually met up with his friends along the way, but this time he wanted to skate alone. So once he had put on his pads and helmet, he took off to school, munching on his muffin as he went along.

" _I wonder what Mr. Behem will assign for us today. I shouldn't have skipped so many classes last year, I wouldn't have to take that class again with all of those Freshies."_ he thought to himself.

Blake wasn't a model student, far from it in fact. He had spent most of his Freshman year skipping class with his friends and looking for good spots to skate. It had a negative impact in his academics, and he spent most of his second semester playing catch up. He had failed two classes which he was currently making up. His principle had been nice enough to pass him to the tenth grade, but he was still technically in the ninth until he could make the credits up.

He remembered the words his father said to him when he had started the new school year. The man was often gone for business and barely saw his children and wife, so he told him, that if he raised his grades up and behaved himself in school, that by the time he came back from his most recent trip, they would be spending an entire week in Hawaii as a family. His sister Mary had been ecstatic at the mention of the tropical island. So he had decided to work hard so he could get his grades up.

He turned into another street, passing by some local shops. He glanced at his reflection as he passed, smirking at himself. He came to a stop at the red light, kicking up his board. It was a busy intersection so he decided to walk across the street. He caught something in the corner of his eye, and glanced over his shoulder, seeing a large floor length mirror resting against the side of the nearby building. The shop it was outside of was a clothing store so he figured the owners changed the mirrors and got rid of the old one.

He figured the sun had reflected into his eye, causing the flash he had seen. However he saw something red go across it, making him go wide eyed. He started walking over to the mirror, surprised no one else had taken notice of this odd mirror. He stood in front of it, looking at his reflection upon the glass. He noticed something swirling on it, or rather inside it. He narrowed his eyes a bit, rasping his knuckles on the glass.

" _I think I'm seeing shit."_ he thought to himself. He shrugged and turned around, about to walk off when he heard a voice, coming from the mirror. He turned around, facing it again only to see a shadow.

" _Come closer."_ the voice said, causing the boy to approach the mirror. He pressed his hand against it, a dark light started flowing out of the glass, almost trying to pull him in. He kept trying to pull his arm free, but was rapidly failing as more of his arm sunk into the glass. He pressed his other hand against the glass, pushing himself back, only to find himself sinking further in.

"What the hell? Hey, someone help me!" he cried, trying to pull himself free. With one final tug, the boy was pulled into the mirror...which returned to normal. No one saw the black haired boy disappear into it.

 _ **xxx**_

Blake groaned a bit as he stirred awake. He could faintly hear voices, though they sounded quite far away for some reason or another. His eyes opened, his vision being blurred. He looked up, seeing two figures standing in front of him, waving something in front of him. As his vision cleared, he noticed that the two figures were in fact two teenage girls. He clutched the side of his head, gritting his teeth in pain.

"Hey...are you alright? Does your head hurt?" the blonde girl asked, causing the boy to look at her.

Her long blonde hair fell down gracefully as it always did, having a bit of a curl at the ends. Her skin was pale white in color, glowing brightly in the sunlight. She wore a beautiful dress, with puffed white sleeves and a crimson bodice, the skirt had various white designs on it, with either gold or white thread, a large crimson apple had been stitched onto the side of it. She wore silver gray fish net stockings, with red heels that had golden bows on them. Atop her head she wore a crimson bow, with a small glittering crown on it.

In contrast, the other girl was drastically opposite. Her dark hair was kept down, and she wore a violet tiara on her head, with small violet gems placed on it. She was wearing a dark violet dress, with white sleeves, the bodice was black in color with violet designs on it, the skirt was long, reaching slightly past her knees, and had several layers, the top layer being a feathery black color. She wore silvery black stockings, with matching violet heels. She wore dark eye shadow and violet lip stick, with a bit of make up to make her cheeks look slightly paler than normal.

Blake's assessment told him quite a lot about the two girls. The blonde, was most likely the goody two shoes of the place he had landed in. And the second girl was a misunderstood goth girl. While it was odd that he had been in a place with two girls he had never met, he also thought he was still dreaming, so he shrugged off all traces of dizziness and gave the two girls a smile.

"Hello, how are ya?" he asked, in his most charming voice possible. He didn't often talk to girls this way, mostly because of his low self-esteem issues, but since it was a dream, he could do whatever he wanted.

"I could ask you the same question...you just sort of...flashed in here. Who are you?" the goth asked, eyes narrowed a bit. Blake forced himself to stand up, brushing his shirt clean of dirt and dust. He gave the two a smile.

"Ace Ventura, Pet Detective...I got a call from one of your neighbors showing some slight concern. It seems you've got a dying animal on the premises and I came to investigate animal abuse. So if you could lead me to the scene of the crime, that would be great." he said, giving them a grin. The two girls shared a look of confusion, not exactly knowing how to react.

"Um...Ace, we don't have a dying animal on the premises...who told you this?" the blonde asked, causing him to chuckle.

"I'm just messing with you...my real name is Blake...I figured since this was all an elusive dream, that I could stretch the truth a bit. The looks on your faces were quite interesting...but it seems duty calls...time for me to go fight a hydra." he said, walking toward the nearby window.

"Blake, you aren't dreaming." the goth girl said, causing him to stop.

"Yes I am. How else could you explain falling into a mirror, and then ending up in a place with two smoking hot girls?" he asked, throwing the window open.

"Falling into a mirror? What?" the blonde asked. The black haired girl walked briskly toward the window, blocking the teen from jumping out of it.

"What do you mean? What's this about falling into a mirror?"

"Well dream goth, I woke up rather early this morning, it was around six thirty am...I was skating my way to school as per protocol when I saw this strange looking mirror outside of a dress shop. When I walked over to it, I was pulled inside and zippity doo, I end up here! So the dream continues!" he said.

"I'm not sure if you know how dreams work, but if you fall asleep in a dream, you normally wake up in the real world. You woke up here a few minutes ago, so you are not in a dream." the blonde said.

"Oh yes I am, attractive teenager girl of which I'm never going to see again. I'll just jump out this window and wake up in my bed, so if you could step aside Dream Goth, I'm just gonna go for it." Blake said.

"Wait a minute, I got something...in dreams, you don't feel pain...so if you feel pain then you'll know this isn't a dream."

"You're right Apple, we can prove to you that this isn't a dream." the goth said, causing Blake to tilt his head.

"You aren't going to stab me right?"

The blonde girl slapped the boy across the face, stunning him a bit. It was so fast he barely had time to react to it. He reached up for his cheek, feeling it start to go numb from it. His eyes widened in shock, his hand shook a bit as he took a deep breath.

"Okay, not a dream...fuck you hit hard." he said, glancing at the now blushing blonde.

"I'm sorry, it was the only thing I could think of, you aren't hurt are you?" she asked. Blake turned his face to her, making her wince a bit, her hand was now printed on his cheek, causing the goth girl to cringe.

"You could have hit him lighter than that...that was full on bitch slap Apple. Anyway, we need to have a serious talk Blake, first off, my name is Raven Queen and this is my roommate Apple White."

"I...guess it's nice to meet you Raven, Apple...so what do you want to talk about?" he asked.

"Well for one, we need to know in detail what happened to you. There's a good chance you ran into the Evil Queen in that mirror." Apple replied. The boy found a nearby chair and sat down, running his fingers through his hair.

"Alright, here's how it went. I woke up earlier today and got ready for school like normal. I grabbed my skateboard, and started my route to school. As I was about to cross the street, I caught something out of the corner of my eye and walked to a nearby mirror. I saw something swirling inside and when I put my hand against the glass, I was sucked in." he said.

"Then what happened?" Apple asked curiously.

Blake hummed pensively, placing a finger on his chin as he looked around the room. There was a clear split in the bedroom, as he could tell who slept where, seeing as one half was dark and one half was light. He remained silent for another second, sighing in annoyance.

"I can't remember." he said.

"Huh? You can't remember?" Raven asked, earning a nod from the boy.

"I just fell into the mirror...oh, I did see what was inside it...it was this weird crystalline area, that was glowing slightly red. That's it, everything after that is blank." he said, a frown on his face.

"This is bad...there's a high chance he could have run into your mother Raven, if that's the case we don't know what she could have done to him." Apple said, earning a nod from the gothic themed girl.

"I know, but there isn't anything we could do. Blake, are you sure you don't remember anything else? Like maybe meeting someone in there?" she asked. Blake shook his head, glancing at the nearby table, seeing all of the text books stacked on top of it.

"Nope, I'm sure I would have remembered meeting someone inside there. Anyway, if I got here via mirror, I'm sure I can get back home that way...so I'll gather my things and be on my merry way...I don't want to take up too much of your time." Blake said, grabbing his backpack from the floor, slinging it over his shoulder.

"You can't do that Blake, it's dangerous walking through the Mirror Realm, besides we don't know what mirror will take you back home. There's a possibility that you can't even go back home." Apple said, causing the boy to stop.

"I won't be able to go back? No you cannot tell me that! I was finally starting to get my grades up in school, I was finally gonna get my vacation with my family that I've been dying for! You can't tell me that shit!" he snapped angrily.

"Maybe we should talk with Headmaster Grimm, see what he says about this whole thing." Raven said, earning a sigh and a nod from Apple.

"It's our best bet...it'll be alright Blake, just come with us and we'll get this whole mess sorted out. I'm sure Headmaster Grimm can get you back home safe and sound." she said happily, earning a nod from the boy. He couldn't do anything but follow them and trust their word. Whoever this Headmaster Grimm was, he just hoped he could help him get back home.

Blake was honestly amazed at his surroundings, it wasn't hard to figure out he had landed in some sort of school. It must have been a rather fancy boarding school, because the floors were made of marble and polished to a shine, and the walls were made out of stone. He remembered only seeing attributes like that among the rich and famous, and he didn't see anyone walking around with thick golden chains around their necks, so that narrowed it down. They did passed by what he assumed was the main hall, since the walls were lined with maroon colored lockers, and various people were hanging around, chatting among themselves. Most of them however stopped when they all looked at him. He glanced at the floor, swallowing the lump in his throat.

"Um...so...is this some sort of school?" he asked, though he already knew it had to be, due to the lockers they were passing by.

"That's right, this is a special school...you see the students that attend this school are all the children of famous Fairytale characters. Everyone here comes to learn everything they need to follow in their parents footsteps, and become the next main characters of their stories." Apple explained, causing him to tilt his head.

"Famous fairytales...you mean like Snow White?" he asked curiously.

"Mhmm, as it turns out, Apple here is Snow White's daughter, and the next Snow White." Raven said.

"Oh...then that means your a princess, I'm sorry for not being more respectful toward you." the boy said, earning a small embarrassed smile from the blonde girl.

"Don't worry about it, you didn't know this beforehand, besides I think we're friends now, and my friends just call me Apple." she said politely. Blake nodded, turning to Raven who had a frown on her face, most likely knowing what he was going to ask her.

"So, who's your mother? Or father?" he asked.

"My mother is the Evil Queen, the one who poisoned Apple's mother." she said, making him go wide eyed.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked that."

"It's fine, it's common knowledge here...there are a lot more people from our story here, like the son of the Huntsman, Hunter...you'll meet him at some point, maybe. The son of Prince Charming also goes here, in fact he has three kids." Raven said, earning a nod from the boy.

"Well, this school has indeed piqued my interest. Where I come from, all of those stories are just that, stories...I didn't think there was a world where it was all real." he said, causing Apple to stop. She looked the boy over, making him feel a bit nervous.

"Um...did I say something wrong?"

"Are you seriously from a world where we're all just fairytales?"

"Yes...Snow White, the Seven Dwarves, Sleeping Beauty, all of those are just stories...of course there are people who have written new stories revolving around those old tales. Hell, most of your stories have been turned into movies...you know what those are right?" he asked.

"Yeah, we have movies here too...I didn't think our stories were turned into them though...this is all rather interesting." Raven said, a pensive look on her face.

They continued their journey to the Headmaster's office, showing Blake some of the more interesting places in the school. They stopped briefly at the Charmitorium, a large two floor room where most of the performances were done. Blake found it rather dumb that they didn't call it an Auditorium, and was even more confused when the two girls asked him what the word even meant. They showed him the Muse-ic Room, and the nearby Cooking Class-ic room, where students came to learn about music and cooking relating to their stories. Finally, after seeing a few more rooms, they reached the headmaster's office on the fourth floor of the school.

A set of oak doors separated him from the headmaster of the school. He wasn't nervous, he was more worried that the man wouldn't be able to get him back home, in which case he would be screwed. He pushed all of those thoughts to the back of his head as Apple knocked three times on the large door, stepping back a few feet. Earning a muffled reply in return, the three teenagers made their way inside the office.

Blake took notice of everything, thanks to his mother, who was a Home Designer, he could see all of things that made this office more...homey. The carpets were a deep blue, which brightened the room quite a bit. There was a large seal in the middle of the floor, with the name of the school, Ever After High, written in bold black letters. There was a large tome in the center of the seal, along with what looked like a quill and a golden key. Around the walls, were various pictures, awards and accolades, all having been earned by the previous alumni. There were some trophies as well, but he didn't get to see what they were for.

Sitting behind the large oak desk was a rather firm looking man. He was dressed in a large blue coat, with golden thread around the lapels and cuffs. He wore underneath, a grayish blue vest with a light blue ascot and golden decorations on it. He had dark gray hair, white in some areas, along with a dark gray mustache. He had piercing green eyes, focused on him rather than the two girls he was accompanying. The three of them came to a stop before the man, his scrutinizing gaze unnerving Blake quite a bit.

"Miss Queen, Miss White, what a surprise to see the two of you here this early...who have you brought with you?" he asked curiously.

"Oh, um...my name is Blake Bigby sir, it's nice to meet you." he said firmly.

"Likewise, please tell me why you have brought this young man here? I haven't seen him before." the man said firmly, leaning back in his seat.

"Well Headmaster Grimm, me and Raven were getting ready for class when he appeared in our dorm room from one of our mirrors. We were both startled and worried so we decided to wait until he woke up." Apple explained, glancing over at Raven who continued the explanation.

"As it turns out, he ended up falling through a mirror back in his own world and ended up here. We don't know what to do or how to get him home, so we figured you might know of a way to help him?" she said.

"The mirror realm? You actually traveled through that dystopia and lived?" the man asked, earning a nod from the boy.

"I think so...well I don't remember anything. I do remember seeing these weird crystalline things around me, but after that I blacked out. Honestly, I thought this was all a dream, until Apple here slapped me, see the hand print?" he asked, turning his face slightly, earning a cringe from the man.

"Quite...well Mr. Bigby, I'm not sure what I can do about this situation. You have traversed through a very dangerous realm and fallen into this one, and I'm not exactly sure if I'm willing to help you." Headmaster Grimm said, making the boy go wide eyed.

"Why the heck not? I got friends back home, I got family, and now I'm stranded in some foreign fairytale world with no way of going back home. Please, if you can do something then help me!" Blake cried, a tone of desperation in his voice.

"There has to be something Headmaster, come on...you know powerful magic, maybe you can open a direct portal to his world, and send him back home." Raven said, earning a glare from the man.

"The issue isn't opening a portal directly to his world Miss Queen, the issue is the fact that he may have had contact with the Evil Queen while he was in the mirror realm. Tell me Mr. Bigby, is there magic in your world?" Headmaster Grimm asked, making the boy tilt his head.

"That depends, if you are talking about parlor tricks people do on stage, then yes, if you are referring to the make believe elements that people can sometimes harness and use for evil and witchcraft, then no." he said simply.

"If magic doesn't exist in your world, then that means it'll be much difficult to send you home. You see, in every realm, there exists a different kind of magic, but in places where magic doesn't exist, it becomes almost impossible for magic to be used there. While it can be done, it takes a lot of focus and energy, and often times leaves the user completely devoid of magic. What happens if a person without magic enters a magical realm however?" the man asked, glancing at Raven and Apple.

"Um...they become sponges for magic, meaning from the moment they enter a realm with magic, they begin absorbing it, their DNA will change and they will be unable to leave, unless the magic is purged from their body, which is nearly impossible." Apple replied, earning a curious look from Raven.

"Where did you learn this? I wasn't aware there was even a book that specified that." she said.

"Oh, I learned it in Princessology...one has to be prepared for anything, even otherworldly visitors. But if this is true then, it may take awhile to get you home Blake, especially if we have to remove the magic from your system." the blonde replied, earning a frown from the boy.

"Fine, whatever...I'll do whatever it is so I can have that magic removed, then I can get out of here." the black haired boy said.

"It isn't the simple I'm afraid. Removing the magic, that's the easy part, tracking your world down, that's the hard part. You see, the world you come from isn't the only one without magic, there are many worlds without magic, and I would assume among them is your own. It may take months, even years to track yours down." Headmaster Grimm said, causing the boy to deflate a bit.

"So, in other words, I'm stuck in this place until I can find my own way home...charming." he said sarcastically, crossing his arms.

"Normally, I would turn away people like you, travelers who have no right to exist in this world, but judging by the look on Apple White's face, she's going to ask me to let you stay here. So I shall enroll you in our school until we can figure out a way to send you back home. Worry not Mr. Bigby, I'll have my best working on tracking your world down." the man said, earning a sigh from the boy, who bowed his head thankfully.

"Thank you sir, it means a lot to me that you would help me. I apologize for being rude earlier, this is all...just a giant shock to me." he said.

"It's quite alright, I would have acted the same in your shoes. I shall contact you later on with your class schedule and dormitory arrangement. Since you have no fate in our world, you shall be put in ordinary classes, but you are free to choose your electives. I welcome you to Ever After High." the man said, earning a nod from the boy.

"We can show you around the school if you'd like? Get better acquainted with the place." Apple said happily.

"That would be great Apple, if I'm gonna be here for awhile, I might as well get to know every nook and cranny of this place." he said.

"Thank you for your help Headmaster Grimm, we'll make sure he's well aware of how things work around here." Raven said. The man narrowed his eyes, folding his hands on his desk.

"Yes, knowing you, you'll most likely want to poison him with your mentality, of course he has no fate of his own so he's already on your side. Run along now, I've got a lot of things to handle." he said. Raven frowned, and followed after Apple and Blake, into the hallway.

"Wow, that man is uptight." Blake said, once the door was closed.

"Tell me about it." Raven added, earning a giggle from Apple.

"Oh come on, he's really nice to me. He's always polite, then again I am going to be the future queen of Ever After." the blonde said, flicking a strand of hair over her shoulder.

"What was that last thing he said though? Poison my mentality? And that stuff about having no fate?" Blake asked curiously.

"Oh right, you don't know about the conflict yet. You see, here in Ever After, there comes a day that's special to everyone. It's known as Legacy Day, the day in which we all sign the Storybook of Legends, and pledge our destiny." Apple said happily, stars filling her eyes as she spoke. Raven however had a different attitude.

"Yes, for a long time, everyone had to sign the book, and follow a destiny they didn't want. I didn't want to become evil like my mother, so I refused to sign the book, that seemed to throw the school into a tangent. Now, there are two sides, those who want to follow their destiny, known as Royals, and those like me who would prefer to write their own destiny, the Rebels. This all happened recently, and there is no sign to stop."

"So wait...you mean to tell me, in this world you are forced to do what your story dictates, by signing this Storybook, and there is nothing you can do, just accept it? What a load of BS...I was always told to follow my heart and do as I wanted, not follow the norm. That's boring!" Blake replied firmly.

"Well, not like it matters now. Eventually they will have to sign the Storybook of Legends, we'll just have to wait and see."

"Fat chance that'll happen Apple...I just want to do what is right for me, not become an evil queen hellbent on killing you. You're my friend, and friends don't hurt each other." the black haired girl said, earning a sigh from the blonde.

"I understand that, but what about my happily ever after? Wouldn't you want me to be happy with Daring? To have a beautiful future together? Don't you ever think of that?" she cried. Blake cleared his throat, causing the two girls to stop mid stride.

"Listen, I don't know the extent of this Royal vs Rebel thing but you should all just handle it like mature adults. Apple, just because you want your happily ever after doesn't mean you should force Raven to do something she clearly doesn't want. It's selfish of you to even ask something like that of her. Raven, you should think more about what you do, maybe you jumped the gun, but you did what you thought was right in your heart, just remember not everyone will share in that mentality...now can we continue on this tour?" he asked.

"Oh um...sure thing Blake." Apple said, her cheeks tinged slightly pink.

"You diffused our argument really well."

"Thanks Raven, I have two older sisters and they fight like an old married couple. I've learned to be patient with women and just diffuse their arguments in the cleanest way possible."

"So, you are used to having girls fighting at home then?" the blonde asked, earning a nod from the boy.

"Mhmm, every other day with them, it was something new. A new dress that one of them bought, a boy that they saw, some other dumb shit...but those fights have lessened now, since my older sister Susan left for collage. Mary, my second older sister is a senior in high school, so it's been just us for awhile."

"What about your parents? Aren't they around?" Raven asked curiously.

"Nah, my father is a businessman, so he travels the world a lot, and is only home on vacations and special holidays. My mother is a Home Designer, so she's often out of town or across the country, so it's me and my older sis, come next year, it'll be just me." he said, none to excitedly.

"I'm sorry to hear that...hey, maybe you'll have some awesome stories to tell your family about this place, you'll be here for awhile, so why not make the most of it?" Apple asked, earning a nod from Raven.

"She's right, there's nothing to it but to do it...come on, we'll show you around the school, we've practically been excused from classes for the day." the black haired girl said.

"Alright, show me what's cool here in Ever After High, maybe it's even better than my old school." he said, giving the two girls a grin.

The two girls spent the next two hours showing Blake around the campus. Since everyone was in class, he didn't get to meet any of their friends, aside from a few who were either cutting class or had a free period. He got to see various classrooms, including the Science and Sorcery room, where students apparently learned to craft potions with magic. He also got to meet one of the teachers, which was actually the famous Jack B. Nimble. Blake was rather excited to meet him, due to the fact that his mother read his particular rhyme to him all the time when he was growing up.

After meeting Mr. Knight, a large hulking man hidden behind a polished set of armor, and seeing the Grimmnastics field, where Coach Gingerbreadman was currently drilling some students on some relay races, Raven and Apple decided to show Blake to the castleteria. The room was by far the largest he had seen, having a second floor where some students chose to have their lunch. Various tables had been placed around the large dining hall, most being occupied by students while others were walking around, at the very far end of the room was the lunch line, where many students were currently getting their food.

"Wow, this place is huge." Blake said, taking a few steps into the hall glancing around. He noticed the fancy looking chandelier high above him, which was glittering slightly, reflecting the natural light along with the light of the bulbs.

"Well, this is a castle after all, so the dining hall must be attractive and to our standards. Among the rooms in Ever After High, the castleteria and the Charmitorium are among the biggest, with the Grimmnasium being the third largest." Apple said, as if reciting a pamphlet. Blake glanced around, noticing something else among the students.

The more fancy looking students seemed to have claimed the right side of the castleteria. He saw various young men and women wearing crowns, chatting lively with their friends. One teen was looking at his own reflection in his handheld mirror, pausing briefly to smile at some passing girls, who would just sigh contently before fainting. One teenage boy was trying to speak with a rather attractive girl, only for him to flash into a frog, falling into a bowl of soup. One girl was by herself, looking at a deck of cards with a rather annoyed look on her face, most likely from the blonde standing behind her, holding a microphone in her hand.

The left side of the room was drastically different, the ones sitting there were more carefree, and looked much happier than the students at the right of the castleteria. He noticed one girl, who was wearing a crimson hood, was tearing into a turkey leg with so much ferocity that she could put a panther to shame. There was a boy with a half shaven head, currently wrestling with a squirrel for one reason or another. There was also one girl who was sitting at her own table, having a conversation with a mouse while pouring a cup of tea out of a kettle with two spouts and a pair of wings on the sides. He rubbed his eyes, blinking a bit when he saw the kettle fly away.

"Is it just me, or did that tea kettle fly away?" he asked, glancing at Raven and Apple, earning giggles from the two.

"You saw that right Blake, don't worry you'll get used to that sort of thing...well, this ends the tour for now, the only places we have yet to see are the dorms, the Muse-ic Room and the High Tower. We can show you the village tomorrow."

"Okay, thanks for the tour Apple, I'm sure your dying to speak to your friends, seeing as they keep looking over here...go on." Blake said, urging her on. She gave him an appreciative smile and walked off, heading toward the boy with the mirror.

"If you haven't noticed, the right side of the castleteria belongs to the Royals. Some of them are snooty, typical rich kids, but some are actually really nice. Even though the Royal vs Rebel conflict is still going on, they often times tend to swallow their beliefs for the sake of normalcy. The left side belongs to the Rebels, the more carefree students...just remember, whatever side you choose, we'll always be friends." Raven said with a smile.

"Seriously? Is this whole debate that bad? People actually have sides?" he asked.

"It was the easiest thing we could come up with...Apple is mostly the leader of the Royals, while I myself am mostly the leader of the Rebels...honestly, I just want to write my own story, but we can't all be on the same page can we?" she said, earning a nod from the boy.

"I suppose...anyway, what's good to eat here?"

"Anything really, we have excellent cooks here, food fit for a Royal." Raven said.

"Or a Rebel." he replied, earning a smile from the girl. He reached into his wallet, pulling it open, only for him to frown.

"Shit, I don't have this world's currency...you wouldn't happen to have a Toonie you could let me borrow would you?" he asked.

"What's a toonie?" the black haired girl asked, making the boy facepalm.

"Right, not from the same world...a toonie in my world is two dollars, well two Canadian dollars anyway." he said.

"Oh...we don't use...Dollars here...we use Gold or Precious Gems...don't worry, the gold comes in paper bills, no way we'd actually pay with real gold coins." the girl said, reaching into her pocket for her coin purse. She pulled out a bundle of bills, holding one out to the boy.

"Wow, it's really...yellow." the boy said, looking the bill over. It was the same size as a Canadian Dollar, golden in color, with various numbers and seals on it. The center of the bill had a crown in the middle of it, and the back had a coat of arms on the back. There was a bold 2 on each corner of the bill, along with a G printed on it.

"Gold is bright in color, so the government decided to come up with bright colored bills. The one and two gold bills are gold, the five gold bill is green, ten is blue, twenty is red, fifty is pink and the hundred gold bill is royal purple...and it has Snow White's face on it." she said.

"Hmm, our worlds aren't that different with currency...well our countries at least, thanks for this Raven, I'll owe you big time." he said, moving toward one of the nearby vending machines.

"It's fine, though you'll most likely have to get a job for money, we can go hunt for one once you are fully settled." she said, earning a nod from the boy.

"I spy a new student!" a voice cried out, causing Blake to slam into the machine, his heart was beating wildly in his chest as he turned around, glaring at a rather excited looking young woman.

She had curly and wavy hair, being turquoise, mint green and violet in color, something that he didn't quite understand. She had bright teal eyes filled with excitement, and light colored skin. She was a bit shorter than him, but not by much. Her outfit was rather unique, and seemed mostly centered around tea, she wore a tea cup hat, and her dress had tea cups embroidered into it, even her leggings had small tea cups printed on it. He blinked a few times before glancing at Raven who gave him a sheepish smile.

"So Raven, who's your friend?" he asked, a hand on his chest to calm his wildly beating heart.

"Blake, this is Madeline Hatter, she's the daughter of the Mad Hatter, Maddie, this is Blake, a new transfer student." the daughter of the Evil Queen said.

"Hat-tastic! It's been so long since we've had a transfer student, it's so nice to meet you Blake! Would you care for some tea?" the girl asked, earning a shrug from the boy.

"Sure, I guess?" he asked. She gave him a smile, reaching into her hat for a tea cup, filled to the brim with steaming tea.

"There you go, you know what they say, it's always good to carry a spare cup of tea!" she replied.

"Uh...right." the boy said, taking a sip from his cup, smiling a bit at the taste.

"Good huh? I learned how to make it from my daddy, he has a tea shop in town, oh...maybe you could visit, we could have a real Wonderland Welcome Party!" Madeline cried, looking even more excited than before. Blake just gave her a nod, not exactly knowing how to react.

"Maddie, I think he's getting a bit...unnerved by your excitement...how about we introduce him to some of our friends?"

"Sure, you'll absolutely love them Blake, come on!" the girl cried, taking a hold of his wrist, pulling him toward a nearby table. Everyone at the table stopped talking, as Madeline pushed him in front of herself, causing him to glance at the floor.

"Howdy everyone! This is Blake, a new transfer student! Isn't this Wonderlandiful?" the girl cried out, earning a nervous laugh from the boy.

"New student huh? We've all been there at some point, the name's Hunter Huntsman, nice to meet you man." the son of the Huntsman said, earning a nod from the boy.

"Good to meet you too, I saw you fighting with that squirrel earlier, did you steal his acorns or something?"

"Nah, that's just Pesky's way of annoying me, he's my closest friend after all, even if he's annoying." he said, glaring at the squirrel, who just spun an acorn on his finger tip.

"Anyway, this is my other best friend Cedar Wood, daughter of Pinocchio...she's afraid of handsaws, so don't mention them around her." Madeline said, earning a scowl from the girl.

"I am not afraid of handsaws. It's nice to meet you Blake." the girl said, earning a smile from the boy.

"Likewise, are you...seriously made of wood?" he asked, giving the girl a once over. She gave him a nod, rasping her head with her knuckles, a dull sound echoing from it.

"Yup, one hundred percent wood...and other living parts, I guess. My dad is a real person now, but as the next Pinocchio, I had to be made out of wood. I'm also cursed to never tell a lie." she replied.

"Her destiny involves her becoming a liar, which is why she decided not to sign the book." Raven added.

"That's commendable, who wants to become a liar anyway? Lies just ruin peoples lives. Hurt me with the truth, but never comfort me with a lie, I always say. So Little Red, how's the turkey?" he asked, glancing at the girl next to Cedar, who blushed a bright crimson.

"Um...it's pretty good." she said.

"Awesome, looking forward to trying it then...let me take a wild guess, you're the daughter of Ruby, Little Red Riding Hood, right?"

"Yep, that's me...call me Cerise, it's my name after all."

"Of course, you already know my name, I look forward to getting to know all of you." he said happily, earning smiles from the four.

"Uh-oh, Apple is flagging you over, looks like she wants to introduce you to her friends." Raven said, causing the boy to look at the blonde, who was gesturing for him to come over. He shrugged, giving Raven a smile.

"Hey, I might as well introduce myself right? Don't fret, I'm not gonna choose the Royal side, I'm hardly Royalty." he said, giving them a wave as he walked over to the other side of the castleteria.

He stopped for a second, having seen a flash of crimson out of the corner of his eye. He glanced around the area, seeing time had completely stopped. He tried to move, but found it impossible to do so. He growled, trying to move his muscles but they didn't budge a single inch. He looked around, his eyes being the only thing he could see. He heard a dark laugh behind him, and tried his hardest to look back, but found himself unable too. Time resumed a second later, almost like nothing had happened. He shook his head and glanced over his shoulder, but saw nothing.

" _The fuck was that? Time definitely stopped for a second there...why couldn't I move?"_ he thought to himself. He shook his head, deciding to just continue onto the Royal side. He didn't know it, but he was about to be pulled on a grand adventure, through many hardships and to various realms. The End was just the Beginning, and for Blake, his new life in Ever After was just starting.


	2. Starting a New Life

**A/N:**

 **Hello everyone and welcome to Chapter 2 of Through the Looking Glass, a story with a rather misleading title!**

 **I actually was able to post this chapter far quicker than I thought, which is good, but it is still a bit of a hassle to write on an Ipod. Anyway, last Chapter, our main man Blake found himself in Ever After, a land of famous Fairytales, and he was already able to meet Raven Queen and Apple White, along with a few Rebels, the beginning of this chapter will be Blake meeting some of the Royals and getting acquainted with a few of his new friends...the real stuff won't be happening until around Chapter four, and eventually we will get into the regular plot of Ever After High. I'm going to create various original chapters before the first major event, which will be True Heart's Day, after that I'll cover everything until Thronecoming, add some other stuff and eventually we'll reach Spring Unsprung, so until then, I hope you enjoy Blake's tomfoolery with the Ever After High characters, along with various shenanigans and what not.**

 **I hope you all like what I'm writing, don't be afraid to let me know what you all think, if you like it or hate it, I accept all criticism, unless you are an asshole shitting on a story just cuz, I've had a few of those before, and I always ignore them. So I do hope you like this and are having a good day. Like, review and all of that jazz...have a nice day!**

Ever After High

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 2

Starting a New Life

Blake didn't exactly know how to approach any of the Royal students. Since he wasn't part of their world, he didn't feel the need to address them like Royalty, but he also know if he didn't, he could get in trouble. It was a rather stressing situation for his rather confused mind. To he decided to address them, how one would address someone else. After all, in his school, there were no royal people. There were people who acted like they were hot stuff because they had money, but those people often times just got treated badly by everyone else. Just because they had money didn't mean they couldn't disrespect people. In his opinion of course.

"Hello again Blake, I see you met some of the Rebels in the school. I wanted you to meet some of my friends as well." Apple said politely, earning a nod from the boy.

"Sure I guess...I'm sure Apple has told you who I am, but for reference, my name is Blake Bigby, it's nice to meet you all." he said politely.

"The pleasure is all ours my boy, the name's Charming, Daring Charming. As you can see I am rather handsome, and Charming, I'm also well spoken, and Charming." the blonde crown wearing boy said, earning a glare from Blake.

" _Typical high school Jock, though this one seems more pompous than anything. I can see he doesn't let go of that damn mirror often."_ Blake thought to himself.

"Hi, I'm Dexter Charming, Daring's little brother, it's nice to meet you Blake." the brown haired, glasses wearing boy said, earning a nod from Blake.

"Likewise, you look like a techy kind of kid, a bit on the nerdy side. You ever hear of Dungeons and Dragons?" he asked.

"Of course, me and a couple guys play that game every Saturday, we're currently in the middle of a campaign, would you like to join?" Dexter asked, looking rather happy.

"Duh, D and D is like the king of all fantasy RPG board games, I'm there...I don't have a phone or anything so...wait you guys don't send stuff by carrier pigeon do you?" he asked curiously, earning a laugh from Daring.

"Of course not, we have technology here, in fact my little bro is quite good with it. Apple told us you have similar tech back in your world, let him take a look, he might impress you." the jock said, earning a nod from Blake, who reached into his pocket for his Iphone X.

"Here, go nuts with it, it's my backup phone so I don't mind if you mess with it. Heh, if I was back in my world, people would have flipped their shit." he said, earning a curious look from Apple.

"Why do you say that?" she asked curiously.

"Oh, that's a thousand dollar phone...which in your currency would be a thousand gold." he said.

"One thousand gold? This thing is worth one thousand gold?" a curly haired blonde asked, an incredulous look on her face.

"Yup, it's a total waste of money too. It lacks a headphone jack, so you have to use expensive ass wireless headphones, the screen can easily be broken, oh and its so thin that if you leave it in your front pocket, the damn thing will bend out of shape. Totally not worth it, but with my plan, I got it for free so I don't really care for it." he said with a shrug.

"You must be quite wealthy for you to just...purchase phones like this." Apple said. Blake shook his head, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Not really, I mean...my father does make quite a lot, but like I said, I bundled my phone and my tv service so I got it for free...anyway, who might you be miss? Even though it's blatantly obvious who's daughter you are." he said, glancing at the other blonde at the table.

"My name is Blondie Lockes, daughter of Goldilocks, and I'm just like you, not really Royalty, but I do feel like I'm a Royal. Would you mind if I interviewed you for my webshow? I'm sure everyone would think it's just right!" she said, a smile on her face.

"Do I gotta sign a release form or something?" Blake asked curiously, earning a giggle from the girl.

"Of course not, it's just a simple interview, I'm sure everyone in Ever After would love to meet the new transfer student. Maybe you could tell us all some stories from your world?"

"I guess...sure, I'd love to be on your show Blondie...count me in." he said giving her a nod.

"Hexellent! I'll make all of the arrangements, this episode is going to be just right! Come along Dexter, I'll need your help with this."

"Sure, it was nice meeting you Blake, see you around." the brown haired prince said, following the blonde girl out of the castleteria.

"Likewise...so...why is there a cute girl sleeping in soup?" the boy asked, glancing beside him at the brunette, who was contently sleeping, with her face half submerged in soup.

"That's Briar Beauty, daughter of Sleeping Beauty, she usually stays up all throughout lunch, but I guess she didn't get enough sleep today." Apple said, poking her friend's cheek. She jolted a bit, sitting up in her seat.

"I'm up, don't fail me!"

"You aren't in class Briar, you fell asleep in your soup again."

"Oh hex, my make up is ruined again!" the girl cried, reaching for her purse. Blake rolled his eyes, reaching inside his backpack for a pack of tissues he always kept, handing it to the girl.

"Here you go, I always have these with me in case I need them. My name's Blake by the way, new transfer student." he said.

"Hello, I'm Briar, it's good to meet you too Blake, thanks for the tissues." she said, pulling the pack open, using one of the tissues to dry her face.

"No problem, my sister gets into fights a lot so I always have some extra absorbent tissues to suck up the blood from her nose. It's almost commonplace to see me with a pack of that stuff." he said, shrugging it off like nothing.

"I get the vibe that your sister is quite aggressive. Nothing a little charm can't fix." Daring said, flashing his bright smile to a few girls, causing them to faint.

"Sorry to say Daring, but my sisters are both too rough and tough to fall for your charms. Susan and Mary are twins, so they have their own likes and dislikes, and one of them is attractive yet pompous men who stare at their own reflections and bask in their arrogance. No offense of course." he said.

"None...taken?" he asked, clearly confused and insulted.

"Wait, earlier you said your sister Susan was in college, if they're twins doesn't that mean that they should both be in college?" Apple asked curiously.

"Yeah, but Susan is the smarter of the two. She wants to be a Bio-Chemist, and spent quite a long time studying when she was young, so she skipped a grade to get into high school, she's been in college for a year now. Mary on the other hand is a bit more...lazy, I would say." he said, not exactly knowing how to describe his sister.

"Lazy huh? Why do you say that?" Briar asked, glancing up from her mirror.

"Well, she doesn't do homework, fails most of her tests, has me and my friends do her chores while she goes out shopping, is a pompous ass, uncouth, swears like a sailor and doesn't act very ladylike. She burps, she wipes her face with her shirt, and she loves sleeping." he said, listing everything on a finger.

"Is it fun having a sibling?" Apple asked curiously, earning a chuckle from Blake.

"At times, Susan and Mary are the most annoying, people I have ever met. They have no boundaries, always take my stuff, annoy my friends, borrow my laptop without asking permission and they outright piss me off whenever they're having a bad day, but they're my sisters and I love them dearly. It sucks that I'm stuck in Ever After, because they're the only family I have with me, since my folks are out of town a lot." he replied, frowning a bit.

"Um...have you met Ashlynn Ella yet? She's the daughter of Cinderella, you did say she was one of your favorite fairytale characters." Apple said, gesturing to the strawberry blonde at the other end of the table, who kept glancing over at the Rebel side, mostly at Hunter who kept wrestling with his pet squirrel.

"Well, Cinderella was the first Disney movie I watched, and her story kept me entertained throughout my childhood. I hold it dear in my heart because it was one of the movies I was able to watch with my entire family, before they started working a lot. Eh, I think I want to meet her, let me get my charm on." he said, tugging on his hoodie a bit as he walked toward the girl, with Swagger that could put Obama to shame.

"Well, he's certainly...something." Daring said, earning an elbow to the ribs from Apple.

"Don't be so harsh on him! Remember he's stuck here, we should welcome him as a Royal, even if he has no fate he would be welcome here."

"Hi, you're Ashlynn Ella right? My name's Blake, I'm the new transfer student." the boy said, earning a smile from the girl.

"It's nice to meet you Blake, I heard rumors that there was a new student here...um what story are you from?"

"I'm not from any story, I'm actually from another world, one without magic, I came here through a mirror...you know, your voice sounds familiar." he said, eyes narrowed as he looked the girl over.

"It..does? We've never met before this though."

"Yeah I know...hmm...this is gonna kill me...anyway, just wanted to say I'm a huge fan of your mother Cinderella, your story is one of my favorites, so I wanted to meet you formally." he said.

"That's so sweet of you...I'm sure my mother would be happy to meet a fan."

"It would be awesome to meet her, at least once before I go...then again, I'm not exactly sure how long I'll be here, it's sort of complicated right now...regardless I'm sure we'll become the best of friends." he said, earning a nod from the girl.

"I hope so...um, have you chosen a side yet?" she asked curiously, earning a shrug from the boy.

"I haven't thought about it really, being a Royal or a Rebel...I guess we'll just have to wait and see. So mind telling me the name of that heart themed cutie over there?" he asked, pointing to the girl who was playing cards with a few others.

"Hmm? Oh her, that's Lizzie Hearts, future Queen of Wonderland. She's a bit...abrasive, so be careful with her. She's really nice once you get to know her though." Ashlynn said, earning a nod from the boy.

"I happen to be good at playing cards, might as well make my entrance into her life with a Royal Flush." he said, winking at the girl as he made his way over to the next table.

A few other students were watching the teen curiously, but he didn't exactly mind the stares anymore. Now that he had been getting to know some of the students of Ever After, he felt a bit more comfortable, of course those from the Rebel table were looking at him with looks of interest, and for Madeline, a look of genuine excitement. He figured the two girls knew each other, since they were both from Wonderland, it was sort of unavoidable. He came to a stop in front of the table, glancing at the three sitting at it.

Lizzie Hearts was a beautiful young woman, mostly wearing red clothes with various hearts on it. The bodice of her dress was black in color, with golden designs on the front. The skirt was red and black in color, with a large red heart sown onto the right side of it, whe was wearing black leggings and golden and red heels with cards on them. She had a red heart painted over her left eye, and she wore a golden crown with little hearts on it.

The girl across from her had a rather interesting outfit. Her hair was black and white, matching most of her outfit, a rather beautiful white silk dress with thin shoulder straps. The area around the bust had small black dots on it, following the flowing skirt which was also white in color, the underside was black and had feathers attached to it. She was wearing silvery black leggings and black ballet shoes, she had light colored makeup on her cheeks, her lips being crimson in color, she was also wearing black eye shadow around her eyes, making them pop out quite a bit.

The last was a rather tall young man, with light colored skin and auburn colored hair. He was a rather built young man, from the daily exercise he did, and the fact that his father was a strong person himself, or rather was before his death. He stood at five feet ten inches in height, and was wearing a long sleeved varsity jacket, with white sleeves and a red bodice, bearing the crest of Ever After High. Underneath he wore a white muscle shirt, accenting his pectorals a bit. He wore a pair of khaki colored jeans, and matching combat boots. He looked up from his cards, giving him a smile.

"Hey, you that new student we've been hearing about?"

"Yup, that's me...names Blake by the way, figured I would introduce myself." he said.

"Lizzie Hearts, charmed I'm sure." the future Queen of Hearts said, earning a smile from the boy. He took a hold of her hand, kissing the top of it, much to her surprise.

"I saw that in a nikolodien once and always wanted to do it." he said, giving her a wink.

"Well, you're certainly forward." the other girl said, earning a smirk from the boy.

"Hey, I wanted to show my respect to the future queen of Wonderland, excuse me for being polite. Mother didn't raise a fool, or are you perhaps jealous that I didn't kiss your hand?" he asked, brow raised as the girl huffed, glancing away from him.

"I could care less what you did, show your politeness any way you want."

"Ignore her, Duchess doesn't have a nice way of interacting with people, but she isn't a bad person either. My name is Tobias LeGume, son of Gaston LeGume...my friends call me Toby." he said, shaking Blake's hand.

"Nice to meet you Toby, it's nice to meet you too Duchess, daughter of the Swan Princess right?"

"Well well, you know who I am? I'm surprised a foreigner is so well informed." she said, earning a chuckle from the boy.

"The intricacies of knowledge know no bounds my lady. I'm a fan of fairytales, folk songs and various other forms of storytelling, and Swan Lake happens to be a rather amazing Ballet, and the story that sprouted from it even more so, I do apologize for the fate of your mother, it was an unjust one." he said, giving her a polite bow.

"Well, if you are done here, I would like to get back to the game, I was close to winning." Lizzie said, a smirk on her face.

"My ass, come on Liz you always say you're close to winning, and whenever you get close to loosing, it's "Off with your head!". You need to let us win once." Toby said, earning a nod from Duchess.

"Seriously Liz, just once." she said.

"I do not know what you are talking about, I play this game fairly and squarely!"

"If you say so...would you like to join Blake? I can deal you in if you want." Toby said.

"No, maybe next time. I'm not that good playing cards, if it was chess then maybe. Besides, I've got to head back to the Headmaster's office for my schedule and stuff. Maybe we can hang out later." He said.

"I doubt it, but if you want to hang out then I suppose I could make some time." Lizzie replied, Duchess didn't say anything, choosing to discard one of her cards for a new one.

"Until next time then, stay frosty." he said, walking back toward the Rebel table.

"Hey, did you have fun interacting with everyone?" Raven asked, earning a nod from the boy.

"I did, never got my snack though." he said, walking toward the vending machine.

"I can certainly say, people are already talking about you, especially what you did with Lizzie, what was that about?" she asked curiously, earning a shrug from the boy.

"Figured I would make an impact somewhere, first impressions are everything after all, plus you can't tell me she isn't cute as hell." he said, glancing back at the future Queen of Hearts.

"Well as a girl attracted to guys, I don't think I can comment." Raven replied, earning a chuckle from the boy.

"Fair enough, say think you could come back with me to Headmaster Grimm's office? I'm sure he's got my schedule and stuff already...including my dorm, which I'm looking forward too because I'm sick of carrying my bag around." he said, gesturing to his backpack.

"Yeah sure, I don't mind...although if I show up with you to the office, I'm sure Grimm will accuse me of _poisoning_ your mind." she said ominously, as the boy grabbed his snack from the machine.

"Ooo, scary." he replied.

"Well come on, let's not keep him waiting, it's almost the end of lunch anyway, now is the perfect time to show you the Dorms." she said, earning a nod from Blake, who waved at his new friends before following the goth themed girl out of the castleteria.

 _ **xxx**_

Blake sighed contently as he jumped into his bed. After he and Raven had gone back to Headmaster Grimm's office, the man had given him his schedule, which consisted of three basic classes, Mathematics, Grimmnastics and Geografairy. Apparently, the last one was just Geography, but for some reason they had added fairy at the end of it, and he honestly didn't want to ask why that was, he just accepted it and nodded. He noticed he had four slots open, meaning those were for his elective courses. Since he was from what he decided to call "The Real World", he didn't exactly know what classes to take. He wasn't evil, so he wasn't going to take any of the Villain courses, but he wasn't a Hero either so he didn't think he would fit in the Hero Courses. He had been given a list of classes that Ever After High offered, so he could choose his electives, he had two days to decide, since he had appeared there on Friday, and classes were off during the weekend.

He had gotten a dorm all to himself, since everyone was partnered up for the year. He didn't mind, and was actually glad he had gotten his own dorm. It looked rather plain to him, compared to Raven and Apple's shared dorm, but he figured they got their style from their stories and their parents. Raven had told him that there was a store in town that dealt mostly with furniture for the dorms of the school, and she promised to help him pick some stuff out to spruce up the place. Of course that involved him getting a job so he could earn enough money for living costs.

He sat up in his bed, glancing around the room, aside from the bed, he had a work desk, with a few of the necessary books for his classes. There was a window right next to the desk, and was covered with satin white drapes. The walls were pale white in color, which he didn't particularly mind. His bed was a queen sized bed, which was nestled to the right side of the room, there was a matching bed on the left side, for his would be roommate but for the moment he didn't have one. He also had a basic looking dresser and a vanity mirror as well.

"Well, home sweet home." he muttered dryly, reaching for his backpack. He pulled it open, pulling out his knee pads and elbow pads from inside, placing them atop the nearby desk.

From within his backpack, he pulled out his laptop and charger, along with his wireless mouse, which he placed on the desk and plugged into the wall. He pulled out two spare notebooks along with some gel pens and his music book, which he always carried around. From the outer pocket, he pulled out his PS Vita, along with its charger and his pouch of games, setting them down next to his laptop. The final thing he pulled out was his Biology text book, the only one he carried around with him, because he was rather fascinated with its contents.

Aside from that, he had a spare change of clothes, along with his Gym clothes. He grabbed his backpack and tipped it over, shaking it a bit with all of the pockets open, watching a few extra pencils and erasers fall out. A dull metallic thud filled his ears and he stopped shaking the bag, glancing at the floor.

"What's this doing here?" he muttered, reaching for the golden bracelet that had come out of his bag.

He looked it over, a frown on his face as he looked at all of the charms hooked on it. There was a large L which had small white diamonds encrusted into it, making it shine brightly. There was a charm in the shape of the Eiffel Tower, one in the shape of a half moon, and one in the shape of a heart. The heart was chrome in color, and had the name Lana engraved in it. He smiled sadly, clenching his hand over the bracelet.

"You always find your way back into my life don't you? Even here." he said softly. He shook his head, wrapping the trinket around his wrist, clipping it on. He hid it with his jacket sleeve, laying back onto the bed. He felt himself slowly drift to sleep.

Opening his eyes, he found himself in a glassy crystalline area. He blinked a few times, looking at his hands. He noticed nothing about himself had changed, aside from the fact that he had found himself in this place. He started walking around, hearing a dark laugh behind him. He turned around, seeing nothing at first. Shrugging his shoulders, he continued walking, hearing the laugh again, this time it was closer. He found himself running for some reason, being unable to escape the laugh. He turned the corner, slamming into a mirrored wall.

" _What the hell?"_ he muttered, rubbing his face. His eyes widened when he saw his world on the other side of the glass. Not just that, he could see his sisters on the other side of the mirror, chatting with their friends and laughing.

He started knocking on the glass, and trying to scream their names but was unable to attract their attention. The laugh finally caught up to him, and he turned around, only seeing a shadow behind him, with a sickening smile and glowing red eyes. He held his hands up in defense, a violet glow coming form them, looking almost like flames. The shadow stopped, grinning widely before it enveloped him.

Blake jolted awake, having heard a few knocks on his door. He glanced around the room for a second, remembering what had happened to him earlier that day. Grabbing his Ipod, he pressed the top button, seeing it was five in the afternoon. He got out of the bed when he heard the knock again, holding back a yawn, he rubbed his eyes as he approached the door, pulling it open.

"Hey Blake, hope we aren't bothering you." Hunter said, giving the black haired boy a smile.

"Nah man, you aren't... I was just...hanging out." he said, not wanting to mention anything about the nightmare he had just had. He glanced to his right, seeing another young man leaning against the wall, strumming on a green guitar, a Gibson Flying V in fact.

"We were passing through, figured I would introduce you to my friend Sparrow Hood, he's a Rebel like us."

"A rebel? Really? You aren't related to Cerise are you?" Blake asked.

"Nope, I'm the son of Robin Hood! But I don't want to be a thief, I just want to rock!" the boy replied, in a sing-song voice as he played a riff on his guitar.

"I just wanted to see how you were settling in, we're about to head into town, figured you'd like a tour. Raven said something about showing you around tomorrow, but I figured we could handle that for her."

"Sure, I don't mind. I'd love to see the places to hang out in this place, I'm sort of already sick of being in this empty dorm room." he admitted, giving his new friends a sheepish smile.

"Don't worry bro, there's plenty of rad places to chill out." Sparrow said, earning a nod from Hunter. The boy grabbed his keys and locked his dorm, following the two into the next hallway.

It took them a few minutes to reach the Village of Bookend, and during that time, Blake felt the need to get to know his new friends better. Of course he had gotten to know most of their likes and dislikes, along with the full reason behind their refusal to sign the Storybook. He had also learned a bit about some of the classes that were offered in Ever After High, and had started thinking more about his electives. Hunter had asked him a few questions about his world, which of course lead him into telling one of his favorite stories.

"And then, this fat ass security guard, tries to drive away in his golf cart, so my buddy Javi grabs his skateboard from the back. This security guard tries to stop and ends up slamming into a brick wall, so we all booked it up the street before he could turn his ass around. By far, the best skate day I've had in awhile." he said.

"Sounds like you guys have a killer time skating, I used to be good when I was younger, don't know if I'm good now." Hunter said.

"I prefer music, no way I can skate in platform shoes!" Sparrow cried, earning an eyeroll from the two teens.

"Well, here we are boys, the Village of Bookend. This is the biggest city around Ever After High. To the north of here is the Enchanted forest, which will eventually lead to Snow White's castle, and Apple's home. The Dark Forest is also nearby, and that leads to Hood Hollow, a small village with very little technology." Hunter said.

"There's also Beanstalk High, which is the school for giants, and the area on top of the world, where the Snow King and Queen live. There are also portals to other realms. Neverland is beyond the second star, and Nottingham, my home, has a portal on the other side of the North Woods." Sparrow said, earning a nod from Blake, who mentally jotted it down.

"So, there are multiple realms then, that's pretty cool. Hey, what about Wonderland? Is there a portal that leads there? It would be awesome if we could visit it."

The two teens shared a look, frowning at each other before shaking their heads. Hunter rubbed his neck, not exactly knowing how to explain the situation to his friend. Just from his attitude, Blake could tell it was a rather hard topic to speak about. He glanced away from them, crossing his arms.

"Something happened to Wonderland, didn't it?"

"Yeah, it's common knowledge around here. Raven's mother, the Evil Queen, tried to take over Ever After, not just that, she tried to take over other realms. She was unable to do so, so she instead decided to take over Wonderland, by putting a powerful curse on it. Headmaster Grimm, his younger brother Giles, and Baba Yaga, cast a spell on her, trapping her in the Mirror Realm...after that, all of the portals to Wonderland were forcibly shutdown." Hunter explained.

"What? But what about the people in that realm? What happened to them?" Blake asked, concern written in his voice.

"Sad to say bro...everyone that didn't make it out of Wonderland, place. You see, our magic comes from wonder, or rather, the magic that flows from Wonderland, rumor has it, one portal exists, but no one is able to find it, except those who know where it is. It's been four years since that time, and it's been rather difficult for everyone." Sparrow said, earning a frown from Blake.

"Man...I was so looking forward to visiting Wonderland, I've always dreamed of going there...maybe if I get lucky, I'll find a Rabbit Hole." he said, a grin on his face.

"One can only hope right?" Hunter added, earning a nod from the boy.

"Hey hey, we're close to Hocus Latte! Let's go get some coffee, on me!" Sparrow said, leading the two toward the nearby coffee shop.

Hocus Latte was a beautiful home style place where the students of Ever After High came to relax and unwind with their drink of choice. Oak tables and soft couches had been placed all over, and there were high definition televisions around the cafe, displaying Blondie Lockes's talk show _Just Right_. Several students were currently hanging out, doing homework, talking with friends or drinking coffee.

"This place reminds me of Starbucks back home." Blake said, glancing around the cafe, the fresh scent of coffee permeating the area.

"Is Starbucks a coffee shop in your world?" Hunter asked, earning a nod from the black haired boy.

"Yup, usually visited by simple douche bags." he said, earning a chuckle from his friends.

"Well, I can certainly say, you are gonna love it here. They hand out free muffins on Tuesdays, me and the guys hang out here all the time and scope out the chicks." Sparrow said, winking at a few girls who giggled as they walked past them.

"Well, you seem rather popular with them, what about you Hunter? I saw some girls looking at you."

"Yeah, but I already have someone in mind, so I tend to ignore them." he said, flushing a bit. Blake already knew he was referring to Ashlynn so he decided not to say anything.

"Well, get whatever you'd like, I'm buying after all." Sparrow said.

"Are you sure? I don't have any money so I can't pay you back." Blake said, earning a grin from the auburn haired boy.

"Don't worry man, I got you." he said.

"Hmm...you know, you sound familiar too...you and Ashlynn have voices I've heard before, wonder why that is?" he said, walking toward the counter. Hunter shrugged, deciding not to question him further.

After getting their lattes, the three young men sat down in the small lounge area, watching the last of Blondie's webshow, where she had excitedly announced her interview with Blake, though she only said _"_ _New Transfer Student"_ rather than his name, most likely trying to keep it a surprise, since not many knew about his arrival yet. Hunter had also pointed out a few other people from the school, including a rather cute girl currently wrestling with one of her sheep. Blake leaned back in his seat, sipping his latte, a frown on his face.

"Something wrong bro?" Sparrow asked.

"Eh? Not really...just having some trouble choosing some electives. I got Mathematics, Geografairy and Grimmnastics as basic classes, but since I'm not part of this world, I don't fit into the villain or hero categories."

"Oh, you should totally take archery...might as well learn how to use a weapon right? Since you'll be here for awhile, you might need to learn some defense." Hunter said, earning a nod from Sparrow, who was practicing his scales.

"Hmm, that is true...but I'm not that good of an archer...my uncle took me hunting once and I missed my target every time, even with practice before hand. I'm good with a rifle though...you guys don't have those here do you?" he asked.

"Well we do but only those who have formal training can use them, we're mostly trained in using bladed weapons, due to our stories." Sparrow said.

"That's true, so does that mean you're good with a Crossbow? Robin Hood used one of those all the time, far as I know." Blake said, taking a gulp from his drink.

"Pfft, you should see this one when he grabs a Crossbow, can't even load a bolt properly, and last time he almost took Mr. Knight's helmet off."

"I did not! It wasn't my fault the thing was spring loaded like it was. I thought it had a safety on." Sparrow snapped, earning a chuckle from Blake.

"Dude, crossbows don't have safeties, at least as far as I know...anyway, I was thinking of taking Sword Training with Mr. Knight, I've always wanted to learn a skill like that." Blake said.

"Well there you go, there are a ton of others who also take Sword Training, be aware though, sometimes Mr. Knight likes to teach three classes at once, so he'll most likely be teaching you Sword fighting, Dragon Slaying and hand to hand combat, hell, he might have you rescue a damsel-in-distress." Hunter said, finishing his latte.

"That's fine by me, I do know how to defend myself so it'll be interesting to see how that will go. Alright, I got another class down." Blake said excitedly, jotting the name of the class down on the paper.

"Hmm, what else...what else? Oh, you were interested in Wonderland, maybe Wonderlandian History would do you good, you get to learn all this cool stuff about Wonderland." Sparrow said.

"Me and a few others are taking that class this semester, we're actually learning about some of the creatures that live in Wonderland. Including the Jabberwocky." Hunter said ominously as he made a scary face.

"Go a little further than that, take Riddlish as a language class, there's only like five people in that class so it'll be easy."

"Okay, I'll definitely do that then." Blake said, jotting down the two class names on the paper.

"You got six classes, a lunch period...all you need is a final class and you'll be set for the semester...how about Muse-ic Class? All of us take that class." Hunter asked, earning a shrug from the boy.

"Why not? I do enjoy music...I do dabble with various instruments every now and again." he said, filling out the final slot. He signed his name at the bottom of the paper, folding it in half.

"Come on, we should take that to Mother Goose as soon as possible, so you can get your schedule by Monday." Hunter said. They all stood up, walking toward the nearby trash can to toss their cups away, Blake paused briefly, turning back to the counter.

"Wait outside for me, I need to do something real quick."

"Um...okay, we'll be waiting by the arcade, don't take too long." Sparrow said, once again strumming away at his guitar. Blake gave them a nod walking over to the front counter, a confident look on his face.

 _ **xxx**_

It was rather early in the morning for Blake, well it was actually the time her would normally wake up. Two full days had passed since his arrival in Ever After, and still he hadn't gotten used to being in a new world. Dexter had given him his phone back, now being able to work in this new world. He had been grateful to the teen, and had given him a bit of semblance, though he wished he could call home to let his sisters know he was fine, sadly he knew that wasn't possible.

He had gotten his schedule officiated on Friday night, and had gotten his materials from Mother Goose the next morning, he had been surprised to see that she was a literal goose. He had been expecting an old wise woman, not a talking animal, but since this was the Fairytale World, he figured this was fairly commonplace. He did see the three piglets wondering around the halls a few times, so it wasn't hard for him to see talking animals.

Now it was Monday morning, and he was going to start classes. He didn't really want to eat a full breakfast, so he just walked over to the line and grabbed an apple. It was a Red Delicious apple, ironically enough, it was the same kind of apple the Evil Queen had used to poison Snow White. He didn't understand why they even had these apples in the school, but apparently Apple White liked the fruit so the school always had several of them. He glanced around for a table to sit at, being careful not to sit on either side of the castleteria, it was rather hard when the whole place was split in half.

" _Dammit, I guess I'll just go to the student lounge and chill there until classes start."_ he thought to himself, walking toward the exit. He waved at a few of his new friends, not seeing where he was walking until it was too late. He ended up walking into someone, or rather, someone ended up walking into him.

"Oi, mind watching where you are going?" Blake snapped in annoyance, glaring up at the young man before him.

He stood a bit taller than Blake, with sandy blond hair atop his head. He was rather handsome, if the black haired boy cared admit. He was wearing a rather fancy outfit, consisting of a long sleeved shirt, with a royal blue suit vest over it, with white buttons on it, and a light red scarf, tucked into the vest. He was wearing a white, long sleeved coat, with four buttons on the left side, the cuffs were blue in color and rolled back over the wrists, his hands being covered in white gloves. He was wearing a pair of long blue jeans, stuffed into black leather boots. He had a smug look on his face, a tray of food on his hands.

"I could say the same thing to you newbie." he said, in a gruff voice. Blake shook his head, walking around him.

"Sorry, I don't want any trouble." he said, only for the young man to put a hand on his shoulder, forcefully pulling him back.

"Well you've got it. No one bumps into me and gets away with it, do you not know who I am? I am a Prince! And you shall address me as such." he said, causing Blake to raise a single brow.

"Oh, is that so? Then enlighten me Prince, what is your name?" he said, noticing a few people were looking now, some even standing around the two.

"My name is Henry, my father is the King of the Southern Isles, what's your name peasant, not that I need to know it." Henry said, earning a chuckle from Blake.

"Eh, the name's Blake, now if you are done being a pompous ass, I would like to go, class starts soon and I wish to enjoy my apple in peace." he said. Henry smirked, grabbing the apple from the teenager's hand, placing it on his tray.

"Well then, looks like you'll have to get another one." he said, beginning to walk off.

"Actually, I would much rather have that one, so if you could please return it, that would be great." Blake said, causing the boy to laugh.

"I'm not gonna. You don't belong in our world peasant, not only are you not part of this world, but you have no fate, you aren't much better than those stupid rebels." Henry said, not bothering to turn around.

"Oh I'm so hurt! You wanna know something? I identify more with the Rebels than I do with the Royals. No offense to anyone, but just because you are Royalty doesn't mean you have the right to down talk us, to look down on us! To take our stuff like it belongs to you, because it doesn't. So give me my goddamn apple back, or you'll be sorry." Blake said firmly, earning a laugh from Henry who turned around, giving him a smirk.

"Really? What are you going to do about it? I bet you can't even fight."

"I'm giving you to the count of three to give me my apple back, or you'll be in a world or hurt...one."

"Seriously? I'm not a little boy, you can't tell me what to do. I am a Prince, therefore whatever I want is mine."

"Two."

"You don't scare me, go ahead! I'll defeat you before you can even..."

"Three." Blake said, a smirk on his face. He dashed forward so fast that Henry didn't even have time to get ready.

He threw an upward kick at Henry's food stray, sending it flying into the air. Quickly turning around, Blake threw a side kick right to the center of Henry's chest, sending him flying back into some trash cans. His food tray fell down on top of him, his food covering his entire body. Blake held his hand out, catching the apple that had been stolen from him. He turned around and bit into his fruit, glancing back at the prince who was stunned by what had happened.

"I told you didn't I?" he asked.

"You...you ruined my outfit! You will have to pay for this, it costs more than your life!"

"Dude, there is no word in any language of the world that describes how little I care. A quantum super computer, calculating for a thousand years, could not even approach the number of fucks that I do not give. You were warned, and you didn't listen, so now suffer and good riddance." he said, walking toward the exit. He glanced over at Raven and the other Rebels who were all looking at him, still stunned at what had happened. He gave the girl a wink, biting into his apple as he left the castleteria.

"Damn, I didn't even see him move." Hunter muttered.

"His reaction time was flawless, he certainly does know how to fight." Cerise added, impressed with the boy's speed.

"That was hat-tastic! Serves Henry right for being a nuisance!" Maddie added, earning a laugh from Raven.

"He did warn him, we aren't gonna hear the end of this though...still, I wasn't expecting Blake to react that way, it almost looked, normal to him." Raven added.

"I cannot tell a lie, Blake is certainly an interesting person!" Cedar said, adding to the general consensus at the Rebel table. The bell rung loudly, signaling the beginning of the school day.

"It's gonna be an interesting year, that's for sure." Raven muttered, glancing down at the ground.

Not everyone was able to see it, but during Blake's attack on Henry, his body gave a subtle violet glow. It reminded her of her own magic, the magic from the Evil Queen. She was really hoping her mother didn't do anything to the boy while he was in the Mirror Realm, but going by what he had told her when they met, she couldn't discard the possibility. She saw a flash of blue in front of her face, and blinked a few times, glancing at her best friend Maddie, who was looking at her with slight concern.

"Is something wrong Raven? Do you feel sick? Do you have those annoying cramps again?"

"Uh...no Maddie, it's nothing...let's just get to class before we're late, okay? And if you see Blake at all, tell him Farrah wants to see him. She heard about his lack of clothes and wanted to help him out."

"Aw, that's so sweet of her! I'll be sure to tell him, come on, it's almost tea time!" the daughter of the Mad Hatter cried, taking a hold of her friend's hand. All Raven could do for now was hope that her new friend wasn't affected by her mother's magic.


	3. Blake's First Day of School

**A/N:**

 **Chocolate Rain, Some Stay Dry And Others Feel The Pain, Chocolate Rain!**

 **Today, I bring you chapter 3 of Through the Looking Glass. I was able to email this to myself and use my buddy's computer to edit it, so no fucking tiny ass screen! So I do hope you enjoy this chapter, as it will be a little look through Blake's first day of school. The next chapter shall include the episode, Blondie's Just Right, so do look forward to that. I will be writing a few chapters in between that and True Heart's Day Part 1, in fact I might actually make True Heart's Day a single chapter, I haven't decided yet. This will segway into a bit of a mini arc, that will lead to some other episodes, which will eventually lead to Thronecoming, so do look forward to that.**

 **Also, if you guys have any ideas on what you want Blake to do, feel free to PM me, if it's a prank on someone, or you want him to interact with a certain character, I'll be sure to include it. I've already decided who he's going to be paired up with, but I'm not going to tell absolutely anyone what it is...all I will say is, Blake likes girls who have blue eyes, and several girls in this series have blue eyes, so go ahead and guess who it is, I will neither deny nor confirm your guess.**

 **I do hope you like this chapter, currently I am working on chapter four, and it's becoming a bit easier to write on my Ipod, whenever it is I finish the next chapter, I'll try to post it...so let me know what you all think...**

Ever After High

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 3

Blake's First Day of School

Mathematics was a rather boring class, Blake realized it the second he had walked in. He only saw a few of his friends taking that class, one of them being Apple, who was diligently taking notes from the board, practically jotting down everything the teacher was saying. He had already been asked several questions by the teacher, to assess what he had learned. Since he was a Sophomore in High School back in Toronto, he had already passed Mathematics class and had moved onto Algebra and Geometry, but since he didn't have a choice in basic classes, he just powered through it.

Geografairy was a rather interesting class, it was taught by Jack B. Nimble, so he had a rather fun time. Since it was the beginning of the year, the man had been going over the stuff he had taught the previous year, so the recap was actually a rather interesting material for Blake, who had rapidly absorbed the new areas of the Fairy Tale world like a sponge. The more he learned about the land, the better he felt about his surroundings, especially because he didn't want to get lost. He had already filled various pages with details on several areas of interest.

"And that my friends is why Beanstalks are the only safe way to reach the Land of Giants." the man said, pausing briefly to look at his students.

"So, what would happen if you take a hot air balloon up there? Would it pop?" someone asked, earning a chuckle from the man.

"Well, the clouds are so thick that it probably wouldn't even pass though them. As I said before, the clouds act as not only a protective barrier, but also as a place for giants to walk on. That's why they live so high up. In fact, a giant's skin is so thick, that the low temperatures don't even bother them." Mr. Nimble said, earning nods from a few of the students.

"Mr. Nimble, I know we should be learning about this stuff, but don't you think it would be a better idea to learn more about where Blake comes from?"

The boy in question stopped writing, glancing at the seat on the third row. The room was in the style of a collage classroom, with climbing rows each having a wooden desk on it. Everyone was sitting in these rows, and he had gotten the last seat on the very bottom row. The girl that had spoken wasn't one he was familiar with, but had seen around the school during his last two days wondering around Ever After and the nearby Village of Bookend.

She had long violet-white hair tied into long twin tails that fell behind her back. Her pale cheeks were slightly flushed with blush, and her brilliant blue eyes were lined with violet make up, she was wearing red lipstick on her lips, something that made them stand out quite a bit, especially when she was vanishing into thin air. She was wearing a violet varsity jacket, which was white in color with dark violet sleeves, the crest of their school being sown into the front. She was wearing a black and purple skirt, with golden thread forming a grinning cat. She wore dark violet leggings and violet and black boots. She gave the boy a grin, which made him flush a bit embarrassment. It wasn't hard for him to figure out who she was related too.

"You are quite right Miss Cheshire! Blake, would you mind coming up here and telling us a little bit about where you come from? It would be wonderful to know more about this world." Mr. Nimble said.

"Um...sure I don't mind." he said, closing his notebook, as he got out of his seat, standing in the spot where the teacher had been standing. Glancing around, he noticed everyone was now looking at him. He wasn't used to being the center of attention, but he wasn't exactly nervous either.

"So Blake, where do you come from?" Kitty asked, leaning forward in her seat, resting her head in her hands. He rose a brow curiously, wondering just why she had called out to him like that.

" _What's this chick's deal? I don't know much about her to go on, but it seems like she's trying to embarrass me. Heh, I got two annoying sisters, you'll have to try harder than that."_ he thought.

"Well Miss, in my world there are actually seven continents, each being different countries, two of them however are inhabitable, leaving the world with only five habitable continents. North America, South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa, furthermore these continents are further divided into countries. My mother is from the Caribbean, the Island of Puerto Rico, and my father comes from the United States of America, currently we live in Toronto Ontario, a territory in Canada, the country furthest north on the North American continent." he said, having drawn everything on the whiteboard, to the best of his ability of course, none of the things he had drawn actually matched the real world equivalent.

"Fascinating, and is Canada ruled by a Queen?"

"Yes actually, it's sort of hard to explain, and I'm still getting used to this. I used to live in Seattle Washington, which is part of the United States, before moving to Toronto. The Queen of England, one of the countries in Europe, still technically rules over Canada, however we do have a Prime Minister which oversees most of well...everything in Canada. It's an independent country still ruled by a Queen. I'm sorry if my explanation is a little vague." he said, giving his teacher a sheepish grin.

"What about the United States of America? Do they have a Queen or a King?" one of the students asked. Blake shook his head, turning to the crappy drawing of the north American continent on the board.

"The United States are ruled over a little differently. You see, they're what is known as a Democracy, meaning that every four years, the people vote on a new ruler, which is known as the President. The President is the sovereign leader, who has to do everything in his power to protect the Constitution of the United States, or basically the rules of how the country runs. In the past, the United States used to be ruled by England, and their previous King, but the settlers of the New World didn't like the tax he put on everything, so they created a Declaration of Independence, so they could become a free country, the King didn't like that, so a big war was waged on the new world." he said, a small smile on his face.

"War on the new world?"

"That's right Mr. Nimble, these men fought bravely, turning their revolt into a movement to set free the American people, they fought hard, and then they won. Eventually, the leading General, General George Washington, became the very first President of the United States. We've had 45 Presidents since then, and while most make it through their time in office, some have been assassinated. Not everyone shares the same political views, I'm afraid." he said, turning to face the class.

"Our world, has been ravaged by countless wars, each one being more devastating than the last, in some cases. But we as humans move on, we try to attain peace, and not fight pointless battles, it's a constant struggle, but we manage." he said.

"Thank you Blake, for that enlightening lesson on your home world, have a seat, we'll continue learning about the Land of Giants in just a few minutes." Mr. Nimble said, earning a nod from the boy, who walked back to his seat.

The rest of Geografairy went by without a hitch. Blake had learned quite a bit about the world of Fairytales, and had been quite fascinated by several areas, including the Dark Forest, which countless students told him to stay out of. He had agreed, but he had already made a mental note to visit when he had the chance. He had also noticed Kitty had been flicking spitballs at people throughout the class, giggling to herself after nailing someone in the neck. The bell rung, and all of the students got up, packing their things and heading toward their next class.

Blake of course had Grimmnastics during his third period, so he headed toward the Grimmnasium, along with a few others who shared his class. He glanced at his wristwatch, seeing it was only 9:45 in the morning. He had taken notice that classes in Ever After High were much shorter than the ones back in his old school, which were around fifty-five minutes long. He figured it was due to the fact that many students had various important classes that they had to take, which is why each class was around forty minutes or so.

He was suddenly grabbed by his shoulder, and slammed into a nearby locker, the low metallic thud filling his ears for a second. Blake blinked a few times, only to find himself face to face with Henry, the son of the King of the Southern Isles. He grinned, brushing the boy's hand from his shoulder.

"Ello chap! Mighty coincidence running into ya here eh?" he said, in his best English accent.

"You and I still have unfinished business, you ruined my jacket!" the boy exclaimed.

"Don't you remember? My fucks and my unwillingness to give them?" he asked, earning a growl from Henry.

"You will pay for my jacket, and I will keep doing this until every single gold coin comes out of your pocket." he said, earning a sigh from Blake.

"Listen, buddy, I'm sorry about your jacket, truly I am...but you shouldn't have messed with me. It was my mistake for bumping into you, but your mistake was taking my food, so if you don't mind, I'm gonna be late for class." he said, turning to leave for the Grimmnasium.

"This matter must be settled! You will pay for my coat, end of discussion." Henry snapped angrily. Blake rolled his eyes in annoyance, looking around the hallway, taking notice of a couple of familiar girls. He smiled inwardly.

"Hey Lizzie, over here." he called out, causing the girl to stop, looking at him.

"Oh, hello Blake, is something the matter?" she asked curiously. Blake took notice of her accent, which sounded a bit like the English accident he had used a few moments ago. He found it rather adorable in fact, he shook that thought back, glancing at the Grimmnasium.

"Do you know what we're playing in Grimmnastics today?" he asked.

"Footraces I think...just so you know, I happen to be the most agile person in school, you aren't getting a better time than me." Duchess said, holding her nose up high as she walked away, or rather danced away.

"Henry, do you have Grimmnastics right now?" Blake asked.

"Yes I do, what of it?"

"Okay then, how about a little wager, with Lizzie as our witness. If I beat you in a footrace, then I'll have to pay your to fix your coat...every single little detail will be paid for, as soon as I can get a hold of a paying job." he said.

"Fair enough, but I can see that glint in your eye, what do you want if you win?" Henry asked.

"What do I want? Hmm, I want you to get on the school's PA System and tell the whole school what a pompous, snooty, sunbaked asshole you truly are."

"Oh my, that is quite the punishment." Lizzie said, stifling a giggle. The boy growled, holding his hand out.

"Alright, we have an accord, but we will not lose." he said firmly. Blake clasped his hand over Henry's shaking it firmly.

"May the best man win." Blake replied, letting go of his hand a second later. He turned toward the Grimmnasium, opening one of the double doors, holding it open for Lizzie who bowed her head thankfully.

"Sunbaked asshole?" she asked as she passed, causing the black haired boy to laugh. The insult was rather humorous, but it was even more so hearing it with an accent. He just shook his head, walking toward the Boys Locker room.

Once Blake had left his backpack inside the locker room, he walked back into the Grimmnasium. It was a large building, made mostly out of stone and mortar, painted with light colors. Several crimson banners with Ever After High's name were hanging from various areas. The floor was made out of polished oak, emblazoned with the school's emblem. There were two glass hoops at either end of the basketball court, and the sides of the Grimmnasium were lined with crimson colored bleachers. He looked around the room for a few minutes before finding himself a seat, on the bottom row of the bleachers, leaning back into the stone arm rest on the side of it.

His eyes scanned most of the students in the room, he easily spotted some familiar faces. The Charming siblings were hanging out with Apple and Briar on the other side of the room, while Hopper was looking around for a girl willing to return him to normal. He spotted Raven and Maddie having a conversation near the windows. He almost felt like saying hey, but stopped himself from standing up. He didn't feel like bothering them, so instead he continued looking around. After getting bored scoping his possible competition, he leaned back in his seat, glancing at the ceiling.

" _Well, it's going pretty decently for a first day, aside from that douche bag Henry. If I didn't know any better, that dill hole is from Frozen...but that makes no sense. As far as I know, Ever After contains the true rendition of actual Fairy Tales. Then again, the son of Gaston is here, as is Henry, who's family doesn't even exist in the original tale of the Snow Queen."_ he thought to himself.

"Hey, mind if we talk for a second?" a familiar voice said, pulling him out of his thoughts. He opened his eyes and Kitty Cheshire stood before him, a glowing smile on her face.

"Yeah, what's up?" he said, sitting up a bit.

"Lizzie told me you have a bet going on with that asshat Henry, that true?" she said, earning a nod from the boy.

"It's true."

"Interesting, he's rather fast...but I can tell you aren't slacking either, that little show in the castleteria this morning proves it." she said.

"Of course, I practiced Mixed Martial Arts during my free time...of course I know you didn't come here for casual conversation. You want something from me, so what do you want?" he asked, arms crossed over his chest.

"Well, I do need a little bit of help, how good are you at pranking people?"

"Give me a time, place and a target and I'll let you know." he replied, earning a grin from her.

"I'll speak with you at lunch, good luck beating Henry, I'll be cheering for you!" she said, disappearing a second later. Blake blinked a few times, glancing at the spot the girl had just been.

" _Heh, teleportation magic...I should really learn that."_ he thought to himself.

"Hey Blake, what did Kitty want from you?" Raven asked, causing the boy to look down at his friend. Maddie stood beside her, talking to a doormouse that was sitting in a cup of tea.

"Nothing, she just wanted to introduce herself. She seems like an interesting person." he replied.

"You should be careful with her Blake, Kitty means well but sometimes she can be rather...antagonistic." Raven said, earning a chuckle from Blake.

"I've dealt with girls like her before Raven, trust me. Oh right, I have a question, since I'm a sponge for magic, does that mean I can use it?" he asked curiously.

"Um...well, we haven't really tested out to see if you can use magic. Although, going by what Apple said, it should be possible." the daughter of the Evil Queen said, a pensive look on her face.

"Oh oh, you should learn Wonderland Magic! That way you'll have tea where ever you go!" Maddie said, handing the boy a cup of tea, which he still didn't know where she got...although now he did have a bit of an answer.

"Hmm...Wonderland magic huh? I'll look into it." he said, taking a sip from his cup.

"Whatever the case you should be careful with magic, you don't know what could happen."

"What could happen? I suppose you are right, but what could happen when I've never used magic before?" Blake asked curiously. The violet haired girl looked away from him, a frown on her face.

" _It's not about what could happen, it's about what magic you have...I'm certain my mother influenced him in some form...that magic wave I saw in the castleteria this morning, it definitely reminds me of my own magic."_ she thought. She was about to say something when Coach Gingerbreadman blew the whistle, attracting everyone's attention.

"Alright students, it has been brought to my attention that we have a new student today! So everyone welcome Mr. Blake Bigby to the fold, and treat him like one of your friends, unless you want those disgusting bakers to go after you!" he said, growling the last part.

"Bakers?" Blake asked curiously.

"Ignore him, he has this thing for crazy bakers, apparently one of them tried to eat him once." Raven replied, earning a nod from Blake, who was still sort of confused.

"Alright then, we're gonna be heading outside to the Bookball Field for the Relay Races. I've taken the liberty of separating you into threes, the runner with the fastest time will choose tomorrows game." the Coach said, earning cheers from everyone. Blake stood up from his seat, following everyone else out the side door to the outdoor field.

He hadn't heard of Bookball before, but he figured it must have been the same as Football. Judging by how the field was set up, it had to end zones and two field goal posts, so it must have been the same. There were some stone bleachers outside, the seats being crimson in color. Choosing his seat, he decided to sit in the farthest seat left, leaning against the arm rail like before. A few people sat down near him, but he didn't pay much attention to them, choosing instead to remain silent.

" _Wonder how everyone back home is doing. Are they alright? Do they know I'm missing? They're probably thinking the worse already."_ he mused to himself, reaching into his jacket for his Iphone X. He pressed the home button and waited for the fingerprint scanner to scan his thumb before the phone unlocked.

He sifted through his multitude of memes and various other pictures, finding one that he had taken the last time his entire family had been together. It had been during the Christmas season, and all of them were standing in front of the Christmas tree. His father, a tall black haired man, stood next to his much shorter mother, who had a smile on her face. In front of them were the three siblings.

Susan and Mary were both auburn haired girls, with hair that reached down to their waists, only Susan had hers in a ponytail while Mary kept hers straightened. They were both wearing identical ugly sweaters, one being orange, the other being pink. They were also wearing matching skirts, leggings and boots. While Susan had a frown on her face, Mary was smiling brightly, her arm wrapped around Blake's, who also had an annoyed look on his face, mostly because of his own ugly sweater. He smiled fondly at the picture bowing his head a bit.

"Ooo, what's that? A family picture? Could I see?" Maddie suddenly cried, causing the boy to jolt a bit in surprise. He caught his phone before it hit the ground, giving the girl a scowl.

"Don't do that! I have a weak heart." he said jokingly, earning a giggle from her.

"Oh you, but seriously, can I see it?" she asked. He nodded, handing her his phone.

"This is my family, my mom and dad, along with my older sisters Susan and Mary, Susan is wearing orange, while Mary is wearing the pink." he said.

"Wow, they really are identical." Raven said, peering over Maddie's shoulder for a glimpse of the picture.

"Identical in appearance perhaps, but in everything else they are completely different. I miss them a lot...it's only been a few days since I've been here in Ever After, they must be so worried about me...my parents might have even flown home just to look for me." he said.

"Flown? Are you from a world where humans can fly?" Maddie asked curiously. Blake chuckled, shaking his head.

"Not at all Maddie, actually there are machines in my world that fly people from place to play. They're called Airplanes, they're sort of like Blimps, if you have those here." he said.

"I don't know what a blimp is, but we do have air ships." Raven added, earning a nod from the boy.

"Then it's like that, only Airplanes go much faster, some even break the sound barrier! We also have cruise ships for those who don't like flying. And large continents have trains running through them too, so there are tons of ways to travel." he said.

"Heh, I don't have to take any of those to travel, I can just flash anywhere I want." Kitty said, appearing behind the three teens, a grin on her face.

"Yeah, but don't you have to look at a map in order to teleport to that place?" Maddie asked, earning a nod from her fellow Wonderlandian.

"That's right, which is why I love Geografairy so much! I could teleport to the Land of Giants if I wanted too."

"Wait...so if I show you a map of my home, can you teleport there? Do you think you could take me home?" Blake asked curiously, a hopeful look on his face. The three girls shared a look, not knowing what to say.

"Blake, Kitty's teleportation magic doesn't work the way you think it does. She can only travel from place to place if she's in that realm...after my mother curse Wonderland, she tried to teleport back, but was unable too." Raven replied.

"That's right, my teleportation is more of an innate ability, that all Cheshire's have...if I was in your realm, I could definitely take you home, but we're not...I'm sorry." the girl said, genuinely disappointed to dash his hopes. He sighed, shaking his head.

"It's fine...if it were that easy, I would be home by now...I'll just have to keep looking for a way home." he said, his frown turning into a grin.

"Blake, Henry, Cerise, you three are up." Coach Gingerbreadman called out, causing the boy to stand up. He shrugged his jacket off, handing it to Raven.

"I'll be right back, time to teach an ass to stop being arrogant." he said, giving them a wave. He walked over to the starting line, briefly nodding to Cerise who was securing her hood, making sure it wouldn't fall off.

"Ready to lose Bigby? I'm the fastest runner in this entire school!" Henry said, earning a frown from Blake.

"I should warn you, I'm a skater so I have an excellent amount of stamina, on top of that, I do parkour on my off time." he said, pawing the ground a bit with his shoe.

"Yawn, I'm not scared of you." Henry said.

"Alright, get ready!" the coach said, causing the three teens to kneel down, placing their hands on the ground.

"Get set! Go!"

As soon as the Coach blew the whistle, the three teenagers set off, running up their respective lanes. Blake wasn't even breaking a sweat as he was running, and was actually keeping up with Cerise, who was well known for being the fastest runner in the school. He glanced over his shoulder, seeing Henry a few paces behind him.

"Come on Henry, you were talking that good shit a second ago, but I managed to pass you!" he taunted, causing the boy to quicken his pace.

"I'm gonna beat you Bigby, and then you'll have to pay for my coat!" the boy said, earning a chuckle from the boy. Blake continued running, once again passing Henry as they got onto the final stretch. He took a deep breath, pushing himself forward gaining a good distance from Henry.

Cerise was the first one to pass the finish line, coming to a stop a few feet before it. She turned around, curious to see who would take the next spot, only to see Henry and Blake were neck a neck. Henry however decided to play dirty, and stuck his foot out, causing the black haired boy to trip, earning gasps from the crowd.

"Hehe, loser!" Henry cried, approaching the finish line. Blake growled, slamming his fist into the ground. He felt something spark within him, and held his hand out, a violet energy covering his hand.

"Take this boy who caused me pain and wrap him round with an unbreakable chain!" he chanted.

A thick violet chain flew from the palm of his hand, wrapping around Henry's legs, causing him to fall down. He tried to untie them, but was unable too as they were too strong. Blake quickly got up and raced toward the finish line, stopping just after he had crossed it. He glanced back at Henry who was still struggling with his chain, and then at his hand, which he opened and closed a few times.

"That's it, the race is over. Next time, hold off on the magic!" the Coach said, looking a bit disappointed at what had happened.

"Hey, are you gonna unwrap me?" Henry cried out, earning a smirk from Blake.

"Nah, you can figure that out on your own." he said, walking back toward the bleachers.

"I didn't know you could use magic." Cerise said, following after him.

"Neither did I, good race out there Cerise, maybe next time I'll get close to beating you."

"Heh, I'd love to see you try." she said, holding her fist out. Blake did the same, briefly bumping fists before they returned to their spots.

"Blake, do you think I could speak with you real quick?" Raven asked, looking at the boy, concern written on her face. He nodded, taking his jacket back from her, slipping his arms through it.

"What's up Rae, you seem worried." he said, once they had gotten away from everyone else. Her lips were pressed in a thin line, her hands balled together in nervousness. She took a deep breath, nodding to herself.

"I think...you might have had contact with my mother." she said.

"Eh? When?" he asked curiously.

"In the Mirror Realm...I'm sure you know this, but my mother tried taking over various world, and put an evil curse on Wonderland. As punishment, she was imprisoned in the Mirror Realm for all eternity. However she can still interact with people...I think she might be the reason why you are here." Raven said. Blake blinked a few times, narrowing his eyes in thought.

"It...would make sense...before I approached the mirror, I did hear a voice, that was the reason why I walked over to it. But why would she bring me here, what's her angle?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out...you don't remember anything, but there is one thing that ties you to her. That's magic, she might have given you some of her power." she said.

"Why would you think that?"

"Well, that spell you cast on Henry, that was a rather easy enchantment once of the first ones I learned, and you cast it without previous knowledge on magic." Raven said.

"Hmm...so she gave me some magic, that's probably why I don't remember anything, aside from falling into the mirror and popping up in your dorm...so, she's the cause of why I'm here, but why would she do it?" he muttered, a pensive look on his face.

"That I don't know...I never really got why my mom did most of the stuff she did. So maybe in her mind, she saw you as a perfect target and is trying to make you into her pawn...everything is a game of chess to her after all." Raven said, a look of disappointment on her face.

"Hey Raven, it's alright...I can tell you feel really responsible for what happened to me, but don't fret! Your mother is the one that did this, not you. I'm not that worried about it, but there's something awesome that came from this, I have magic! That's something I didn't have before, and even though I miss home, you gotta admit, this is pretty cool." he said, holding his glowing hands up.

"Whoa, since when can you do that?" she asked, earning a grin from the boy.

"Since now, it's almost like turning on a switch. I hope you can help me get a hang of this stuff, I'm not that good with magic." he said.

"I barely have a handle on my own magic...but it's better to train with a buddy than learn by yourself. For now, no enchantments until we can see just how much magic you've got in your body."

"Sure thing teach, I'll be sure not to let you down." he said, giving the girl a salute, earning a giggle from her. The Coach blew his whistle, signaling the end of class, much to their pleasure.

"Well, you won the bet, are you gonna collect?" Raven asked, earning a grin from the boy.

"Oh, you know it." he said, giving her a wink.

 _ **xxx**_

"Everyone, I would like to welcome our new student, Blake Bigby to the fold! Remember, all of you were new students at one point, so let's not discriminate against him for being new. Let's show him what it takes to be a hero!" Mr. Knight said firmly, earning a chorus of yeses from the class.

He was a hulking man, at least that's what Blake assumed. He was wearing a polished set of armor, just like the ones medieval knights would wear. It had various designs on it, flowers and various other small things. The armor had a large helmet, covering his head entirely, on top of the helmet was a large blue feather like attachment that was shining in the sun. He also saw the large sword attached to his waist.

"Don't you worry Blake, as the next Prince Charming, I am quite adept at sword fighting, I'll teach you the ropes." Daring said, giving the boy a smile.

"Uh...sure...what exactly to we have to do, Mr. Knight?" Blake asked, glancing back at the armored man.

"Right, we mostly train with practice swords in general combat. Eventually, we will move on to the next stage, using the real deal. I'm not sure if you have formal training at all, but I did hear about your...counter attack, against Mr. Henry this morning." he said, glancing at the Prince who was still scowling, annoyed that the black haired teenager was also in his Sword Training class.

"Well, I did take self defense classes back home, Mixed Martial Arts mostly. I was actually learning some Tae Kwan Do, before I abruptly dumped here." he said, earning some blank looks from the others.

"What's Tae Kwan Do?" Dexter asked curiously, causing the boy to roll his eyes.

"Um...well Tae Kwan Do is a style of fighting that was formed in Korea. It focuses mostly on Head-High kicks, flips and fast spinning attacks. If you all were present this morning in the castleteria, that kick that I performed on Henry was one I learned in Tae Kwan Do. I actually combine some Boxing moves, mostly Grapples, with Tae Kwan Do and various other styles." Blake said, earning interested looks from the others.

"Pfft, this class is about sword fighting, not hand to hand fighting. Do you have any formal training with a sword? I seriously doubt it." Henry said.

"Probably not the sword training that you guys practice here...Mr. Knight, do you have a Katana I could use?" Blake asked, earning a shrug from the armored man, if that was possible.

"I don't believe we have any oriental weapons here my boy...there's a barrel over there with practice swords, maybe you'll get lucky and find one. Everyone else, pick up from where you left off yesterday." the man said.

Everyone broke off, heading toward some practice dummies that had been set up across from the practice field. Blake walked over to the barrel of practice swords, humming to himself as he sifted through them. Most of them were short swords, while some were modeled after two handed swords. He did find a few one handed long swords that looked promising. He pulled one from the barrel, seeing it was pretty basic. He swung it a few times, testing its weight.

"Find one that you are comfortable with?" Mr. Knight asked, causing Blake to look up at him.

"I did, this one will do. Hey, do we have to use a shield too? Or is that optional?"

"Well, if you want to be a hero, you must have a means to defend yourself. Light armor will be good, but having a good shield is also necessary. Unless you plan to become a knight like me." he said.

"Hmm...well, what if I use offense as defense?"

"I...don't follow." Mr. Knight replied, watching as Blake reached for another long sword. He held both in each hand, holding the one in his right hand raised so the blunt end was facing outward.

"I watched a lot of anime growing up, and played quite a lot of video games. I can't say I can emulate what those shows did, but I can try my hardest...I'm not a shield guy, slows me down too much." Blake replied.

"Well, if you feel like you can handle not having a shield, then please, feel free too. Of course when we move onto Dragon Slaying, you'll have to have one." the teacher said, earning a nod from the boy.

"So, you teach Sword Training, Dragon Slaying and Damsel-in-Distressing? Are these classes all at the same time, or do we switch from class to class?"

"That depends on your skills and what your destiny entails...course Destiny is all up in the air with this Royal vs Rebel conflict, just practice your skills, you never know when you may need them." the man said, walking off toward his students.

"Hey Blake, wanna have a spar? I wouldn't mind teaching you some sword skills." Daring said, earning a curious look from the boy. He noticed a few of the girls in class were looking at the blond boy. He rolled his eyes, giving him a nod.

"Sure, I could use a warm up." he replied.

" _Course, it isn't gonna be a warm up for me, since that race in Grimmnastics got my blood pumping. I'm not that good with swords, but it won't be hard to adapt."_ he thought to himself.

"You aren't grabbing a shield?" the oldest Charming asked curiously. Blake shook his head, getting into a bit of a low stance. He had never been in a sword fight before, but years of playing video games and watching anime had told him what he needed to know.

"Shields are heavy, and they slow down my speed, I'll be fine. Just fight normally." he replied. Daring nodded, pulling his wooden sword from his belt, holding up his wooden shield.

"Whenever your ready." Blake said. Daring moved forward, using a basic slashing attack, which Blake easily blocked. Using his sword, he was able to push it away, quickly spinning on his heel he threw a slash at his chest, only for his sword to strike his wooden shield. Blake quickly backed away, crossing his swords to catch Daring's.

"Not bad for a rookie." he said, taking a few steps back.

"Thanks, this is literally my first sword fight." the boy admitted.

Daring smirked, throwing a forward jab at Blake, who easily parried the attack. He tried going in for a sword bash, but the younger boy was quicker, side stepping and using his opponents momentum against him. He slammed his leg into Daring's back, sending him tumbling forward. Quickly catching himself, the blond dashed forward, throwing various slashes at Blake, all of which were quickly countered, loud whack's filling the area.

"Hmm, you were right...a shield would slow you down...and it's slowing me down as well...how about we just fight, no shields, single swords only. Whoever lands a hit wins." Daring said, giving the boy a smirk. Blake shrugged, stabbing one of his wooden swords into the ground, watching as his opponent tossed his shield aside.

"Just so you know, I don't have an exact style, this is all new to me." Blake replied.

"Oh I know, and I'll exploit that weakness and defeat you here." Daring announced, dashing forward, holding his sword at shoulder level. He went for a downward slash, which Blake easily dodged.

The boy dropped to the floor, placing a hand on the ground to keep balance. He pulled his sword all the way back, before throwing a powerful upward swing at the taller teen, who was barely able to block it. Using all of his strength, Blake pushed Daring back, making him stumble. Seeing that as an opening, the boy dashed forward, holding his sword with the tip outward, aiming for a stab. Daring quickly swung upward, parrying the attack. Both jumped back, panting a bit. By now, the other students had stopped what they were doing, their eyes on the two sparring teenagers.

Blake waited for a few seconds, dashing forward at the panting blond. Daring held his sword at an angle, waiting for his strike, only it never came. Blake just moved past him, making him narrow his eyes in confusion. He turned around, only to see an incoming sword, quickly he rose his own to counter the attack, being pushed back several feet. Blake swung his sword as hard as he could, each attack being parried and deflected. Daring finally threw an attack of his own, the tip of his sword lightly grazing Blake's cheek, leaving a small red mark behind. The boy reached up to his face, seeing the small drops of blood on his hand.

"Well, you got me." he said, giving his opponent a grin.

"Just barely...what...I can't even, that fighting style was uncanny, you have so much power behind each strike. Are you sure you didn't train before?" Daring asked, clearly impressed with the younger teenager's swordsmanship.

"I'm pretty sure. Like I said before, all I did was mixed martial arts, so I guess my strength comes from that...although I do like Katanas more than long swords, I gotta admit, it was pretty fun. Hey, maybe when I get better we can spar again." he said cheerfully.

"Of course, whenever you wish, I'll be your opponent." Daring said, shaking the boy's hand. Blake smiled, even though he was arrogant sometimes, Daring was a pretty cool dude, at least in his book.

 _ **xxx**_

" _Lunch time in Ever After High, a time where the students can relax after their tiring classes, have some fun and enjoy a meal with friends."_ the male narrator said, as the scene opened up in the castleteria.

" _That's right, even though the students are evenly split, the Royals and Rebels do enjoy sharing this time together...and it seems the new transfer student, Blake, is still having a hard time choosing a side. Maybe he'll chose the Royal side."_ the female narrator said, earning a growl from her male counterpart.

" _Did you not see what he did this morning? He stood up for the misunderstood Rebels, that makes him a Rebel by choice!"_

" _You are wrong. He was only defending himself against Henry, a rather pompous Royal, I do admit. But he's made friends with Apple White and Daring Charming, two Royals, so he will definitely sit with them."_ the female narrator counter, a hint of annoyance in her voice.

" _Ah, but he and Raven share a connection now, her mother the Evil Queen brought him here, and she's starting to become protective over him, so that makes him a Rebel by association."_

"Blake, are you alright?" Maddie asked, having noticed the cringe on the black haired boy's face.

"I think I have schizophrenia Maddie, I keep hearing voices in my head, and their arguing. It's so weird!" he said, earning a laugh from the girl.

"Oh, those aren't voices silly! Those are the narrators, they're always fighting over one thing or another! Hey you! You're giving Blake a headache, stop arguing!" she cried, glaring at the ceiling.

" _Apologies Blake, we didn't think you could hear us."_

" _We truly are sorry, we'll make sure our arguments don't happen when you are near."_

"It's fine you guys...wow, I truly am in a Fairytale world, if only there was a way I could go home...you two wouldn't happen to know of one, would you?" he asked curiously.

" _I'm sorry Blake, but we only narrate the story, we don't know exactly how things will unfold ahead of time."_ the male narrator said.

" _Yes, we will try to figure something else...the last thing we need is for this story to change too much."_ the female narrator replied, earning a nod from the boy.

"So...you hear them often?" Blake asked, earning a vigorous nod from Maddie.

"I hear them all the time, well whenever they have an argument and they tend to get a little loud. No one believes me, well...now you do! So, what side are you sitting on?" she asked curiously.

"Um...I dunno...I have friends from both sides, but I haven't decided on this little conflict yet." he said.

"You should definitely come have lunch with us! Oh right, I totally forgot, Raven told me to tell you that Farrah told her that she wants to see you after school to get some clothes made." she said.

"Um...okay then." he said, looking around for a table to sit at. He found Raven sitting by herself, and decided to go over to her table, with Maddie trailing behind.

"Hello from the other side Raven! Mind if I take a seat?" he asked, causing her to look up from her lunch.

"Huh? You wanna sit here? With me?"

"Mhmm, my mom always told me, meals are supposed to be shared with friends. Royal or Rebel? It matters not to me, we're friends and that's what matters!"

"That so...well I'm not stopping you, of course you better get ready for the rumors, oh and the gasps." she said.

"What gasps?" he asked as he sat down, hearing several people gasp, someone even screamed loudly, causing Maddie to drop her tea kettle.

"Oh poo, you see what you do with your gasping and such? Those aren't that easy to fix! Now I have to grab this dirty tea and toss it!" she cried, grabbing the tea from the floor, which somehow still retained its shape. She walked to a nearby trash can, throwing the liquid inside it. Blake rubbed his eyes, glancing at his food.

"Man, I must have snorted a shitload of PCP this morning." he said.

"What's PCP?" Raven asked curiously, causing the boy to choke on his food.

"Nothing you need to know about Rae, so how are classes? Any evil experiments get out of hand?" he asked jokingly, earning a smirk from the girl.

"Wouldn't you like to know? Today we were learning about Wonderlandian Snap Dragons, they're really sweet if you raise them right, but if you give them Dragon tears they...tend to go a bit ballistic." she said, shuddering a bit.

"I don't even wanna know...so what about you Maddie? What goes on in the life of the Mad Hatter's daughter?"

"Oh, this and that. There's those things too, and a lot of that!" she replied. Blake pursed his lips, shoveling some food into his mouth.

"What about you Blake? How is your first day in Ever After High treating you?"

"Hmm, aside from whopping Henry's ass, twice today, and almost beating Daring in a sword fight, pretty good. I do have this nasty crink in my neck from when Henry slammed me against the lockers earlier...speaking of that, he's really gonna do it. I told Kitty to get Grimm out of his office, she should be here in...now." he said, glancing at his phone.

"So, what is this matter that's happening in the castleteria Miss Cheshire?" the man in question asked, following the purple haired girl into the room.

"Well, the matter is this...there aren't any Wonderland Apples here! Just these boring normal ones! I thought it would be a good experience for everyone if you brought some here." She said, giving him a grin.

"Absolutely out of the question. You know exactly why we cannot reopen those portals Miss Cheshire, if that was all, I shall be returning to my office." he said.

 _ **Ding Dong Ding Dong**_

" _Ahem, students of Ever After High...this is Henry, Prince of the Southern Isles...and I am a snooty, self absorbed, arrogant, sunbaked asshole, thank you."_

"Oh my godmother! He actually said it!" Maddie cried, throwing herself to the floor in laughter, much like everyone else in the school.

"Hey, that will teach him to mess with me. He didn't want to do it either, but I told him if he didn't do it that I would shave his head...he's most likely gonna try to get one on me, but he'll never be able to win." Blake said, taking a sip of his juice.

"Hey Blake, think we could talk real quick? I promise, it won't take long." Kitty said, earning a nod from the boy.

"Sure, let me finish up here and we'll talk, thanks for the assistance with Henry, by the way."

"Of course, he had it coming. Don't keep me waiting." she said, disappearing into thin air, her bright smile being the last thing to disappear.

"You know...I'll never get used to that...it's pretty cool." he said.

"So, what are you and Kitty going to talk about?" Maddie asked, sitting back in her seat, pulling an entire tea set from her hat, along with some scones. He blinked for a few seconds, shaking his head.

"Nothing too important, don't worry about it Maddie, it isn't anything dangerous, I assure you."

"Uh-oh, he said the word dangerous, that should be a clue for something big." Raven said.

"Eh, I doubt it. I don't think Blake is the kind of person to do anything stupid." Maddie said, grabbing a hold of her flying tea kettle, asking it a second later where it was going. Blake remained silent, smiling inwardly.


	4. Blondie's Just Right!

**A/N:**

 **I have gotten graced with a borrowed laptop, and thus I post!**

 **Welcome one and all to a brand new Chapter of Through the Looking Glass, a story with a misleading title that is never gonna get changed. Last Chapter, we got to see a bit of Blake's first day, today you will all see...other stuff...no spoilers though...**

 **I would like to address one thing that a guest reviewer submit last night, or this morning, or whenever, I didn't bother checking when it was posted. I know that all of my oc's may have similarities, but the reason why that is, is because all of my ocs are reflections of myself in some way shape or form. Using Daisuke as an example, since he was one of the more recent ocs I created for Danganronpa...Daisuke is based mostly on my love of writing, which is why he's a writer/story teller. He also happens to love music because I love music too. I suck at every instrument I've tried, minus the violin, so my characters are always musically inclined. Jack Sparrow from my Pokemon fic, happens to be a reflection of my younger self, I wasn't into Photography, but I always thought it was cool, so that's why he's a Photographer. Aiden from Hellfire Dragon Slayer would be a reflection of myself with magic.**

 **What I'm trying to get at is, that these characters are normally reflections of myself which is why they're similar in some ways. I try not to blend them together, but after writing so many stories, writing ocs this way becomes second nature, which isn't exactly a bad thing, I guess. I'll try my best to make ocs more distinguished in the future.**

 **As for your second point, I don't think the characters are out of character too much. After all this is my version of this series, so that means I'll change the characters to fit my needs. Also who said swearing doesn't exist in this place? Just because this is a series aimed for kids doesn't mean they don't swear. I mean come on, it doesn't matter what universe you go too, High School Kids are High School Kids, tell me one school that doesn't have swearing teenagers? Just because they are written a certain way doesn't mean they can't be written another way. Christ, I read a story about some of these characters getting it on, and I'm sure that isn't part of the show, last time I checked. So, I hope you don't mind my swearing, I grew up around it, so I usually write it in without realizing it. If it makes you feel better, I'll make Blake only swear in this story, not that it isn't an issue, to me at least.**

 **Sorry about that, and sorry if it sounds like I'm being an asshole, but I felt the need to address this, since I couldn't speak to the Guest Reviewer directly. This is also why I dislike those reviews because it takes time from my authors note to address this thing, and that's why I usually ignore them, anyway, I have explained what I wanted...so let us move on.**

Ever After High

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 4

Blondie's Just Right/Job Hunting

Seven days had passed since Blake had arrived in the world of Ever After High. Seven days in a magical realm, seven days away from his friends, and seven days since he had seen his sisters and family. He tried not to think about it often, but he couldn't help but feel homesick. Headmaster Grimm hadn't had any luck finding his realm, and had told the boy to be patient, though he subtly told him not to expect much. Still, he promised he would get him home as soon as he could, if only so he could salvage what was left of the traditions in Ever After High.

He had been attending all of his classes as well, and enjoying them as well. He realized that Ever After High followed a sort of college schedule. On Monday, he would have all seven of his classes, including his lunch period. On Tuesday, he would only have five classes, on Wednesday, he would have six classes, on Thursday, he would again have six classes and on Friday he would have five classes. He had been debating on taking another elective during one of his free periods, Cooking Class-ic stuck out to him quite a bit, he hated to admit it, but he was a good cook.

On Fridays, he would have Riddlish first, with Mr. Mad Hatter, his friend Maddie's father. He had to admit, he had gotten the hang of Riddlish rather quickly. It was rather simple, just speak in Riddles and Rhymes and you'd have a good time. At least that's what his teacher had said. It had been a bit challenging during the first few days, but Maddie and Lizzie had helped him through it, and he had been able to pick it up rather quickly. It was like the time he had to learn French when he moved to Canada when he was younger.

He had also gotten better at sword fighting, mostly because Mr. Knight had gotten him a personal practice sword in the likeness of a Katana. He had been practicing some of the Kendo stances he had seen in videos on the internet, while throwing his own combinations in. He had also picked up some of Mr. Knight's teachings, the man even said he was on the road to becoming a warrior himself.

However since it was Friday, he had two free periods in the morning, right after first period Riddlish, so for the next hour an a half, he didn't have anything to do. He didn't feel like going back to his dorm, after all he had nothing to do there. He didn't feel like playing his Vita, and his laptop didn't work on the MirrorNet, so he couldn't use it to do anything. So he was currently walking around the halls of Ever After, looking for something interesting to do. He glanced around the empty halls, a bored look on his face.

" _I could go to the arcade, but that's in town and I wouldn't want to be late for class. I got in trouble last time because I blew Grimmnastics for Tetris."_ he thought, lips pursed in thought. He stopped in front of the Student Lounge, noticing a few people inside. Shrugging, he walked inside.

" _Might as well kill a few minutes here. I do have that magic book Raven gave me."_ he thought to himself, finding a nice looking chair near the middle of the lounge. He sat down, pulling the book from his backpack, flipping to the second chapter where he had left off.

"Hey, think I could speak with you for a second?"

Looking up from his book, he glanced at the girl across from him. He vaguely recognized her from one of his classes. She had long white hair, with streaks of violet running through it. She was wearing a bright yellow shirt, with blue musical notes on it. Over it, she wore a black vest with white lapels, bearing golden musical pins on it. She was wearing a knee length skirt, with red flower like designs on it, and a yellow underside with a ruffled hem. She was wearing a pair of black boots with black belts and buckles. He also took notice of the tattoo she had on the side of her leg.

One thing that Blake had noticed during his short time in Ever After, was how attractive the girls were. It was rather interesting, almost as if they had been written that way. Fairytale princes and princesses who were very handsome and beautiful. He was almost jealous, especially of Daring, who was always able to attract throngs of girls to his side by just smiling. He pushed those thoughts to the back of his mind, closing his book, making sure he had his bookmark in place.

"Yeah what's up?"

"Well, I figured you'd want to chat, seeing as you came here when everyone is in class. That look on your face just screamed boredom. Besides, I wanted to talk to you for awhile now." she said, earning a curious look from the boy.

"Oh, am I that interesting?"

"Of course, you're the talk of the school...beating Henry in a race, and your sword fight against Daring, you're slowly becoming popular. But that isn't the reason I wanted to talk to you. I figured, since you're from another world, you'd have some interesting tunes with you." she said. The boy nodded, leaning back in his seat.

"That's true, I do have a lot of music from my world on me. I bet you want to listen to some of it, however I don't give my phone out to just anyone. However, if you agree to be my friend, I can let you borrow it for a bit. So, what's your name cutie?" he asked, giving her a smile. The girl flushed a bit, her blue eyes glittering a bit in the light.

"It's Melody Piper, we're in the same Muse-ic Class." she said.

"Muse-ic? Oh, you're Mr. Piper's daughter, I feel sort of stupid for not recognizing you now." he said, feeling rather dumb.

"It's alright, you've only been here for a week, so I'm sure you still don't know everyone in the school. So, now that we're friends, mind if I listen to those tunes now?" she asked.

"You must be rather excited to listen to my music, I don't blame you. We have a lot of good music back home, course some of it is shit, but there's nothing I can do about that." he said, unlocking his phone. The girl grabbed her purse and stood up, moving to the seat next to his.

"I'll be the judge of that...I can tell you play music too, guitar maybe?"

"Yup, not just guitar...I can play bass and violin too. Of course, I had to quit my violin lessons to take martial arts instead, I need a means to defend myself, in case something happened." he said, handing her his phone.

"In case what happened?" she asked curiously. He shook his head, clearly not wanting to talk about it.

"I'm not exactly the best around, but no ones ever taken me down. Everyone back home just things I'm a talentless loser, but no one knows I can shred just as good Freddie Mercury." he said. Melody give him a confused look, earning a chuckle from him.

"I think I have a good song to start you off with." he said, taking his phone briefly, sifting through his playlist, until he found Queen's Greatest Hits. He clicked on Bohemian Rhapsody, hitting the shuffle button.

"Well, I can already tell I'm gonna have a good time listening to this." Melody said, a smile on her face.

"Trust me, I've got nearly three thousand songs, you'll be good for awhile. You have fun, I'm gonna study up on magic." he said, opening his book.

He started glancing at the words, memorizing some of the history behind magic spells. He however couldn't help but steal a few glances at Melody. He had to admit, she was really cute, and he was a sucker for blue eyes. He quickly glanced at his book, turning onto the next page.

" _She's really cute, then again a lot of the girls in this school are cute. This place would put the girls in my world to shame, they don't hold a candle to any of them."_ he thought, a frown on his face. He subtly glanced at his wrist, seeing the golden bracelet he had been wearing for the last week. He sighed, glancing back at the book.

"Judging by the look on your face, I can tell that isn't a good book." Melody said, pulling him from his musings.

"Oh, the book is interesting...I'm just thinking." he said.

"Thinking huh? What about?" she asked, giving him a smile.

" _How attractive you are."_ he thought to himself. He had been considering on saying it too, but he didn't really have the guts to do it, instead he came up with a segway.

"How much I miss my guitar. I would probably be playing it right now...well I would be in school, but if I had nothing to do, I would be writing something." he said.

"I figured you'd be the one to write your own stuff. You've got that vibe you know?"

"So do you, I bet you're amazing with music, you are the daughter of the Pied Piper after all." he replied.

"I'm no good with a flute, I prefer a turntable anyway...I've been really into dubstep for a couple years now. Even the rats dig my sick beats." she said, earning a surprised look from the boy.

"There's dubstep here? Well, I can tell you and I are going be excellent friends." he replied.

"So can I...we should hang out sometime. My dorm is sound proof, and I've got some instruments you can borrow, we'll lay down some tracks if you want."

"Sure, I've been dying to record some cover songs, I'm an awesome singer, but the only time I get to perform is when I'm in the shower. The rubber duckies always like what I sing for them." he said, earning a laugh from the girl.

"We're definitely going to be great friends."

"I've got another song for you, look through my playlist for a song named Highlander: The One, by Lost Horizon...just letting you know, I'm sorry if you grow a beard." he said.

"Grow a beard? What do you mean by that?" she asked, giving him a curious look. He gave her a wink, returning to his reading.

 _ **xxx**_

"Say Blondie, when are we going to interview Blake? A lot of people on MirrorBook keep asking about it." Dexter said, glancing at Blondie who looked up from her MirrorPad.

"Hmm, he does have a few free periods today. Yes, I think his interview will be fine on today's broadcast. I've got the perfect questions to ask him, it's going to be just right!" she said happily.

" _Blondie Lockes, could you please report to Headmaster Grimm's office at your earliest convenience? Thank you."_

"I've been summoned! This is the golden key to destiny!" Blondie cried, running up the hallway, somehow not falling due to the heels she was wearing.

"Wait, what about Blake?" Dexter asked, causing her to stop just as she turned the corner.

"The interview will still happen, I know you'll be able to find him. Everything's going to be just right! Trust me!" she said, running off. The brown haired prince sighed, turning down the hall.

"Great, now I've got to find this guy...hmm...if I we're Blake, where would I be?"

Blondie made her way into Headmaster Grimm's office, a bright smile on her face. She briefly glanced at her MirrorPad, checking all of the things she had ready for her next MirrorCast. She sat down in front of the man, placing her MirrorPad on her lap, giving him her utmost attention.

"Thank you for coming Miss Lockes, as you know, after the events of Legacy Day, the students at Ever After High, have started to question some of the lesser known legends. I was hoping to borrow your services." he said.

"Borrow my services? You mean my MirrorCast?" she asked curiously, earning a nod from the man.

"Indeed, you see I need a way to prove these legends to be true. You are a popular young woman here at Ever After, so I know you would definitely be able to handle this job. We mustn't let these traditions fall into obscurity." the man said firmly.

"This is wonderful! I was just thinking about what I was going to cover during today's MirrorCast! Aside from my interview with Blake, I didn't have anything, but this will do Just Right!" she said happily.

"Yes, I would hope so. You and Dexter Charming are excused from classes, just for today, I want this show to capitilize some of the well known legends, don't let me down Miss Lockes."

"I won't, you've got my word Headmaster! I've got to let Dexter know about this, we'll get started right away! It's gonna be my best MirrorCast do date!" the blonde cried, running out of the office with an excited look on her face.

 _ **xxx**_

"Definitely, we got this program back home called Fruity Loops, it's expensive as all hell, but the beats you can make on it are amazing. In fact, some of my friends mixed their tracks on it." Blake said, earning a curious look from Melody, who was still listening to some of his music, the two of them had decided to take a walk through the school, to get to know each other better.

"We've got a few different ones, the one I use the most is one if developed myself, called N-Chant, that's also my DJ name, if you didn't know before. I'm the go to gal for any school sponsored events. Sadly, I didn't get to play Legacy Day with everything that happened, but I'm also glad Raven did what she did. I don't think any of us would have had the nuts to do it." Melody admitted, earning a frown from the boy.

"That's one thing I don't understand about this world. I know tradition is important, but you shouldn't be forced into it. A tradition should be something that everyone loves to do, because it's a special time to bond with friends and family. If you get it shoved down your throat, it just...loses it's meaning. That's like forcing someone to eat caviar right after eating a Big Mac." he said, crossing his arms.

"Try telling that to Headmaster Grimm, he will never understand. You know, my old man didn't want to be the next Pied Piper either, but he didn't have what it took to stand up to what he believed in. So I promised myself that I would break away from my destiny, and follow my dreams, because he wasn't able to."

"You know Melody, you're a pretty chill gal...you remind me a lot of someone I knew back home." he said, glancing at the bracelet on his wrist. She looked at it briefly, seeing all of the charms on it.

"Does that belong to her?" she asked curiously, earning a nod from him.

"Her name is Lucy...she went missing last year. Some people say she ran away from home, others say she was kidnapped. They never found a trace of where she went, nor a body. It wasn't until she was missing that I realized how much she meant to me. Anyway, what were we talking about before?" he asked, wanting to steer away from the conversation.

"We were talking about mixing programs."

"Oh right, well I don't know when I'll get a new laptop, but when I do I'll definitely download your program. Maybe now that I'm in this world, I'll be able to express myself the way I want. That's one thing I've come to like about this world, the rules a much less strict." he said.

"Unless it's about signing the Storybook of Legends or anything else destiny related." Melody said, earning a chuckle from the boy.

"Hey Blake, I finally found you."

The two stopped walking, turning around to see a rather tired looking Dexter. He was holding a sky blue MirrorPad in his hands, his hair looking a bit out of place. Blake crossed his arms, looking the boy over for a few seconds.

"Did you search this entire school for me? You could have just called bro." he said, earning a sigh from the nerdy Charming.

"Yeah, sort of forgot about that. Blondie asked me to look for you, she wanted to do that interview today, if you have the time. She sent me a text message, saying anyone involved in Today's MirrorCast is exempt from class." he said, holding up his MirrorPhone.

"Aw dammit, I totally forgot about that...alright, yeah I'll do the interview, I hate going back on promises, especially to cute girls like Blondie. Melody, it's been fun getting to know you, go ahead and keep that phone for now, you can give it back later." he said.

"Are you sure? What if you get a call or something?" she asked curiously.

"Quite right, here, take my Ipod instead, it's basically like a phone, except it's only for music. It doesn't have a password so you'll be fine." he said, handing her his violet colored Ipod, in exchange for his phone.

"Thanks Blake, good luck on your interview, Blondie can be quite nosy when she wants be. Catch ya around." the white haired girl said, giving the boy a wink as she walked off. Blake smiled inwardly, a light blush on his cheeks.

"Dude, how do you do it?" Dexter asked curiously.

"Eh? How do I do what?"

"Dude, Melody Piper just winked at you. She's like, the most popular girl in school, aside from Apple White of course."

"Well, I didn't really do anything. I just spoke to her normally, sure she's really cute, just like a lot of other girls at this school. Plus we have a lot in common, we both like making music, so that's a common ground for us." he said with a shrug.

"A martial artist, a skater, and now a musician? What aren't you good at?"

"Waterloo, Croquet, Algebra, I suck at clothes shopping, BMXing, Downhill Skiing, the Waltz, oh but I'm a good cook at least." he said, earning an eyeroll from the brown haired boy.

"Anyway, come with me to the A/V room, that's usually where me and Blondie hold her show, she's already there preparing all of the questions for the interview. Just as a fair warning, don't say too much or she'll keep pestering you until you speak."

"Wonderful."

 _ **xxx**_

"Welcome everyone, to another hot episode of Just Right! Today, we'll be going around the school proving that some of those lesser known school legends are actually true! But before that, I promised you an interview with our newest transfer student! Here he is, Blake Bigby!" Blondie said, clapping her hands as the black haired boy awkwardly sat down in the chair beside her.

"Um hello...it's nice to be here Blondie." he said, giving the girl a polite smile.

"Aw, you're nervousness is so adorable. So, I've got quite a long list of questions, but the most popular one on the website seems to be this! What side are you officially on? The Royal side, or the Rebel side?"

"I don't exactly have an answer for everyone. You see, I do have a lot of friends on either side. I'm not from this world, so I don't have a fate, so that would technically make me a Rebel, but I also think that I have a destiny here, or else I wouldn't have popped out of Apple's mirror. So for now, I'm staying Neutral, neither Royal nor Rebel." he said, earning a nod from the curly haired blonde.

"An interesting answer, I was personally expecting you to side with the Rebels, you hang around them a lot."

"No true, I was hanging out with Briar yesterday, she wanted me to help her pick out some safety pads. I got her into skateboarding, shame I don't have my own yet." he said.

"That's another thing, you've been hanging out with a lot of people here in Ever After, it seems you are rather interesting person. Why is that?" Blondie asked, earning a shrug from the boy, who leaned back in his seat.

"I'm not sure, it could be that I'm from another world. I'm sure the novelty will wear off soon...I'm not exactly an interesting person." he replied truthfully.

"I beg to differ, I think your arrival in Ever After was what we needed to forget the events of Legacy Day, it was just right in my opinion. So let's get to the more personal questions, how old are you?"

"Sixteen in a half, and I'm just gonna rapid fire answer this, my height is five foot ten, I like black, purple, blue and red, I hate chowder, it looks like vomit so I never got used to eating it, I have two older sisters, Susan and Mary, I play video games and stream them to the internet during the summer, I do parkour, mixed martial arts, I can skate, draw and play music."

"Whoa whoa whoa, slow down there, I need to check these off the list!" the blonde cried, checking everything he had answered with her stylus, her scribbles filling the air for a few seconds.

"Okay, so that's some of your likes, dislikes and hobbies...wow that narrowed the list down significantly. Oh, here's an interesting one submitted by one of our fans, do you have any juicy secrets you are willing to share with us? Particularly involving the charm bracelet you are wearing?" she asked, giving the boy a smile.

"The bracelet...how the hell did you even see that? It's always under my jacket sleeve." he said, glancing at the camera, earning a shrug from Dexter.

"I suppose it must have happened while you were in Grimmnastics or another class. So tell us about it!"

"Well, there's nothing to really say about it...it belongs to my best friend Lucy, she went missing last year, and this is the only thing I have left of her. So I wear it in her honor, nothing more nothing less." he replied, placing a hand over the bracelet, to block it from the view of the camera.

"This Lucy girl must mean a lot to you if you wear that bracelet, is she your girlfriend?" Blondie asked curiously.

"Not at all, Lucy hated all of that mushy love stuff, we were just close friends, practically grew up together."

"Fascinating, I did some little digging in the school records and well...this might seem a little insignificant, but I do want to get to know you better. What does the J in your middle name stand for?"

"Really? You want to know my middle name?" the boy asked curiously, earning a vigorous nod from the girl.

"Yes of course! It wouldn't feel right to let you walk out of here without finding out what it is...so please tell us what it is." she said, giving him a smile. He shrugged, grinning inwardly.

"Well, the J stands for Jungemu Jugemu Goko-no Surikire Kaijarisuigyo-no Suigyomatsu Unraimatsu Furaimatsu Kuunerutokoro-ni Sumutokoro Yaburakoji-no Byrakoji Paipopaipo Paipo-no-shuringan Shuringan-no Gurindai Gurindai-no Ponpokopi-ni Ponpokona-no Chokyumei-no Chosuke."

"Are you...are you serious?"

"Mhmm, you wanna see my ID?" he asked, reaching for his wallet.

"No no, I'll take your word for it...hmm, your parents have a rather...unique sense with names."

"They sure do." he said, holding his chuckles as Blondie glanced at her tablet.

"It's almost time for your next class so I don't want to keep you more than I should...um, I've got time for another question. Since you've been in Ever After High, you've garnered a lot of female attention. So would you mind telling us who your crush is?"

"Would I get in trouble if I said it was you?" he asked, giving her a smirk. The girl flushed brightly, hiding her face behind her tablet.

"No, you wouldn't."

"I'm just playing with you Blondie, you are insanely cute, but I doubt I would be _Just Right_ for you...as for the answer to that question, I'm not exactly looking for a relationship right now. I mean, what if I have the chance to go home? It wouldn't be right leaving someone behind." he said, a hint of seriousness in his voice.

"That is true...it wouldn't be right at all, falling in love and then breaking someone's heart like that. It would be like Cinderella leaving the ball and never being found!"

"Yeah, that wouldn't be good at all...oh right, Cinderella, if you are somehow watching this webcast, I wanna say I'm a huge fan! I would love to meet you before I go home!" he said happily, smiling to the camera.

"Well, we are out of time! Thank you so much for accompanying me today Blake, I still have a few questions, but I'll ask them to you later on. Catch our after show tonight where an extended cut of this interview will be online, as always, this is Blondie Lockes, thanks for watching, see you soon!"

"We're clear! Good job you two, we've had the highest views yet!" Dexter said, holding his tablet out to Blondie, who took it from his grasp.

"Yay! This is great! Thanks for everything Blake, do you think we could have some extra time to film the after show? It would be around ten minutes long, I'll write you a pass to your next class." the blonde said, giving him a pleading look. He sighed, giving her a nod.

"You are lucky I have a weakness for blue eyed girls." he said.

"Oh, you like blue eyed girls then? That narrows the list down significantly! I'm pretty sure I can guess who your crushing on! It's definitely Melody isn't it?"

"Nice try Blondie, come on, let's get this done."

 _ **xxx**_

Blake was rather excited, he had finally gotten a call from the manager of Hocus Latte, who had been interested in hiring the young man. Normally, a teenager wouldn't be happy to sacrifice free time in order to work, but he was in serious need of money. Most of his friends had let him borrow money, even though he had refused, countless times. It would be good to finally have a paying job, so that he could pay his friends back, and finally start getting some stuff that he needed. He had been happy that Farrah had helped him out with clothing, but he didn't want to take advantage of her magic, he just wasn't that type of guy.

He took a deep breath, fixing his now raven and violet hair, and making sure his clothes were free of wrinkles. All he was wearing was his regular clothes, since he didn't have anything fancy, that and he was still in school for the day, having skipped his lunch period just to come to the establishment. He pulled the door open and walked inside a smile on his face, only his smile turned into a frown when he saw Henry walking toward the door, holding a cup of coffee in his hands.

"What are you doing here numb nuts?" he asked, earning a sigh from the boy.

"Getting a job, something you should consider doing, since fixing that coat cost you more than a pretty penny." Blake said, brushing past the sandy blond.

"Great, this is one of the best coffee shops around, don't ruin it with your foreigner stink!" Henry shouted back. Blake rose his hand up as he walked, his middle finger raised up. Infuriated, Henry growled, knowing he couldn't do anything at the moment.

"Hello, may I speak with Martin? I'm here about the interview." Blake said, earning a nod from the cashier. She left for the back of the cafe, returning a few minutes with another man.

"Hi there, my name is Martin, are you Blake Bigby?"

"That's right sir, I'm happy you called, I'm really in need of this job." he said.

"Well follow me to the back and I'll interview you. We're in need of a night cashier, and I think you fit the bill." Martin said, leading the boy to the back of the coffee shop. Henry smirked, walking over to the counter, earning a smile from the cashier.

"Do you need anything else Henry?" she asked curiously.

"No, but I came to warn you...that guy that just walked back there with your manager...he's a bad dude."

"Bad? He looks really sweet! He complimented me on my shirt yesterday, even though I have to wear this apron over it." the girl said.

"No no no, that's just a front. Under that sweetness lies a dark evil man, who loves kicking cute puppies! Why, just this morning, I saw him kicking his pet dog! It was so horrible!"

"Are you serious? You aren't lying to me are you?" the girl asked.

"Not at all! I'm not a liar...he also disrespects women all the time. He might act polite, but that's in public. You should have seen him yesterday, pinching Apple White's rump with no remorse! Go ahead and ask her the next time you see her, I guarantee she'll say even worse things about him!" Henry said.

"I can't believe what a two faced...I need to talk to Martin right now! I can't have someone like that working here!" the cashier said, quickly walking into the kitchen. Henry took a sip from his coffee, turning on his heel.

"My work here is done."

"So you have experience working something like this before?" Martin asked, earning a nod from Blake.

"I've worked at corner stores before. They were usually summer jobs though, and recently, I did apply for a supermarket, but I arrived here before I got the call. I will say that I am experienced with working something like this, so I can handle anything you dish out at me." Blake said, giving the man a smile.

"That's what I like in a good worker! I have a few others to interview today, but you are by far one of the most positive applicants I have gotten!" Martin said. A sudden knock filled the room, causing the man to stand up.

"Excuse me, this must be one of my employees, we must be out of caramel again." he said jokingly, walking toward the door.

Blake decided to check his phone, in case he had gotten any messages. He had gotten one from Raven asking him where he was, which he quickly replied too, as well as one from Cerise who wanted to show him around the Dark Forest, since he had insisted her for a tour. He glanced at the clock at the top corner of his phone, and sent the hooded girl his reply, telling her that he was free the following day. Martin finished his conversation and sat down at his desk, glancing at his desk top for a few seconds, before looking up at Blake.

"Blake, I'd like to apologize to you...as it turns out, we already hired someone, so we currently have no open positions. My night manager didn't leave me a note or anything."

"Oh...that's a shame. Are you sure there isn't a spot available? I really do need this job." Blake said, almost insistingly. The man looked back at his computer for a few minutes, before shaking his head.

"Truly I'm sorry...this was all a huge misunderstanding, I do wish you luck on the job hunt. There are plenty of places here that are looking for youngsters like you."

"That's true...thank you so much for your time Martin, it's almost time for me to go back to class anyway. Have a nice day." he said, giving the man a handshake before leaving the office. The man sighed, shaking his head.

"I can't believe someone that nice can do such horrible things to puppies, not just that...poor Miss White too, she deserves some free coffee for her bout of sexual harassment." the man said firmly.

Blake frowned as he walked back to the high school. He was still surprised about his interview, he was sure he had the job in the bag, but then everything changed. Martin had told him a spot was open for him at the beginning of the interview, and by the end of it his attitude had changed. It didn't make sense, but if there wasn't a spot available, then there was nothing he could do about it. He still had half an hour before he was due at the Bookball Field for Grimmnastics, so he was gonna head to the arcade to kill some time. He glanced up from his phone, seeing one of his friends helping a few ducks cross the street.

"Hey Apple, you uh...helping ducks cross the street now?" the boy asked, grabbing the girl's attention.

"Of course! This is a high traffic area, and I would just hate for these little ones to get hurt." she said, giving the boy a bright smile.

"Well, you inherited your mother's love of animals, that's for sure. You need any help?" he asked.

"Not really, but I did want to talk to you...about what you said during Blondie's MirrorCast earlier today."

"I get it, you want to see my ID right? I assure you, that's what the J stands for." he said, reaching for his wallet.

"No, it isn't about your insanely long middle name...I just wanted to personally invite you to join the Royals. I believe you have a lot of amazing qualities, and even if you aren't Royalty, I believe that you should follow your destiny, once you find it of course. After all, you were brought here for a reason." she said, placing her hands together.

"Apple, as fun as that sounds, I think I'll pass. I haven't made my choice for a reason, I don't want anyone to pull the betrayal card from the bottom of the deck. I'm slowly making friends with a lot of the Royals and the Rebels, I feel it's too early for me to choose, or rather I don't have the right to choose. I'm not from here, if I leave then it wouldn't matter what side I pick." he replied, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"I suppose that's true...I'm sorry Blake, I must seem like a horrible person, trying to push you into making a choice." she said, a frown on her face.

"Hey, I didn't say that! I'm happy people actually want me to pick a side, it's just difficult right now. That's why I'm staying on the neutral side of things, that way I can have time to interact better with everyone. Besides, there are some Royals I absolutely loathe." he said, growling a bit at the thought of Henry.

"Yes, some people are hard to get along with, I'll admit." Apple said, a frown on her face.

"Oh my godmother! How can you hang out with such a disgusting pervert Apple? Are you insane?" a passerby called out, causing the two to stop.

"Eh? What are you talking about?" Blake asked.

"Don't talk to me, you're sick you know that? Kicking your pet dog and kicking puppies? I hope you get arrested jerk!" the girl cried, throwing her cup of water at the boy. She walked away in a huff, nose held up high.

"Well fuck you too! Just so you know, I love animals! I would never kick puppies!" he shouted, brushing his jacket which was now damp from the water.

"What was that about? Why would she call you a pervert?"

"Hell if I know, I've never met her before. Are girls in this world always that aggressive Apple?" he asked curiously.

"Not normally, don't worry about it...I doubt anyone else will do anything like that...so tell me, how did your interview go? I heard you were called from Hocus Latte." the girl asked, pausing to wave at some boys. They all glared at Blake, muttering things under their breath as the walked past. He looked at them briefly, before looking back at Apple.

"Well, the interview started out great, the manager was really happy. Then out of nowhere, one of his employees spoke to him and his mood changed, he said he didn't have any spots left when he said he did. I don't know why, and now that girl threw her water at me for no reason. Whatever the case, I'm out of a job, think you can help me find one?" he asked.

"Sure, I've got time...but what about class? Do you have any right now?" Apple asked curiously.

"Eh, I'm sure Coach Gingerbreadman will understand me not showing up today...finding a job is just as important as going to class after all." he said.

"If you say so, though you should make an effort to go to class." She said sternly, earning a nod from the boy.

"Yeah yeah, I don't want a repeat of my Freshman year after all."

"Oh I know, let's try Beanstalk Bakery, they always have spots open." she said, earning a nod from the boy.

It didn't take them long to reach the establishment, which was situated near the other end of Bookend. The Beanstalk Bakery was in fact based around a giant beanstalk. It was an outdoor bakery, with various tables, which all had bright green umbrellas that bore the name of the restaurant. The back counter was resting upon the giant beanstalk, and the menu was actually a blackboard, listing all of the prices for various baked goods. There was another small building, most likely where all of the goods were made. The front counter was also a display, which had various pastries inside, along with their prices.

"Well, here we are. This place makes the best cupcakes in all of Ever After, they're really popular...is this your first time here?"

"No, me and Lizzie came here to work on Riddlish homework once, we had to leave when they didn't have her favorite tea scones." he said.

"Yes, that happens quite often...well let's go get you that application." she said, pulling the boy toward the register. The young woman behind it gave the princess a smile.

"Hello Apple, what would you like?" she asked.

"Actually, I was hoping you had job openings available...if that's possible." she said, batting her lashes a bit.

"Sure we do, we're in need of a server, are you the one applying? I think you would be a hexcellent server." the girl said.

"No no, the job is for my friend here, his name is Blake, he's the new transfer student."

"Oh." the girl said, turning to face Blake.

"It's nice to meet you miss, I'm really in need of a job...I don't have a resume or anything, but I'm not afraid to work. I'll even wash the grout with a tooth brush if I have too!"

"I'm sorry, but I don't have spots open for perverted puppy abusers! Honestly Apple, it's beyond me how you could hang out with someone who is alright with touching your butt in public." the cashier said, earning a wide eyed look from the princess.

"What?"

"Yo, who the hell told you this? This never ever happened! I would never do that to my friends, especially someone like Apple! Have some fuckin respect!" Blake snapped angrily.

"Oh right, I bet you talked her into believing it wasn't even her fault. You disgust me, get out before I kick you out myself!"

"Tch...fine, thanks for nothing." Blake said, stomping out of the establishment. Apple crossed her arms, eyes narrowed in annoyance.

"I may not know him for long, but I do know Blake would never do something like that. He has never touched me inappropriately, and he does not kick puppies either! Whoever told you this is lying, so never ever say something like that about him again, got it?"

"Yes Miss White, sorry Miss White." the girl said, bowing her head in shame. Apple walked away, a proud smile on her face. She glanced around the area for Blake, but didn't see him around. She sighed, realizing he must have gotten far away from her.

" _I have to find out who started this rumor, that's three people know...I guess I'll go to Hocus Latte since this started there first."_ she thought, heading toward the coffee shop.

"This is bullshit..I can't believe this shit is happening right now." Blake muttered, as he walked through the streets of Bookend. A lot of people had started glaring at him as he walked, and he honestly wanted to know why.

The only thing he could think of was someone was spreading rumors about him. He hadn't sexually harassed Apple, and he had never hurt a puppy or a dog in his life. Just the mere notion of someone accusing him of that was enough to piss him off, especially because it hindered with his ability to get a job. He clenched his fists tightly together, taking a deep breath calming himself down.

" _Think, there has to be a rational reason why this is happening...someone is talking shit about me and it's spreading like wild fire. Maybe I should have stuck with Apple, she seems to have a handle on the situation."_

"Blake? Are you alright?" the familiar voice of Ashlynn Ella asked, causing the boy to look up. He blinked a few times, glancing away from the girl.

"Uh...yeah I'm fine...someone is spreading some messed up rumors about me, and it's messing with my job hunt." he said.

"Aw, that's horrible. I know, I do need some help with a shipment that just came in. I can't give you anything long term, but I can pay you if you help me. What do you say?"

"Ashlynn you are an angel sent down from heaven, thank you!" the boy said excitedly, following the girl into her shoe shop. Henry, who had been quietly following the boy frowned.

" _Damn, I was hoping more people insulted him. Watching him get pissed off is so fun...but Ashlynn is such a good person. Hmm...maybe I can mess with her too, for turning me down last year."_ he thought, glancing around. He noticed Hunter walking through the alleyway, looking around the area for a few seconds before ducking into the back door of The Glass Slipper, an idea worked its way into his head. Nodding to himself, the boy walked off, a plan forming in his head.

 _ **xxx**_

"This is going great! Alright Dexter, are you ready?" Blondie asked, earning a nod from the brown haired boy. He gave her a thumbs up and she took a deep breath, noticing the red dot on his MirrorPad start blinking.

"Welcome back everyone, we're here with Sparrow Hood, to prove the legend of the Griffon! I heard, that if you play a soothing song, a Griffon will likely fly away from its nest! Let's watch!" she said, stepping away allowing the son of Robin Hood to take the front.

"Woo! This is a new song, I haven't named it yet, but I hope you all like it!" the teenager said, running his fingers over the strings, before playing a riff. Dexter aimed his Pad up at the giant nesting Griffon, watching it bob its head to the beat.

"Well it likes it." he quipped, earning a frown from Blondie.

"Yes, but it's supposed to fly away...oh wait, it's moving!" she cried, pointing at the creature. It let out a loud caw, a loud thump echoing through the area for a few seconds.

"Well, that's it...it didn't move at all." Dexter said, glancing down at Sparrow.

"I might have played the wrong song...oh by the way, check out my new album on MirrorTunes, it just dropped this morning! Sparrow Hood is rockin! Yeah!" he cried, once again strumming the strings of his guitar. They heard a groan behind them, seeing Headmaster Grimm walking out from the bushes.

"Headmaster look, we're doing a fine job with these legends! I think I have various things going for me. We can prove so many things now, like the legend of Unicorns being aggressive to everyone, and the truth behind Ogres kicking people from their swamps, oh oh, and we can do something else regarding Pegasi being able to walk on clouds!" the blonde cried, causing the man to faint.

"Is he alright?"

"I dunno...Headmaster Grimm? Yoo hoo? You okay?" Blondie asked, poking his cheek. She laughed awkwardly, glancing at the camera.

"We're having some...technical difficulties, please catch the rest of this legend on the website, we'll be back after a short break! See you soon!" she said happily, with that the screen went black, and the Webcast ended.


	5. Rumors

**A/N:**

 **Hello everyone, welcome to Chapter 5 of Through the Looking Glass. I hope you all are having a wonderful Sunday, currently I am watching The Walking Dead which is becoming more and more awesome with each episode. Hope fans of the show are watching it, and enjoying it just as much as I am.**

 **But I am not here for that...I am here for you all to read a brand new chapter of Through the Looking Glass, the mistitled story that will continue to get new updates whenever it is I can finish them on my dinky little iPod. Last Chapter, shit happened, this chapter, shit will happen, but it's the kinda shit that might just piss you off. Maybe...**

 **I will say, it might look out of character, but honestly I don't really care...the purpose of this story is for me to experiment with these characters and see what different scenarios are going to happen. It won't be long until we reach the first major event of this story, True Hearts Day, in fact I'm currently writing chapter 7 which will be the first part of it...so do look forward to it. This Chapter will be increasing Blake's bond with Cerise, one of my favorite characters in this series...  
**

 **I hope you all enjoy this chapter, if you have questions, comments, concerns, then please leave me a PM...make sure to favorite and follow the story, leave a review if you feel like it, and I hope you all have a nice day...**

Ever After High

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 5

Rumors

The Dark Forest was nothing like the Enchanted Forest. For one, it was darker and more ominous than the other forest. The trees were tall and grew in all directions, the branches almost looked like hangs trying to grasp you and drag you into the depths of hell. There was a musky smell lingering in the forest, mixed with dead rotting leaves and stagnant swamp water, the often loud hooing of owls echoing through the darkness. There was a lone path that cut right through the forest, and would take anyone that dared walk through it straight through to Hood Hollow, the settlement on the other side. Currently, the only two brave souls walking through the woods were Blake and Cerise who was acting as a guide of sorts.

The black haired boy had dressed differently for this excursion through the woods. He was still wearing his favorite varsity jacket, with a light blue shirt that Farrah had made for him. He was wearing some black skinny jeans, with a black studded belt, and some thick leather boots so he didn't hurt his feet. Cerise had told him that there was a lot of things that could go wrong in the woods, and one of them was hurting your feet while walking around. The last thing he needed was to cut himself on a sharp rock or something else. He had his backpack with him, along with some water and some food in case he got hungry, he noticed Cerise was carrying a basket with her, so that meant she was planning on stopping somewhere.

It was quiet, well mostly quiet. The buzzing insects and the animals scurrying about proved to be the only source of sound, aside from their own walking. The black haired boy didn't exactly know how to interact with the daughter of Red Riding Hood. Aside from a simple hello and a few words of advice when entering the woods, they hadn't spoken at all. He figured it was due to the rumors that had been spreading around about him. The previous day, he had spent most of his time with Ashlynn helping her unbox several shoes she had gotten for her store.

He had also explained to her what had happened in detail, and she had promised to help him find the source of the rumors and quash them. She had also offered him a job helping her whenever a new shipment came in. While it wouldn't be daily work, he did appreciate the thought, and he now had more money on him than he did a few days before, so that meant everything to him. Even though a day had passed, everyone in Ever After High had started seeing the foreigner differently. For one, apparently he was a Puppy kicking, sexual deviant who loved pinching girls on the butt when they weren't looking, according to Lily-Bo Peep at least, who had asked him if the rumor was true.

A few others had asked him about them as well and he did his best to prove he was neither an animal abuser nor a sexual harassment machine, but of course they all took his word for it. He found the whole scenario annoying and somewhat amusing. While it did hurt his feelings that people talked bad about him, it also impressed him quite a bit. It seemed as if someone's little comment had turned into a full blown war, and he was at the epicenter of it. He just hoped it would end soon so he could live in peace. He had a limited supply of clothes and he didn't want them all to be dirty, especially by piping hot coffee.

He paused briefly, glancing at his wrist watch for the time. He and Cerise had left the school at 10 and it was now 11, so they had spent an hour in the woods. It was a bit awkward that neither of them had said anything to each other. The hooded girl however must have figured something was bothering the boy, so she hadn't said anything. She was never the curious one, but she had to admit, Blake had something that not a lot of others seemed to possess, she wanted to know more about his world, but was to shy to ask him about it.

"Um...are you alright Blake?" she asked, causing him to look up.

"Honestly, not really...I'm sure you've heard those rumors about me, they're...driving me nuts." he replied, glancing at the ground.

"Yeah, I heard a lot of them. Don't worry, I know all of them are bogus...someone probably did it to hurt you." she admitted, earning a nod from him.

"Probably, and it's working. I lost out on my job at Hocus Latte, got kicked out of the Bakery, and now everyone thinks I'm a damn pervert. I respect women and would never do half the shit people accuse me of. It's becoming stressful." he said.

"I'm sorry."

"It isn't your fault Cerise, let's just keep walking." he said, earning a shy nod from her. They resumed their walk, crossing a dirty looking river over a thick log. Cerise crossed it with ease, while Blake stumbled a few times, but managed to make it all the way across.

"I have a question, about your world." the hooded girl said, grabbing his attention.

"Sure, I don't mind answering your questions."

"What's it like there?"

"Um...it's interesting. For one, there are over seven billion people across the world, there's tons of cool animals and plants too. But people can be...messed up. To quote one of my favorite movies, It's in our nature to destroy ourselves, and we often do. But we rebuild, we help each other during the worst times, and we become stronger. My world has a lot of problems, but we always find a way to overcome them." he said, a small smile on his face.

"Wow, that's a lot of people."

"Yup, you can meet all sorts of people on a daily basis...my grandmother said to me once, that strangers are just people you haven't met yet. The opposite is true I guess, strangers can also be enemies." he replied, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Hmm, I have another question...is there a Storybook of Legends over there? Like, when you want a new ruler, do they have to sign a book to take over?"

"Nothing like that exists in my world Cerise. You see, in my world you are free to choose your destiny. One thing never changes, you are born, you live and then you die. But it's in that precious amount of time that you can decide what you want to be. You can't let someone coddle you into doing what you want! That's the beauty of it all, you have the freedom to chose." he said happily.

"What do you want to be then?"

"That's a good question...I think, I'd like to be an author. I've been around for sixteen years, but I've done a lot of fun stuff. There have been good times, and bad times, and I would definitely love to share those stories with people. I'd like to have awesome friends, share some of those crazy times...maybe get married, have some kids...who knows really?" he asked, earning a nod from the girl. They remained silent for a few minutes.

Cerise was honestly surprised, she had been expecting a good answer from Blake, but had gotten a rather heartfelt one instead. She was honestly starting to like the sound of Blake's world, a world free of destiny, where anyone could be whatever they wanted. Where someone like her who didn't have the right to exist, could live peacefully. She placed a hand on her chest, feeling her heart beat. She couldn't help but smile a bit.

"Would this world...judge someone for existing?" she asked, causing the boy give her a weird look.

"Judge someone for...what are you trying to get at Cerise?"

"Nothing, it's just...you wouldn't understand." she replied, turning away from him. He rose a brow, a smirk on his lips.

"Try me, I did fall through a mirror you know." he replied. The girl sighed, closing her eyes for a second, before nodding to herself.

"Well...it's like this, the reason why I'm a Rebel is because I don't have the right to exist. My family is hiding a secret, a big bad secret, that I'm sure would turn the whole Fairytale world on its head. It's been so hard to hide, and only a few people know but...I'm so scared of what might happen."

"A big bad secret...oh my, it isn't what I think it is, is it?" he asked.

"Me being the daughter of the Big Bad Wolf?" she asked. He gave her a nod.

"So, you mean to tell me that...you're mom, fell in love with the Big Bad Wolf, and you were born. And since you are Red Riding Hood's daughter, technically you would be the next Red, but since you are the daughter of the Bad Wolf as well, you would be the next Bad Wolf, so...you don't have a role to play because you can't play both of them." he said.

"It goes a little further than that...I have an older sister, she's the next Bad Wolf."

Blake remained silent, not exactly knowing how to react. He had been slowly learning more about the world of Ever After, mostly by reading history books on his off time, and he had started earning his own gripes against Destiny. It was wrong for someone to follow something written in ink and held in a book. Destiny was something that shouldn't be decided by writing, it should be decided by fate. But apparently not everyone believed in fate in this world, it seemed. He honestly didn't know what to say, but he now understood why Cerise didn't have many friends, and kept her circle small, because she didn't want to get hurt.

"I'm sorry Cerise, this is all so difficult for you, and here I am forcing you to live through this pain again."

"It's fine Blake...I've grown used to it. Now that Raven changed Legacy Day, I don't have to be scared of signing the book. But it's a constant battle to keep my secret a secret. The only reason I told you is because...I trust you."

"Huh? But this is our first time hanging out together, how can you trust me?" he asked.

"Because you are like me. You aren't supposed to exist in this world, yet here you are. Maybe fate brought you here, maybe it was destiny..."

"Maybe it was a mirror." he replied, earning a giggle from the girl.

"Whatever the case, you are here now...so don't let something like some rumors bring you down, because you'll always have friends to hear you out. I'm a little shy, but I'm a good listener." she said, pulling her hood down, showing him her wolf ears. His eyes widened a bit in shock.

"Wow, wolf ears...never thought I would meet a faunus here." he said.

"What's a faunus?"

"That's a topic for another time, I fear that if we delve into the world of anime, we might fall into a pit we will never escape from." he said, almost dramatically as he walked off.

"So, I hear you are a fan of Cinderella...are there anymore people you are a fan of?" Cerise asked curiously.

"Sure, I grew up reading tons of Fairytales, of course most of the ones I know are from Disney. That man is the king of Fairytales, may god bless his soul. To answer your question, I am a fan of Snow White, she has a pretty singing voice. I do feel bad for Aurora for that curse that was placed upon her, but she met her prince and had a happy ending." he said.

"What about Red Riding Hood?" she asked, earning a chuckle from the boy.

"Red Riding Hood is awesome, seriously. Your mom is a badass, being able to face off against a wolf and not be scared...of course he was dressed as her grandmother. That's besides the matter though, I'm definitely a fan of her." he said.

"Good, because we're almost to my home village. I come here every weekend to spend time with my mother, so you'll have the pleasure of meeting her."

"Huh?"

"Where did you think I was taking you? We went over the river and now we're almost through the woods...come on, you should know this by now." she said, giving him a smile.

 _ **xxx**_

"Oh my gosh Apple, I heard what happened to you, I just wanted to say I'm sorry you had to live through that."

"Huh? Live through what?" the blonde girl asked.

"Well, I heard from one of my friends that you went on a date last night with that creep Blake, and he tried to forcefully kiss you. Were you scared? I have some mace if you need it."

"No! I don't need it! Also we never went on a date, he was doing homework all afternoon! Where are these rumors coming from?" she asked firmly.

"I dunno, my friend told me...I gotta get back to work, stay safe." the girl said, walking off just as fast as she had showed up. Apple watched her go, a frown on her crimson lips.

She had been trying to find the source of these bad rumors, but hadn't found a single lead. By the time she had gotten to Hocus Latte, the previous cashier had left, so she hadn't been able to ask her anything. She had asked the manager of the establishment about it, and he just told her the same thing she had heard, that Blake had kicked his pet dog, and had done horrible things to her, he had also proceeded to give her a free coffee and wouldn't stop until she accepted it.

The rumors had started evolving, at first it had been puppy kicking, now people were saying he had been mistreating the dragons in the stables. She was sure Blake hadn't even seen a dragon, let alone know of their existence. Now she was being asked if she was fine after her date with him the previous night, which hadn't even happened. She sat down at a nearby bench, glancing at the coffee in her hands.

" _Where are these rumors coming from? I've known Blake for a little while now, and he doesn't strike me as a bad person. He would never do anything like this, so why would someone start these horrible rumors?"_ she asked herself, being unable to come up with an answer.

"Hey Apple, what are you doing here by your lonesome?" Briar asked, causing the blonde to look up. She gave her friend a smile.

"Hi Briar, I'm just taking a walk through town, trying to clear my head."

"I can see that, there's a lot of nasty stuff going around about you and Blake. Apparently, you two are in a pseudo-masochist relationship, and your his dominatrix, so he gets revenge in public where you can't do anything about it."

"That's the worst thing I've heard today, sweet Fairy Godmother, these rumors are getting bad." she said, her face frozen in shock. Briar sat down beside her, leaning back in the bench, making sure her sunglasses were secured onto her head.

"Listen girl, I dunno how all of this started, but there's only one way to end it. You have to get onto Blondie's next webcast and quash them yourself. After all, you are the daughter of Snow White, the future Queen of Ever After, they'll listen to you." she said.

"I was considering that too, but you know how Blondie is, she'll keep prying. I'm telling the truth so is Blake, but before I do anything, I want to find out who started this chain of rumors. Whoever it is, they did it with the intention of ruining Blake's time here." she said. Briar hummed to herself, eyes narrowed in thought.

"Hmm...I think I know who might have done it, let's check in with Daring though, he might know something we don't." she said.

"Okay, I guess that's better than sitting around. I promised myself that I would end this for Blake's sake, so I have to keep to it."

"You're too nice Apple, you know that right?"

"Daughter of Snow White remember? I don't know how to be mean." she said, giving her friend a smile.

 _ **xxx**_

The School week had started again, and Blake honestly wasn't having a good time. He had spent the entire weekend with Cerise and her mother Ruby, and got to know a lot about the woman, and about Hood Hollow. They had gotten a surprise visit from Mr. Bad Wolf, and the boy had honestly been scared for his life, but the man quickly laughed it off like nothing, of course he made the boy swear to keep the secret with his life or something horrible would befall him, to say he was scared was the least of his worries. But upon his return to school, late at night, he had noticed the attitude had changed.

While he did like the popularity that came with being from another world, it all seemed non-existent now. People who once looked at him with curiosity, now regarded him differently. He didn't really care, most of the time at least, he had been used to this back in his old school. In the end, high school was high school, no matter where it was held. If on Earth, or in the Realm of Ever After. It was almost scary, how similar the school system worked, aside from having classes catered to various talents and destinies, the students still acted like rowdy high school kids. It made him feel right at home.

However, with it came the advent of new rumors, some that made him question what people did during their free time. He had grown from mildly annoyed to amused rather fast, especially with the recent one he had heard. Apparently, he and Apple had been on a date and he had forced himself onto her, because she was secretly his dominatrix. It honestly made him laugh so hard he had to excuse himself from his math class just so he could calm down. Of course from those, stemmed the more severe ones, which said that he was an animal abuser. He didn't even know dragons existed in this world, and now his excitement at seeing one were dashed, especially because he had been banned from the school stables. He hadn't even set foot inside that place, but now he never would.

He was currently in fourth period Riddlish, since it was a Tuesday, and while normally he would be laughing at the Mad Hatter's antics, today he just didn't feel like laughing. It hadn't even been three weeks since he had arrived in Ever After, and he was already starting to miss home again. It was hard not to, especially when people talked about you all the time behind your back. He tried to laugh off some of the more obnoxious ones, but there were rumors that he absolutely couldn't ignore, especially the ones that involved Apple White. It was those that hurt him the most, since she was such a popular girl, everyone turned into his enemy when his name was mentioned alongside hers.

"Blake, my boy are you alright? You seem down in the dumps, would some tea make you feel better?" the Mad Hatter asked, pulling a tea kettle from his hat.

"I'm sorry Mr. Hatter, I'm just not in the mood for tea." he said, earning gasps from the other students.

"How could you not be in the mood for tea? You are always in the mood for tea!" Maddie cried, an incredulous look on her face.

"Madeline, perhaps he isn't feeling well." Lizzie added, glancing at the black haired boy.

"Is it because of those rumors?" Kitty added, earning a nod from the boy.

"I'm having a hard time fitting in now. Funny, how someone can fall into obscurity just as fast as they rose to the top. I guess the novelty of the foreigner from another world wore off, and now Apple's my dominatrix, and I beat puppies for fun." he said sarcastically.

"Hey, it doesn't matter what people think of you man. You helped Ashlynn out of a bind on Friday, she would have had to unpack all of those shoes by herself." Hunter said firmly, earning a nod from the girl sitting beside him.

"He's right, we know the truth and we aren't going to judge you differently. Besides, Apple is trying to find the source of these rumors, and when Apple does something, she sees it through to the end."

"So cheer up mister! There's no frowning in Wonderland!" Maddie cried, handing him a cup of tea. Blake smiled, giving her a nod.

"You're right, thanks for cheering me up guys...I'll just have to do my best to ignore these rumors." he said.

" _Blake Bigby, could you please report to the Headmaster's office? Thank you."_

"Oh great." he muttered dryly.

"Worry not! I'm sure it's nothing bad! Before you go Blake, I've got a question for you, Why is a Raven like a Writing Desk?"

"Because it can produce a few notes, though they are very flat; and it's never put with the wrong end in front...see ya." he said, leaving the room. Everyone remained silent, with Maddie and the Mad Hatter sharing the same look.

"Did he...solve an unsolvable riddle?" Lizzie asked.

"I think he did...huh, now that I think about it, his answer does make sense." Ashlynn added.

"I think we should just continue the lesson, before those two stay like that." Kitty said, a grin on her face.

 _ **xxx**_

Blake kept his head down as he walked down the halls of Ever After High. Very few people were out in the halls, but all of them did their best to avoid him, while it felt bad, he didn't really care what they thought. He at least had people who believed him and that's what mattered to him in the end. He was more curious about why he was being called to the Headmaster's Office. One theory was of course that he had found his world and was getting ready to send him back. He had been hanging onto that hope for awhile now. Of course, another theory would be that all of the rumors had gotten to the Headmaster and he wanted to hear his side of the story...he was hoping that wasn't the case. He was however about to find out, as he had arrived at the man's office. He pulled the door open, slowly walking into the large room, his head bowed a bit as he walked.

"Mr. Bigby, thanks for coming. I have pulled you from your class because I have some rather hexcellent news...it seems we have found your home world."

"Huh? Are you serious?" Blake asked, a shocked look on his face.

"Well, we believe it is your world. We ran some experiments on Miss White's mirror and were able to find traces of your world within the mirror, using that we were able to pinpoint your world. It seems your world is filled with a lot of Black Arts." the man said.

"Yeah...there are a lot of people saying they can speak to the dead, and using a lot of black magic and witchcraft. I usually just passed that off as craziness, but it's a shock to see it's real." he said happily.

"Indeed, however before we send you back home we must extract all of your magic from your system. You seem to be exuding a good amount of it...would you like to say goodbye to your friends before hand?"

"I suppose so, I owe it to them...what do I need to do for the magic drain thing?" he asked curiously.

"Well, Madam Baba Yaga will need to do some tests on you, worry not they won't be physical exams or anything, they'll be mostly magical. We need to figure out what type of magic you have within you so we can safely drain it out. So for today, you'll be excused from your sixth period class to have these tests done...after we get the results in, we'll be able to send you home."

"Awesome! Do you know how long it'll take?"

"Not long, by the end of the day you'll be back home with your family. I'm sure they've missed you dearly...however, you cannot tell them where you went, I fear someone might try to come into this realm and cause us harm."

"No worries Headmaster! I'll come up with something, I'll just tell them I ran away or something." Blake replied, earning a nod from him.

"Yes, that would be for the best, you may return to class...oh and Mr. Bigby, I've heard some rather...serious accusations about you and your relationship with Miss White."

"Headmaster, those things aren't true...I did not touch her inappropriately, I did not force myself onto her, and she is not my dominatrix, I don't even know what that is! Someone started that with the intent to ruin me, but you know what...I don't care anymore, I'm finally going home! It sucks that I have to leave my new friends behind, but I'll finally be able to see my family, and that's all that matters right now." he said firmly. The man gave him a nod, allowing him to finally leave the office.

"Well, I can certainly say his stay here was an interesting one, and I was able to learn about his world. But what is that magic I sense on him? Why is it so familiar to me?" he muttered to himself. He heard a laugh beside him, bringing his attention to the fancy mirror on the other end of the room. He growled, narrowing his eyes.

 _ **xxx**_

Ignoring the stares was a bit challenging for Blake, as he made his way across the castleteria, but he was smiling like normal. He walked with a spring in his step, already thinking about all the stories he would tell his family. He knew they wouldn't believe him anyway, but it would feel good to tell someone about his time in another realm. Eleven days had passed since his first arrival in Ever After High, he wasn't sure if time ran differently in his world, he was hoping it didn't. It wouldn't be good if he reappeared there and several years had passed. He wouldn't know how to explain that situation to them, and that meant he wouldn't have anywhere to go to...he tried not thinking about stuff like that, but it was in the forefront of his mind.

"So, what's got you so happy? You're smiling wider than Kitty after a prank." Raven said, as soon as he sat down at his table.

"Well, I got good news! Headmaster Grimm said he found my world!" he said.

"Are you serious? That's awesome bro, I'm so happy for you!" Hunter said, earning similar comments from the others.

"I'm so glad you can finally go home...I would absolutely hate being stuck in a place where I couldn't see my family." Cedar added.

"You got some cool stories to tell them though, and you got that picture of you and mom." Cerise added, earning a nod from the boy.

"Yeah, you're mom is awesome Cerise, I'm glad I got to meet her."

"Well, I am sad that you are leaving. I wanted to get to know you better Blake, you've got a lot of interesting stories. And a rather interesting middle name." Raven said.

"Yep, a lot of people have asked about it, and no I'm not saying it right now."

"Hey Bigby! I got a question for you!" a voice shouted, causing the black haired teenager to look up, only for a coconut cream pie to slam into his face. A few people started laughing, snapping pictures of the boy.

"How's that pie taste?"

"I dunno, why don't you come over here and try it asshole!" Blake snapped, standing up from his seat, wiping some of the cream from his face.

"Hey, they're just trying to rile you up. Don't listen to any of them, they're just immature!" Hunter said, glaring at the ones who threw the pie.

"At least I won't have to deal with these goddamn rumors once I leave...sheesh, can you believe some of the stuff they're saying?" he asked.

"I can't, I can easily tell a lie apart from the truth. Don't worry Blake, I believe you wouldn't do that to Apple."

"Cedar is right, only people who don't know you can judge you. We've gotten to know you, and we know you aren't that type of person." Raven said.

"Yup yup! Since you're going home, do you think we could have a Wonderland Tea Party before you go? You told daddy you wanted to go to one before you left!"

"Sure thing Maddie! There's no way I'm leaving Ever After without going to one of your parties."

"Did somebody say Party? I'm in, I'll plan it if you let me."

"Hi Briar, what are you doing in our neck of the woods?" Blake asked, wiping the last of the pie from his face and hair.

"Well, I just came over to let you know something, but then I heard the word party, and you know me...gotta live it up before my hundred year snooze fest starts." the brunette said, sitting down besides the boy.

"So, what information did you come here to tell him? Is it the secret kind?" Maddie asked, a curious look on her face as she refilled her cup of tea.

"It isn't exactly a secret but, it seems the rumors that have been affecting Blake started at Hocus Latte. Apple tried talking to the cashier but she doesn't want to say anything, and for some reason she keeps getting free coffee. We also spoke with Daring, and he said a few of his friends heard some rumors from Sparrow."

"So it was him that started this?" Blake asked.

"Of course not! Sparrow would never do something that messed up, he was probably reiterating what someone told him!" Hunter said, quickly coming to the defense of his friend.

"It definitely wasn't Sparrow, that much is certain. But we have a few leads, we're just trying to figure out who they go back too." Briar said.

"Thanks a lot Briar, you and Apple are doing all of this just to find out who's doing this. I know it involves Apple too, but this is getting out of hand."

"I can tell, not a lot of people take pies to the face for no apparent reason, don't worry, Apple is going to handle it...count on that." she said, giving him a smile.

"Whatever the case, we have to make sure Blake's final hours here are the best, we didn't get to fully know each other, but no matter what we'll always be friends." Raven said.

"That's right! So I'll make sure to host the best Wonderland Tea Party ever! You haven't even been to the Grove yet, it's gonna be Hat-tastic, I just know it!" Maddie said, an excited look on her face.

"Should I be scared?" Blake asked. He heard a giggle from above, and glanced up, seeing the smiling Kitty, holding some french fries in her hand.

"This is Madeline Hatter we're talking about Blake, you shouldn't be scared, you should be terrified! Just get ready for weird. By the way, I'm totally crashing that party." she said, giving him a wink.

"You don't have to crash it if your invited!" Maddie happily replied. Kitty rolled her eyes, disappearing shortly after.

"Well, at least I can enjoy a kick ass party before I go...this is gonna be awesome! It's a shame we can't go to Wonderland though, I was hoping to visit it before I left...oh well, I gotta go, Madam Baba Yaga needed to see me. She needs to craft the magic draining potion before I can go." Blake said, standing up from his seat. He grabbed his empty food tray after putting his bag on.

"We'll see ya after school then, oh and no heading to the Grove early! I gotta set everything up!"

"You got it Maddie, I'm gonna most likely pack what little I got...oh, I'll go see Farrah too, I never paid her for the clothes she made me. I know they were a gift, but I can't leave without paying her back." he said, heading toward the nearby trash can.

"He's so nice! I can't believe people really buy those bogus rumors!" Raven said, an annoyed look on her face. Cerise growled a bit as she pulled a piece of meat from her turkey leg. She glanced around the table, blushing slightly as she looked down.

"Sorry." she mumbled. They all heard surprised cry and turned to see Blake, having been assaulted by another pie. The tin fell to the floor, leaving a mess of cream all over the place.

"You know what, I'm not gonna say anything...I'm just gonna walk away." he said, wiping the cream off his face.

"Where do you suppose they got those pies from?" Hunter asked curiously, earning a shrug from the others.

"Cooking Class-ic might have been teaching them how to make pie, that's all I can say about that." Cedar added, setting down her spoon.

"Why does it have to be coconut cream though? That's like the best flavor ever." Briar added.

"Some people just want to watch the world burn." Maddie said dramatically, placing a hand to her forehead in salute to the fallen pies. They all shook their heads, unable to understand their friend's randomness.

 _ **xxx**_

"I'm not sure what Milton told you dear boy, but these tests will determine what kind of magic you possess. Before we begin, I must reiterate the differences in magic. There are the basic elements, Fire, Water, Wind, Earth, Lightning, Light and Darkness." Baba Yaga said, earning a nod from the boy.

"Right, I learned this from the book Raven let me borrow. Everyone has a certain affinity, but only those in tune with magic can actually use it. There are also other forms of magic, like Apple's singing magic, which can calm down anyone who hears her voice, and Maddie's Wonderland magic, which basically allows her to do damn near anything, and is unpredictable. Similarly, Kitty has her teleportation magic, allowing her to go to any place she's seen, even if she hasn't gone there personally."

The old witch smiled a bit. She was happy that the young man was well informed on magic. She didn't think he would be so read up on the subject, so she had prepared a short introduction for him so he would understand everything, she was honestly glad she didn't have to use it.

"Yes that's right, there are a lot of other types of magic, like Farrah's wish granting magic, but that one has a limitation, anything after midnight becomes null and void. One of our students, Crystal Winter, can use Ice magic, which she inherited from her mother, the Snow Queen."

"There's a Snow Queen here? Is her name Elsa? Can I meet her?"

"Focus boy, now isn't the time to become fascinated! Right now is the time for me to figure out your magical affinity. I was informed of what happened during your first Grimmnastics class, and I have reason to believe you've been attuned to Darkness magic."

"That's most likely the case...anyway, what exactly do you need to do?" he asked curiously, glancing around the room. He saw a bubbling cauldron in the middle of the room, along with a shelf stacked to the brim with various potions and bottles containing different liquids.

"Nothing too drastic...magic bonds to a persons DNA, which is how affinity is determined, so a simple blood sample will be enough. From it I can craft a magic draining potion that shall work solely for you."

"Interesting...I was expecting something more...painful." he said, earning a laugh from the woman. She floated over to her desk, grabbing some rubbing alcohol, along with a syringe and some blood tubes.

"I'll need three vials of blood, two for the test and one for the potion, you'll be out of here in no time. You aren't afraid of needles are you?"

"Nope, go ahead and draw all the blood you need, as long as you don't use it to make a clone of me." he said, becoming a bit serious at the end.

"Trust me, I would need more than three vials to make a functioning clone. Just relax and let me draw this blood, do you have any questions about magic while you are here?"

"A few, well the main one I have is about Wonderland...you see, I was hoping to visit it before I went home, is there away I could go there? Just for a quick look around?"

"Absolutely not! The magic of Wonderland has been poisoned by the Evil Queen, and while I am proud of the wickedness she has crafted, I am not proud of it's repercussions. Wonderland's magic is vital for Ever After, there are no open portals."

"Then how is Wonderland's magic able to flow into Ever After? If it's vital for this place then that means there has to be an open portal? Unless it's the type of portal that can't be found without a map." he said, giving the woman a smirk.

"I'm not letting you go to Wonderland, end of discussion, now sit still." she snapped, earning a sigh from the boy.

It didn't take long for the old woman to draw the necessary amount of blood. He was given a pass and sent on his way, but since he had his last two periods off, he decided to just head to his dorm. He smiled a bit when he walked in. In just a few hours, he would be back home with his family, and he would have an awesome story to tell even if no one would believe him. He gathered up a change of clothes and headed straight to the bathroom for a shower, he still had pie in his hair after all.

Once he had gotten dressed, in his original outfit, he packed all of his other clothes into his backpack, somehow getting everything inside along with his laptop. It felt a bit heavy, but he didn't exactly mind it. He reached his phone, seeing no messages had popped up, but school had ended by the time he had finished packing. He shoved his phone in his pocket and grabbed his wallet, checking to see how much Gold he had inside.

"A hundred and twenty gold, that should be enough for these things...of course Farrah used her magic to make them. Hmm, that's a good question, if her magic wears off after midnight, then how come my clothes didn't turn into rags?" he muttered.

He shrugged it off, grabbing his dorm keys, stepping out of his room. He headed down the hall, making his way toward the foyer of the school. It took him a few minutes to maneuver through the halls, walking down the Grand Staircase down into the foyer where all of the lockers were located. He decided to stop by his locker, in case he had forgotten to take anything out of it, though as he started putting in his combination, he heard a familiar voice.

"Well well, lookie what we got here, the school's biggest perv."

"Ugh...Henry, would you mind pissing off? I'm actually trying to do something." the boy said, opening his locker. Henry smirked, leaning back against the lockers beside the boy.

"I don't think so. You know, I've been hearing a lot of nasty shit in school, I can't believe someone like you would be able to convince Apple White to become your dominatrix."

"Dude seriously, what the fuck even is that? People are saying all of this shit about me, and I don't even know what half this shit is! I don't abuse animals, and I definitely didn't force Apple into anything! So if you've got nothing good to say, then make like a tree and fuck off." he snapped angrily, slamming his locker door right after.

"Where do you get off talking to me like that? No wonder you hang out with the Rebels a lot, it's because all of you are classless idiots."

"Are you sure about that? Because my friends have more class put together than you do in a single fingernail. Honestly, what do you get out of being a douche bag? Do you even have friends? No you don't, because you are the biggest jerk I have ever met! There is nothing princely about you!" he snapped, flipping the teenager off as he walked into the next hall.

"That little.."

Turning into the next hallway, Blake looked around at some of the gathered students, but he didn't spot the blue haired fairy anywhere. He didn't know where she liked to hang out either, so that would make her even harder to track down. He noticed Cupid talking to Dexter by her locker, and decided to ask them. Unbeknownst to him who was still being followed by Henry.

"Dex, Cupid, have either of you seen Farrah? I need to talk to her real quick."

"Oh um...I saw her heading out with Lizzie, they often work together on new dress designs. They normally hang out at the Tower Hair Salon, so you'll definitely catch them there." Cupid said, earning a nod from the boy.

"Thanks Cupid, oh right...I might be going home later today, and Maddie is organizing a Wonderland Tea Party at the Grove, it would be awesome if you two could be there."

"Definitely, while I am sad that you are leaving, I'll definitely make sure to be at this party." Dexter said, earning a similar nod from Cupid.

"I'll be there too, I only wish I could have gotten to know you better." the pinkette said, frowning a bit.

"Tch...not me, I'm glad this pervert is leaving. No one wants him here after what he did to Apple." Henry said, butting into their conversation.

"What are you talking about man? You know those rumors aren't true!" the brown haired prince said.

"Wow, look at that...your friends are faithful to you, because they don't know the truth of what you truly are...an animal abusing pervert who loves getting whipped by princesses."

Blake clenched his fist in anger, taking a deep breath. He had been told many times that his Martial Arts were to be used for defense, not offense. He wanted to beat the hell out of Henry, to wipe that smirk off his face, but it would go against his training. He had promised his Sensei that he would never use any of his arts in anything but self defense. It was the way of the Martial Artist, and that was what his heart told him. After calming down, he opened his eyes, glaring at the taller teen.

"It doesn't matter what you think of me, I'll be leaving this realm soon and I'll be nothing but a memory. Isn't that what you wanted? To stop being popular and pay attention to you? Because you are a goddamn Royal and everyone has to lick the ground you walk on? Well let me set you straight buddy, I..Don't..Give..A..Fuck. So please, leave me alone, Dex, Cupid I'll see you later." he said, bowing slightly for his friends as he walked off, heading toward the door.

"You know Henry, you are a real jerk, no wonder no one wants to be your friend!"

"What are you talking about honey? I got plenty of friends, but they aren't loser Rebels like you. Why are you even here? What do you even do in the grand scheme of things? You are just an outsider, someone who doesn't belong in Ever After." he spat, before walking off.

"Jackass, don't listen to him Cupid. You deserve to be at this school, besides you have a job! You have to help people follow their hearts, that's why Eros sent you here, so follow what your heart tells you." Dexter said, earning a nod from the girl, who was flushing brightly.

"Oh Dexter, I'll be sure to follow my heart!" she said happily.

"Good, come on let's go get some ice cream, I don't have to meet up with Blondie until four." he said. Cupid smiled lovingly, twirling a strand of hair between her fingers. Dexter was too focused on other matters to even notice the Cherub giving him love struck looks.


	6. The Birth of a Rebel

**A/N:**

 **What it do peeps? Welcome to Chapter 6 of Through the Looking Glass, the story that still gets misleading title jokes every chapter because honestly, I get bored and I need help sometimes.**

 **Last Chapter, a lot of stuff happened, and now during this chapter you get to see the consequences someones actions can have. the Impact of these rumors will get worse before it gets better, and even if someone disproves them, doubt is still present. That's all you need, one seed of doubt can bloom into a flower of unease and eventually turn into a plant of despair. Yes, I channel my inner Junko for this moment, because rumors are...well they are a part of life, and often times they are a bad part of life. Whether you start them to feel better about yourself, or you start them to ruin someone, the story gets warped every time someone tells it. It's like playing the Telephone game. The story at the beginning will be totally different at the very end of the line. Over the course of the next few chapters, the rumors will begin to die down, but they never truthfully die off. It is only when the mastermind is brought forward when the rumors truly do end. You also get to see Blake finally choose his side in the conflict, of course he will still be outwardly neutral, he like Kitty, wants to keep it a secret, because it keeps people guessing, in that sense they share a common ground.  
**

 **So, I do hope you are all enjoying this story, filled with out of charactnerness, swearing, dumb situations, Blake trying to fit in, Rebels, Royals, mirrors, Evil Queens, that one clown that hides from gay people at walmart, cupcakes by Sargent Sprinkles, 80's My Little Pony, Jay Jay the Jet Plane Fanfiction, Food Fight with Charlie Sheen, cocaine and shrimp juice. let it be known that after Evil Queens, nothing else has anything to do with this story, you have been warned.**

 **This story has been rated H for Honest...**

Ever After High

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 6

The Birth of a Rebel

The scene opened up over the Village of Bookend, showing various Fairytale Teenagers walking around the town, enjoying their time away from school. Some where hanging out with friends, others were doing homework, and some were just enjoying the shining sun. For Blake however, it wasn't a fun time, especially because he was still getting dirty looks from various people.

" _Things in Ever After Seem to be growing steadily worse."_

" _Indeed, sometimes Lies can change the course of a story. It can warp and change until the original story becomes so different, that no one can even recognize it. Rumors are the same, and in the end, it ends up hurting various people."_ the female narrator said, adding onto what her male counterpart said.

" _Yes, lying is something that should never be done, especially in a manner in which someone can be hurt. Blake will have to learn how to deal with these nasty rumors, for even if they're quashed, the consequences of these lies will still affect him."_

"Hey, you two wouldn't know who started these rumors would be right?" Blake asked, glancing at the sky, a firm look on his face.

" _Um...well, we do know the answer to that, but we can't tell you who it is."_

"Aw come on Female Narrator, tell me! Also do you have a name I can call you? Using Female Narrator all the time would get annoying."

" _Well, no one can hear us, aside from you and Madeline, so we don't have a need for names."_ the male narrator said.

" _Yes that's right, don't worry about it Blake, we don't need names, if no one is going to address us."_

"No that's not fair! Everyone deserves a name at least, names are what makes us all unique! It's part of who we are, you can't deny that isn't part of what makes a person human. It's also what makes a character a character." he said, matter of factly.

" _Well he's got us there sweetheart."_

" _Yes he does...but even if we could have names, we wouldn't know where to start."_ the female narrator replied, causing the boy to hum in thought. He narrowed his eyes a bit, gasping a second later.

"I got it! Male Narrator, you're name will be Chester. That's the name of the lead singer of one of my favorite bands, he ended up passing away a few months back, so I think it would be a good way to honor him. Female Narrator, your name will be Weiss, because you sort of remind me of one of my favorite anime characters...what do you think?"

" _Hmm...I do like the name...alright then, I've made my choice! The Rebel in me speaks out, from now on I shall be known as Chester!"_

" _Oh you, of course you would let the Rebel in you speak out...I do like the name Weiss though...what does it mean?"_

"Oh, it means White in an Earth Language, known as German. The name was given to this character because she represents Snow White, it feels fitting since you are a Royal." he admitted.

" _I do like it...alright, you may address me as Weiss from now on...oh, it feels nice having a name. Thank you Blake."_

"You're welcome! Maybe you could reward me by telling me who started those rumors?"

" _Nice try, you definitely are a smart cookie, that's for sure...you definitely belong on the Rebel side."_

" _No he does not. He just showed us the cunning and genius of a Royal, so he deserves to be on our side."_

Blake shook his head, decided to ignore the two bickering narrators, continuing his walk through town. A few people had seen him talking to the two invisible narrators, and since no one else could hear them, they would most likely think he was crazy too, not that it mattered to him. After all, he was most likely going to leave Ever After and never see any of those people again. This however made him frown...he had made a bunch of good friends during his eleven days there.

He didn't hang out with them much, and now he regretted not spending time with them. He honestly wanted to get to know them way better...he wanted to hear all about Apple White's childhood growing up with Snow White as her mother. He wanted to know what dreams Briar's mom had during her hundred year sleep. He wanted to see Cerise run as fast as she could, without having to hide her abilities...and most of all, he wanted to visit Wonderland.

He almost yearned for it, it had been a childhood dream to be able to travel to a wondrous place like that. He didn't have many friends growing up, especially because of all the moving he did. So when he had moved to Toronto and met Lucy, he had finally found what he had been missing in his young life, a friend. Lucy had grown up wanting to visit Wonderland, even though she knew it wasn't a real place. It was mostly due to the fact that her mother read her Alice's Adventures in Wonderland when she was younger. She had grown so fond of it, that when she had entered the middle school talent show, she had dressed up as Alice and had recited an entire passage from the book.

He of course had his own favorite Fairytale, that being Cinderella, but he was rather fond of Alice in Wonderland as well. Whenever she had the chance, Lucy would pop that movie into her DvD and he would be forced to sit through it. Eventually he had started to entertain the idea of finding a Rabbit hole and falling into the wonderful world of Wonderland, to have tea with the Mad Hatter and play Croquet with the Queen of Hearts, even though he still didn't understand the game. He had even written a short story for his Language Arts class in middle school, getting the second highest grade in school.

He glanced at the charm bracelet attached to his wrist, the frown on his face deepening a bit. He missed Lucy dearly, he knew that if she were here with him, she would have already quashed those rumors. If there was one thing she hated, it was being lied too. She was highly curious, so he didn't doubt she would have already found the ringleader of the rumors, and she would have beaten the stuffing out of him when she did. It had been Lucy that had gotten him into Martial Arts, and she had also been the first one kicked out of her Martial Arts School for punching a girl in the face and using her skills to fight, going against the rules. That didn't stop her from learning, and becoming a rather excellent fighter.

Yet she had gone missing. He thought Lucy had just gotten mad at her father and she had gone for a walk, but after not showing up at home he had gotten worried. He had decided to go out and look for her, going to all of their favorite hang outs, but she hadn't been anywhere. He had asked local shop owners, had gone to stores and had talked to all of her friends and she hadn't said a thing to them. He didn't want to believe it, but after a couple days, her father had called the RCMP and had reported her missing. They had said she had run away and would most likely return home by the end of the week. At the end of the month they had given up the search, and by the end of the year they had given up hope.

Everyone but him...he still have hope that she was out there somewhere. That she was perfectly fine in whatever place she had gone too, that she had finally found her Wonderland, and was waiting to turn into an adult so she could come back. But her father had told him to give up hope, that she would never come back, that she had left him behind like everyone else in her life, just like her mother had done to them. He had fallen into a deep depression after that, leading him to skip class, and eventually nearly fail Freshman year. He hadn't wanted to go outside and skate with his friends, finding solace in video games. He had finally been coming around, especially with his trip to Hawaii which he was working hard toward, and now he had arrived in Ever After.

"Hey look, there he is, that guy who's in that weird relationship with Apple."

"Wow, the rumors are true...he stole one of her charm bracelets!"

"That's so bad, I can't believe Apple is that weird though, she doesn't seem the type."

"He must have been lying on Blondie's webcast."

Blake sighed, hiding his bracelet as he continued his walk. He spotted the Tower Hair Salon not far from where he was, and immediately set a course toward it. It wasn't a hard place to find, seeing as it was based around Rapunzel's tower. He hadn't been inside the salon, but he had heard from various girls that it was the go to place for anything hair care, as it was run and operated by the O'Hair Twins, the daughters of Rapunzel. He had yet to meet the two girls, and he figured this was a good time, he just hoped they didn't judge him like everyone else. He took a deep breath as he reached for the door, pulling it open.

The first thing that assaulted him was the scent of shampoo. Various scents had collected together, fruits mixed with the scent of vanilla and even the subtle hint of hair dye. The salon was a typical set up, various stations with large mirrors for the stylists to use while they were working their magic. He also saw shelves upon shelves stacked with beauty products, brands he had never heard of, and even some familiar looking ones. He heard some voices near the center of the establishment, and decided to walk further inside.

"Um, excuse me...do you two have a minute?" the boy said shyly, attracting the attention of the two girls, who both looked up at him.

The first girl had rather long hair, the longest he had seen in his entire life. It was a soft auburn color, and was quite shiny and had a lot of volume. He could tell that it was well cared for. She was wearing a lavender colored dress, with long maroon colored sleeves, bearing flower prints on them. Similarly, her skirt was long and covered with various flower prints, all in different colors. She wore dark gray leggings and pink colored heels.

The other girl was dressed completely different, for one her hair was cut short, except for one long strand she had dyed violet, which hung over her right eye. She was wearing a black shawl over a long sleeved pink and white shirt. She wore a knee length pink shirt with a white frilled him, with a checkerboard design. Around her waist was a black apron, holding various hair styling supplies within it. She wore silver colored pink heels, much like the other girls.

"Of course, is there something you need?"

"I was told Farrah likes hanging out here, I sort of needed to speak with her. I wanted to pay her back for the clothes she made for me." he said, glancing at the floor.

"She made you clothes? Oh wait...you must be that new transfer student I've been hearing about, Blake right?"

"Yeah that's me." he replied.

"Is something wrong? Why are you looking at the floor?" the other girl asked, earning a frown from the boy, who finally looked up at the two.

"I'm dealing with a lot right now, you know...the rumors? About me and Apple?" he asked.

"Oh that, don't even worry about that. Lizzie told us you might show up one day and warned us about the rumors. She's told us about you and said you were really nice, besides I'm not going to judge you before meeting you."

"My sister is right, so don't worry. We don't think any less of you...I'm Poppy by the way, this is my older sister Holly."

"It's nice to meet you two, I'm Blake...you know, you two remind me of my sisters Susan and Mary, you have the same hair color." he said, a small smile on his face.

"Aw, I'm glad we remind you of your siblings. It must be hard to be apart from them for so long."

"Oh trust me, it has been hard...anyway, I don't want to rob you of your time for much longer...I just need to find Farrah." he said.

"I'm not sure where she went, Lizzie had to do something so she took off on her own...why do you want to pay her back? She said that stuff was a gift right?" Holly asked, earning a nod from the boy.

"She did, but I have to pay her, it doesn't feel right to abuse her magic like that. These stupid rumors have made it hard to find work, but the silver lining is that I'm finally heading home. I figured I would return her kindness and pay her back."

"How can people believe you're a bad person, you're so nice and sweet! But your hair is a bit unruly."

"Poppy! This isn't the time." Holly snapped.

"What? I'm just making a point, how about a haircut Blake? On the house, for all of the stuff you've been going through."

"No no...I think I like my hair the way it is...it gives me character." he said, glancing at his reflection on the mirror, seeing the lone purple strand running through it.

"I think so too, long hair is much more fun to have, even if it takes forever to style it." Holly said, running her fingers through her lengthy hair.

"How long does it take you to braid that? It must take you hours." Blake said, glancing back at the long haired twin. She smiled, giving him a wink.

"That's a secret. Well, I'm sure Farrah is somewhere, she usually goes to the boutique to give fashion advice to people, you're bound to find her there." Poppy said, earning a nod from the boy.

"Thanks for the information, it was nice to meet you two...oh Holly, if you meet anyone named Eugene, make sure he's got a helmet with him. You wouldn't want to give him a concussion with your frying pan." he said, walking out of the salon. Poppy glanced at her older sister, who had a shocked look on her face.

"How did he know about the frying pan?"

"I'm not sure."

 _ **xxx**_

Blake had given up on finding Farrah. He hadn't been able to locate her at all, and the people whispering as he passed them were starting to get on his nerves. He had decided to return to his dorm and wait for Maddie to text him for the party. The faster it started, the faster he could get home and stop having to listen to everyone else. But even then, he felt sad, sad that he was leaving Ever After before being able to explore more of it. But there was nothing he could do about that, he was just glad that this was finally over. He had almost fallen asleep when he heard a knock on the door. He jolted awake, jumping out of the bed, quickly walking toward the door.

" _Maybe Maddie came to get me instead of texting me...she is rather random after all."_ he thought to himself. He opened the door, coming face to face with Headmaster Grimm, along with Madam Baba Yaga, neither of them looking to happy. He sighed inwardly, plastering a smile onto his face.

"Good Afternoon Headmaster, Madam Yaga, is something the matter?" he asked politely.

"Might we come in? We've got some...news about your return home." the Headmaster said. Blake opened the door, allowing the two adults into the room, closing the door right after.

"So what did you find? What magic do I have?" Blake asked, leaning against the door.

"It seems your magic is of a dark affinity, furthermore it seems to be a magic that I'm familiar with...the magic of the Evil Queen." Baba Yaga said. Blake swallowed the lump in his throat, glancing away from the woman.

"We're you aware of this Mr. Bigby? When you cast that spell on Prince Henry, were you aware that you had been tainted by the Evil Queen?"

"I'm sorry Headmaster, Raven was the one that told me about it. She said my magic was similar to hers, I also decided to keep it to myself. I didn't want to get in trouble, you know...since she's evil and junk?" he asked.

"Well it would have been good for you to tell us that. We would have arrived at this answer much sooner. It seems the Evil Queen has given you a bit of her power, for what reason I do not know, but I do know that she brought you to this realm for a reason. It will take me a few more weeks to identify the source of your magic...so it will be impossible for you to go home, for now at least." Baba Yaga said, earning a wide eyed look from the boy.

"I...can't go home tonight?"

"I'm sorry son, we were not expecting you having made contact with the Evil Queen. It is imperative that you tell us everything, about how you got here. It may give us a clue as to why she has done this." Headmaster Grimm said, earning a sigh from the boy.

"I already told you this when I arrived here. I was on my way to school and I heard a voice from a nearby mirror. When I tapped it with my hand, I was pulled in. The only other thing I remember is seeing the inside of the Mirror Realm, and that was it. I woke up in Apple and Raven's dorm, and I've been here ever since." he said.

"Hmm...the Evil Queen might have cast a spell on you, preventing you from remembering this meeting, perhaps so she could buy herself time. Whatever she is planning with you, will not be answered any time soon. So it would be best if we got you home before she is able to start her plan, whatever it may be." Baba Yaga said, earning a nod from the Headmaster.

"Indeed, worry not we will reach the bottom of this, Mr. Bigby. We may be able to get you home before Thronecoming." he said firmly.

"And when is that exactly?" Blake asked, arms crossed over his chest.

"In a month or so, Thronecoming happens in October it is currently September 19th, we have the dance programmed for October 19th." the man said. Blake bowed his head, remaining silent. He took a deep breath, nodding in understanding.

"I was so excited...now I have to wait longer...and deal with more of those damn rumors." he muttered, walking back toward his bed.

"My apologies Mr. Bigby, we would have hoped to get you home sooner rather than later, but we were not expecting this to happen. Worry not, we shall get you home as soon as possible, perhaps even before Thronecoming. Just be patient boy, the day will creep up behind you before you know it. We shall take our leave now, do have a good evening." Headmaster Grimm said, leaving the room. Before she left Baba Yaga turned to face the boy.

"I believe some extra classes will do you good. Perhaps you'd like to learn more about Spells and Enchantments? If you'd like I could get you into those classes during your free periods."

"Sure I guess, Raven has told me a lot about Science and Sorcery, I wouldn't mind learning more." he said, a frown on his face.

"It shall be done, worry not, it will all be better soon." she said, leaving the room a second later. Blake turned back toward his bed, sitting down at the corner of the bed, folding his hands over his lap, his head bowed down in sadness.

He didn't know how much time passed before he heard another knock on his door. He glanced up toward it, narrowing his eyes a bit in annoyance. He didn't say anything, but didn't immediately move either. After another few knocks, he figured who ever it was had gone away, at least until a flash of light filled his eyes, the familiar form of Kitty manifested before him, a smile on her face as always. Her mood changed however when she saw the look on his face.

"What's wrong with you? You aren't usually this sad."

"Tell Maddie to forget the party, I'm not going home after all." he replied, turning away from her.

"But...she spent so much time setting it up...come on Blake, even if you aren't going home, you can at least enjoy the party. Everyone is already there, I came to get you because I move pretty fast on my own."

"I'm just not up for it anymore. Not when I gotta stay here, not when I gotta deal with these goddamn rumors for another fucking month." he snapped angrily. The girl looked visibly hurt at his reply, turning away from him, a frown on her face. He sighed, rubbing his eyes as he stood up from his seat.

"I'm sorry Kitty, it isn't your fault. Let's go, we can't keep them waiting." he said, earning a grin from the girl.

"Alright, but you can't just show up like that. You need Wonderland clothes to go to a Wonderland Tea Party, thankfully, Maddie thought ahead." she said, giving him a grin.

"Oh God, I'm scared."

 _ **xxx**_

"Is it all set?" Apple asked, earning a nod from Humphrey, who handed the tablet in his hand to Blondie.

"Are you sure you want to do this? I mean this might bring up more questions than answers." the curly haired blonde replied.

"Yes, I haven't exactly found the source of these rumors, but I have to put an end to them. They're hurting Blake more than they are me...everyone sees me as the victim and him as the villain, and he's too sweet to go through that."

"Actually, they see you as his dominatrix, who feels the need to get revenge in public...someone also said the bracelet he wears was stolen from your room." Humphrey said, glancing at the two girls over his glasses.

"What's a dominatrix?" Blondie asked curiously. Apple shook her head, shuddering a bit.

"There are some things about the world that you don't need to know Blondie...just tell me when I'm online." she said, walking over to the center of the room. The blonde typed a few things onto her tablet, before hitting the green button, holding the device up.

"Good Evening Ever After High, this is Blondie Lockes with a special webcast of Just Right. As you all know, some nasty rumors have been spreading around the school, involving Apple White and the transfer student, Blake Bigby, with me now is Apple who wishes to comment on these rumors, so be sure to listen to every word she says."

"Am I on? Ahem, hello everyone...as you know...over the last couple of days, some rumors have surfaced, about me and Blake, and I would like to say that these rumors are completely false. Blake has never once laid a hand on me, and has never forced himself onto me, I'm also not his dominatrix, I'm not even sure what that is." the blue eyed girl said, pausing briefly. She took a deep breath, her focus on the camera not wavering.

"I'm asking you all, to please stop spreading these horrible rumors around the school. They are mean and hurtful, I'm not a victim and Blake is not a villain. He has never once abused an animal, he didn't even know that there were dragons in this world until these rumors surfaced. If anyone, has information who could have started them, then please let me know. These are all one hundred percent false, and with every rumor you spread, that's another hit to us, another dagger plunged into our backs. I would never talk badly of anyone, and none of you should either. I expect you all to give Blake and myself the respect we deserve, whether Royal or Rebel, we're all students of Ever After High, and we should start acting with honor and grace, just like our predecessors have for many generations...thank you for your time."

"You heard it here folks, those rumors are one hundred percent untrue. Of course, I knew this all along, it's like I've been saying these past few days. It wouldn't be just right to judge someone for a stupid lie right? Now then, we will proceed with our special programming, I heard a juicy secret about Duchess Swan that all of us have to discuss!"

"Are you alright Apple?" Humphrey asked, earning a nod from the blonde girl.

"I'm more than alright, I feel just right! I have to find Blake and tell him that every thing will be fine."

"I heard from Dexter that Maddie was hosting a Wonderland Tea Party for him, so I'm sure they're at the Grove."

"Thanks Humphrey! For helping me out with this special webcast, and for everything else." Apple said, giving the boy a kiss on the cheek. He turned into a blubbering mess, passing out right after. The blonde princess giggled, quickly walking off.

Meanwhile at Wonderland Grove, Blake had finally arrived at the tea party. He was looking around in amazement at all of the things around him, it was completely different from any other place he had seen in Ever After. The trees were tall and a lush green color, some having clock faces on them, there was a set of stone stairs leading up to a balcony of sorts, made from an overturned tea cup. A large flowing waterfall ran through the grove, and was flowing right out of a tea kettle, covered in dark green moss. All around him, tall and beautiful flowers were growing, some even smiling and waving at everyone.

There was a long table set up in the middle of the Grove, stacked tall with cake, tea scones, cupcakes, tea kettles of every shape and size, and a lot of other things he didn't even know of. Everyone was dressed in rather interesting outfits, Wonderland style, as Kitty had informed him. Even he was dressed for the occasion, another outfit that had been made for him by Farrah, who he still hadn't seen.

He wore a pair of faded jeans, held up by a leather belt with a buckle in the likeness of a tea cup. He had a black tee long sleeved tee shirt, with a few golden designs on it. He wore a bright blue hooded sweatshirt with diamond like designs over his shirt, having it zipped it up half way. Over that, he had on a leather jacket, black in color, with thick white lines around the edges, and pockets. The lapels were a solid yellow color, with various other colors mixed in, diamonds and hearts being printed all over it. He finished the outfit with a large top hat, which was tilted onto his head, and had the Mad Hatter's 10/6 card tucked onto the brim of it. He felt rather weird in it, but it was a Wonderland party, so he didn't mind it much, in fact her actually enjoyed it.

"Hey Blake, are you liking the party?" Raven asked, earning a nod from the boy.

"I'm loving it, this is just what I needed. I know that I haven't known many of you for too long, but I'm so happy that you all came here...it's been a bit rough with these rumors, and now I have to wait until Thronecoming to go home." he said.

"Hey, don't even worry about it, that means we have more time to hang out." Hunter said happily.

"He's right, besides you don't have to worry about the rumors for much longer, Apple talked to Blondie about doing an early webcast tonight, telling everyone that they're bogus." Dexter said, reassuringly as he handed the boy a cup of tea.

"That's right! I for one want to know everything I can about your world, it sounds really familiar to me for some reason." Cupid said, causing the boy to tilt his head in confusion.

"It does? Why do you say that?"

"Well, my step father Eros told me a story of two lovers being from different social classes, and they wanted to be together so much that they ended up killing themselves. It was such a heart breaking story, but it was so beautiful too."

"Two lovers that...no way, that's William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet, what other stories have you heard?" Blake asked, an excited look on his face.

"There's another love story, basically it's the same premise. A poor boy ends up falling in love with a girl from first class, and this happens all on the maiden voyage of a large cruise liner."

"Titanic! Oh my god, you really do know about my world! Cupid this is amazing! Even if I can't see my sisters or family, you can be my connection to my home!" the boy said joyously, taking a hold of her hands.

"Um...okay, I wouldn't mind doing that...my father tells me a love of these love stories so that I can learn my duty. I still haven't figured out what my talent or my destiny is, but all I want is to help people follow their hearts!" she said, a loving smile on her face.

"See, even now you are finding ways to bond with people! I think that's a wonderful thing!" Ashlynn said happily, subtly smiling at Hunter, who flushed and looked away.

"Come on, come on! It's time for us to dance like we got ants in our pants!" Maddie cried, jumping up onto the table, doing some weird dance no one had ever seen before.

"I get to dance with the guest of honor!" Kitty cried, taking a hold of Blake's hand.

"Hey wait, I'm not ready to dance!" he cried, being tugged so hard his tea cup flew out of his hand.

"Well, since he's gonna stay longer, that means we need to make sure his extended stay here is a good one. We can't have him leaving here all disappointed because of these stupid rumors." Raven said.

"Y-yeah, you're right R-Raven...we need to s-show him what Ever After High is all a-about." Dexter said, a light flush on his face. Cupid frowned, a soft sigh leaving her lips.

"We should definitely hold another party! I guess I can check Wonderland Tea party off the list, this is such a cool concept, we need to host more of these Maddie." Briar said.

"Ahuh! Definitely, my daddy said he would make all of the pastries and tea we need! He misses doing this on a daily basis, so we could relight that spark he lost when we all left Wonderland!" Maddie said. Kitty finally let go of Blake, causing the boy to stop spinning around like a top. He held his head slightly, having double vision.

"Oh man, I'm never dancing with you again Kitty, I feel like my brain is about to flow right out of my ear."

"Hehe, sorry Blake, that was meow-bad." she said, giving him a wink. He took a deep breath, fixing his hat a bit.

"If we're gonna have a party, we gotta do it Earth style...banging music, awesome food, kick ass people, and a place where we can dance till the crack of ass. That party won't stop until the damn sun is high in the fuckin sky." he said, a firm look on his face.

"Sounds like my kind of party, we'll definitely get along well Blake. By the way, when are you getting a skateboard? You said you were gonna teach me how to Ollie."

"Hehe, don't worry Briar, I'll get one tomorrow afternoon, then we can skate all we want. But we're gonna go hard, no girlie girl excuses. If we have to grind a rail, we're grinding a rail, so be ready to slam." he said.

"Definitely, no way I'm sleeping for a hundred years without learning how to skate!"

"Hey guys, am I late for the party?" the voice of Apple called out, causing everyone to look at to the entrance of the grove.

"Not at all Apple, you're just in time! We're about to serve the tea!" Maddie said, grabbing one of the large kettles. She tipped it over, walking down the side of the table filling every cup that had been set up.

"Hi Apple, what are you doing here?" Raven asked curiously.

"Well, I just came by to let Blake know that those rumors aren't going to be an issue. Blondie aired her show early and I told everyone the truth...of course there will be people who'll keep talking, but that can't be helped."

"I'm sorry Apple, I some how feel like this is my fault. If I hadn't shown up here, you wouldn't be in this situation." he said.

"Hey, don't speak like that! If you hadn't shown up, then we wouldn't have a super awesome friend like you! There would be no point to this party would there?" Maddie said, glaring at the boy.

"I guess...but still, I feel bad...I mean, I don't even know what a dominatrix is and somehow Apple is mine."

"Just ignore them, honestly this is like Legacy Day all over again, except more insulting. Just you wait, come next week, no one will remember any of this." Raven said, a firm look on her face.

 _ **xxx One Week Later xxx**_

"Okay, so I was wrong." the violet haired girl said, glancing at Blake who had a frown on his face.

Apple's appearance on Blondie's webcast had indeed stemmed the flow of rumors, and none involving her had come to light. But that didn't mean that new rumors about Blake hadn't sprung up. He guessed it was just typical high school behavior, people were bound to speak about people they didn't know, especially an outsider. While those rumors were insulting, there was nothing he could do to stop the spread of misinformation. Even worse, he still hadn't been able to nail down a well paying job, so other than what he got helping Ashlynn every time there was a new delivery, he had zero ways to make income.

"Don't even worry about it Rae, this is typical high school behavior, same bullshit, different stink, I suppose." he said with a shrug.

"I guess...anyway, would you like to do some more training after school? You've been doing fine so far and you're getting the hang of sorcery now." she said, earning a nod from the boy.

"That would be for the best, I would rather have control of these powers while I'm here. I would hate for someone to get hurt." he said, taking a seat at their normal table.

"Hey guys, did you hear the new rumor?" Hunter asked, grabbing their attention as they sat down.

"Oh what it is this time? Am I beating up kids for their lunch money now?" Blake asked.

"Nah, this time it isn't about you, surprisingly. There's a rumor going around about Briar, apparently she's doing illicit stuff during her parties at the Dance Club. She's making deals with Ogres to bring in some odd stuff from the Dark Forest."

"What? That is total bull! I know Briar and she wouldn't do something like that." Raven said, earning a sigh from Blake.

"You know, I think someone should just put an end to all of this crap."

"I think it's time too, but honestly how would we even do it? Somebody said Ashlynn's shoes aren't authentic, so now she has to pay extra to get proof from her supplier." the son of the Huntsman said, a frown on his face.

"This is getting out of hand, it was fine when they were about me, but no one talks bad about Ashlynn Ella and gets away with it! She's an angel, and it pisses me off that someone did that." Blake said, slamming his bottle onto the table.

"Damn straight, when I find the one who did it, I'm gonna have words with them." Hunter said, a firm look on his face. Blake and Raven shared a knowing look, both of them holding back their laughter.

"Oh yes, big bad Hunter Huntsman is going to put an end to these evil rumors and save his damsel Ashlynn Ella from those horrible people." Blake said, earning a glare from the boy.

"Dude, not cool."

"Oh come on, it isn't exactly a secret that you have the hots for her, wouldn't surprise me if you were already sucking face." Raven said.

"Mhmm, he does go behind the Glass Slipper a lot, is that where it happens Hunter? After you two break all of those boxes of new shoes you just snuggle up and kiss under the bright blue skies of Ever After? Aw that's so sweet." Blake said, the taller teen grabbed the boy in a headlock, giving him a noogie.

"I'll show you how sweet I am, I saw you looking at some of the ladies around the school. Got your eye on anyone?"

"No man, I'm not gonna get into a relationship if I'm gonna leave in a few weeks, it wouldn't be right. Besides, Raven likes someone else, she wouldn't date someone like me."

"What?" the girl cried, rather loudly as a few people had started looking in their direction. Blake started laughing, high fiving Hunter.

"Yeah buddy, I got her."

"You are such a rude boy, you know that?" Raven said, a scowl on her face. Blake shook his head, grabbing his empty food tray.

"Well, I promised Kitty I would help her set up some pranks around the school, figured some laughs would cause some of these Royals to pull their mile long sticks out of their asses. See you both in Muse-ic." he said, standing up from his seat.

"Hey Bigby! I got a bone to pick with you!"

The black haired boy stopped in his tracks, seeing an unfamiliar boy standing behind him. He looked rather plain, having brown colored hair, and dark onyx colored eyes. He was wearing a light green shirt, long sleeved with a plaid design on it. He was wearing a pair of faded blue jeans, stuffed into some black boots. Blake didn't recognize the boy, so he wasn't sure what his problem even was. He just gave him a smile.

"Is something wrong?"

"Yeah, why are you talking crap behind my back?"

"I'm sorry?"

"You heard me right dill hole. You told someone that I loved putting ketchup on everything...some asshole, just handed me this industrial sized bottle of it. I hate ketchup!" the boy said, holding up the large gallon in his hand.

"Well what do you want me to do about it? I'm not the one that said that." Blake said.

"I want you to stop walking shit behind my back. I don't even know why the hell you are allowed to stay at this school, you're nothing more than a damn outsider. You could even be a murderer!"

"Dude, I have never met you in my entire life. Who the hell are you? What story are you from? I don't even know your name, how can it be me who started that rumor?"

"Don't play that game with me...my name is Jack Hills, you know from the nursery rhyme Jack and Jill? My sister won't stop sending me all of these pictures of ketchup bottles, she's not even in high school yet, and now she and her friends won't stop calling me Sir Ketchup, lover of Tomatoes!" Jack cried, earning a chuckle from Blake.

"I'm sorry, but just the thought of that makes me laugh." he said. Jack growled, slamming his hand on the boy's empty tray, sending it to the ground. Blake sucked in his teeth, nodding slightly.

"Well then, it seems we've reached the melting point, how wonderful. You know buddy, you don't scare me...you think being hard on me is going to solve this problem? It wasn't me who started these goddamn rumors, so seek your answer elsewhere." the black haired boy said firmly. He turned to leave, causing Jack to growl in anger. He ran at the black haired teenager, throwing a punch to the back of his head.

Blake reacted quickly ducking his head to the side, taking a hold of the boy's arm. He easily flipped him over his body, slamming the palm of his hand into his chest, using his weight to slam the boy to the ground, knocking the air out of his lungs. The castleteria grew deathly silent, the only sound being the gasps of air Jack was taking. Blake straightened up and fixed his jacket, leaving the room right after.

"Hey Jack, how did it feel to get your shit tossed?" Kitty cried from the second floor, a grin on her face. He just glared at her, being unable to move.

 _ **xxx**_

Even though he was amused at what happened at the castleteria, Blake had finally reached his wits end. The rumors had been going on far enough, and it was time for him to shut them down. That's why he had enlisted the help of someone who he knew would definitely help him out. Finally getting to her dorm, he gave three knocks on the door, making sure they were as loud as he could make them. A few seconds later, the door opened, revealing the smiling face of Melody Piper. He gave her a nod, entering her dorm a second later.

He had been in her dorm only once. Much like him, the white haired girl didn't have a dormmate, so that meant she had free range in decorating the room the way that she wanted. Her half of the room had been covered in small green tiles, making the walls look like those of a studio. Black music note decals had been placed all over the wall, giving it a bit of her personal touch. Her bed was also covered with bright green comforters also bearing musical notes.

The other half of the room was where the magic happened. She had created an entire recording booth in the vacant area. The wall had been covered with a special white and pink insulation, which would block sound from coming in or out of the room. It bore a checkerboard design, making it look rather cool. The entirety of the wall had been insulated, all the way down to the entrance and most of the door, except a single square for the girl to hear the knocks from the outside. She had a large desk set up, with three computer monitors, all displaying various mixing equipment.

She had a light up sound pad set up next to her turntable, which was plugged into a slick black laptop, which bore some white markings on it. There was a large studio microphone set up on the other side of the room, along with a pair of headphones. Around the room, she had two guitars, a bass and a keyboard set up. She had some beanbags set up around the room, as well as a flat screen which was mounted onto the well. All in all, it was a rather interesting room, perfect for a music lover like Melody, and for him, it would be command central.

"I set up everything, are you sure this is going to work Blake?" Melody asked, earning a nod from the boy.

"It'll work, you said you wanted to have your own radio show right? Well here's a perfect shot. The only way this can work, is if we settle on a different hour every day, whenever either of us has a free period. I'll handle Tuesdays and Fridays, you got Mondays and Wednesdays."

"Okay, what about Thursdays?"

"Oh, that'll be me." a familiar voice said, causing the two to look up. The familiar grin of Kitty Cheshire greeted them. She was holding a tote bag in her hands, which contained the last part of their set up.

"Are you sure you can handle this? It's an entire hour." Melody asked, earning a nod from the purplette.

"Think about it, high jacking the radio waves in this school and saying whatever I want on the air, uncensored? It's like a dream come true! It's like the tippy top of the pranking list. Besides, I'll never get caught." she said, giving them a wink.

"Did you bring what we needed?" Blake asked. Kitty handed him the tote bag, and he reached inside, pulling out a microphone, along with a small metallic box that had various buttons and lights on it.

"What's that?" Melody asked curiously, earning a smirk from Blake. He walked over to the other side of the room, and reached into his pocket, pulling out a small white adapter for his pocket.

"I had Dexter make something special for me, so we could use something else for our broadcast, the school's PA system. This box here was the one that was hooked up in the Librarians office, the one that was closed off when the Evil Step Librarians took over. This will give us access to the school system." he said, plugging the box to the wall. He grabbed the gray phone cable, plugging it into the white adapter, placing the other end into the box.

"You're insane, taking over the school's PA system?" Melody asked, earning a smirk from the boy.

"What can I say? I'm a rebel at heart." he said, giving the girl a wink.

"Hehe, so you've finally made your choice? That's purr-fect Blake, I knew you would be a Rebel from the moment I laid eyes on you." Kitty said. The boy flushed a bit as he placed the box on top of the desk, next to Melody's computer. He pulled out his Iphone X and plugged it into the computer, opening the music player.

"Well, it's time for our first show, what do you think we should do? End this rumor fest? Or just put the school on blast?" he asked, giving the two girls a smirk.

"Oh oh, I did some digging around the school, and I found out who's making up the rumors about Briar. It was that kid that messed with you at the castleteria a few minutes ago." Kitty said, earning a nod from the boy.

"Alright then, looks like we have our first target, get ready ladies, because we're going live." he said. Melody turned her television on, tuning it to the school's MirrorCast channel, currently Blondie was doing her Webcast. Blake smirked, pressing the enter key on the computer, watching as the image on the television changed entirely.

" _ **Prepare for total domination!"**_

The two girls glanced at Blake, who chuckled as he kept typing on the computer. The screen had now been replaced with a black background, which had the crest of the Rebels, a Heart with Wings floating in the middle of it. He pressed the button on the microphone, activating the voice changer.

"Hey hey hey, Ever After High! What's up? All of you might be a little confused and surprised, but I assure you, this isn't a prank, and this isn't a joke. You are now listening to the first ever broadcast of the new hit radio show, Radio Rebel! And to show you that we mean business, we have taken over the airwaves! For the next hour we are going to blast the hottest hits right to you, the students of Ever After, so sit back and enjoy some tunes, because we are on!" he said, playing the first song of the hour, Lady Gaga's Poker Face. He shut off the microphone, so no one would hear him.

"Oh my godmother! I can't believe were actually doing this!" Melody said, a grin on her face.

"Me either, this is gonna be meow-tastic!"

"Okay, what's up with you Ever After fellas using these variations of the words? Cedar says wait a Splinter a lot, Maddie says Hat-tastic all the time, and you say Meow-tastic? What's up with that?" he asked.

"It's an Ever After thing." Kitty replied, a grin on her face.

"Go and get us some more information will you Kitty? Me and Blake got this handled, I got some of my boys stationed at each corner of this hallway with a special camera, just in case we are tracked, and we got an escape ready." the girl said, pointing to the window, where a rolled up rope ladder had been placed.

"You two thought of everything, that's so cute. If I didn't know any better, you two are dating and have been planning this ever since you met." Kitty said, causing the two teens to flush.

"Dating? You know what I think of that Kitty, sheesh! Go on, the first song is almost over." he said, brushing her off. The girl giggled, flashing out of the room. Melody put on her headset and grabbed her MirrorPad, tuning into all of the cameras. As the song ended, Blake grabbed the Microphone and pressed the button, hitting the pause switch on the computer.

"Ladies and Gentlemen that was Poker Face by Lady Gaga, I hope you all enjoyed that first track, but now let's go on the attack. For the past few weeks, some of the students have been spreading rumors all through the school, and they have been getting nastier and nastier as the days go on. Isn't that sad? Not anymore, Radio Rebel is here to shut that stuff down! Jack Hill, son of Jack from the nursery rhyme Jack and Jill, I caught wind of something rather serious." he said, passing the microphone off to Melody, thankfully the voice changer made it so the voice was unrecognizable, so no one would be able to tell the difference between male and female.

"Recently, I heard a rumor...about Briar Beauty doing illicit things during her parties at the Dance Club. I doubt she even knows about this, because they just started...but I was able to figure out who started them, and it all points to you. My sources indicate that you broke up with your girlfriend during one of her parties, when you tried to dance with her, she turned you down because she was busy, and you decided to get even by selling her out and telling everyone she sold alcohol to minors at her parties."

"But that is totally untrue, Briar Beauty is a kind soul who loves to party more than anything. Is it wrong for her to want to live her life the way she wants? She may be a Royal, but there's no hiding that Rebel heart! So this one goes out just for her, Briar Beauty, don't worry, the Truth will set you free! I'll be your Guardian Angel!" Blake said, hitting play on the same song. He set aside the microphone, high fiving Melody beside him, his eyes lit up, a smile working its way onto his face. It was time to get even, and it was beyond him to do it any other way.


	7. True Heart's Day Part I

**A/N:**

 **What it do? Itz ya boi, Celestial coming at you with a brand new chapter for Through the Looking Glass. I gotta say, I am having a lot of fun writing this story, more fun than I thought I would, if I'm being honest. We have finally reached the first major event of the story, True Hearts Day. Now, I understand that in the canon, this happens during the Spring, most likely to symbolize Valentine's Day...but in my story, and for the sake of the plot it will happen a few weeks before Thronecoming.**

 **I am also going to explain something else...since the episodes are so short, I am going to extend and often combine them to make one chapter. The reason why I use xxx a lot, is because there are a lot of time shifts in the story. If I'm going to cover an episode's plot, then right next to the xxx, I'm going to write the title of that episode so that everyone knows what its about. I also do this so I can space the actual story from the original stuff, which I am taking the liberty to make up as I go along. The whole dominatrix thing was honestly a joke idea that turned into an actual thing. I mean, most of you will say to yourselves, no one would talk smack about Apple White, she's too nice. But remember, the world is a dark place, so no matter how good you are, there are those that will indeed talk shit. No matter where you go or what you do, there's always that one shit stain that will make your life a living shit ball.**

 **Honestly, I'm liking how I'm writing Blake in this story and making it as realistic as possible. the Real world and the Fairytale world aren't supposed to meet up, which keeps this dynamic ever changing. This is why Blake has a unique way of speaking, or rather a dirty way of speaking, as well as a unique way of handling a situation. Because everyone is so used to destiny, he isn't afraid to speak his mind and show people that there are things beyond destiny that are more important...which will have a lot to do with Apple and how she views him. Because she always wanted her happily ever after, she has a sort of vain and self centered way of thinking, but now that she's met Blake, he will help her see everything just a little differently.**

 **I will also include references to pop culture, media, movies and various other things. Radio Rebel was inspired by the Disney Movie of the same name, which is a rip off from Pump up the Volume...but I don't really care about all of that shit. I will try to incorporate more Disney stuff since they have handled quite a lot of the fairytales we all know and love...I am also including some ocs based off the Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo, because I honestly think it deserves to be in this series, even though it isn't a Fairytale. So I do hope you like this chapter, let me know what you all think and before you all go, since I'm too fucking lazy to put up a poll.**

 **Who should Blake take to Thronecoming? Which girl do you think deserves to attend a special dance with a subpar human being from another world, thought to be a cruel puppy kicker? Let me know by PM. Remember, one vote per reviewer, which will be like three of you so this should make it rather interesting. If it is a tie event, I will hold another vote with the girls that tied, and if they tie again, then I will make the choice. So choose wisely everyone...and have a nice day...**

 **Thronecoming Dates for Blake:**

 **Apple White**

 **Raven Queen**

 **Briar Beauty**

 **Blondie Lockes**

 **Cerise Hood**

 **Cedar Wood**

 **Duchess Swan**

 **Lizzie Hearts**

 **Kitty Cheshire**

 **Madeline Hatter**

 **Holly O'Hair**

 **Poppy O'Hair**

 **Melody Piper**

 **C.A. Cupid**

 **The Polls will close by Sunday November 26th at 9:00 EST, otherwise known as Walking Dead Time...so you have until then to vote. One vote per person, no duplicate votes, if there is a tie, we will vote from those that tied and the winner will be his date. I would appreciate if you PM me your vote to keep it secret, and if no one votes then I will then choose his date.**

Ever After High

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 7

True Heart's Day Part 1

The dull sound of wood filled the field, as the two students swung their swords at each other. Sweat dripped down the sides of their foreheads as they continued their battle, hoping their skills could name either of them winner of their bout. Slow pants for breath rocked their bodies as they intently stared each other down, hoping to find a way to break each others guard, knowing it would be a rather hard thing to accomplish in this battle. The wind blew a bit, ruffling their hair slightly. The taller of the two moved his leg slightly, that was all the latter needed to spring forward.

Jabbing his katana forward, he aimed a slash at his leg, only for his opponent to block the strike with his sword. He attempted a shield bash, which was easily avoided by the boy. Using his opponents weight against him, he aimed a slash to his right side, hoping to strike a part of his armor that looked weak. A dull clang rung out when their swords clashed once more. Using his strength, the taller boy pushed his opponent back, who quickly got back into a stance, keeping his katana raised at eye level, the tip aimed at his opponent. He couldn't wait any longer, the shield wielding boy moved forward, swinging his sword as hard as he could.

Blocking the heavy hit, the younger of the two quickly pushed the sword back, jabbing the taller teen several times in the chest with his sword. Quickly moving his shield to block the next hit, he took a slash at his head, only for him to duck, a few strands of hair being sliced off. This made the boy smirk, as he used his agility to dash behind the boy, swinging his sword as hard as he could, knocking the wind out of him. With a shout, the boy slammed his leg into the middle of his opponents back, sending him tumbling to the ground. He stood above him, a smirk on his lips.

"You should have checked yourself, before you Shreked yourself." he said.

"What does that even mean?" his opponent said, as he felt the wooden blade against his throat.

"That's it! Blake is the winner, good hustle you two. Dexter you need to stop leaving yourself open, you also need to think before you attack. Your opponent may figure out your strategy and that wouldn't be good for you." Mr. Knight said. Blake held his hand out to his friend as the other students begrudgingly clapped for the battle.

"Wow Blake, you really got better with that sword of yours." Dexter said, placing his wooden sword back at his hip. Blake shrugged, sheathing his wooden katana.

"If you say so, I'm just employing some stuff I learned from video games. That move I did was one I call Reversal, a character in a game I played used that to quickly get behind his opponents back, it also helps to dodge heavy hits...I didn't think I would actually be able to do it though." he said.

"Still, it's scary to see how much you've improved in such little time...maybe I should drop my sword and shield and move to a katana. I think I would be more agile that way."

"If you think so...the katana is a cool sword, I'll admit. But it isn't a perfect sword, it's kept really sharp for quick strikes, but if someone catches you in battle, it all depends on skill. The blades are often so thin that they'd break rather easily. In fact, I saw that happen in a lot of animes I used to watch." he said.

"Students gather around...we have a few minutes left in class, and I figured we could give Damsel-in-Distressing a try. I have asked some girls from my other class to help us with this, so please do be kind to them." Mr. Knight said, gesturing to the girls who had gathered.

Blake smiled a bit when he recognized a few of the girls. Apple was smiling brightly at everyone, as she normally did. Cedar was shyly looking around, playing with one of the loops on her wrist, Holly was holding a hair brush in her hair, having pulled it from its braid, most likely to use it if she needed. The final girl was Cerise, who looked like she really didn't want to be there. She had a rather annoyed look on her face, but when she saw Blake, she calmed down a bit, becoming a bit more relaxed.

"Alright then, since there are four ladies with us, there will be four different rescue scenarios. The good old Dragon rescue, where a dragon takes one of our fair maidens captive." Mr. Knight said, gesturing to the large fire breathing dragon that was currently eating from a basket of apples.

"Holy shit that thing his fucking huge!" Blake cried, causing everyone to look at him. Daring chuckled, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Worry not buddy, Legend is harmless. She's my dragon after all." he said, giving him a smile. Blake narrowed his eyes a bit to block the gleam of the sun from his eyes.

"Moving on, we have the classic tower rescue, one of our ladies will be trapped in a tower, surrounded by enemy soldiers, and your task is to get her to safety. Rapunzel loved this one, I'm sure you will too Holly." the man said, earning a smile from the young brunette.

"Number three is one of the newer ones. An evil witch wants a beautiful maiden so that she could milk the youth from her, so your task will be to rescue her before she gets tossed into that bubbling cauldron."

"Excuse me, Mr. Knight? What's in the cauldron?" Apple asked curiously.

"Today's dinner, we're making soup, don't worry we won't actually drop you into the cauldron...you know maybe. The final one is a bit new, but all of you hip youngsters should know. A horde of evil zombies has been released onto the world, and your damsel will be trapped in a phone booth, your ask is to bring her to safety without her or yourself getting bit." the man said, looking at the crimson phone booth. A few other students had been standing around, with eerie looking makeup.

"Wow, they must not be method actors, because they're the worst zombies I've seen in awhile." Blake said, earning a small chuckle from Dexter.

"Now then, I have chosen the four who will rescue each damsel, and I have also chosen which damsel goes where. This was all random, so please do not complain about the results. Daring and Cedar will face off against Legend, Cerise will be in the tower and Dexter will be her rescuer. Holly, you'll be hanging over the soup, and Henry will be your rescuer, Apple White, you'll be in the phone booth and Blake shall be your knight. So get too it, the fastest time will get a free period next class." Mr. Knight said.

"Hehe, how ironic...Blake has to rescue his dominatrix from a horde of zombies. Careful, she might actually bite you harder than normal." the sandy blond said, earning a glare from Apple as she walked toward the phone booth.

"You know something, I feel really bad for Holly, because she has to deal with you as a rescuer. Honestly if I was her, I would look forward to falling into that soup. It would finally end the suffering we all have to deal with on a daily basis, caused by you." he said, giving the boy a grin, his teeth twinkling as he walked off.

"Blake, hand me your sword, I'm giving you this foam one so you don't hurt the actors. Last thing we need is them getting a concussion." Mr. Knight said, earning a nod from the boy, who handed over his wooden sword, and took the foam one from the man.

"This aught to be good." he muttered, once everyone was in place.

"Alright then, we will go in order, with Daring going first. Show us what you have boy, your my best student here."

"Worry not, Mr. Knight, I shall rescue the damsel and save her from this vile beast." he said, winking at Legend who just shook her head, pawing the ground.

"Okay, I'll just...lay on the ground here." Cedar called out. As part of the trial, she had been tied up and placed behind the dragon, so that Daring could eventually rescue her once the dragon was _slain_. Daring drew his sword, holding his shield tightly in his hand.

"Ready, set...go!"

"Get back beast! Unhand that beautiful maiden!" the blond prince cried, swinging his sword at Legend. She growled, unleashing a stream of flames at the would be rescuer, who used his shield to block the attack.

Daring tried moving toward Cedar, but Legend swung her tail at him, causing him to duck so avoid the appendage. He swung his sword at her a few times, getting her to back up a bit. He smirked, throwing a slash at her leg, earning a cry from her, even though she barely felt it. She had to act the part after all.

"Come on Cedar, cry out to your prince!" Mr. Knight said, earning a frown from the girl.

"Do I have to?"

"If you want extra credit, then yes."

"Ugh...help me my prince! I know you can defeat this ghastly dragon!" she cried out, though her voice held little emotion. Legend and Daring shared a look, with the prince shrugging it off. He continued to swing his sword at the dragon, who unleashed another flamethrower at him.

"Worry not my princess! I shall save your life, and we shall live happily ever after!" Daring cried, striking the dragon in the neck. Legend started hacking loudly, falling to the ground, her wings unfurling a bit as she pawed the ground, finally _dying_.

"Oh Legend, you are so melodramatic...Daring Charming, your time is two minutes, thirty seconds...let's see if your brother can get a better time than you. Get set, Go Dexter."

"Oh...okay." the boy said. Cerise sighed, placing her elbow in the window sill, resting her head in her hand. She watched as the nerdy boy approached her tower, sword in hand as he swung it at a nearby enemy, who fell to the ground as soon as he was hit.

"Please my prince, hurry...I have no food or water up here! These people are trying to starve me." she cried, an emotionless tone in her voice, as she bit into a granola bar she had pulled from her pocket.

"Hey, how can you be starving if you have a granola bar?" one of the others cried out.

"I was saving it for later." she replied, glancing down at Dexter, who had taken care of another opponent. He reached the base of the tower, swinging his sword at a few remaining enemies.

"Um...what do I do now?" he asked.

"Well, you have to climb up there and get her yourself...she's locked up in a tower without stairs, I'm sure you'll figure it out." Mr. Knight said.

"Okay...how does this go again? Oh right...Rapunzel, Rapunzel! Let down your hair, so that I may climb thy golden stair!" he cried, earning a blank look from Cerise.

"I'm not Rapunzel, so I can't let down my hair, try again!"

"Uh...do you have some rope up there?"

"If I did, I wouldn't be in here now would I?"

"Come on Dexter, time's ticking away, only another few seconds and you'll pass your brothers time." Mr. Knight said. Dexter grit his teeth, he had been hoping to finally beat his older brother at something, but he didn't have a clue as to how to get Cerise down from the tower...then an idea struck him. He tossed his sword and shield and held his arms out.

"Jump, I'll catch you!" he cried.

"Are you insane? That's a forty meter drop, I would probably kill you!"

"Just do it, I got you!" he cried.

She shook her head and climbed out of the window, sitting on the sill. Grabbing onto her hood so it wouldn't fly off, she jumped off the edge of the tower, having closed her eyes. She landed safely in Dexter's arms, or rather on top of him. Everyone cringed, reeling back in both shock and awe. Cerise checked herself over for injury, finding that she was completely fine, but Dexter on the other hand had seen better days. She poked his cheek a few times, but the boy had passed out. She sighed and got off from him, pulling the boy over her shoulder as she walked away from the tower.

"Uh...well this is the first time I've seen the damsel rescue the prince...sadly he didn't beat Daring's time." Mr. Knight said, glancing at his stop watch.

"Ha, what a loser!" Henry said, earning a glare from Daring.

"That's my little bro you are talking about Henry, unless you want to eat your teeth, you'll keep your mouth shut."

"Sure, whatever...what do I get when I beat Daring's time?" he asked, glancing at the Knight who scratched his helmet.

"Well, you'll have to wait for Blake to complete his run, then whoever has the fastest time gets one class period off, like I said before. So you best do your darnedest to not let Holly fall into that soup." he said.

Henry shook his head, waiting for the teacher's command. Once he called it, he ran toward the bubbling cauldron of soup, seeing a pasty green looking witch, laughing evilly as she poured stuff into the cauldron. Some of the stuff was actually sliced carrots and potatoes, and the witch was in fact one of the lunch ladies, at least that's what it looked like to Blake.

"Don't worry Princess, your Knight in shining armor has arrived." Henry said, earning a sigh from Holly.

"My hero." she said dejectedly, feeling herself be lowered a bit.

"Don't even bother boy, if you get any closer the girl gets it!" the lunch lady cried, cackling evilly as she placed a large metal ladle into the cauldron.

"Pfft, you don't scare me lady. I got this!" Henry said, grabbing a pail of water from the ground. He proceeded to throw it at Holly, who let out a scream from how cold it was. She glared at the boy, her make up starting to run.

"What the hell was that for?"

"Well, if I threw the water at the witch, she would just cut the rope. I figured if you were soaking wet, the hot soup wouldn't burn your skin." he said.

"Oh my god, he's a retard." Blake said, face palming so hard he swore his brain dislodged from within his skull.

"You're supposed to throw it at her! One of a witch's greatest weaknesses is water you twit!" Holly cried angrily, only to drop into the soup a second later. Mr. Knight blew the whistle, shaking his head.

"Henry, my boy...you failed, horribly...how's the soup Holly?"

"Way better than this idiots attempt at rescue...wow this is delicious! What did you add to this?" the girl asked, glancing at the lunch lady.

"My mixture of eleven herbs and spices, it's a secret so don't bother asking." she said, giving the girl a wink.

"Well, looks like it's time for our final rescue of the day. Blake, show us what you got."

"You got it Mr. Knight." he said happily.

"Pfft, you don't know jack about zombies! I bet you'll be bit as soon as you start." Henry said, arms crossed with a smirk on his face. Mr. Knight blew his whistle, causing Blake to run forward.

He spun his sword in his hand, swinging it at a nearby 'zombie', causing him to fall to the ground. He swung his sword at a second one, spinning around his heal to strike a third in the neck. One tried reaching for him, and he took a hold of his arm, knocking him to the ground, stabbing the tip of his sword through his head. He quickly moved forward, dodging a few of the zombies coming at him. He took a deep breath, pushing himself to go a bit faster, slashing at a nearby zombie, throwing her to the ground.

"He's really good. That natural speed he's got is definitely helping him out." Cerise said, an impressed look on her face. Dexter finally came too, grabbing the side of his head.

"Can I get the number of the carriage that hit me?" he asked, earning a scowl from the hooded girl.

"I agree, no wonder he can handle himself with a sword so well." Daring said, quite impressed with Blake's reaction time.

It didn't take the black haired boy to clear the area around the phone booth. Once he had, he placed his foam sword between his belt and waist and opened the phone booth, where Apple was patiently waiting. He gave her a smile, taking a hold of her hand.

"My princess, did I keep you waiting?" he asked.

"A little, don't worry about it, you did great." she said.

"Nice, alright bring out the second horde!" Mr. Knight cried, causing the two teens to go wide eyed.

"Second horde? You never mentioned a second horde!" Blake cried.

"Whoops, totally slipped my mind. Now that you rescued Apple, you need to get to the escape carriage, then you'll be completely safe from harm. So get too it." the man said, just as the second horde of slow moving brain eaters filled the filled.

"I think he did this intentionally."

"I think so too Apple, just stay behind me. Do you see the carriage?" he asked. The blonde looked around, giving him a nod, pointing to the farthest end of the field, where a white and gold carriage was waiting for them.

"It's over there, but there are a lot of them between there and here." she said.

"Don't worry, a knight is always prepared to save his princess." he said, reaching into his boot, pulling out a wooden dagger he had hidden at the start of the class. He held it out to the girl, who took it from his hand.

"Let's go, from now on you'll be known as Apple White, Zombie Slayer." he said, earning a smile from the girl.

"It actually sounds really cool. Just get them in the head right?"

"Mhmm, come on! Stay behind me and only go for the closer ones." he said, drawing his blade.

The two started making their way toward the carriage, with Blake taking down some of the zombies that got close, and Apple covering for when one got too close. They continued working together, slowly thinning down the massive horde of acting challenged zombies, until they finally made it to the carriage. Mr. Knight blew the whistle, finally ending their clock. He looked at it, quite impressed with the time.

"Five minutes, twenty seconds. I honestly thought it would have taken you two longer...sadly it isn't enough to beat Daring's time, so he gets the next Sword Training class off. Blake how were you able to defend yourself against all of these zombies?" the man asked, earning a smile from the boy.

"Left4Dead of course. It's like the best zombie came out in my world, of course I also watched the Walking Dead a lot, and I once wrote a High School of the Dead story...let's just say, zombies are a cult classic where I come from, so everyone is prepared to take them down." he said, a proud smile on his face.

"Well, all I can say is my prince was able to save me from that horde, and I didn't feel a slight sense of danger." Apple said, kissing his cheek. He flushed a bit, his grin becoming wider. Henry growled under his breath, spinning on his heel and walking away from the fields.

"You were all marvelous, so you all get the last ten minutes to yourselves, Dexter, Daring and Blake you are free to go if you'd like, same with Cedar, Cerise, Holly and Apple, your addition to this class was much appreciated ladies."

"Thank you for inviting us Mr. Knight, it was rather fun." Apple said.

"Sure, you didn't take a bath in soup." Cerise said, glancing at Holly, who was still eating from the cauldron.

"Hey, I'm gonna head off to my dorm for a quick shower...I'll see you guys in Science and Sorcery okay?" Blake said, handing Mr. Knight his foam sword and wooden dagger.

"Sure thing, catch ya around Blake. You were awesome out there." Dexter said, bumping fists with the boy.

"While you have much to learn in the way of the sword, it seems we all have a lot to learn about you, your skills in zombie slaying are amazing." Daring said, earning a chuckle from Blake.

"It's really nothing...hey, I actually have that game on my laptop. I play it a lot, and even though I don't have access to the Steam store here, I can still play the game, maybe later I can show you the ropes." he said, grabbing his backpack. He waved at his friends, walking back toward the school.

"It seems we still have a lot to learn about Blake and his world." Apple said.

"Yup, I think he would make an awesome zombie slayer." Cerise added, glancing at her MirrorPhone.

"Wait a splinter, where's Henry?" Cedar suddenly asked, causing them all to look around, finding the next Prince of the Southern Isles was absent from their class.

"Uh-oh...I think he's gonna try to do something to Blake." Dexter said, a worried look on his face.

"Worry not little bro, he's got it handled. Besides, I think it's about time Henry got his just desserts." Daring added.

"You guys need to try this soup, come on! There's plenty for everyone!" Holly cried.

"We're good!" they all cried, earning a shrug from the girl, who spooned more of the soup into her mouth.

 _ **xxx**_

Blake sighed as he left his bathroom, drying his still wet hair. He walked over to his bed, tossing his towel onto it and grabbing his favorite Pusheen shirt, put it on over his body. He had noticed that all of the sword training he had been doing had actually started defining his arm muscles. He was a bit stronger now than he was before, and while he did martial arts before, with parkour on the side, he now felt like he had more stamina than before. He grabbed his leather boots and put them on, securing the broaches on the sides before grabbing his new Ever After High varsity jacket, placing it on over his shirt. He glanced at his reflection in the mirror, mostly his hair.

"Hmm...it is getting a bit long...maybe I should take Poppy's advice. She keeps begging for me to go see her." he muttered under his breath. He grabbed his backpack and slung it over his shoulder, walking toward his door, shoving his keys in his pocket. He came face to face with Henry when he opened the door, causing him to sigh.

"May I help you?" he asked, closing the door behind himself.

"I know what you are doing...and it needs to stop!"

"I'm sorry?"

"You are trying to make me look bad, and it's honestly starting to piss me off." the boy said, earning a chuckle from Blake.

"Honestly man, you are doing that on your own, I don't have to try so hard." he admitted, turning down the hall.

"Where the hell do you think you are going?"

"To class, because I'm a model student. Maybe you should go to class instead of prowling the halls for your next victim." he said, walking toward his next class. Henry let out a growl, about to follow him when a familiar jingle rung through the halls.

" _Good Afternoon Ever After High! It's that time of day again! Radio Rebel is back for another hour of hot hits! But before we start our normal programming, let's get on with a juicy nugget of information. It seems there are rumors going around of someone intentionally setting Lily's sheep loose. Well, I know who did it...that's right ladies and gents, it was none other than Henry, Prince of the Southern Isles."_

"What the? How the hell did that bastard find that out? I wasn't followed by anyone!" the boy growled, balling his hand in anger.

" _Oh, I can already imagine the look on his face. Face it son, you got caught. After all this is a small price to pay for making the poor girl search the whole school for her sheep. How would you like it if someone set loose you pet and you had to look all over the place for them? Don't even get me started on all the shoes Ashlynn has to replace now...now let us proceed with our song of choice. Incomplete Me, by For All Those Sleeping, such a shame these guys broke up, they had such good music."_

The song started blasting through the speakers a second later, making Henry growl. He was going to find out who this Radio Rebel was, and he was going to make them pay for it. But first he was going to deal with Blake.

"Hey Henry."

The boy shuddered a bit as he turned around, seeing the angry face of Lily Bo-Peep. The twin tailed girl had been walking around the halls along with her sheep when she had heard the broadcast, and had run into him by chance. She smirked, twirling her crook in her hands, her sheep baaing loudly behind her. Henry knew that he now had two things to deal with, and dealing with a pissed of Shepard was something he didn't feel like doing at the moment.

 _ **xxx**_

Cupid let out a sigh as she glanced at her diary, it was her free period and she had decided to spend it studying at the library. But she had of course gotten distracted by all of the drawings of Dexter she had drawn inside her diary. With every turn of a page, she saw a picture of the boy, his face circled with pink ink, or a drawing of the boy, or even an amalgamation of their names. It was honestly making the girl lose focus in her studies. She flushed a bit when the Evil Step Librarians shushed her rather loudly, making her sink into her seat. She heard footsteps and glanced up, seeing her crush approaching her table. The boy sighed as he placed several heavy tomes on the table top.

"Hey Cupid, anyone sitting here?" he asked, as he fixed his glasses. She smiled lovingly, holding her hands together.

"Yes, I mean no! I mean, please sit." she said, earning a nod from the boy. The two were shushed rather loudly by the two librarians, making them jolt a bit from surprise.

"The Evil Step Librarians are so wicked." Cupid said softly, earning a nod from Dexter.

"I know right? Last week they made me reorganize the forbidden book section of the library. Look at what I found." he said, pulling a book from his backpack. It was olden and worn, with the corners being a bit frayed. The cover had an image of a tree, with a pink glittering gem in the center, in the shame of a heart. Cupid gasped, reading the golden letters at the top.

"The History of True Heart's Day? Oh Dexter this is perfect! Thank you for finding this!"

"No problem, as soon as I saw it, I knew you'd love to read it." the boy said happily, neither noticing the Librarians until they were behind them, having slammed a ruler on the table top.

"Quiet in the library, it's its detention for both of you!" one of them cried, earning vigorous nods from the two teenagers.

"Let's finish our homework, we'll talk later." the boy said softly. Cupid nodded, opening to the first page of the book she had been given. Homework was more important, but there was no way she could work on it with such an interesting book in her hands.

It didn't take long to finish all of his homework. Cupid had almost read the entirety of her book, the smile on her face growing more with each page turn. She and Dexter left the library after a few minutes, the sheer excitement running through her was enough for her to scream, but she of course held that excitement back, as she didn't want to embarrass herself. Dexter couldn't help but chuckle, earning a dreamy look from the girl, though he didn't catch it at all.

"Are you enjoying that book?"

"Of course I am! True Heart's Day sounds like what Ever After needs! Not just to forget about those ugly rumors, but to get love flowing through these halls! If we replace those rumors with love, then everything will be a-okay! The only problem is, it hasn't been spellebrated in such a long time, I doubt anyone would remember it." she said, her smile turning into a frown.

"Well, you know what would get the love flowing through the school? A dance! Maybe the headmaster will agree to it."

"You're right! I'm gonna go talk to him right now, thanks Dex you are an awesome friend." Cupid said, giving the boy a kiss on the cheek. She ran off before he could say anything.

"Um...you're welcome."

"Wow Dexter, putting on the charm on the ladies! Roping them in one saccharine kiss at a time."

"Come on Blake, it isn't like that and you know it." the brown haired boy said, earning a chuckle from his friend.

"If you say so...hey, you wouldn't happen to know where Briar is right? I need to tell her I got my skating stuff." he said. Dexter tapped a finger against his chin in thought.

"Well, she usually hangs out in the Charmitorium. She likes the peace and quiet."

"Thanks broski, have fun with Cupid." Blake replied, chuckling as he walked toward the nearby stairwell.

As he walked however, he didn't notice the person walking behind him. When he reached the third floor, his hand was grabbed and he was pulled by the arm into a nearby classroom, the door slamming closed. He quickly turned around, having expected Henry to be the mastermind of his little trip into the classroom. He was rather surprised when he saw it had been Duchess Swan.

They didn't speak often, or rather at all. Whenever she was walking around with Lizzie and he wanted to hang out with the future Queen of Hearts, the daughter of the Swan Princess would walk off, not wanting to hand out with a Rebel, even though she was friends with Sparrow Hood, the noisiest of all the Rebels. Blake had made an effort to get to know his classmates, well those who weren't currently making rumors about him. But whenever he wanted to speak with Duchess, to truly get to know her, she would just dance off in a random direction. It made it so challenging that he had given up, so it was a surprise when she was the one standing before him, arms crossed in what looked to be annoyance.

"So, how may I help you?" He said, giving the girl his utmost attention.

"You are buddy buddy with Ashlynn and Hunter right? I'm sure you are aware of them dating."

"Well, I didn't know they were, but I guess not it's confirmed. What exactly do you need from moi?"

"I want your help in exposing their secret, when the school finds out that Ashlynn Ella is dating Hunter Huntsman, she'll get kicked out of the Royals and her spot in the Book will be left blank. Then I can swoop in and take her destiny." she said, dancing around the room.

"I love how you assume I would help you sell my friends out so you can feel better about yourself." he said, earning a growl from the girl.

"You have to help me, or else."

"Or else what honey? What are you gonna do that's gonna change my mind?" he asked, wrapping an arm around her waist looking right into her eyes.

"I know your secret...that you're the Radio Rebel." she said, earning a smirk from the boy, who only rose a brow.

"Really? How do you assume I'm the Radio Rebel?"

"The music, for one. The songs that are played during every show are songs that don't exist in this universe, aside from AC/DC at least. So it has to be you...take it a step further, what if you throw in the fact that Melody has all of the equipment necessary to do this. How about the fact that Kitty would be the best person to get information from literally anyone, without breaking a sweat."

"You're well read up, too bad you got the wrong guys. Even if it was us, I wouldn't help you, I get that you don't have a good destiny, but isn't this your chance to rewrite it? I'm sorry your mom died, and I'm sorry that's your fate, but you shouldn't let it become your destiny." he said, walking toward the door.

"How can you say that? Wouldn't you want a destiny of your own, your own Happily Ever After? I will fight tooth and nail for it, no matter what it takes." Duchess snapped, causing the boy to look back at her, a frown on his face.

"I'm not from this world, so I wouldn't fight for a piece of paper with ink on it. The only true destiny I have, is the path of freedom, to choose what I want to be. Only that is important, and making each day count, no matter how shitty the situation. You don't have to do anything other than that...I hope you truly think about this Duchess, because you'll be making a lot of enemies if you don't." he said, leaving the room, hopefully giving the monochrome themed girl something to think about.

 _ **xxx**_

Briar didn't exactly know what was wrong with Cupid. She had been sitting on the third floor of the Charmitorium, drinking her mocha latte like normal, hoping to enjoy the peace and quiet of the room, when she saw the winged girl walk in. It wasn't a secret that she wanted nothing more than to help everyone in Ever After High find love, no matter the cost. It was her way of finding her own destiny, so if she had come to see Briar for something, then it must have been serious. However, she hadn't said a single word in the three minutes she stood before her. She glanced awkwardly at her phone, looking up at the girl once more.

"So...got something to say?" she asked.

"Um...oh..um.." the girl once again clammed up, going silent. Her eyes lit up a bit as she held the book up, pointing right at the title.

"True Hearts Day? What's that?"

"Um...oh right, Charades!" the girl cried excitedly. Briar raised a brow, taking a sip from her coffee cup...she was just glad she and her mother played this game a lot growing up.

"Alright then, thirty-three words. A holiday that was once spellebrated in order to bring people together, and Headmaster Grimm doesn't want anyone to know but you think we should hold a secret True Hearts Day dance anyway?" she asked, earning a nod from the pinkette, who was happy her friend had understood everything.

"Why didn't you just tell me that in the first place?"

"Because Headmaster Grimm told me not to tell anyone. Anyway, what do you think?"

"Hmm. A secret dance would be interesting, it would help build my rep back up after those rumors started going around. Plus I really like the prospect, so sure, I wouldn't mind hosting it."

"Yes! We are totally having a secret True Heart's Day Dance!" Cupid cried, her voice echoing through the empty Charmitorium, as well as the rest of the school. The two girls heard someone clear their throat, and turned around, seeing the calm faced Blake walking down the steps.

"I'm gonna...pretend I didn't hear that." he said.

"Hi Blake, what are you doing here?"

"Well Bri, I came here to tell you I got my skateboard and new pads...I was hoping to take you out skating today, but clearly you've just been booked." he said, glancing at Cupid who had a flush on her cheeks.

"It's fine, how about we do that another time? Right now, I think Cupid needs us more, I think this dance is what the school needs to forget those awful rumors."

"You're right, but it's gonna take effort to keep this shit secret. Just a heads up, Duchess is trying to take Ashlynn's destiny, if she catches wind of this, she'll squeal to Grimm about it."

"So, what do you suggest we do?" Cupid asked curiously, earning a smirk from Blake.

"Let's just say...I got this handled. So you two worry about the set up, I'll make sure Duchess is well taken care of. Oh and Cupid, sweetheart if you're gonna be excited about something, don't shout it at the top of your lungs, it's not ideal for anyone." he said, taking his leave from the Charmitorium.

"What do you think he's gonna do?"

"I'm not sure, but he's been seen with Kitty a lot lately...whatever he's got cooking, it definitely won't end well for Duchess, that's for sure." Briar said, a smirk on her face.

 _ **xxx**_

Finding the Swan Princess was a lot harder than Blake thought. He had been searching through the school, but he figured she wasn't even in Ever After anymore. Remembering what she had told him earlier that day, the boy decided to head into Bookend to see if he could find her there. Sadly since people were still spreading rumors, no one wanted to speak to the young man, so he was mostly on his own. Thankfully, due to the Radio show, the glares had died down significantly, but that didn't mean he still didn't get them. He stopped at one of the squares, glancing around the area, only seeing a few familiar faces. He shook his head, pulling his skateboard from his backpack, placing it on the ground.

"Well, it's been awhile, hopefully I didn't lose my game." he said, planting his foot firmly in the center of the book. He took a deep breath, kicking off a second later.

Getting back on a skateboard was honestly a good feeling. It made him remember the good times when he was back in his world. Skating down the street early in the morning when there were no cars driving around was a good feeling. The cool breeze flowing through his hear, skating down a deep incline and hoping to make it without wiping out was honestly the best feeling for a skater. Thankfully, the streets of Bookend were paved instead of cobblestone, so it made it that much easier to have a smooth ride, and he didn't have to waste more money on different wheels to handle that kind of terrain.

"Hmm, if I were Duchess, I would have searched someone willing to help me. That means I have to look for the idiot stupid enough to help her, and when I find that idiot, I should just follow his trail and track her down, simple." he muttered to himself.

He kept riding forward, arriving at a stairwell. Instead of stopping, the boy pushed himself forward, picking up speed. Once he had the approach down, he popped his board, performing a perfect Varial Hardflip. He slammed down on the ground, the familiar shock going through his legs made him grin as he pushed himself forward, doing a Pop Shuvit right after. He took a good look around the area, frowning a bit when he didn't see the girl he was looking for. He reached another open street, leaning forward on his board. He grabbed the tail, stopping himself before the crosswalk.

"Goddamn it, this is gonna be the end of me." he muttered, pressing the crosswalk button a few times.

He glanced at the store behind him, a fine China shop that he had passed a few times. Apparently, the one who worked there sold collectible plates with designs from various realms. But what caught his attention was the person that was standing inside. He grabbed the door and pulled it open, a smile on his face.

"Lizzie!"

The future Queen of Hearts let out a surprised yelp, dropping the plate in her hands, which proceeded to break into pieces on the tile floor. She looked at it, eyes wide in shock before looking up, glaring at the boy.

"I had finally saved up enough money for that Wonderland Plate, and you broke it! Off with your head!" she screamed, holding a pair of scissors tightly in her hand.

"Whoa, okay I'm sorry! I didn't mean to startle you...I'll be the plate okay? You won't have to pay for jack...I need your help so please don't cut my head off." the boy said, placing his hands together in front of himself. She sighed, teeth grit in annoyance before she finally gave him a nod, putting her scissors away.

"Well, what do you require of me?"

"I need help finding Duchess and since you are her roommate, I figured you would know where she would go. I also need your dorm key."

"I can help you with the first one, as for the second one, the answer is no. Why would you even need that?" she asked curiously. He sighed, glancing around the store for a few seconds.

He reached into his wallet, pulling out a twenty gold bill, handing it to the cashier for the broken plate. He took a hold of Lizzie's hand, leading her out of the store. Once they had gotten a good distance away from the store and those around it, he turned to face the heart themed girl, his lips pressed into a thin line. He remained silent for a few seconds, piecing together his answer before finally speaking, making sure to make his voice as convincing as possible.

"Cupid found out about this holiday, True Hearts Day, and is throwing a secret dance. The Headmaster will most likely stop her and Briar before it starts, and I'm sure Duchess will blow the whistle if she finds out. I need help finding her so I can keep her out of the picture before she finds out. Currently she's trying to spill Ashlynn and Hunter's secret. Please Lizzie, I need your help." he said.

"Hmm...why should I help you? What's in it for me?"

"Um...I'll carry your croquet stuff whenever you and your friends have a game...I'll set up the wickets and make sure the mallets aren't chipped, and I'll make sure your stuff is ready for each game."

"That's quite alright, I have no issue carrying my own things. Just because I am a princess doesn't mean I can't pull my weight around. You have failed to convince me Blake, I shall take my leave now" she replied, turning her back to him, walking up the street. He caught her hand before she got to far, holding it tightly.

"Wait...I'll buy you a cake...one with hearts on it." he said, almost desprately. She looked at him, brow raised in interest.

"Triple decker with fudge in the center?"

"Done."

"Bring it to my dorm by tomorrow afternoon, just be sure to tell me when you need it." she said.

"Thank you Lizzie, you are life saver!"

"Of course I am! I'm the greatest in all of Wonderland! Also, don't touch my Snap Dragons or I'll cut your head off, and then I'll slice your skull off your shoulders." she said, walking away. He tilted his head in confusion, his hands suddenly flying to his private parts.

"Oh, that would suck...hey wait, what about Duchess? Do you know where she is?" he cried out, but it was too late, Lizzie Hearts had disappeared from sight, and he was left with no answers on his target's whereabouts.


	8. True Heart's Day Part II

**A/N:**

 **Hello everyone, Happy Thanksgiving!**

 **I have decided to take a break for the holiday, so I can work on more chapters for all of you. So my next post for this story will be on Saturday. Thankfully, one of my friends has allowed me the use of his computer, so I'll be able write longer chapters and more chapters, which I will post onto here once their done so I can edit them on the go.**

 **So, now we are reaching part 2 of True Heart's Day, and we will see Blake go through quite a lot during this time. From helping Briar and Cupid to dealing with some other stuff, and even the Radio show, which I admit is my favorite parts of the story. I'll try to include a segment of Radio Rebel whenever I can, as it will increase Blake's bond with Melody and Kitty, two possible love interests for Blake in the future.**

 **Now, the vote is going to continue until Sunday, so I will once again put up the list of girls that will be potential dates for him in for Thronecoming. I have already decided who his date for True Heart's Day will be, and it won't happen until Part Four, so until then, you'll just have to wait and see.**

 **I apologize for this being a short message but I'm a little pressed on time, so once again I will post the list of girls that will be potential dates for Blake, and I will put up the current talleys for the girls that have gotten votes. However the final choice will be made on Sunday, but it will not be revealed until Thronecoming's chapters start getting written, so I hope you all enjoy the wake. hehehehe**

 **Raven Queen: I**

 **Apple White:**

 **Briar Beauty:**

 **Blondie Lockes:**

 **Cerise Hood: I**

 **Cedar Wood:**

 **Duchess Swan:**

 **Lizzie Hearts:**

 **Kitty Cheshire:**

 **Madeline Hatter:**

 **Holly O'Hair:**

 **Poppy O'Hair:**

 **C.A. Cupid: I**

 **Melody Piper: I**

 **Once Again, PM me your votes...if you have already made your vote then you do not qualify to vote again. The deadline is Sunday November 26th At 9:00PM EST. So until then, stay frosty**

Ever After High

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 8

True Heart's Day Part 2

"Oh my god, why is it when I'm looking for her, the bitch doesn't turn up any-fucking-where I look. But when she searches for me, she finds me and shoves me in a goddamn classroom, what the fuck!" Blake snapped, a tone of annoyance on his voice.

" _If you all hadn't noticed, Blake Bigby is currently trying to find Duchess Swan, in order to stop her from spilling Hunter and Ashlynn's secret. However, the find is becoming rather taxing on the boy."_ Chester said, earning a giggle from his wife Weiss.

" _Indeed, it seems the young man has resorted to a team up with Lizzie Hearts, having promised her a cake for her room key, a rather interesting offer. However, there is something we must address, and that's Blake's potty mouth."_

"Oh come on Weiss, I had a tough childhood growing up. The streets of Seattle Washington are dangerous when you walk alone. You tend to hear a lot of stuff going on around you." Blake replied. He decided to start heading through the Enchanted Forest, hoping to run into Ashlynn and Hunter before Duchess did.

" _Indeed, I do try to understand that. You are from a different world and you do things differently, but your language is a bit off putting...it's something not normally seen here."_

" _Oh let it be dear, he isn't changing the story too much. After all, there are many other things out there much worse than his swearing."_ Chester said.

" _See, this is why things are the way they are. We have to educate the young, make sure they are brought up in a nice and healthy environment. Imagine if Brooke started talking like that?"_

" _I really doubt she would. She is still young and she is still learning to be a narrator, so she knows what to do. Besides the narrator school is going to teach her about these words anyway. In order to be a successful narrator, you must adapt to the story. Remember, our professor told us that back in our Freshman year."_

"Whoa wait a minute...you mean to tell me there's a narrator school? And people actually go there to become narrators?" Blake asked, glancing at the blue skies above him.

" _Of course. How do you think we became such wonderful narrators? We had to go through rigorous training, for several years before we finally got our story. It just so happened that our story is a story about characters who are the sons and daughters from famous fairytales."_ Chester said.

"The coup de gras, as they say...so wait who's Brooke then?"

" _Brooke is our daughter, she's currently at Narrator school, learning the family trade. The next time she's off from school we'll let her come along so you can meet her."_

" _But no swearing, is that understood?"_

"Yes Weiss, I won't swear around your daughter...hey I got another question...what do you guys look like?"

" _Wouldn't you like to know?"_ Chester asked, mirth clear in his voice. Blake shook his head, deciding to continue his search.

It wasn't long before he heard voices, which he instantly recognized as Ashlynn and Hunter. He started approaching the nearby thicket, getting down near the ground, spreading some of the branches of the bushes lining the path. He saw the shore of a large crystalline lake, with a few ducks swimming through the water. He narrowed his eyes, trying to look for a sign of Duchess.

"Well...I don't see her, so she must have not found them yet." he muttered softly.

"We should keep our eyes open, she could show up at any given moment."

"You're right, it would be ideal if we covered more ground. Perhaps we should...wait a minute, I was alone." Blake said, blinking a few times. He glanced over his shoulder, seeing a familiar smiling girl kneeling beside him.

"Hi, what are you doing?"

"I could ask you the same question Kitty, how long have you been following me?" he asked curiously.

"You walked under my favorite tree, heard you talking to the narrators so I decided to tail you. After all, I always have to have my claws in whatever interesting thing is happening, and you my friend, are rather interesting." she said, a hint of seriousness in her voice. He shrugged, peeking back at Ashlynn and Hunter.

"Well I'm not stopping you...I'm here to catch Duchess, mind helping me out?"

"Mhmm, it's about time I get her...we're close friends, but she can be rather spoiled at times." Kitty replied, moving up closer to the tree.

"Curiouser and Curiouser." he said, earning a cute scowl from the girl.

The two tried their hardest not to listen in to Ashlynn and Hunter's conversation, but it was almost impossible to do. Kitty had a slight cringe on her face, most likely thinking it was too lovey dovey for her tastes. Blake honestly found it rather endearing that Hunter was going through all of that trouble to go on a date with Ashlynn. They had said a few things about coming out to their friends, but Ashlynn quickly turned the idea down, saying she would definitely cause chaos through the school of their secret came out. Kitty smiled, reaching for her phone.

"What are you doing?" Blake hissed, earning a grin from Kitty.

"Recording this, duh...chaos over peace is my motto dear Blake, and this is prime chaos bringing stuff right here." she said. The boy took a hold of her phone, shoving it in his pocket, much to her dismay.

"We are not exposing them. No ifs, ands or buts about it. Hunter and Ashlynn are the closest friends I got here, and I would feel shitty if I let anyone expose them."

"You know we can hear you right?" Hunter suddenly said, causing the boy to freeze in place. Kitty grinned, flashing out of the area, but not before winking at Blake. He face palmed, standing up from the bush.

"That damn cat is gonna be the end of me. I'm sorry you guys! I didn't mean to disturb you on this really adorable date." he said.

"It's totally fine Blake, but we are curious about what you and Kitty were doing here." Ashlynn said, setting down her glass.

"Uh well...I'm here because...because of her." Blake said, pointing at Duchess, who had lowered her phone, a smirk on her face.

"Well well, Ashlynn and Hunter...what are you two doing here?"

"Huh? What? We aren't doing anything, we're not dating, nope not at all." Hunter said, a look of shock on his face.

"You two are totally busted!" Sparrow cried, while strumming his guitar, much to Duchess's annoyance. Blake walked out from behind the bush, arms across in annoyance.

"Bro, isn't Hunter your friend? Why are you helping Duchess expose their secret? What if someone exposed your secret?" he asked firmly, earning a chuckle from the son of Robin Hood.

"Sparrow Hood has no secrets! So it's no skin off my nose."

"Oh really, then you wouldn't mind me texting your secret to the Radio Rebel's hotline would you?" the boy asked.

"What...what secret is this idiot talking about Sparrow?" Duchess asked, earning a worried look from the boy.

"I dunno, he's totally lyin!"

"Okay then, Dear Radio Rebel, I just found out this awesome juicy secret. Sparrow Hood is totally in love with Holly O'Hair! He's so in love with her, that he daydreams of kissing her on a daily basis, furthermore..."

"Alright stop! Don't send that, I'll do anything!"

"Anything?"

"Yes, just please stop it bro...that's a total low blow." Sparrow said. Blake smirked, glancing at Duchess's phone.

"I want her phone, get it to me and I don't press send." he said, holding his own up, his thumb hovering over the send button. Sparrow quickly swiped Duchess's phone, tossing it to the boy who caught it with ease.

"Wha...hey! You're supposed to be helping me you idiot! What the hell?"

"Sorry Duchess, but there's no way in hell I'm letting my secret come out. Especially on Radio Rebel, yow!" he cried, strumming his guitar. The girl shook her head, giving the boy a smirk.

"It doesn't matter...I still saw this date with my own eyes, once I tell everyone, they'll believe me over any of you. Ashlynn honey, I'm sorry that you fell in love. But because of it, you'll leave a nice spot for me to sign on your page in the book." she said.

"Please Duchess, don't tell anyone about us...I don't know what could happen if you did. I love Hunter with all my heart, but I can't go against my destiny either...don't you believe in love?" Ashlynn said, causing the girl to growl angrily.

"I'm supposed to get betrayed by the person I fall in love with. I'm cursed to die alone and forgotten because my love betrays me! So no, I don't believe in love, love is bullshit! All I care about is my Happily Ever After, and I will do anything I can to get my hands on it!" she spat, turning toward the lake. She broke into a sprint, quickly running over the water.

"Aw dammit, now I gotta deal with that...well, catch ya later, taters!" Sparrow said, walking around the edge of the lake, strumming his guitar. Blake shook his head, as he sifted through Duchess's video gallery, until he found the video she had just taken. He quickly deleted it, shoving the phone into his back pocket.

"Don't worry you two, I'll make sure she doesn't say anything. You two just enjoy yourselves alright? Even if the school finds out, who gives a shit right? Love is all that matters." he said, giving them a smile.

"Thank you Blake, it means a lot that you would do this much for us."

"Hey, you two stayed friends with me, through all of these rumors. Ash you gave me a job when I needed it most, and Hunter you remind me a lot of my friend Joey, you make life here in Ever After tolerable, and I can never thank you enough for that." he said. Ashlynn smiled warmly, giving Blake a kiss on the cheek, making him flush a bit.

"That's the only freebie you get bro, and you totally deserved for being a cool dude." Hunter said, bumping fists with the black haired boy.

"I'll cherish it forever, don't worry...you're secret will always be safe with me." he said, quickly disappearing through the woods. He returned a second later, nabbing a cupcake from the table.

"I'm taking this cupcake, I haven't eaten jack since lunch." he said, earning a giggle from Ashlynn as he walked through the trees, this time for good.

 _ **xxx**_

Tracking down Duchess had been put on the back burner for Blake. Since she had run off across the lake, and he didn't have the powers of Jesus, he couldn't exactly follow after her. So he had decided to head to Spells Kitchen, a local shop dedicated to making various types of food, including specialty cakes. Since the Beanstalk Bakery was only a small restaurant, they didn't handle making large orders, so Blake resorted to this place in order to get Lizzie's cake. He had also returned to their dorm to put Duchess's phone back, leaving her an apology note, but he was sure she would just toss it without reading it, not that it mattered to him.

Apparently, this place was owned and operated by one of his classmates, which he had yet to meet. When asking his friends for a good place for sweets, Blondie had recommended this place, as she said the cupcakes are to die for. He still didn't understand her weird obsession with them, but he wasn't one to pry into someone's life. He was a bit disappointed when he walked into the store and found it completely empty. It reminded him a bit of a diner, with a mixture of modern and classic. There was a large bar counter, separating the main floor of the store from the back. There were also several booths and tables, all of the booths faced the panoramic windows of the establishment.

But what had attracted his attention wasn't the lay out of the place, it was the large glass showcase filled with pastries. Cakes of various shapes and sizes, along with eclairs, churros and a lot of other things he didn't recognize. There were cookies of various shapes and sizes, the most alluring of them being the snowflake cookies, which were all different from each other, surprisingly enough. He knew whoever had made those confections had put a lot of time, effort and love into it. So why was the store empty if the food looked good? Hell, he didn't know. He reached for the bell, dinging it a few times, his eyes brought back to the showcase.

"Just a minute!" a sweet voice called out.

He glanced over to a napkin dispenser and glanced at his reflection, cringing a bit. His hair had a few twigs in it from when he had been looking for Duchess, and his clothes was a bit out of place. He started digging the twigs from his hair, and fixing his clothes. After all, first impressions were important. He heard the door to the back open and he straightened up, clenching his hand on the small twigs.

"Welcome to Spells Kitchen, I'm the owner and baker, Ginger, may I help you?"

At first glance, Ginger looked a bit older than him, but Blake figured it was due to her height. She had light chocolate skin, and bright pink eyes, with matching candy pink colored hair. She wore an apron over her outfit, with various lollipops, candy wrappers and gummies printed on it. Underneath, she wore a long sleeved black shirt with golden designs, along with a matching skirt that had more candy printed on it. She wore see through black panty hose and tall pink heels. She also wore around pink glasses, resembling Twizzlers, at least that's what he thought. He gave her a smile, leaning against the counter.

"Well, you are certainly candy themed." he said.

"I do love baking, sadly not a lot of people even bother coming here. You're the first customer I've had all day."

"Really? That's a shame, cute girls like you need to have their bakeries filled to the brim with customers!" he said. Ginger looked away from the boy, flushing slightly.

"Um...what would you like?"

"Well, I have to make an order. I need a triple layer vanilla cake with fudge in the center. It has to be heart shaped, with red and white icing, and heart shaped sprinkles. Oh and if you can toss some of that sugar sprinkle thing that makes it glitter like a disco ball, that would be much appreciated." he said.

"Any particular reason why you need this particular cake? Are you confessing to someone?" she asked curiously.

"Nah, let's just say...I owe a friend a favor and this is the only thing she wanted. Hell knows why." he said with a shrug.

"Alright, it might take me awhile to make a cake like this...but I'll have it done as soon as possible. Since your my first customer all day, I'll give you a discount."

"What? But we just met, hell I didn't even give you my name." he said, a hint of seriousness on his face.

"It's alright, not a lot of people come here...only my friends actually show up. It's kind of sad too, I make a lot of my stuff in Cooking Class-ic and have it delivered her for the day, but no one buys it. It doesn't matter in the end, I still donate everything to the nearby shelter so it doesn't go to waste." Ginger said, a frown on her face.

"You're such a sweetheart, oh why does hearing this make me want to cry? It breaks my heart hearing this!" Blake said, clutching his chest a bit.

"I'm honestly used to it...it's gonna be 35 gold for this, but since I'm giving you a discount, you only pay fifteen."

"Are you sure about this Ginger? I have no issue paying the full amount, you deserve it for your hard work."

"It's fine, just seeing the smile on your face is enough." she said, giving him a warm smile.

"Give me all your snowflake cookies and anything else that you recommend." he said, placing a hundred gold bill on the counter.

"Eh?"

 _ **xxx**_

The rumors against Blake weren't a deterrent to anyone who wondered what was in the box he was holding. It seemed some of the rumors were dying down, as more students wanted to know what was in the box. It was as if curiosity was more important to people than baseless rumors, and to him, it made him feel slightly better. Of course he just gave them a smile and told them it was a secret. He finished his last snowflake cookie, tossing the bag into the trash as he walked. Ginger was definitely an amazing baker, and more people needed to try her confections.

She had told him that the son of daughter of Hansel, Helga, and the son of Gretel, Gus, were the cause of her almost non-existing business. Apparently, the two candy themed cousins spent most of their day scaring away anyone who wanted to check out the store, telling them about the horrible things Ginger's mother, the Candy Witch, did to their parents. Most knew the story of Hansel and Gretel, so when the two credible Rebels stood outside of her store shouting things at any potential customer, their memories of their story drove them away. Apparently, they had decided to Rebel against their Destiny because they were scared Ginger was going to cook them up, unaware that Ginger had gone against her own destiny and wanted to bake for fun.

A good old fashioned game of He said, she said, and the cousins were winning. Still, he wasn't going to tell anyone where he got the sweets until after they had tried them, in hopes that they would go to Spells Kitchen and seek the confections for themselves. He felt a vibration in his pocket, and stopped, reaching inside for his phone. Sliding his thumb across the screen, he placed the device to his ear.

"Hey howdy hey, what's up?"

" _Blake, is that you? What are you doing with Kitty's phone?"_

"Melody? Oh shit, I totally forgot about I had her phone still. What do you need her for?"

" _Well, I can't exactly say...but I won't be able to do the broadcast tomorrow, something came up."_

"Is it about the secret True Heart's Day dance? Did Briar book you too?"

" _How did you...never mind, yes it's about that. I was calling her to see if she could handle it, but seeing as I got you instead, is there a chance that you might cover for me?"_

"Uh...yeah, yeah I can do it. I got second period off tomorrow, I'm gonna have to skip lunch though...let's just say, I got a swan to wrangle in...she might blow our whistle."

" _Ah, I get it. Alright, I got a new stream of messages containing details on new rumors, so be sure to hit every point on this list, I'll give you my dorm key tomorrow morning."_

"Kay, be seeing you Melody." he said, ending the call.

He looked the phone over for a few seconds, briefly wondering where Kitty had gotten her cat themed phone case. Shrugging it off, he shoved the phone back in his pocket, resuming his walk through the halls of Ever After High.

He caught sight of something rather interesting at the end of the hall. Cupid, and Briar were hiding a box of decorations, or attempting too. Headmaster Grimm was standing before the two, gazing at the large boxes of confetti and streamers. He sighed, and strode toward the two girls, a bright smile on his face.

"Cupid, Briar! There you two are, I see you got my decorations for me." he said, earning confused looks from the two.

"These are yours Mr. Bigby?" the headmaster asked, glancing at the black haired man.

"Mhmm, you see I ordered these express for a little party I'm having." he said.

"Oh, a party...and what's this party about? What are you spellebrating?" the man asked.

"Um..." the boy froze in place. He hadn't thought that far ahead, he had been hoping to deter the man, but had forgotten exactly who he was dealing with. He shared a look with the girls, blinking a few times.

"Ah yes, we were trying to keep it a secret but...me and Briar are dating." he said.

"What?!" Briar cried in surprise. Cupid smiled, placing her hands together.

"That is absolutely right! These two are totally in love with each other, it was so cute how they were trying to hide it. But love hides from no one! I decided to help them embrace their love by helping them with this party." the pinkette said. To further convince the man, Blake wrapped his arm around Briar's waist, pulling her close to him.

"Hmm...I was convinced that Miss Beauty was a Royal, willing to sign her name into the book...doesn't that mean you wouldn't want to date anyone other than your Prince Charming?"

"Hey, if I'm gonna sleep for a hundred years, then I'm gonna have to train for a relationship. After all, everyone I know will be gone by then, and it wouldn't be good to jump into a relationship with a prince without knowing how to handle it...hehe." she said, glancing away from the man.

"Hmm...carry on then. Make sure the music stays at a manageable level, if you decide to hold it on school grounds. Try not to be...overly affectionate in the hallways." Headmaster Grimm said, walking off down the hall. Once he was out of ear shot, Blake let out a sigh, turning to face Briar.

"I'm so sorry, it was the only thing I could think of on short notice." he said.

"It's cool Blake, nice thinking though...it would have blown our cover if you hadn't shown up." the brown haired girl said.

"You're just lucky we caught on quick...your reaction was enough for him not to buy it. Anyway Blake, what are you doing here so late?" Cupid asked, her eyes on the box in his hands.

"You know...stuff...I was lucky to spot you two. That clinches it, a man doesn't need to be a knight to save two princesses." he said.

"Aren't you the charmer? Seriously, what's in the box?" Briar said, taking a hold of it. He rolled his eyes, opening it up, showing the two the heart shaped cake that rested within.

"I owed Lizzie a favor, and she wanted this, so I'm on my way to her dorm to deliver it...I got a sweet deal on it too. The one who made it for me is such a sweetheart, I ended up buying all of her cookies and practically everything else. I'm almost broke, but it was so damn worth it." he said, a small smile on his face.

"Who made this? We need like...a hundred of these...they will definitely work for our True Hearts Day dance!"

"Cupid! What did I say about shouting that?" Briar hissed, earning a flushed look from the girl.

"Sorry I got excited. But seriously, who made this, we can definitely use these for our party."

"Don't worry, I got her number...all I need is the payment."

"I got that covered, just give her the order and get back to me as soon as it's done. We need to get this to the location before anyone else starts asking what it's for." Briar said, handing the boy his cake back.

"Uh...Grimm might expect us to act all lovey dovey with each other now, what do we do?" he asked.

"We'll figure out, see ya."

"Goodnight Blake, thanks for the help!" Cupid added, giving the boy a wink as the two left.

Blake shook his head and started walking back toward the dorms, reaching into his pocket for his phone. He sifted through the few contacts he had, finding Ginger's phone number. He clicked it, holding his phone to his ear as he slipped the key into the lock. The phone rung loudly as he fumbled with the key, it wasn't long before the one on the other line picked up.

"Hey Ginger, it's Blake."

" _Oh, hello Blake, is something the matter? Do you need something else?"_

"As a matter of fact I do. One of my friends saw the cake you made me and wants a hundred of them, do you think you can handle it?" he asked. He heard a thump on the other end of the line, along with a lot of rustling, the line went quiet right after.

"Hello? Ginger? You okay? Ginger?"

 _ **xxx**_

Blake rubbed his eyes as he made his way to Melody's dorm. Having left his cake with Lizzie the night before, he had already started planning just how he was going to deal with Duchess. He had tried asking Ashlynn and Hunter for help, but the two of them were busy, apparently discussing something of vital importance. He hadn't been able to contact Kitty, due to the fact he still had her phone, and the aforementioned young woman was nowhere to be found, most likely planning her revenge on Ashlynn and Hunter, so he was on his own. He paused in front of Radio Rebel's HQ, and glanced around for a few seconds. He pulled a small bronze whistle from his pocket and blew into it. A few squeaks filled his ears and he glanced down, seeing a crew of Glasses wearing Rats, all Melody's surveillance crew. He had yet to know how she had trained them.

"Alright boys, the plan is simple. Keep surveillance in check, we've already made a path through the vents into this room. If any of you see anything, ring the bell we installed inside. Each of you has your camera right?" he asked, all of them nodded, pointing to their sunglasses. He gave them a nod and they ran off. He slipped the key into the lock and lightly opened the door, quickly walking inside.

It had only been a few days since Radio Rebel had been online, but already the school was looking into the matter. Headmaster Grimm was absolutely furious that someone had been able to hijack the airwaves around the school. He was even more annoyed when he found out about the missing intercom modem. He set his bag by the door and walked over to his work station for the following hour. He spun around the chair for a few minutes, swiping his finger across the holographic screen, bringing up the password prompt. Once he had typed his key in, the system unlocked, and everything powered up. Turning on the television in the room, he noticed Daring was doing his normal webshow. He licked his lips, almost in excitement as he pressed a key keys on the computer, before going online, the screen broke apart, being replaced with the familiar logo.

" _Gooood Morning Ladies and Gentlemen, Fairytales of all ages! Your hour of good music and juicy nuggets of information has just arrived, a little earlier than normal. You are listening to Radio Rebel, the 100 percent uncensored radio show where I tell you everything how it is!"_

He pressed another key, which brought out a loud fanfare, along with people cheering. He waited for it to end, using Melody's MirrorPad to scroll through the notes before checking the Hotline, which had several calls already being made.

" _Well well well, it looks like there are several of you who want the Truth to be Set Free. You've come to see me as a sort of Guardian Angel, and I like to think of myself as one. This show has just begun so we will begin the first ten minutes with a round of hotline callers. Remember, the hotline changes every ten minutes, so if you want to repent, then feel free to tell us the Truth. Caller number one, you are on with Radio Rebel, tell us what you regret!"_

" _ **Hey asshole! The name's Henry, when are you gonna show your face? You think this is cute? Exposing all of these secrets? Oh yeah, you are a real Rebel aren't you? Hiding behind that facade, because you are too chicken to do jack shit? You aren't a Rebel, you're a coward."**_

Blake rolled his eyes, chuckling a bit as he fixed his headset. He leaned back in his seat, resting his feet on the edge of the desk, taking a sip of his drink while he glanced at the computer monitor, checking on all of the surveillance cameras that had been secretly planted all over the school, thanks to Kitty, who had a lot of spare time on her hands.

" _Henry, so lovely to hear your voice again. You know, it isn't nice to swear over the air...it just makes you sound barbaric. As to your little claim of me being a chicken? I don't know...I may be hiding in secret, but that doesn't make me a coward. Bullying people makes you a coward...sneaking into a girl's dorm in the middle of the night to release her sheep, makes you a coward, throwing a bucket of ice water at a princess while she dangles over hot soup makes you a coward. Oh yeah, I know about the soup...I know about everything, I know a lot of things about you Henry old pal, but I'm not here for that. I'm here to make you repent, and clearly you aren't ready to confess your sins. Caller number 2, you're on with Radio Rebel."_

" _ **Hello? My name is Duchess Swan, and I have a secret that'll blow the roof off this place. As it turns out, there's a Royal dating a Rebel, and their names are..."**_

" _Whoops, looks like you got cut off dear, my mistake. It tends to happen when someone lies over the radio waves. It seems we are out of time, first on deck is one of my favorite songs, from a rather good generation. Coming to your earholes, Bohemian Rhapsody, by Queen. Enjoy it while it lasts ladies and gentlemen, it's bound to become a classic."_ he said, hitting the play button on the laptop. The familiar voice of Freddie Mercury filled his ears as he shut off his headset, sighing with relief.

He knew he would have to explain just why he cut Duchess off, but just the fact that he did made him smile a bit. He could already picture the pissed off expression on her face. He stood up from his seat, grabbing Melody's MirrorPad as he walked around the room, scrolling through the many topics he needed to discuss while the song played in the background. He had already picked three rumors he wanted to debunk as well as a song request, which he cued up as soon as he got back to the booth. As the final notes of the song filled the speakers, he hit the button on his headset, putting on a game winning smile.

 _"Ladies and Gentlemen, Bohemian Rhapsody by Queen, I hope you all enjoyed that timeless classic. Now you all must be wondering just why Duchess Swan was cut off the last time the hotline was on? Well, that is simple. Radio Rebel is here to set the truth free. I am here to burst the doors of this foundation and expose those who would dare use a lie to harm those who only see the truth. I go far beyond what a normal person would do, because lies hurt! I am one of you after all."_

He paused for a second, waiting for a student to pass by the door before continuing. His surveillance detail hadn't detected any immediate danger, but he could see Headmaster Grimm walking around the hallways. He was honestly glad Kitty had planted those cameras now. He took a deep breath, closing his eyes.

" _You all must understand...Radio Rebel isn't here for you all to expose each others secrets! That is not my aim and that is not my goal...I want to inspire people to do what they want. To reject the Status Quo, not everyone wants to sign the Storybook of Legend, and we should honestly just shelve the damn thing. We can all reach our Happily Ever After together. But that won't happen if we don't stop pointless lies! What do rumors get you? Absolutely nothing, because while you relish in those rumors that you started, and make yourself feel better, the one on the other end, is feeling worse."_

He paused again, glancing at the tablet at a few blinking calls that he was supposed to take. He honestly wanted to cut to one, but he wasn't up for it at the moment, instead he continued talking, almost like he was venting his feelings to his audience. It strangely made him feel better.

" _There was this boy I knew back in elementary school...we'll name him Bob for now. Bob and I we're awesome friends...we did everything together, hang out, play video games, collect bugs, trade baseball cards and hell, just kid stuff. But that all changed when he entered middle school. You see Bob started hanging around the Popular Crowd, while I decided to stay in the background. Bob started adopting that arrogance of the popular kids, and he started becoming a real bully._

 _He was mean, he swore at people, shook them for their money, stole from their lockers. I had to watch as he warped and changed into something he wasn't. He started rumors, lied about hooking up with girls in school, and was a total shadow of his former self. Come eighth grade, he had changed entirely...that's when started getting more...aggressive._

 _Bob was a good friend, and I could see that in him, but he made stupid decisions. He decided it would be cool to start posting pictures one of his girlfriends sent him online...the results were instantaneous. That poor sweet girl, an innocent person who sent those pictures to him out of love, was turned into a laughing stock. She was bullied, beaten up, called a whore to her face every single day of her life. She barely ate, barely slept, barely did anything...this girl's life...was ruined, all for the sake of a lie, all for the sake of a rumor. So, she decided it was time to change that, to finally look for the solution to end all the pain. She climbed to the roof of our school, and jumped._

 _She...she didn't make it. Everyone watched from the windows of their classrooms as a young woman took the plunge, and ended her own life, because of what Bob did...because he decided it would be awesome to tell the whole school that she was a whore. Even though she was an honor student, had the highest grades in the school, volunteered at the local animal shelter, and used her own pocket money to buy food for the homeless. She was an amazing girl, that ended her life, because of a baseless rumor, and a few pictures._

 _Radio Rebel isn't here for you to share people's secrets, I'm not here to help you feel better about yourselves. I'm not here to reveal secrets, I'm not here for any of that. I am here, to end the lies, to expose those liars and let the Truth set them free. That's why I say each of their names as clear as day, so that you, the student body, know exactly what kind of person it takes, to create a rumor. It could be anyone of us...hell, it could even be me...that's why Radio Rebel was born, to end the hatred._

 _Next on deck is a personal favorite song, I was going to do a request, but I promise to play that the next time around...I just want you all to listen to this song, it's helped me out through quite a lot of things in life. Three Doors Down, When You're Young, hope you enjoy it."_

 _ **xxx**_

The rest of the broadcast went by as normal, but Blake didn't feel the same after that. He hadn't been expecting to become so open over the radio. That story he had shared had been about his best friend Nathan, and a girl he had dated named Rebecca. It had been one hundred percent true, in every one of its aspects...he had been one of his closest friends, along with Lucy, when he had moved to Toronto, but he had changed too much, and by the time he and Lucy entered high school, he had been too far gone. Last he had heard, the boy was still in prison and would be for quite a long time. He turned the corner, seeing a rather peculiar sight before him. Kitty was hiding behind some lockers, holding a sling shot in her hand, with a medium sized water balloon in it, having it drawn all the way back. He glanced down the hall, spotting Blondie and Duchess talking, the former having her bear themed MirrorPad in her hands. He rolled his eyes, standing next to the pig tailed girl.

"Duchess Swan made a copy of the video?"

"Yep."

"Just found out she mailed it to Blondie?"

"Yep."

"Want to take revenge on her for exposing Ashlynn and Hunter instead of letting her do it?"

"Yep."

"Then go right ahead." he said. She let go of the sling, flinging the water balloon forward, however Duchess moved out of the way just in time to dodge it, the balloon struck the wall behind her, going unnoticed by the two girls.

"Damn...why the hell does she move around so much?" Kitty snapped, a look of annoyance on her face.

"She's a ballerina, that's all they do. I'm gonna go deal with it, here's your phone back." he said, tossing the violet phone back to the girl who caught it with ease.

"Aw, thanks...and you even charged it. That's cat-tastic."

"No, no more variations of that." he said, giving her stern look. She flashed away, most likely to get more water balloons. Blake sighed as he came to a stop before the two girls, crossing his arms.

"Twinkle toes, you and I gotta have a conversation." he said.

"Why hello there Blake, fancy seeing you around these parts...what brings you down here?"

"The fact the goddamn castleteria is down here and it's lunch and I'm fucking starving. But I'm not here for that, I'm here to talk about that video you took of my friends." he said.

"Wait, you know about Ashlynn and Hunter?" Blondie asked.

"I do, and for your information Blondie, I already made a shipping name for them, it's called _Huntlynn_ , if you are interested." he said.

"That name fits them Just Right! It's so cute! But he's right Duchess, they're my friends, and I would never do anything to hurt them that way." she said, turning to face the monochrome girl.

"Well if you don't do it, someone else will."

"Yes, because your botched attempt this morning with the Radio Rebel was so successful. Seriously, only like six people know, you, me, Blondie, Kitty, Cedar and Sparrow. If we all keep our mouths shut, then they're secret will be..." he paused when he heard a series of gasps behind him. Turning on his heel, his eyes widened when he saw Ashlynn and Hunter walking into the hall, hand in hand. His jaw dropped from shock.

"Hunter, bro...you two...really?" he asked.

"Yup, we decided to come out to the school with our secret." Ashlynn said, a proud smile on her face.

"No! You can't own it! Now I won't get my happily ever after!" Duchess exclaimed, a look of anger on her face.

"Well well, how the mighty fall. See Duchess, cheaters never win, and winners never cheat, now that they embraced it, their relationship is going to sour your life like...something sour." he said.

"Mmm mmm, no...you totally failed with the comeback." Blondie said, earning a sigh from the boy.

"What did you want me to say to her? That it hit her like a shit stain on a brand new pair of undies? Because that shit sucks." he said.

"Seriously, we need to rinse your mouth with soap and water, were you raised in a barn?" Duchess snapped angrily, earning a smile from the boy.

"Why yes, every summer I visit my grandmother in Winnipeg, in Saskatchewan, and there are quite a lot of fields there. It is a beautiful land that smells of exquisite cow shit." he said. The girl walked off in a huff, earning a happy wave from the boy.

"You know, it feels so fucking good when you rub something in like this...hell I don't give a shit that I swear to much, I'll fucking own it." he said, turning to face his friends, giving them a thumbs up. He started heading toward the castleteria, only for a water balloon to strike him right on the side of the head, soaking his face and hair.

"Whoops, sorry Blake, my aim was off."

"Conceal don't feel, don't let them know."

 _ **xxx**_

"You made a rather heartfelt confession during todays broadcast...you feeling alright?" Melody asked, earning a nod from Blake, who was finishing up some Wonderland History homework.

"Totally fine Ellie, I just wanted everyone to know what we're doing isn't for the wrong cause...besides, this whole True Heart's Day thing is making me a bit sappy." he said.

"I suppose...and Ellie?"

"Nicknames build the foundations of awesome friendships. I was the one who started calling Lucy, Lucy...before we were best friends, I used to call her Lucille all the time, and she fucking hated it." he said, chuckling a bit as he set his pen down, glancing up at the white haired girl, who was currently tapping away at her laptop, her glowing launchpad sitting next to her.

"I like it...sadly I can't give you a nickname...you're name doesn't exactly offer much I can work with. Still, that story was...hard to listen too...I can't believe that really happened to you."

"I had to watch it real time, it sucked knowing your best friend was the cause of that...but I've grown to accept it...and I vowed never to do the same. That's why I hate rumors so goddamn much." he said, taking a bit of his apple.

"I can see where you are coming from at least...anyway, I've got a long request list to process, this is our first weekend, how would we handle it?" Melody asked curiously.

"Well, I was thinking we extend our time to two hours on the weekends, but I was thinking we have a back up set, just in case...since the weekdays are through the PA system, why don't we do a broadcast straight to Bookend on the Weekends?"

"Hmm...I like it, it would take a lot to organize, but with a little help, we can definitely rock the waves." she said, bumping fists with the boy.

"Melody! Blake! I'm taking reactions to Ashlynn and Hunter telling us of their relationship, would you mind giving me your thoughts?" Blondie asked, earning a smiles from the two.

"Honestly, I think it's awesome that those two are following their True Hearts. Rock on Huntlynn, you have stolen my heart and I support you one hundred and twenty percent!" Melody said, winking at the camera.

"Wonderful, what are your thoughts Blake? After all you called them Huntlynn before I made it public on MirrorBook."

"The hell is MirrorBook?" he asked curiously, earning a wide eyed look from the girl.

"You don't know what MirrorBook is? Oh dear, we need to remedy that ASAP...but thoughts first."

"Honestly, Ashlynn is a cool gal for doing what she did...there is nothing better than embracing the one you love and throwing caution to the wind. Who cares if she's a Royal and Hunter is a Rebel? Screw that noise! They should be happy together, no matter what, this is about them. So if you are being selfish and putting yourselves before your friends, then you truly don't understand what love is. I could go on and on, but I would probably bore you." he said, taking another bite from his apple.

"You're reaction was just right! I'll make sure to air this on my next broadcast, now give me your MirrorPad, we're making you a MirrorBook account." she said, taking Blake's new tablet from his lap, quickly tapping away at the screen.

"Hey, I just got that!"

"I know, I saw when you were buying it...I know a place that sells the cutest Pad covers, now smile for your profile picture." she said, holding the tablet up.

"Good luck with that Blake, you'll be here until every picture is just right to her." Melody said, grabbing her laptop and her launchpad.

"Yeah I know, don't worry about your tray Ellie, I'll take care of it. Catch you later, tater." he said, giving the girl a wave as she walked off.

"Blake and Melody sitting in a tree, K...I...S...S...I...N...G."

"Blondie Lockes, I will teach you the meaning of the phrase Silent as the Grave, if you don't stop singing." the boy said, giving the blonde the darkest glare he could muster. The daughter of Goldilocks shuddered in fear, focusing on his profile rather than on his face. Neither of them knew the consequences Ashlynn and Hunter's relationship would later bring, to the two lovers and the rest of Ever After High.

"Ooo, Ominous! I like it."

"Maddie, stop interacting with the Narrators, please!" Blake cried, earning a grin from the girl.

"Oh you, it must all sound like a movie huh?"

"Just let the chapter end already, it's dragging on for more than it needs too."

"Okie dokie! By the by, you, me, Raven's dorm, ASAP."

"Ugh." Blake muttered, knowing he was in for it whenever Blondie finished taking pictures of him.


	9. True Heart's Day Part III

**A/N:**

 **So...how is everyone doing on this the blackest of Fridays? Of course I do not mean this as a racist joke as it is Black Friday...why the hell do even call it Black Friday anyway? ever wonder that?**

 **Anyway, I wanted to post this tomorrow, but I decided to do it a day early. This will not be the end of True Heart's Day, in fact I split this normally three episode story into five fucking chapters, don't even ask how that happened, it just did. I tend to lose control of stuff when I get that creative juice flowing. So in this chapter we get to see the students of Ever After dealing with a lot more stuff than True Heart's Day, we also get some heart to heart conversations here, a segment of Radio Rebel, any some other shit that I have forgotten about during the writing of this chapter. Currently, I am writing chapter twelve of the story, and I'm sad to say it but it's filler.**

 **You see, I realized that if I wanted to follow some semblance of a timeline, that I would have to try to fit these episodes together by actual dates rather than when they were aired. Apple White's birthday happens May 12th I believe, since that is her birthday, again don't quote me on that...so that episode isn't happening, as I am not capable of writing future chapters right now...so that will happen whenever we reach that part of the story. This also makes everything after the Legacy Orchard a little hard to work with, since the events are fucking everywhere, so I have to fit everything properly, thus creating a timeline, and that's honestly starting to chew my ass. Also, since the Blue Moon Forest Fest happens in the spring, I would assume, there's going to be a bit of a split, as I plan to write Spring Unsprung right after...so I shall cover some stuff, up until Alistair and Bunny's episode, since they don't show up until after Spring Unsprung, which also means I have to cover some stuff between that and Way too Wonderland. Christ what an oddessy, but I'm devoted to this story and series, I wanna go for the long haul here so I will be working on this for a while.**

 **So...people...you beautiful readers...I appreciate your help with deciding the votes on who Blake will take to Thronecoming, but you guys kill me...I wanted all the votes to be sent to me by PM so it keeps the winner a secret, if people see it in the reviews, they'll see who the obvious winners are...**

 **However, and I mean how-fucking-ever! Thanks to those who voted, we have no entered the final phase of the votes, of which I will create an actual poll for you all to vote. The winner of that poll shall be who Blake takes to Thronecoming, the names shall be listed on the poll itself, which I will create after posting this chapter, so hold those votes until around ten minutes or so after so I can figure out how that shit works...if not, then I shall update and give you the list, in which case I want PM's Only, no review votes shall be counted, got it? Good...enjoy this chapter and the rest of your holiday weekend, and make sure to snap into a Slim Jim if you get hungry, these are trying times we are in...and slim jims offer all the protein you are looking for in an easy to eat package.**

Ever After High

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 9

True Heart's Day Part 3

Blake didn't know what was going to happen when he reached Raven's room. He hadn't been inside since the day he had arrived in Ever After. It wasn't that he was avoiding her room perse, but he didn't feel comfortable around it, especially since it contained the mirror that had currently trapped him within that realm. But if she wanted to speak with him, then he had to go see what was wrong. It was beyond him to ignore a friend after all. So he was following Maddie down the halls of Ever After High, messing around with his new MirrorBook account, thanks to Blondie. He had gotten friend requests from all of his close friends as soon as he had logged in, and Blondie had also linked her mutual friends to him so he could add them later. She had also made him follow her webshow as well as Cupid's Romance Advice show and various other pages on the MirrorNet.

He didn't understand the complexity of it, if he was being honest. He could compare it to his world's equivalent, Facebook, but he also realized that the latter was just a place where petty arguments were bred, as well as fights, funny videos and memes. He hadn't bothered with getting himself a Facebook account, and whenever he wanted to see what people were commenting he would just use Lucy's account instead, since she was barely on it. He didn't think he would find a use in something like this, but he figured he would have it just in case. Maybe he could make a Radio Rebel account and use that to manage views, he would have to run that one by Melody.

Maddie was skipping beside him, humming a weird tune while messing with her own MirrorPhone. Blake still hadn't gotten an answer as to why Raven wanted to see him, but he figured it was something extremely important. He was just hoping it wasn't anything magic related, as he had purposely ignored his powers in favor of trying to live a normal life. He didn't feel the need to train his magic powers when he was going to leave that world in the first place. He heard a loud ringing beside him and stopped to look at Maddie, who was looking at her broken wrist watch.

"Oh oh! It's tea time, sorry Blake you're gonna have to continue on without me."

"Really? Come on Maddie? Can't tea time wait?" he asked. She had already pulled out her table and tea set, having served herself some tea.

"Tea time waits for no one...you should know this by now Blake, go on, don't keep Raven waiting." she said, sending him on his way. He rolled his eyes, continuing down the hallway. It didn't take him long to reach Raven's dorm, as he had been able to spot her name plaque rather easily. He gave a few knocks on the door, his eyes returning to his MirrorPad.

"It's open!"

He rose a brow in curiosity, having expected his friend to open the door for him, but figured she was busy at the moment. He turned his tablet off and walked into the room, the sounds of crying instantly filling his ears. He noticed Raven standing next to Apple's bed, the blonde girl was laying on it, clutching a pillow and sobbing. Adopting a worried look on his face, he moved toward the bed, standing next to the violet haired girl. He shared a look with Raven, before looking back at the blonde.

"So...what's chewing her rump today?" he asked.

"I think she's upset that Ashlynn and Hunter are dating. She just ran in earlier and started crying, hasn't stopped since." Raven replied, earning a nod from the boy.

"Oh...I get it...she's just shocked that they're dating. It's perfectly normal for this sort of stuff to happen...but it goes beyond that doesn't it Apple?" he asked. The girl stopped sobbing, hugging the pillow closely to herself.

"I'm scared, that something bad is going to happen to them. We're all supposed to follow our destiny. Ashlynn and Hunter aren't supposed to end up together...she's my best friend, and I don't want anything bad to happen to her." she said.

"While I do feel a bit insulted, you have to realize something Apple. Times change...everyone has a choice now, and Ashlynn chose to be with Hunter. Maybe even before Legacy Day, but what matters now is their happiness over everything else. You just have to accept that." Raven said, earning a glare from the girl.

"So I have to accept that my friends could disappear? Well I refuse to Raven! I don't want anyone to disappear, it would break my heart!"

"Apple, come on you and I need to have a talk." Blake said, taking a hold of her hand.

"But my make up..."

"Can wait, the daughter of Snow White is beautiful no matter what, go natural for once." he said, pulling her along. She managed to grab a tissue before they left the room. Raven frowned, not exactly knowing what was going to happen between the two.

Blake and Apple didn't say anything to each other as they walked down the halls. In order to stop people from once again assuming things, he had let go of her hand, and had given himself ample space between them. However her sniffles were enough to attract curious onlookers, and that of course didn't stop people from automatically assuming things. He was just hoping this True Heart's Day dance would make those rumors away, at least most of them. Spotting the door that lead into the Charmitorium, he started walking toward it, with Apple quietly following. Once they were inside, the kept walking, sitting down in the front row of the second floor balcony.

"Why are we here?" she asked softly, earning a firm look from the boy.

"Why? Well, because peace and quiet often times helps us reflect on things. We are here to discuss why you don't think Ashlynn and Hunter should be together. Now, I'm not a clinical psychologist, but I am a good listener, so tell me what you truly think of them?"

"What I think of them? Hunter is a wonderful person, he's sweet, kind, cares about animals, and wants to make his father proud. But he also doesn't want to cause harm to those he holds dear...and he doesn't like harming animals either, which is why he's a vegetarian, which is a really hard life style, I mean, do you know how much it costs to make a salad? I mean, I love salads too, but sometimes a greasy burger hits the spot nicely and..."

"Apple, you're pulling away from the topic." Blake said, causing the girl to flush. She looked at her hands, seeing the black stains of her mascara on the soft white tissue.

"Sorry...like I was saying before, Hunter is a wonderful person and he deserves to be happy, with anyone other than Ashlynn."

"Now, why is that?" the black haired boy asked. He shrugged his back off and sat Indian style on the chair, looking directly at the blonde.

"Because we have to follow our destiny!"

"Apple White, do you believe in fate? That sometimes people are meant to be in a certain place at a certain time? Do you believe that there is outer force guiding each and every one of us toward what ever it is life has for us on the other end of the line? Tell me, do you believe that sometimes, there are things that are out of our control?" he asked, giving her a firm.

"I believe that everyone has a destiny, and that we should all follow it. It is the rule that has been followed in Ever After for ages. My mother followed it, and her mother before her did as well...we have to ensure the safety of the Fairytale World, and by signing the Storybook of Legends, we ensure that our stories continue."

"What did you do before the book?" he asked.

"Huh...what do you mean?"

"What I mean is, before your story was written, what did this world do? Do you even remember how Snow White was written? Or Cinderella? Or Sleeping Beauty? Think about it Apple...before the stories were written, this world was here. After the stories were written, this world was here, and even if you don't sign it, this world will still be here, and you will to. There is a debt that all men and women, anyone who lives pays, and that is death. That is the only inevitable event in our lives, the fact that each one of us is mortal. That makes every moment worth living, to the fullest. If that means skinny dipping in Duchess's lake, or seeking love with someone that isn't a part of your story, then so be it." he said.

"But you don't understand, the very foundation of our world is built on destiny. If we don't sign the book, then we could all disappear."

"Raven didn't sigh the book, and she's totally fine. I come from a world where we don't sign some damn book either...you know what we do there...we live, and then we die. It is up to us to make our lives how we please, that is the only control we have in life. Sure, we can wing it, but it doesn't matter...there's only death at the end of the line, and then nothing. Apple, put yourself in her slippers and tell me, if you were in love with someone that wasn't in your story, how would you feel?" he asked firmly. Apple remained silent, glancing at her hands not exactly knowing how to reply to his question. Blake smiled, taking a hold of her hand, slipping his fingers through her own.

"See, it is taking you more time to think about it. Apple, you are a beautiful young woman, who has her life ahead of her. You are destined to be Queen, so is Ashlynn, so is Briar, so is Lizzie, so are many others...but think of those at the other end of the spectrum, the ones who are shunned by your glory. Wouldn't you want them to be happy? What's the point of your happily ever after when it makes someone suffer for it? Think about it okay sweetheart?" he asked, earning a nod from the girl. He let go of her hand, grabbing his bag from the floor as he stood up.

"Blake, I think fate brought you here for a reason...I don't know why, but maybe your destiny is to be a psychologist and help Fairytales find their way."

"Maybe, sure as hell beats working at Kinkos...I'll see you later Apple, have some cookies." he said, handing her a bag filled with heart shaped cookies.

"Oh...thank you?"

"Don't ask, I ended up buying a shit load of sweets and now I fear I might be getting closer to diabetes. See ya later Apple." he said, walking out of the Charmitorium. She frowned a bit, glancing at the cookies in her hand...she had a lot to think about.

 _ **xxx**_

"So...why are we sneaking around the school in the middle of the night?" Blake asked, glancing at Cupid and Briar, both girls being dressed in black. Since he was technically on the True Heart's Day committee, he had been called to assist them with something.

"The dance is tomorrow night! That means we need to make sure the venue is ready, that and we have a few things stashed under the stage in the Charmitorium." Cupid said, earning a nod from the boy. He pressed himself up against the wall, peeking around the corner.

"Yeah, I figured...but how the hell are we gonna do this? I mean the dance is on a Saturday, that much is doable...but it'll be hard to sneak out without getting caught. I mean, won't Grimm ask why half of the Sophomore class is missing during the night?" he asked.

"We got that covered, Daring convinced Dr. Charming to talk Grimm into doing some three hour long webcast. The dance is from eight to eleven, just before the midnight curfew." Briar replied, earning an impressed look from Blake.

"I gotta say Bri, you are totally killing it with this party thing...I think you could be a swell party planner."

"You think? Maybe I can pick that up as a side job after my story is over...maybe I can plan my aunt and uncle's wedding anniversary...that would be totally hexcellent." she said, a grin on her face.

They crossed the hall as quietly as they could, reaching the Charmitorium doors. They pressed themselves against the wall, with Briar giving a quiet whistle. From the third floor balcony, Blondie sung down, also dressed in black. Dexter and Daring were quietly lowering her down as she pulled a bobby pin from her hair. Hovering above the floor, she stuck the pin into the lock and with a few twists, the lock opened. She gave the three a wink and tugged on the rope, being pulled back up to the third floor. Briar, Cupid and Blake walked into the Charmitorium, which was dimmed for the night.

"I'm not gonna lie, this is pretty cool...I guess we can check super awesome spies from the list." the boy said, heading toward the stairs lead down to the first floor.

"Definitely, don't worry, the tech club is helping us along the way, we've got a pretty sweet security system. Let's get the stuff." the daughter of Sleeping Beauty said, moving toward the stage.

Blake jumped up first, helping the two ladies up onto the stage. Briar moved toward the center of it, quickly finding the trap door. Giving another low whistle, a thump was heard, and the door opened, revealing the stash of party supplies and decorations. She grabbed a hold of one of the large packs, handing it to Blake who quickly strapped it onto his shoulders. She handed the second one to Cupid, taking the final one for herself.

"Package secured, moving onto phase two." Cupid said quietly into her radio. She gave a nod to her friends, heading toward the exit, which would lead them to the first floor hallway.

"Doesn't that pack hurt your wings Cupid? They look totally squished."

"Oh, no need to worry Blake, my wings are totally fine. I've got them folded as much as I can so this doesn't really bother me."

"You know, I've always wondered, can you fly with those, are they for show?"

"Well Briar, my step father said that when I find my true calling in life, I will get my permanent wings, and will be able to fly. I can only glide with them since they're still small, but one day I'll be a fully grown Cherub, or an Angel, which ever you prefer." Cupid replied, earning nods from the two teens. They reached the next hallway and as they were about to turn, they saw Headmaster Grimm and Coach Gingerbreadman, walking down the hall deep in conversation. Blake grit his teeth, reaching for his microphone.

"Bogeys spotted, we need a distraction to the foyer stat!" he hissed.

" _Request acknowledged, bringing the house down now."_

The three waited for the distraction to show up, watching as the two men kept getting closer. One of the doors behind them opened rather loudly, causing the two to stop. A student dressed completely in black, wearing a hood over their head stood right in the middle of the hallway, holding a bucket in their hands. They started whistling, the low tune echoing through the hallway.

"You there, what are you doing out in the halls this late? There is a curfew for a reason. Take that ghastly outfit off this moment." Headmaster Grimm snapped, facing the hooded person.

The person, rather than listening to the headmaster, reached into the bucket, throwing a decent sized water balloon at the man, striking him right in the face. They started throwing more and more water balloons, striking the two men, or rather just Grimm as the Coach had ran off, not wanting to get wet. Once they had run out of balloons, they let out a loud howl, running through the doors.

"Get back here you delinquent, Coach we're going after them now!"

"Yes Headmaster, time to put all that training to work. I'm not letting those bakers catch me!" the gingerbread man cried, racing after the headmaster. Once the two were gone, Briar, Cupid and Blake quickly moved through the halls, watching for the spilled water.

"Who the heck was that? They did an awesome job." Cupid said.

"My bet is with Kitty, only she would do something like that."

"Actually, it was someone else...but I'm not gonna say who. Let's just say, she's rather... _athletic._ " he said, giving the two a grin.

Once outside, the three raced through the empty streets of Bookend, heading toward the Red Shoes Dance Club, the venue Briar had selected. Once they had arrived, she gave several knocks on the door, holding up a piece of paper with a heart on it. The door opened and the three of them were let inside.

It had been Blake's first time within the dance club. All he could say, was that it was the perfect place for any dance party. There was an upper deck, where Melody was currently getting the music system set up. The dance floor was large, and made entirely out of polished wood, though there were several tables being set up for the sake of the party. Even then, the floor was large enough for the tables to be set up and have ample room to dance. Around the dance floor were several booths, all of them having small lamps, with crimson hearts on them. Lizzie was sitting at one, a pair of scissors and a stack of construction paper in her hands. Crimson and pink screamers were being hung all over the place by Tiny, who he still didn't know how was able to fit everywhere despite being a giant. Overall, the Dance Club was definitely the perfect venue, and he had to give props to Briar for choosing a good spot.

"So, what are your thoughts Blake?"

"It's large, roomy, can fit Tiny rather well...I like it, especially because it's right in plain sight. Grimm would never think of looking here, but that doesn't mean someone won't blow the whistle. I still haven't got a handle on our Duchess problem, but as far as I know, she knows jack about this party." he said, shrugging his pack off.

"That's true...especially since she tried to expose Ashlynn and Hunter to the school today...thankfully it's Saturday, making it much easier to track her down without having to skip class. We'll worry about that later, we've got a few hours to get this place ready for tonight, so let's go people, let's True Hearts this place up." Briar said, earning cries of agreement from everyone who had gathered. She grabbed a clipboard and started doing her rounds, making sure they had everything.

"So Blake, do you have a date to the dance?" Cupid asked curiously. Blake shook his head, pulling out a roll of streamers from his pack, tossing it to Tiny who grabbed it with ease.

"With all the rumors still going on and how busy I am with this, I haven't had the time to ask anyone. I think I'm just gonna come by myself." he said, shrugging it off.

"No no no, that simply will not do! This dance is for people to follow their true hearts! So you have to find a date, it would make total sense."

"Cupid, it's sweet that you want me to bring a date, but honestly look at me...would any girl seriously agree to come to this dance as my date? After the rumors that have been flying around the school? I don't think so." he said, pulling out a strand of heart shaped lights. He glanced at them oddly, wondering where Cupid even got them.

"Aw, you can't let stuff like that get to you...you have to follow your true heart!"

"Yeah yeah, but as I have stated before, I am not going to get attracted to anyone because eventually I will return home. I wouldn't want to break someone's heart, that would make me a scumbag. It would make me an even bigger scumbag because I'd be going to another world. So I would be a garbage bag full of scum." he said, earning a sigh from the pinkette.

"You know, you are rather descriptive when you want to be."

"Eh, I want to be an author someday, so I took creative writing in high school, can't exactly put my talents to waste you know. Once I get home, I'll write this experience down so I can remember my friends." he said with a shrug.

"That's so sweet of you, but you definitely need a date for this dance."

"No I don't."

"Yes you do."

"No I don't."

"Yes, you do." Cupid said sternly, earning a smirk from the boy.

"The man who did the waking buys the man who was sleeping a drink. The man who was sleeping drinks it, while listening to a proposition from the man who did the waking." he said, backing away slowly from the girl. He turned heel and walked off before Cupid could say anything.

"I'm...I...huh?"

"I'll say, he grabbed the concept of Riddlish quite quickly." Lizzie said, handing the pinkette a stack of crimson hearts as she walked past the counter. The look of confusion on Cupid's face remained for the rest of the night.

 _ **xxx**_

" _The morning of True Heart's Day, Ever After High is going to have a rather interesting time trying to make this dance work."_

" _Yes they will, because many people will face interesting challenges today. However, it is up to their true hearts to speak for themselves. It is time for them to rebel against destiny."_

" _Seriously Chester, it's early in the morning, must we do this?"_

" _You're the one who has a problem Weiss, I'm just expressing my opinion."_

"Hey! Dudes, I was sleeping!" Blake said, glaring at the ceiling, already picturing the cringe on their faces.

 _"Our apologies Blake, we didn't mean to wake you."_ Chester said.

" _We weren't trying to wake you...however, how is it that we always end up hovering above your room? Or Maddie and Kitty's?"_

"Because I'm the main character of this story, and even though I don't know what comes ahead, I do know that you as narrators have to keep an eye on me...now please, I deserve privacy in the mornings." he said.

" _Right right, carry on then, sorry about waking you."_

Blake sighed as he forced himself out of bed. It was a little earlier than he normally got up on Saturdays but he knew today was a rather special day. Mostly the night, but the day was a rather busy one for him. He had to make sure Duchess didn't try to mess up the True Hearts Day dance, which she most likely already knew about. He had to assume she did, and he had to assume she was going to tell, which most likely was true. So that meant he would have to wonder the halls until he found her, and then find a way to apprehend her until it was time for the dance.

After his early morning shower, the boy got himself ready for the day. He chose a rather simple outfit, a blue tee shirt, with music notes around the hem, white skinny jeans, his black boots and his varsity jacket over it. He brushed his hair down, seeing it was past his shoulders now, the long streak of purple flowing through it. He hummed to himself, grabbing a strand of it.

"Maybe I should talk to Poppy, a new cut might just be what I need." he muttered. He imagined his hair being cut down to the nape of his neck, with a long fringe covering his eye...he had that style before when he had entered his Freshmen year, but after Lucy had disappeared he had decided to grow out his hair. Maybe it was time for him to use that style again.

Grabbing his phone, and wallet as well as his keys, the young man made his way out of his dorm room. It was around seven in the morning, so the castleteria wouldn't be entirely full of people, especially on a Saturday. He kept his eyes peeled for Duchess but he was sure the ballerina was still sleeping. Lizzie had told him she liked her beauty sleep, and especially on Saturdays. She had also told her she was very close to strangling her, because apparently instead of snoring like a normal person, she honked rather loudly. It had been so bothersome that the future Queen of Hearts had gotten herself some earplugs just so she could sleep. Blake honestly found the whole thing amusing, but showing anything other than seriousness would have definitely gotten him stabbed.

"Well well well, lookie here boys! It's little old Blake, and he's walking all by his lonesome." the voice of Henry said, earning a dejected sigh from the black haired boy. He turned around, seeing Henry, along with Jack Hills and another unknown teenager beside him.

This man was a bit shorter than Henry, but not by much. He had silvery white hair, that reached down to the nape of his neck, and was wearing a violet and striped tricorn hat, with a feather on the side of it. He wore a white long sleeved shirt, along with matching black pants and black boots with rounded toes. Over his shoulders, he was wearing a long white trench coat, which reached down to just above his calves. He had a rounded jaw with a chiseled face and cheekbones. He looked rather handsome, even with the smug look on his face. Blake held back his chuckles, glancing back at Henry.

"So, is this crew of rejects the only friends you could scrape up? Looks like you three could be a traveling choir, no that would be an insult to choirs. Hey, get yourself another idiot and you can have yourselves a good old fashioned barbershop quartet." he said.

"Yeah yeah, laugh it up asshat. At least I managed to make friends who like me for what I am, a dignified Royal...in fact all of us are. Jack here, is gonna sign the book when Legacy Day gets brought back. This guy is Pierre, the next Archdeacon and son of Claude Frollo." Henry said.

"Oh, a ketchup lover and a man who falls in love with a gypsy, nice. You have a good choice in friends, now if you excuse me I gotta go." he said, turning on his heel, heading back to the castleteria.

"You think you are all that huh? At least my friends don't take pity on me like yours do. All of those people you hang out with, pity you because of the disgusting shit you do. Why was Apple crying yesterday huh asshole? Did you hit her? That would be an awesome story for the Radio Rebel to tell."

"First of all fuck you, second of all, Apple was crying for another reason. Third of all, Pierre dude, you look like a damn ostrich with that feather coming out of your hat, take it off then you can pass off as a pirate, fourth, Jack buddy, your fly is open." he said, disappearing into the castleteria. Jack glanced down, eyes widening as he reached for his zipper, pulling it up.

"He sure told us." Pierre said, earning a glare from Henry.

"This isn't over, I was gonna taunt him a bit, but clearly he was ready for this...we need to catch him off guard, and ruin his life for good. Make this entire school shun him like the outsider he is." the sandy blond said, earning a nod from Jack.

"Yeah...that would be swell. It'll teach him for starting that goddamn ketchup rumor about me." he said.

"Then let us go boys...we need to brain storm." Henry said, gesturing for his two friends to follow.

"I can't believe people are dumb enough to hang out with that shit stain." Blake muttered, grabbing a tray of food as he walked through the line. He reached for his wallet for his Student Card, swiping it across the card reader. His lunch being paid, he moved on to an empty table, sitting down at it. He grabbed his spoon, digging it into his porridge, shoving it into his mouth, cringing a bit.

"Ah, too hot." he sputtered, setting the spoon down.

He now understood why Blondie was so picky when it came to this particular dish. He heard the rattle of a tray being set down in front of him and looked up, catching the bright grin on Cupid's face. She opened her mouth to speak but Blake rose his hand, placing a finger on her lips.

"I'm not going to ask anyone on a date, don't even attempt to convince me, because I will not agree. Try as you might, the answer is no." he said firmly. She gave him a pout, crossing her arms, wings fluttering a it.

"Why do you have to be so stubborn Blake Bigby?" she asked. The boy grabbed one of his napkins, wiping the gloss from his finger.

"Like I said before Cupid dear, I'm not getting involved with anyone while I'm at this school. I know you're concerned about my love life, and I appreciate it...you're a sweetheart, but please understand that right now wouldn't be good for me. Besides, no one wants to go out with me...even to this simple dance." he said, grabbing a hold of his spoon. He shoved more porridge into his mouth, now finding it a little colder than before. He started mixing it around, hoping some of the warm parts could heat up the rest a bit.

"Aha! So all you need is someone who would agree to go with you to the dance! I knew it, that means someone out there has to be interested in you."

"No...goddamn it... _(sigh)..._ Cupid please...I got more things to worry about than me finding a date to this thing." he said, taking another bite from his porridge. He cringed a bit, pushing the bowl aside, grabbing a hold of his apple, taking a bite from the juicy fruit.

"Mark my words Blake Bigby, I'm going to find someone to accompany you to the True Hearts Day Dance!" she exclaimed, causing everyone to look right at her.

"Fucking shit Cupid! You gotta stop doing that! I'm surprised Grimm hasn't found out yet with your screaming." Blake said, causing the girl to flush.

"Sorry, ahem...I'm gonna find you a date, mark my words." she said.

"Yeah sure, go ahead and try." he said, biting into his apple. Blondie walked past their table, pausing slightly when she saw the bowl on Blake's tray. She looked at him, a bright smile on her face.

"Are you gonna eat that porridge?"

"No, it's too damn cold for me, have at it." he said. The girl happily took the bowl, taking a spoonful from it and shoving it in her mouth.

"Mmm, this is just right! I don't know why you wouldn't eat this...thanks again." she said, walking off.

"Something is horribly terribly wrong with that woman...truly." Blake said, earning a shrug from Cupid, who continued eating her breakfast in silence, already thinking of who she wanted Blake to take to the dance.

After having an awkward breakfast with Cupid, Blake started traversing through the halls of Ever After High. He had some time before the next Radio Rebel broadcast, so he figured he could search around for Duchess, while keeping an eye for Grimm in case he was starting to catch on. The halls were surprisingly empty today, mostly like because people were out doing some last minute shopping. He had decided to wear his Wonderland outfit to the dance, he wasn't one to wear pink or things with hearts, so it would do. He felt his phone start vibrating, causing him to stop in the middle of the hallway.

"Who the hell would be calling me this early?" he muttered, curiosity written on his face. He saw Ashlynn's name at the top of the screen, and quickly swiped his thumb across the screen, bringing the device to his ear.

"You have reached the voice mail of unrecognized talent, this is Captain Crunch speaking."

" _Hey Blake, I was wondering if you could stop by the store, I just got a shipment and need your help."_ the girl replied, sounding a bit dejected.

"Oh...sure Ash, I'll be right over. Let me just grab my board and I'll be there in ten." he said, ending the call right after. He could tell something was wrong, especially since she always laughed when ever he answered the phone. He started moving back toward the foyer, where his locker was.

Once he had grabbed his skateboard, pads and helmet, he rode through the main hall of the school, Heelflipping the main stairs as he headed out of the building. Having memorized the path to the Glass Slipper, the boy could easily cut and weave through the busy streets, seeking alternate streets to take. A few people waved at him as he passed but he barely paid attention to them. He was more concerned with what was wrong with Ashlynn. The only thing that came to mind was something involving her relationship with Hunter. The girl was normally happy and upbeat, so something had definitely happened. Finally reaching the store, he hopped off his board, walking toward the store.

The first thing that caught his eyes were the stacks upon stacks of unopened shoe boxes stacked neatly by one of the parlor windows, whose curtains had been drawn. Several shelves had been emptied of their inventory, the shoes having been carelessly tossed into a pile near one of the center benches in the store. He spotted the owner of said shoes not far from where he stood, her head in her hands, a frown on her face. She glanced up from the floor, forcing a smile onto her face.

"Hey Blake, thanks for coming on short notice."

"It's no problem, it is my job to help you with deliveries after all...but I can tell something is wrong. Ashlynn Ella loves shoes so she wouldn't carelessly discard them." he said, walking further into the store.

"Nothing is wrong Blake, really."

"Ashlynn you and I both know that's bullshit. So come on, what's going on?" he asked, pulling a nearby chair, sitting down in front of her. She sighed, glancing up at the ceiling.

"None of my friends accept my relationship with Hunter. They haven't said anything to me since yesterday, and they're all getting ready without me. It's making me start to question everything about my relationship and whether it was a good idea to tell everyone."

"Don't tell me you regret it."

"I dunno...I sort of do." she replied. Blake clenched his jaw, eyes narrowed as he looked at the floor.

"What about Hunter, does he know about how you feel? After all he deserves to know what you are thinking."

"I haven't told him...I dunno how to tell him...it's just driving me crazy, and now I feel like my entire destiny might get mangled and destroyed." she said.

"You feel like...what? What kind of bullshit is this? Ashlynn you are in love with Hunter, that's what matters. Who fucking cares what other people think? All that matters is your happiness, above everything else! Your friends will understand, and if they're true friends then they will understand, if they don't, then fuck them."

"Easy for you to say! You don't have anyone here so it's easy for you to just say fuck it and throw caution to the wind!" she snapped, making the boy gasp in shock. He blinked a few times, unable to say anything. Ashlynn gasped as well, glancing at the floor, her eyes brimming with tears.

"I'm so sorry...I didn't mean to say that, please Blake don't be mad at me."

"That was...holy shit man, you just verbally grinded your heel on my balls. That's the kind of stuff you should tell the haters Ash, I'm not mad, I'm fucking proud of you, if I'm being honest with you." he said, a grin on his face.

"Huh? What are you saying? I just hurt you and you're...accepting it?"

"Sweetheart, I've heard a lot of shit in my day, so it's totally okay...but you are a total bitch for saying it." he said, arms crossed in annoyance.

"I guess I deserved that...but now you understand, I think...we jumped the gun on our relationship." she said, earning a sigh from the boy. He walked over to one of the shoe boxes and searched for one that was eight and a half. Finally selecting one, he started walking toward the back.

"You made me do this Ashlynn, just remember this day whenever you think about your relationship with Hunter, and how you thought you jumped the gun."

"What are you doing?" she asked curiously.

The boy remained silent, the only sound being the rustling wax paper inside the box of shoes. He walked out a second later, a firm look on his face as he was now wearing a pair of blue glass slippers, and walking in them like he had done it his entire life. He put a hand on his waist, flipping his hair over his shoulder, a smirk on his face.

"Ooo la la, look at me! I think I'm high class! I'm gonna torture a sweet girl and get her to question her life decisions!" he said, mimicking a female voice as he walked around the store, the soft clacking of the heels echoing through the showroom floor.

"Blake, stop it! You're gonna ruin those heels!" Ashlynn cried, standing up from her seat.

"Make me!" the boy cried, breaking into a sprint around the store.

"Okay, seriously? It was funny at first but now you're seriously gonna hurt yourself!" the auburn haired girl cried. He was about to say something when the door opened, and in walked Apple White, glancing up from her MirrorPhone. Ashlynn stopped mid stride, as did Blake, who had a look of horror on his face.

"I...can see you two are busy...with whatever this is...I'll just come back later."

"No no, you aren't leaving. You stay, I go." Blake said, stumbling a bit as he took the heels off his feet, running to the backroom for his boots.

"But I need your help with this shipment!" Ashlynn cried, watching as the boy stumbled putting his boots on.

"Damn, alright...Apple White, you will not say jack to anyone about what you say here, if you do then I will ask Raven for the frilliest pair of panties you own and I will run them up the flagpole, got it?" he asked.

"Loud and clear! This stays between us, I cross my heart." she said, giving him a firm look. He took out his earbuds, putting them in his ears as he plugged the other end into his phone.

"Good, great...I'll just unpack these shoes, shelve them and then go. You two girls talk everything out, this is exactly what you need Ash, so make the most of it." he said, grabbing another box of shoes, hitting the bar on the side of his earbuds, starting the first song in his playlist. For the next hour, Blake tuned out the entirety of their conversation, he didn't even notice when Ashlynn left for Hocus Lattes.

 _ **xxx**_

" _Alright then ladies and gentlemen, our Saturday two hour broadcast is almost up, and let me say it has been the most productive two hours of this fine first weekend! We will take some callers before playing the final song of the day, remember! The Truth will set you free! Caller number 12, you are on with Radio Rebel."_

" _ **Radio Rebel, are you a boy or are you a girl?"**_

" _Uh...why does that matter caller? Can we have your name?"_

" _ **My name is Macy, and I just wanted to know if you were a guy, because I could totally rock your world."**_

Kitty broke into laughter, causing Blake to cover the microphone so it wouldn't go on the air. Melody tried hiding her giggles too, earning a glare from the boy. He took a deep breath, licking his lips as he thought up a reply.

" _Well Macy, while I do appreciate the sentiment, I will say that my identity and sex will remain unanimous...after all, it keeps people guessing, and that makes me smile."_

" _ **Hmm, that means you might be a guy...of course you could have people helping you...if you are a guy, and whoever is helping you is a girl and she's rocking your world, then I can definitely help her."**_

" _Caller 12, you are on with Radio Rebel."_ Blake said, cutting the girl off, flicking the switch to activate Kitty's headset. He took a deep breath as he walked away from the booth, stretching his arms.

" _ **Hey Asshole, it's me again..."**_

" _Fuck you Henry, Caller 14, you are on with Radio Rebel."_ Kitty said, a grin on her face. The line however remained silent, earning a curious look from the girl, who checked the connection again.

" _Caller 14, you're on with Radio Rebel, don't be shy, I don't bite."_ she said, only for the line to remain silent.

"Why aren't they talking?" Blake asked, glancing at Melody, who glanced at her tablet, as she had been the moderator between calls.

"Whoever it is is requesting their voice to be emulated, hang on a second, alright go for it Kitty." Melody said, quickly typing a reply to the caller.

" _Okay then caller, for the absolute sake of secrecy, your voice has been emulated, so now feel free to repent."_

" _ **Well, I need some advice...Radio Rebel, if your friends don't accept your relationship, how would you deal with it? How would you deal with rejection?"**_

"Pass it over, quick." Blake said, earning a nod from Kitty, who flicked control to his headset. He took a deep breath, glancing at the ceiling. He had already figured out who had called in, and had tried to put together a good response.

" _Caller, you have asked me a rather interesting question. I'm gonna be a little real with you right now, just like I was when I told you all about Bob. There was this one time, I thought telling my friend about one of my own secrets. It was really hard for me to even think about it, I always thought she would laugh at me when I did tell her. Then came the dreams, of her making fun of me, of her ignoring me, of her outright insulting me for not telling her...eventually, it consumed my life._

 _I became paranoid over this stupid secret, and I was even ignoring my friend. But you know what finally broke the camels back? The fact that I screamed at her and told her I never wanted to see her again. She was a persistent one. She climbed in my window one day and finally got me to confess my secret. You wanna know what my secret was? I collected glass ponies. Yeah, laugh it up, I collected glass ponies and I was embarrassed at what she would think of me._

 _This doesn't have to do with a relationship, because what matters here is friendship. Above and beyond, you should talk to your friends about this situation...they're your friends for a reason right? Through thick and thin, the good times and the bad times, you've stuck together this far, and you've decided to tough it out through to the end, Forever After. If they truly are your friends, then they will accept you for who you are, glass ponies and all. And if they do not accept you, well...then they were never truly your friends._

 _If...life has taught me anything...is that friendship isn't forever. There will be those guys that are your bros, those girls that are your sisters, but we all grow apart, and we all meet new people. High school is a place where this is proven quite often...when you finally graduate, and become adults and get ready to face the world, you have to worry about one thing, and that is your own happiness. Friends are there to help you, but they aren't forever. Those people that stick with you, adore your crappy singing, take money from your wallet without asking, steal your favorite toy because it's the one they wanted, scream at you, pull your heartstrings, forget to flush your toilet and leave you a nice fudge master in the bowl, the ones who hug you when someone close to you passes away...when someone breaks your heart...those are people that you will forever cherish. So Caller 14, the question is simple...do your friends accept you for who you are? And if they don't, were they truly your friends?"_ He asked, hitting the button on the side of his headset, taking a deep breath.

" _Up next one of my favorite songs, Can you Feel My Heart, by Bring Me the Horizon!"_ Kitty said cheerfully, hitting the play button, shutting off her headset as the music started flowing through the airwaves.

"Glass horses, seriously?" Melody asked, earning a flush from the boy.

"Yeah, I was a weird one growing up. Blame my sisters, they collected these really cool figurines, and I just got into collecting them too. I have like two hundred of them back home." he said, shrugging it off.

"Mind adding some glass cats to that collection?" Kitty asked, a smirk on her face. He rose a brow, an equal smirk on his face.

"I just might, there's always room for a cute kitty in my collection." he said, giving her a wink. Kitty giggled, hiding her flushed face with her hair.

"Well, this show has been a success...are we gonna gather up for this tomorrow?" Melody asked, earning nods from the two.

"Definitely, I love this shit. Mind if I skip out early? I gotta track down Duchess before she blows the whistle." Blake said.

"Sure, me and Melody can finish off the show. Go on, wrangle that swan for us." the purplette said, gesturing for him to leave. He placed his headset on Melody's microphone stand, grabbing his varsity jacket from the hook near the door. He waved at the two girls before leaving the studio.

"Hey Melody, you know how we need dates for the True Hearts Day dance?" Kitty asked, earning a nod from the white haired girl.

"Yes, in fact Cupid said something about gathering some Heart blooms from the Heart Tree pass out during the dance. Don't exactly know how that would work."

"True, she's obsessed with love...anyway, I'm thinking about asking Blake to be my date."

"Go for it, if he agrees that is." she replied. She tilted her head, eyes narrowed as she grinned at the musician.

"Aren't you a little jealous? I mean I can tell you totally dig him."

"If you say so. You know how he is about dating anyone in his world, and I agree with him. Why would I bother taking that plunge when he's gonna leave one day? I like what he does, and I love that he puts himself wholeheartedly on the mic, but that's all I can love of him. So if you want to go to the dance with him, go for it." she said, standing up from her seat. She walked toward the booth, flicking on her headset, covering the mic.

"You can go, I'll finish this up...good job."

"Mhmm, you too...later Ellie." Kitty said, giving the girl a wink as she disappeared from the room. Melody sighed, shaking her head as she leaned back in her seat.

" _Alright Ever Afterlings, we will take one more round of callers before playing the final song of the day. You have all been awesome listeners, and I hope I have set the truth free. Radio Rebel appreciates your love, go ahead Caller 15, you are on with Radio Rebel."_


	10. True Heart's Day Part IV

**A/N:**

 **Hello everyone and welcome to Chapter 10 of Through the Looking Glass. As promised, I have brought you a brand new chapter for your eyeholes tonight. I would also like to thank everyone who has been voting in the poll, I really do appreciate every single one of your votes. If you haven't voted yet, you still have a chance to vote, the results will be revealed tomorrow at 9:00PM EST. Let's just say, two girls are reigning supreme over all the other girls, but you'll have to wait and see.**

 **Um...so how are you liking my rendition of True Heart's Day? I honestly had a lot of fun writing this, and I did make Blake a bit more emotional than I wanted, but that's honestly what I love about writing characters. He's a nice person, who has his share of shitty life experiences...in this chapter you all get to know a bit more about him. You also get to see who he takes to the True Heart's Day dance, but come tomorrow you might hate me for what I did in chapter eleven, or love me...which ever you prefer.**

 **I would like to thank the readers for well, reading...reviewing and all of that awesome stuff. I am working extra hard, which is really hard to do when you have a second gen Ipod to write on. I'm working on getting a computer, but it's been rather hard. My friend let me borrow his for a couple days but he needed it back, so I couldn't complain. I did write quite a bit into this story, and I'm sticking in for the long haul...so look forward to Blake's shenanigans in Ever After. I also might introduce a few characters a bit earlier than they show up in canon, like Darling who we don't see until Way Too Wonderland, though she is in Spring Unsprung, but at that time we didn't know it was her, just that it was a girl in the suit of armor. I think she and Blake would get a long quite nicely, since she wants to be a knight and he is trying his hardest to change the status quo...or at least will after Thronecoming.**

 **I hope you are all doing well on this fine Saturday, and please enjoy the chapter!**

 **As a reminder, the poll is still open so please vote for who you want Blake to take to Thronecoming, I very much appreciate your votes! Thank you!**

Ever After High

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 10

True Heart's Day Part 4

Duchess Swan was pissed. Not only did Ashlynn and Hunter ruin her chances at taking the Cinderella destiny, but they also humiliated her in public. There was also Blake, who had made it his personal mission to block everything she tried to do, even Radio Rebel had stopped her from revealing their secret, leading her to believe that the black haired boy truly was the aforementioned radio host. She had been laying low, trying not to attract too much attention to herself. After all, the last thing she needed was to get called out for trying to take someone's destiny, as she had been doing this for quite a long time, since day one in Ever After High in fact. However, thanks to her abilities with dancing, and her nimble movements, she had heard quite a juicy tidbit of information.

Apparently, Briar and Cupid were planning a secret dance, but not just any dance, one that had to deal with True Heart's Day, a long forgotten holiday in which people used to follow their true hearts. Since that went against destiny, it hadn't been spellebrated in years. As soon as she had heard about it, she just had to try and stop it, but it was impossible to stop something that her entire class was on board about. So the next best thing was to shut down the other thing by telling Headmaster Grimm about it.

But she couldn't find him. He wasn't in his office and he wasn't anywhere on school grounds. Since it was the weekend it made it much harder to track the man down. The teachers had said that he was busy getting some stuff ready for a MirrorCast he was looking forward to doing. Coach Gingerbreadman was also busy, apparently being one of the teachers that had agreed to help him, so for now she was on her own. She had been looking around the campus, trying to find out where the dance was being held, but everyone was tight lipped about the entire event. It seemed people were being overly cautious, so much so that they were taking the long way around the school just to get supplies through the front door. It was rather amusing in her opinion, but it also annoyed her.

No one had invited her, and while she was hurt, she was more pissed off about what happened with Ashlynn and Hunter. So she was going to take care of them before anything else happened. As soon as she had been able to, she left Ever After High, and started heading down to the village of Bookend, in search for the daughter of Cinderella, or the son of the Huntsman. After all, she didn't need much to plant the seeds of doubt in their minds, and once the two of them had those seeds, she would swoop in and steal Ashlynn's destiny, thus saving herself from a cruel death and betrayal at the hands of her future lover. She also kept an eye out for Blake, so that she could spit in his face for embarrassing her the day before.

"Hey Duchess, what is going on?" Sparrow sung, making the girl grit her teeth. She turned around, glaring right into his eyes, a seething hatred in her eyes.

"Shut up Sparrow. I don't want to see you right now."

"Are you still mad about what I did? I said I was sorry...Blake had me by the balls, I couldn't let him expose my secret." the boy said.

"I don't care! You're supposed to be helping me take Ashlynn's destiny, not helping them protect it! Ugh, just leave me alone." she said, stomping away from the musician. He sighed, strumming his guitar as he walked after her.

"Duchess Swan, how can I tell you I'm sorry? What can I do to make you smile?" he sung, making the girl blush a bit. She hated to admit it, but the boy had grown on her, ever since their awkward almost forced friendship had started. She adopted her angry face once more and turned around, arms crossed over her chest.

"Do you really want me to forgive you?"

"Of course! I'll do anything!" the boy said, clasping his hands together. She gave him a smirk, biting her bottom lip in thought. She hummed softly, pointing a dainty finger at the boy.

"You need to find the location of the secret True Heart's Day dance for me. If you do, then I will forgive you."

"Seriously, that's it?" he asked.

"Ah yes, I almost forgot. For a week straight, you'll get my favorite coffee from Hocus Latte, and pay for it with your own money, and you'll carry my books, and help me with my ballet, got it?"

"Y-yes Duchess, I'll do as you ask."

"Good, run along now. Report to me every fifteen minutes until you find that location, or you'll be sorry." she said. She gently curtsied, and turned around, proceeding with her walk through town.

" _It's hard to get good help these days...at least I won't have to worry about paying for my own coffee."_ she thought to herself, a sneer on her lips as she walked.

 _ **xxx**_

"Hey Cedar, do you know where Cerise is?" Blake asked, grabbing the brown haired girl's attention. The two of them were currently in the Tower Hair Salon, along with a few other girls who were currently getting their hair styled for the dance.

"Not...really. What do you need her for?"

"Um...you know...homework?" he asked, earning a curious look from the girl. She gave him a pout, arms crossed as she glared at him.

"I cannot tell a lie, and that means I can also tell when I'm being lied too." she said firmly.

"Okay fine, I'll tell you the truth." he said, a small smirk on his lips as he took a deep breath.

"Volo ut inveniat eam: et non possum rogare eius in choro." he replied, earning several looks from the girls currently in the salon. Cedar's eyes widened a bit, adopting a smile on her face.

"Aw, that's so cute! I haven't seen her, but I'm sure she's around."

"Wait, you understood that? That was in Latin." he said, a look of total shock on his face.

"Yes, but I figured I could pick up another language during my off time, just in case someone tried to lie to me in another language. Who knew it would actually pay off eh?"

"Cedar...you have my respect, forever." he said, a dejected look on his face.

"I honestly have no idea what's going on here but, will you finally let me cut your hair Blake? You're like the only person in Bookend who I haven't personally styled yet." Poppy said, a pleading look on her face. Holly looked up from her magazine, a smug smile tugging her lips.

"You might as well say yes Blake, she isn't letting you walk out of here without one."

"Thanks for the heads up Holly...fine, I was looking for a new cut anyway. I was thinking..."

"No no no, no requests, I'm handling this myself. When was the last time you washed your hair?"

"Um...fifteen minutes ago?"

"Good, this will make it easier, take a seat, I'll be with you in a moment." she said, cutting some final strands from Lizzie's hair. Blake sighed, claiming one of the empty seats for himself, placing one of his feet on the foot rest below the chair.

"So Blake, how fairs your day?" Lizzie asked curiously, earning a chuckle from the boy.

"Well, I was rudely awakened by the narrators this morning, earlier than normal during Saturdays. Cupid kept pestering me about finding a date for this dance, no I'm not telling you who I'm asking. I've been searching this whole damn village for Duchess but she's slipperier than butter, I did homework for two hours and now I'm here, having a grand old time with you beautiful ladies." he said.

"Aw, thanks for the compliment Blake." Apple called out, as she was currently using one of the hair dryers. He gave her a salute before returning his eyes his Vita. He was playing the Impossible Game, and trying to beat his previous score, but kept hitting spikes over and over again.

"I've seen you going into Melody's dorm sometimes. You'll either go in with her, or with Kitty...is there something you aren't telling us?" Holly asked, a curious look on his face. He swallowed the lump in his throat, eyes still on his screen.

"Nope, we work on homework a lot. Ellie is helping me record a couple songs, nothing above mundane really." he said.

"Oh, since when have you started calling her Ellie? Are you two perhaps, getting intimate?"

"No Liz, no we are not. Nicknames build the foundation of awesome friendships, so I just gave her a nickname...nothing too hard, I think." he said. He decided to quit the Impossible Game before he broke his system. Instead he cued up Hatsune Miku, a rhythm game he was rather good at playing. He turned the volume off so he wouldn't hear the music.

"Oh, you can sing? How come you didn't tell us that before?"

"It didn't come up in casual conversation Apple, and before you ask, no I will not sing...I got this thing in my throat that isn't letting me sing right this very moment." he said.

"That's BS and you know it." Cedar said firmly, earning a smirk from the boy.

"I know, which is why I embrace it."

"Hey Blake, would you mind telling us something about your world? Anything at all? We really do want to know more about it." Poppy said, earning a sigh from the boy.

"Okay, you asked for this then...but don't complain to me when you all get addicted." he said, reaching for his backpack. He pulled out his laptop, along with the charger, placing it on the counter, plugging it into the wall. Grabbing his HDMI cord, he reached up to one of the televisions and hooked the cord to the TV, grabbing the remote from the counter.

"What are you doing? Oh, are you showing us a movie from your world? This is so cool! I've wanted to see stuff like this!" Holly said, jumping up and down like an excited little girl.

Blake rolled his eyes, humming to himself as he typed the password into his computer, entering his desktop. Reaching into his bag, he pulled out his Terabyte external hard drive and plugged it into the only free USB port left. Once it popped up, he moved the cursor over to the folder labeled anime, and then clicked on it. Inside were several sub-folders each of them being labeled alphabetically.

"Pick a number between one and twenty six." he said, glancing at Holly, who gave the boy a grin.

"One!"

He shrugged, searching the A's for something that stuck out to him. His eyes hovered over a folder labeled Angel Beats, and he immediately clicked on it. Within were thirteen files, all of them labeled one through thirteen. He clicked on the first one, prompting the Media Player to open. Once it did, he clicked play all and sat back in his chair, licking his lips as they all looked at the screen before them.

"Ladies, welcome to the world of Anime."

 _ **xxx**_

"I don't know what to do Maddie, I mean he wrote me this poem. Daring Charming, wrote me, Raven Queen, a lovey dovey poem. How am I supposed to react, what am I supposed to do?"

"Raven, you need to relax! Everything is going to be alright, trust me." Maddie replied, glancing at her friend who was walking upside down...or rather she was seeing her walk upside down, because she was hanging off of Raven's bed. The daughter of the Evil Queen sighed, taking a seat in her dark themed love seat.

"It's just...the first time someone has confessed to me in such a manner. It was so sweet too, which is rather uncharacteristic for Daring, when you think about it."

"Yup yup, he's egotistic, self centered, vain, always looks in that mirror, arrogant, outright insulting at times...it's not possible he could scrape up enough actual emotion to write that." the tea crazed girl said, earning a nod from Raven.

"Yeah, you make a good point, but his name is at the bottom of the paper, so it has to be him...I'll just have to ask him about it when I have the chance. It's almost time for lunch, maybe I can ask him then." the girl said, standing up from her seat.

"Oh no no no! You can't ask him then, he'll be surrounded by Royals and his friends. No no! You have to ask him at the dance, that way when he says he wrote it, you two can dance under the lights and have fun. Then you can kiss, get married, have babies, of which I will be their aunt and godmother, and we'll all live happily ever after!"

"Maddie, we've talked about this, you can only be the godmother. We're not sisters so we can't exactly have you be the aunt." Raven said, earning a giggle from her best friend.

"You know I'll make it possible. I'm Madeline Hatter after all, that reminds me, it's almost tea for time!" she cried, dropping into the floor. She reached into her shirt for a pocket watch, twisting the top off. She pulled a key from within, reaching under Raven's bed for a small box.

"Uh...what are you doing?"

"Nothing, just getting some tea...this is where I keep my stash of tea bags, don't tell anyone." she said softly, opening the box. She grabbed a handful of tea bags, shoving them into her hat. Once she had locked the box back up, she stood up, giving her friend a smile.

"Maddie, have I ever told you that you are really weird?"

"All the time Raven, come on...we can walk to the castleteria while these steep." she said, taking a hold of her friend's hand. Raven rolled her eyes, grabbing her MirrorPhone with her levitation magic as she left the room.

Meanwhile back at the Salon, Ashlynn was currently peeking through the window, seeing her friends laughing and having a good time. She wanted to know what was going on inside the salon, as they were rather far from the main part. She had reached for the door several times, but didn't feel confident enough to walk inside. She had avoided Apple all together when she had come early to the Glass Slipper. She hadn't spoken with Hunter all day, even though he had messaged her various times during the day. It wasn't even noon yet and she felt horrible with herself for the choice she had made. Even though Blake had told her to embrace her relationship, she couldn't just cut away her friends either.

"Sucks doesn't it, that all of your friends are having fun and you aren't."

"Hi Duchess." Ashlynn said, dejectedly as she glanced at the girl standing beside her.

"Why aren't you with your boyfriend? Surely he would appreciate your company. He was sulking around, wondering why you hadn't replied to his messages." she said.

"Do you think I made a mistake? That by exposing my secret relationship, I messed up my friendships with everyone?" she asked, earning a smirk from the Swan Princess.

"No, I think you did the right thing. Just own it already, who cares what people think? Besides, now your destiny is mine, so you can live happily ever after with your Prince Charming."

"Oh no! I really did mess up! Why did I do this? I'm such an idiot!"

"Huh? What?" Duchess said, clearly confused as she saw the daughter of Cinderella run off. She blinked a few times, balling her hand into a fist.

"Hey! What's wrong with you? What about my destiny?"

"Well well, if it isn't Duchess Swan, just the woman I wanted to see." Blake said, startling the monochrome ballerina. Before she could say anything, he grabbed her hand, pushing her against the glass doors of the salon. Reaching into his back pocket, he pulled out a pair of fuzzy leopard print handcuffs, which he slipped onto her wrists.

"What the hell are you doing?" She cried, glaring into his eyes. He pulled the door open, pushing her forward as he walked.

"Taking care of business...I have eyes all over this village Swan, and my sources tell me that you plan to blow our whistle, and we aren't going to let that happen." he said, throwing her into an empty chair.

"You can't do this to me! This is cruel and unusual punishment!"

"Ah, but no one will know anything and no one will believe you. Now sit still, I'm sorry about this Duchess, truly I am, but we've put too much time into this dance for you to, as Blake would so eloquently say, fuck it up." Lizzie said firmly. She grabbed a piece of red cloth, using it to gag the Swan Princess, much to her surprise.

"Okay, now that we have that covered, Poppy, continue with the haircut. Oh my god, I love this part, the fucking shit they do during this test is hilarious!" Blake said, grinning as he attentively looked at the television screen. Duchess growled angrily, planning a hundred ways to take revenge on the foreigner.

 _ **xxx**_

Blake walking through town would have gone rather normally. Though he had gotten quite the odd look. It wasn't because of his hair cut either. Poppy had done an excellent job, having cut his hair to the nape of his neck. She made a nice lengthy fringe over his right eye, and dyed it a darker purple. When she asked what dye he had used, he simply told her that he had his hair that way ever since traveling from his world to Ever After. She deduced that he now had purple hair because of something that happened during his journey over. She had decided to darken it a bit, adding some red and blue streaks through it to give it some personality. He had honestly fallen in love with the new hair style and would definitely keep his hair like that for quite a long time. He looked like a younger Vic Fuentes, except with shorter hair.

No, the reason why people were looking at him was the fact that he was carrying a gagged Duchess Swan over his shoulder, her hands cuffed behind her back. She had been struggling to free herself for quite awhile now, but had been unsuccessful. No one wanted to ask why he was doing it, and those that wanted too feared his response, so they just let him be. Most were whispering to each other, muttering things about adding her to his sick relationship with Apple White. Others were rather curious as to how Duchess had even let herself get captured.

Before he had left, he had asked Raven over the phone for a spell that prevented the girl from turning into a swan for a few hours. After having successfully cast it, he had decided to move quickly through the streets of Bookend. The less time he took with getting her to her dorm, the better. He walked up the marble steps of Ever After High, getting a better grip on the girl so she wouldn't slip from his grasp. She started wriggling around again, causing him to stop.

"Duchess listen, if you keep moving around like that, I'm gonna drop you...and it wouldn't be ideal for that to happen. You have a cute face, we wouldn't want that nose of yours to break on these marble steps."

"Mhmph mhmph!"

"Right, sure." he replied, finishing his climb up the steps. Once inside the foyer, he started walking toward the Girl's Dorms, which were on the first floor of the school. As he walked however, he couldn't help but attract the attention of his friends.

"Hey Blake, nice hair cut." Dexter said, earning a nod from the boy.

"I know right? Poppy did an awesome job, it looks so damn crisp." he said.

"Um...don't want to intrude but...what are you doing with Duchess?" Humphrey asked curiously, earning a glare from the gagged ballerina, who was still on his shoulder.

"This one wants to blow our whistle, so I'm taking care of her for now. I'm gonna lock her up in her dorm until the dance, so she has absolutely no chance of telling Grimm about it." he said.

"That's a little harsh. She doesn't even know where it's being held, what if she starves to death? Or gets thirsty?" Dexter asked.

"Every dorm has a mini fridge in it man, and she has water in the bathroom sink. Trust me, she'll be fine...I did this with my cousin once and she turned out mostly okay." Blake replied.

"Mostly okay?" the blond son of Humpty Dumpty asked, concern written on his face.

"Okay, so I thought tying up her legs was a good idea. I used some chains to do it because I didn't have any rope. She was somehow able to break free from her cuffs, but wasn't able to undo the lock on the chains, she ended up falling down a flight of stairs, breaking her elbow and her arm in three different places. I'm not allowed to see her ever again after that." he said. Duchess let out a muffled scream, trying to once again break free from the boy's grasp. He sighed and set her down onto the ground, grabbing a hold of her hand cuffs.

"So you did this to Duchess, knowing she could potentially hurt herself?" Dexter asked.

"Hey, she needs a day in the real world. This is what she gets for fucking with other people's destiny, being a damn whistle blower, and pissing me off." he said. Duchess looked at Humphrey with a pleading look, gesturing to the gag on her mouth.

"Looks like she wants to say something...maybe she's thirsty." the blond said, holding up his bottle, earning a vigorous nod from the girl. Blake sighed, giving her a firm look.

"Okay, I'll get you a drink of water, but that's it. We'll be heading up to your dorm right after." he said, taking the bottle from Humphrey. He pulled the cap off, reaching for the gag around her mouth. She tipped her head back, letting the water pool in her mouth. When Blake pulled it away from her lips, she spit it right in his face.

"Take that, asshole."

"And this is why she was gagged in the first place." he said, shoving the red cloth back in her mouth. She glared at him, turning her head in the other direction.

"Uh...anyway, I guess we'll let you...do that." Dexter said.

"Right, catch you later homies, keep me updated on the dance." Blake said, pushing Duchess along.

Blake remained silent as he walked, after all he had no reason to talk with Duchess, and she couldn't exactly reply to him. The awkward glances he got became a bit more awkward, especially when some of his friends were looking at him, but he didn't exactly mind them. However, Duchess was quite the cunning woman. Using her lengthy fingernails, she managed to dig them into his wrist rather hard, catching him off guard. Yanking her hands free, the Swan Princess broke into a sprint up the hallway leading to the castleteria.

"Shit." he hissed, breaking into a sprint after her.

He had to admit one thing, the girl was really agile when she wanted to be. He figured it was due to the fact she was a ballerina, and she was good on her feet, sadly she wasn't good enough as he was quickly able to close the distance, tackling her to the floor. He grabbed a hold of her handcuffs, placing his knee in the middle of her back, placing a hand on her shoulder as she struggled against him.

"Seriously, don't fucking do that!" he cried.

"Uh...Blake, what are you doing?"

He looked up, seeing Raven along with Maddie, Kitty and various other people looking at him. He blinked a few times, giving them all a grin. He closed his eyes, cursing himself for being so careless, however he did have a reply to Raven's question, even if it wouldn't make sense to anyone in Ever After. He honestly had to find Seth MacFarlane one day and thank him for creating Family Guy.

"We're playing house." he said.

"But she's all tied up." Maddie said, clearly confused. He blinked a few times, smiling inwardly.

"Roman Polanski's house."

"Um...okay."

Blake managed to stand up, pulling Duchess back to her feet, this time taking a hold of her arm so that she wouldn't do what she did before. Her sneer widening, Kitty decided to help Blake out with the monochrome ballerina, only because she had her own plans. Waving to Maddie and Raven, she ran off after Blake and Duchess, taking a hold of the girl's right arm.

"Mind if I tag along? This looks like fun...and I like fun."

"Sure, I could use an extra pair of hands dealing with this one. As you can see, she clearly tried running away from me...you made my wrist bleed, you'll have to pay for that you know." he said, earning a glare from the Swan Princess.

"I don't mind helping you out...besides I've got some news for you...it's rather terrible really. I enjoy causing chaos where ever I go, and having fun pranking people, but apparently someone said something to Ashlynn. I'm not exactly sure who it was or what was said, but she ended up breaking up with Hunter."

"What? Are you shitting me right now?" he asked. Kitty shook her head, a frown on her face. Blake could tell the purplette was being serious, especially if she was frowning.

"No I'm not...it happened ten minutes before you and Duchy here showed up. She was crying, because her friends didn't want to be with her, don't even get me started on Hunter, the poor kid was destroyed...we all had front row seats to his heartbreak and it wasn't fun."

"Jesus Christ, who would be so goddamn heartless to tell Ashlynn she made a mistake? Who could actually do that with...a straight...face..." he glanced at Duchess, who blinked a few times, looking away from him, finding the ceiling more interesting. He forced her to look at him, pulling the gag from her mouth rather hard.

"Ow! What the honking hell is wrong with you?"

"I could ask you the same question...there's only one person who would do something like that, and I'm looking at her. So, answer me straight, what did you say to Ashlynn?"

"I'm not telling you jack! I didn't do anything at all."

"I'll let you go if you squeal, go ahead, blow the whistle, it's your specialty after all." he said, giving her a grin.

"Ugh...fine. I didn't say anything at all, I just told her to embrace her relationship. Sure, it may have sounded a bit mean but she does deserve to be happy. All I want is my own Happily Ever After, I wouldn't deliberately ruin someones relationship for it." she said firmly.

"She seems honest." Kitty said, glancing back at Blake, who gave her a nod.

"Okay, I'll set you free...after the dance. Come on."

"What? Oh you lying son of a...mhmph! Mhmph!"

"Thanks Kitty, she was gonna drive me nuts if you didn't do that." Blake said, earning a grin from the girl.

"You're absolutely welcome Blake."

Arriving at Duchess and Lizzie's dorm a few minutes after, Blake pulled the bronze key, which had a heart shaped key chain attached to it, and slipped it into the lock. With a flick of his wrist, he opened the lock and pushed the door open, pulling Duchess inside. He let out a sigh of relief, finally being able to sit down. Kitty walked over to Lizzie's side of the room and jumped into the bed, giggling to herself as the mattress moved about.

"Lizzie is the only one who has a water bed in the entire school. Somehow she convinced Grimm to let her get it. It's so soft and squishy." she replied.

"That's pretty cool I guess...a heart shaped bed too, reminds me of those beds you see in love hotels." he said, uncuffing one of Duchess's wrists, only for him to lock the cuff to the headboard of her bed. She growled, being forced to sit down on the mattress.

"What's a love hotel?" Kitty asked curiously, sitting up from her bed. Blake flushed a bit, glancing toward the wall.

"Well...they're mostly found in Japan...they're a place where you can...you know...with your lover." he said. Kitty looked a bit confused, but once she understood what he meant, her grin grew wider.

"Oh...so you have places to seal the deal? Isn't that purr-fect...you Real Worldlings have everything figured out."

"Tch...hardly. We may have love hotels, but that doesn't mean we figured out how to ask someone to go with us into one. Besides, it's all stupid anyway, why go to a love hotel when you got a perfectly good bed at home? Best of all, it's fucking free!" he exclaimed. Duchess grabbed her gag and pulled it from her lips, gritting her teeth together.

"I would love it if you two talked about sex somewhere else."

"Aw, she's jealous because she knows she can't get any...how cute."

"Whoa Kitty, that was a bit far don't you think?" Blake asked, sitting down by Lizzie's desk, earning a shrug from the pigtailed girl. She reached underneath Lizzie's bed, pulling out a crimson acoustic guitar, with heart stickers all over it. She pulled the heart shaped pick from the strings and started strumming it, a light tune filling the room.

"Mischievous, cute as all hell and you can play guitar?"

"Music pranks are the best kinds of pranks." she said, earning a nod from the boy.

"That they are...I remember watching a video where this one guy went to Venice Beach, and started singing acoustic versions of dirty songs to really cute girls. Some of them found it funny, while others were just appalled. 14 year old me apparently found it hilarious." he said.

"We were all immature kids you know, I still am really." Kitty replied, closing her eyes as she continued strumming the strings.

"Hey, would you mind untying me?" Duchess asked, causing the black haired boy to look at her.

"You actually think I would?"

"Well, if you don't then I'll just piss all over the floor, and you'll have to clean it up. I dunno about you, but even in my situation, that would be oddly satisfying."

"Or I could let you stew in your own piss, you deserve it for what you did to Ashlynn." he said, arms crossed in annoyance. She sighed, glancing at the other end of the room, eyes firmly closed.

"Please."

Blake wasn't that big of an asshole. He knew Duchess had done something wrong, but he wasn't going to let her suffer like that. He walked over to her bed and unlocked her cuff, walking her over to the bathroom. He looked inside briefly, checking to see if there was an escape route inside, thankfully there wasn't. He reached into her stocking, grabbing a hold of her MirrorPhone, much to her displeasure. He took the cuffs off completely, giving her the go ahead. She locked herself in the bathroom, happy that she could at least have privacy.

"Hey Kitty, do you actually know any songs?" he asked.

"Not really, I usually just make them up as I go, but I'm not good with sheet music. Lizzie is the one who has a knack for it...she loves being who she is, but sometimes she was all alone in the palace."

"What's it like in Wonderland? Is it fun?" he asked curiously. She stopped strumming, a frown on her face.

"It's amazing, weirdness as far as the eye can see, the oddities of the world gathered in a single place. It's a land of curiosity, of riddles without answers and swamps filled with amazing creatures. Sometimes it's a dangerous place, other times it's like a dream come true. But ever since the Evil Queen tried taking over...everything started slowly going to shit. It's been four years since I've set foot in Wonderland, it sucks worse than anything else in the world."

"I'm sorry Kitty, I shouldn't have asked you about Wonderland." he said, a frown on his face. She sighed, shaking her head as she set her guitar aside.

"I'm not...I love talking about my home...I've seen how interested you are in Wonderland History, how easily you took to Riddlish, how you are fascinated with Maddie's magic, how invested you are with getting to know Lizzie, and how you love helping me with pranks. There's a spark of Wonderland in you, but I don't know the reason."

"Heh...a spark of Wonderland...a rather intriguing thing to say...sweet words from the Cheshire Cat's daughter certainly must have a double meaning." he said, causing her to grin.

"Normally yes, this time no. Tell me, why does Blake J. Bigby love Wonderland so much?" Kitty asked curiously. Duchess came out of the bathroom a second later, holding her wrist out to the boy, who quickly put the cuff on. They walked over to her bed where he cuffed the other one to the post.

"Did I ever tell you the story of how I once fell in love?" he asked, earning a curious look from the two girls.

"You, in love? Whoever that was must have been an idiot." Duchess said, earning a flick to the nose from the boy.

"Talk again and I'll gag you, and it won't be with that red cloth." he said, leaving it openly vague.

Her brown eyes widened in shock, and she zipped her lip, not wanting to provoke the boy. He reached for the heart locket on his bracelet and opened it, showing Kitty the picture inside. It was a picture of himself when he was in the seven grade, along with a brown haired, blue eyed girl that looked about the same age. She had a bright smile on her face, and she was pressing it against his, as the picture was rather tiny. He smiled briefly, glancing fondly at the picture.

"Her name is Lucy, she's my best friend, who went missing over a year ago. We did everything together, she helped me when I moved to Toronto for the first time, and I helped her when her mother walked out on her and her father. I was young and I was stupid, but I couldn't help falling in love with her...I ended up telling her my feelings...two days later she disappeared." he said.

"So wait...you think she disappeared because you told her your feelings?" Kitty asked, earning a nod from the boy.

"She didn't want her best friend falling in love with her...so I think her way of rejection was to run off. I figured she would be back by the next day...but she never returned. I fell into a depression, and I wanted to die...but I remembered the one thing that Lucy loved the most of all in the world. Alice in Wonderland...she would read that book day in and day out, watch the movie over and over again, wouldn't let me live a day without hearing those annoying songs." he said, chuckling a bit.

"Wonderland became my salvation, Lucy always said she would find her Way too Wonderland, that she would find a rabbit hole and just be whisked away to a land where there were no rules, where she didn't need to study, where she could be as odd as she wanted. I started believing that she actually did make it to Wonderland. I started writing short stories about it, Lucy in Wonderland, a new age tale where the daughter of Alice visits the place her mother thought was a dream. I never got to finish that story, I left my flash drive at home when I fell into that goddamn mirror." he said, a frown on his face.

"Wonderland became your escape?"

"Mhmm, you got that right on the nose Duchy old gal. It fucking sucks that I'm almost to Wonderland and I can't even travel there...one of these days." he replied.

"I didn't think you could love a place so much. Isn't Wonderland just make believe in your world though?" Kitty asked curiously.

"That's right...Wonderland is just a place written on paper...but to someone who's lost what he held dear, it didn't matter. Wonderland was real to me, and I was going to make sure everyone knew Lucy the way that I knew her. That book, was my life's work, funny since I'm only sixteen. My family didn't even know this...the true reason why I skipped school, why I was failing classes, was because I was doing research and writing into the late hours of the night, just so I can finish my work. It doesn't matter now, eventually I'll go home and I can add my experience here to it."

"You wanna know something, I may be tied up right now, and I may be pissed off at you...but I have gained a whole deal of respect for you. When you go back home, I truly do hope you find Lucy...you deserve to be together." Duchess said, a hint of seriousness in her voice.

"Thank you for the sentiment Duchess...but I've already let go of those feelings. Lucy clearly couldn't accept them, and I'm not going to pursue them anymore. I'm not sure if she wants to be found anyway, she's done a good job of hiding so far...anyway, I've got a song that you two might enjoy." he said, grabbing a hold of Lizzie's guitar, sitting down at the edge of the bed. He started to strum a tune on the guitar, a smirk on his face as his fingers moved across the guitars neck. Even though he was a lefty, he had no trouble playing as a righty, though it did put a strain on his arm. He cleared his throat, taking a deep breath.

" _A long ass fuckin time ago_

 _In a town called Kickapoo_

 _There lived a humble Family_

 _Religious through and through_

 _But Yea there was a Black Sheep,_

 _And he knew just what to do_

 _His name was young JB_

 _And he refused to step in line_

 _A vision he did see-th_

 _Fucking rocking all the time_

 _He wrote a tasty jam_

 _and all the planets did align."_

 _ **xxx**_

There were only a few hours until the True Heart's Day dance was set to start, three hours in fact. After singing a few songs, which admittedly made Kitty laugh her ass off, and annoyed Duchess quite a bit, the boy volunteered to go and get them some dinner. So he walked to the castleteria, deciding to grab a large tray, placing a few main dishes on it. Duchess of course requested a salad, so he made sure to grab one of those too, along with some drinks for the three of them. Once he had grabbed everything he needed, and had double and triple checked, he started walking out of the castleteria back toward the dorms. Having worked as a server at a restaurant during one summer, Blake had learned the art of balancing a tray on a single hand. It was actually a good thing to know, thankfully assholes like Henry were currently in the castleteria so no one would be a douche and knock his stuff over, that was the least of his worries.

He did feel a little lighter, now that Kitty and Duchess knew one of his well guarded secrets. He still didn't know why he had talked about Lucy like that, but he felt the need to explain his wonder over Wonderland. Wonderlandian History and Riddlish were his favorite subjects, and if there was another elective that dealt with Wonderland, he would have gladly taken it. He had started to see the Wonder that Lucy had been seeing all her life, and now that he had, he wasn't ever going to let it go. He felt a tingling sensation flowing through his arms, but figured it was just his magic which was getting a bit over active. He cast a levitation spell on the tray in his hands, using a small leash to pull it along.

" _I should use this magic more often, instead of just sitting on it. Maybe I should take Raven up on those training lessons."_ he thought to himself.

"Hey Blake, Cedar told me you were looking for me earlier, did you need something?"

The boy blinked a few times, glancing at Cerise who he hadn't even heard beside him. He was honestly a bit surprised that she had been able to sneak up next to him without him even sensing her presence. One thing about his magic was that he was able to use it to sense those around him, but Cerise and Kitty were two girls he had trouble sensing. He figured it was because of their origins, one being from Wonderland and the other being the daughter of a villain.

"Oh yeah I was...um you're gonna find this awkward as all hell, but...fuck it, you wanna be my date to the dance?" he asked, glancing at the hooded girl. She blinked a few times, giving him a shy nod.

"Sure...I didn't think it was for this but, color me surprised."

"Yeah, trust me...Cupid wouldn't stop annoying me until I found a date. I figured you might want to go with someone, since no ones asked you yet." he replied.

"I appreciate you asking me, the only ones who asked me were creeps. And Sparrow tried stealing my food earlier when this cute boy was about to ask me and I ended up growling at them, it was so embarrassing." she said, flushing as crimson as her hood.

"Hey, I don't mind if you growl at me Wolfie, just be yourself...no howling though, the full moon isn't out until tomorrow." he said. She slugged his arm rather hard, causing him to cringe from the pain. Having arrived back to Lizzie and Duchess's dorm, the boy opened the door, only to find Kitty laying on the floor, playing with a ball of yarn.

"Yo, finally. Way to keep a girl waiting for her food." she cried, flashing out of existence for a second, appearing before the boy. She took a hold of the tray, pulling it out of his magic grasp.

"Kitty, where's Duchess?" she asked.

"Oh her...yeah about that..."

"Please...tell me she's in the can...tell me she's taking a shower, a deuce, something." he cried, a look of desperation on his face.

"You're gonna get mad at me, promise me you won't get mad, and I'll tell you." she said. Blake took a deep breath, exhaling softly.

"Fine, I won't get mad...now tell me where she is."

"I let her go." the purplette replied, grabbing her bowl of spaghetti, digging the fork inside.

"You let her go? Why the hell did you let her go?"

"Because, you and I both know it would be more fun this way. Besides she doesn't know where the dance is, and Grimm starts his MirrorCast at seven, no way in hell she'll blow our whistle. And if she does by the time it matters, she won't be able to do jack." she cried.

"So wait...Blake spent the entire day, trying to find the only person who could ruin this dance, and you let her go...because you wanted to have fun?" Cerise asked, earning a nod from the daughter of the Cheshire Cat.

"There are a lot of things I want to say, and there are a lot of things I want to do...but right now, I think I'm gonna head to my dorm, and get ready for this dance, before I strangle you." Blake said, walking out of the room.

"I don't think he took it well."

"Yeah, you think?" Cerise asked, an annoyed look on her face. Blake walked back into the room, taking a hold of the food tray he had brought with him. He handed it to Cerise, turning back for Kitty's bowl of spaghetti, taking it right out of her hand, pulling the fork right from her mouth.

"You want food, get it yourself, come on Cerise, let's get this to my dorm." he said, earning a nod from the hooded girl. She took a hold of the untouched chicken leg, ripping almost all of the meat from the bone.

"You're getting better at not growling Cerise, I'm so proud of you." Kitty said. Cerise flipped her the bird as she walked, earning a giggle from the girl who instantly flashed away.


	11. True Heart's Day Finale

**A/N:**

 **Hello people of earth! It is I, the Celestial Sky Dragon, bringing you the finale for True Heart's Day. I gotta say, this event had been really fun to write, and I can't believe I wrote five chapters for something that takes place in the span of like a day or two, it's really crazy. But everything has to come to an end eventually.**

 **I am posting this early to remind you all that there are only a few hours to vote for the girl Blake will take to Thronecoming, right now things are really tied up, with two girls standing out, so if you want Blake to take one of those girls to Thronecoming, please vote before 9:00PM EST. Once the poll closes, there will be no move vote and late entry votes to my reviews or PMs will not be accepted. So hurry hurry.**

 **I have already decided what I'm doing with Thronecoming overall...like True Heart's Day, it's gonna be around four or five chapters long, as it will cover everything before, during and after Thronecoming, including all of the things that Blake will experience along with everything else. But if you all remember, he's gonna be getting some news about his world soon, and this will be a major part of Thronecoming. So do look forward to it, for now there will be a few filler chapters, that will contain original stuff, along with my rendition of some of the episodes, so I do hope you like those when you read them. Chapter 12 is so far my favorite one just because of how crazy it is, but I'm sure you'll like some other chapter at some other time whenever it is written.**

 **As always, tell me what you think through the reviews, follow, and like the story, and as one final note, I may sound like a broken record spinning inside a Ps3 by now, but do not forget to vote! It is really important that you do...thank you all and enjoy this chapter! Au Revoir!**

 **Song used in this chapter: Let's Get This Started Again By Live My Last**

Ever After High

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 11

True Heart's Day Finale

" _Finally, the sun sets on True Heart's Day...it has been quite a long day hasn't it?"_

" _Yes it has Chester...the students of Ever After are finally going to follow their true hearts! Hopefully it all turns out well in the end."_ Weiss said, a warm tone in her voice.

Having gotten dressed in his Wonderland outfit, Blake donned his top hat, brushing the last few wrinkles from his suit as he walked toward the meeting point. The fifth floor of the school. Cupid and a few others had taken a few bed sheets and had crafted a sturdy rope out of it. They had been planning to walk out through the main door, but the teachers had been walking down the halls, having heard the rumors of the secret dance, so now they had to sneak out of the school for this secret dance. Bowing his head a bit as he met up with the rest of his class, he took the end of the lengthy rope and tied it to a sturdy post, making sure it wouldn't come loose. Giving a nod to Cupid, she tossed the rope over the edge of the window, proceeding to climb down first, followed by Blondie and then Briar. Once everyone had safely made it down, Blake pulled the rope back up, when it was time to return, they had enlisted Kitty's help with tossing the rope back over. When it was fully hidden, the boy walked through the school, using one of the emergency exits on the first floor to sneak out of the building.

He met up with the others who were quietly sneaking across the bridge. It was an exhilarating feeling, even though the venue wasn't far. The thought of being caught, of having to run in case something happened was filling him with adrenaline. They had all committed to the plan, if a police officer or a teacher saw them, they would all split up and head in different directions, eventually meeting up at the Dance Club. It had all been written in the secret invitations Cupid had left in everyone's dorms, and while they most likely wouldn't needed, the thought of having to use it was rather interesting.

"Having fun yet?" Cerise asked playfully, earning a nod from the boy.

"Oh sure, sneaking to a secret dance totally beats waking up at three am and raiding the fridge for your mom's favorite yogurt, which she always tries and fails to hide. You look nice." he said, earning a flush from the girl.

She was wearing a rather simple outfit, a plaid red shirt, which she had ripped the sleeves from, the arm holes being a bit frayed. Underneath, she wore a black shirt with long see through sleeves, which had black and white flower designs on it. She was wearing a matching black skirt, with a white furred hem, speckled with black dots. She was wearing see through black leggings, and a pair of heeled boots. She was wearing a pair of red gloves on her hands, with black designs around the cuffs. What he liked the most from her outfit was definitely the hooded cloak. It was crimson in color, befitting of her story, with dark brown trees, bearing no leaves. There were white snowflakes printed on it, along with some bits of snow around the trunks of the trees. He could tell it was a rather expensive garment. She tugged on the hood a bit, brushing her braided her out of her face.

"Thank you, you look nice too...Wonderland suits you." she said softly. He smiled, slipping his arm through hers, pulling her a bit closer.

"Well, time to Dance our True Heart's away...I'm a horrible dancer by the way." he said, making sure Cerise was the only one to hear it. The girl giggled softly, covering her lips with her gloved hand.

"I can't dance that well either...I won't step on your toes, I promise." she said. He gave her a nod, pulling out his invitation from his pocket, holding it out to the door man. He let them walk inside, the thumping music filling their ears shortly after.

The two teens looked around, seeing all of the people that had showed up, essentially half of the school, with more people coming. Blake hadn't been expecting so many people to show up to this secret party, but he figured since Briar was the one who planned it, people were bound to show up. He kept his eyes peeled for Duchess, but of course she wasn't there, because no one had invited her. He felt sort of bad for her, but she also deserved it for what she did to Ashlynn and Hunter.

"You okay?" Cerise asked softly, earning a nod from Blake.

"Just looking for Ash and Hunter, I haven't spoken with either of them since their breakup, I was too busy keeping an eye on Duchess...fucking Kitty, I gotta get her back for that one." he said.

"I'm sure you'll see them soon. Come on, let's go get some food, I'm starving."

"Again? You ate an entire salad, all of my chicken and Kitty's half eaten bowl of spaghetti."

"I'm half wolf, I eat more than normal girls." she replied, pulling the boy toward the food table.

"Hey Briar, pretty sweet party."

"Thanks Humphrey, glad you could make it." the brunette replied, a smile on her face. She turned to Cupid who was looking a bit glum as she read the True Heart's Day book. She took a hold of the tome, and closed it, causing the girl to look up.

"What's wrong Cupid? Is something upsetting you?"

"No...nothing is upsetting me...this party is wonderful and everyone is having a good time. It's just..." she paused, glancing at Dexter who was sitting alone at a table, a glass of punch sitting before him.

"Ah, I get it...you did all of this for everyone to find their true hearts and you weren't able to find yours. It isn't too late you know."

"I know, but he's into Raven...he would never go for a girl like me. I'm his best female friend, he even said so himself." she replied, a frown on her face.

"Now Cupid, the daughter of Eros needs to try a little harder than that to convince me. You want us to follow our hearts, but you have to follow yours, now go over there and talk to him, or I'll punch your butt until it turns red." Briar said, causing the girl to move away from her.

"You wouldn't would you?" she asked, earning a sly smirk from the brunette. She chuckled dryly, walking toward the table where her crush sat, a look of dread on her face. She took a deep breath to calm her nerves and her beating heart. Dexter looked up from his drink, giving her a smile.

"Hey Cupid, awesome party...you and Briar outdid yourselves."

"Thanks Dex, I'm glad you are enjoying it...but you seem a little sad. What's wrong?"

"Um...well I wrote Raven this really cute poem and left it at her locker. But she thinks my older brother wrote it, and I don't have what it takes to tell her. I like her a lot, but it's just...so embarrassing to talk to her about it. I feel like I'll mess it up. But now she thinks my brother likes her, she'll never go out with me."

"I see...Dexter, I think you need to stop focusing Raven for a little while. You should focus on yourself silly, once you get these feelings sorted out, you should go talk to her." Cupid replied, earning a firm look from the boy.

"Do you think so?"

"I know so. Writing your thoughts on parchment was a wonderful start...but maybe you need to do something else to grab her attention. Maybe find out what her favorite hobby is, or what she likes to read about...anything small like that will go a long way. Girls like when boys take interest in what we do." she said.

"Thanks Cupid, it means a lot that you would help me out like this." he said, taking a hold of her hand. She flushed a bit, giving the boy a warm smile.

"You're my best friend, so I'll help you whenever you need it." she replied.

"Fucking hell Kitty! Stop throwing grapes at me, you know I fucking hate them!" Blake cried out, causing a few people to look in his direction. The daughter of the Cheshire Cat only grinned as she flashed away, leaving a rather annoyed young man behind.

"Those two are something aren't they? Blake caught Duchess earlier and had her handcuffed and everything." Dexter said, earning a nod from Cupid.

"Yup, I may not know Blake very well, but there's no hiding that rebel spirit of his...he does a good job at setting the truth free, doesn't he?" she asked.

"Uh...what are you talking about Cupid?" Dexter said, looking a bit nervous. Cupid gave him a wink, choosing to remain silent.

"And then, after finally signing one hundred glossy pictures of myself for the lad, my quill finally runs out of ink." Daring said, causing the girls around him to laugh. Raven cleared her throat, grabbing his attention.

"Daring, could I speak to you for a second?"

"Yes, yes of course." the boy said, reaching for his punch.

"Um...I'd like to thank you for the poem you wrote me. It was really sweet."

"Poem, what poem? I didn't write you a poem." he said, confusion written on his face. Raven pulled the folded paper from her pocket, glancing at the signature.

"But it says your name on the bottom, D. Charming."

"Just D. Charming? You are aware that my siblings all share the same initials correct? Daring Charming, Darling Charming, Dexter Charming, all of our names start with D, and my little sis isn't here at the moment."

"So...oh no...it was Dexter." she said, eyes widening in realization as she glanced over to the brown haired prince, who was currently sitting with Cupid.

"I'm sorry Raven, had you come to me earlier, I would have corrected your mistake. You may be a rebel, but my little bro cares quite a lot about you...perhaps it would be good to speak with him when he's alone." the older Charming said, a hint of seriousness in his voice.

"Y-yeah...I'll do that...wait, you two have a sister?" she asked.

"Indeed, little Darling Charming, she's in Princess school right now, and will be joining us soon. Perhaps I could introduce you two when she arrives, I feel like you two would easily get along."

"That would be cool, thanks Daring." Raven said, earning a charming smile from the boy, which surprisingly didn't blind her.

"This is pretty nice, the food is good at least." Blake said, leaning against the wall as his date raided the snack table.

Cerise had a voracious appetite, he figured since she was part wolf her system proceed food differently. After all, she was quite strong and fast, so she needed more energy than normal. It did look rather awkward however. Somehow she had managed to mess up her make up at all, which took quite a deal of skill, he assumed. Glancing around the Dance Club, he noticed a few people dancing together, some were hugging, and he even spotted a few people kissing too. It made him feel quite embarrassed...since this was a dance that was centered around romance, and he had come with a girl as friends. It made him feel a bit like a loser.

"Well, if it isn't Blake." a voice said, causing him to look up. He scowled a bit when he saw that it was Henry.

The boy was dressed in a rather fancy blue and black suit, which reminded him a lot of the one Hans wore in Frozen...of course since he was the son of Hans, the supposed current king of the Southern Isles, he truly did look like him. He honestly wanted to know a lot more about the boy and his origins, as in the movie, Hans said he would never see the throne due to all of his siblings. He figured the line of succession was a bit different in this world than in the movie. It also rose questions, did that also mean Disney versions of movies existed in Ever After? Or were stories tweaked whenever a new version was written? Those were questions that would forever haunt the boy.

"Who invited you?" he asked, earning a smirk from the boy.

"Briar did...she said everyone deserved to come to this dance. We don't see eye to eye, hell I downright hate you...but let's make a truce for the night." he said, causing Blake to raise a brow. He shrugged, holding his hand out, which Henry shook.

"Truce...come tomorrow it's our normal back and forth."

"Looking forward to it, enjoy the dance." he said, walking further into the club. Cerise watched the young prince go, dabbing her lips with a napkin.

"Wow, so he really knows how to be polite. Here I thought being an asshole was written in his genes." she said.

"Yeah...that or he's trying to find a girl sappy enough to be his date...not that it matters." he said, crossing his arms.

"Blake, I can tell something is bothering you. It's not me is it? I know I eat a lot, but I skipped out on breakfast trying to get to Hood Hollow and back for this thing. I wanted to have my special cloak and..."

"It isn't you Cerise...I just...feel a little bad for Duchess. No one invited her...and no one told Sparrow where the dance was being held because he was her friend. It doesn't feel right that they got left out." he said.

"Well...Sparrow said he wanted to practice with his band, so he wasn't gonna show up anyway. But I don't really agree with what Duchess did, Ashlynn and Hunter broke up because of her. She doesn't deserve to be here."

"Actually, I think Ashlynn felt too...how do I say this...she felt a bit too conflicted, because she thought her friends wouldn't accept her relationship with Hunter...I think Duchess telling her that she should embrace it just broke the camel's back...she didn't do anything wrong...other than try to steal her destiny at least." he said.

"You...really want to bring her here?" Cerise asked, earning a nod from the boy. She rolled her eyes, a smile on her face.

"You are too nice for your own good, you know that? If you want, you can go get her, she'd be a much better date than me...I'll stay here with all of this food." she said.

"Are you sure?" he asked, earning a nod from her.

"I'm not a good dancer, so you deserve someone who isn't eating everything in sight."

"Thanks Cerise, sorry about dragging you here and then ditching you."

"It's alright...but you owe me big time." she said. He bowed his head a bit, giving her a kiss on the cheek, much to her surprise. The boy patted her head as he walked off, heading toward Cupid's table.

"Ooo, how cute!" Kitty said, earning a growl from Cerise.

"Cupid, could I talk to you real quick?" Blake asked, grabbing the pinkette's attention.

"Sure Blake, I saw you over there with Cerise. See, I knew you could get a date!"

"Um...yeah sure. Listen, this is gonna sound really stupid but, would you mind not bringing out the Heart Blooms yet? I want to go get someone." he said.

"Get someone? But everyone who wanted to come is here...who did we forget to invite?" Dexter asked curiously. Cupid narrowed her eyes a bit, gasping when she realized who Blake was referring too.

"You mean Duchess right?"

"Wait, you want to bring her to this dance? Even though you did everything in your power not to have her find it?" Dexter asked.

"I told you it would sound stupid. Listen, I know Duchess did a lot of undignified things today, but she didn't mean to break Ashlynn and Hunter up. Even though she was mean, I'm sure she wanted to be here." he said. Cupid reached into her pocket, handing the boy an invitation.

"Here, she'll need this to get in. Don't worry about the Heart Blooms, I wasn't going to bring those out until the end of the dance."

"Thanks Cupid, you're the best cherub in all of Ever After." he said, giving the girl a tight hug. He left the club at a rather brisk pace, grabbing the attention of a few people.

"Where's he going in such a hurry?" Briar asked, glancing up from her MirrorPad, as she had been taking pictures of the event.

"He's gonna go get someone." Dexter replied, earning a curious look from the brunette.

"Everyone is here, who is he gonna...oh...I get it...he's too nice for his own good, you know that right?"

"Yeah, but that's honestly one of his best qualities." Cupid replied, a bright smile on her face.

 _ **xxx**_

Duchess wasn't having a fun night...after Kitty showed mercy on her, she had quickly run off, wanting to find Sparrow. She hadn't gotten any messages from him, and if she did then Blake might have deleted them. When she finally did find him, she had asked him for the whereabouts of the True Heart's Day dance, but he didn't know where it was, because he was friends with her. No one had told him, even though he showed no interest in going to the dance anyway. She had been left all alone, to ponder over a great many things. She wanted to talk to Headmaster Grimm, but had decided against it. She didn't know where the dance was being held, so she couldn't exactly lead the man there. She also had a feeling she would get detention if she even tried, and she had just gotten out of detention, and she didn't feel like going back. So, she had decided to sit in the central square of Booked, on the edge of the fountain, looking up at the moon.

She had been thinking quite a lot about the story Blake had told her. She had thought it was fake at first, but seeing how sad he had gotten, and how heartfelt it sounded, she knew he wasn't faking. Rejection was something she had yet to experience, but she knew it would eventually come. Rescinding on love was something no mortal human could even do, and even though she had decided on that, she knew it was a matter of time before she fell in love. That's why she felt guilty for what she did to Ashlynn. All she did was further confuse the girl, all because she wanted a new destiny for herself, it made her feel horrible.

"I can't believe this...me feeling guilt...something must be wrong with me." she muttered dryly, playing with a loose strand of hair.

"Feeling guilt makes you human you know, there's nothing wrong with that." a familiar voice said, causing her to jump a bit. She looked over her shoulder, glaring at the boy who was standing behind her.

"What do you want? Come to rub in the fact that I failed? Well go ahead, rub it in."

"Duchess, I'm not here to rub it in...why do you try so hard to steal someone's destiny?" he asked. She blinked a few times, forcing herself to her feet.

"Are you stupid? You know why I do what I do...I'm an opportunist, when the ideal destiny is available I will take it. I deserve a happily ever after, not getting betrayed! I didn't do anything to deserve something like that, to have no friends, to die alone cursed to live my life as a swan!"

"Then rewrite it."

"Oh sure, let me just grab my quill and parchment and write a new ending. Get real!" she snapped, crossing her arms in annoyance.

"You're scared aren't you? That because you a Royal, have doubts about your story, wouldn't be accepted as what you truly are, a Rebel. You don't want to die, you don't want to get betrayed, but you are scared of what you think. You risk true friendship, to try and stake your claim on a destiny that isn't yours, when you should follow your heart instead."

"My mother followed her heart, and look what that got her."

"That was a prewritten story, that your mother followed with the noblest of intentions. She wanted her story to continue, because she bought the bullshit Grimm is feeding everyone. The truth is simple, everyone has to follow their hearts and make their own destiny, why do you think True Hearts Day was hidden away? Because it opened the door to disapproval, and rejection of the Storybook of Legends. That's just what that is, a goddamn book. Given the chance, I would destroy the fucking thing, because people should follow their hearts, not words on paper." he snapped, an angry look on his face.

"You would go as far as destroying that book? And for what? For who? Who are you really? What are you doing in Ever After?" Duchess asked, an angered look on her face.

"I don't know."

"You don't know? You don't know and yet you have your own opinion?"

"I don't fucking know! I don't know what the fuck I am doing here, why the Evil Queen pulled me into that mirror, why she gave me these powers I have tried to ignore. I don't know why I'm in Ever After, but you know what brought me here? It wasn't a mirror, it wasn't the Evil Queen. It was my decision to go up to that mirror, it was my decision to touch it, mine and mine along. It wasn't destiny, and sure as hell wasn't fate. Let's face it, coming to Ever After is the best thing that ever happened to me." he said firmly.

"Yet you want to head back home, so much so that you are practically crying over it." Duchess said, giving him a smirk.

"How did you know about that?" he asked curiously. The girl jumped up to the edge of the fountain, stepping onto the water's surface with grace and poise.

"I practice my dancing at night, when it's peaceful and quiet. I don't need it, but it's good to have. My legs are my pride, and my gift comes from their strength. There are times I walk by your dorm and I hear your muffled cries...how long have you been having nightmares?" she asked curiously, as she started dancing over the water.

"Since day one. They're always the same, me running through the mirror realm, meeting this shadow, seeing my family on the other side of the mirror and then being destroyed by that shadow. I've pieced it together, that shadow is Raven's mom. She revels in my misery, and I have no doubt that was one of her intentions. But I don't let that stop me, because I have to make each day count, and you should too."

"Your words are wasted on me, as is your time. Go back to that stupid dance, I'm sure your date is waiting for you." she said, closing her eyes as she practiced her pirouette.

"Actually, my date is right in front of me, she's just being a bit stubborn." he said, a smirk on his face. The monochrome ballerina tripped on her own feet, falling back only for the boy to catch her in his arms.

"I didn't think you would fall for me that fast Duchess, I must admit you are an interesting woman."

"Shut up. What the hell ware you talking about?"

"You heard me, I'm taking you as my date to the dance, so hurry to your dorm and get ready, I'll be waiting right here." he said.

"Are...are you serious? No bullshit?"

"No bullshit, everyone deserves to follow their true heart...but if you agree to come with me to the dance, you have to agree to one more thing...that you'll embrace your rebel heart, and join the rest of us on the reject side of the castleteria." he said.

"Tch...I would never...they wouldn't accept me." she said, jumping out his arms.

"You'd be surprised...the Royal/Rebel conflict is pointless, if I'm being honest...but I've learned on thing, the Rebels are awesome people to be around. They're all slowly changing the views of this place, one day, no one will have to follow a predetermined destiny, people will be free to make their own. So go on, pick out the best dress you got, I'll be right here." he said.

"You better not be lying to me, or I'll make your life a living hell." she said, giving him a pout as she walked off. Duchess didn't want to admit it, but she was absolutely giddy about being invited to the dance. Blake's phone vibrated and he reached inside, seeing a message from Briar.

" _The dance has been extended to midnight...Grimm is having trouble getting the broadcast online."_

"Huh...guess luck is on our side tonight." he muttered, taking a seat at the edge of the fountain.

 _ **xxx**_

"I'm not sure about this."

"Duchess, we've made it this far...and we had to sneak away from the police, we aren't turning back." Blake replied, a frown on his face.

"But people hate me, they aren't going to want me there."

"Come on, no one hates you...besides this is the chance you need to apologize to Ashlynn and Hunter. It's also the perfect time to get them back together, so don't make me carry you." he said, turning to face the girl.

Seeing her nervous was something he wasn't used to seeing. He figured she felt a lot guiltier than she let out. After all, she had tried her hardest to stop this dance from happening, had called into a radio show to expose a couple, and had been rather mean over all. So seeing her this vulnerable was something new to him, and showed him another side to the Swan Princess, once that he felt needed to come out a bit more. She wasn't too hard on the eyes either.

She had chosen a rather simple outfit, she was wearing a silky violet shirt, with a white parka over it. The hood was lined with black fur, spotted with white specks. She was wearing a see through white skirt, with black and purple flowers on it. She was wearing a pair of black heeled shoes, the silk laces wrapping around most of her legs. She had straightened her hair and left it down for the evening, wearing a tiara, which was glittering in the light like a million stars. She had chosen this outfit with care, and there wasn't a single strand of hair out of place.

"You most certainly will not carry me! I've had enough of that today." she said. He rolled his eyes, taking a hold of her hand.

"Then allow me to walk you inside Princess." he said, giving her a wink as he pulled her along. She gave him a pout, holding her nose up slightly, if only to hide her blush. He pulled out their invitations and show them to the doorman, who let them inside.

Duchess had to admit, choosing the dance club was a good move by Briar and Cupid. The entire place was thumping with music and had been decorated for just the occasion. People were dancing with their friends or lovers, while others were just drifting around, enjoying the food or hanging out with their friends. Melody had been performing for awhile now, and everyone seemed entranced by her music. Blake pulled her along, making her stumble a bit.

"Come on Twinkle toes, don't tell me you're getting cold feet."

"Please, no feet joke. I once punched a girl in elementary school for calling me Twinkle toes, and if you keep doing it, I'll punch you too."

"I doubt you'd do any harm, but I didn't bring you here to get annoyed. I brought you here because you deserved to be here." he said. She glared at him, but decided not to say anything.

"I haven't eaten anything, so let's go to the food table." Duchess said, leading the boy over to it.

He was honestly surprised that Cerise wasn't still hanging around it, looking around, he spotted the daughter of Little Red with Cedar and Maddie. She looked up briefly, meeting eyes with him, giving him a smile. He gave her a shy wave, grabbing a cupcake from the table. He grabbed a glass of punch as well as a handful of cheese balls, which he shoved in his mouth, washing them down with the fruit flavored drink.

"Jeez, are you hungry?" Duchess asked teasingly, a smirk on her face.

"What, I was stressing out about finding you, so I only ate half of my food, Cerise ate the rest." he said.

"Seriously? I've noticed that one eating a lot. I wonder what she's hiding under that hood of hers?" she said, eyes narrowed in thought, as she took dainty sips from her drink.

"Blake your back, and I see you brought Duchess with you, how nice!"

"Hi Cupid, killer party, sorry about missing half of it." the boy said.

"It's fine, you went and brought a friend along, that's following your true heart, and the absolute point of this party. I'm happy you decided to come Duchess, I'm sorry about not inviting you. In all honesty, I was scared that you were gonna blow the whistle."

"Well, given the chance I would have...but I'm sure _my...friend,_ wouldn't have wanted that." she said, subtly glancing at Blake, who had grabbed a hold of a sandwich, taking a bite from it.

"Wow, he certainly is hungry...are all boys like this?"

"You haven't seen the end of it Cupid, in fact this is just the beginning. Mention free food to a man, and he will do anything for it." Duchess replied, earning a raised brow from Blake.

"That's total horse shit, I won't do anything for free food."

"What wouldn't you do then?" Cupid asked.

"Paint a house, or change a dirty diaper, or pick up manure...that isn't worth it...like at all." he replied, shuddering a bit as he continued eating his sandwich. The two girls shared a confused look, not wanting to pry.

"Anyway, enjoy the dance...we have soda and juice by the bar, and there's plenty of seating. Oh and we started serving the cakes earlier, there should be some left somewhere."

"Thank you Cupid, you are a wonderful hostess, give my compliments to Briar while you're at it." Blake said, giving the girl a hug.

"I will, thanks for helping me set it up Blake, I appreciate it." she said, disappearing into the crowd.

"Hey, I'm glad you consider me a friend."

"Pfft, who said I was referring to you?" Duchess asked, earning a chuckle from the black haired boy.

"Well, I did technically sweep you off your feet, gagged you, cuffed you to your bed, and caught you as you fell, so that either makes us close friends, or married...I'll let you decide." he said, earning a punch to the arm from the ballerina, making him cry out in pain.

"I hope that left a bruise!"

"Damn, you hit me right where Cerise slugged me earlier. Fuck that shit hurts like hell." he hissed, rubbing his arm. He glanced around the dance floor briefly, glancing up at the DJ booth. Melody started waving him over, a smile on her face. The boy didn't know what she wanted, but he could tell it was gonna be interesting.

"Melody's calling me over, wanna see the set up?" he asked.

"Sure, I've always wondered how she set the booth up." Duchess replied, genuinely curious. He took a hold of her hand, setting down his empty glass on the table. He cut across the crowd, the people giving the odd couple curious stares.

"Hey, I wasn't expecting the two of you to come here together. You look good."

"We're not dating Ellie, I just wanted Duchy to be with us tonight. We planned this party for everyone right? So it felt wrong not inviting her." he said.

"Oh...well I'm glad you could make it Duchy." the girl said, earning a glare from the ballerina.

"So, what does this all do?" she asked, glancing at all of the devices connected to Melody's laptop.

"Well, my laptop is like a relay of sorts, it holds all the music I'm gonna play, but I can also make beats with my launchpad. It's how I make dubstep music, my turn table is obviously for the records I'm gonna play. That's the basic explanation, it would take me hours to explain just what everything does. Oh yeah, Blake mind taking over? I gotta use the restroom."

"Oh...sure." the boy said.

"Awesome, be right back." the girl said, handing him her headset, which he quickly put on around his ears, taking one off.

"Do you know how to use this stuff?" Duchess asked curiously.

"Mhmm, you already know who I am and what me, Melody and Kitty do...I'm gonna have to ask you to keep that one to yourself by the way, either that or you join the team." he said.

"Wait...so you three really are...and you took over...the PA?" she asked, eyes widened in shock.

"Mhmm, I got sick of the attitude and the rumors around this school, so I took matters into my own hands...anyway, this song is almost over, so I'm gonna make my own selection." he said, reaching inside his pocket for his phone. He plugged it into the laptop, clicking on the new selection that appeared on the media player.

"Uh...should I be worried?" Duchess asked.

"Maybe." he said, scrolling through his playlist. Once he found the right song, he grabbed the microphone, flicking the switch.

"Alright everyone, you've all been bouncing around and shit, but it's time to get this party started, for real! Now, I know there ain't no alcohol here, but that doesn't mean we can't enjoy a kick ass song. So Let's Get This Started Again!" he cried, hitting the space bar on the laptop. He took a deep breath, holding the microphone to his lips.

" _Throw your hands up_

 _And fill the next cup_

 _Let's get this Started Again_

 _Wake up, rub the eyes_

 _It's another new day and it's no surprise_

 _I lost my phone, my keys, my car_

 _I left my wallet at the bar._

 _Tie Shows, swig some booze_

 _Another new day_

 _Got nothing to lose_

 _I can't remember her name_

 _I think the shots are to blame_

 _If it's only gonna be for tonight_

 _Let's set this party right!_

 _So throw your hands up_

 _And fill the next cup_

 _Let's get this started again_

 _Me and my whole crew_

 _We live with with no rules_

 _Let's get this started again_

 _(Let's get this started again!)_

Blake paused for a breath, pulling the microphone away slightly, eyes hovering through the crowd. It seemed as if everyone was liking the song, as the mood in the club had changed entirely. It was livelier and everyone was having a better time. Even Duchess seemed to like the song, as she was attempting to dance along to the melody. He gripped the microphone tighter, a smirk on his face.

" _Go time, check the clock_

 _Grab Beer, take a couple of shots_

 _Throw on my favorite song_

 _Raise up my glass and sing along_

 _Let's dance, no delays_

 _This party's under way_

 _She's feeling frisky, we're both tipsy_

 _And she's ready to play_

 _If it's only gonna be for tonight_

 _Let's set this party right!_

 _So throw your hands up_

 _And fill the next cup_

 _Let's get this started again_

 _Me and my whole crew_

 _We live with with no rules_

 _Let's get this started again_

 _(Let's get this started again!)_

 _So if you feel like we do_

 _There's only one thing to do_

 _Let's Go!_

 _Pay Tab, call the Taxi Cab_

 _Got a case in the fridge_

 _And a bottle at the crib_

 _Let's all get twisted_

 _Double Fisting, drink up_

 _No resisting_

 _Let's get this started again_

 _Let's get this started again!"_

Blake took a hold of Duchess's hand, pulling her close as the two of them started to dance. It wasn't anything special, just moving to the beat, but everyone else thought it was the most interesting thing in the world, since most were taking pictures and video of the two. The boy took his top hat off, placing it on Duchess's head as he swept his hair out of his eyes, getting ready for the final verse of the song. He bowed slightly, holding the microphone to his lips.

" _Last call for alcohol_

 _Let's drink till we have to crawl_

 _It's just a matter of time_

 _Before we lose our minds!_

 _If it's only for tonight_

 _Let's set this party right!_

 _So throw your hands up_

 _And fill the next cup_

 _Let's get this started again_

 _Me and my whole crew_

 _We live with with no rules_

 _Let's get this started again_

 _(Let's get this started again!)_

 _So if you feel like we do_

 _There's only one thing to do_

 _Let's Go!_

 _Pay Tab, call the Taxi Cab_

 _Got a case in the fridge_

 _And a bottle at the crib_

 _Let's all get twisted_

 _Double Fisting, drink up_

 _No resisting_

 _Let's get this started again_

 _Let's get this started again!"_

Blake bowed, arms spread to the sides as the song ended. Everyone started clapping loudly as Melody returned to the booth, a grin on her face. She hadn't been expecting the boy to actually sing at the party, but now that everyone was full of adrenaline, she knew it was time to end the show, before Cupid was to address the crowd on the true purpose of the dance.

"Hope you all liked that little show, but now it's time for the final song, after that we'll let our hostess Cupid speak to everyone here. So, let's all finish this night right! Here's one of my favorite songs, which is actually one that I heard on Blake's playlist! Running in the 90s, but with a little oomph! Let's go back to the 90s everyone!" the girl cried, cuing up the next song.

"Duchess come on, let's have another dance before the party ends."

"Do you think I could have some time to myself? I just saw Ashlynn and I wanted to apologize to her." she said, a look of seriousness in her voice. He gave her a nod, and she took off, pausing only to hand him his hat back.

"You know, I'm surprised. I always pegged Duchess to be a bit vain and mean, but she's been really cool tonight...what did you do to her?" Melody asked curiously, earning a smile from the boy.

"I made her rebel against her royal destiny."

Blake left the booth, deciding to take a seat at one of the empty tables. He had gotten several nice comments from some of the others, praising him for his singing, and a few others saying they liked the song. He had been surprised when a few people had even apologized about the rumors they had been hearing around the school and them believing them. He had told them that it was nothing, and that people were always bound to make rumors about people they didn't know, he reassured he wasn't bothered by them one bit. Once those people had gone back to the dance floor, he noticed a familiar head of blonde cutting through the crowd, holding a MirrorPad in her hands.

"Blake, can I take a few pictures with you? That song was totally awesome, and it wouldn't be right to not take a few pics for the album."

"Sure, I don't mind...hey, we're you Live Casting earlier?"

"Mhmm, don't worry, it's was streamed straight to the Just Right MirrorSite, we labeled this as Cupid's Birthday party, which happens to be heart themed." she said.

"But...it isn't Cupid's birthday is it?"

"Oh not even close. It's in November actually, but she never wrote her date of birth on her student transfer papers, they actually got lost in the mail...so until then, Grimm doesn't know about her true birthday." the blonde said, holding her tablet up and snapping a picture.

"You guys thought about everything didn't you?"

"More or less...smile." she said, blinding the boy a second later.

"Ow...okay...mind mailing me those? Might as well use them on my MirrorBook profile."

"Don't worry, everyone is gonna get a link to the Just Right site, and they'll be a folder filled with stuff from this party." she said, earning a nod from him.

"Reliving these memories is gonna be fun...I'll make sure to save everything I can before heading home."

"Right...I forgot you weren't from here...with all of the craziness going on in school, I just got used to you being here. It won't be right when you leave, I don't think it ever will." she said sadly.

"Hey now, I can't have the cutest blonde in school frowning on True Heart's Day! It wouldn't be just right." he said, grinning as he used her signature phrase. She flushed, glancing at the floor.

"It's not gonna be fun when you're gone, but I have to enjoy the moments we have together now. So we gotta hang out more, no ifs, ands or buts about it!"

"We'll make the most of it! But I've gotta hang out with my other friends too you know...you've all become close friends to me, even though I haven't spent much time with many of you. Weird huh?"

"It sounds just right to me."

Melody finally finished the final song, the last few notes echoing through the dance club. Everyone started clapping and cheering loudly as Cupid made her way to the DJ both, taking the microphone the daughter of the Pied Piper was holding out to her.

"Thank you all for coming out tonight! As you know, True Heart's Day was a holiday once spellebrated all over Ever After. But some people thought following their true hearts went against destiny, so they decided to do away with it. We hosted this special dance to bring it back, and to explain what it was all about.

True Heart's Day originated many many years ago. People used to follow their true hearts desires, and express their love to each other. However there was one thing that made this day much more special, and that was the Heart Tree. It's a special tree, that grows somewhere in the Enchanted Forest. Through rain, snow, and even the worst of storms, the tree stayed deeply rooted, and blossomed every year. These Heart Blooms were given by people to their loved ones to express their true emotions! So, to follow this special forgotten tradition, I have asked the Fairies of Ever After to search for this tree, and they managed to find it." she said, giving a light whistle. From high above, several small fairies started floating around the room, dropping pink and red heart shaped blooms over the crowd.

"I want you all to give these blooms to someone special, be they a friend, or someone more than friends, the purpose of this is to show how much you all care for each other. These blooms last quite a long time, and when shared by those who are truly in love, they last a lifetime. Thank you all for coming, I really hope you had a wonderful time. Melody, you can play a few more songs, we've got twenty five minutes left." Cupid said, earning a nod from the girl.

"Alright, let's get the grind back in with my brand new song. Hope you all like it!" the white haired musician cried, starting up the music again.

Blake glanced at the heart shaped bloom in his hand, not exactly knowing what to do with it. He didn't have anyone special in mind, he was friends with quite a lot of people, but he felt that this bloom was much more special than anything else. So he was a bit confused with what to do with it. He heard a few gasps and mutters nearby and looked up, seeing Hunter holding his bloom to Ashlynn.

"Here, I wanted you to have this...I truly do love you Ash."

"Oh Hunter...thank you." the girl said, giving her bloom to the boy. She wrapped her arms around the boy, hugging him tightly.

"Fuck yeah! You two belong together!" Blake shouted over the music, causing the two teens to look at him. Ashlynn was about to say something, however Apple White stood in her way. She shied back a bit, a frown on her face.

"Apple, I'm sorry. I know you wanted me to follow my destiny, but my destiny is with Hunter." she said.

"I know that...I should be the one saying sorry...I shouldn't have overreacted the way I did. Let's just say, someone talked to me and told me that it's much more important to believe in your friends."

"Oh...oh my god...she's talking about me! I made a difference!" Blake cried out, earning a glare from everyone around him. He coughed and glanced at the floor, his cheeks tinged red.

"Yes, you did...I wanted you to take that bloom Ashlynn, as a sign of friendship...because we'll both be best friends forever after. I'm happy that you and Hunter are back together, if he makes you happy, then that's all that matters. Just remember Hunter, if you do hurt Ashlynn in anyway, I will have my best knights hide your body in a place that'll never be found." Apple said, giving the boy a heartwarming smile.

" _Holy shit, the fact she said that with a straight face scares the piss out of me."_ Blake said, shuddering a bit. The two lovers embraced, earning aw's from the crowd around them. The black haired boy started looking around, seeing a bunch of other couples handing each other their blooms.

Dexter glanced at Raven, holding his own bloom in his hand, heart beating in his chest. He fixed his glasses, exhaling loudly as he shook the nerves out of his body.

"I'm gonna do it, just walk up to her and give it to her." he said, turning to where the Evil Queen's daughter was standing. He was about to walk toward her, when Maddie dragged her to the dance floor, much to her chagrin.

"Aw nuts." he muttered. He was about to stuff the bloom in his pocket when Lizzie walked past him, snagging it from his hand, adding it to the pile she was holding in her arms.

"Mine, mine, mine." she happily cried, snagging a few others. Blake rolled his eyes, grabbing Dexter's bloom back without the future Queen of Heart's noticing.

"She's uh...obsessed with hearts, isn't she?" he asked, giving the brown haired teen his bloom back.

"Yes she is...thanks Blake, I was planning on saving it for later."

"Same, I don't know what I want to do with it, or who I want to give it too. So for now, it's another souvenir." he said happily. He heard someone clear their throat behind him, and he turned around, seeing Duchess standing behind him. She didn't say anything, rather she just held the bloom out to the boy.

"Don't be weird about this, I'm still getting used to being a Rebel, and I still have trouble liking you as a person. But if you are willing to be my friend, then I'm willing to be yours." she said firmly. He smiled, accepting the bloom from the girl.

"Thanks Duchy, I'm glad we're friends...everyone else will accept you, I promise!" he said happily.

"Yeah well, I'm the best thing to happen to this Rebel side, so I'm going to own it. If I'm gonna rewrite my destiny, then I'm going to become the best Ballerina in the world! Plus, being part of the team sounds fun." she said, earning a nod from the boy.

"Worry not, me and Melody will teach you the ropes. Dex, buddy old pal, I'm gonna need another headset."

"Sure thing Blake, I'll set you up with one by your next broadcast...I've also gotta run maintenance on the encyption server so no one traces your signals."

"Awesome, Sunday is our break day, so we'll see you then." he said.

"Woo! Alright Ladies and Gentlemen! It is now 12:00AM, and True Heart's Day is now officially over! Thank you all for being an awesome crowd, and for dancing your True Heart's out on this amazing dance floor. Thank you Cupid, for being an awesome hostess, and thank you Briar, for planning this sick bash that none if us will soon forget! Thank you and Goodnight!" Melody cried, officially ending the night.

"I'll walk you to your dorm, I could use the fresh air." Blake said, earning a nod from Duchess.

"So could I...come on."

The walk back to the dorms was a bit silent, to prevent the teachers from finding out what they had been doing, they had all decided to split up. Of course they had the birthday party as a cover up, just in case they did get caught. Duchess had remained silent the entire walk there, but Blake was sure she had truly enjoyed herself. After a few minutes, Blake had finally reached Duchess's dorm. She stood in front of the door, glancing at the floor.

"Well...thanks...you're the first person who actually bothered asking me out to a dance. Sorry I spit in your face."

"Sorry I cuffed you to your bed, gagged you, carried you over my shoulder, insulted you, tortured you with my music...other stuff." he said, rubbing his neck.

"You didn't torture me with your music, it was really good. It isn't gonna be easy getting along with me, so fair warning. I...had a good time." she said, giving him a kiss on the cheek. She stepped into the room before he could say anything.

"Hmm...wasn't expecting that." he said with a shrug, walking down the hall toward the boy's dorms. He walked past Lizzie who grabbed a hold of his arm, pulling him to a stop.

"You owe me a heart shaped bloom mister. You think I didn't see you grabbing that? Oh I did, I counted them all...I had them all claimed as mine, but you were a cheeky little dick waffle. I'll let you off with a warning, but if you ever steal something that I have claimed, I will personally cut off your own head." she said, earning a chuckle from the boy.

"I'd love to see you try princess. Just so you know, I like it rough." he said, whispering it into her ear as he passed. He disappeared down the hall before she could say anything to him.

Ever After High definitely had quite an interesting True Heart's Day, and it was a day that everyone would remember for the rest of their lives. It was truly a holiday worth celebrating, and in the end, everyone followed their True Hearts. It had been a wonderful experience, that everyone was sure would happen again, sooner than they all expected.


	12. Indoor Golfing Fools

**A/N:**

 **Hey all you people, hey all you people, hey all you people will you listen to me? I just wrote a chapter, no ordinary chapter, a chapter filled with tomfoolery!**

 **That's right everyone, I just came in with a song, what's up? You all get to read a brand new chapter of Through the Looking Glass, and you all get to enjoy the creation of a brand new game that came from my inner machinations. So I do hope you are all enjoying it so far. I also have the results to that little poll I hosted over the last few days...and the winner of said poll is...Kitty Cheshire!**

 **I gotta say, a lot of you wanted it to be Raven, it was neck a neck for awhile, but one of you came in clutch and voted for Kitty, just before I closed the polls. So for those of you who voted Kitty, congratulations...are you all happy? I bet you all are you sick bastards...in all seriousness, let's all hold a moment of silence for Apple White, who got the least amount of votes in this poll...there will be a moment where Blake will have one dance with her, because I felt so bad that no one voted for her, it just hurt me on the inside, and the outside since I fell back in my chair when I saw how many people had voted for her.**

 **Speaking of Thronecoming, I am actually starting the first part of Thronecoming right fucking now! Isn't that grand? That's right, Thronecoming is coming, faster than Winter is. So do look forward to that, it's going to be a five part mini arc, and we will then continue off with the last few chapters dealing with the events of Chapter 2 of the series. I will be adding the winter chapters as well, except Epic Winter, that's gonna happen way later in the story, but I do know that Fairest On Ice happens in the winter so that will happen sooner rather than later. Once I figure out what direction I'm taking this story in, since I want to follow an actual timeline, which is rather hard mind you. After the Legacy Orchard stuff happens, I'll be keeping everything to that timeline as best as I can, so Spring Unsprung, the next major event will happen first, and then the Blue Moon Forest Fest will take place afterwards. I'll handle some stuff from Chapter 3 before giving you Way Too Wonderland. So do look forward to that, and the rest of Blake's shenanigans...and if you want to see more of my new game, Indoor Golf, let me know...I was planning to write another chapter on this game at some point, because I had a fucking awesome time writing it.**

 **Oh yes, I will be giving Blake a pet after Thronecoming, you'll all get to see what happens to him during this week long event and how he deals with those things, but that's for another time. I do hope you like the pets I have chosen for him as they will play a role later on in the story. Have yourselves an awesome Cyber Monday, get that booze at half of if you must, and get ready for December cuz that bastard is almost here! Later Taters!**

 **Song used in this chapter: Colors of the Wind, Dirty Version by Trix. Check out his channel on YouTube, it's fucking hilarious, my personal favorite is Be Prepared, but I'm sure you'll like his other songs.**

Ever After High

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 12

Indoor Golfing Fools

A few days had passed since the True Heart's Day dance, and the students of Ever After were slowly settling back into their normal lives. That also meant getting to work on homework and classwork, while also preparing for the Thronecoming Ceremony which was two weeks away. The planning committee was already starting to talk about the dance, along with the Royal Student Council which would be responsible for most of the planning. That left most of the students with nothing but regular school stuff to handle on a daily basis.

Blake, along with a few of his friends walked out of the Science and Sorcery room, holding the results of their latest test in their hands. Though they had gotten good grades on them, they still had been close to failing. The test had been announced by Professor Rumpelstiltskin on Tuesday, the week following the dance. It had taken everyone by surprise as it always did. They had studied hard for it, and come Friday, they had taken the test. Now that it was Tuesday again, they had all received the results of their test, after a rather stressful class. And it was still early in the morning.

"Dudes, why is it that this man wants us to suffer in the pits of hell?" Blake asked, glancing at his friends. Hunter shrugged his shoulders, not really knowing an answer, while Sparrow looked deflated. Even Daring felt tired, as he wasn't looking in his mirror.

"Maybe he just wants us to learn the hard way, either that or we spin straw into gold for him." Dexter added, pushing his glasses up his nose.

"Man, he can spin his own goddamn straw." Blake muttered, stopping at his locker to placed his backpack inside.

"I dunno about you guys, but I feel like skipping out on Sword Training, I'm not up for it you know." Sparrow said, lightly strumming on his guitar.

"I've been saving up my free periods lads, a nap is in store for me." Daring said, finally grinning into his mirror.

"You guys are lucky, I gotta go to class regardless, I don't want to get a bad grade." Dexter said. Blake grinned, wrapping an arm around the taller teen's shoulders.

"Come on Dex, you can't tell me you haven't skipped class once in your life?"

"He hasn't...ever since we both started going here, he's been to class every day, on time." Daring said, earning a stunned look from the older Charming.

"Seriously? You can't be telling me you haven't skipped class once...even I've skipped class." Hunter said, almost proud of his accomplishment.

"Of course you have, anything to make Ashlynn happy right?" Sparrow asked. Hunter glared at him, making the green clad boy laugh dryly.

"Well, I say we take...a personal day from classes. It's no good to go to class all stressed out, especially with Thronecoming being around the corner. We all need to be stress free and junk...how about we all find something to do?" Blake asked.

"I guess we could take a day off, hell I've seen people straight up skip class for an entire week, no one bats an eye."

"I dunno about this, I'm a punctual person. It won't look good if I skip class, even if it's for one day." Dexter said. Blake sighed, reaching into his locker for a quill and a small pad. He jotted something down on it, and tore the page off, handing it to Dexter.

"There, one hall pass good for any class you wish to skip." he said. Dexter glanced it over, eyes widening when he saw the paper. It was indeed a hall pass, perfectly written out, it even had a near copy of Headmaster Grimm's signature at the bottom.

"Dude, where did you get a passbook? Are you insane? If you get caught with that, you'll get detention forever." Hunter said.

"Remember last week when someone pied Grimm in the middle of the morning announcements? Yeah, that was me. While he was wiping the cream off his face, I was able to take his passbook. I know skipping class is wrong, but come on, you gotta live a little sometimes."

"Alright, so we have hall passes, what do we do now? Just because we can skip class doesn't mean we can go and do anything." Daring said, arms crossed over his chest.

"We can go to the arcade!" Sparrow sung, his voice echoing through the nearly empty halls.

"I don't really feel like wasting my entire day playing video games. I'd kill to play hockey, too bad the lake isn't frozen over." Blake said, closing his locker door, leaning up against it.

"You play hockey? How good are you?" Hunter asked curiously.

"I live in Canada remember? It just so happens that Canadians are really good at playing hockey. I only played during the winter season, and I was really good, but I never made my high school team. Plus I had martial arts to do so I didn't have time for hockey. I play with my sisters and my old man when a nearby pond freezes, but that's about it." he said.

"Hate to break it to you man, but it'll be a little while longer before it's cold enough for hockey. We're trying to petition for an indoor arena, but we haven't gotten far." Sparrow said, earning a nod from the boy.

"In the mean time, I believe we should play a gentlemen's game. Who's up for a game of golf? Eighteen holes right behind our castle." Daring said, a glittering smile on his face.

"Golf? Seriously?" Hunter asked.

"It's not that bad of a game. Our father commissioned the construction of a golf course a couple years ago. Whenever our family has time, mostly in the summer, we play a round to see who's better. So far, our sister Darling happens to have the best score." Dexter replied.

"Whoa, you have a sister? How come I haven't met her yet?" Blake said, gaining a sudden interest in the Charming's sibling.

"We met her once back during freshman year. However she had to go to Princess school to learn the fine art of being a charming princess, it's the only thing she needs to prepare for her destiny, right?" Hunter asked, earning a nod from the Charming siblings.

"That's right, our father is quite strict with her. Sometimes it's hard being the only female Charming in the family...she's rather good with a sword however, she tends to hide that side from our father."

"Daring is right, our father can be a little tough...he has the highest expectations from the three of us. Darling will be returning from Princess school soon, so we'll introduce you then, I'm sure you'll get along." Dexter said, earning a nod from the black haired boy. The bell rung loudly, signaling the beginning of second period.

"Come on, if we aren't going to do anything, then let's just go to class!" Sparrow sung, strumming his guitar rather loudly.

"No...I got an idea, how about we play a brand new game?" Blake asked, earning a curious look from his friends.

"A brand new game? What are you cooking up Blake?" Hunter asked. Blake smirked, shoving his hands in his pockets as he walked. The guys had nothing to do but follow their friend, mentally preparing for whatever he was planning.

Arriving in the back courtyard of Ever After High, Blake along with his friends walked onto the croquet field that had been created for the Wonderland students. Currently, the only ones playing the game were Kitty, Lizzie, Apple and Ashlynn, each of them holding a flamingo themed mallet in a different color. Several wickets had been set around the chessboard themed field, and there were different colored balls on the grass as well, matching the colors of the players. The five boys came to a stop, glancing at the field.

"So...we're gonna join the ladies in a game of croquet?" Daring asked.

"No, I suck at croquet...but I've decided we're gonna play golf, but a different version of it. I call it, indoor golf." Blake said.

"You mean mini-golf?" Hunter deadpanned, earning a chuckle from the black haired boy.

"No no no. It isn't that simple, we're going to play a full game, eighteen holes of golf, however we will use croquet mallets instead of golf clubs, we'll be playing it like hockey, and we will all decide where the hole is on the spot." he said.

"How the heck would that even work?" Sparrow asked curiously.

"It isn't hard, we will go all throughout the castle, playing in different hallways, each fighting for the ball in a hockey style game. If we find a cup, a trash can, an open locker, anything that we can use to score a goal, then it's a point to whoever scores it. In order for the game to be played, you tee off with a croquet mallet, like so, but then the ball is in play. The object of the game is to score more points than the opposite team." Blake said.

"Oh, so it would be like hockey, where you score against the opposite team...I actually like this idea. It's rather original." Dexter said.

"I say, how did you come up with this weird combination of sports?" Daring asked, earning a smirk from the boy.

"I watch this webshow called Dude Perfect all the time, and these guys played a round of golf using different sports...I'm just using a version of that that's simpler to play." he said.

"Hey guys, what are you all doing here? Looking to play some croquet?" Apple called out, grabbing the boy's attention.

"Actually no. We wanted to know if we could borrow some mallets and croquet balls, we're gonna play another game."

"With croquet mallets and balls?" Lizzie asked curiously.

"Indeed, we call it Indoor Golf! It's the latest in sports games." Sparrow said, a proud smirk on his face.

"Wow, that sounds like fun, mind if we play?" Kitty asked, earning a look from the boys.

"I guess we can play it, but in order for it to be an even game you'll need to find another player, since five on four doesn't look good. We want it to be fair after all." Blake said.

"Hmm...who would be off during this class period that we could ask?" Ashlynn wondered, placing a hand on her chin.

 _ **xxx**_

"So after much consideration, we came to find you, because we believe your skills might help us." Blake said, earning a blank look from Ginger, who was holding a cookbook in her hands.

"You...want me to play this game with you guys? Really? Me?" she asked.

"Sure, I think you would be a great player...you're tall and...stuff." Hunter said, rubbing his neck in embarrassment. Ashlynn giggled, taking a hold of his hand.

"Please Ginger, we don't have anyone else who could play with us right now, and this game does sound like fun."

"Well...I was going to bake some stuff for the shop, but I suppose I could take a day off...what exactly do I have to do?" she asked.

"It's simple...this game is played like hockey, we each have a croquet mallet, which will be our hockey sticks. We will tee off from a tee box and play the game like hockey, fighting for the ball, trying not to give the opposite team an edge. In order to score a goal, you have to find something that could be used as a hole, be it a trash can, a cup anything that the ball can be shot into. After we score, we move to another area of the school and continue. First team to eight points wins." Blake said.

"What about the rules? Is there anything that isn't allowed?" Ginger asked curiously.

"That's actually a really good question...do we use hockey rules, or croquet rules?" Dexter asked curiously, glancing at Blake.

"Eh, we make the rules as we go. Oh, the gilded rule of this game, do not let Grimm or any teacher catch you. If you do, automatic loss of a player and the remaining members will have to finish the game without you...go we all agree?" he asked, earning nods from everyone.

"What do you say Ginger? Wanna join us?" Daring asked, giving the girl a grin. The girl looked away from him, giving him a nod.

"I'll play, it sounds like fun. Let me just put my books back in my locker." she said, walking back toward the foyer.

"Hmm...so where do we tee off? The whole school is in play right? So we need to find a place to set up the tee box." Hunter said, earning a curious look from the black haired boy.

"Let's start at the tower, it will be interesting to see how we play in a cramped up place. Lizzie starts us off, since we're using her croquet stuff." he said.

"Why thank you Blake, I shall not fail you." Lizzie said proudly, grabbing a hold of a crimson croquet mallet. Once Ginger had returned, they all started walking up to the fifth floor, heading to the very top of the tower.

There wasn't much room inside the tower, and there was a lot of stuff that had been stored up there. It made it much harder to actually play the same, as they were all pressed up to each other. Daring grabbed a rolled up piece of turf he had borrowed from the Grimmnasium, and placed it in the center of the floor, along with a plastic tee. He grabbed the red croquet ball and carefully placed it on the tee.

"All yours Lizzie, try not to kill us." the boy said, backing away from the girl. Everyone was ready to move a as fast as they could, clutching their mallets tightly. Lizzie took a deep breath, raising the mallet above her head.

"Keep your shoulders straight, and move your hips as you swing." Blake said, earning a glare from the future Queen of Hearts.

"Excuse me, I am a professional at croquet, just because we're playing golf doesn't mean I can't tee off." she said.

"Okay, go for it." he said simply. The girl nodded and closed her eyes, swinging the mallet as hard as she could, missing the crimson ball entirely. She growled angrily, taking a second swing at it.

"I told you to keep your shoulders straight!"

"I am a professional at croquet, this isn't any different!" the heart themed girl cried angrily.

"Okay new rule, if you miss on your third swing, you let the other team take it. Three strikes your out." Hunter said.

"I like that, baseball strikes could be beneficial." Dexter said, writing that down in the ever growing list of rules for Indoor Golf. Lizzie sighed, raising her mallet one final time. With an angry scream, she brought it down, the side of the flamingo themed mallet striking the ball with all her strength. It struck the side of the wall, falling down the stairs.

"Let's go!" Sparrow cried, racing down the stairs after the ball.

Both teams struggled to move down the stairs, each of them fighting for control of the ball. Once they made it into the hallway, Sparrow struck the ball with his mallet, sending it flying down the hallway. Blake sped past the boy, deflecting the ball toward Hunter who struck the ball as hard as he could. Daring was about to shoot past him, only for him to trip and fall onto his face.

"Whoops, sorry about that." Kitty said, dashing past the boy as she claimed the ball for herself. She passed it to Apple, who spotted a trash can at the end of the hall. She rose her mallet up, slap shotting it toward the can, nailing the edge of it.

"Darn, I almost had it!" she cried. Dexter shot past her, passing the ball to Blake.

"Go for it, quick!" he cried, as the ball sailed through the air. Blake swung his mallet almost like a baseball bat, slamming the ball right through the lid, striking the wall behind it.

"What? Are you serious?" he cried. Ginger dug the ball from behind the trash can, balancing it on the side of the mallet as she dropped it into the trash.

"Um...that's a point right?" she asked, earning a sigh from the boys.

"Yes...score one for the ladies." Sparrow muttered, resting his mallet on his shoulder.

"Okay then, now it's our turn to tee off...this hallway will take us toward the stairs that lead to the forth floor, so let's keep it a clean game. Who tees off?" Blake asked curiously, glancing at his friends. Daring stepped up, having already set up the box.

"I shall go, time to show everyone my skills with golf." he said. Everyone else nodded, getting into various positions around the hallway. The boy rose up his blue mallet and swung it with grace and strength, sending the ball flying through the hall, slamming into the ceiling from how high it went. Sparrow jumped up into the air, striking the ball downward to Dexter, who swung his mallet like a bat. Blake blocked the ball with his own mallet, sending it to the ground, where Hunter took over it, leading it down the hall.

"They're getting into this aren't they?" Ashlynn asked, her glass heels clinking loudly as she ran, earning a nod from Apple.

"You've got to admit, this is pretty fun."

"I got it!" Kitty said, flashing in front of Hunter, jabbing her elbow into his ribs. She swung her mallet as hard as she could, striking the edge of the window, sending the ball into an empty classroom. They all cringed as they moved inside.

The classroom was actually the one that was used for Crownculus, but since the White Queen was currently teaching Princessology, it hadn't been used. It looked like a rather normal classroom, with the desks being lined up in neat rows, a large blackboard in the front, with several math problems written on it. They all looked around, finding the ball near the teacher's desk. Blake quickly went for it, only for Ginger to close the distance, slamming her mallet into his own. He tried pushing her back, sending the ball flying across the room.

"Daring, Dexter, lock it in." Blake cried, moving through the desks, as the two siblings went for the ball, blocking the girls from getting at it. Dexter shot it forward to Hunter who caught it with his mallet. He flicked it over to Sparrow, who shot it into the sink in the back.

"Yeah! That's a point for us!" he cried, holding his mallet above his head.

"That's not fair! You blocked us from getting at it!" Lizzie cried, an annoyed look on her face.

"It's not against the rules Liz, so we can't do anything about it." Kitty said, earning a glare from her best friend. She just giggled, snagging the ball from the sink.

"I tee off next, into the fourth floor."

"Fine by me, go for it Kitty." Blake said, as they all quickly moved out of the Crownculus classroom. They waited for a few curious students to walk by, before setting up the next tee box, right at the start of the stairwell. Everyone moved down to the fourth floor, keeping an eye out for other students or teachers.

Once she had gotten the go ahead, Kitty teed off, the crimson ball striking the side of the stairwell, heading down the stairs, once it appeared in the fourth floor, Ashlynn swung her mallet, sending it flying to Apple who continued directing it down the hall. Sparrow came up behind her, swinging his mallet at hers, sending it flying from her hands.

"Hey, really Sparrow?"

"Alls fair in love and golf!" he sung, hitting the ball to Blake, who shot into the adjacent corridor. It struck the edge of the lockers, moving toward the center of the floor. He ran toward it, only for Lizzie to hook her mallet around his ankle, causing him to trip. She moved toward the ball, raising her mallet above her head.

"Off with the ball!" she screamed, striking the ball with all of her strength, sending it sailing through the air. It hit an open locker door, the loud bang echoing through the hallway. The ball ricocheted off the locker, hitting Humphrey in the face as he had been walking out of a classroom to get a quick drink of water.

"Jesus, Lizzie you took his damn head off." Blake cried, earning a cringe from the girl.

"Apologies, I didn't mean too." she said. Hunter ran past the injured boy, striking the ball with his mallet, sending it into the next hallway. He saw an open locker at the end of the hall, his grin becoming wider as he set up his slap shot. The ball sailed across the hall, landing right inside the locker.

"Hehe! Score two for the boys! You gals are losing, better pick up the slack!"

"Ow...what's going on here?" Humphrey asked, grabbing his bleeding nose.

"We're playing Indoor Golf, and Lizzie just made your nose bleed, too bad it wasn't from rocking your world." Kitty said, earning a scream of embarrassment from the heart themed girl.

"Okay, no teasing. Dexter, you tee off next, take us down a floor." he said, tossing the brown haired boy the ball.

"Oh...okay...I'm not gonna be very good though."

"How bad can you truly be?"

 _ **xxx**_

Blake was honestly impressed with how bad a person could be teeing off. Much like Lizzie, he had gotten it on the third strike and had sent them moving through the third floor, but they had forgotten all about classes, so when the bell rung they ended up losing the ball in the middle of the crowd, so as a penalty, Dexter had to tee off one handed into the Charmitorium.

Somehow playing through the seats and the few people that were inside, Sparrow had gotten the ball stuck between the railing and the gap that had that connected to the rest of the railing. The trap door in the stage was open, so if Sparrow got the ball into that hole, then it would be another point for the boys. They couldn't go get the ball from the first floor either, since they had decided to play through every floor in the school, so this was a make or break shot. If he didn't make it, the girls got a crack at it, and the game would go on until one of them scored.

"Dude, are you sure you should be standing on that railing? What if you fall?"

"I'm the son of Robin Hood dude, he's run on rooftops and climbs trees, I'm sure I got this." the boy said, lining up his shot.

He raised his mallet, making sure the beak was facing outward instead of inward. He sung a high note, his voice echoing through the charmitorium as he struck the ball, sending it flying through the air, striking the edge of the stage.

"So close but no cigar, you should let a lady take care of this." Apple said, sending Ginger forward.

"Oh...you want me to do this? But I'm not good with balance...what if I fall?" she asked.

"You won't...I'm tying a safety line." Blake said, wrapping a rope around the girl's waist, tying it tightly to the railing of the balcony. The girl took her heels off, handing them to Dexter as she climbed up to the railing. Daring wedged a replacement ball back in place, so that she could take her shot.

The daughter of the Candy Witch stumbled a bit as she swung the mallet, sending the ball flying toward the stage. It struck the back wall, bouncing on the wooden floor before falling into the trap door, causing the girls to cheer loudly. The boys shook their heads dejectedly, having lost another point. The game was still tied, Dexter jotted it down as they all moved back to the third floor.

"So, we're still tied, and we have a lot of holes to go after...let's play the rest of the third floor before heading down to the second." Hunter said, earning a nod from the others.

"Fair enough, how about we head to the third floor balcony and shoot it to the second?" Ashlynn suggested. Daring set up the next tee, which Blake decided to take, as he hadn't gone yet. Everyone positioned themselves accordingly, waiting for him to tee off.

Instead of swinging at the ball, the boy carefully maneuvered it off the tee, balancing it on the flat side of the mallet. Flicking it into the air, the boy swung the mallet as hard as he could, sending the ball flying down the hall, striking the edge of the lockers. Immediately they all ran after it, heading down the adjacent hall. Another battle for the ball had broken out, the sound of the mallets filling the halls, drawing curious eyes from the classrooms they were passing. As they turned into the next hall, they all came to a stop, seeing Headmaster Grimm walking toward them, eyes trained on his MirrorPad.

"Oh shit, go back!" Sparrow hissed, urging everyone else back.

"Where are we gonna go?"

"In the closet, hurry!" Blake hissed, directing all of his friends into a nearby closet. Once everyone was inside, he pulled the door closed, just in time for the man to walk by in front of it.

"Nice, now we just have to wait it out." the black haired boy said, his hand still grasping the handle.

Hunter and Ashlynn were holding each other, standing near the back of the closet, while Apple and Daring were oddly enough, standing away from each other. Kitty and Lizzie were standing against the wall, with Dexter standing next to Sparrow and Ginger. They heard footsteps as the man walked into that hallway, everyone praying for him to leave just as fast as he had shown up. At least until they heard talking.

" _Headmaster Grimm, there have been quite a lot of loud noises in the halls for the last half hour, apparently it's been happening around the school."_

" _Loud noises? What kind of loud noises?"_

" _I'm not sure, but some students said they saw some sophomores playing hockey in the hallways. They might still be on this floor, or maybe somewhere else. We have to check empty classrooms, closets and other places they might be in, perhaps they even saw you and decided to hide."_

"Shit." Sparrow swore softly, pressing himself against the wall.

"What do we do now?" Dexter asked, a look of worry on his face.

They all heard footsteps as someone started approaching the closet. Blake reached into his pocket for his cellphone, swiping the screen rapidly. He found the app he was looking for an clicked it, gaining access to the PA system. He took a deep breath, closing his eyes.

"You think I'm an ignorant bitch

And you've fucked so many women

I guess it must be so

But still I cannot see

If the dumb ass bitch is me

How can there be so much

That you don't know

You don't knooow!

Mother fucker you ain't shit

Listen up and you might learn something

You think you own whatever bitch you cum on

Like a bitch is just a dead thing you can claim

But judging by the size of your penis

I'm quite surprised you got any pussy game

You think the only dudes who fuck real bitches

Are the asswipes who look and think like you!

But if you happen to come across a REAL bitch

I guarantee that she will tear your ass in two

Have you ever heard a bitch cry because you

fucked her good?

I bet she wishes she wasn't alive

Have you even mastered the art of

Clitoral Stimulation?

You couldn't even beat a pussy if you tried!"

" _Oh for heaven sakes! When will they leave the intercom alone!"_ Headmaster Grimm shouted, hastily walking off, in hopes of catching the ones who had taken over the intercom. Blake ended the broadcast, letting out a sigh of relief.

"Dude, how the hell did you go on the intercom?" Hunter asked, trying to hold back his laughter.

"Trade secret, I'm afraid. Now that Grimm is gone, we have a few minutes until he comes back, so let's find our ball and head to the second floor, stat." he said, opening the closet door.

 _ **xxx**_

The castleteria was full of students, as lunch had finally rolled around, however several students were missing. This fact didn't go unnoticed by Raven, who had noticed Ashlynn, Hunter, Blake and Kitty weren't at their table. She had also noticed Apple, Daring, Dexter and Lizzie weren't in the castleteria either. She had been hearing stuff going around the school about some students playing hockey in the hallways, but hadn't seen anything. Then there was that song that played over the intercom, which made the entire school start laughing the second they had heard it. Her table, as normal was empty, though she had gotten used to having Blake sitting with her, it made her feel a sad, though that was quickly remedied by Maddie, who pulled her tea set from her had.

"What's wrong Raven? Why are you by your lonesome?"

"That's a good question...I'm not sure. Ash and Hunter aren't here, neither are Blake and Kitty. I haven't seen Apple all day, same with Daring and Dexter, and Sparrow has been strangely silent." she replied.

"Hmm...that is a good point, Lizzie, Kitty and Blake skipped out on class earlier, wonder what they're all up to...do you guys know anything?" Maddie said, glancing up at the ceiling.

" _Apologies Madeline, we would much rather you see for yourself."_ Chester said.

" _Indeed, I'm sure you'll be quite entertained."_ Weiss added, holding back a laugh.

"The narrators said they want us to be surprised...it's gonna be good if they told me that." she said, grinning at Raven, who poked at her broccoli.

"If you say so...hey did you get the Crownculus homework done? I need some help with the homework." she said, earning a vigorous nod from her friend.

"I got all of the answers...honestly Raven, how can you be so bad at math? Isn't that like, fundamental when it comes to witch craft?"

"No...bubble bubble toil and trouble, remember?" Raven replied.

"Oh...right...I totally forgot that...I guess it isn't hard when it all comes from a book." she said, reaching for her tea kettle. A loud bang echoed through the castleteria, causing a few people to glance toward the doors, seeing a crimson croquet ball quickly rolling into the room. Everyone just looked at it, watching as it stopped near the middle of the room.

"Team switch!" someone cried loudly. In a bright flash of light, Kitty appeared in front of the ball, slamming her mallet as hard as she could, sending it flying back toward the door.

Sparrow appeared in the castleteria right after her, swinging his own mallet, sending the ball flying toward the second floor seating, where Blake was waiting for it, he flicked the ball upward, slamming his mallet into the ball as if it were a tennis racket. The ball bounced off the railing, falling back down to the first floor. Ashlynn quickly ran in, bunting the ball back onto the floor, looking around for a place to score the point. She noticed a large pot of soup by the food table and smiled, heading toward it.

"Sparrow intercept, Hunter keep the ball away from that pot, I need someone to guard Ashlynn and distract Apple!" Blake cried out, as if issuing commands to a platoon of soldiers.

"I got it!" Dexter said, stepping in front of the blonde princess, who had a scowl on her face. Lizzie shot past them, hitting Sparrow in the side with her mallet, causing him to fall to the ground. She snagged the ball, passing it back to Ashlynn.

"Not so fast, it's been twenty seven seconds! Team Switch, Royals vs Rebels!" Blake cried. Ashlynn quickly stopped, flicking the ball toward Hunter, who started running back toward the doors.

"Sparrow, take it!" Hunter cried, his mallet struck the ball, sending it flying toward the son of Robin Hood, who easily caught it in his hand. Rolling it onto the floor, he passed it to Ginger who was getting ready to do a slap shot, only for Dexter to dash past her, sending the ball in an opposite direction.

"Twenty seven, Team Switch!" Apple cried, causing the boys to hiss.

"What in the hell is going on?" Raven asked, eyes wide in shock at what was happening in the castleteria.

"I dunno, but it looks like fun!" Maddie added. Several others had been filming what was going on, some were even cheering, despite not knowing what game was being played.

"Ha! Looks like this one goes to the girls!" Lizzie said, raising her mallet up to strike the ball. As she took her swing however, Blake stuck his mallet in, blocking the hit entirely. He swept it upward, using a palm strike to push the girl back.

"No way I'm letting you score that point! Hunter, take it!" he cried, flicking the ball over to the black haired lad. It bounced over one of the tables, causing the ones sitting on it to jump away.

"I'm getting revenge for that one Blake, I'm a good fencer you know." the future Queen of Hearts said, a smirk on her face. She jabbed her mallet at the boy, who easily guarded the attack. Even though it wasn't a sword, he could easily use it for self defense.

He went in for a low swing which she easily blocked, stepping out of the way entirely. He rose his sword, deflecting a piercing move with ease. Backing away, he grabbed his mallet tightly with both hands, aiming for a high swing. Lizzie easily flipped out of the way, landing in a low crouch, mallet ready to strike. She jabbed at Blake's face, only for him to duck out of the way, going for a strike to her midsection. A metallic bang filled his ears, as he saw Dexter holding a lunch try, almost like a shield. Blake backed away, glancing at his friend.

"Leave it to a Royal to defend a princess."

"This has nothing to do with our standing in the conflict...we're just two men, playing a game." he said.

"Aye, en gerde then!"

"STOP!"

The two stopped mid swing, turning to look at Blondie who was standing on top of a table, holding her MirrorPad in her hands, a look of confusion on her face. She took a deep breath, calming herself down.

"What...what the heck is going on? What are you all doing?"

"Oh...we're playing Indoor Golf." Blake replied, a smile on his face.

"Indoor Golf? This looks like a battle for land, you're all fighting each other tooth and nail. How is that a game?" Briar asked, a look of curiosity on her face.

"Well, it started out simple. We're playing hockey, with croquet mallets, and the aim of the game is to score eight points, but we tee off like Golf. If we see something we can use as a cup, then we'll try to score inside it. It can be anything that the ball will fit into. We play like hockey, and fight over the ball. However, Kitty decided to implement a new rule half way through." Blake said.

"Yup, every twenty seven seconds, we shout team switch, and we'll go from Royal vs Rebel, to Boys vs Girls, and we go on and on until we score one in the cup. So far, we're tied seven to seven." Kitty said proudly.

"Oh...okay, carry on then." Blondie said, continuing to record. Just like that, the battle for the ball had resumed.

"Team Switch!" Kitty cried again, causing all of the fighting boys to back away from each other, once again heading toward the ball. Apple flipped onto a table, striking the ball resting on it with her mallet, hitting one of the marble posts.

"Gah! I almost had it!" she cried.

"I got it, I got it!" Ashlynn cried, going after the ball, only to slip on a discarded food stray, making her fall to the ground. Daring shot past her, stealing the ball from her.

"Ha ha! This score is mine!" he cried, taking his shot. The ball sailed toward the large soup pot, striking it with so much force that it went flying, spilling the food all over the place. He let out a scream of frustration, snapping the mallet in half.

"Oi! Those aren't yours to break you asshat! Off with your Head!" Lizzie cried angrily, running at the boy with her mallet raised, only for Blake to stand in front of him, blocking her strike.

"We meet again my princess! Allow me to steal a kiss from thy crimson lips!" he said, pushing her back with all his strength. Lizzie, looking a bit repulsed, yet blushing, let out a cry, getting into a fierce sword fight with the black haired boy, neither wavering in their resolve to claim the ball.

"I didn't think Lizzie could fight so well." Raven muttered, taking a sip from her tea.

"Oh yeah, Lizzie was raised to be the next Queen of Wonderland, the Knave of Hearts, her family's knight, was the one who trained her in military combat. She can handle a sword quite easily, but Blake isn't slacking either." Maddie said, a grin on her face. She desperately wanted to join in the game, but knew she couldn't.

Blake ducked back and forth, avoiding every jab Lizzie threw at him, doing his best to counter when he could. Around him, his friends were still fighting for the ball, though Kitty was sitting above them all on the second floor, munching on an apple as she saw the fighting going on down below. She hadn't bothered calling the team switch, and even if she had, he and Lizzie would have continued to fight regardless. He slipped on some of the soup, losing his footing a bit, giving Lizzie the opening she needed. She rose her mallet above her head, about to swing it down at him. Black reacted quickly, grabbing a nearby food tray, using it as a shield, just in time to block the strike.

Thinking quickly, he quickly knelt down, sweeping the girl off her feet. He spotted the ball near the post and turned to run to it, only for Lizzie to use her mallet to trip him. She let out a boisterous laugh as she stood up, racing toward the ball. Blake reached for the food tray, sliding it across the tile floor, just in time for her to step on it, causing her to slip and fall, landing on her rump. The tray struck the ball, which Blake instantly went after. Blake swung his mallet as hard as he could, sending the ball flying toward the vending machine, denting it from how hard the ball had struck it.

"Oh shit, sorry!" he cried.

"You broke my heel! You're gonna pay for this!" Lizzie cried, swinging her mallet at the boy, only for him to dodge the strike. He rose his own to guard her attack, only for it to snap from the strain. He grit his teeth, tossing the rest of it aside.

"Kitty, mallet!" he cried.

"Sorry, I'm on time out." she said, a pout on her face as she smiled at them.

"What? No you aren't, fucking toss me one, come on!" he cried, backing away from Lizzie, who had a predatory look on her face.

"Blake, take it!" Hunter cried, tossing the boy his mallet.

Blake easily grabbed it, in time to block an incoming hit from Lizzie. He pushed her back, making her stumble a bit on her broken heel. He grabbed a hold of her arm before she fell, tossing Hunter his mallet back, instead grabbing the one she was holding. He let go of her arm, going after the ball with Hunter, who gave him a nod.

"Guys, over here!" Ginger cried, holding the pot high. As Hunter was about to swing his mallet, Kitty disappeared, appearing fight before him.

"Team Switch!" she cried, jabbing the handle of her mallet into his stomach, causing him to fall to the ground.

"That was a dirty trick Kitty." Blake cried, earning a giggle from the girl who took a swing at the ball, sending it hurdling back into the castleteria.

"You took out Liz, so I had to even the odds, sorry." she said, giving him a wink before disappearing, her smile being the final thing to disappear. Blake broke into a sprint, racing toward the ball, jumping over tables, clutching his mallet hard. He ended up slipping on a broken piece of mallet, sending him falling to the floor.

"Ah! Sparrow!" he cried.

"I got it!" the orange haired boy cried, snagging the ball for himself. He swung his mallet, sending the ball over to Dexter who swung his like a bat, sending the ball careening into the pot Ginger was holding, sending it flying from her hands, landing on its side.

"Ashlynn, over here!" Apple cried.

"Go for it Apple!" the daughter of Cinderella cried, striking the ball toward her friend, who blocked it with her stick. With a flick of her wrist, she sent it flying toward the pot, hitting the rim of it, turning it onto its bottom. Dexter quickly scooped the ball from the floor, about to drop it into the pot.

"Team Switch!" Kitty cried out. Dexter smirked as he dropped the ball, only for Blake to kick the pot out of the way, striking the ball with the edge of his mallet.

"What the? Really?"

"Alls fair in love and golf!" he said, dashing forward, grabbing the pot by the handle. He dropped his mallet, spinning on his heel as Ginger lined up the shot, sending the ball flying through the air, right into the pot.

"Yeah! Rebels win! Rebels win!" Sparrow cried, slamming his mallet onto the ground. Blake started cheering loudly, holding the ball above his head along with the pot.

"What is going on here? CEASE!"

Blake shivered at the sound of the voice, dropping the pot from his hand. He slowly turned around, meeting the piercing gaze of Headmaster Grimm, who was most certainly angry about what was going on. He chuckled dryly, swallowing the lump in his throat.

 _ **xxx**_

"And that Madam Maid Marian, is how we all got detention." Blake said, leaning back in his seat. Sitting around him were Sparrow, Lizzie, Kitty, Apple, Ashlynn, Hunter, Daring, Dexter and Ginger, all smiling and laughing at the retelling of their Indoor Golf Game.

"Told you it was a rocking story ma." Sparrow said, earning a giggle from the orange haired woman, who happened to be his mother.

"While I do agree that relieving stress is fine, I don't think playing a game like that inside was a good idea. However, seeing the video of the battle at the castleteria made me change my mind, just a tad. It helps that the song you sung was hilarious." she said, earning a clap to the shoulder from Daring.

"My man, we should play this again some time. I thought it was gonna be a stupid game, but that's the most fun I've had in awhile."

"Sure, we just need another place to play, seeing as Headmaster Grimm banned Indoor Golf forever in the school." he said.

"Even though I got detention in the end, I've got to admit, having fun with my friends was definitely worth it." Apple said.

"Oh most certainly, and while I have to replace several balls and croquet mallets, I am quite happy with the game. I'm also impressed with your sword skills Blake, you handled yourself quite nicely."

"Thanks Lizzie, sorry about breaking your heel...and the kissing thing." he said.

"Whoa kissing? You two kissed?" Ashlynn asked.

"Heavens no! I would never kiss a rebel." the girl said, taking a sip from her tea cup.

"Oh yeah, Apple I heard from Raven that you took Home Evilnomics, how was that?" Blake asked curiously, earning looks of interest from her friends.

"It was horrible! I had to turn a beautiful cute bunny evil, but I just couldn't do it. Now I have a vicious snap dragon that I don't know what to do with. It growls at night." she said, clearly fearing for her life.

"Are you feeding it onion skins?" Lizzie asked, causing the girl to shake her head.

"I give it water, lots of sunshine and the most important thing in the world, love. But she hates me!"

"Dear, Wonderland snap dragons are different from normal plants, you are doing alright, but if you don't feed it onion skins or give it onion juice, it will become vicious. I've raised several already, and have planted them in the grove, they absolutely adore me." she said.

"I heard eggshells have a lot of vitamins that plants like, try crushing some and putting it in the dirt, she'll definitely grow big and strong that way." Blake said, earning a nod from the blonde.

"Well, your first day of detention is almost done, what are you gonna do then?" Maid Marian asked, earning murmurs from the students.

"Not sure, I plan to enter the talent show, I've already signed up and everything." Sparrow said, strumming his guitar, earning a smile from his mother.

"Well I hope you do win it dear, make your father proud." she said happily.

"I'm gonna try and enter it as well, maybe I can take the trophy home with me as a souvenir! Headmaster Grimm said the tests will be in on Monday, and the talent show is this Friday, I'm happy Apple was able to talk him out of extracurricular suspension...that wouldn't have been fun." Blake admitted.

"Oh...I forgot about those tests...we've had such a busy schedule that it slipped my mind." Ashlynn said.

"Same here, I'm really gonna miss you man." Hunter said, a frown on his face.

"Hey now, none of that sad shit! We gotta make the most of it no? We just had an awesome day of Indoor Golf, there's still a lot of time between here and Monday, so let's all enjoy ourselves! Let's make a lot of memories, so that I'll never forget my time here, not that I was going too." he said, giving them a smile.

"I was hoping we could hang out more, you're the only customer I've got, and I don't want to lose you." Ginger said, a disappointed tone in her voice.

"Hey now, people have tried your sweets already, all we have to do is tell them all who's the creator. How about I teach you a recipe from my world, so that you can make it here for everyone in Ever After?" he asked, earning a nod from the girl.

"I would like that, thank you Blake." she said. The bell rung a second later, causing all of the students to stand up. It was currently three thirty, the official end of the school day.

"Well, I'll see you all tomorrow afternoon, it was nice to hear your wild story, try not to enrage the Headmaster again."

"No promises, it was nice meeting you Madam Maid Marian." Blake said.

"Please, call me Marian, any friend of my son is a friend of mine." she said cheerfully.

"Okay, Sparrow your mom is awesome."

"I know, see ya at dinner ma, tell dad I said hey." Sparrow said, earning a hug from the woman.

Blake had a rather interesting day, and he was sure to have many more in the days to come. He did feel a twinge in his heart, at the thought of leaving. He had gotten so used to his routine in Ever After, that he wasn't sure he could return to his normal life. But, he had to go back...he had already promised himself he would go back to his family, and he would try to find Lucy where ever she might be. He felt a slight stab in the center of his chest, causing him to stop in the middle of the hall.

"Are you alright Blake?" Apple asked, a look of concern on her face.

"I'm fine Apple, nothing to worry about. I guess I'm just hungry, we all did skip lunch after all." he said.

"Hehe, that's right. Ah yes, I've got wonderful news! Cerise told me how you wanted to meet more famous Fairytales, and since you've already met Red Riding Hood, Ashlynn arranged for something special." she said.

"She's right, so as a going away present from the two of us...you get to meet my mom!" Ashlynn said, causing the boy to stop mid stride.

"Meet your...I get too...meet Cinderella?" he asked.

"Briar got the approval from her dad, so you get to meet Aurora too...it's gonna be so much fun for you!" Apple said. Blake let out a slight chuckle, feeling his world go black.

"Oh my gosh, he fainted!" Ashlynn cried.

"I don't blame him...let's take him to the nurses office, just in case."


	13. MirrorNet Down (Sort of)

**A/N:**

 **Hello everyone and welcome to Chapter 13 of Through the Looking Glass! I hope you guys are having a wonderful day, I know I am, despite it being like 32 degrees outside. Last chapter, we got to see Blake create a brand new game, that no one seemed to comment about...honestly I'm surprised I didn't get a single review last night, but it matters not to me, as long as people are liking this story, that's what matters to me. Chapters 13-15 will be the last few chapters before Thronecoming starts...I will say, the next few chapters will have songs in it, as I will be covering the talent show.**

 **In fact, I took the episode Rebel's Got Talent and turned it into an event, basically the talent show is what will start Thronecoming Week, then we will have all of the events of Thronecoming happening, the Bookball Game, the preparations and of course, Raven's journey to find the original Storybook of Legends. I haven't decided if Blake will be involved in all of this or not, but as it is a major event, I most likely will have him play some sort of role in the entire thing. Of course there is the dance of which he will be asking Kitty to, so I might include a small segment of him finding a proper way to ask her to the dance. After all, he's gone to a dance with Cerise before, and then spent the rest of the night with Duchess, but this is an actual school dance which means a lot to people, and since he's a foreigner he still doesn't know where he fits into everything.**

 **Let's just say, that point will be touched upon more during this arc, and you will all see just how petty Henry Andersen, the son of Hans, Prince of the Southern Isles truly is. I haven't had time to give him complexity, but I needed an antagonist for Blake. It's almost like an antithesis, but I haven't exactly figured out how their dynamic works. Blake is the all around nice guy, friend to everyone and will to do whatever it takes to see his friends happy, even if it makes an ass out of himself. Henry is his polar opposite, being a douchebag to everyone around him, not caring about anything but himself, though he does have friends, they're more pity friends than anything. Eventually we will get to see just what happened to Henry to turn him into a mirror image of his father, and we'll get to see how Blake will deal with Henry as the story progresses. Every Batman needs a Joker after all...hehe.**

 **I haven't exactly figured out what Blake is going to wear for Thronecoming...since all of the girls have dresses that are centered around their stories and their personalities, and the guys are just wearing suits, I wanted to give Blake a combination of both...a fancy suit but one that also has his sense of style into it, but I haven't gotten anywhere, except a brilliant pink tie, because pink is an awesome color, and if you don't think that, then we can step outside and have a lengthy discussion on the topic. I dunno...if you all have any ideas or suggestions, please drop me a comment, any little bit helps to be honest with you.**

 **How about I take these two legs and shove them up your ass, all the way to the knee?**

 **So, let us rejoice in this new chapter which is different than the episodes it is derived from...so enjoy it, and let me know what you all think of this chapter. I hope you all are having a nice day, like, review and all that jazz...later taters...**

 **Song Used in this Chapter: Don't you Dare Forget The Sun by Get Scared**

Ever After High

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 13

MirrorNet Down _**(Sort of)**_

Blake's grin was almost wider than Kitty's after Ashlynn had told him what had happened. Once he had ignored the fainting part, he had readily accepted the surprise she had given him. He was going to meet Cinderella, _the_ Cinderella, which he had been a fan of growing up. He was almost as excited as Maddie when she got a new kettle from her father. It had gotten even better when Briar had told him that Aurora would be hosting the meeting. Apparently, Cinderella and Aurora were close friends when they were in high school and had organized this meeting to catch up with each other, and to see how their daughters were doing. Ashlynn had asked if she could bring a friend along, and her mother had agreed.

The meeting wouldn't be happening until Thursday afternoon, so he had quite some time to get ready. So for now, he had been helping the Royal Student Council with their Beauty Pageant, an agreement he had made with Headmaster Grimm in order to avoid getting a more severe punishment. He had been mopping the stage, whistling a tune to himself when Kitty flashed in front of him. She and Lizzie were also helping out, due to their involvement in the game. She had a cup of rice pudding in her hands, and she was licking the spoon, a grin on her face.

"Hey Blake."

"What's up?" the boy asked, glancing up from the floor. She dug her spoon into the pudding, flicking it to the ground.

"You missed a spot." she replied with a giggle, flashing out of existence when he threw a cleaning brush at her. He sighed, wheeling the bucket over to the new area he had to clean, dipping the mop into the dirtied water.

"There are times I want to praise her pranks, and there are times I want to push her in a spike trap...this is one of these times." he muttered to himself. He wrung the mop out, placing it right over the pudding, making sure to pick it up as much as possible.

If he was being honest, he hated beauty pageants. He thought they were the most conceited competitions in the world. Not only did some of them degrade women, turning them into sex icons, but they also brought out the worse in people. Some models even starved themselves just to fit into the perfect ballroom dress. Others were yelled at by their coaches because they weren't walking right, or they didn't have a certain pose down. It honestly boiled his insides, and it was showing in his mopping, as he had been scrubbing the floorboards rather hard.

"Are you okay Blake? You seem rather annoyed." Cedar said, catching the boy's attention. He flushed slightly, dipping the mop back into the bucket.

"I'm fine Cedar, it's just...I don't like pageants...back in my world, there are a lot of women who enter them yearly, and they go through hell just to look perfect. I mean hell, there is this show that just pisses me off, called Toddlers in Tiaras. I had to watch for an hour, how these fucking cunts treated their daughters like shit, just so they could win a fucking crown. I mean Jesus, these little girls are like three and they're wearing make up, and they act vain and conceited and...god it just boils my fucking blood." he said, gritting his teeth angrily. The others around him were looking at him curiously, having gained an interest in his conversation.

"Well, this pageant isn't about being beautiful. It's about being awesome empowered girls, it's about true beauty, the beauty that's on the inside." Cedar replied, placing a hand over her heart.

"That's the kind of stuff I want to see Cedar, with that attitude, I'm sure you'll win." Blake said, a smile on his face.

"Alright ladies, it's time to practice your walk. Go put on your heels and demonstrate how a woman should walk." the White Queen said firmly. Cedar frowned as she headed to the back, along with Apple and Briar, who had also entered the contest.

"Hey Blake, would you mind telling me more about that show?" one of the other boys asked, causing him to blink rapidly.

"No."

Having finished with his duties inside the Charmitorium, Blake decided to head toward his locker to grab his homework. Melody and Kitty had already handled Radio Rebel earlier during the day, so he didn't have to worry about that. Thankfully, Duchess had been able to take over for his role as well, since he had been given Science and Sorcery first period on Wednesdays as a punishment for being the mastermind behind Indoor Golf. Even though he disliked Professor Rumpelstiltskin, he had no regrets about playing the game, he had bonded with everyone a little more and he would never regret doing that. As he reached his locker, he input his combination, reaching for his backpack. He grabbed his Science and Sorcery textbook along with his spare notebook and a few quills, shoving them in his pack.

"No no no, what do you mean you can't log in? We have to log in, or else I won't be able to do my MirrorCast!" Blondie cried, walking past the black haired boy, her MirrorPhone to her ear. He closed his locker door, a look of curiosity on his face.

" _Wonder what's up with her, she sounds upset...might as well see what's up."_ he thought to himself, slinging his backpack to his shoulder.

"Hey Blondie, wait up." he called out, causing the blonde to stop.

"Fine, I hope you can fix the problem soon, I'm counting on you. What's up Blake, did you need something?" she asked, ending her call.

"I was just wondering what was wrong, you seem distraught." he said.

"I am...something's going on with the MirrorNet, it slowed down earlier and now it's practically gone. My live cast is supposed to start in twenty minutes and I can't connect, I've got thousands of viewers waiting for this and I can't make them wait." she said.

"That's rather serious, did you check your service provider? Maybe something is going on with the Towers." he said.

"I'm sure it's not the towers...do you know anything about this? Maybe you can help find the cause of it." she said.

"I dunno...I mean, I'm gonna take care of some homework while I have time. After that I have to go back and help with the rest of this stupid pageant." he said.

"Please Blake? You wouldn't deny my request would you? It wouldn't be right!" she said, giving him a puppy look. He cringed, glancing away from her.

"Alright, fine. I'll help you figure out what's going on, just don't do that...I have a weakness for blue eyed girls." he said, earning a giggle from her.

"I know, so I used that to my advantage. It worked just right!"

"Just walk." he cried, a hint of annoyance on his voice.

They decided to go to the Mirror Lab first. It had been the first time he had actually been inside. It was a large room with rows upon rows of Computers, all of them being the latest high tech models. There was a large open area in the back, with two broadcasting cameras on tripods, set up and ready to use. There was a large sign attached to the back wall with the name Just Right on it in blue and gold letters. The set also included a small table, rug and a couple of couches. Blake paused, glancing at the blonde girl beside him.

"How come when you interviewed me, you didn't bring me to your set?" he asked.

"It was getting renovated, you'd be surprise how much people actually love this show. There's a high demand for juicy gossip, though the Radio Rebel is currently killing my ratings." she said. Blake glanced away, a frown on his face.

"Yeah, the Radio Rebel sure is something...taking over the PA system, killing all the other webshows while they do their own. I really wanna know who they are."

"So do I, exposing him or her is going to be the best episode of Just Right ever, sadly I got no leads. Not even Headmaster Grimm can find them, it's like their signal is untraceable...anyway, we should check the school server to see if it's having issues." she said, leading him toward the backroom.

Dexter and Humphrey were inside, checking over the blinking lights on the server, their laptops being plugged into the ports. They were rapidly typing, attempting to locate the cause of the malfunction. The son of Humpty Dumpty sighed, taking his glasses off to wipe them clean, a look of confusion on his face.

"I don't know what the problem is Dexter, I've checked this thing three times already, it's working just fine."

"Then why is everyone having connection issues? If the school server is working fine, then people should be able to log into the network." the brown haired prince said, his eyes focused on the screen of his laptop.

"Maybe you should do a system reboot...back home when the internet wasn't working, I would just unplug the box and plug it back in, it would work perfectly after that." Blake said.

"Well, it wouldn't be a bad idea, but rebooting the server takes a lot of time, and even though half of the school is without the MirrorNet, there are people who are still logged in." Humphrey said, glancing at his phone.

"Wait a minute...what if there's too many people logged in at one time? Maybe that's slowing down the network...we should tell everyone to log off the school network so we can figure it out!" Blondie suggested.

"That could work, but we should also check the tower. Maybe the relay isn't working and the signal isn't being put out properly." Dexter said.

"Let's go with Blondie's suggestion first, we can split up and cover more ground that way...we'll meet up back here in a few minutes." Blake said. They nodded in agreement, and split up to search the school grounds.

"We should check the A/V room first. Sometimes the tech club goes there to play League of Legendary Heroes."

"League of what?" the boy asked, glancing at Blondie, who had a frown on her face.

"It's this game where you play different legendary heroes and you battle each other in combat. I covered it once during my Techy Game of the week, but I never got into it. Too many characters and none of them were just right for me." she said.

"Sounds a lot like League of Legends to me...maybe our worlds aren't that different after all." he said, loosing himself in thought.

After a few minutes, they heard voices coming from the A/V room. Stepping inside, they saw several boys and a few girls inside, all of them with their laptops. Hopper was also in there, eyes focused on his computer screen, his fingers placed on the keys ready to use whatever moves he could to win.

"I'm gonna need help up top, we're gonna push for the nexus on the next round."

"What about the baron, do we take it?" a girl asked, earning a nod from the frog prince.

"We do, let's just keep pushing guys, we've got this beat."

"Ahem, Hopper...I'm gonna have to ask you a favor." Blondie said, causing the boy to look up from his screen.

"Can't talk right now, we're about to push the other team back to their nexus, we're about to win this match and if we do, we might be able to head to the competition." he said. Blake walked over to the nearest computer, kneeling down a bit.

"What the fuck? This totally is League of Legends, oh my god I've been dying to play this again. Who's your main?" he asked the girl who was playing.

"Tori of the north, she's a tentailed fox who uses Ice fire as her weapon of choice." she said.

"Blake, we didn't came here to make lively conversation. We came here because we need the MirrorNet, need I remind you that we all have a Quiz for Rumpelstiltskin's class that we all have to study for?"

"Shit, I totally forgot that...can't we just let them finish this first? It wouldn't be fun if we took their chance at the regionals." he said, earning a glare from the blonde. She huffed, walking toward the T-2 line that was in the wall. There was a modem hooked up to it, several ethernet cables coming out of it to a wireless router, while some had the hardline plugged into their computers. With a firm yank, the wire came form the wall, causing everyone in the room to scream due to their lost connection.

"What the hell Blondie? We were about to win!"

"Yeah, that's not fair! Now we won't make regionals!"

"Now now, everyone before you all tear her a new one, we should explain. The school server is having some connection issues and half of the school can't connect. I know this isn't gonna change anything, but think about it this way, you might have another chance at regionals. This was just a practice match right?" he asked.

"It was." Hopper replied.

"Okay, and what was your time?"

"We were playing in that match for around fifty five minutes, and we were able to push the other team back rather well, and they were Platinum III." one of Hopper's friends said.

"Then you guys definitely have what it takes to defeat other teams at regionals, trust me. This game is similar to one back home, and I once saw a team that was Platinum IV defeat a Diamond III team. Just let us resolve the server issue and you can return to your session, sorry for the inconvenience."

"It's alright Blake, thanks for explaining everything, we weren't aware of the server issue. But in the future, please don't yank that out of the wall, ethernets are very expensive." Hopper said, earning a glare from the blond. He chuckled nervously, cringing a bit as his body glowed gold, turning him back into a frog.

"Blast, t'was a great effort by us. We shall win the next battle, I assure you all." the boy turned frog said, earning cries of joy from the others. Blake decided it was time for him and Blondie to leave.

 _ **xxx**_

The next leg of their journey took Blake and Blondie up to the Courtyard. Duchess was currently practicing her dance moves, her laptop being placed on a chair near the fountain. Her graceful moves were defined with each step she took. Her eyes were closed, a smile on her face as she jumped and moved around the stage with grace and poise. A light airy tune was playing from the speakers, adding to the beautiful dance the two were witnessing. Blondie had taken out her MirrorPad, choosing to record the girl's dance. She opened a single eye, glaring at the blonde.

"I charge by the minute, so if you want to record my dance then pay up."

"Come on Duchess, don't you want the whole school to see your dancing?" the blonde asked.

"Of course, but it isn't a free service." she said.

"Ignore her, she's just being her typical douchy self. Duchess, are you online right now?" Blake asked, glancing at her computer.

"Well duh, how else am I supposed to play classical music? Do you actually think I can twerk like those other...ladies...out there? Hell no. A woman of my tastes deserves nothing but the classics." she said, holding her nose up, a proud look on her face.

"Yeah, well get yourself a MirrorPod, because we need you to log off. The signal in the school is weak, and we can't have that many people logged into the network right now." Blondie said.

"Sorry, but I can't. I have to practice my recital for the talent show on Friday, and this is the only time I can practice." Duchess replied, an annoyed look on her face.

"Duchess, would you mind if you logged off the net? Just for now, when we figure out what's happening with the servers, I'll message you and let you know. This is for the better of the entire school." Blake said, earning a sigh from the girl.

"Fine, but as soon as you fix this problem, tell me." she said, grabbing her computer from the chair. She turned the device off, shoving it into her bag.

"Thank you Duchess, we really do appreciate it."

"Sure thing Blondie, you're lucky it was Blake who asked me, or else I wouldn't have logged off." Duchess said, walking off with a pout on her lips. Blake sighed, shaking his head.

"Wish she would pull that stick out of her ass. She can be nice when she wants to be...alright Blondie, where to next?" the boy asked.

"The Muse-ic Room, Yuletide Bliss is playing in the talent show and I know they like posting stuff directly to their page." she said.

"Huh? Yuletide Bliss? What the heck is that?"

"Oh, it's a band comprised by students. Contrary to popular belief, they play no Christmas songs out of season. Come on, you get to hear them play before the show." she said, taking a hold of his hand, pulling him along.

It didn't take long to reach the third floor, where the Muse-ic Room was located. As soon as they stepped inside the sounds of music could be heard all around the room. In the front of the room was the band that Blondie had mentioned. The smile on Blake's face diminished when he saw the ones who were playing in the band. Henry was standing at the front, playing a black Fender stratocaster. Not far from him was Pierre who was currently playing a cherry red Ibanez GSR, the soft sounds of the low tuned instrument filling the room. In the back sitting behind a drumset was Jack Hills, his hands flying back and forth as he softly struck the drums before him. The final person was one he hadn't seen before.

It was a short young man with snow white hair, and slightly pale skin. He was wearing a black tee shirt, over it he wore a crystal blue jacket with snowflakes printed around the edges. He was wearing a pair of black pants, the legs of which were crystal blue halfway down, and had snowflakes on it. He was also wearing a pair of black shoes.

His instrument was a Yamaha keyboard, though Blake couldn't tell what model it was. His fingers were flying across the keys, a cheery tune coming from the instrument. He spotted the black tripod currently holding a MirrorPad on it, confirming Blondie's suspicions. Henry closed the distance to the microphone, a smile on his face.

" _You're a mess_

 _Tangled with your confidence_

 _You think you haven't sinned_

 _Well, you're unstoppable_

 _Your walls are impassible_

 _Oh, I think you're better off looking alone._

 _Cause the boys that chase your hips can_

 _Just go find their way home._

 _And at the end of the day, you think to yourself_

" _My body is a product being sold on a shelf."_

 _Tell me I can change, Tell me I can change._

 _Well, I know you lay in bed,_

 _Contemplating your own death_

 _Well, just look at what you've done_

 _Don't you dare forget the sun! Love!"_

"Wow, they're actually really good." Blake said, completely impressed with Henry's ability to sing. It wasn't the most perfect song he had heard, in fact he swore he had heard it before. Perhaps a result of him crossing to Ever After had made it possible for them to listen to music from his world. He had heard some people talking about AC/DC before but no one had answered him when he asked. Henry looked up, frowning when he saw the two.

"Alright guys, take a break." he said, placing his guitar back in its stand. He jumped off the stage, walking over to his MirrorPad.

"Nice work Henry, you guys are getting a lot better...but I have a teensy favor to ask of you." Blondie said.

"Sure, we'll be on your show again. We need self promotion for the talent show, I heard the winners get to play Thronecoming. It's a shared stage though, as the second place act also gets to preform." Henry said.

"That's pretty cool, maybe I'll enter." Blake said, earning a laugh from the boy.

"You? Enter the talent show? With what band? I'll admit, the song you sung on True Heart's Day was pretty good, but you were just singing off a track. I bet you wouldn't be able to write a song if you tried." the boy said, causing Blake to hiss in annoyance.

"We didn't come here for you two to start arguing. Henry, we're having problems with the MirrorNet, do you think you could log off until we can resolve them?"

"Seriously? We're in the middle of our webshow, and we've already had to stop in the middle of a song. So the answer is no!" the sandy blond replied, turning away from the two.

"Listen man, we aren't asking you to tune off all day. We just need to resolve the matter and once we do, everyone can log back in. Half the school is experiencing the same issue, also do I need to remind you that all of us have a quiz for Science and Sorcery that we should all be studying for?" Blake asked, glaring at the taller teen.

"Okay, we'll log off...but I'm not doing it for either of you. I'm doing it because it's in the best interest of the school to pass that quiz. Now get the hell outta here." Henry said. Blake didn't need to be told twice, he took a hold of Blondie's hand, pulling her out of the classroom.

"Tch...what a prick...I'm surprise he even has friends to start a band with."

"They've been playing since the beginning of Freshman year...they call it Yuletide Bliss because their pianist Frost, is going to he the next Frosty."

"Frosty, as in Frosty the Snowman?"

"Mhmm, that's just right. He came from the Land Above the World, where the Snow King and Queen live. I heard Henry hates the Snow Queen for what she did to his father Hans, years and years ago. He has a bit of a rivalry with their daughter Crystal, but she hasn't been around since she left last December." Blondie said.

"Interesting, I didn't think the Snow Queen would actually have a daughter. Then again, the story here seems to be different than in my world."

"How so?"

"Well, in my world, there are in fact various versions of the Snow Queen, the most well known is the one where Gerda goes on a journey to rescue her friend Kai from the Snow Queen, who tells him she'll set him free if he spells the word eternity with the ice from her castle. But when I think about it, the tale is a bit jumbled up here. For one, the Southern Isles doesn't exist in the original, but in fact is part of a different version inspired by the original story. Hans, Henry's father, actually tries to kill Elsa, known as the Ice Queen, and her sister Anna saves her life." he said.

"Interesting...the Snow Queen's name is Elsa, and I do recall Crystal saying she stays with her aunt Anna during the summer. Perhaps there is a difference in tales from where you come from, I would just love to read mind. Reading it by the fire with some porridge, that would be just right!" Blondie replied, a smile on her face.

"You like porridge a lot don't you?" he asked, earning a grin from the girl.

 _ **xxx**_

"Honestly, I don't know what's going on. We told everyone to hold off on logging in, and the signal only improved slightly." Dexter said, a look of confusion on his face.

"Well, maybe a system reboot is what we need. Everyone is logged off anyway, we might as well right?" Blake asked, earning a nod from Humphrey, who walked over to the main control panel.

"We got nothing left to lose. Sorry about all this Blondie, I know you wanted to do your show and all."

"It's fine Humphrey, the school knows the network is having problems, so they'll understand. Let's just reboot it and see what happens." she said.

They all waited for a few minutes waiting for the system to restart again. No one really had anything to say so they all just remained silent. After awhile, Dexter reached for his laptop, looking at all of the information displayed on the screen. Having finished it's reboot, the system was back online, but when he tried to log into the network, he still couldn't get access. He sighed, bowing his head in defeat.

"That's it, I give up."

"You can't give up Dex, we're getting close! If rebooting the system isn't doing the trick, then it has to be the signal right? How about we go to the Mirror Tower and check it out." Blake said.

"You're right, Humphrey double check all of the wires and make sure everything is hooked up. The rest of us will go to the tower and see what's up."

"Sure, leave it to Humphrey Dumpty to put all back together again." the blond boy said, sighing as he walked back into the other room.

The three students left the Mirror Lab, heading toward the fifth floor of the school. As they did, they saw several other student's freaking out about the internet being down. Upon spotting Dexter, several of them ran up to him, holding various forms of technology asking him what was wrong. Blake slipped his fingers in his mouth, a shrill whistle filling the hallway.

"Alright! Calm down everyone, we are aware of the MirrorNet being down, and we all know that the online only test us due by sundown! So we all need to stay calm so we can figure out the issue. We're heading to Mirror Tower right now to see what's wrong." he said.

"You have to hurry, all the girls have the pageant tonight as well, and without the MirrorNet it'll be canceled." Briar said.

"We'll fix the problem, count on us." Blondie said, giving the crowd a reassuring smile.

"Jeez, I wonder if this is what would happen in my world if the internet went down. Would people start mobbing and killing each other?" he asked curiously.

"I doubt they would kill each other outright...it would suck if the MirrorNet died though." Dexter said.

"I couldn't do my MirrorCast, and I wouldn't be able to talk to my mom either, the MirrorNet is my only connection home." Blondie admitted, a frown on her face.

"It isn't gonna die...it's just the school network we gotta fix. I know this really cool fact from my world. It's said, that if the internet ever went down in my world, there are only seven people with seven special keys that would allow them to reboot it. However, all of the keys need to be turned at the same time...imagine the coordination." Blake said.

"That would be extremely challenging, especially without the internet to help them out. Well, we have arrived...the heart of the MirrorNet is right up here." Dexter said, swiping a card over the reader. The three students moved through the doors, starting to climb up the stairs.

"Wow, I thought Ever After High only had one tower."

"It actually has three, one that's used for storage, this one for the MirrorNet, and a third one no one has access too. Headmaster Grimm is the only person who can enter that one however. No one knows what's up there." Blondie said, earning a frown from the black haired boy.

"Oh, so Grimm is hiding himself a big old secret...nice. Must be some quintessential stuff if he's going through all that trouble." Blake replied, shoving his hands in his pockets.

As they neared the top of the spire, the three started hearing grunting sounds, along with the sound of electricity. Dexter paused for a second, eyes widening slightly as he started running up the steps. Feeling concerned, Blondie and Blake went after him, running up the last of the stairs, only to see a mass of torn and frayed wires all over the place, some still sparking.

"I just found out the problem with the net." Dexter said, glaring at the small man currently pulling at the wires connected to the major sever.

"Professor Rumpelstiltskin?" Blondie called out, grabbing his attention.

"Eh?"

"No way! You went this far to stop all of us from taking that test? What the hell is wrong with you?" Blake cried, sounding rather angry.

"He wanted all of us to fail! But now that we found out, we're gonna tell Headmaster Grimm about it." Dexter said, snapping a few pictures of all of the wires.

"No...you cannot tell the Headmaster!" Rumpelstiltskin said, a worried look on his face.

"Okay then, we won't tell. But you have to give us all an extension on that quiz, oh and you have to fix what you broke. I think that would be fair for everyone in school. Do that, and we won't tell a soul." Blake said, holding his hand out. The man growled angrily, shaking the boy's hand.

"Hexcellent! Now, get back to work, and make sure you fix everything instead of destroying it. We'll be watching." Dexter said, sticking on of his mobile cameras to the wall. The man grumbled, grabbing a couple of cords, getting zapped by one of them. The three students left with a proud smile on their faces.

 _ **xxx**_

It was Thursday afternoon, and Blake was honestly freaking out. School had just gotten out, or rather he had just gotten out of detention, when Ashlynn reminded the boy of his meeting with Cinderella that night. He had forgotten all about it, and was now in his room, along with Kitty and Duchess who had been called by the daughter of the Cheshire cat when she realized how the boy hadn't been acting. The two of them were just watch him pace the room, muttering things under his breath. Having grown tired of it, Duchess grabbed a hold of his arm and slapped him across the face, making him shout in pain.

"What the hell was that for Duchess? Shit!"

"Because you were starting to give me a headache with all of your pacing! Now what the hell is the matter that was so important, it pulled me away from my practice?" she cried.

Honestly, if it wasn't because it was Blake, she would have ignored Kitty's call, but she had decided to become a better person and embrace her Rebellious nature, so that meant helping her friends out when they needed a hand. Blake sighed, walking over to his computer chair, sitting down at it, looking at the floor.

"Well, Ashlynn and Briar arranged a special meeting with Cinderella and Aurora so I could meet them before I leave. I had complete forgotten about it, I tried to play it cool, but then I remembered their queens here, and I'm just a peasant and I'm nervous and I want to die!" he cried.

"Oh don't be such a puss. Cinderella and Aurora are both nice, I'm sure...besides you aren't a peasant. You're a regular teenage boy from another world, talk about that. If you act like a nervous wreck you'll just fuck yourself over." Kitty replied, earning a sigh from the boy.

"I know...but this is the first time I'm meeting a Queen, let alone two. I don't know how to act all fancy...Ashlynn and Briar told me not to worry, but that's when I worry the most! It's like walking up to your crush and saying, Hey baby, I adore you, wanna go out? I could never do something like that!" He replied. Duchess pinched her eyes, turning away from the boy.

"Fine, we have that extra tech from the radio show right? How about we just use some of those spy communicator thingies and give him topics to talk about."

"Wow Duchy, that's actually really smart! I would've never thought of that." Kitty said, earning a proud smirk from the girl.

"Of course! I am the best around, and as the best I have to use my superior intellect to guide all of you along."

"Don't swans have a brain the size of a peach pit though? Does that equate to how smart you are?" Blake asked, earning a loud honk from the girl, who's cheeks were tinged red with anger.

"My brain isn't the size of a peach pit asshole...hmph, if you're going to insult my genius, then I might as well leave!" she said, walking toward the door.

"No Duchess! I'm sorry, please don't leave me alone with Kitty as my only backup. She'll just embarrass me in front of Cinderella and you know I'm a huge fan of her!" he said, having grabbed a hold of her wrist. She smirked, turning around to face the boy.

"Alright, I'll help you...but on one condition...since the talent show is taking up most of my time, I need all of the free time I can...that means I don't have time for homework. As you know I have the second highest grade in the school, so I need someone to do said homework for me. What do you say?" she asked, earning a sigh from the boy.

"Fine, I'll do your homework...but only until the talent show...I heard because of the MirrorNet being down it was moved to Monday. Let's just hope it turns out okay." he said.

"Mhmm, hey didn't you say you got your test results from Baba Yaga on Monday? You must be excited huh? After being gone for awhile you get to see your family again. Must be nice." Kitty said, sounding a bit dejected. He remembered the curse on Wonderland, and how she hadn't seen her mother in four years.

"Hey, you'll see your mom again one day. Shame I can't meet her, the Cheshire Cat was Lucy's favorite character in Alice in Wonderland, don't tell Lizzie that, okay?" he said, earning a giggle from the girl.

"You're secret is safe with me. Now, when is this meeting with Cinderella and Aurora supposed to happen?"

"Ashlynn said that we were meeting up in some fancy restaurant here in Bookend...what the hell was it called, the Silver Swan?" he asked.

"Ugh...that place? Why the hell out of all the places in Bookend, does it have to be there?" Duchess asked, a look of disgust on her face.

"You know the place? Is the food good?"

"Actually, the Silver Swan is a restaurant owned and managed by Odette...who as you know was the previous White Swan." Kitty said.

"Oh...oh, so that's why you hate it...what do they have a daughter or something?"

"They do...her name is Ophelia and she thinks she's all that because she's the hero in our story. Fuck her, I hate her with a passion...her parents think she's such a good person, but she's rude and spoiled and bitchy...there is no one I detest more on the face of this planet." Duchess said, crossing her arms in anger.

"It doesn't help that Siegfried, was supposed to stay with Duchess's mom, but ended up tricking him in order to fall in love with her. It's fucked up story when you think about it." Kitty added.

"Don't remind me...don't worry Duchess, I'm just going there to meet up with the Queens...but if I happen to find something incriminating in nature toward this Ophelia girl, I'll bring it to you." he said, earning a smirk from her.

"Her diary would do, but she probably took that with her when she went to Ballet School."

"Okay, what is with all of these fucking schools? I heard Darling Charming is in Princess School, Cerise's sister went to a Reform School and now there's a Ballet School? Is there a school for giants?"

"Actually there is, Beanstalk High, located high above the clouds. I thought you had Geografairy?" Kitty replied, earning a facepalm from the boy.

"Fine, whatever...how are we gonna do this? I mean...I'll try not to be a blubbering mess of nervousness, but I'll need questions or something." he said.

"We'll cover that...let's just talk to Melody, you get ready for this thing in your best clothes, and I don't mean your Wonderland outfit." Duchess said, earning a nod from the boy. The two girls walked out of his room, with Kitty giving the boy a bright grin before she left. Blake sighed, walking over to his bathroom for shower.

Once he was done, he grabbed his clothes, once again the original set he had worn when the had first arrived in Ever After. His black Pusheen shirt, skinny jeans and sneakers. It was the outfit that made him feel the most at home and the most comfortable, so he knew wearing it would help him out quite a bit, if only to keep the nerves down. He brushed his hair, making sure his fringe didn't fully cover his eye. He traced the violet strand flowing through it, a frown on his face. Once he had finished with that, he grabbed his varsity jacket and slipped it over the shirt, choosing to leave it unbuttoned.

"Alright, you look great!" Blake said, smiling at his reflection.

He noticed it start to ripple a bit, almost as if a drop of water had fallen into a large puddle. It was glowing slightly red, making him grow a bit curious. As his hand neared the glass, he remember what happened last time and backed away from it. He growled angrily, balling his fist.

"You're there aren't you, Evil Queen?" he asked, earning a chuckle from the mirror.

Headmaster Grimm had told him that in the Mirror Realm, all mirrors were windows to the outside world. Those trapped inside would forever wonder through those crystalline lands, but wouldn't be able to leave, being stuck inside for all eternity. Unless the main mirror was broken or someone was deliberately brought out, they wouldn't be able to travel through it. He however had fallen through the mirror before, which was also one of the major reasons Baba Yaga had wanted to do some tests on him. He walked up to the mirror glaring right into it.

"I don't know why the fuck you brought me here, but whatever it is, I'm not gonna help you. I'll be heading back home sooner than you think, and whatever sick plan you had ready, isn't gonna happen. So taunt me all you want, because I am never going to help you." he said. The mirror rippled again, causing a sharp pain in the center of his chest. He fell to a knee, clutching his chest hard, seeing his hands glowing violet with dark magic.

"What the hell...the fuck did you do to me?" he cried, glaring at the mirror, earning another chuckle from the Evil Queen. He rapidly stood up, shaking the glass.

"When I first fell into the Mirror Realm, you did something to me didn't you? That was what gave me my amnesia of that day...what the hell did you do to me? Why do I have dark magic, tell me!" he cried angrily. Another laugh filled his ears, causing him to punch the mirror, shattering it into a million pieces.

Glancing at the floor, he noticed the remains of the reflective glass, eyes widening a bit. He glanced at his knuckle, seeing a few cuts on them. The mirror had returned to normal, all traces of the Evil Queen having vanished. He heard the door opening and glanced toward it, seeing Duchess and Kitty walk into the room. As soon as they saw the broken mirror, they stopped, looking at the boy.

"What did you do?" Duchess asked, concern in her voice.

"I heard the Evil Queen, I saw the mirror rippling, like a water drop in a lake. She was taunting me, and when I told her I wasn't going to be part of whatever sick plan she had, she laughed. I lost it and punched the mirror." he said, showing her his bloody knuckles.

"That's seven years of bad luck you know." Kitty said, picking up one of the shards from the floor.

"Now isn't the time for that...these cuts don't look deep, but we should take you to the nurse. You might even have shards in them." Duchess said, earning a sigh from the boy.

"Fine...let me just grab some tissues so I can staunch the bleeding for now." he said, walking back into the bathroom.

"What do you think the Evil Queen wants with him?" Duchess asked, earning a shrug from Kitty.

"I'm not sure...I don't exactly know what goes through that psycho's head. Thank the Godmother Raven didn't turn out like that, or else this would be a lot more severe."

"Hmm...that old bat must be loosing it inside the Mirror Realm. Being stuck for eternity in that place doesn't sound appealing. Maybe she wants to use Blake to get out? That would make sense wouldn't it?"

"Doubt it, come on Duchy...how would the Evil Queen break out of the Mirror Realm? Just because Blake traveled through that realm and she gave him some magic, I doubt she'd bee able to use that to force her way out here. Then again, she was able to poison all of Wonderland's magic with a single thought. Who knows really?" Kitty replied, glancing at her reflection. She forced a smile onto her face, tossing it to the floor.

"Let's go, the blood is seeping through the tissue...damn it...maybe I shouldn't have punched that mirror."

"It's alright Blake, we all do a lot of stupid stuff when we're mad. Do you know how many shoes I've tossed into my lake when I get pissed and can't do a simple pirouette?" Duchess asked.

"It's the same for me, when someone steals my knitting needles, I turn into a bad kitty." the daughter of the Cheshire cat said, adopting an angry look on her face, though her grin was clearly betraying her.

"You know, I've never seen you knit Kitty, and I've never seen your Swan form Duchess...maybe before I go I could see both?" he asked.

"If you want to see a black swan then sure, I'll grant you that."

"I'll make you a scarf! That way you can stay warm in the Canadian winters!" Kitty said.

"I'd like that...well, no time like the present!" Blake said cheerfully, entering the nurses office. The two girls frowned at each other, feeling a lot sadder than before.

"I'm gonna miss him when he leaves." Duchess said, glancing at her shoes.

"So am I. We've had a lot of fun together, but you'll take his mantle when he leaves. Radio Rebel will live on, that's why he's teaching you everything you need to know. So let's make his last few days here in Ever After the best ones he'll have in his entire life!"

"I suppose...I guess without him, I would have kept trying to steal destinies, and wouldn't have let go of my story. Yeah...I'll show him my swan form, and then some. Let's make sure he doesn't need stitches."

"Mhmm! That's the last thing Blake needs right now." Kitty said, walking into the Nurses office.


	14. Blake Bigby's Fairytale First Date

**A/N:**

 **Hello everyone and welcome to Chapter 14 of Through the Looking Glass. Last chapter, I covered some of the events of the Beauty Pageant and MirrorNet Down. I was trying to cover both events but I ended up doing more for MirrorNet Down more than the Beauty Pageant, and as you all know I dislike them, if Blake's disdain for toddlers and tiaras is evident.**

 **Today, we shall cover the events of Rebel's Got Talent. I have decided to turn it into an event, but of course this comes at the end of this chapter, as the main parts will be in chapter 15. This chapter will cover Blake's meeting with Cinderella and Aurora, as well as a few other special things that I have added to this chapter, so I hope you all like it. As for Thronecoming, that will start with chapter 16 and most likely end with either chapter 20 or 21. I haven't decided yet. But you will all finally get to see Henry at his pettiest, and I assure you all of you will most likely hate him from 16 onward. I will also be adding my own twists to the events of Thronecoming, because it wouldn't be fanfiction if it wasn't.**

 **I would like to apologize for the for length of this chapter, I know it might seem a bit short, but the next few chapters are actually a bit longer and have more narrative to them, so I do hope you look forward to that. If you have any questions or comments on the story so far, please feel free to PM me, I will always do my best to answer your questions. Leave a review, like and follow the story so you get all the alerts...and all that stuff.**

 **As a final note: Chapters 15 and 16 will contain song lyrics, and that will make the format look a bit weird, maybe a little clunky, but I will put up a key for you all to know who is singing and all that stuff. I'll try to make it as easy to understand as I can, and if you still need a little help, then please feel free to ask and I shall answer your questions.**

 **Also, to my reviewer, for some reason your review didn't pop up on the site and I had to check my email for it...I will answer your question since I can't find your review for some reason. I would like to apologize to you, but at the moment I do not have an interest in Monster High at all...it just didn't appeal to me the same way that Ever After High does. So I just don't really feel like delving into that fandom...it isn't my cup of tea perse. So I do apologize for that, but I do hope you are liking this story. For everyone else, I wish you all a happy Wednesday and a happy end of November start of December, we're nearing the final month of 2017, and while it has been a rather rocky, interesting and at times scary year, it has been a very good one to me, and I hope it has been to you...see you all tomorrow with my next update! Au Revoir!**

Ever After High

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 14

Blake's Fairytale First Date

The night was light and crisp, with nigh an ounce of wind. It was the perfect night for a stroll through town, or to hang out with friends after a long day at school. For Blake however, this night had a different meaning. He was of course about to meet two current Fairytale characters from his childhood. Not just that, both were Queens of their own kingdoms. And even though they had come out to see their daughters, they were also going to meet him for the first time, and he felt extremely nervous and embarrassed. On the inside, he was screaming, but on the outside he had a facade of calmness beyond his years. He was sure of he could maintain his outward calm look, he could deal with anything in the future.

Alongside him was Hunter, who was equally nervous. He wasn't wearing his normal outfit, instead he had chosen something more formal. A long sleeved light green dress shirt, with a few green leaf markings on them. He was wearing a pair of light brown pants, stuffed into a pair of black leather boots. Over his shirt he was wearing his supposed lucky vest. Apparently, when he had asked Ashlynn out, he had been wearing it and when she said yes, he had called it his lucky vest, so he went no where without it. Like Blake, the boy too was nervous.

You see, Ashlynn had thought it best to introduce her boyfriend to her mother. Though she had decided to Rebel, she had already signed the Storybook of Legends, and had sealed in her fate. So she wanted her mother to at least meet the boy she wanted to spend her life with, even though their future wasn't certain. The prospect of meeting Cinderella had also made the boy quite nervous, though like Blake, he had a calm facade, which was near it's breaking point. He let out a sigh, stepping in front of the boy.

"Dude, I can't do this!" he said.

"We're like twenty feet away...we can't turn them down, that would be rude to Ashlynn and Cinderella, not to mention Briar and Aurora too." he said firmly.

"I know but...dude this is crazy! I'm dating Ashlynn Ella, a girl way out of my league and totally out of my story! Here I am about to meet her mother, _the_ current Cinderella, mind you. How the hell do you think I feel? How can you just be so calm?"

"Oh I'm a blubbering mess on the inside. Inner me is clawing at the walls, wanting to shout and scream and kick like a little kid with a kidney stone. Trust me, if there was another way, I would. But I don't want to leave Ever After without meeting Cinderella or Aurora. It's a supreme honor...plus think about it, if she likes you she'll totally let you marry her daughter." he said.

"Y-yeah...you're right. I just gotta act like myself."

"Hunter there you are, why are you standing all the way out here?" Ashlynn cried, causing the boy to scream.

"No! I can't do this!" he cried loudly, ducking behind a trash can, his body shivering in fear.

"Oh dear, he told me he was nervous, but I didn't think he was this nervous." Ashlynn said, a frown on her face.

"Yeah, I don't think he's gonna come out of there if you ask him. Just calm him down, Briar is flagging me over so I'm gonna go. Thanks again for this Ash."

"Sure, like I said before...I didn't want to let my mom's biggest fan leave Ever After without meeting her once." she said, giving him a smile.

Blake gave her a nod glancing briefly at Hunter before walking the rest of the way to the Silver Swan. It was a large restaurant, mostly white in color with marble posts that had intricate designs etched into it, mostly of swans and other animals. The sign that stood outside the restaurant was a giant neon swan, which was gray in color, the name of the restaurant was spelled out with small white lightbulbs, which flickered on and off every so soft.

Briar stood next to one of the posts, wearing a rather fancy dress, mostly pink and red in color. The area around the bodice was black and had thorn like designs on it, each bearing a rose bud about to bloom. The skirt had several roses printed onto it, each having a rather sharp thorn on it. She was wearing a dark pair of panty hose, with pink heels. Her long brown hair fell down past her shoulders, and was curled at the ends. She was wearing her pink glasses atop her head, an accessory she was never seen without. She gave him a smile, looking him over.

"You look nice, I'm sure my mom will like you." she said.

"Uh...is there a hidden meaning there?"

"Didn't Ashlynn tell you? I thought she did!" she cried, causing him to glance back at the daughter of Cinderella, who was coaxing Hunter out from behind the trashcan.

"She didn't tell me shit, what was she supposed to tell me?" he asked, his calm facade starting to break. The girl sighed, closing her eyes as she glanced away from him.

"Okay, at first it was all cool because this meeting was something me and Ash were planning forever after. It was just our moms and us...but then Ashlynn invited you because you are a fan of Cinderella, and I thought my mom wouldn't mind meeting someone not from his world. But Ashlynn made it worse when she said she wanted to introduce her boyfriend to her mother...I didn't want to seem like a loser so I told my mom that I would be bringing my boyfriend as well."

"But you don't have a boy...oh."

"I'm sorry, I just didn't want to feel awkward about this, but now it's even more awkward."

"It's fine Briar, technically speaking we are dating, if you recall that lie on True Heart's Day...if Grimm bought it, I'm sure Aurora will too. But just for reference, what are the ground rules?"

"Wait...you're readily agreeing to this...why?" she asked curiously, earning a smirk from the boy.

"Because it's a cliché and I want to jot down as many of those as I can, for future reference."

"A cliché? What are you talking about?"

"Oh you know...the cute girl tells her mom she has a boyfriend so she doesn't feel left out cliché. It's one of the fifty well known anime cliches...just tell me what the ground rules are so we can get it over with." he said, earning a nod from her.

"Okay, you can hold my hand during this entire date, and if we go somewhere else, highly likely with Ashlynn's mom, you can wrap your arm around me. If you see Ashlynn and Hunter kiss, I guess you can do the same with me, I'm totally cool with it. Oh, and no talking about me sleeping, like at all. Last thing I need is my mother giggling at the fact that I fell asleep in soup, three times." she said, earning a nod from the boy.

"Alright then, it has been committed to memory. So...are they already inside or?"

"Yes, they're incognito...they didn't want to come here formally, so they dressed like commoners to blend in. If you have a question for my mother, just call her Briar Rose or Rose for short. And for Cinderella, just Ella will do."

"Um, alright. You know it's kinda funny that two queens are blending into the crowd just to meet their daughter's boyfriends. This will make an interesting addition to my books in the future." he said, jotting the plot idea down in his notes. Ashlynn and Hunter finally joined the two, with Hunter looking a bit calmer than before.

"Time to face the music, no more cowering for me!" Hunter said, a firm look on his face. Blake rolled his eyes, shoving his phone in his pocket.

"We'll be just fine. Just don't put your foot in your mouth." he said jokingly, taking a hold of Briar's hand. He reached for his ear, flicking the small communicator in his ear on.

The four teenagers walking inside the restaurant, taking a look around. For Hunter and Blake it had been the first time setting foot inside. The main dining hall was in the shape of a square with tables and booths running alongside the walls. The center of the restaurant had a beautiful marble fountain, with two dancing ballerinas at the top, along with a black swan and a white swan. A couple swans were also swimming about in the water, and looked totally tame, unlike the ones Blake saw back in his home world.

There was a large counter at the back of the restaurant, peeking into the kitchen, where various Chefs were busy preparing the dishes their patrons requested. Several servers could be seen walking around, holding menus, platters and drink trays. Though the restaurant was large, it was mostly empty. Blake figured it was due to it being a Thursday night, he honestly was glad for it, the last thing he needed was him making an ass out of himself with a full restaurant as his audience.

"This way, we've all picked a table in the very back, in case someone recognizes them." Ashlynn said, pulling Hunter along who was still glancing around.

"I gotta say, this place looks really good. No wonder Duchess hates it so much, the White Swan must really have it in for her."

"You know, I completely forgot Odette owned this place, wonder how Ophelia is doing, I haven't seen her in awhile." Briar said.

"Apparently she's at ballet school, because Ever After has a school for everything...why can't there be a Martial Arts Dojo though?" he asked, a frown on his face.

It didn't take them long to reach the booth in the very back, occupied by two ladies who were in avid conversation. The first was a young woman, around her mid to late thirties, with long shoulder length blonde hair, most of it being hidden by a white bandanna. She was wearing a long sleeved baby blue shirt, with a long brown skirt, she was wearing a white apron over it, which had intricate embroidery around the edges, forming various things, the most notable being a slipper and a pumpkin. He also noticed the glass slippers barely peeking from under the long skirt.

The other woman was wearing a dress similar to the first, with long tanned sleeves and a black bodice, accenting her curves quite a bit. The lengthy skirt fell down past her knees, and bore no markings. It was in fact a rather plain garment, though he did see a few patches here and there, as if it had been mended in the past. She was wearing a pair of sandals, though at the moment she didn't have them on. Her lengthy blonde hair was held back by a black ribbon, hidden under a black cloak, which she kept mostly down. Blake did notice the rose broach she was wearing, which kept the cloak pinned in place.

Hunter and Blake shared a look, swallowing the lump in their throats, the nervousness once again returning. Blake looked away from the two, finding the swans more interesting, but this was a rouse as he didn't want to lose his cool. Ashlynn and Briar moved forward, grabbing their attention. Both women stood up, embracing their daughters rather tightly.

"Look at you Ashlynn, you've grown rather tall, and it's not due to those glass slippers your wearing."

"Thanks mom, I go on nature hikes every day just like you used to." Ashlynn said, giving her mom a kiss on the cheek. Briar however was being looked over by her mother, who's eyes were narrowed.

"You're skin is so smooth, have you been sleeping regularly? Well, as regularly as you can? Have you been using that cream I sent you? Have you been avoiding thorns and needles?"

"Mom, chill out. I've been using the cream, I sleep more than enough and yes I've been avoiding thorns. I also have thimbles for when I have to sow something up." Briar said, a hint of annoyance on her face. Her mother hugged her tightly.

"I've missed you so much, and so have your siblings. They keep asking when you'll be back, but I told them that you are a big girl that needs to attend school. They really don't care for that explanation however."

"Of course they don't." Briar replied, a small smile on her face.

"Um, mom...we brought our...boyfriends along. This is Hunter Huntsman, the son of the Huntsman." Ashlynn said, taking Hunter's hand. The boy remained silent as Cinderella looked him over.

"Hmm...he's cute...are you sure this is your Prince Charming?"

"I'm sure mom, he's really sweet...he's just extremely nervous." the auburn haired girl replied.

"Mom, this is my boyfriend Blake...he comes from another world." Briar said, following Ashlynn's example, she took his hand.

"Ha, that kid to bit by the swan, shouldn't have been messing with it kid." he said, holding back his laugh.

"Blake...it isn't funny to laugh at other people's misfortune." Briar said, causing the boy too look back at her.

"I'm not, didn't you see him though? He was grabbing its neck, you don't do that with a swan." he replied.

"He likes swans, like a lot...right Blake?" the brunette asked, jabbing her elbow into his ribs.

"Yes...I'm sorry, I must have seemed impolite. My name is Blake Bigby, it is a pleasure to meet you Miss Briar Rose." Blake said, taking a hold of the woman's hand, planting a kiss on her knuckles. Aurora giggled, smiling at her daughter.

"He's quite the charmer, you've made a fine choice sweetheart. You can call me Rose sweetie, just don't say my actual name, that wouldn't fare well for any of us."

"Of course! Ah yes, it's nice to meet you too Miss Ella, I'm not sure if Ashlynn has told you, but I'm a huge fan...of both of you actually." he said.

"Yes, she's told us quite a lot...I'm rather curious about your world, you wouldn't mind sharing some things with us, would you?" Cinderella asked, earning a nod from the boy.

"Not at all...there's quite a lot that I believe might interest you."

"Then let us sit, I hear the food here is to die for." Aurora said, gesturing to the booth. Ashlynn and Briar both sat next to their mothers, with Hunter and Blake sitting to their sides. The black haired boy took a hold of Briar's hand, much to her surprise. He just gave her a smile, placing a finger to his ear.

" _Nice work there Casanova, we've been listening in and looks like you've garnered some interest. The jacket cam caught it all nicely."_

"If you say so Kitty, first topic, go." he said softly.

" _Disney Land, I wanna see their reactions when you tell them."_

"Well, I have a topic to start...in my world there's a theme park centered around all of your fairy tales." he said.

"Are you serious? A theme park?" Ashlynn asked, earning a nod from the boy.

"It's called Disney Land, and I've only been there like two times as a kid. Cinderella's castle is an actual hotel and it sits right in the center of the park, there are also a lot of areas to visit. Cast away Key down in Florida is the tropical resort, there's a place in the Bahamas, Hawaii which I really want to go visit. There's one in Hong Kong which is pretty cool, on and they also have Disney Cruises so you can experience fairytales on the high seas." he said.

"That's incredible. Briar had told me about your world having our fairytales in it, but I didn't think they would have centered an entire park around it." Aurora said.

"Oh yeah, that's just the tip of the iceberg. There are movies, plays, ballets, and the best of all...Disney On Ice. A retelling of famous fairy tales on Ice. I went twice to see The Glass Slipper and let me tell you, it was amazing. Then there's the quintessential Disney experience if you are a kid, and that's Kingdom Hearts, a video game series that combines Disney Fairytales with Final Fantasy elements, another famous game in my world. So yeah, you two are really popular in my world." he said.

"This is extraordinary...what else can you tell us about your world?"

"Hmm, well your stories were turned into animated movies, starting with Snow White back in 1939. Cinderella was the second major fairytale told in this way, then it was Alice in Wonderland, then Sleeping Beauty, that one was popular with teenage girls for some reason...and I sort of forgot the dates for the other major releases. The only one that comes to mind is the Little Mermaid which was in 1989, I believe." he said.

"So you truly do know every single one of our stories?" Briar asked.

"That's insane...it feels weird knowing someone who knows exactly what's gonna happen to each and every one of us." Hunter added, a hint of nervousness in his voice. Ashlynn took a hold of his hand, calming him down a bit.

"You have to remember, his world is different than ours. To everyone else, our stories are just that...I don't think Blake would have ever even met us if not for that Mirror." she said.

"Yeah, I haven't had the most exciting time here in Ever After, especially with those rumors but...I'm glad I at least have friends here, and a lovely girlfriend, which mind you, I didn't have back home." he said, causing the two queens to giggle.

"So tell me, how did you meet my little Briar? Was she sleeping in food again?"

"Mom! Don't say that like it's a normal occurrence!" Briar snapped, a flushed look on her cheeks.

"Don't worry sweetheart, I don't mind if you sleep more than a house cat. I actually got introduced to her by Apple White the day I first arrived here. Oh boy that was a doosey, I thought all of this was a dream so in order for her and Raven to prove to me it wasn't she slapped me across the face. I was rocking that hand print like a G all day."

"Um Blake, what's a G?" Ashlynn asked, causing the boy to frown.

"Sorry, I guess I reverted to my old lingo. A G is the abbreviated term for the word Gangster. A typical G spends his nights walking around with his friends, with his pants sagging past his waist, holding bottle of Budweiser in his hands and acting like he owns the place." he said firmly.

"Hello, welcome to the Silver Swan, please excuse the wait, would you like to see the menu?" one of the waitresses asked, putting a pause to whatever reply Blake was about to get.

"Do you have Fillet Mignon here?" Blake asked, earning a curious look from the waitress.

"I'm sorry, I don't believe I've heard of that dish before sir."

"Oh...what about Foie Gras?"

"No, never heard of that one."

"Seriously? Escargot? Fondue? Tarte Flambee? Ratatouille?" he asked.

"I haven't heard of any of those dishes sir, this is a restaurant, not an Apple Bees."

"Oh sure, you know what Apple Bees is but not what a Tarte Flambee is."

"We'll uh...just look at the menu." Briar said, bowing her head in embarrassment as she took three menus, handing one to her mother and Blake, who looked rather annoyed.

"We'll just start off with water now, thanks miss." Cinderella said, earning a nod from the waitress, who left right after.

"I'd like to apologize...it seems my world's food is totally different from here, even though we have the same basic dishes." he said, glancing at his menu.

"It must be hard for you having to adapt no?"

"It's harder than you think Rose...the first few days were great, then someone started these awful rumors about me and Apple having this weird pseudo-masochistic relationship. After that people just treated me like a sexual deviant...I swear I don't know what a dominatrix is." he said, earning wide eyed looks from the two queens.

"Eheh, look they have salad! We should all try to eat healthy tonight!" Ashlynn said.

"Anything for you Ash." Hunter said, giving the girl a kiss on the cheek.

"So Blake, Ashlynn has told me you have quite the singing voice...do you have any songs you could sing for the two of us?" Cinderella asked, a small smile on her face.

"You...want me to sing? I mean, I can but...I don't really have anything on my mind." he said.

"Don't worry about that, Blake here is entering the talent show being held on Monday, so he's gonna be singing then."

"Wait...I am?" the boy asked, earning a vigorous nod from Briar.

"Yes...you...you promised me you would sing a song for me, before you went back home." she said, pouting a bit. She was acting, and damn she was good at it. He pursed his lips, giving her a nod.

"Fine...I'll enter the talent show and give you a song. It's the least I can do." he said, smirking a bit as he pecked her lips, much to her surprise.

"Aw, you two are so cute together...I'm just sad that you'll have to break up."

"It's alright mom, we already decided that we would have fun with this relationship while it lasted. He's gonna go home and I'll sleep for a hundred years, so we aren't gonna see each other again...it sucks, but that's destiny." Briar said, a dejected tone in her voice. Blake squeezed her hand, a look of concern on his face.

"You alright babe?" he asked.

"I need to use the restroom real quick, I'll be right back." she said. The boy moved out of the way, allowing the brunette to head to the restroom.

"I'll go too, play nice okay?" Ashlynn said, giving Hunter a kiss as she left. The two boys shared a look, now being left alone with two Queens and nothing to talk about.

" _You're all alone with the parents...this is gonna be good."_

"Kitty, not the right time." Blake hissed into his wrist microphone.

"So...how are your classes?" Cinderella asked, glancing at the two boys.

"We're doing great, we just got our test scores back from Sword and Weapon Training, and they were really good." Blake said.

"Good? You're kidding me right? You're the second best swordsmen in our class, right after Daring. Your skills with that Katana are insane." Hunter said, earning a grin from the boy.

"Well, I watch a lot of anime and play a lot of video games. I don't have formal training, I'm just swinging a wooden sword around. Mr. Knight said that if I keep my training up, he'd get me a real Katana, then I would be a true Samurai." he said, frowning a bit as he glanced at the table.

"Of course, our last day of classes is tomorrow, since next week is the Thronecoming preparation week...so I won't get to move onto the next stage in the class...I'll be back home before the dance." he said.

"Have you...considered staying?" Aurora asked, causing the boy to look up.

"No I haven't, I'm sorry Rose but I can't stay. I've got family and friends back home, they're probably going crazy looking for me. If time moves differently here than over there, then it would be even worse. I just hope that I've only been gone for a month over there...they probably think I'm dead." he said.

"No they don't! Come on man, you've told me how your sisters care immensely for you, just by how you described them, I don't think they're the types of women to forget their little brother. You'll go back home, and they'll tell you how much they've missed you and you'll have tons of awesome stories to tell them about all of us." Hunter said.

"That's true...I can totally rub meeting Cinderella and Aurora in their faces too." he said, earning stern looks from the two queens.

"Now Blake, it isn't right to tease women. You know they can be rather vengeful." Aurora replied.

"That's right...I have two step sisters after all, and they're still jealous of me...speaking of which, how are those two? They terrorize you at all?"

"Whenever we need to check out a book, we always get this evil glare, like they want us to speak in the library, just so they can whack us with that damn meter stick. Ugh...I've had nightmares about it for months now." Hunter said, shivering a bit.

"That's just you man...I am not scared of them. I have yet to meet Ashlynn's step sisters though, she said they're rather annoying." Blake replied. The waitress finally returned, bringing them their water. Ashlynn and Briar had also returned, the brunette looking a bit better now.

"So, have you all decided what you want?" the waitress asked, giving Blake a glare. He glared back at her, a smirk on his lips.

"Manager's Special." he said.

"Spicy, sweet or regular?"

"Surprise me."

She wrote down his order, glancing at Briar, who ordered a salad. Her mother decided to go with the pasta, as she had heard it was delicious, according to a few of her other friends. Ashlynn and Hunter also got themselves a salad, while Cinderella ordered some steamed fish. The waitress left a second later, once again leave them all alone.

"I think that waitress hates me." Blake said.

"What gave you that idea?" Hunter asked curiously.

"Well the death glare was one. I mean, it isn't my fault that she's culturally inept when it comes to fine dining and traditional French Cuisine." he replied.

"You certainly are a rather interesting young man." Aurora said, taking a sip from her water.

"Thank you, you are much different than I expected. You two seem rather...well not royal." he said.

"Well, we were commoners before we became the heroines of our stories. So we know what it's like to live in your shoes, or slipper." Cinderella said, earning a chuckle from the boy.

"What about Snow White, do you two speak with her?" Hunter asked curiously.

"She's rather busy, other than formal gatherings we don't speak like we used to. I believe being the Fairest in all the Land has started to go to her head. She isn't the sweet girl we met in high school." Aurora replied, earning a nod from Blake.

"Well, at least I know where Apple gets her stick from." he said.

"What stick?" Ashlynn asked curiously.

"I'd rather not explain right now." he replied.

 _ **xxx**_

The rest of the night turned out rather well. Due to their royal duties, Cinderella and Aurora had to return to their castles, but had been quite happy to meet both Hunter and Ashlynn. It was kinda sad that they had to leave so early, but they had promised to visit their daughters when they had the time. As a present for Blake, the two gave him their signatures, and had taken several pictures with the use of his phone. He was rather happy to have met the two of them, and Cinderella had even given him one of her glass slippers as a keepsake. He was definitely gonna cherish that one forever.

Ashlynn and Hunter had decided to continue their date by themselves, so they had decided to go over to the lake to watch the stars. That of course left Briar and Blake all alone, not exactly knowing what to do. It had been a rather awkward night for the two, especially with what Aurora had told them before she left.

" _I know you two aren't dating, Ashlynn and Hunter kept giving each other those looks. You two on the other hand are trying to keep it formal...I was expecting a kiss or two, but I knew you were being polite."_

The smile on Aurora's face told him she was a rather cunning woman, who was very hard to be lied too. The two just decided to sit at the edge of the fountain in front of the academy, as neither of them wanted to return to their dorms. It was mostly a peaceful quiet, but it was still pretty awkward, considering he did give her a kiss on the lips. He didn't exactly know if he should apologize or something. So he just sat there, staring at the moon, a blank look on his face. He felt movement beside him and glanced beside him, seeing Briar had stood up. He gave her a questioning look.

"I'm gonna head back to my dorm...thanks for tonight."

"No wait...it should be me thanking you. You let me meet Aurora, and I got to know her personally, it was a surreal experience that no one else will ever get to do in their life. I am never forgetting tonight, for as long as I live." he said.

"I'm glad...I just wanted you to have a good memory of us for when you leave." she said.

"Briar...is something wrong? You can tell me...I am a friend after all."

"I dunno...it's just...Thronecoming is almost here. I'm not sure if you know, but the Storybook of Legends will go on display for the public to read. It'll be the chance for those that didn't sign on Legacy Day can sign in front of the entire world. Headmaster Grimm has already told those who didn't sign to take the chance, and I'm expected to sign too." she said.

"You don't want to sign?" he asked.

"No, do you know what it'll be like? To sleep for a hundred years? I don't want to lose my friends. When I wake up in the future, I'll be meeting Apple's kids, and Ashlynn's kids...when I want to say hi to them, I'll have to speak to a fucking grave stone. It just tears me apart, one part of me wants to follow my mom's footsteps, and another part of me doesn't want to lose her friends. And now, I started getting to know you and hanging out with you, and we'll never see each other again." she said.

"Briar, I'm sorry...I didn't...I."

He remained silent, not exactly knowing what to say to her. She was distraught, that much was obvious, but he didn't think something like this could make her that upset. It made him hate the Storybook even more than he did before. He had been fed the destiny crap his entire time there, and now he got to see what something like that was doing to someone. He sighed, glancing at the ground.

"I'm sorry Briar...there's nothing I can do about leaving. I have to go back home, I have to go back to my family and friends. But that doesn't mean the times we've had will be forgotten. Briar, what do you want to do? Do you want to sleep for a hundred years and wake up to find everyone has died? Or do you want to break away from destiny and live with your friends?" he asked.

"I don't want my friends to die, I don't want to be alone!"

"Then don't sign the book...follow your heart and don't let a single person tell you otherwise. Even if they're your friends, it's much better for you to grow old with them then have to visit their damn headstones." he said.

"You're right...it's just difficult you know...people will judge me if I don't sign...then again, Ashlynn and Hunter embraced their relationship. Even Duchess switched sides, because you talked to her. I think you really did come here for a reason, to help end this conflict."

"Maybe...maybe not...it's all about perspective Briar. The only reason I tell people to break away from destiny is because I come from a world where we make our destiny. We have that right as human beings, and no book is gonna change my beliefs." he said firmly.

"I agree with you, thanks Blake...you've definitely cleared my mind quite a bit."

"You're welcome...oh um...about that kiss at the restaurant...I wanted to say sorry."

"It's fine...I told you not to worry about it." she said, looking away from the boy.

"I know, but it must have been your first right? It was my first too and I sort of feel like a loser."

"Seriously? Why would you say that?" she asked, feeling a bit insulted.

"No no, don't misunderstand. I feel like a loser because I kissed a girl and it was for less than a second. I bet Lucy would laugh at me as soon as I told her." he said, chuckling a bit.

"Oh...then maybe we should fix that." she said, taking a hold of his hand.

"Wait...what?"

Before he could even react, Briar closed the distance between them, planting a soft kiss on his lips. He went wide eyed from the shock, being unable to think of anything. His eyes slowly closed as he placed his hands on her hips, pulling her a bit closer to himself. She broke the kiss a second later, giving him a small smile. Before they could say anything, they both turned their heads, seeing Hunter and Ashlynn both looking at them, wide eyed. Briar and Blake shared a look, both thinking the same thing.

"Tell no one." they said in unison. They just nodded, not knowing what to say or do.

 _ **xxx**_

Blake was tapping his pencil against the spring holding his notebook together. He had been busy working on a song for the talent show, but hadn't been able to find any good lyrics. Rather he didn't have a solid idea for what he wanted to sing. There were plenty of songs out there that he could sing, but what Henry had told him had struck a chord with him him. He was a good singer, but he was singing off a track...he wanted to write an original song, but he knew he couldn't do it alone. It was one of the reasons he hadn't signed up for the show itself. He tore the piece of paper from the notebook and crumpled it up, tossing it in the trashcan. He glanced around his dorm room, a frown on his face.

"Won't be long until I go back home...the results come in on Monday...I would probably be gone by that night...right after the talent show...maybe I could wait until Tuesday to leave." he said, frowning a bit.

He glanced over at the framed picture he had of his family. It had been one he had printed from his phone and had gotten framed. It gave him a sense of calm, knowing he had something that reminded him of home. His pencil traced the lines again, lips pressed in a thin line as he tried to think of lyrics. He closed his eyes, thinking back on all of his experiences in Ever After, the only word that struck something within him was Destiny. His eyes flew open, a smirk on his face.

"I can definitely write a cover song...translating lyrics into English is still writing a song, but the melody will have to be worked on." he said, grabbing his earbud, placing it in his ear. He searched through his phone, finding the right song.

As he listened to it, words started floating in his minds eye, and he started writing them down. He hissed in anger, rapidly erasing the word he had written, replacing it with another one. He listened to the song at least five times before he had gotten his rendition of the lyrics in. He smiled, writing the name of the song on the top line.

He grabbed his notebook and shoved it in his backpack, along with his pencil. Slinging it onto his shoulder, the boy grabbed his dorm keys and walked out of the room, closing the door after him. He started walking out of the Boy's Dormitories, heading toward the stairs that lead down one floor to the Girl's Dormitories. As he walked into the stairwell, he ended up bumping into someone, causing them to move back a few steps. Blake was about to apologize when he realized it was Henry.

"Bro, watch where the fuck your going!"

"Oh my bad, I didn't think there was an asshole crossing here, someone should put a fucking sign on the door." Blake said, brushing past him toward the stairs.

"I heard you were gonna sign up for the talent show. Just so you know, the only slots left are for full bands, so don't even bother going as a solo singer. If you some how manage to scrape together one, make sure they're decent. It'll be all the more fun when we defeat you."

"I'd like to see you try asshat." Blake spat, moving down the stairwell, Henry's laughter filling the well as he walked down.

Stepping into the first floor, Blake started walking toward Melody's dorm, hoping the white haired girl was actually there. He knew she liked going to the student lounge to download her mixes and some new tracks, as it was the place where the signal was strongest. Arriving at her dorm, he gave a few knocks on the door, making sure it was right at it's center. It didn't take long for Melody to open the door, a surprised look on her face.

"Hey, wasn't expecting to see you back so soon."

"Yeah, well I need some help." he said. She allowed him entree into the room, and he instantly walked over to the booth, where he could see the girl was currently mixing some new songs.

"So, what can I, Melody Piper do for you...this isn't Radio Rebel related, is it?" she asked, sitting beside him.

"Nope, this is talent show related. I was gonna enter as a solo singer, but Harry Cocksucker just told me there are only slots open for bands. Which really puts me in a bind." he said.

"Ah, I get it...you want my help? Wish granted, being a radio host is great, and I got my DJ gig, but being in a band would be totes awesome."

"Seriously, you'll join? Just like that?" he asked.

"Mhmm, just like that. But we can't just grab random people...what instruments can you play?" she asked.

"Guitar, bass, violin and I did try saxophone once but I didn't stick with it too long." He said, earning a nod from her.

"Well, then obviously you get the spot of Lead Guitar, unless you want to play frontman."

"I was thinking about it, but I want more than one person singing the lead. I got my own songs, but if you or anyone else writes one, they can go for it. Which also means we'll need to get people who can sing good." Blake said.

"First and foremost we need to find people who can actually play instruments, notably, bass, guitar and drums. I got keys, and I can also handle anything else with my turn tables, got any ideas on who can play any of those three instruments?"

"Um...Kitty can play guitar."

"That's a no go, Kitty is on the judging committee so she can't participate...it was a punishment for that Indoor Golf game you guys were playing."

"Shit, I forgot...the only other person is Lizzie, but she's on the committee too...who can sing and play guitar? Someone who's good at both and wouldn't mind handling an instrument when I or they have to sing?" Blake asked.

"Well...I might know someone who fits one of those criteria." Melody said, grabbing her jacket. She slipped it on, grabbing a brown guitar case from the side of her room.

"Uh...okay, I guess I'll follow your lead." he said, following the girl out of the room.

They didn't go far, in fact. They only walked a few doors down, coming to a stop shortly after. Blake glanced around the hall as Melody knocked on the door. He glanced at the plaque that had been installed onto the wall, seeing the names on it. He glanced at Melody, giving her a curious look.

"We're here for Blondie?" he asked.

"No, we're here for Cupid. Remember, she's the daughter of Eros, the god of Love, that means she has to know how to sing...to lure lovers together. It's just a hunch." she said. The door opened a second later, being greeted by the pink haired cherub.

"Hi guys, do you need something?"

"Cupid, how would you like to be in a band? The musical kind?" Blake asked. She blinked a few times, glancing around the hall.

"Tell me more."


	15. Talent Show

**A/N:**

 **Hello everyone and welcome all to chapter 15 of Through the Looking Glass, the story that still has a misleading title, but we're chugging along like the Polar Express over the frozen lake. Tonight, we bring you a rather musical chapter, and the final chapter before the Thronecoming arc officially begins! As I said last night, this chapter will contain song lyrics, and I will include a key so you all know who is singing what song, though the first one and the last one are the only ones that truly matter. I didn't feel like including the other acts I had in mind, because that would lengthen Chapter 16 quite a lot and it is already pretty lengthy.**

 **And as I have stated before, Chapter 16 is the chapter of chapters, the one that will show you all how much of a bastard Henry is...most of the Thronecoming arc will be Henry and Blake trying to settle their differences, or rather Blake trying to settle his differences with Henry, as he is the one who has an issue with Blake in the first place. I was thinking of following a linear path and add all of the events of Thronecoming from Blake's point of view, but I wanted Blake to have an original experience in this arc, so most of the things that will happen, happen simultaneously with everything else. So while Blake is dealing with Henry, Raven is searching for the Storybook of Legends, and Briar is dealing with her own problems regarding her destiny. It's gonna be a rather original experience, and I do hope you all like it. It might not be what you all expect, but eh...I wrote what I felt like, and that is honestly a bunch of random things chained together, that's usually how this goes. I'll write something nail my points and then fill the rest of the chapter with interesting narrative. There's my writing process if any of you were curious.**

 **Also, I would like to answer to my Guest reviewer, I don't exactly have a secret on writing. I just focus on writing a chapter a night, even with my shitty ipod being my current computer. I was able to write over 100k words because I just kept focusing on what I wanted to write. My aim is around 28-30 pages unless I am covering a major event in the story, which will then make that increase to 30-39 pages. That would be around 8000 to 10,000 words, give or take. Just keep your head up, keep writing and don't even worry about numbers. As long as you feel comfortable with the length of the chapter, you can write it in any varying length you want.**

 **The Songs used for this chapter are in order:**

 **I won't say I'm in Love: From Hercules, you know the one.**

 **A Prophecy: By Asking Alexandria**

 **Set it all Free: By Scarlett Johansson (What can't this woman do? Awesome actress and an amazing singer? I couldn't help but put this song in this story)**

 **Key:**

 **For I won't say I'm in Love**

 _Italics: Cupid singing_

 ** _Bold Italics: Blake as backup_**

Ever After High

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 15

Talent Show

Blake and Melody sat at the edge of Cupid's bed, watching the pinkette playing a lovely tune on the guitar Melody had brought. He had noticed the scrutinizing gaze on the white haired girl's face. Being the daughter of the Pied Piper made her sort of an expert when it came to music. She was looking at everything, finger position on the strings, the strumming, even the girl's hip movements were something she had been looking at. The song she had been playing hadn't been one he recognized, but he figured the girl was just playing whatever came to mind. After a few more minutes, Melody stood up from her seat, causing Cupid to stop playing, a worried look on her face.

"Um...is something wrong? Did I not play that good?"

"No...you're playing is hexcellent...but now we have to see your singing voice. Hand Blake the guitar...Blake do you have any lyrics for her to sing?" she asked.

"I have the lyrics to When You're Young on my phone, and I do know that melody quite well." he said, drawing his phone from his pocket. He quickly went to his notes, pulling up the lyrics.

"I don't think that song will do...do you have anything more...her nature?"

"My nature?" Cupid asked, wings fluttering in confusion.

"I think I have something, it's a song called I won't say I'm in Love...it has some really good high notes. Here, listen to it first and then we'll do a dry run." the boy said, handing the girl his phone, along with a pair of Melody's studio headphones. The girl played the song right after, closing her eyes to listen to the lyrics.

"Blake, I got a serious question for you...do you think she's good?" she asked, earning a serious look from the boy.

"She can play guitar Melody, you can't deny that. Even if she isn't that good if a singer, we can have her play Rhythm for us." he said, earning a nod from the girl.

"Right right, I totally forgot about that...but having someone who can sing back up is good, I won't always be able to handle it." Melody replied, earning a nod from the boy. Cupid lowered her headphones a second later, glancing at the two.

"I think I got it...I'm not that good with high notes, but I'll try." she replied.

"Okay, then you start me off." he said, placing his fingers on the strings. His hand was a bit strained, but he decided not to say anything. He gave her a nod, and she closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.

" _If there's a prize for rotten judgment_

 _I guess I've already won that_

 _No man is worth the aggravation_

 _That's ancient history, been there, done that!"_

" _ **Who'd you think you're kidding**_

 _ **He's the Earth and Heaven to ya**_

 _ **Try to keep it hidden**_

 _ **Honey we can see right through you**_

 _(Oh no)_

 _ **Girl you can't conceal it**_

 _ **We know how you're feeling**_

 _ **Who you're thinking of**_

 _Oh, No Chance No way_

 _I won't say it no no!_

 _ **You swoon, you sigh**_

 _ **Why deny it uh-oh**_

 _It's too, cliché_

 _I won't say I'm in Love."_

 _ **(ooo)**_

" _I thought my heart had learned it's lesson_

 _It feels so good when you start out_

 _My head screaming_

 _Get a Grip Girl_

 _Unless you're trying to cry your heart out_

 _ **You keep on denying**_

 _ **Who you are and how you're feeling**_

 _ **Baby We're not buying,**_

 _ **Hun we saw ya hit the ceiling**_

 _(Oh no)_

 _ **Face it like a grown-up**_

 _ **When you gonna own up**_

 _ **That you got got got it bad**_

 _No chance, No way_

 _I won't say it no no_

 _ **Give up, Give in**_

 _ **Check the grin, you're in love**_

 _This scene won't play_

 _I won't say I'm in Looovee_

 _ **You're doing flips**_

 _ **Read our lips, you're in love**_

 _You're way of base I won't say it!_

 _Get off my case! I won't say it!_

 _ **Girl don't be proud**_

 _ **It's okay, you're in love**_

 _Oooh, At least out loud,  
_

 _I won't say I'm in_

 _Looooveee."_

Blake ended the final notes of the song, glancing up at Cupid who had a slight blush on her cheeks. He glanced at Melody, who gave him a nod, a smirk on her lips.

"She's definitely got the singing down, the high notes were top notch."

"I think so too!" Blondie said, giving the pinkette a grin, lowering her MirrorPad.

"Wah! You were filming that?" Cupid cried, earning a nod from the blonde.

"Duh, who knew Cupid could sing, and so amazing too! Blake you are a great singer too, are you entering the talent show?"

"You bet your golden locks we are...and we're gonna win it too. Now, you wouldn't happen to know anyone who could play bass right?" he asked.

"Hmm...I do know of one person." Blondie said, earning smiles from Blake and Melody.

 _ **xxx**_

For Melody and Blake it was quite a surprise when they saw Dexter Charming on the fourth floor outlook, playing on a Rickenbacker bass. It was also a surprise how good he was. His fingers were flying across the strings as he played a deep bass riff, his head bobbing a bit as he continued playing intricate notes. Cupid was practically drooling, seeing her crush being able to handle an instrument was making her blush more than anything. The black haired boy was honestly worried she was going to do something, as she was biting her lips rather hard.

" _Jeez, that one is practically one step away from mounting that poor boy. If only Dexter wasn't in love with Raven, she'd be somewhere else with him."_ he thought to himself. As Dexter finished up his practice, the three of them started clapping, with Cupid cheering rather loudly.

"Gah...how long have you been standing there?" the brown haired boy asked.

"Oh, long enough. You're really good man, really good...we're putting a band together and let's just say...we need a man of your talents...think you can spare us your time and join the fray?" Blake asked.

"Well...I dunno. Daring wanted me to play the bass line from Thunderstruck as he posed for the girls during the talent show."

"Honestly! Is that what you want Dexter? You should enter the talent show with us instead! We're gonna rock the house down!" Cupid said excitedly.

"She's right, you've got talent and we need someone like you in this thing. I assure you, you'll get much better treatment and way better show time than being second fiddle to your brother." Blake said, holding his hand out. Dexter thought about it for a few seconds, shaking his hand right after.

"Sure, what exactly are we playing then?" Dexter asked, turning his guitar off, wrapping the chord and placing it inside his amplifier.

"We're entering the talent show to show the world that we're totally better than Yuletide Bliss." Blake said.

"Seriously, that's why you want to do this?" Melody asked, earning a nod from the boy.

"Come on, Henry is being a jerk off to me in every way possible. If I'm gonna leave next week, I might as well defeat him in something he loves doing. That way, I'll be the winner forever and he'll never get a chance to beat me ever again."

"You are one spiteful person...but he called me a love obsessed bitch last Tuesday, so he totally deserves it." Cupid said, crossing her arms.

"We'll wipe the floor with him...besides let's all be honest. Yuletide Bliss isn't that good of a band, the only one who can play really well is Frost, and that's because his father is a singing snowman." Dexter said.

"Indeed, now all we have to do is find ourselves a badass drummer and we've got this in the bag." Blake said.

"That'll be hard, I don't think I know anyone who can play drums really good." Dexter said, a frown on his face.

"Neither do I...what do we do then?" Cupid asked curiously.

"Let's just go back to Melody's dorm, we can start practicing until something comes up...this is also the time to write songs if you want to sing them. I've got to find a lead singer anyway." he said.

"Cool, I'll show them the instruments I've got ready, though Dexter has his own bass guitar. Cupid you'll need something with a little more oomph, I like your work with an acoustic, but we're gonna be playing electric and that's a different ball game."

"Okay, I can definitely handle it!" she said cheerfully, a firm look on her face.

"Then let's break off here, I'll meet you at Melody's dorm in about an hour...I'll surely find someone, trust me." Blake said, heading out of the balcony.

"I can't believe he's gonna be leaving soon...I'm gonna miss him." Dexter said.

"Me too, which is why we should do our best with this band, and make sure Yuletide Bliss isn't going to win! We've only got a couple days to practice until then, so let's work hard!"

"Cupid's right, come on...we can't keep dillydallying, we're burning daylight." Melody said, grabbing a hold of her guitar case, leading the two back toward her dorm.

 _ **xxx**_

Finding a drummer was proving to be much harder than Blake thought. He had checked the Muse-ic Room, but Henry and his band had been using it to practice and he had been rudely shown the door. He had been in the Charmitorium, watching the other acts going through the preliminary stage, in preparation for the final acts which would be on the shows. Bands went last, and there was only a few hours left to sign up, so it was rather imperative that he find the two missing members. He had been leaning against the judges stands, watching all of the acts going on, several of them being rejected by Headmaster Grimm, or Kitty, Lizzie and Earl Grey, who had been a judge. He still didn't know how a mouse had been chosen as a judge, but it had happened.

"Alright, our next audition comes from Cerise Hood, she's going to play a drum solo for all of us!" Maddie cried, pointing to the stage where the daughter of Little Red was, checking over the set.

"I'm sorry Miss Hood, but someone has already signed up for that position, and they've already passed. You'll have to play something else."

"What? I've been practicing just for this...you aren't even giving me a chance?" the girl asked, a look of disappointment on her face.

"My apologies, I thought you had been informed. The slots are first come first served, unless the other participant calls out, then you can have their spot...or you could do something else, maybe a recreation of your story?" the man suggested.

"I wanna see her play." Blake called out, causing the Headmaster to look at him, a look of annoyance on his face.

"Mr. Bigby, you cannot simply request something like that."

"She deserves the right to at least play her part. It's total bullshit that she's worked this hard to not play it, so let her play it." Blake said firmly. Grimm narrowed his eyes, giving the girl a nod.

"I'll allow it, in the future please be informed about which slots are left. Mr. Bigby, I would watch my language if I we're you." the man said.

"Start the song." Cerise called out, having taken her seat in front of the drumset, flipping the sticks through her fingers. She started playing, just as the familiar guitar riff started the song. Blake rubbed his eyes a bit, surprised at the song she had chosen.

" _I didn't think they had Asking Alexandria here...sheesh, we have a lot of the same music don't we?"_ he asked himself, as the lyrics to A Prophecy filled his ears. Headmaster Grimm however was cringing a bit from how loud the music actually was.

"Are you seriously enjoying this?" the man asked, earning a grin from the boy.

"What are you talking about? She's awesome! Post Hardcore is like my favorite genre!" he cried back, a grin on his face. He continued mouthing the lyrics, waiting for the a good time to jump in. His focus was solely on Cerise and how well she had been playing the drums. She had fallen almost into a trance as she was playing. Blake closed his eyes, taking a breath, a smile on his face.

" _I should've known the tides were getting higher!_

 _We can still survive!_

 _They think we're drowning_

 _But our heads are still above the waves!_

 _Above the waves!_

 _I should've known the tides were getting_

 _Higher!_

 _We can still survive..._

 _Above the waves..._

 _I should've known the tides were getting_

 _Higher..._

 _I should've known the tides were getting_

 _Higher..."_

"Okay that's it, we gave her the chance...just please make this music end." Headmaster Grimm said, causing the two to stop. Cerise growled, snapping her sticks in half.

"Fine, I guess the term "Everyone is free to enter" is total bull crap." she said, grabbing her bag from the floor, walking off the side of the stage.

Blake shook his head as he left the Charmitorium, following right after Cerise. As soon as he left, he heard a loud metallic bang come from near the lockers. When he turned the corner, he saw the hooded girl had dented one of the locker doors with a single punch. She was panting a bit in anger, he could tell she was absolutely livid. He slowly approached her, earning a growl from her as he approached, though she instantly felt bad when she saw who had been behind her.

"Sorry, for growling at you I mean."

"You've done that to me before, no biggie...I don't agree with what Grimm did to you, he didn't even let you finish. Forget entering as a solo act, I've been looking for a drummer and you fit the hood, would you like to join?" he asked.

"You're forming a band?"

"Mhmm, we're gonna teach Yuletide Bliss how much they truly suck...but we need the best player out there, and I'm looking at her. Besides, I owe you, for True Heart's Day, I mean." he said, rubbing his neck. She narrowed her eyes, giving him a nod.

"Fine, I'll join this band...but I need new sticks. I broke the only ones I had."

"Hehe, I'm sure Melody has several in stock. Don't worry, we'll teach Headmaster Grimm that he got rid of the wrong act. All we need now is a singer and we'll be set."

"Well...Raven got pissed off earlier for the same reason as me. Sparrow took the only slot so she can't play guitar, unless she plays an evil song." Cerise said.

"Where can I find her?" he asked.

"The castleteria most likely...she said something about getting a snack." he said.

"Head to Melody's dorm, I'll meet you there. You rock Cerise, don't let anyone tell you other wise." he said, patting her head a bit. She huffed as she watched him go, a slight blush on her cheeks.

Blake headed toward the castleteria, keeping his eyes peeled for the daughter of the Evil Queen. He was honestly starting to grow annoyed with Headmaster Grimm and how he treated the Rebels in the academy. It just pissed him off, especially what Cerise had just told him, who said you have to play an evil song just to be a good music player? It just annoyed the hell out of him, and made him want to play his best. Especially because he heard the man praising Yuletide Bliss a few times while he was in the Charmitorium. Lizzie had muttered a few swears under her breath, definitely not suited for a future Queen, and Kitty just looked bored over all.

Apparently, they had already auditioned and passed with flying colors, and were reigning supreme over a few other acts. Entering the castleteria, he instantly spotted the Evil Princess, sitting by herself, her guitar sitting next to her. He approached her table, waving to a few of his other friends as he did. She glanced up from her MirrorPad, a curious look on her face.

"Uh...hi Blake, something I can help you with?"

"Are you doing anything right now?" he asked.

"Other than stew in my anger, not really. Why, something on your mind?" she asked. He grabbed a hold of her guitar, slinging it across his shoulder.

"Yeah, come with me if you want to play."

"Huh?" she asked, blinking a few times. He rolled his eyes, taking a hold of her hand, pulling her along.

"Come on, I got something that's gonna make you smile, especially after the shitty day you've most likely had." he said. She shrugged, deciding to just take his word for it.

 _ **xxx**_

"What the...what is all this?" Raven asked, as she entered Melody's dorm, seeing several others, namely Dexter, Cupid, Cerise and Melody herself. Blake smiled, gesturing to the others.

"This dear Raven, is our band, and you've just been hired as our lead singer." he said.

"What...me?" she asked, a shocked look on her face.

"I thought I was the lead?" Cupid said, a dejected look on her face.

"I...well I didn't explain...you'll be able to sing songs too, if you write one you can take over for the lead...but since you can play guitar too, I thought it best if you handled our Rhythm and backup vocals. Melody and Cerise could help with that too. Dexter is our bass, Cerise is our drummer, Melody handles keys, and Raven is the frontman." Blake said.

"Are you sure about this? Don't you want to be the lead? I mean it only makes sense since this was your idea." Melody said.

"It may have been my idea, but I don't want to be the frontman...think about it, if Raven is our leader, then we'll get face brand recognition...Raven and the Rebels, a name that'll stir the hearts of millions...or five hundred high school students." Blake said.

"But I'm not a Rebel." Dexter replied, holding his hand up.

"But you don't want to live in your brother's shadow do you? This is perfect for you...now, we've got to practice a song by the deadline this afternoon at six, there's only one band that's going to play, no one else has signed up a band, and I brought the paperwork with me. So, what do we got?" he asked, glancing around the room.

"I don't know...none of us wrote a song." Cerise said, flipping one of her new drumsticks around.

"Right...well, thankfully I've got that covered. Raven give me a C sharp." he said, glancing at the girl.

"Huh? I don't think I can sing that high."

"Just do it woman!" he cried, causing her to yelp in surprise.

" _Laaaa."_

"Higher!" he cried. Raven increased the pitch of the note, making everyone in the room cover their ears. Dexter's glasses cracked on the side from how high she had sung. Blake gave her a nod.

"Oh yeah, we've got this in the bag. Now then, I've got a practice song for all of us to work on. The real song will come on later, so let's all practice this first." he said, reaching into his backpack for his music notebook. He handed Dexter the sheet music for his instrument, doing the same for Melody and Cupid.

"Did you write this all by yourself?" Cerise asked, glancing at the music in her hands.

"Mhmm...I get bored when I can't sleep, so I usually spend my time writing music. After all, the key to a good book is the badass music that'll go with it, especially when said book will be turned into a movie. Here are the lyrics Rae, think you can handle them?" the boy asked. Raven took the sheet music from his hand, glancing at the words.

"I like these lyrics a lot...we can definitely give it a try. We should all practice the instruments first, before we try the actual lyrics."

"Before we start, I think we should move somewhere else...it's kinda cramped in this room, and I don't want anything to happen to my equipment. The Grimmnasium is empty, so we can go there, and the acoustics sound killer there." Melody said.

"I think so too. Besides, I need a little leg room to play the drums." Cerise said.

"Okay then Rebels, let's move to the Grimmnasium. We got a few hours to nail this song before we go audition." Blake said, a smile on his face.

The six teenagers grabbed they're respective instruments, with Blake helping Cerise carry the drums toward the Grimmnasium. It took a few trips to get everything set up perfectly, with Melody checking over everything twice. Her set up was rather large so it had taken her a few minutes to set it up. Aside from her turn tables, she had brought along her midi keyboard, which was plugged into her laptop. Dexter was sitting at the bleachers, tuning his bass guitar, while Cupid watched, memorizing everything he had been saying.

Blake himself had been tuning his own guitar, a black and white Gibson Explorer, which he had borrowed from Melody. Since she was a lefty player, she had noticed the strain he was putting his right hand in playing a right handed guitar, so she had brought that guitar from the Muse-ic Storage room. She had told him that guitar was the one she had practiced on when she was still a freshman, and that it hadn't been used in awhile, so he had been tuning it, and getting it ready.

"We're looking like a real band...we might actually win this." Raven said, earning a chuckle from Blake.

"We will win this Rae, have some faith...all of us can play, so we'll just have to practice hard." he said, finishing his work on the last string. He started playing a few cords, a smirk on his face.

"I'm all ready, Cerise starts us off right?" Melody asked.

"Yeah, she'll keep the rest of us in line...let's start with sections of it at a time, when you feel comfortable doing the whole thing we'll take it from the top." Blake said, walking up to one of the microphones. Dexter stood across from him, with Raven being in the center. Behind Blake stood Cupid, with an acoustic guitar in her hands. Cerise was in the middle of them all, sitting behind her borrowed drumset, and finally Melody was beside her. Blake gave Cerise a nod, and she started them off.

 _ **xxx**_

"Nice one you guys, I think we finally got it down." Blake said, glancing at his friends, who looked a bit tried from all of the practicing they had been doing.

"I'm taking five, my arms hurt from all of this practicing." Cerise said, standing up from her seat, cracking her back.

"We totally nailed it down, let's try it with the lyrics after we rest up. We only got two hours before the deadline, nice hustle." Melody said, smiling at her friends. Dexter took a seat at the bleachers, once again running through the bass line of the song they would be playing.

"You know, I didn't think all of us could actually play that good, but now that we've practiced a bit, I think we really have a shot." Raven said, sitting down next to Dexter, placing her guitar beside her.

"Oh...you think so?" he asked nervously, earning a nod from the violet haired girl.

"We got what it takes, we just gotta put it all together. We practiced three songs and all decided on the best one, so we definitely have it in the bag."

"I'm...glad you think so Raven, I just don't want to look like a fool in front of so many people." Dexter said.

"We aren't...trust me...we've practiced too hard for us to look like fools. We have what it takes to bring down Yuletide Bliss, just believe in your skills as bassist and let us play our parts. We got something they don't, and that's love of music. I can tell Henry is just doing this for the popularity, and while they're good, if you don't have the heart, then your music is as flat as your hopes." Blake said, sitting on one of the large amps.

"Besides, look at all of us. Me and Raven got rejected from the talent show, Dexter had to play for his brother and Cupid didn't even enter...we're like the ass end of music in this school. I'm glad you brought us together Blake, I'm sure I would have just gone back to my dorm and broken all of my drumsticks until I had none left." Cerise said.

"Honestly, I was just gonna do my DJ gig for everyone, but I like this one better. Playing music with friends brings us all to a spiritual level, one that not many people can achieve on their own. It's more fun playing with all of you anyway." Melody said.

"You're right! I'm having a lot of fun, and it's so much better than sitting in my dorm doing nothing." Cupid added, earning a chuckle from Blake.

"I doubt you would have done nothing...I'm sure you would have been drawing." he said, making gasp in embarrassment.

"Cupid can draw? How come I haven't seen any of your drawings?" Dexter asked.

"Um...well."

"Because they're in her diary and that is a private book for her eyes only. Sorry Dexter, you'll have to wait for her to paint something, and before you ask how I know, I just do. Call it intuition." the black haired boy replied.

"Pretty good intuition if you got it right on the money. You sure you didn't take a peek at it?" Raven asked, making the boy raise a brow.

"I don't do that Rae, like I said, it was just an assumption. Anyway, let's get back too it, a couple more runs should give us what we want."

"Then let's do it, song two from the top." Melody said, urging everyone back to their places. As they were about to start however, they saw a flash of light in the center of the gym. The worried look of Kitty Cheshire greeted the six.

"There you are, you guys are entering the talent show right?" she asked.

"Yeah, we're in the middle of our practice session, something wrong Kitty?" Blake asked, a frown on his face.

"Yes something is wrong. You only got five minutes before auditions close."

"Five minutes? Are you playing one over on us? We got two hours...see the clock?" Cerise said, pointing to the clock at the top of the Grimmnasium. Kitty glanced over her shoulder, a small grin on her face.

"Oh yeah, that clock is broken. I remember throwing a tennis ball at it last year...no you guys have five minutes...four minutes now." she said, glancing at her watch.

"What the fuck, is she serious Melody?" Blake asked, glancing at the white haired girl, who glanced at the clock on her computer, cringing a bit.

"She's right, we need to move over there yesterday."

"There's no way we'll move all of this stuff to the Charmitorium in time for all of us to play." Cupid said, packing her guitar into its case.

"They have a drumset there already, the one I used, so I don't need to move this one. What do we need over there, I'll take it." Cerise said, shoving her drumsticks into her bag.

"Just take my laptop and my keyboard and we'll be fine, forget everything else. I got the amps." Melody said, handing the two devices to Cerise, who quickly took off. Blake grabbed his own amp and shoved the cords into the back, slinging his guitar across his shoulder.

"We aren't gonna make it on time."

"Don't be a pessimist Cupid, just grab what you can and go for it." Blake said, hurriedly leaving the Grimmnasium, follow by the rest of their friends.

Meanwhile in the Charmitorium, Headmaster Grimm was getting through the last registered act of the day, a blank look on his face. He had seen his students do a wide array things, from singing and dancing, to even a contorting act that he knew would never leave his mind. Yuletide Bliss had been the best act during the final hour, and he was sure they would win over everyone else. The man stood up as he checked off something on his clipboard.

"Alright, that was the last act of the night, those that passed will play the talent show on Monday night. So congratulations to those who are in the show." he said, earning applause from the students still present.

"You all did a hexcellent job, I was quite impressed with your performances." Lizzie added, a smile on her face. Earl Grey chirped a few times, doing a few flips on his seat, which they all took for as a sign that he had enjoy the performances.

"Hey wait, there's a final act!"

Headmaster Grimm looked toward the stage, seeing a tired looking Cerise Hood, holding a keyboard and a laptop in her hands. The man looked rather annoyed as he turned to face the young woman, holding his clipboard up.

"Miss Hood, you already performed today and were disqualified, so you cannot perform again."

"By myself I can't perform, but the rest of my band is on its way here. We already signed the paperwork, so you have to let us play." she said, handing Maddie the talent show form.

"She's right, all of them signed this paperwork as a band, so we have to take them in as a final act...please say you will Headmaster?" she said, giving the man a pleading look. He sighed, taking his seat.

"Fine, I'll give you all another few minutes, if they're not here by ten passed, you've lost your chance."

"Thank you Headmaster, I appreciate it." Cerise said, sighing with relief. She walked toward the back of the stage, placing Melody's keyboard on the available stand, plugging everything into it.

"This aught to be good." Henry muttered, leaning back in his seat. Jack was playing with his drumsticks, drumming on the side of his shoe.

"You actually think they'll be good?" Pierre asked curiously.

"I'm not sure, we might as well give them a chance. They might surprise us." Frost said, a smile on his face.

"Or, we can ruin their chances of even passing the preliminary stage...come on." the son of Hans said, standing up from his seat, heading to the backstage area. Jack followed suit, earning a sigh from Pierre and Frost.

"I'm not going, are you?" the son of Frosty the Snowman asked.

"Yeah, I'll just keep an eye on them." Pierre said, following after his friends.

A few moments later, Blake walked into the Charmitorium, followed by Dexter, and Cupid, who were carrying several things in their hands. They walked onto the stage, placing their stuff down on it. Blake walked up to the microphone, a small smile on his face.

"Sorry to keep you all waiting, we lost track of time. We just need another few minutes to set up and we'll play our song." he said.

"Make it quick Mr. Bigby, I've got other things to do." the Headmaster said, earning a nod from the teenager. He grabbed his amplifier and plugged it into the Buzz Bar near the back of the stage, followed by Dexter and Cupid who did the same.

"Little bro? You joined this new band?" Daring asked, looking surprised. His brother gave him a nod.

"Sorry Daring, but I wanted to play for myself...Blake offered me a spot in this band, and I took it. I hope you understand."

"I suppose...you better play your best." he said, earning a nod from the brown haired boy.

The doors opened once more, with Raven and Melody entering the Charmitorium, bringing in the last of the amps they needed. Headmaster Grimm was surprised to see the two girls, and leaned forward a bit, gaining a sudden interest in the band. They all continued setting up their instruments, making sure everything was in order before they all took their places. Meanwhile, Henry was in the back looking around for the tight extension cord, a smirk on his face.

"What are you gonna do?" Jack asked softly, earning a smirk from his friend.

"I need to find the bar that has all their amps plugged into it. A band isn't a band without their guitars, and they have three two electrics and a bass. We get rid of those and they'll just make fools of themselves." he said.

"Don't you think this is too far though? We're playing dirty and that isn't right." Pierre said, earning a glare from Henry.

"We are getting even, besides who gives a shit? They're a band of Rebels, even that stupid Dexter kid decided to join them, and that makes him just as much a Rebel as the rest of them. Do you actually want them to defeat Yuletide Bliss?"

"Honestly, I think we should defeat them in an actual contest, fair and square, not ruin their chances to even get into the show." Pierre said, earning a slap to the head from Jack.

"Shut up would you? You're moral compass is really pissing me off lately." he said.

"I think I found it, let's cut the lights too." Henry said, pointing to the stage lights. Jack nodded and stood up, walking over to the lever.

"Alright, we're finally ready...we haven't really thought of a name for our band...so I guess we'll let our frontman come up with it." Blake said, glancing at Raven, who gave him a curious look.

"Really?"

"Go for it." he said, giving her a grin.

"Um...Purple Rhapsody?" she asked.

"I like it." Cerise said.

"Same here, we are mostly wearing purple." Melody added, glancing at the rest of her bandmates.

"Except Cupid who's pink as all hell." Blake said, earning a huff from the girl.

"Pink is the color of love! You can't expect a cherub like me to just change her favorite color."

"I'm kidding, alright then...Raven you set us off." Blake said, placing his fingers on the strings. As Raven was about to start the song, the stage lights went off, throwing the stage into relative darkness. They all looked around in confusion, but couldn't really make anything out back stage.

"Just continue while we figure out what's wrong." Headmaster Grimm said.

Raven nodded, and started strumming her guitar, only for a dull sound to come from it. She flicked the instrument on and off a few times, but got the same results. Blake and Cupid did the same, but they didn't have power to their own instruments, the only one who still did was Dexter, as the low thumps of his bass killed the stage. Headmaster Grimm sighed, shaking his head.

"Looks like we'll have to postpone your performance until we figure out what's going on. I don't think you guys will be able to make it into the show if we wait any longer, I'm sorry."

"But we practiced so hard, you can't just turn us down...just give us a few minutes too..." Raven was cut off by a low thump coming from beside her.

Blake glanced at Cupid who was the source of the sound. Her eyes were closed as she grabbed a hold of the microphone stand before her. Blake glanced at Cerise and Dexter, giving them the go ahead while he went to the back to figure out what was going on with the power.

" _I followed my heart, into the fire_

 _Got burned, got broken down by desire_

 _I tried, I tried but the smoke in my eyes_

 _Left be blurry, blurry and blind..._

 _I picked all the pieces up off the ground_

 _I've burned all my fingers, but that's gone now_

 _Got the glue in my hands, and stickin' to the plan_

 _Stickin to the plan that says "I can"_

 _Do anything, at all_

 _I can do anything...at all..._

 _This is my kiss goodbye_

 _You can stand alone and watch me fly_

 _Cause nothing's keeping me down_

 _Gonna let it all up._

 _Come on and say it right now, say it right now,_

 _Right now!_

 _This is my big hello!_

 _Cause I'm here and never letting go_

 _I can finally see, it's not just a dream_

 _When you set it all free! All free, all free_

 _You set it all free!"_

Blake started moving through the back, eyes peeled for the buzz bar that had all of their arms plugged into it. He glanced back to the gathered crowd, all of them shocked that Cupid could actually sing.

" _I was a girl, caught under your thumb_

 _But my star's gonna shine brighter than your sun_

 _And I will reach so high, shoot so far_

 _Gonna hit, gonna hit, hit every target_

 _It counts this time_

 _I will make it count this time_

 _This is my kiss goodbye_

 _You can stand alone and watch me fly_

 _Cause nothing's keeping me down_

 _Gonna let it all up._

 _Come on and say it right now, say it right now,_

 _Right now!_

 _This is my big hello!_

 _Cause I'm here and never letting go_

 _I can finally see, it's not just a dream_

 _When you set it all free! All free, all free_

 _You set it all free!_

 _You set it all free!_

 _You set it all free!_

Having found the right bar, Blake flicked it on, turning on the stage lights as well. He stood up, giving Melody the signal. She let out a whistle to Raven who tuned her guitar on and raised the volume, her fingers flying across the strings as she started her guitar solo. Her violet locks flew in all directions as she started head banging, her hands glowing violet with magic, which increased the sound of the notes she was playing. The crowd started cheering loudly, even Headmaster Grimm was stunned by what was going on before him. Kitty, Lizzie and Earl Grey had already put their votes in, without the song even ending.

" _This is my kiss goodbye_

 _You can stand alone and watch me fly_

 _Cause nothing's keeping me down_

 _Gonna let it all up._

 _Come on and say it right now, say it right now,_

 _Right now!_

 _This is my big hello!_

 _Cause I'm here and never letting go_

 _I can finally see, it's not just a dream_

 _When you set it all free! All free, all free_

 _You set it all Free!_

 _You Set it all Free!_

 _You Set it all Free!_

 _You Set it all Free_

 _You Set it all Free!"_

The song ended, with the crowd breaking into applause right after, stunning Cupid quite a bit. Her cheeks tinged pink in embarrassment, as she glanced at the floor, her hair covering her face.

"Yeah! Whoo!"

"You rock Cupid!"

"Cupid! Cupid! Cupid!"

"Well, I think we got the part." Blake said, earning a giggle from Melody who gave him a nod.

"I think so too...what was the problem?"

"Some asshole flicked the bar off...we should plug our stuff straight into the wall next time. I got an idea of who it was." Blake said, glancing at Henry who was glaring right back at him, a small smirk on his face.

"Alright, settle down...I'll admit, you guys are good, very good. But in order for you to play in the show, you'll have to be here early, got that?" Headmaster Grimm said.

"Loud and clear Headmaster! We won't make that mistake twice." Raven said, giving him a smile.

"Good, congratulations on gaining entree. The talent show will mark the beginning of Thronecoming Week, so do take this seriously. I expect nothing but the best from each and every act, as the entire world will be watching this event." the Headmaster said, earning a chorus of cheers and applause from the students.

"Cupid you rocked, where did that song come from?" Blake asked curiously, releasing the girl from his hug.

"Um...let's just say, I had a crush on someone in my old school. I pinned all my feelings on him and he didn't like me back, so I wrote this song. I'm happy you guys were able to play along." she said.

"We got into the show, that's what matters...so let's do our best, as we only got a day and a half to practice. This time we need to keep time so we're here before it's time for the show to start." Melody said.

"We're gonna win it too, thanks to you Cupid, we'll get our chance. But we need to work together to win it all!" Blake said, earning nods from his friends.

With that said, the newly formed Purple Rhapsody would get ready for their first gig. But it wouldn't be a good performance if the band members didn't face their challenges along the way. The truth would finally be revealed, and Blake's fate would also be answered. Thronecoming will definitely be a life changing event, for everyone involved.


	16. Thronecoming I

**A/N:**

 **Hello everyone, and welcome to the first chapter of the Thronecoming arc. I have brought you tonight a rather long...well medium to long length chapter, containing quite a lot of anger and several other things. As I have stated before this is the chapter where you all get to see Henry's true character develop, as will the rest of this arc. So it will contain quite a lot of narrative and a lot of other shit that is gonna make you all hate the shit out of him, because even though I did the final editing and did a quick skim through the chapter, I hate the fuck out of him. And Honestly, I'm proud of that, because if I can write a character that I myself hate, then I'm doing a good job.**

 **For the next chapter, the actual final round of the talent show will be happening, so do look forward to that. This Chapter will finally answer the big question, of what is Blake's true fate in Ever After, and the results of his strenuous tests which I bet most of you have forgotten. You also get to know the extent of his exposure to the Evil Queen and what she truly did to him, so I do hope you are all satisfied with the answers, sorry for the wait, but I had to plan this out so it came out perfectly.**

 **After this arc, I will be taking care of a few chapters dealing with Chapter 2 of Ever After High. I'm sure you all know this, but each series of episodes is put into respective chapters. So I will be handling fall events before moving on to some winter stuff, like the episode Fairest On Ice. I will also be including a Winter Formal along with a special pre-dance Hockey Game that Blake will be taking part in...after that the biggest event will be the Blue Moon Forest Fest, followed by Spring Unsprung and then Way Too Wonderland. There will be other things in between, so it isn't going to be arc after arc with the story, I'll make sure to handle things accordingly and nail every point I want to nail. If you have any suggestions for school events, field trips, or other shenanigans you'd like to see, then please drop me a PM and I'll gladly take your ideas, we can even discuss it further or hell if you need someone to talk too cuz you are bored, I'm right here.**

 **Finally, I would like to say one thing, thank you all for keeping up with this story, and being there to review it and share your thoughts. It means a lot that you would read something I'm writing on an ipod...something that is most likely sub-par to other fics on the sight, but this series has grown on me. So remember to follow and favorite the story, review and PM if you'd like to ask me any questions regarding the story. Have yourselves a nice day, and happy December 1st!**

Ever After High

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 16

Thronecoming Part I

" _The world of Ever After, a magical land where the children of famous Fairytales prepare for their destinies. Everyone is currently preparing for a well known tradition, Thronecoming."_

" _That's right Chester. Thronecoming is a very important tradition, where the children of famous Fairytales prepare Thronecoming Floats for the parade. The day will come to an end with the traditional Thronecoming Dance."_ Weiss said, earning a sigh from Chester.

" _You forgot the Thronecoming Game. Where two teams play a good old game of Bookball. That's the best part of the entire day."_

" _Seriously, can we not agree on one thing? The dance is the best part, because all of the ladies get their dresses Fairest and attend the ball looking like beautiful Princesses."_ Weiss snapped, earning another sigh from her husband.

" _It doesn't count when half of the ladies are Princesses. The Bookball game is the most important part, two teams of rough and tough dudes tossing a book back and forth, definitely the perfect pass time."_

"Guys...I can hear you." Blake said, glancing up from his seat. He was sitting in the Student lounge, busy working on the song his band would be playing that night.

" _Right, apologies Blake, I tend to forget that you can hear us."_

"It's fine...it's not like you guys are bothering me today...I'm actually sort of glad that you popped up above me."

" _You are? How so?"_ Weiss asked, a curious tone in her voice.

"Well, as you know today is the day I get my test results back. The extensive tests have been finished, and I'll most likely be leaving after the talent show is over. So, if I don't say anything then, I just want you know both to know that I'll miss this weird borderline schizophrenic relationship we have."

" _We've grown used to you too Blake, we'll definitely miss you...such a shame Brooke missed out on meeting such a wonderful young man."_

" _Indeed, I'm quite certain your family misses you a lot. It will be a lot less, profane without you here...but even I've grown used to your unique dialect."_ Weiss said, earning a chuckle from Blake.

"Again sorry about that...I tend to forget that I'm not in my world anymore...it's sort of hard set in me, especially because Mary swears like a sailor all the time. In fact, I think I learned it from her." he said jokingly, glancing back at his sheet music.

" _We will never forget you Blake, after all you actually bothered to give us names, and even asked what we looked like. It means quite a lot that you cared enough to ask those questions."_

"Hey, just because you guys are narrators and not all of us can hear you, doesn't mean you have feelings. You guys are people too, everyone deserves to have a name. Even narrators." he said happily.

" _ **Blake Bigby, please report to Madam Yaga's office. Blake Bigby, to Madam Yaga's office...thank you!"**_

"Well, this is it. Wish me luck you guys!" he said cheerfully, stuffing his notebook into his backpack.

" _Good luck Blake, we really do hope the best for you."_ Weiss said.

" _As do I."_ Chester added.

The boy slung his backpack onto his shoulder as he made his way out of the Student Lounge. He looked at his phone as he walked, checking to see the time, which was just past 9:45 in the morning. The students of Ever After High were starting to work on the Thronecoming Floats, and everyone else was practicing for the talent show later that night, so he didn't have anyone to talk too. He decided he would tweak the song he had written with Melody so that everyone had a solid sheet to practice from. He glanced up from his phone, coming to a stop when he saw the members of Yuletide Bliss standing in front of him. He sighed, blinking a few times in annoyance.

"May I help you?" he asked.

"Withdraw from the talent show." Henry said firmly. Blake glanced around him a few times, trying to see if there was anyone else in the hallway.

"The fuck are you looking for? You lose something?" Jack asked.

"No...I'm looking for my fucks, it seems they're not here...which means I can't give them to you. I'm sorry, this normally doesn't happen...I've trained my fucks to follow me where ever I go, but it seems they must have gotten loose." he said.

"I'm being serious, withdraw from the talent show. Yuletide Bliss is the only band in this school that has the right to play the show."

"What about Sparrow and the Merry Men, did you shake them up too? Or are you scared Sparrow will bash your brains in with his guitar?" Blake asked, arms crossed, brow raised in curiosity.

"Pfft, those three are freaking losers! They suck with their music so they're obviously not going to win. Sparrow entered by himself for a reason, and even then he isn't gonna win against us." Jack said.

"Guys, come on. We're above this right? His band is good, shouldn't we play fair and square and defeat them that way?" Pierre asked, earning a nod from Frost.

"Definitely...it won't be fun if we just tell them to quit. They made it into the show, so let's defeat them in the show."

"You guys are idiots...we were here first, our band was here first, and then this asshole comes out of nowhere, humiliates us, and then pulls that song out of his ass to save them all. It's not fair!" Henry snapped angrily.

"First of all shit for brains, Cupid was the one who wrote that song, and second, you still wouldn't be in this shit if I told Headmaster Grimm what you and your fuckbuddy did during the show. I don't have proof, but I know it was you who shut off that buzz bar. We we're just lucky Cupid thought on her feet." he said.

"Why, I aught to break your face!" Henry said, walking forward only for Blake to get into an Aikido stance, ready to defend himself if needed. Henry stopped mid stride, remembering what the boy was capable of.

"I'm gonna tell you this once, so get the shit out of your ears and listen up. We're gonna settle this during the talent show, whether you win or lose, that will be determined by how you play. Remember there are other acts out there, but don't you dare threaten me, and don't you dare ask me to withdraw...because then I'll do something about it." Blake said firmly, an angry look on his face.

" _ **Blake Bigby, hurry up already I haven't got all day!"**_

Blake fixed his jacket brushing past the four boys as he headed toward Madam Yaga's office. Henry growled angrily, balling his fists. Pierre and Frost frowned, deciding to head off.

"We're gonna go practice...we should all do that you know." Frost said.

"We will...but I think I got something else to do, I'll catch up." Henry said, walking in the same direction as Blake, who had disappeared into the stairwell. Jack rolled his eyes, looking at his friends.

"Come on, we can figure out which of our songs we'll be performing. I may not like Blake, but I do agree that it would be better to beat them fair and square." He said.

"Then come on, while we're young." Pierre said, leading his friends toward the Muse-ic Hall.

Blake continued in silence toward Madam Yaga's office. He still couldn't believe Henry had the audacity to ask him to withdraw from the show. It made his insides burn, and made him want to win even more. So he wasn't going to hold anything back, he was going to bring the best song he had to the table and his band was going to drive his into the dirt, only then could he go home, with a smile on his face and a trophy in his hand.

He couldn't help but frown, coming to a stop in the middle of the hallway. Everyone was busy with Thronecoming, or focusing on the talent show, and here he was thinking only of himself. Sure he wanted to go home, but he felt like he would be leaving a part of him behind. He hadn't been in Ever After for more than a month, twenty seven days in fact. But those twenty seven days had felt like months to him. The Radio Show had become a part of him, and he would feel empty not giving advice over the hijacked airwaves. True Heart's Day would be engraved in his mind for years to come, especially how much fun he had setting it up and trying to find Duchess.

His recent night out with Briar, Hunter and Ashlynn would also be in his mind for a life time. He had gotten to meet two queens, Cinderella and Aurora...something that a lot of people in his world would never get to do. He had souvenirs, he had pictures, videos, he even had Briar's first kiss, something he never thought he would get. It just felt surreal that he was finally going home. Even though he would miss Ever After, he knew he didn't belong there, and he knew he had to go home, so his family didn't worry. He took a deep breath, and started walking again, a sense of purpose on his face.

" _I'm gonna win this talent show, and then I'm gonna have an awesome time with my friends. It sucks that I won't get to see Thronecoming, but I've waited to long to go home...my family must be missing me like crazy, it wouldn't be right to make them wait more time then I've already made them wait."_ he thought firmly.

Finally arriving at the office, he gave a knock at the door, entering a second later. Baba Yaga was floating in the center of the room, muttering a few things to herself. He noticed Headmaster Grimm was also in the room, glancing out the window, back facing the young man. As soon as he had fully entered the room and closed the door, the man turned around, a frown on his face. Baba Yaga glanced up, adopting a small smile, though the boy could tell something was wrong. He sighed, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Please don't tell me we have to do another barrage of tests, that's the last thing I need right now." he said.

"I'm afraid that isn't in...you might want to sit down for this son, we don't have particularly good news to share with you." Headmaster Grimm said. Blake swallowed hard, moving toward one of the empty chairs in the office, placing his bag on the floor, none of them noticed the door opening slightly, just enough for the person on the other side to listen in.

"We got the results back from the blood samples we collected from you son. It seems the Evil Queen did more to you than grant you magic...it seems she has taken quite a few steps to prevent you from leaving this world."

"Prevent me from leaving? Why would she want that?" he asked.

"It's a theory really...but the Mirror Realm is connected to various worlds. There are mirrors everywhere in the universe...I theorize that the Evil Queen spent years looking for someone she could use to replace her daughter, should she not follow in her footsteps."

"Replace...so wait...the Evil Queen knew that Raven wasn't going to follow her destiny, so as a safety net she brought me here? Why would she do that?" Blake asked curiously.

"We don't know exactly why...but my guess is simple. She's trying to break out of the Mirror Realm. We cursed her from being unable to use her magic to break free, but if someone else set her free, then it would be a much different matter. As you know, a person that comes from a world without magic, becomes a sponge, absorbing magic at an exponential rate." Baba Yaga said, showing the boy a model which showed various glowing particles flowing through a human being.

"Yes, everyone is given a certain element, while some are good with magic, others are not. Because the Evil Queen granted me some of her magic, mine is dark in nature, just like hers and Raven's."

"Correct, but there is something else we didn't notice when we ran the first round of tests. It seems your body has an enchantment on it, the magic that it absorbs would be given a random element, since you come from a world without magic. But your body takes all magic and turns it into darkness magic. My guess is simple, were the Evil Queen to break out of her prison, she would most likely absorb all of your magic to power herself up. She would be unstoppable if she did." Headmaster Grimm said, earning a nod from Blake.

"So that's it...she brought me here as a safety net, turned me into her personal sponge, just in case someone was stupid enough to break her out of her prison. I take it that's the serious stuff, if I leave Ever After, then that avenue closes right?" he asked. Headmaster Grimm shook his head, glancing away from the boy.

"I wish it was that simple. Sadly, there is something else that the Evil Queen has done so you do not return to your world."

"Huh? What would that be?"

"Tell me Blake, have you felt a tingling sensation in the center of your chest? Almost like a build up of pressure?" Baba Yaga asked, earning a nod from the boy.

"Come to think of it, a couple days I go, before I went out with Briar, I heard the Evil Queen laughing from my mirror. I felt that weird sensation in my chest, and in my anger I punched the mirror. It was really weird, almost as if my magic was reacting to her presence." he said.

"I thought so...there are two things the Evil Queen did to you, I'm afraid. She has put the enchantment on your body, so that magic that you absorb through your skin turns into darkness magic...the second thing she has done is much more severe, and is a bit of a guarantee of sorts."

"Just...just tell me what she did...don't beat around the bush! Will I be able to go home, or not?" Blake snapped, an angry look on his face.

"I'm afraid you cannot. That tingling sensation in your chest, comes from this." Baba Yaga said, holding up an X-ray to the light. The boy saw a circle in the center of his chest, making him grow confused.

"What the heck is that? Looks like I swallowed a coin." he said.

"That's what we thought in the first place, but you would have told us if you ingested something that wasn't edible. We did some research through your blood samples and found some molecules pertaining to a piece of mirror shard. It seems the Evil Queen charmed that piece and placed it into your chest. It's the sole reason your magic is being poisoned and turned dark." the old enchantress said, earning a nod from the boy.

"Okay, so let's just remove the damn thing and I can go."

"It isn't that simple boy. This is where that second stipulation comes into play. The Evil Queen put a curse on you...should you leave Ever After and return to your magicless home world, that shard will shatter, sending those splinters into your heart, killing you instantly. Even if we remove the magic from your body, the shard will still break." the Headmaster said, causing the boy's jaw to drop. He tried to formulate words, but was unable to say anything. He blinked a few times, licking his lips.

"Is...is there a way to remove it safely? Without it killing me?"

"I'm afraid not. The only person who could remove it would be Raven Queen, but the Evil Queen took a measure against that, we detected traces of another curse, if anyone who isn't the Evil Queen tries to break your curse...the shard will shatter. If we try to surgically remove it, all of the magic stored within will be released, and you will die of magic poisoning. I'm afraid there's nothing we can do to remove it." Baba Yaga said.

If Blake wasn't already sitting down, he surely would have. Hearing all of this, it was making him confused. His heart was beating hard in his chest, several things crossing his mind at one. He felt jittery, that tingling sensation returning to his fingertips. He didn't know what it was...or rather now he did. He glanced at his hands, seeing them shake uncontrollably. He slapped his cheeks, wiping the stray tears from his eyes, taking a deep breath as he glanced up to the two adults.

"Okay...so I can't leave...is there a way I can at least send a message to my family, to let them know what is happening? I mean, I get that you don't want this place to be discovered. But you have to understand, my family is everything to me...I can't lose them like I lost Lucy, you have to at least let me tell them what's going on. Let me send a note, an email, a goddamn message in a bottle, anything!" he cried, almost desperately.

"I'm afraid...there's one more curse the Evil Queen put on you. We didn't understand what this one did, but it ties into your amnesia and why you didn't remember meeting the Evil Queen. The final curse she placed on you was an amnesia curse, but she didn't just put it on you." Baba Yaga said firmly.

"What...she didn't...don't tell me she...that's the last thing I need right now...please tell me she didn't." the boy said, clenching his jaw tightly.

"I'm sorry Blake...that amnesia curse is one that is very difficult to break. I don't know how she was able to place it on, but I take it she used those missing memories of yours to plant the curse in the minds of your family and your close friends. No one in your world remembers who you are, and even if you returned home, they will never be able to recognize you." Headmaster Grimm said.

Blake remained stock silent. He didn't know what to say, what to do...how to react. He was just numb to it all, he felt everything start breaking. His hopes of returning home, seeing his family again, finishing his book, finding Lucy...he felt every single little thing that meant something break and he could do nothing to stop it. He stood up from his seat, grabbing his backpack from the floor, slinging it over his shoulder.

"I...need some time alone." he said firmly.

"Take as long as you need, classes are suspended all week, you are dismissed from them until further notice. Just know that we do deeply regret not being able to help you. We will do everything we can to make your time here in Ever After a comfortable one."

"Thank you Headmaster, thank you Madam Yaga...you've done so much for me already, I don't think I could ask for anything else." he said, walking toward the door. Blake didn't even notice Henry pressed against the wall as he walked out of the office.

"Is there really nothing we can do to send him home?" Headmaster Grimm asked, earning a firm look from Baba Yaga.

"You know it is impossible. The only one who can break those enchantments is the Evil Queen...she's learned quite well, enchanting the boy so his body absorbs magic like a sponge, the spike in his chest that will kill him if he leaves Ever After, and the amnesia curse...I'm surprised she didn't do more."

"Can he still travel to realms connected to Ever After? Perhaps if he sees someone in Nottingham, they can give him a different prognosis."

"He can still travel to realms connected to Ever After, but even if he couldn't, there is no one that can do anything. The Evil Queen is the only one who can break that curse, that is the answer we have arrived at. Nothing else will change his fate...so we must make sure he fits in well among the others. For now, let us keep this a secret from the students and faculty, it would be for the best." Baba Yaga replied, earning a sigh from Headmaster Grimm.

"Alright, I have to deal with something else first. Perhaps we can salvage Legacy Day and have Miss Queen change her mind."

"I doubt you'll succeed with that one, I've dropped more hints than anyone. But she isn't going to change her mind."

"Oh don't worry Madam Yaga, I've got my ways." the Headmaster said, a grin on his face.

 _ **xxx**_

Blake didn't say anything to any of his friends about what had happened. Madam Yaga had asked the Sophomore Class outside, as she was going to give them a tour of a special place. He just decided to walk with his class, not having anything better to do. He walked near the back of the group, his hands shoved in his pockets as he walked along. He heard Henry laughing beside him, and he glanced up, seeing the sneer on his face.

"What's wrong Blake? Feeling a little down in the dumps? Did you finally realize your band sucks and you won't stand a chance against us?"

"Leave me alone...please." the boy said softly, quickening his pace a bit.

"What's this? Please? Since when have you been so polite with me? Oh man, this is something I never thought possible. What happened? Have a change of heart?"

"I said leave me the fuck alone, so why don't you make a like a tree and fuck off already?!" Blake shouted, a pissed off look on his face. Even Henry was taken aback by the volume the boy had displayed. Everyone around them stopped to look at the two. Blake clenched his hand in anger, looking away from the boy.

"Is something the matter Mr. Bigby?" Madam Yaga asked.

"No there isn't Madam Yaga...nothing at all." he said, stomping his way to the front of the class.

"Hey Blake...is something wrong?" Hunter asked, giving him a concerned look. He shook his head, choosing to remain silent. He had nothing he wanted to say to his friend.

"Gather around children, we have finally made it to our destination." Baba Yaga said, causing everyone to stop.

"Um...there's nothing here." Cupid said, causing the woman to move her walking house.

"Quite right, that's because the place we have come to visit, only appears once a year, during Thronecoming Week. At exactly 12:00 Noon." she said.

The clock struck twelve, the bells tolling loudly. At the same time, a brilliant light poured from the clock face, showering the open space in the forest. A building flashed into existence, surprising all of the students that had gathered before it. The building itself looked almost like a Greek Temple in structure, Blake noticed the golden letters etched at the top of it, spelled with a fancy calligraphic font. He narrowed his eyes a bit, glancing at the old witch.

"Heritage Hall?"

"That is correct, Heritage Hall. This is a special place, that only appears during Thronecoming Week. It is a special monument dedicated to those who came before us, the previous alumni of Ever After High, your parents." the woman said, earning gasps from the students.

"Correction Madam Yaga, there's someone here who's parents aren't in this world, and will never be seen again." Henry said, glaring at Blake. His eyes widened in shock, an angry look appearing on his face.

"Don't listen to him, everyone feel free to explore the place." Baba Yaga said, allowing the students to freely wonder through the hall. Blake waited for a few seconds at the top of the stairs, slamming Henry into a nearby post.

"If you know anything about my condition, keep it to yourself. That is something that doesn't matter to anyone here." he hissed.

"Pfft, you don't scare me. I was just saying the truth...after all, the truth will set you free." Henry replied, causing Blake to back away from him, a stunned look on his face. The boy just smirked walking into the building.

Once inside, Blake had nothing to do but look around. Portraits of every story had been painted all over the place. He saw several podiums with special boxes on it, each bearing the name of someone he knew. He spotted Apple's box on it's pedestal and glanced at the portrait, seeing a picture of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Next to it was Sleeping Beauty, next to that was Goldilocks and next to that one was Pinocchio. It seemed everyone who descended from an important story character had a special box that pertained to them. At the very end of the hall was a giant book, with a mirror at its center.

He vaguely recognized it. It had a dark red cover and was lined with gold. It had a lock on the side of it, with a leather strap that kept it tightly closed. There was some sort of scripture on the top and bottom of it, but he couldn't make it out from where he stood. The intricate designs seemed almost magical, as if it had been crafted with the purest of magic and materials.

"Gather around the Storybook of Legends everyone, and I will tell you the purpose of this hall." Madam Yaga said, making everyone walk over to the giant tome.

" _So, that's the mythical Storybook of Legends...this thing is huge...I doubt it's the real book."_ Blake thought to himself, as he made his way toward the back of the building.

"As you might have noticed, Heritage Hall isn't just here to honor the alumni that came before you. It is also a special place, dedicated to each and everyone of you. At graduation, your parents we're all asked to leave something behind for any future children that may attend Ever After High. Every one gathered here has a special gift from their parents, so go on and have yourselves a look."

"Correction, everyone but Blake has a special gift here, as his parents are elsewhere, never to be seen again!" Henry said.

"Shut your fucking mouth you fucking piece of shit!" Blake howled angrily, his voice echoing through the halls of the old building. His voice sounded a bit distorted, his eyes glowing an ominous violet.

"Mr. Bigby, please calm yourself this instant...we wouldn't want a tragedy to happen here." Madam Yaga said, causing the boy to look at her.

"Oh, so it's totally okay for him to keep running his mouth? Haven't I gone through enough already?" he asked.

"I understand your situation entirely Mr. Bigby, more than anyone else gathered here at this moment. If you must leave to calm yourself, then please do so." she said. The boy growled angrily, feeling his magic slowly leave his hands as he turned to leave the hall.

"Good, we don't need you here anyway. You're just a foreigner!" Henry cried out, chuckling to himself.

"You are a fucking prick you know that? Do you have to constantly remind him that he's from another world? Can't you keep your goddamn mouth shut for one day?" Briar snapped, glaring at the prince, who just chuckled.

"You don't scare me Princess. It isn't my fault that he isn't from here, besides I have to remind the peasants about where they truly belong." he said.

"Keep talking shit, by the time I'm through with you, you'll have more than sore balls to worry about." Kitty hissed angrily, her pupils turning into thin slits from how angry she was. Cerise was growling as well, her eyes glowing a light golden color.

"Everyone calm down, we came here as an educational experience, not to make enemies of one another. Act like the adults that you are and respect those who came before you. Mr. Andersen, if I get one more outburst from you, I will give you extracurricular suspension, and you know what that means right?" she asked.

"Yes Madam Yaga." the boy hissed. He walked off in search of his own story, gritting his teeth in anger.

" _Don't you worry Blake, I'll get my revenge, when you lease expect it, and in front of everyone...that'll definitely make me feel ten times better."_

 _ **xxx**_

Blake softly closed his door as he entered his dorm. He hadn't payed attention to anything around him as he had walked. It was as if everything around him had been frozen in time. He dropped his backpack and keys near the entrance, walking toward his bed. He just dropped onto it, burying his face in his pillow. He bit his lip, trying to hold back the tears welling in his eyes, but he knew he couldn't. His shoulders started shaking, his pillow muffling each loud sob.

He couldn't believe everything that had happened to him was all part of the Evil Queen's scheme. He cursed his bad luck and his curiosity for wondering to that mirror that day. He cursed and screamed in anger, being unable to do anything against his current situation. He could feel the magic flowing to his finger tips, a new power awakening inside of him. He growled as he stood up, glancing around the room. He glanced at his dresser, seeing the replacement mirror he had gotten. He grabbed his wooden hair brush and threw it as hard as he could, breaking it into a million pieces.

He ran over to it, tossing the remains onto the ground, shattering it into a million pieces, his screams of rage flowing out of him. He walked into the bathroom, breaking the mirror in there as well, making sure every single piece had been destroyed. By the time he had finished breaking all the mirrors in the room, his rage had been replaced with nothing but sadness. He fell to the floor in a fetal position, hugging one of his pillows tightly.

"This isn't fair...this isn't fair! What did I do to deserve this? Why are you doing this to me?" he asked softly. He could almost hear the Evil Queen's laughter in his ear.

He started thinking about his sisters, and how much he had missed them. Now that he knew the answers to everything, he realized Susan and Mary would never cry for him, because they didn't remember him. They wouldn't be worried about finding him alive, because to them, he didn't exist. His mother would go on, not realizing she had a missing son, his father wouldn't miss him when he left on another business trip. There would never be anymore hockey games on the frozen pond, there would never be anymore forced shopping trips with Mary, there would never be anymore home cooked meals from Susan. There wouldn't be anymore paint swatches to pick from with his mother...everything he remembered about his family was just a memory to him, and something they would never remember.

His friend Joey, the last friend he had from school wouldn't even miss his skating buddy. He wouldn't have anyone to film his insane new tricks, or find cool places for parkour. He would never read the latest chapter of his book and fix all of his spelling mistakes. What hurt worse of all was the fact that Lucy wouldn't even remember him. If she was alive, Lucy would never remember her best friend. She would never try to find him, she wouldn't have anyone who would share her love of Wonderland with, and she would never remember all of the special times they had together. He let out another anguished scream, the pillow muffling it.

He didn't know how long he had spent on the floor, but when he finally cried himself out, he forced himself to sit up. His face was covered with dry tear streaks, eyes puffy and red. He glanced over to his clock, seeing it was lunch time. He was supposed to meet up with his friends for rehearsals at eleven thirty, and it was already nearing one in the afternoon. He forced himself to his feet, feeling a bit dizzy. He glanced around the room, seeing all of the broken pieces of mirror all over the place. He ran his fingers through his hair, not at all caring what it looked like. He walked into the bathroom, washing the tear streaks from his face.

He grabbed one small shard of mirror looking at his reflection. His eyes were still puffy, the only sign that he had been crying. He took a deep breath, blinking a few times. He set the shard on the counter top and turned to leave his dorm. He grabbed his keys and his backpack, slinging it over his shoulder. He didn't make eye contact with anyone in the hallways, not even those who called out to him. He just kept walking toward the castleteria, hoping to just get something to eat and return to his dorm. He just wanted to be alone.

"Oh Blake, just the person I wanted to see. I dunno if you've heard the rumors but, Raven has decided to sign the Storybook of Legends! Isn't that insane? I just wanted to hear your thoughts on the matter."

"Not right now Blondie...I'm sort of busy." he said.

"Oh please? Just a few seconds, it won't take too long." she said excitedly. The boy sighed, collecting his thoughts as he glanced at the camera. Dexter blinked a few times, noticing the boy's attitude.

"You okay Blake? You seem a little...down...you missed rehearsals earlier and you wouldn't answer your door."

"Yeah...I just fell asleep, after what happened at Heritage Hall...anyway, what was the question?" he asked.

"What do you think of Raven signing the book? Do you think she should do it? Or is the Rebel heart in you rebelling?" she asked. The boy remained silent, processing the question for a few seconds.

"If Raven has made an educated choice, really thought everything through, then I have nothing against her signing the Storybook of Legends. In the end, I'm not from this world so my opinion doesn't mean anything. If this is where her heart is leading her, then we as people should respect that choice." he said firmly.

"Really? I thought you would be against it...isn't Raven your friend? I thought you wanted her to write her own destiny, not follow the one she's destined to follow." Blondie said, surprise written on her face.

"It isn't my place to say whether I'm against it or not. Like I said before, if this is where her heart is leading her, then so be it. Sucks that she'll turn into the next Evil Queen, probably lose everything that makes her Raven, everything that makes her a human instead of a deranged person, hellbent on ruining the lives of millions...but if that's her choice, I can't stop her."

"That...sounded a little personal man, are you sure you're okay?"

"Mhmm, totally fine man...let's just say...through recent events, I've...decided to stay in Ever After...if Raven decides to sign the book, then I'll just advocate for the Rebels in her stead, we all deserve to write our destinies...this world has grown on me, and I would hate for people to throw away what they love for their signature inside a fucking book." he said. He turned away from the camera, leaving Blondie confused and stunned. Dexter panned the camera to her, who remained silent for a few seconds.

"Um...that was Blake Bigby everyone, I would like to thank him for his opinion...let us all continue our journey through Thronecoming Week here at Ever After High. Stay tuned, because float building is right up next." she said, giving the camera a smile. Dexter cut the feed, lowering the MirrorPad.

"Something is wrong with him, think it has to do with whatever Henry was saying to him earlier?"

"I'm not sure Dexter, but I saw it in his eyes...he's hurting...almost as if he lost someone dear to him. We should go make sure he's okay." she said, turning toward the castleteria where the boy had walked into.

"Henry dude, what are you doing?" Frost asked, grabbing his friend's hand.

"What does it look like? Getting rid of the competition...I can't get him to forfeit the show, so I'll just use another means." he said.

"You're crossing the line, I don't know what that shit back at Heritage Hall was, but it wasn't cool man." Pierre said.

"I gotta agree with the bros this time...the kid looks...different." Jack said. Henry pulled his hand free from Frost's grasp.

"Yeah, well everyone is gonna look at him differently after I reveal the information I just learned about him. He's the lead guitarist of Purple Rhapsody, and their song writer, without him, their band has no one. We've got this in the bag." Henry said.

"Henry, think about this man...whatever it is you want to do, it isn't worth it!" Frost cried out, but it fell on deaf ears.

Blake finished grabbing his lunch, deciding to just sit on his own for the duration of his lunch period. His friends had given him concerned looks the entire walk to the lunch line, but he just wanted to be alone. Even when Kitty tried telling him a joke, he didn't say anything, making the girl flash away in disappointment. He grabbed his utensils placing them on the metal tray as he headed toward his usual table, seeing Raven was absent. He hadn't seen Apple White either, which made him rather curious. Someone stepped in front of him, causing him to look up, a blank look on his face.

"Heya pal, mind if we have a talk?"

Blake took a deep breath, blinking a few times. He walked around the boy, continuing his walk toward his table.

"Who the hell said you can walk away asshole? I'm not done talking."

"I clearly don't want to talk...so please, just leave me alone." he said, stopping in the middle of the castleteria to look at the boy, a pleading look on his face.

"Oh, but I'm not done with my conversation...in fact this is something rather interesting that I think all of us here want to know. I wanted to discuss your reaction to Raven signing the book, you said something that caught my interest so please let us discuss it as a group." Henry said.

"Please...just...leave me alone." Blake hissed through grit teeth. Henry chuckled, shaking his head.

"No no no! I just have to share this with everyone...remember, Radio Rebel said the truth will set you free, and since the radio show isn't on, I feel the need to publicly share this with everyone. You have blatantly lied on Blondie's MirrorCast, and that isn't just right." he said firmly. Everyone around the two were not watching attentively, curious as to what the Prince of the Southern Isles was going to say. Blake was withholding his anger, his metal tray groaning a bit from how hard he was gripping the tray.

"Oh, no comment this time. I'll take that as a silent go ahead, even though I would have said this regardless. You see, my good man Blake here has lied to you all. He didn't choose to stay here in Ever After, of his own volition...no no no. This useless hack, has told everyone this boldfaced lie, when he in fact cannot, I repeat! Cannot, return home!" he said, causing a few people to gasp.

"Henry please...whatever this is, just stop." Blake said softly, earning a chuckle from the lad.

"I'm just getting started buddy. So gather around, bring out the phones, put this shit on live cast and get ready for this bombshell! It turns out, the foreigner here was hand picked by the Evil Queen herself. It wasn't for anything useful mind you...this one was pulled out of his home world, and brought here, because his anatomy turned him into a magic sponge! She didn't bring him here for anything other than his ability to suck in magic!" he said, a grin on his face. He walked over to Blake, standing right in front of him.

"Isn't that right? Well tell them Blakey, we're waiting."

"Fuck you." the boy hissed, trying to walk away, only for Henry to grab his backpack.

"Who said you could leave?"

"Let him go Henry, you've gone far enough!" Hunter cried, standing from his seat, along with Sparrow and Cerise, who looked like they wanted to beat the hell out of him.

"No, I haven't gone far enough. In fact, let's go a little farther...this boy, was granted magic by the Evil Queen herself. But she put an enchantment on him, which turns all of the good light magic, into darkness magic. She even went as far as putting a mirror shard inside his body as a sort of filter...but you wanna know what else she did? Huh? Do ya? I know you do!"

"Let go." Blake hissed, the plates on his tray rattling a bit.

"Nope, not yet...there's still a little bit of truth I'm gonna milk out of this one. The foreigner was cursed with a specific curse...that shard in his chest is set to explode if he leaves Ever After. And the second stipulation, if Raven Queen tries to break the curse, it will explode and kill him instantly. No one but the Evil Queen can remove this curse...but there's one thing that tops even that. Hold on to your butts because you're gonna love this shit!"

"I said let me go!" Blake snapped angrily, retching Henry's hand off his pack, somehow not dropping his tray. He glanced over his shoulder, seeing Henry laughing at his misfortune.

"You can't hide from the truth Blake, even if it hurts you! But this last truth is going to kill you."

"Don't, all I ask you is to keep this a secret. What have I ever done to you? I don't deserve this at all!" Blake said, his voice cracking a bit as he bowed his head.

"You've done more than enough. Your mere presence is enough to piss me off, let us not forget what you did to me all those weeks ago...when you made an ass out of me in front of this entire school. It's time for you to get your comeuppance."

"I'll do anything, just keep it to yourself!" the boy cried, shoulders shaking a bit.

"Anything? Then withdraw from the talent show, that's all I could ever want."

"Huh...but I can't do that? I'm not the leader of the band, I let Raven take over as front man, she calls the shots. I can't tell her to forfeit, not when all of my friends have been practicing so hard! Does that talent show mean so much to you?" he asked, earning a growl from the boy.

"That talent show was mine, my band was the only one around that people loved to listen too, but we haven't gotten a single gig since that stupid Radio Show has started, and I know you've got some sort of involvement in it, the songs are ones not from this world, so it has to be you. Bow out of the talent show, and I'll keep my mouth shut." Henry said, a smirk on his face.

"I already told you, that's not my call! I'll do anything else, just...don't tell anyone the last thing...I'm begging you." Blake said, his eyes brimming with tears. Henry chuckled, a smirk on his face.

"Begging? I didn't think someone standing has the right to beg...get on your knees...right now...come on, beg."

"Henry come on man, this has gone far enough...just leave him alone already. If this is all true, his life is already messed up...just let it go!" Hunter cried.

"I agree with Hunter, leave the lad alone already." Daring said, earning several agreements from the others.

"Stay out of this you prissy prince, this is all for my own satisfaction. You haven't been humiliated like I have, on so many occasions...he deserves to beg for his secret...so go on, beg." he said. Blake bowed his head, making the sandy blond prince smirk, thinking he would bow down.

"I'm not...I won't give you the satisfaction...it hurts...it hurts more than anything I've ever faced before...but I am not getting on my knees, I'm not begging to the likes of you! So go ahead, do your fucking worst." the boy said, tossing his tray to the ground, the bowls shattering all over the place. Blake stood straight, facing the tall prince with a firm look on his face.

"You said I could do it. That final stipulation the Evil Queen put on Blake was the most messed up one of them all. If he somehow found a way to break both the curse and get the shard out of his body, she had taken his relatives as insurance. Blakey here didn't remember ever meeting the Evil Queen, and that's because she gave him amnesia. Not just that, she used his own memories to erase him from the minds of his family and friends. No one in his home word remembers him. Not his mother, not his father, not his older sisters or his skating buddy. No one, remembers who Blake is, he doesn't exist to them. So he has no place to go back home too." he said, a smile on his face. He looked back at Blake, who still stood firmly before him, eyes soaked with tears.

"Aw look at that, the widdle baby is crying. Don't start blubbering on me man, I was just setting the truth free."

"My sensei taught me that Martial Arts should only be used for defense. It's a capital rule for anyone who practices this back in my world."

"Pfft, what? What the hell does this have to do with our current topic?"

"Nothing...but you forgot something important...we're not in my world, so my world's rules don't apply here."

"Uh...okay...is that supposed to scare me?"

Blake pulled his fist back, driving right into Henry's jaw. He grabbed the boy's shirt, throwing another left hook at the teenage. He quickly backed away, pushing the teen back with a palm strike. Blake moved forward, throwing a reverse roundhouse kick to the boy's ribs, throwing him to the ground, howling in pain. He walked by a nearby table, grabbing one of the metal lunch trays off of it, holding it above his head.

"What are you doing? Stop!" Henry cried, fear written in his eyes.

"Stop...STOP! WHY SHOULD I? WHY SHOULDN'T I BEAT THE SHIT OUT OF YOU?"

"Please, I'm sorry...I didn't mean any of it...honest." he said. Blake let go of the lunch tray, grabbing Henry by his shirt, pulling him to his feet.

"I hate you...I hate everything about you, your fucking gimpy walk, how you think you are all that because you are a prince...I want nothing more than to see you writhing in pain, it's what you fucking deserve...but that isn't my duty. I'm not gonna beat you here, I'm gonna beat you where it hurts the most, I'm gonna win the talent show, and I'm gonna rub that trophy in your face, the trophy you oh so fucking want. So bring it, because I will." he said, letting go of the teen. He started walking off, pausing only to grab his bag.

"I'm not...I'm not scared of you...just so you know...I'll defeat you...and your pathetic band." Henry said. Blake grabbed a hold of his left fist with his right hand. He jerked his arm back, striking Henry in the face with his elbow, breaking his nose instantly. The boy fell to the ground, clutching his broken and bleeding nose. Blake smirked, wiping his tears away as he made his way out of the castleteria. He stopped near the entrance, taking a deep breath. He turned around, facing everyone gathered here.

"Everything Henry told you all is true...every single detail. I'm cursed, and I'll never see my family again, or return to my world. But that isn't going to stop me from living my life. I'll find my own way in this world, just like I'm sure most of you will. So don't let what happened here change your opinion of either of us, okay?" he asked, giving them all a grin.

"You...asshole!" Henry cried. Blake let out a chuckle, holding his middle fingers up at the sandy blond haired prince.

"Enjoy your broken nose Henry, it's been a pleasure doing business with you." he said, giving them all a deep bow. With that, Blake took his leave from the castleteria, having gotten the last laugh, for now at least.


	17. Thronecoming II

**A/N:**

 **Finally! The talent show is upon us! Yes, a momentous day! Actually it really insn't, to me this is just another chapter but I do hope that you all are looking forward to it. Last chapter you got to see Henry become a massive dick hole and totally mess with Blake, of course Blake is too prideful to actually kneel before someone, even when something like his family not remembering is on the line. In the end, Blake stood up for himself and even beat the shit out of Henry, proving once again that sometimes being the bigger man doesn't equate to being free of burden. That and if you fuck with Blake, you're nose will definitely get broken.**

 **Today, we get to finally see the talent show. As I said before, I'm only including Purple Rhapsody's performance as I was too lazy to actually come up with other talent acts. I also randomly chose people so it also made it that much more complicated to come up with. I do hope you like the songs I have chosen for this chapter, they happen to be two of my favorites and I will name them in the next few lines.**

 **After this chapter, we w ill get to see Henry gradually change from a normal person to a not so normal person. The third part of Thronecoming will include the reveal of the Storybook of Legends being a fake as well as some other things that I know you'll all just like. So do look forward to it. I would like to thank everyone who has been keeping up with this story, reading and reviewing, you guys make this story just as special as I do, so I thank you all for that. I hope you all have a wonderful Saturday night, I'm currently watching Home Alone 2 for like the zillionth fucking time, because for some reason, Starz loves to put that shit on repeat all day every day, even on the weekends! I lie, they don't do that all the time, at least not like Freeform and their fucking Elf reruns, Jesus I fucking hate that movie now...though I do love Peter Dinkladge and his awesome performance. He really is an angry elf, but fuck Will Farrel and his fucking tight ass yellow pants that do nothing to hide his dick, that shit still bothers me.**

 **Songs used in this chapter**

 **Muse-Hysteria(Has a bad ass bass line, check out the bass cover on YouTube, it's sick as fuck)**

 **Lemonade Mouth: Somebody (I had to add this song to this story, because of it's message and how well it just fit in the story. This movie has a lot of good music and if you haven't listened to their album, I do recommend it. I did say I would include more references to Disney and this is one of them)**

Ever After High

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 17

Thronecoming Part II

 _Key For The Song: Somebody_

 _Italics: Cupid_

 _ **Bold Italics: Backup singing**_

 _Underlined Italics: Blake Singing_

Blake wasn't going to let what happened in the castleteria bring him down. He hadn't accepted the results of his test, he didn't accept the curse that was put on him, or the fact that his family would never remember his existence...but he was determined to live his life how he decided. It was the only thing he had left, his own choices and control of his fate. Henry had outright pulled those secrets out of the closet and laid them out for the entire school to see, and while he was extremely pissed off, he knew there was another way to channel his misguided anger. That was of course the talent show.

He had taken the songs he had written and started editing them, fixing the notes and making them a little heavier. Using his laptop, he had arranged the melody how he thought it should sound, and listened to it a few times, tweaking the sheet music accordingly. He had even rewritten his lyrics, and given them a different meaning, one that made sense with Ever After High and the terms of Destiny and freedom of choice. He made them as impactful as possible, but that was the only thing he could do. It would be up to the judges and the crowd to select Purple Rhapsody the winners, so he couldn't change that.

Even if he didn't win, as long as Henry didn't win either, he would get the last laugh. And if he could make their band look like shit in the mean time, he would do it wholeheartedly. He smirked as he finished his final arrangement and looked over the sheet music one final time. It was almost like a eureka moment, and he briefly wondered if Isaac Newton felt that way when he discovered gravity. While he didn't want an apple to fall on top of his head, he knew the feeling of curiosity and satisfaction would be enough. He grabbed an apple from the basket he had bought in town a few days prior, taking a bite from it.

"Now I can see why Apple likes these so much, they're so delicious." he said happily, taking a bigger bite from his apple. He grabbed his guitar and started tuning it to a different frequency, using his knowledge on music theory to his aid. He heard a knock on the door, making him look up from the strings of his guitar.

"It's open!" he happily cried out, taking another bite from his apple. He started strumming the strings, narrowing his eyes a bit when he got a few flat notes.

"Hey, sorry to bother you." Melody said, peeking her head inside.

"You aren't bothering me, come in, all of you." he said, raising a brow when he saw a small portion of Cerise's hood. The rest of his bandmates walked into the room, some carrying their instruments. He noticed Raven wasn't among them, making him frown.

"Where's Rae, is she gonna show up?" he asked.

"I don't think so...she's...having issues with her destiny right now." Cupid replied, not meeting his eyes.

"We came here to discuss the band, since Raven isn't here we're gonna have to do something." Dexter said, earning a nod from the black haired boy.

"Well, in any case I think Cupid can take up for Raven and compensate for her loss. I'll try and speak with her later and see what's going on with her. But for now, I want you all to practice with this sheet music." he said, passing out the fixed copies to his friends. Cerise looked over hers, glancing up from the paper.

"Uh...why is this beat different?" she asked curiously.

"It's the same song, but I changed it to a soft song instead of the original rock song we were going for. It's basically the same but I tweaked a few notes, made some higher and lowered a few others. Nothing too major." he said.

"Well, I like it. I'm already humming this in my head and I think this will definitely do us good...but Blake, are you sure you can play?" Melody asked, giving him a concerned look.

"Mhmm, I'm totally fine Melody, nothing to worry about." he said happily, taking another bite from his apple.

"But all of that stuff that happened in the castleteria hurt you didn't it? How are you still able to smile like that?" Cupid asked.

"Cupid! Don't be so insensitive. Obviously he doesn't feel comfortable talking about that yet. It literally just happened." Cerise said, earning a flushed look from the cherub.

"Sorry Blake, I didn't mean to be so insensitive."

"It's fine Cupid, I will answer your question though. Sometimes the world is going to be an asshole to you...it's gonna put challenges in your path, some don't overcome them, others get beaten by them in horrible ways. I refuse to lie down and let life bring me down, so I'll face them all with a smile on my face. So don't you all start feeling bad for me, and don't give me your pity either, cuz I don't need it. No siree!" he said, giving them a firm look.

"You got it man...I don't see you as anything else. You're my friend and that's what matters, I'm sure everyone else thinks the same. What Henry did was messed up, but we'll defeat him the only way we can. With the power of music." Dexter said, earning a grin from Blake.

"My man, now you're speaking my language. So, you wanna head to the Grimmnasium and practice?" he asked, grabbing his guitar and slinging it across his shoulder.

"I don't know, they're setting up the Thronecoming dance there. I mean, our stuff is set up, but I'm not sure the Headmaster will agree." Melody said, earning a chuckle from Blake.

"That isn't gonna stop me from getting there and playing. Come on, let's serenade the Thronecoming Committee. Who knows, if Apple is around she might want us to play Thronecoming." he said.

"Now that would be insane...speaking of that, Melody I'll need your help setting up the voting polls for Thronecoming King and Queen, since your handling the DJ stuff, I figured you'd want to announce it too."

"Awesome, I'd love to announce the results. I'll help you in any way I can, but let's rock the Grimmnasium first. We gotta be top notch for this performance." She said, earning nods from the others.

"Let's move out Purple Rhapsody, we got a show to win!" Blake said, tossing his apple core into the trash. He slung his backpack over his shoulder, grabbing his dorm keys.

"Don't you wanna pick up all these mirror shards first? This looks really dangerous." Cupid said, glancing around the room, noticing every mirror in the room had been broken to pieces.

"Eh, I'll do that later. This is more important." he replied. Dexter shrugged, not saying anything.

They're walk to the Grimmnasium was rather normal. They were all talking about the songs they had practiced and which ones they wanted the people to hear. After all they were a band and they wanted to continue playing even after Thronecoming was over. Blake thought it was a good idea to continue on as a band, and practice their instruments daily so that they could get used to each song they could potentially end up playing. Several people stopped to look at the boy, but he just waved and wave them a smile. He had already decided he wasn't going to let what happened in the castleteria change his attitude.

Once they entered the Grimmnasium, they all looked around, seeing all of the things that had already been set up. Some decorative streamers had been placed near the entrance, right above the door. With the help of Tiny, the entire perimeter of the large room had been decorated with these violet and pink streamers. Several tables had been brought out and placed around the bleachers. They had been using the court lines as a guide, having decided to use that as the outline for the dance floor. At the very back of the Grimmnasium was the stage which was actually hidden behind the bleachers. Blake didn't know how, but they had been collapsed down to form a sort of stage, with a back area that had violet and crimson curtains. He guessed that's where the Thronecoming King and Queen would be sitting. It was also where their instruments had been set up, so it wouldn't bother the committee.

"So, have you decided on our practice song for the day?" Cupid asked curiously, earning a grin from the boy.

"I have indeed, remember those sheets I emailed all of you last night? That's our practice song for the day. We can practice a few others too, but the most important one is the one I handed you back at my dorm." he said, plugging his guitar into the amp.

"That one has a heavy bass line, I'm not sure I can do it justice." Dexter said, earning a chuckle from Melody, who clapped his shoulder a bit too hard, judging by his expression.

"Dexter, you did fine during the preliminary round. You were able to adapt to Cupid's song, you can definitely handle a heavy bass line. If we're playing this song, you're the one responsible for keeping the rest of us in line, even more than Cerise is." she said.

"That doesn't make me feel better."

"Don't be a puss Dex, you got what it takes, trust yourself and your ability to play. It's what I do." Cerise said, taking a seat behind her drumset. She cracked her knuckles, playing a simple 4-4 beat, just as a warm up. Blake turned on all of the microphones, tapping them lightly until he got a good sound check.

"Okay...I'll just trust my skills...I've got this...no pressure." Dexter said, his fingers running along the strings of his guitar.

"Hey little bro, practicing for the show?" Daring called out, causing the boy to jolt a bit in surprise.

"Oh...yeah, I am."

"What are you doing here Daring? I didn't take you to be a decorator." Cupid said, earning a chuckle from the young prince.

"I couldn't let the ladies handle this by themselves. This is man's work after all, Hunter and Hopper are helping us out too. We were just discussing our plans for the Bookball Game." he said.

"Right, I totally forgot. We got practice tomorrow right?" Dexter asked, earning a nod from his brother.

"Bright and early, we're gonna defeat all of those pea pods from Beanstalk High, and then we'll end the night with an unforgettable Thronecoming dance...of which I will be king." he said, glancing at his reflection.

"Um...Daring, I was wondering...do you think I could play the game with you and the rest of the team?" Cerise asked, causing the boy to look at her from his mirror. He turned to face her, a smirk on his face.

"You...play Bookball? I'm sorry Cerise, but I don't think Bookball is your kind of game. Besides, it's a game only for rough and tough dudes, not Damsels in Distress."

Blake cringed a bit, glancing at Cerise who ended up snapping her drumsticks in half. She let out a growl, standing up from her seat. Cupid was already at her side, holding her back.

"Easy girl, easy...don't pay attention to what he said. He's just an idiot who doesn't ever use his brain. He doesn't know that girls can do anything men can do, sometimes even better." she said.

"Yeah...you're right! Why should I waste my time and energy helping them out? Besides, I got this band anyway, much better than a stupid Bookball game." she said, tossing her broken sticks aside. She reached into her messenger bag, pulling a new pair from within.

"Well Daring, if you are done sharing your nuggets of wisdom with us, then we would appreciate it if you left. We have to get ready for the talent show tonight." Melody said, running her fingers across the ivory keys of her keyboard.

"Yes of course...good luck, Blake you better play your best. Henry deserves the best kind of humiliation, that only you can deliver."

"Gotcha, I won't let ya down." he said, giving him a grin. He took his spot at the lead, frowning that Raven was absent.

"You know...it doesn't feel right without Raven...we should try to call her." Cupid said, earning a frown from Dexter.

"I did, twice and she didn't answer. I tried texting Maddie but she didn't answer me either, I think they're busy with her choice to sign the book." he replied.

"You know, there's something fishy there...all this time, I've heard Raven say how she is never going to sign that book and how she's never going to become her mother. But with the flip of a page, she decides to sign the book? What's the deal with that?" Blake asked curiously.

"We're not sure, but most of the Rebels started questioning their choice right after she decided not to sign. Some Royals decided to join us, some Rebels turned to the Royals...it's all throwing this into pass disarray. But we shouldn't worry about that now." Melody said.

"Mhmm, her choice changes nothing for me. I'm still not signing my name in the book, no matter what. Let's go Dexter, get ready to start us off." Cerise said, earning a nod from the boy.

"We're playing Hysteria right?"

"That is correct...so take us into mass Hysteria bro, let's show Ever After the heaviest of bass lines." Blake said, licking his lips as he stood in front of the microphone.

Dexter took a deep breath, closing his eyes as he started playing the intro to their practice song. The heavy bass line started flowing through the speakers, his fingers moving across the strings as he bobbed his head to the rhythm of the song. Cerise started her drum line, the sound of the snare flowing with the bass. By now the gathered crowd had looked toward them, having taken an interest in the music they had started to play. Blake and Cupid were the last instruments to jump in, finishing the melody. The black haired boy took a breath, closing his eyes as he got ready for the first verse.

" _It's bugging me, grating me_

 _And twisting me around_

 _Yeah I'm endlessly_

 _Caving in_

 _And turning inside out_

 _Cuz I want it now,_

 _I want it now_

 _Give me your heart and your soul_

 _I'm breaking out, I'm breaking out_

 _Last chance to lose control!"_

Blake paused as he continued to play, letting the music surround him. He had almost lost himself inside the song, mostly because the lyrics he had been singing fit in with his current mood and how he felt toward Henry. He figured the others understood the lyrics better now. He moved his lips closer to the microphone, opening his eyes.

" _Yeah, it's holding me_

 _morphing me_

 _And forcing me to strive!_

 _To be endlessly cold within_

 _And dreaming I'm alive_

 _Cuz I want it now,_

 _I want it now_

 _Give me your heart and your soul_

 _I'm breaking out, I'm breaking out_

 _Last chance to lose control!"_

They transitioned into the solo, the song toning down slightly to let the heavy bass line guide them along. The gathered crowd started clapping and cheering as they continued playing. Some were even recording their performance, wanting to keep a video as a reminder. Blake glanced up from his guitar strings, giving the crowd a grin and a wink, causing a few girls to start swooning, though he didn't understand why. He glanced at Cupid who just started giggling. He shook his head, preparing for the final verse of the song, which he was going to deliver with all of the emotion he could muster.

" _I want you now_

 _I want you now_

 _I feel my heart implode!_

 _And I'm breakin out_

 _Escaping now_

 _Feeling my faith_

 _Erode!"_

They finished the melody off, with each instrument slowly finishing up, once again leaving the bass as the sole instrument playing. Dexter played the final notes of the song, drawing the last note. The small crowd broke into applause, making him grow wide eyed from the cheers he was getting. He fixed his glasses a bit, earning even louder cheers from the girls, much to Cupid's dismay.

"We did pretty good, I think."

"Pretty good, you guys did hexcellent. Definitely winning material, that's for sure." Hunter said, earning a smile from the black haired teen.

"You guys wanna do another song?" Melody asked, earning shrugs from the others.

"I got no problem with that, we can use all the practice we can get." Blake said.

"Okay, do you think I could take over the lead?" Cupid asked. Blake stepped back, letting the pink haired girl take over.

"You're all about to get another special treat, especially if Cupid is singing this one. Let's give it all we've got!" Cerise said, flipping her drumsticks through her fingers.

 _ **xxx**_

"Dude, what the fuck is wrong with you? That was totally uncalled for." Jack snapped, glaring at his friend, who had a few tissues shoved in his nose, along with some metallic braces on the bridge of his nose. Henry just narrowed his eyes, fingers resting on the neck of his guitar.

"I wasn't thinking anything...I was just trying to narrow down the competition, that's it. I think I did a wonderful job, all things considered."

"A wonderful job? You painted yourself like an asshole...don't even get me started on what people have been commenting on MirrorBook and MyPage, thanks to you, all of us look like dickholes." Pierre said, slamming his phone onto the counter top.

"Guys, you're all overreacting! Ever After High loves our band and our music, we're real and honest. Do you actually think I was gonna stand by while that bastard lied to everyone?" Henry said, practicing his scales, a smile on his face. Jack took the guitar from his friend's hand, placing it back in its stand.

"Listen, there is a different between outright lying to someone and keeping a secret to oneself. Blake is a foreigner yes, but none of us knew what was truly happening with him. He was a dick to me sure, but even I have feelings...do you know what it would be like if I lost the ability to see my sister? My parents?"

"Same here, I don't think I would be able to live without seeing my parents." Pierre said.

"Pierre, your dad is dead, don't you remember that? You got adopted by the people of the church, so you don't count." Henry said, earning a growl from the boy.

"See, this is what we mean. Dude, we're your friends, at least fucking respect us, and if not, then empathize with the kid. He will never see his family again, he will never be able to go home! Unlike you who can go home any time you want. Have a fucking heart man." Jack snapped, looking away from the boy.

"I don't have empathy to foreigners. Ever since that asshole showed his face around this school, everything has been changing. I mean look around you, Duchess is a rebel now, and she never even considered switching sides. He's the best swordsman around and flaunts it constantly, and he thinks he's all that because he practices that Martial Arts shit...on top of that he can sing too? Let's not even start on how many girls gravitate toward him!" he said.

"Maybe if you weren't such a piece of shit, you would have more friends! Hell even a girlfriend, you're a sophomore and no girl in this school wants to date you. I sure as hell doubt Poppy will even agree to be your date to Thronecoming, so you can forget about that." Pierre said. Henry grabbed a hold of the boy's shirt, lifting him off the ground slightly, glaring into his eyes.

"Shut your fucking mouth, no one asked for your opinion!" he hissed.

"Let him go man, this isn't you! You've let this grudge toward Blake change you man...so what, he humiliated you in front of the school, and you did the same to him. But it doesn't make you even, and you know why that is? Because the first time he was defending himself, but what you did...that is unforgivable. I don't even recognize you anymore man." Jack said, a worried look on his face.

"Tch...let's just focus on playing goddamn it. We gotta cream everyone else in this fucking thing, so I can shove that trophy in Blake's face." he said. Frost grabbed his keyboard from its stand, shoving it into a it's carrying case, along with his laptop. He grabbed a hold of the handle, pulling it off the speaker.

"Yo, where are you going?" Pierre asked, as the boy stopped before the door.

"Me? I'm done. You guys are my friends, but I will not condone this...what Henry did was disgusting and petty. You told everyone something that didn't concern any of us...and you relished in the misery of a person who's been nothing but nice to everyone he's met. You want to win this talent show, then find yourself another pianist, because I quit!" he said.

"No! NO! You can't quit, not before the talent show! You can't quit!" Henry shouted, glaring at the son of Frosty the Snowman. The boy took off his black top hat and bowed his head, disappearing in a shower of snowflakes.

"Tch...fuck him, we can do without a pianist, it's the most useless instrument in the band anyway. Shows how little he fucking cared about it all." Henry said, grabbing a hold of his guitar.

"Bro, we named the band _Yuletide_ _Bliss_ because it was his idea. Don't you think it's fucked up that the brains behind the operation is gone?" Jack asked curiously.

"No, it isn't...he made his choice and we made ours! So let's all practice, we've got three hours before the show, and our performance has to be on fleek." he said.

"What the fuck does that even mean? I've been hearing it all fucking day from him!" Pierre said, earning a sigh from Jack, who just shook his head.

 _ **xxx**_

Finding the right outfit was a bit difficult for Blake. He wasn't the most fashion savvy person around, so he had decided to look for the two people that knew exactly how to create an outfit. That of course was Farrah Goodfairy, and Lizzie Hearts, but the latter was busy getting ready for the talent show, so he had no choice but to visit the former. He figured the girl was busy with her own planning and float building for the Thronecoming Parade, but if he was going to look his best during this show, he knew she was the go to Fairy. Quickly finding her dorm, he gave a few knocks on the door, silently hoping she was in. Though his suspicions were confirmed when he heard something fall beyond the door.

"Farrah, are you okay?" he called out. The door opened a second later, the blue haired girl stuck her head out, giving him a smile.

"Hey Blake, is there something I can do for you?" she asked curiously.

"Uh...I was wondering if you can help me with an outfit for the talent show, but if your busy I can figure something else out." he said. She walked out of the room, closing the door behind her.

"I got a few minutes to spare...what we're you looking for?" she asked.

"Oh...something punkish, something that screams rock star, but also says humble beginnings. An outfit that doesn't make me look like a douche bag." he said. She giggled, shaking her head.

"Well, I can certainly come up with something...aha! I think I got it!" she said, reaching behind her back for her wand.

"Okay, I'll just close my eyes like last time. Make sure not to ruin the goods though." he said, pointing to his face. She shook her head, flicking her wrist. A glittering wave of magic swirled around the boy, changing his outfit entirely.

Rather than his normal outfit, he now wore something entirely different than before. He was wearing a bright blue plaid tee shirt, which was a bit baggier than he expected. He was wearing a pair of black skin tight jeans, with silver studs running the length of the pant legs. He wore a black belt with rainbow colored studs, and a round buckle that had a glittering wand on it. Around his neck he wore various silver chains and dogtags, bearing his name. His wrists were decorated with spiked bracelets and black and blue fingerless gloves. His hair was fanned outward, bearing several streaks of violet. Atop his head, he wore a knitted blue beanie, which also had a small marking of a wand on the front. His bangs were side swept across his forehead, and slightly spiky around the nape of the neck. Farrah smiled, taking a picture of the boy.

"There you are, one punk rocker outfit, screams humble beginnings and doesn't make you look like a douche bag." she said, showing him the picture. His eyes widened a bit as he took a hold of her phone.

"Whoa...this looks cool. I take it this will all go away by midnight right?" he asked.

"Yep, I wish it was permanent, but you know how this stuff works. Um...Blake, I heard some things on the MirrorNet...about what truly happened to you...I just wanted to say, I'm sorry for everything that happened. If I could use my magic to send you home I would but..."

"Hey, it's alright Farrah...you out of everyone in this school have done more than enough for me. You made me clothes with Liz, and have helped me out any time I need an outfit...I can't keep abusing your magic like this...I figured I would ask this final time." he said.

"Huh? I'm a fairy silly, I'm here to grant wishes for everyone. Even if they aren't permanent, they help me prepare for when I have to prepare Ashlynn's ball gown, or when I have to grand Cedar's wish to become a real girl. It's my destiny."

"Right...I know...I just wanted to thank you for everything. Just forget everything you've heard right? Don't even worry about it, it doesn't bother me in the slightest. I'll find my own way, just like everyone else will...hope you look forward to the show, we're gonna set the place on it's head." he said, giving her a wink.

"I'll be there, don't you worry...I've just got to deal with some...stuff." she said, glancing into her room.

"Let me guess, you're turning mice into horses so they can pull your Thronecoming Float, right?" he asked.

"How did you arrive at that conclusion?" she asked curiously. A loud whinny filled their ears a second later, along with the sound of shattering glass. He chuckled, turning around.

"Thanks Farrah, see ya at the show...good luck training those Clydesdales to listen to you." he said.

"See you later Blake! Good luck!"

A loud whinny filled the hallway as the next Fairy Godmother entered her dorm room. Blake shook his head as he walked back toward his dorm for his guitar. The rest of his bandmates were all preparing for the talent show...sadly Raven had decided to not partake in the show. She had apologized to her friends nearly a hundred times, but Blake had reassured that it was all good. She was going through some difficult times, but she didn't elaborate on why she wanted to sign the book. She had apparently told him that the book was going on display the following day for the general public, and that Headmaster Grimm was going to broadcast her signing during the Parade.

Something smelled fishy to him when Raven had told him that, but he didn't exactly know why it stuck out to him. The fact that Headmaster Grimm had gone through all of that, just to broadcast her signing to the entire world. He honestly wanted to know what was going on, but he didn't have the time to focus on that right now. His focus was solely on the talent show, and how much he wanted to crush Henry's band.

" _I know I shouldn't be thinking these thoughts...but he deserves it for what he did to me today. I'm gonna relish in this loss like he relished in my misery, and I'll laugh in his face like he did to me. It's gonna be so totally worth it."_ he thought to himself, a sneer on his face.

"Oh Blake, just the guy I wanted to speak to. I need your help with something." Ashlynn said, grabbing a hold of his wrist.

"Uh...huh?"

"Briar pricked herself with a needle and she won't wake up, not even with her alarm clock. I'm worried that she's gonna sleep through the talent show." She said, causing the boy to look at her, confusion written on his face.

"How can I help? I'm not exactly a licensed doctor." he said.

"I know silly, but since I saw you two kissing, I figured you could wake her up with a kiss...you know, like in the story." she said happily. He pulled his wrist from her grasp, a stunned look on his face.

"Ashlynn, I think you are confused. Me and Briar aren't dating, like at all...she kissed me, and while I did enjoy it, it didn't mean anything." he replied.

"Well I know, trust me...she reassured me like a zillion times that she didn't like you in that way. She just wanted to give you something special that night, but I don't know what else to do. She's really looking forward to this Blake, please say you'll try?" she asked, giving him a pleading look. He sighed, rubbing his eyes.

"You know I can't turn you down...alright come on." he said, earning a small cheerful clap from the girl. The two reached Briar and Ashlynn's shared dorm, where the brown haired girl was soundly sleeping, a discarded skirt on the floor.

"Whoa, this is serious...that must be wicked uncomfortable." he said.

"I know, I made sure she had her thimbles out in case she was gonna sow up that skirt, but I guess she just forgot to put them on. This curse of hers is rather worrying and frustrating." Ashlynn replied, a worried look on her face. The boy knelt down before the girl, shaking her a bit.

"Briar, hey wake up...come on, you're gonna miss the show." he said, earning a loud snore from the girl.

"I already tried that, the alarm clock isn't working either." she said, glancing at the clock. Blake grabbed a hold of it, glancing at the time.

"Yo, watch the goods buddy."

"Gah!" the boy cried, letting go of the clock, who gave a loud cry as it hit the ground. He clutched his chest, glaring at Ashlynn.

"Would it bother you to tell me when something is alive next time?" he asked, earning a giggle from the girl. He sighed, glancing at the sleeping princess, a frown on his face.

"I suppose this is the only thing that'll wake her up. We're keeping this between us Ash, no one...not even Hunter has to know this." he said, earning a nod from the auburn haired girl. Blake swallowed hard, placing a gentle kiss on Briar's lips. He backed away from her, watching her stir from her slumber. Her eyes opened slowly, glancing at the two people before her.

"Ash...Blake? What time is it?" she asked, sounding quite groggy. Blake grabbed the clock from the floor, glancing at the hands.

"Seven Thirty, we got fifteen minutes until the talent show starts." he said.

"What? How could I have slept that long?" she cried, jumping to her feet.

"Briar it's alright...you just pricked yourself with a needle, and you know what happens after that."

"I know Ashlynn, I know! I'm so sick and tired of this curse...what else did I miss?" she asked, glancing at her friends.

"Um...Float Building, Purple Rhapsody's practice in the Grimmnasium, my humiliation in front of the student body...not much really." Blake said, listing all of the major events that had taken place during the day.

"Float Building is like...the biggest party of the year...and what's this about your humiliation? What the hell happened?"

"You don't want to know, rather...it's a sensitive topic. We came to get you because the talent show starts soon...do you need some time to get ready?"

"No I'm fine Ash, the last thing I need is to prick myself again. Is this honestly how it's gonna be like when I sleep for a hundred years? Am I going to miss everything?" she cried, a look of distress on her face.

"Briar Beauty, I already told you this. That is only your fate if you let it become your destiny. You haven't signed the book yet, so if you want to live your life with your friends, don't sign it. You deserve to be happy, maybe we'll find a way to break this curse you've got on you, but don't let it define you!" Blake said, placing his hands on her shoulders. She sighed, glancing away from him.

"You don't understand Blake, I just can't rebel at the drop of a hat. I've been thinking about it, honestly I have...it's just so hard sometimes."

"It's fine Briar...I'm sure Blake is just reminding you what cards you have left to play. I already signed the book, and I'm scared about what'll happen with me and Hunter...but that's fate I guess. You can't let it play you like a fiddle, it's your choice after all." Ashlynn said.

"Ash is right...but right now we should move onto the Charmitorium, we promised the headmaster we wouldn't be late." Blake said, handing Briar her black and pink rose themed purse.

"You're right...I've got awhile to think about this...hey, how did you wake me up this time? I didn't hear an alarm."

"Um...well, we had to resort to something different. Let's just say, I did what you told me to do if the alarm clock didn't work." Ashlynn said, causing Briar to look at her with curiosity. Her eyes widened when she connected the dots, her face flushing red.

"Aw...dammit...let's just go!" she said.

 _ **xxx**_

"Where is he? He's gonna be late!" Cupid said, as she resumed her nervous pacing.

She had chosen a rather simple outfit for the performance. She was wearing a strapless dress, pink in color with violet sequins around the bust. Around her waist she was wearing a white belt with a violet heart shaped buckle, which had an arrow going through the heart. The lengthy skirt fell past her knees, fading from hot pink into a dark shade of red. She was wearing a pair of matching pink heels, her wings had been decorated with flowers, primarily roses.

"He'll be here on time, besides there are still some acts going on. We're gonna go on before Yuletide Bliss, so have to keep calm and keep focused." Cerise said, being the voice of reason.

Aside from her hood, she was wearing an outfit similar to the one she had worn on True Heart's Day. The only difference was the black skirt, which had been replaced by a purple one, which had fading white and black lines, interlacing with the purple. She wore dark violet leggings and her brown boots. Her hood was pulled tightly, keeping her ears entirely hidden. She was leaning against the back wall, one leg crossing over the other as she flipped one of her drumsticks through her fingers.

"I agree with Cerise...we should all just keep calm and relax. We've got Sparrow's act to sit through anyway." Melody replied.

She had gone out for this performance, wearing a rather tight fitting violet dress, which accented her developing curves nicely. Much like Cupid's dress, Melody's also had glittering sequins all over the place. The dress was cut at an angle, showing off her long legs. She was wearing a pair of violet slippers, which were actually made of glass. Her long hair had been pulled up into a ponytail, her bangs being held back by a black band. She was wearing a pair of golden earrings, which were in the shape of musical notes.

"Hey Melody, did that tattoo hurt?" Dexter asked, glancing at the girl's leg.

He had been the only one who was dressed in his normal outfit. He thought they weren't going to wear anything fancy, so he didn't bother getting anything. Now he felt a bit under dressed, but he tried to ignore it. Melody glanced at the boy, giving him a smirk.

"It hurt like shit."

"Seriously? I was thinking about getting one, but if it hurts that much, I think I'll just get someone to draw me one." he said, shying away from her.

"I'm kidding, I will say that it did hurt like hell. Especially around the knee, but it all depends on your pain tolerance. If you don't like needles or pain, then don't get one. If you think you're up for it, I can hook you up with my artist, I'm actually getting another one on my wrist soon." she said, glancing at her laptop. The stage door opened and Blake walked in, looking a bit out of breath.

"Blake, there you are...where were you?" Cupid asked.

"I had to get my guitar all the way here...Briar was having a...sleeping issue, so I was helping her out. Don't worry, I'm all set to go." he said, setting his case down. He opened it, grabbing the Gibson Explorer that rested within.

"You made it just in the nick of time, might I say you are looking awesome."

"Thanks Melody, you look awesome too, especially in the boob area, I'm sure you'll have lots of fans after this one." he said, causing the girl to blush brightly.

"Such a way with words...you'll never be a prince in this world." Cerise said jokingly, earning a laugh from the black haired teenager.

"I don't want to be a prince, not my cup of tea I'm afraid. But even I would be a better prince than some people." he said, glancing at his guitar strings.

"Hey, let's not focus on that right now. Let's focus on kicking their butts...it's what we practiced so hard for!" Cupid said.

"Mhmm, but first let's all take a selfie, for the yearbook." Melody said, grabbing a digital camera from her purse. They all got in the center, smiling toward the camera as she took the picture.

"This is the start of something awesome you guys! We've got to live it up, or shut up!" Blake said, a grin on his face.

"Purple Rhapsody, you're up next." the stage hand said, earning nods from the band members.

"This is it fellas, do or die time, nut up or shut up time, live it up time, or fuck it up time."

"Bro, you're bringing me down." Blake said, glancing at Dexter who gave him a sheepish grin. Cerise giggled, wrapping her arms around their shoulders.

"You two are good, and we'll win...because we're us! Screw that the crowd thinks, and fuck Henry, we got this in the bag." she said, a smile on her glossy red lips.

"That we do...so let's Set it all free!" he said, giving Cupid a grin. She flushed bright pink, hiding her face with her hair.

It wasn't long before the loud guitar solo and screams of Sparrow Hood filled their ears. They peeked from behind the curtain, looking at the stage where the boy was in the middle of a lengthy solo. The look on Lizzie and Kitty's faces was enough to tell everyone that they were displeased. They're hands flew to the buzzers faster than the blink of an eye. Sparrow stopped in the middle of his solo, glaring at the two.

"Come on! My singing was on point!"

"No it wasn't. It was just loud and obnoxious!" Kitty said, grabbing her nail file from inside her shirt, using it to file her lengthy nails.

"Honestly, I thought you were absolutely dreadful. Even poor Earl Grey had to plug his ears." Lizzie said, glancing at Maddie's pet mouse, who was holding plugging his ears with his tiny feet. He pulled one away from his ear, pressing his buzzer, a cross appearing over Sparrow's picture.

"Whatever, you all are wack, you know that?"

"Ahem, that was Sparrow Hood with his performance...uh...what was that a solo of?" Maddie asked, glancing at the orange haired teenager.

"Thunderstruck by AC/DC."

"Pfft, if that was Thunderstruck, then I can play the bass line to Hotline Bling with my tea set. Up next, a brand new band that formed right here in Ever After! Even though my bestest friend ever couldn't be here, they felt the need to show all of us what music is truly about! Give it up for Purple Rhapsody!" Maddie called out, gesturing to the backstage area. The five students made their way onto the stage, taking their spots in front of their respective microphones. Melody plugged her keyboard in, quickly setting it up.

"Uh...while Melody quickly sets herself up, I'd like to say a few words." Blake said, earning a nod from the judges and Headmaster Grimm who was in the crowd.

Blake swallowed hard, noticing every single student who wasn't performing in the show was sitting in front of him. Almost every seat had been filled. The front row was filled with familiar faces, all of them giving him their utmost attention. He took a deep breath, shaking his hands a bit.

"Okay...I'm sure all of you are aware of what happened in the castleteria today. It...wasn't pretty...all day today I've had a hard time accepting things as they are...trust me it isn't fun, and it is rather...challenging, for lack of a better term. But I felt the need to say this, because I'm sure all of you want an absolution to what happened. Henry, I know you are hearing this, and I want to say, I forgive you."

The result was instantaneous, the entire crowd started booing and calling out Blake's name. Some were asking why he was even bothering, while some were even cursing Henry's name. The Headmaster looked rather confused by all of this, but decided not to intervene. Blake rose his hands, silencing the crowd.

"You're all wondering, why are you doing this Blake? He totally humiliated you in front of the entire school. Let me say, while it totally blows that he decided to take that avenue, and expose my secret like that, to relish in my pain and misery, knowing that I couldn't return home, or ever see my family...it's alright. It's alright, because in the end, I know that he only did it for attention...I'm not here for that, I'm a person...who's trying to live day to day, and figure out his way in the world. It was challenging in my own world, and it sure as hell will be challenging here. Life isn't without it's challenges...after all." he said, pausing for a second. He glanced at his friends, who were all ready to go.

"I wrote this song, after I left Heritage Hall this morning. The reality of my situation finally sunk in...and honestly I wanted to die. But I rescinded that train of thought. I stood up firmly, and I made my choice...I decided that I will be somebody in this world, I will be somebody in this life, and I will be somebody in this school. Someone who's a friend, a confidant, a lover, fighter, whatever you need, I will be someone you can trust. I was the one who wrote this song, and the one supposed to sing it, but I'm letting Cupid take over." he said.

"Huh...you want me to what?"

"That's right Cupid, your beautiful voice deserves to be heard, so take up this mantle for the night...you deserve it. After all, it was you who set us all free, and got us on this stage tonight. You know the lyrics, so go ahead, melt their hearts." he said. The girl nodded, switching places with the boy. She cleared her throat, smiling at the crowd.

"This is Purple Rhapsody's first official song, titled Somebody. I hope you all like it." she said, giving Melody a nod.

"For all the Royals out there who want to follow their destiny, for all of the Rebels who want to follow their hearts...and for those stuck in between, and want to be somebody their proud of. We hope this song will give you some clarity." the daughter of the Pied Piper said, her fingers resting on the keys of her keyboard.

A soft melody started filling the charmitorium, almost as if a real grand piano had been in the room. Her fingers moved across the keys, each soft click bringing a harmonious tone that carried a lot of emotion across the crowd. The snare drum kicked in, signaling the other instruments to begin their parts. Cupid gave the crowd a kiss, pulling the microphone from its stand, holding it closer to herself.

" _Can you see me?_

 _Cause I'm right here_

 _Can you listen?_

 _Cause I've been trying to make you notice_

 _What it would mean to me_

 _To feel like Somebody_

 _We've been on our way to nowhere_

 _Tryin' so hard to get there_

 _And I say oh!_

 _We're gonna let it show!_

 _We're gonna just let go of everything!_

 _Holding back our dreams and try!_

 _To make it come alive_

 _Come on let it shine so they can see_

 _We were meant to be!_

 _Somebody!_ _ **(Somebody)**_

 _Somebody yeah!_ _ **(Somebody)**_

 _Somehow_

 _Someday_

 _Someway_

 _Somebody!"_

" _I'm so tired_

 _Of being invisible_

 _But I feel it, yeah_

 _Like a fire below the surface_

 _Trying to set me free!_

 _Burnin inside of me_

 _Cause we're standing on the edge now_

 _It's a long way down_

 _But I say oh!_

 _We're gonna let it show!_

 _We're gonna just let go of everything!_

 _Holding back our dreams and try!_

 _To make it come alive_

 _Come on let it shine so they can see_

 _We were meant to be_

 _Somebody!_ _ **(Somebody)**_

 _Somebody yeah!_ _ **(Somebody)**_

 _Somehow_

 _Someday_

 _Someway_

 _Somebody!"_

" _We will walk out of this darkness_

 _Feel the spotlight glowing like a yellow sun_

 _Oh whoa-oh_

 _And when we fall, we fall together_

 _Till we get back up, and we will rise as one_

 _Oh whoa-oh!"_

" _Oh whoa-oh_

 _We're gonna let it show!_

 _We're gonna just let go of everything!_

 _Holding back our dreams and try!_

 _To make it come alive_

 _Come on let it shine so they can see_

 _We were meant to be!_

 _Somebody!_ _ **(Somebody)**_

 _Somebody yeah!_ _ **(Somebody)**_

 _Somehow_

 _Someday_

 _Someway_

 _Somebody!_

 _Somebody!_

 _Oh whoa-oh!"_

The last few notes of the song slowly faded away, leaving only applause in its wake. Everyone present had gotten up, clapping and cheering loudly. The three judges all shared a look, pressing the green buzzer, standing up a second later. Blake shared a look with his friends, pumping his fist. They all gave the crowd a respectful bow, just as Maddie appeared on stage.

"I've got to say, that was a magnificent song, definitely fits the rebellious theme we've got going on here. Ladies and Gentleman, Purple Rhapsody, give them all another round of applause!" she said, earning another standing ovation from the crowd. Blake gave the crowd a wink as he walked off the stage, swearing he heard someone scream World Star somewhere in the crowd.

"Dudes, we totally rocked!" Dexter said.

"Yeah we did, I told you we would!" Melody said, bumping fists with the prince. Blake wrapped his arms around Cupid and Cerise, holding them close to himself.

"We all know the real MVP of this song was definitely Cupid, but Little Red did her best too. Congratulations, and thanks for the hard work."

"It wasn't an issue...I've actually wanted to be in a band for awhile now...it was fun." Cerise said, giving him a smile.

"Now we just have to see if we actually won." Cupid said, glancing at the stage, seeing the members of Yuletide Bliss coming onto the stage from the other side.

"Alright everyone, give it up for our final act of the night! The original band that stole people's hearts! Yuletide Bliss!" Maddie said, gesturing to the three young men who had walked onto the stage. No one even clapped, as soon as Henry grabbed the microphone, a chorus of boos filled the charmitorium.

"We're Yuletide Bliss, and we're gonna sing you a classic today! Our pianist uh...broke his hand, and won't be able to join us. So let's all get ready for this! Come and sing along if you know the words!"

" _Shot through the heart!_

 _And you're to blame!_

 _Darlin you give love, a bad name!"_

Henry started playing the introduction to the song, his guitar being the only thing filling the room. He paused after a second noticing Jack and Pierre still hadn't started playing. He turned to face them, an angry look on his face.

"What are you doing?"

"We wanted to do Living on a Prayer." Jack said.

"No! I said we're doing You Give Love a Bad Name. Come on guys, I'm the front man here, you have to do as I say!" Henry said firmly. Pierre took off his bass, holding it by the neck.

"Oh, you rule our band as if it was your kingdom eh? Well we want to do what we want, and if you aren't playing the song we want, then fuck you and your band." he said, slamming the guitar onto the stage as hard as he could. He continued slamming it over and over, pieces of wood and knobs flying in all directions.

"What the fuck are you doing? I still haven't paid that off!" Henry shouted, his face shocked. Jack snapped his drumsticks, walking up to the boy, taking a hold of his guitar.

"We already decided to follow in Frost's footsteps...since it was his idea, Yuletide Bliss belongs to us, our rights, songs and everything else...and we want it in our hands, as soon as possible." Jack said.

"No wait...you can't do this...not in front of everyone...my dad bought me that guitar, it was the first gift I ever got from him!"

Jack looked at the guitar, a smirk on his face. Following in Pierre's example, he slammed the instrument as hard as he could on the ground, denting the wooden frame. He continued slamming it until the neck snapped entirely, being held up by the strings. He tossed it aside, ignoring Henry's screams of sadness and agony.

"We quit, have fun singing alone asshole!" he said, following Pierre off stage. Henry fell to his knees, grabbing the broken remains of his guitar.

"Holy shit, I was not expecting that." Melody said.

"Serves him right for what he did to Blake earlier today." Cerise said, a look of satisfaction on her face. Blake however decided to see if the sandy haired prince was doing alright. Cupid grabbed his hand, silently telling him not to bother, but he pulled himself free of her grasp, walking back to the stage. He came to a stop in front of Henry, who just looked at him with a look of pure hatred in his eyes.

"What do you want? Didn't you get enough embarrassing me earlier today? Are you here to rub it in?"

"I'm here to give you a hand...I'm not gonna say you didn't deserve that, because you did. Things happen, and these are the consequences for treating your friends like crap...but I'm not one to stand by and let people suffer. We're human, and we have to help each other through the shit times." he said, holding his hand out to the boy. Henry stood up on his own, clutching the broken remains of his guitar in his hands. He growled in anger, spitting right into Blake's face, causing the crowd to gasp.

"I sincerely hope that Evil Bitch kills you and everyone you hold dear." he said.

"Mr. Andersen, that is enough! I was going to let all of this slide, but you and I are due for a lengthy conversation, in my office. Right now, or else you will be expelled from this institution!" Headmaster Grimm said, glaring at the teenager. Henry turned around, leaving the stage.

"Are you alright Blake?" Maddie asked, handing him a handkerchief. He nodded, wiping the spit from his face.

"I'm fine, compared to the stuff he did to me today, this is childsplay. It isn't the first time I've gotten spit hocked in my face." he said.

"Oh...he's just a rotten egg! You don't need to bother with someone like that Blake, you are an amazing person all by yourself!"

"I know that Maddie, and I'm glad that I have you for a friend too! It doesn't matter who it is, I'll always try to help those that need it." he said firmly.

"Well, since that was the final act, and they quit mid performance, I believe it's time to call the seven acts that passed the performance stage. It will be up to the crowd gathered here to cast their votes for the winners!" Lizzie said.

"That's right, so let's call out the seven acts that blew us all away. Cedar Wood and Splinter, Lily-Bo Peep and her flock of tap dancing sheep, Purple Rhapsody, Duchess Swan and her Trumpeter Swan, Holly and her frying pans, and finally Hunter Huntsman and Pesky." Kitty said cheerfully. The gathered acts all stood around in the large stage, all of them waiting for the votes to be cast.

"While we wait, I would like to remind everyone of tomorrow's events. The Thronecoming Parade will take place at eleven am sharp. This is also when the Storybook of Legends will be put out on public display, for everyone to see. A special signing ceremony will be held as well, Raven Queen shall finally take her oath and sign her name into the book. So make sure to set those DVRs or come on down to Bookend, we'd love to meet ya!

After that, we will be holding an encore presentation of tonight's best acts, and will finish the night off with a movie night! Oh it's been so long since the last movie! So if you want to join us for that as well, do hurry down here!" Maddie said excitedly. Lizzie walked over to her wacky friend, handing her the sealed envelope.

"Alright ladies and gents! I got the results right here, one of these seven acts will take home the gold trophy and have bragging rights for an entire year, a pretty sweet deal if you ask me."

"The winning act will also be allowed to perform during Thronecoming...I would also like to remind you all that you have two more days to vote for the Thronecoming King and Queen, the voting polls were set up by Dexter Charming and Humphrey Dumpty, so make sure to cast those votes. You all better vote for me, or it's off with your heads!"

"Lizzie! Don't make them all confused with your biased statements. I assure you, she will not be cutting off heads. Now then, the winner of tonight's talent show is..." Maddie paused, reading the card inside the envelope. She nodded to herself, giving the crowd a smile, remaining silent right after.

"Um...Madeline, the winner?" Lizzie said.

"Oh...I was supposed to do that now huh...oh right, the winner shall be revealed next week, on the exciting new episode of Ever After High Z!"

"MADDIE!"

"Alright, alright! No need to shout at me, the winner of the golden trophy is Purple Rhapsody!"

"FUCK YEAH!" Blake shouted, causing everyone to look at him. He cleared his throat, looking at the floor.

"My apologies...I got a tad too excited." he said.

"It's alright, be excited...just don't be vulgar." Maddie replied, holding back her giggles.

The crowd broke into applause. They were all calling their names, confetti being blasted in all directions. Kitty appeared before the band, giving them the first place trophy. She gave Blake a kiss on the cheek, giggling as she disappeared. Dexter clapped the boy on the shoulder, taking a hold of the other side of the trophy, holding it up for everyone to see.

Even though the day hadn't started out the best, the night had at least ended much better. Blake was still hurting over what he was told, but there was nothing he could do but move forward. Besides, Ever After had grown on him, and he was glad to at least be surrounded by friends. One thing was for sure, he had regained his popularity, and finally triumphed over one of his rivals, though he was sure the sandy haired prince would be back for more. Whatever got in his way, he would be sure to overcome it, with the help of his friends.


	18. Thronecoming III

**A/N:**

 **Hello guys and welcome to chapter eighteen of Through the Looking Glass. Last chapter, Blake and his friends ruled the school and defeated Yuletide Bliss in the talent show...well they didn't even get to participate, but you all see what happens when you become an asshole to your friends. It's a big no no. Purple Rhapsody won the golden trophy and has gained access to play during Thronecoming, which is a rather momentous event for all of them. I'm happy to recieve positive reviews on this chapter as it was a very focal point for Blake. Not only did it show his good nature, but it also showed that his willingness to let go of the past in favor of having a new future. Henry however didn't appreciate that and took that as a threat, that's why he spit in Blake's face when he gave him a hand.**

 **It also shows that Henry, much like his father, is willing to do anything to gain access to power. Hans was going to marry Anna and then kill Elsa so he could succeed her as King, eventually when Anna returned to Arrendelle, he left her to die so he could kill Elsa. Henry has the same thought process. It took quite a few years in prison for Hans to reflect on his transgressions and finally succeed his brothers as ruler of the Southern Isles. But his son still has trouble accepting many things, which is why he acts like such a douchebag, he seeks power and will do anything for it, and loves humiliating people and enjoying their misery.**

 **Blake is a mind kinder soul in that aspect at least, choosing to forgo past notions to start anew, since now he has no way of safely returning home. You'll get to see Blake slowly get used to the idea of living in Ever After, but also his hardships with adapting to a more permanent life there, as everything he knew before is null and void. He will need to study more about Ever After if he wishes to build his own destiny there. Which is also why he wants to destroy the Storybook of Legends, because he feels that if he's on equal ground with everyone, that he has just as much a right to make his own destiny as the other fairytales that happen to be his friends. Of course he isn't going crazy trying to find the book like Raven is, because she's just being mislead, but this will become more apparent during Way Too Wonderland when he will try to reacquire the book.**

 **Also, don't ask me how Lily got her sheep to tap dance, let's just say she has borderline god like powers and she's able to wrangle her sheep and teach them amazing acts that literally no one can explain. I also love how no one mentioned the fact that Briar and Blake have kissed twice in this story. Like really? No one asked about that or mentioned it? I guess you don't really remember after awhile, but year that was a thing and it happened, so there. Figured I needed to address that.**

 **This chapter will mostly deal with the aftermath of the Talent Show, as well as the reveal of the fake book and various other things. We also get to see Henry start changing. Due to what his friends did to him on stage, let's just say he isn't all there at the moment. You also get to see the results of my poll come into play at the end of the chapter, so look forward to that. Once again, I would like to thank you all for your votes, I'm sure you already know who the winner is, but if you do not, then just read this chapter and you'll figure it out. Thanks again to all of my wonderful readers for sticking with me this far, and for reviewing each chapter, it means a lot to me! Remember to favorite and follow the story so you get notifications when I update, review and if you have questions, drop me a PM and I'll answer your questions as best I can without spoiling anything. Have a fine Sunday, I shall be preparing for the Walking Dead later tonight! See ya later taters!**

Ever After High

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 18

Thronecoming Part III

Now that Blake had succeeded in his crusade to defeat Yuletide Bliss during the talent show, the young man had nothing to do. Everything was still very fresh to him, the curses put upon him, and the horrible humiliation in front of everyone, and the fact he could never go home. But he had already let go of all of that and had decided to live in the now. Even though that was easier said than done, it was a bitter pill to swallow, but he was determined not to let something like that defeat him. He was at least glad everyone in Ever After had forgotten about those nasty rumors that had been spreading when he had first arrived. A lot of people had been asking him for autographs, and telling him he did a great job with the song. He of course reminded them that it had been Cupid who sung it, so she needed to be thanked as well.

It was Tuesday morning, day two of Thronecoming Week, just a few minutes past seven thirty in the morning. There wasn't anything to do, except some extracurricular activities, and some Royal Student Council meetings that he wasn't at all interested in. Though Cerise did tell him she was trying to push the idea of Meat Days in the castleteria, and while he wished her luck, he was sure Apple and Maddie weren't going to pass something like that. He did agree with the daughter of Little Red, there needed to be more meat lovers pizza in the school. Of course with her determination, he was sure she would get something done for the school.

Blake was of course sitting at his usual table, with his music notebook beside him. He figured since he had no classes for the rest of the week, and he had already done all of his and Duchess's homework, he could focus on writing a few new songs. He had actually been working on one he was hoping to debut during Thronecoming, since he and his band had agreed to play a few songs for the night, before Melody took over as the active DJ for the night. He set his pencil down, glancing at the finished guitar line, looking at all of the notes he had written, humming it to himself.

"Sounds good so far." he muttered to himself. He heard the sound of a metal tray being placed across from him and looked up from his sheet music, surprised to see his friend Duchess across from him. Shrugging his shoulders, he decided to greet her.

"Hi Duchess, to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit?" he asked, earning a huff from her.

"I want you to prank Cedar for me."

"I'm sorry?"

"Ugh...you don't know this because you left Heritage Hall yesterday. She has these stupid magic glasses she got from her father, and she made an ass out of me, practically telling everyone my dress is fake." she replied.

"But it is...you seriously weren't fooling anyone there." he said, causing her to glare at him.

"Will you help me or not?"

"Sorry Duchess, but Cedar is my friend, and I'm not gonna prank her because she told the truth about your dress. It's alright, everyone has something they try to fake. When I was a kid, I wanted some really expensive basketball shoes, my grandmother ended up buying me some knock offs from a random store during a shopping trip. I was made fun of, but it didn't matter to me."

"Well it matters to me! Ugh...I hate how you can be so nice sometimes." she said, looking away from the boy. He shrugged, placing his finished work in his music folder. He grabbed another sheet of paper, which had the song lyrics he had been working on.

"Sorry Duchy, I was raised to treat everyone with kindness, even prissy Swan Princesses." he said, giving her a smile. She sighed, shaking her head.

"So it would seem. What is all this? Writing another one hit wonder?"

"Absolutely not! This is a brand new song that I'm preparing for the Thronecoming Dance. The only problem I have is...well I don't think Cupid's voice would go with this one." he said, glancing at the lyrics.

"Oh, have you discussed this with her?"

"Not yet, I was gonna go look for her after I was done here. But with all of this Thronecoming stuff going on, I'm sure she's busy. What about you, how is your float coming along?" he asked.

"It's looking fairest, like all the best floats should. You have no idea how hard it is to get a real lake on a moving float."

"A real lake? So that's what that pool was for...huh." he said, narrowing his eyes a bit. The two started hearing whispers from the nearby tables, and glanced toward the door, seeing Henry walking in.

He was still wearing his nose brace, as his nose was still healing, though Blake was sure the nurse had used her magic to heal it. He remained silent as he walked toward the breakfast line, grabbing a metal tray from the stack. He glanced around the castleteria, glaring at Blake for a few seconds before grabbing his breakfast.

"I can't believe he has the balls to show his face here after what happened." Duchess said, taking a hold of her juice.

"Where else is he gonna get his food Duchess? Don't worry, all of this will blow over soon, and everything will be back to normal." he replied, looking back at his lyrics, reading each line to make sure it still looked good.

"How can you be so optimistic? He humiliated you in front of everyone, and he spit in your face last night. I think I would have hatred toward him after all of that!"

"I did, but I decided to let go of it. I can't let that shit poison my mind, because then that would drive me to do petty things. I would rather not stoop to his level." Blake said, finishing the last of his juice.

"I don't get you...like at all."

"Good, this gives our relationship a dynamic that not a lot of others have. Thanks for keeping me company Duchess, but I've got a few things to do this morning. If you need help with your float, text me." he said, stuffing his notebooks into his bag. He grabbed his empty lunch try, placing everything in the trash, leaving the metal tray with the stack of used ones. Duchess watched him, go shaking her head in disbelief.

Having decided to find Cupid, Blake started walking toward the Grimmnasium, where most of the Floats were being built. He had already looked in a few places, the Student Lounge and even her dorm, but hadn't been able to find her at all. He knew the pink haired girl could be slippery when she wanted too, making her a hard woman to find. But he was sure he was getting closer to finding her now than before.

He was still amazed with the students of Ever After, and the fact that they all built floats almost by themselves. It was something that in his world didn't happen, and it gave a warm sense of uniqueness to the entire thing. Some of the floats he had already seen were impressive as well, like Apple's float, which had a real apple tree, apparently the same one that Raven was supposed to poison her from. Holly's had a replica of the tower she's supposed to be trapped in, and Cedar's was supposed to mimic puppet strings. Most of the finished ones had already been taken to main street where the parade was going to be held. It would all come to an end in front of Ever After High, where the Storybook of Legends was going to be kept out on display. He had already seen a wide array of cameras, and people with local news outlets, most likely broadcasting everything for the entire world. Spotting Lizzie, Cedar and the O'Hair twins, he decided to ask them if they had seen Cupid.

"Hey, sorry to bother you girls, have any of you seen Cupid? I've been looking for her for a bit now and I haven't seen her at all."

"You aren't bothering us at all Blake, as for your question, I'm afraid I haven't seen her." Lizzie replied, reaching for another card from the deck.

"I haven't either...oh let me guess, this is all band related isn't it? Can we have a hint on what you'll be playing, please?" Cedar asked, earning a smirk from the boy.

"Sorry, you'll have to wait until Thronecoming to find out...I assure you, it'll be awesome, so look forward to it." he said.

"Blake, I hope you don't mind but...I couldn't help myself! I ended up voting you for Thronecoming King!" Holly said, making the boy confused.

"Huh? I'm on the ballot? Since when?" he asked.

"I think Dexter added you early yesterday morning. Among the boys of Ever After, you, Daring, Dexter and Hunter are the most likely candidates for Thronecoming King, isn't that awesome?" Poppy asked, earning a shrug from the boy.

"I guess...it is an honor to even be on this ballot, and I'm happy that you voted for me Holly, it means a lot." he said, giving her a grin.

"Of course, I truly do hope you win. That way you and your date will have a magical time during the dance!" she said, discarding a few cards from her hand.

"I'm sorry, did you say date? I have to bring a date?" he asked.

"Well duh! This is Thronecoming dear, you have to at least have someone in mind." Lizzie said.

"I truly don't...I'm a little busy dealing with life and some other stuff, can't really take the time to find myself a date." he said.

"Aw, if it wasn't because Sparrow already asked me, I would definitely go with you. I'm sure you'll find someone, and she'll definitely make your night special!" Holly said.

"If you say so, thanks again. I'm sure Cupid is around here somewhere...Cedar, no cheating. I already see what you're trying to do." Blake said, walking up the stairs.

"Come on Blake, you didn't have to say anything!" the brown haired girl cried, shoving her Revealer Rays into her bag.

"Aha! I knew you were going to use those! Off with your head!" Lizzie cried out, causing one of the workers to drop a small disco ball to the ground, shattering it all over the place.

"Nice!" he said disdainfully, glaring at Lizzie who bowed her head apologetically.

The Grimmnasium was looking much more like a dance hall now that it was fully decorated. A couple of the guys were pulling the large disco ball in place, making sure not to accidentally drop it. Walking toward the far side of the room, he climbed up to the DJ booth, where Melody and Dexter setting up all of the equipment the girl would need for the dance. A spark startled the prince, causing him to hit his head on the shelf above him, making him yelp in pain.

"You okay there Dex?" Blake said, earning a groan from the boy.

"I'm fine, the school's faulty wiring is coming back to bite us. But we've managed to set everything up perfectly. Do you have power to the booth Melody?" he asked. The girl gave him a thumbs up, placing a hand over her headphones.

"Well, as long as she has power, that's all that matters. Anyway, have you seen Cupid? I wanted to run these lyrics by her and see what she thinks." he said, showing the boy his notebook.

"I haven't seen her today, she might be getting her dress down in town, you'll have better luck finding here there. You could give her a call too, see if she picks up."

"Um...I don't have her number." he said, causing the prince to look up from the lyrics, pushing his glasses back a bit.

"You're friends with her and you don't have her number?"

"Dude, I don't have the number of a lot of people. I only have yours, Ashlynn's, Hunter's, Melody's and Kitty's." he said, showing his friend his contacts list. Dexter shook his head, grabbing his own MirrorPhone, placing them next to each other.

"I'm gonna give you all my contacts, and then I'll send a chain text to everyone so they have your own number. Seriously, I can't believe you spent this long actually finding people instead of calling them."

"Hey, I'm a man of action. If I have to tell someone something, I would much rather tell them face to face. I don't get this whole texting thing either, I don't find a practical use for it." he said, shrugging his shoulders a bit.

"I like that, people often times forget to interact with one another thanks to technology. It's awesome to find someone who still likes face to face conversation." Melody said, joining their conversation.

"I gotta agree with you there, but I do like technology too. I wouldn't have my video games if the MirrorNet didn't exist. Anyway, here you go...I already sent the chain text to everyone, so expect a buttload of replies from them." he said, handing Blake his phone back.

"Thanks Dex, I guess I'll just call Cupid now, and see where she is." he said, sifting through all of his contacts. He wondered exactly how he had been able to transfer all of those contacts that fast.

"Before you do, what do you want to do for Thronecoming? Are we gonna sing the songs we got, or are we debuting anything new?" Melody asked curiously.

"Well, I wrote a new song, but it's gonna take a little longer for me to get it just right. So for now we'll stick to what we got, we're only slated to play four songs, with you taking over right after. So let's just go with the four songs we've already practiced...we'll start with Hysteria." he said, earning a smile from Dexter.

"Awesome, I've been practicing the bass line for that and I think I got it down pat now."

"Great, keep it up. I was thinking of debuting Strike Back, and since we've been practicing the melody by itself, I thought we could add the lyrics. Which is why I need to find Cupid, I wanted her opinion on it." he said.

"Well then go find her, whatever you need we'll be here. Go on." Melody said, pushing the boy out of the booth.

"Alright alright, see you two later." he said, leaving the DJ booth.

 _ **xxx**_

Thanks to Dexter, Blake had been able to locate Cupid. Just like the boy had said, she had been getting her Thronecoming Dress, or rather she was getting her measurements taken in order to make her dress. He had waited for her outside of the shop, just enjoying the overall atmosphere of Bookend. He had seen quite a few tourists, some even asking him for his autographs or his pictures due to his performance the night before. He crossed his arms glancing at the blue skies above the village.

It had almost been a month since his arrival in Ever After. It was crazy to think that four weeks prior, he had been walking around his own world. Going to school, hanging out with his best friend and going shopping with his sisters. Now, all of that had been replaced with an entirely new routine. He lived at school, he had way more friends than before, had met three queens, one of them being evil, and had discovered a land of living fairytales.

Anyone would call him crazy if he had told anyone that back in his world. But here, it was different. He had gotten used to it already, and even though a part of him still wanted to go home, there was a part of him that didn't want to leave Ever After or his new friends behind. Even though he missed Joey, Mary, Susan and his parents dearly, he didn't deny that he would miss his new friends just as much. He heard the jingle of the shop door and stood up from his bench, greeting his friend and band mate Cupid, who was looking at her MirrorPad, which had sketches of her dress design. He tried taking a peek, but she quickly shut the device off, giving him a smirk.

"If you want to see my dress you'll have to wait until Thronecoming."

"Okay, fair enough. Anyway, here are those lyrics I told you about...I wanted to see what you thought of them." he said, handing her the Strike Back lyrics he had written and tweaked various times. She could tell just from all of the eraser marks on the paper.

"Hmm...judging from all of these marks, you've been working on these really hard. I like the lyrics, but I think you should sing it." she said.

"Really? Are you sure about that?"

"Until Raven comes back, I'll have to continue as the lead guitar right? So I think I should focus on that during this song. Besides, we're gonna do Set it all Free again, so it wouldn't be fair if I did two songs." she said.

"That's true...are you absolutely sure about this Cupid?" he asked, earning a nod from the girl.

"I am, it's totally cool. You deserve the spotlight just as much as we all do, we're doing Somebody as well, and I sing that one too, we're opening with Hysteria, that leaves just one song to pick from." she said.

"That's right...shit I forgot about that...too late to practice a new one...we'll figure it out, we always do. Oh yes, I was thinking, for the new song, maybe we could release it as a music video instead?"

"A music video? That would be interesting, but why would you pick that instead of an actual song?" Cupid asked curiously. Blake pursed his lips, remaining silent as he gathered his thoughts. He glanced at the sky, eyes narrowed slightly.

"Well, this song is actually a rock cover of one of my favorite songs back in my world. So I wanted to make it look as if the rock version is the Ever After version of the song. A music video would be awesome, because I have this really awesome image going for the song. Basically, the song is about a ballerina who's stuck inside a music box, and uses the song to break free." he said.

"I like that! I wouldn't mind seeing that and it would actually fit better with the music video. Oh, maybe a live performance would be better, and we get someone to dance too, maybe Duchess?"

"That would be cool...she's a ballerina and since this song is about a ballerina breaking out of her music box, she would be a likely candidate. We gotta find out who can sing the lyrics though...no offense, but your voice is a little soft for rock music." Blake said, earning a miffed look from the girl.

"Offense totally taken! But...I do see your point, I don't think I could handle that sort of singing...maybe someone who's using to screaming and can get higher notes than I can?" she asked.

"Yes...if Raven agrees to it, we'll be able to get her to sing it...if not I got someone else in mind."

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll be able to figure all of this out! I'm glad we could talk today, but I gotta go. I need to start getting ready for the parade."

"I totally forgot about that, oh yeah...you know that voting poll thing, for Thronecoming Queen?" Blake asked, earning a nod from the girl.

"I already cast my vote, I think Raven deserves to win this year. She deserves it for all the crap she's been dealing with."

"I agree but...I couldn't help but vote for you, sorry." he said, earning a smile from the girl. She gave him a kiss on the cheek, making him blush a bit.

"Thank you, that's so sweet of you! Maybe I will win, but if not I really do hope Raven makes it. Anyway, I gotta fly, see you later."

"See ya Cupid!" he said, watching the girl run off. He sometimes had to wonder how the girls of Ever After managed to run in high heels.

Since it was almost time for the Parade to start, Blake decided to find a good spot near the entrance of Ever After High. The Storybook of Legends had yet to be brought out, but they had already set the pedestal it would rest on, along with the stage for those who wanted to sign the book and follow their destiny. He saw a few other students gathering around as well, and even noticed Dr. Charming, Dexter and Daring's father, getting ready for the broadcast. There was still a good half hour before the parade was set to start, and would be another half an hour before any floats actually made it down in their direction.

Glancing around, Blake spotted Henry among the crowd. He had been walking around, looking a bit dejected. He glanced around for a few seconds, before walking off, heading in the opposite direction. Growing curious, Blake decided to follow him, at a distance, making sure not to make a single sound. He noticed the future King of the Southern Isles was looking around quite a lot, which made following him quite difficult at times. Blake had resorted to his parkour techniques to follow him from the rooftops, making sure not to be spotted by any Police Officers.

After ten minutes of following the young man, Blake had started running out of buildings, and had resorted to hiding behind trees as to not be spotted. He noticed they had passed Duchess's lake, heading in the direction of Heritage Hall. In fact, the building had come into view not long after they had passed the lake. Henry stopped near the edge of the stairs, glancing around the entire area. Once he had assured he hadn't been followed, he climbed to the top of the stairs, passing through the open doors of the Hall. Blake waited for a few seconds before closing the distance, pressing himself against the outside wall. He peeked into the hall, seeing Henry walking toward the Storybook of Legends.

" _What the hell is he doing here? Didn't he get his special item already?"_ Blake thought to himself. Taking a deep breath, Blake slipped into the hall, quietly moving toward the nearby pedestal, pressing himself against it.

Henry glanced around the empty hall once he had reached the Storybook of Legends, turning toward the left. Once he had fully disappeared, Blake started quietly moving toward the end of the large hallway, taking notice of all of the opened boxes, empty of their belongings. The only box that was closed was the one that belonged to a girl named Rosabella Beauty, which he assumed was the daughter of Adam and Belle. He pressed himself against the corner, peeking around it slightly. He couldn't see anything, so he decided to run toward the Storybook of Legends, taking refuge behind it.

Henry had come to a stop before a box, which hadn't been opened by anyone. Pulling out his Iphone X, he quickly went to the camera function and held it up, zooming all the way in. He saw Henry was forcing one of the boxes open, using what looked like a lock pick and a knife. He heard a loud click, making the boy back away from it. He reached inside the box, pulling out what looked like a dagger.

"This is it? How stupid!" Henry snapped, his voice echoing through the empty hall.

Blake narrowed his eyes, seeing the hilt of the dagger. It had a spiraled handle, with a claw like pommel. The guard was bent slightly at an obtuse angle, almost like the guard of a cleymore, but the blade itself only extended a few inches, twelve at most. Regardless, Henry stuffed it in his belt, and turned to leave, making sure the box was closed as he left. As he passed the Storybook of Legends, Blake took a few pictures of the item he had stolen, glancing at them.

" _This dagger looks familiar...but what the hell does he want with it?"_ he thought to himself. Once Henry had left the Hall, Blake came out from behind the book, moving toward the box the prince had broken into.

His eyes widened in shock when he saw a picture of Alice, standing in the middle of the Labyrinth that was behind the Queen of Heart's castle in Wonderland. There was an image of the Cheshire Cat, who was laying on a high tree branch, the Mad Hatter was also in the image, holding a cup of tea in his hands. Glancing at the box, the gilded name tag had the name Alistair Wonderland written on it, so he figured that was the son of Alice. He gently opened the box, glancing inside it, seeing the indentation of where the dagger had been placed.

He glanced at the two boxes beside it, one of it was labeled Bunny Blanc, and the image on the back was of the White Rabbit, so he figured she was his daughter. That box had been left completely untouched. The one next to Alistair's was Lizzie's, and hers had clearly been opened. The final two in that row belonged to Kitty and Maddie, who had also taken the items within. It seemed as if Alistair and Bunny's were the only untouched boxes.

"Why would Henry come here, and what is so important about that dagger that he would break into Alistair's box for it. Who even is Alistair, I've never met anyone with that name before. Clearly he's the son of Alice, but where is he? And why didn't he come for his item?" he muttered to himself.

Glancing at the clock on his phone, he noticed it was almost eleven thirty. He grit his teeth in annoyance, breaking into a sprint out of Heritage Hall, hoping to make it back to the parade grounds before the first floats actually made it to the school.

He was a bit tired as he approached Bookend, but his focus was mostly on what Henry had stolen. Choosing to walk the rest of the way back to the parade grounds, he decided to take a look at the pictures he had taken of the item. He was honestly glad Apple had decided to create a phone with a 4K camera, because it was definitely helping him out. Glancing closely at the picture, he noticed all of the intricate designs on the hilt of the dagger, it almost looked like it was made with magic. He looked up from his phone, trying his hardest not to bump into anyone. He sighed, shoving his phone in his pocket.

" _There's no way I'll be able to identify that without actually seeing it. But it's clear that Alice left that for her son Alistair in case he ever came here...so it has to be from Wonderland. Think, Lucy fed you this shit all the time, what is this dagger?"_ he thought to himself, eyes narrowed in thought.

"Ladies and Gentlemen of Ever After, Thronecoming has officially started. As you can see the floats are starting to come in, and they are beautiful. Traditionally, the floats all come to a stop here in front of the bridge leading to Ever After High, and at the end of the parade, the Storybook of Legends is brought out and placed on the pedestal. But it seems this year it's going to be a little different...let us all stay tuned to see this special event." Dr. Charming said into the camera, giving it his most charming smile, though as soon as the footage was cut, he let out an aggravated sigh.

"Heh, even Kings hate the camera...didn't think that would happen." Blake said to himself, earning a chuckle from beside him.

"Not everyone likes the camera Bigby, some absolutely hate it." came the reply from Henry. Blake looked him over, noticing the dagger at his waist, though he didn't look at it for more than a second.

"Hey, I...wasn't expecting to see you here...next to me."

"Me either, but it seems the world just hates the both of us." he replied, keeping his eyes on the floats. Blake balled his fist within his jacket, just in case the prince tried doing something.

"Y-yeah...it would seem so." he said.

"Nervous Bigby? I thought you would be enjoying the parade, especially after winning the talent show last night."

"I'm trying too, or was at least until you showed up. I don't want any trouble alright? If I'm gonna be stuck in Ever After for the rest of my life, I thought it best to let go of the past so we can start fresh." he said.

"Start fresh eh? Did you know that because of you I've gotten extracurricular expulsion for four months? I won't be able to attend the Thronecoming Dance, or the Bookball game that was looking forward to playing in. I won't be able to go to the Winter Formal either, or the Spring Festival, you ruined all of the awesome things about this school."

"I'm sorry to hear that Henry, I truly am...maybe I can talk to the Headmaster and see if we can get that sorted out. I think that punishment is a little too harsh too." he said. Henry growled angrily, turning to face the boy, placing a hand on the dagger.

"It is a little harsh...but I've got a few other ideas on how I can fix that. I've been dying to try something new...so watch your back, because the last thing you might hear is my blade going snicker-snack before your life ends." he said softly, making it so that only Blake heard him. He left just as fast as he had appeared, leaving a stunned Blake standing in place.

" _That bastard...fucking has the balls to threaten me...even after I'm trying to be nice to him. I need to watch my back before he stabs it."_ he thought to himself.

There was one thing that stuck out to him, what Henry had said. He had mentioned his blade going snicker-snack, and he recalled one thing that Lucy had always recited whenever she was bored. He closed his eyes, trying to pull up the words, but at the moment he just didn't have them all. He did know it was a poem, and it had been written by the author of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. He growled under his breath, clenching his fists.

" _If only Lucy we're here, she would know what that dagger is...I might as well wait for Lizzie to finish with the parade. She might know what it is much better than anyone else."_ he thought to himself. For now, he could continue to watch the parade.

 _ **xxx**_

After awhile, the last of the floats started coming in, with the crowd going ecstatic over each one. Even Blake himself had grown excited over the designs of each float, having snapped several pictures of each one. He saw Raven's float a few seconds after Daring's had passed by, and while she tried to look happy, he could tell that she wasn't. He made his way to the front of the crowd,holding his phone tightly in his hand.

"Raven, hey Raven!" he called out, catching her attention. He gave her a grin, making her smile a bit. A few others started chanting her name too making her blush and look away from the crowd, he figured it was all because she was gonna sign the book.

"It seems the parade has finally come to an end, and what a beautiful collection of floats. The students of Ever After surely outdid themselves, this year. I hate to be biased, but Daring's was the best in my opinion, I'm proud of you son!" Dr. Charming called out, earning a grin and a wink from his eldest son, causing some of the girls in the crowd to faint. Dexter frowned, crossing his arms across his chest.

"Go Dexter, your float kicks ass!" Blake called out over the crowd, grabbing his friend's attention. He smiled a bit, waving at his friend.

"Let us continue with this fabulous event! It seems Headmaster Grimm is about to make an announcement, let us all watch!" the man said, the camera man panned the camera toward the podium where the Storybook of Legends had just been placed.

Blake managed to make his way toward the middle of the crowd, getting a good spot to view the event. Apple and Raven were standing side by side, right next to the headmaster who had a bright smile on his face. He tapped the microphone before him, cringing a bit at the high pitched wail it made. Once it had settled down, he begun speaking.

"Welcome friends, to the beginning of Thronecoming! Normally we would end this parade with the book keeper bringing out the book to put it on display, but this year we have something different. As you all know, one of our students didn't sign the Storybook on Legacy Day, but she has changed her mind. So let us all welcome Raven Queen with a warm round of applause."

The gathered crowd started clapping and cheering as the daughter of the Evil Queen stood in front of everyone, glancing at the book in front of her. She took a deep breath, a calm facade washing over her nervous face.

"My name is Raven Queen, daughter of the Evil Queen, and today I pledge my destiny." she said firmly, holding her hand out, a dark violet key flashed into her hand, which she then placed in the lock of the book.

"You know, I still don't agree with her doing this." Blake muttered to himself. He glanced around the crowd, noticing some movement. Using his phone, he zoomed in with his camera, noticing it was his friend Cedar, who was quickly making her way toward the stage.

" _Wonder what's got her in a splinter...hehe, wood joke."_ he thought. He shook his head, and started making his way through the crowd, ducking and weaving through a few people.

"Raven, you can't sign the book!" the daughter of Pinocchio cried, making her way up the stairs.

"Miss Wood, I would like to ask you to leave." Headmaster Grimm said, holding his hand out. Ducking underneath it, Cedar made her way to the stage, pushing Raven back.

"This isn't the Storybook of Legends, my Revealer Rays can't tell a lie. They're telling me that this book is fake!" she said, holding the book up causing the gathered crowd to gasp in shock.

"What...you can't be serious." Raven said, taking a hold of the book.

"Here, see for yourself. This is not the real Storybook of Legends." Cedar said, handing the girl her glasses. Raven placed them on her face, taking a look at the book. She flipped through a few pages, eyes widening a bit.

"It's true...this isn't the real book...what the heck did everyone else sign?" she asked, glancing at the Headmaster, who took the book from her hand.

"My apologies everyone, it seems this is all an elaborate prank by the Sophomore class...this is in fact the genuine article. It shall remain on display here for everyone to read." the Headmaster said.

"Excuse me, do you think I could see the book real quick?" Blake asked, having arrived at the top of the stairs.

"Blake, what are you doing here?" Apple asked curiously, earning a smile from the boy.

"Well, I want to try something...if this is in fact the real Storybook of Legends, as the Headmaster so claims it to be, then it wouldn't open for someone who doesn't have a destiny in this world. I just want to reassure what Raven and Cedar have both been saying." he said firmly.

"I will not, this is the real book so there is no reason to prove it otherwise." the headmaster said, a look of annoyance on his face.

"Headmaster, don't get me wrong. I want this to be the real book, but you have to look at it from another perspective. Everyone who signed this book have pledged their destiny, wouldn't you want this to be the real book? Don't you want your students to follow their destiny? If this is a fake, then they haven't signed anything, and that would make everyone of us a Rebel. You wouldn't want that would you?" he asked curiously. Headmaster Grimm sighed, handing the book over to Blake, who placed it back on the pedestal.

"My name is Blake J. Bigby, and I come from another world. Today, I came to pledge my destiny!" he chanted, holding his hand out. Just like he expected, a golden key appeared in his hand, which he used to open the book.

"No way...a person who doesn't have a destiny in this world shouldn't be able to open the book. This truly is a fake." Apple said, taken aback by what had happened.

"So it would seem...ladies and gentlemen, students of Ever After, I thank you all for coming to this parade...I will give a detailed explanation concerning the Storybook of Legends. This book is in fact a replica of the Storybook of Legends, which we have brought out for display purposes only. Carry on with your day, and have fun exploring each and every one of our floats! Thank you." the man said, causing the crowd to break into applause.

"Headmaster, I think you owe us an explanation...what happened to the real Storybook of Legends?" Raven asked, earning a sigh from the man.

"Come with me, I'll tell you the story on the way to my office." he said, placing the replica book on the pedestal.

Once they had gotten away from the main stage, the Headmaster started sharing his story with the four students. Blake decided to pay close attention to what the man was going to say, in case he ever needed it again. He glanced back at the four, a frown on his face.

"This isn't a hard story to tell, I've done my best to keep this hidden over the last few years. The real Storybook of Legends has been missing for far longer than you all know."

"It has? So what did the others sign before us?" Cedar asked curiously.

"You misunderstand...during the time of your parents, the Storybook of Legends was here in Ever After. All of them signed their names, just like you all should have. But after each of their stories was over, one of the alumni decided to return, for far more nefarious reasons."

"Let me guess...my mother?" Raven said, a hint of disdain in her voice. Apple took a hold of her hand, giving it a light squeeze.

"Is she right Headmaster?"

"I'm afraid so Apple. The Evil Queen wanted to spread her rule over other realms, and in order to do so, she decided to steal the Storybook of Legends, by stealing the destinies of the future generation, she would be able to rule the realms to her leisure." Headmaster Grimm said, earning a nod from the four students.

"So...the Evil Queen stole the book, and because no one is able to sign their names within, she'll just wait until the current heroes die out and take over the world, that's a hard pill to swallow." Blake said.

"I knew my mother was mad, but I didn't think she was this insane. I mean stealing the book? For what purpose?" Raven asked, confusion written on her face.

"I think she wanted to use it as a bargaining chip. She however didn't get far with her plan to overthrow the current leaders of the realms. She found one place that was much more important to the existence of Ever After, and went after it's crown."

"Wonderland right? That's why four years ago, Lizzie, Kitty, Maddie, the Mad Hatter and the White Queen fled here, because the Evil Queen was taking over Wonderland." Cedar said.

"Cursing it actually...by poisoning Wonderland's magic, she could gradually infect the other realms, and weaken everyone who relied on its magic. That's why we took those defensive measures and sealed off every portal connected to Wonderland in every single realm. But when we trapped the Evil Queen in the Mirror Realm, she refused to tell us where the real Storybook of Legends was...we were hoping to find it before the current class entered Ever After High, but we're rapidly running out of time." Headmaster Grimm said, a worried look on his face.

"This is bad...if the Storybook of Legends falls in the hands of someone warped and evil like my mother, then all of our destinies could be destroyed." Raven replied, a frown on her face.

"Hey, it's alright. I know this is a pressing matter, but I'm sure we'll find the Storybook, she couldn't have hid it anywhere other than here in Ever After." Apple replied.

"Yes, that's what we figured but we haven't had a single lead. I suppose now that the secret is out, we'll have to redouble our efforts with finding it. Do not worry everyone, I'm sure we'll find the real book soon enough...just focus on Thronecoming." Headmaster Grimm said, giving his students a smile.

"Sure, it doesn't change anything for me...but if I do see anything out of the ordinary anywhere around campus, I'll be sure to let you know Headmaster. I'd like to apologize for what I did back there, but I felt it was necessary for everyone to know the truth." Blake said.

"Know the truth huh? You sound a lot like someone else who's gotten used to spilling the truth about students here." the man said, causing Blake to chuckle. He quickly waved at his friends, dashing away from them all.

 _ **xxx**_

"Hey Lizzie, mind if I talk to you real quick?" Blake called out, causing the future Queen of Heart's to stop in her tracks, turning to face the boy.

"Why of course, what's the matter? Still reeling over what happened at the square?"

"A little bit, if I'm being honest...I was just winging that, I wasn't expecting it to work." he said, rubbing his neck in embarrassment.

"That is so you. Whatever could I help you with? You look concerned." the girl asked, adopting a look of curiosity. He reached into his back pocket for his phone, pulling up his Gallery.

"Whelp, I've got a some questions for you. Do you know anyone by the names of Alistair Wonderland and Bunny Blanc?" he asked.

"Yes of course! They're close friends of mine, why...the last time I saw either of them was...during the Evil Queen's attempted take over. When she placed that curse on our home, we had no choice but to leave. They didn't make it to a portal in time, I'm afraid. Why do you ask?"

"No particular reason...but it ties into something rather serious. I was following Henry earlier today, and he headed back to Heritage Hall. I was hiding behind the big Storybook, and caught him breaking into one of the boxes, as it turns out, it was one labeled with Alistair's name. I presume Alice left him something we're he to come here."

"He was breaking into Alistair's precious gift? How dare he? Where is he so I can cut his damn head off!" she cried, about to walk off.

"Lizzie this is serious, you can't just go on a rampage!" he cried.

"Hey, what's going on here? I heard Liz making threats!" Kitty said, flashing before the two.

"Kitty, good of you to come. It seems Henry has stolen Alistair's gift from Alice." Lizzie said, causing the girl to go eyed eyed.

"Are you serious? How dare he steal something so precious?! Alistair is our friend, who we'll never see again thanks to the portals being closed. Where is he? I wanna claw his eyes out!"

"Alright, so clearly you two share one common trait, and while normally I wouldn't stop you, I need to know exactly what this is. It was in the box and now Henry has it." he said, showing the two the picture.

"That looks familiar...what is it, a dagger?" Kitty asked, taking a hold of the phone.

"I believe so...I do recognize it though, but I don't recall from where. If I could talk to my mother, perhaps she would know but...dammit, this curse is really starting to get on my nerves." Lizzie said, her face growing a bit red with anger. Blake didn't think that actually happened, but he was quite surprised.

"Well, if the picture doesn't help then maybe this will. Do you two know the term, Snicker-snack?" he asked. The two girls shared a look, both giving him a nod.

"Of course we do. It's associated with a legendary weapon crafted to slay the Jabberwocky!" Lizzie replied.

"One two, one two! And through and through, the Vorpal Blade went snicker-snack! He left it dead, and with its head, he went galumphing back." Kitty recited. The poem gave the boy the clarity he needed. He blinked a few times, glancing at the ground.

"That was the poem Lucy recited all the time...it's associated with the Vorpal Blade, which Alice left for her son. I remember at some point Alice, ends up acquiring the Vorpal Blade so that she can slay the Jabberwocky. If it's Alistair's destiny to follow in his mother's footsteps, then she must have left the Vorpal Blade behind for him to use!"

"But why would Henry steal it? Why that weapon out of all of them?" Lizzie asked. Kitty sighed, shaking her head.

"I think I know, there's an enchantment on the blade. It takes the form of a different weapon depending on the wielder. For the previous Alice, it was a dagger, though at times it became the size of a great sword. Only someone with a pure heart can wield it, as it takes too much out of a person, and you wouldn't want to die fighting the Jabberwocky now would you?" she said, earning a growl from Blake.

"The bastard...he stole that blade for a reason...he outright threatened me during the parade. He said that thanks to me, he got extracurricular expulsion, and he won't be able to go to the Thronecoming dance. He said that I should watch my back, because the last thing I'll hear is snicker-snack."

"Oh dear, this is rather serious! You have to tell the Headmaster right away!" Lizzie said.

"No! Henry will just deny it like the common cur he is...no, I'll just have to take the blade from him."

"You can't! That's dangerous, you could get hurt." Kitty said, a look of fear on her face.

"I know, but I can handle a sword. I know plenty of disarming techniques, and if what you said is true, then I doubt the Vorpal Blade will be good for him. He would probably get wiped out by just holding it. I'll be fine." he said, turning to leave.

"At least let us come with you...you can't expect to take him on alone!"

"Sorry Liz, it wouldn't be good for me to drag a girl into a fight. You're a good fencer, but I wouldn't forgive myself if you or Kitty got hurt. He threatened me, so it's up to me to take the blade from him, and return it to Heritage Hall before anyone notices it's missing." He said.

"Blake please, at least let me go with you. I'll flash away before he can even hurt me, I promise!"

"No Kitty, just trust me okay? I'm a martial artist, and I can handle myself well with a sword. Like I said, I know disarming techniques, I'll be perfectly fine." he said, brushing off her concern.

"Fine, I won't interfere...but you have to promise me you won't get hurt!" she cried, earning a grin from the boy.

"Alright, but how about this, I'll try to get the Vorpal Blade back by tonight, but if I can't, I'll tell the Headmaster. But I'll only tell him on one condition." he said, holding his hand out with a single finger raised.

"Okay, what's the condition?" Lizzie asked curiously, earning a smile from the boy.

"I want Kitty to be my date to the dance."

"Huh...you want me to be your date?" the girl cried, a look of confusion on her face.

"Oh this is Wonderlandiful! You were all set to go all alone too, this is so adorable! Well Kitty, what's your answer?" Lizzie said, glancing at her best friend.

"I...okay...I'll be your date to the dance...but no dangerous stuff mister! I mean it! If you can't get it back, then you tell the headmaster, and I have to be there to make sure you do! Got it?"

"I got it, loud and clear! Thanks for the help you two, I know I'll successfully retrieve this blade...I can just feel it." he said, breaking off into a sprint, heading toward the Sword Training fields. Kitty let out a sigh, giggling to herself.

"I can't believe he asked me to the dance! I was so sure he was going to ask Melody." she said.

"So was I, just know that I was rooting for you dear. I can tell you have a crush on him. Why don't you tell him how you feel?"

"I dunno...you know what he said. He's not interested in dating because he doesn't want to leave anyone behind." she said, a frown on her face.

"Yes, but he's going to stay in Ever After permanently now...you have a chance! Don't let it slip by!" Lizzie said, an encouraging tone in her voice.

"I...I'm not sure, for now I'll just go to the dance with him. I want to get to know him a bit more, even though we're close friends, I only know a little bit about him."

"Fair enough, but if you let him go, I will seriously cut your head off. Come on, let's go get our measurements taken for our dresses! I'm sure he'll think yours is absolutely wonderful!"

"I hope so...my dress is going to be purr-fect, I just know it!" Kitty said, a grin on her face. She took a hold of her friend's hand, teleporting the two to the dress shop.


	19. Thronecoming IV

**A/N:**

 **Hello everyone and welcome to Part IV of the Thronecoming arc of this, my Ever After High fanfiction! Gaze upon it's glory, as you all bare witness to writing yet to be seen by the eyes of man! Today I bring you some more drama caused by one Henry Andersen, who is now at large for having stolen Alistair's precious gift! Now it shall be up to you to decide if you all like it or not!**

 **Okay, enough of that shit...last chapter, everyone got to see Blake milling about Bookend, following Henry to Heritage Hall and bearing witness to him stealing the Vorpal Blade. if you didn't know, the Vorpal Blade is actually the sword Alice uses to slay the Jabberwocky as written in Wonderlandian Prophecy, the Jabberwocky is actually a being who's destined to die at the hand of the blade's wielder. This blade will play a key role later on in the story, but for now it's your average every day magical sword that can change to fit the wielder's true heart. I actually added that part, because in certain versions of it's poem, people have interpreted it as a two handed great sword, like the one seen in Alice in Wonderland done by Tim Burton, but in the video game based on Alice's Adventure's in Wonderland, it's depicted as a knife, so I just made it so it's unpredictable, it is a sword from Wonderland after all, and when in Rome, do as Romans do...as they say.**

 **So, for Blake it shall turn into something else, which you will all see here. I also made it so only those with pure hearts can wield the blade, those who aren't pure of heart can use it, but it will corrupt the blade, changing its aspects to fit that darkened heart. I made it almost like a keyblade in a sense that it takes the form of the heart that wields it.  
**

 **Also, to keep the theme of me adding Disney stuff to it, I may or may not include some Star Wars stuff, nothing serious just a few light saber fights, because Blake is a total fan of the series and when he finds out that it exists in Ever After, he starts crafting some Light Sabers to make videos with Dexter and Humphrey who also happen to be huge fans of it. Thank the guys who did Ryan vs Dorkman on YouTube because those guys are fucking badass. It's gonna be almost like Indoor Golf, everyone will be equipped with a light saber and if they cross each others paths, then they will battle. Of course they won't be actual light sabers, just magical beams of light that are totally harmless but still behave like light sabers when in contact with each other...I'll explain more when I write that chapter.**

 **Oh yes, be sure to check out Gate of the Undead, written by my buddy Bloodydemon666. It's a cross over between Gate, High School of the Dead and the Walking Dead, so there's a lot of juicy Negan action, for all you people that love the shit out of Negan and think his presence tickles your balls and or clits...check it out when you have the time. Shout out obviously goes to you Bloodydemon666, I shall read this chapter later on!**

 **So I shall not leave you with this...I hope you all like it, leave a review, follow and favorite this story and you all have yourselves a wonderful Monday night! See ya later taters!**

Ever After High

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 19

Thronecoming Part IV

It was late afternoon in Ever After High, and many of the students were getting ready for the movie they were going to show. But that wasn't what Blake was looking forward to the most. In fact, he was a bit nervous about what was going to happen. Having gotten his practice sword from the Sword Training field, he had started wondering the halls of Ever After High, keeping his eyes peeled for Henry. He was sure the prince was going to do something, and now that he was aware that he had the Vorpal Blade, it wasn't going to be pretty. Though his katana was made of wood, he knew how to handle a fight against another sword wielder. He had been practicing his techniques in Sword Training, and had the one of the highest grades in the class. He only wished his katana was made of steel rather than oak.

He kept it tied to his waist, having it slipped through a belt loop and tied the traditional cord around it to keep the scabbard from moving around too much. He kept his right hand on the hilt of his sword, which was plain wood, instead of the traditional leather wrapped hilt he was used to seeing. The tsuba was rather basic, one that was meant for practice blows only. The blade that rested within had many knicks and chips from the heavy training he did, but it would do for now.

He wasn't sure exactly what Henry would do when they ran into each other, but if he wanted to make due with his threat, he was definitely going to attempt an attack on Blake. That was certain...if Hans had been able to attack Elsa and leave Anna to die, then Henry wouldn't have any stipulations with doing the same. So for now, he would keep his eyes peeled while he did his rounds around the school. The students and faculty would be in the charmitorium watching whatever movie they had picked, so no one would be in the hallways, that didn't exactly make him feel any better.

He had started thinking back to his earlier meeting with Kitty and Lizzie. The daughter of the Cheshire Cat seemed to be quite taken aback by his request, not by shock but from embarrassment. He didn't know why, but he felt the need to ask her instead of any other girl. He had been thinking about asking Apple or Raven to the dance, but they were too busy dealing with everything related to the Storybook. He was sure Cupid only wanted to go with Dexter, and he knew Melody would be busy handling the DJ booth to have a dance with him. It helped that Kitty was cute and had brilliant sapphire eyes. He hated to admit it, but he truly did have a weakness for blue eyed girls.

He figured that had been one of the traits he liked from his best friend. He was used to staring into Lucy's eyes a lot when he was younger, and while his friend thought it was just a staring contest, he usually found an excuse to get her to show him her eyes. He hated to admit it, but he was a rather stupid love struck boy during that age, and even know that he was bit more mature, he couldn't help but feel embarrassed. Still, he didn't just look for a girl's eye color when looking for the proper girl. As long as they were nice and had a good personality, he would be willing to give any girl a chance. Now that he was going to stay in Ever After, possibly for the rest of his life, he had started having those thoughts.

Everything was just a massive rush to him. Finding out the Storybook of Legends was a fake, being humiliated by Henry in front of the entire student body, winning the talent show, and now having thoughts about his future in this world...it was honestly too much for the boy. But he was going to focus on the here and now, rather than on the future. After all, he had forever after to think about that. He doubted he would ever get used to Ever After, but he was going to give it his hardest try.

He pressed himself against the wall, peeking around the corner. He had been walking around the third floor for a few minutes now, hoping he didn't run into the young man. Of course knowing his luck, he was sure to run into him at some point during the night, part of him wanted them to run into each other. Another more rational part was screaming at him to see the Headmaster and tell him what was going on. But with everything that was happening, he didn't want to cause the man anymore unneeded stress. So, he had decided to just handle this on his own, and return the blade before Heritage Hall disappeared for the year. Uttering a sigh of relief, he quietly walked into the next hall, passing by the empty classrooms and maroon colored lockers. He kept his gaze forward, hand on the hilt of his sword. He glanced a couple lockers briefly, continuing his walk, only for him to stop a second later.

Walking back to the lockers, he started looking them over, eyes narrowed in curiosity. He reached for the lock, which had been left open for some reason, and instead of locking it, he pulled the door open. Much to his surprise, two girls ended up falling onto the ground, as they had been hiding within. He sighed, placing his hands on his hips as he looked at the two girls.

"Kitty, Lizzie, why are you here?"

"Oh uh...we got lost?" Kitty answered, giving the boy a sheepish grin. He sighed, holding his hands out for the two girls, helping them back to their feet.

"You got lost? That's total horse shit Kitty, especially because I know you don't get lost while teleporting. Now what are you two doing here?" he asked, glaring at the two girls. Lizzie rubbed her arm, a frown on her face.

"We were worried that something would happen to you. You're our friend Blake, we can't just stand by and let you get hurt."

"So, we've been following you around. I'm surprised you didn't take noticed of us before." Kitty added, earning a sigh from the boy.

"I figured that was the case...I did sense someone nearby, but for some reason I can't sense you. Fine, you're already here...may as well help with the search." he said, turning back to the other hall.

"Worry not, I've come prepared just in case." Lizzie said, reaching her hand into the locker they had been inside. From within, she pulled out a beautiful rapier, with a brilliant crimson scabbard, a bright green hilt and a red heart, coiling around the guard. She strapped it to her waist, closing the locker right after.

"That's a pretty sword...it fits you."

"Well, if I'm going to be a queen, I have to be prepared to fight. I did have to go through rigorous training with the Knave of Hearts in order to learn this skill. It was never a fun time." she replied, earning a nod from Kitty.

"It never was, that's why I used my teleportation magic to warp us out of there, seeing her mom rage was an added bonus."

"Yes, because having the guards chasing us all through Wonderland was always fun." Lizzie replied, earning a giggle from the girl.

"You two are rather close...have you known each other your entire lives?" Blake asked curiously, glancing around the empty halls.

"We have actually. The Cheshire Cat and my mother are rather close friends, so we often times played together as children. We met Maddie around that time as well, and would always go to her father's shop to celebrate our unbirthdays and any other wacky thing the man came up with."

"Right, I totally forgot the unbirthday thing...I remember Lucy throwing a party every month to celebrate her unbirthday, it drove her mother insane. I was honestly there for the free cake." the boy said.

"You would, you look like the type of guy who just shows up to a party for the food."

"Come on Kitty, he's a boy. Mention free food and he'll do anything."

"No I won't! Just because you say, free food, doesn't mean I'm willing to do anything." the boy said, brushing the girl off. Having inspected the entire third floor, the three moved up to the fourth floor, hoping to find something up there.

"We should check the charmitorium just in case. Henry might be somewhere inside." Kitty said.

"And if he is, what exactly will we do? The place is filled with people, we can't exactly confront him inside." Lizzie added, earning a sigh from Blake who ran his fingers through his hair. His eyes widened in realization, a smile on his face.

"I got an idea, wait for me here, I'll be right back." he said, handing his wooden sword to Kitty, as he entered the charmitorium.

"What do you think he's come up with?"

"I'm not sure, but knowing Blake, it's something rather interesting." Kitty said, a grin decorating her lips.

Blake let the door softly close behind him. He walked to the edge of the fourth floor balcony, glancing down at the first floor of the charmitorium. He didn't know what movie was currently being played, but it looked to be a comedy to him. He started looking around the first and second floor seats, but from his angle he couldn't see who he was looking for. He reached into his pocket for his phone, looking for Cedar's number, quickly finding it, he typed a short message into the box, hitting send. Once he did that, he started walking down to the second floor seating, pressing himself against the wall.

"Blake, are you up here? Blake?"

"Cedar, over here." the boy called out, grabbing the girl's attention. She looked to her left, spotting the boy behind one of the large maroon curtains.

"Hey, what did you need my help for?"

"Um...well, keep this to yourself okay? Henry ended up stealing the Vorpal Blade from Alistair Wonderland's box in Heritage Hall, and I'm trying to recover it. I was hoping your Revealer Rays could help us find it." he said.

"I can't believe he would go as far as stealing someone's gift. I'll help in any way I can, oh...but I promised the girls I would sit through this movie with them. You know what, here you can borrow these for as long as you need them." Cedar said, reaching behind her back for her Revealer Rays, handing them to the boy.

"Are you sure?"

"I trust you with them...don't worry about a thing, I won't tell anyone about this." she replied, earning a nod from the boy.

"Thanks Cedar, you're a life saver." he said, giving the girl a quick hug. Her eyes widened a bit in surprise, but it was over before she could even hug him back. He gave her a smile, climbing the stairs back to the fourth floor. She shook her head, deciding to return to her seat.

Once back on the fourth floor, Blake found Kitty and Lizzie exactly where he had left them. The two girls had been lost in conversation, laughing at some unknown joke. Once he made his presence known however, the two girls did their best to hide their mirth, as if whatever they had been talking about was a secret between the two, and knowing them, it most likely was.

"Oh, you're back...what were you up to in there?"

"I was talking to Cedar, so I could get her help, but she let me borrow these instead." he said, handing Lizzie the Revealer Rays. She put them on, letting out a small gasp.

"Whoa, they really do reveal everything...dear me Kitty, you told me those earrings were genuine amethyst crystals. You lied to me." the girl said, earning a giggle from the violet haired girl.

"Aw, you actually think I would spend a lot of money on earrings? Come on Lizzie, that's not how I roll. But we're not here for that, we're here to find that blade."

"She's right, let's take a trip down to the Boys Dorms, Henry might be in his dorm, but knowing him, he's probably somewhere else...maybe we can find the Vorpal Blade there." Blake said, taking his Katana back from Kitty's hands. The three started making their way back down to the first floor dormitories.

 _ **xxx**_

Having reached Henry's dorm, Blake, Kitty and Lizzie were no facing another challenge, actually getting inside. They had knocked several times already, but thanks to the Revealer Rays, they already knew no one was inside the room. That however didn't mean they had easy access. Kitty had proposed a simple idea, her teleporting into the room, but Blake had told her that it was too easy, after all they didn't know if Henry was the type to booby trap his room, especially over the last few days. So they had resorted to another idea, picking his lock. Lizzie had been at it for a few minutes now, and aside from a few angry swears, they hadn't gotten far in that crusade.

"This is impossible...we're never gonna get inside. Just let me flash past the door, I'll unlock it and let us all in." Kitty said, earning a sigh from Blake.

"I said no...I don't want you getting hurt Kitty. How Henry has been the past few days, anything is possible with him. After all, he stole a sword, humiliated me in front of the school and spit in my face. If he can do that with a steady hand, imagine what treasure trove of misery is waiting for us beyond this door." he said.

"We're about to find out." Lizzie said, a soft click filling their ears. She threw open the door, quickly backing away in case something happened. Blake put on the Revealer Rays, and he glanced around the room, finding it completely normal.

"Okay, we can go inside. Kitty you're with me, Liz keep an eye on the door and tell me if something catches your eye." he said.

"Alright, I'll do just that!" the girl said, standing guard in front of the door, placing her hand on the pommel of her sword.

Blake and Kitty shared a not, quickly entering the room. They started looking around, making sure not to take anything out of place. The room looked rather ordinary, not a thing out of place. Blake did see the broken remains of Henry's guitar, which had been placed on his desk. He frowned when he looked at the instrument, feeling back for the young man. No one deserved having something like that broken before their eyes, but he also did agree that the young man did deserve it. Shaking his head, he walked over to the dresser, looking at all of the things placed on it. He saw a picture of Henry, and Hans, who looked exactly like he did in the Frozen movie. At least he had confirmation that the stories of Ever After matched the ones in his world.

"Anything?" He asked, glancing at Kitty who shook her head.

"Not a thing, but I did find that missing knitting needle I lost...wonder how it got here?" she asked, glancing at the silver needle in her hand. She shrugged, tucking it into her belt. Blake grit his teeth, glancing around the room another time, but nothing was revealed to him.

"Let's get out of here, it's clear that he isn't keeping it here." he said, moving toward the exit. Once he had locked the door, the three left the dormitory, heading back toward the foyer.

"I don't understand. What is his thought process, why would he end up stealing something like that? For what purpose? Just to kill someone?" Lizzie said, her questions hanging in the air.

"We can't really get an answer to any of those questions, not until we talk to him...and we all know that isn't going to happen." Blake said. He shivered slightly, as the air had gotten a bit cold. He glanced out the window, seeing it had started raining, and not just regular rain, it was a thunderstorm. A flash of lightning cut across the sky, lighting it up for a few seconds.

"I don't like thunder, it makes this kitty shiver in fear." Kitty said, holding her arms closely to herself.

"I don't like thunder either...but I love a good rain storm. My grandmother always told me, when it rains really hard at night, that the world is only washing its troubles away. Even if it rains at night, the sun will rise the next day, and the tears the sky has shed will be dried up by its gentle warmth." he said.

"That's beautiful...you're grandmother is a wise woman, Blake."

"She was Lizzie, she was...she passed away last year. I miss her a lot, but that's life I guess. Ironically enough, it rained the night of her wake...but I remembered what she had told me. Even if you cry, the warmth of the sun will always dry those tears away. We should keep looking around, maybe he's in the school somewhere." Blake said, standing in front of the stairs that lead to the fifth floor.

"Blake, are you alright? I mean...you don't have to force a smile on your face. I can tell you're suffering from all of this." Lizzie said, taking a hold of his hand.

"I'm not suffering." he said dejectedly.

"Now now, lying is my forte not yours. I don't need Cedar's Revealer Rays to tell me you aren't feeling well. Just know that we know what it feels like." Kitty said, earning a nod from him.

"I know...you guys have dealt with this pain for four years...here I am acting like it's no big deal when in fact it is. I'm sorry, I must seem selfish and insensitive."

"You're not...you're not being insensitive. The sole fact that you have this much strength, to just accept it and try to live your life as normally as you can, despite the shitty hand you were dealt...well, that is inspiring. I'm quite happy to be your friend Blake, and I'll be there whenever you need me."

"Me too, I don't know why...but I feel like we're gonna be responsible for quite a lot of pranks in the future. Besides, I have a lot of fun with Radio Rebel."

"Kitty! You were supposed to keep that a secret!" the boy hissed, earning a giggle from the girl.

"Whoops...sorry...not sorry." she said, giving the boy a wink.

"Wait a spell, you two are...really?" Lizzie asked, earning a nod from the boy.

"Yes, we're both responsible for the radio show killing all the other shows in school...but keep it a secret okay? If we get caught, our asses will be the least of our worries." he said.

"Fine, I'll keep it to myself...I quite enjoy it, actually...wait...those stories that the Radio Rebel sometimes tells to inspire all of us...is that you?" she asked.

"That's right, Blake is the one who tells everyone those stories...my favorite one is the one about the glass ponies!"

"Yeah yeah, laugh it up. It isn't my fault that I love horses, I always wanted to ride one like those cowboys in old western movies, but nope. Never could...and stop teasing me about it, dammit!" he cried, glaring at the violet haired girl, who just grinned.

"I think it's a wonderful dream, who knows? One of these days it may come true! Now let's go, we need to check the fifth floor, and if we don't find Henry then, we'll tell the headmaster."

 _ **xxx**_

Jack Hills wasn't having a good time. What had started out as a night out with friends, had quickly turned into a sour night. He, Pierre and Frost had decided to hang out at the arcade, not exactly feeling up for the movie. It had been a good night out with the guys, and they had started making plans to rebuild Yuletide Bliss up from the ground. It had been a good night for them all, until Henry had shown up.

Jack wasn't exactly fearful of his former friend, we was more worried of what he was going to do to them. Since he had been the one who had broken his guitar, which had been a gift from his father, he was worried that Henry was going to do something against him. Pierre had also been a bit wary, his hand balled up just in case. Frost had decided to ignore the prince, deciding to just continue on with the rest of their night. Having left the arcade, they headed to Hocus Latte and had gotten themselves some snacks, Henry had done the same, sitting in his usual table, keeping his eyes right on them as they took a window seat.

"Bro, he keeps following us and it's starting to scare me." Pierre said, not looking up from his muffin.

"Just ignore him, he's most likely pissed off due to what you two did. But he deserved it for being an asshole...he took our band and turned it into his personal kingdom, and it doesn't work that way." Frost added, taking a bite from his frosted blue cupcake.

"He's right Pierre...I was getting sick of how he treated us. I may not get along with Blake, but I don't agree with what he did to him. I'm starting to think he had a hand in those rumors too." Jack added, taking a sip of his coffee.

"I know...besides, if I'm being honest, compared to Purple Rhapsody our music is sub-par." Frost added, earning a chuckle from Pierre.

"It totally is...I mean come on, they have Melody Piper in their band, and Dexter is a pretty good bassist, I mean did you hear that bass line for that song they did in the Grimmnasium? It was totally epic." Pierre said, mimicking the notes as if he had his bass with him.

"I hate to admit it, but Cerise is a better drummer than I am. It's embarrassing to admit that man, especially since she's a girl."

"Aw Jack, don't worry about that...we'll all be on par with Purple Rhapsody soon...I say, we let go of Yuletide Bliss, and start fresh. Look for some good players and make music for the reasons we all started the band in the first place, for fun! We could even collaborate with Purple Rhapsody, that would benefit all of us in the end!" Frost said, earning nods from his friends.

"Oh man, check it out...it's starting to rain...we should head back before the heavy stuff hits us." Pierre said, glancing at the water droplets pricking the glass window.

"I agree...but what about...you know?" Frost said, briefly glancing at Henry, who was looking at his MirrorPhone.

"Let's split up, we'll head back two different ways to see what he does, but stay close." Jack said, earning nods from his friends.

The three friends stood up, grabbing all of their trash tossing it in the bin on their way out. Once outside, Jack split up from Frost and Pierre, who headed toward the Glass Slipper, while he himself started walking back toward the high school. He shoved his hands in his pockets, walking down a side street, keeping his guard up just in case. Just as he figured, the sandy blond prince had started following him. As he approached the central square, he noticed the replica Storybook was still on display, though it had been placed under glass for the night. He decided to go take a look at it, knowing Henry would follow him up.

Jack narrowed his eyes as he glanced at the book, he had been one of the few who hadn't signed on Legacy Day, as his story was supposed to follow Snow White's. He had always dreamed of signing the book and following in the footsteps of his father and his aunt. Even though his nursery rhyme was short, he wanted to play his part to a T and live his life happily with whatever happened. He placed his hand on the glass, glancing over his shoulder at his follow.

"So, what are you planning on doing here tonight Henry? Getting revenge for the destruction of your guitar?" Jack said, glaring at the tall teen.

"I'm not here for that...I'm here to give you another chance. I want you to help me...take care of Blake...he doesn't belong in this world, so he should be ejected from it. Come on, he made up those rumors about the ketchup, remember?"

"I don't know what's swimming in your skull man, but I'm not helping you do that. There is no definitive proof that Blake actually started that rumor, and true, he isn't from this world, but who are you to say he doesn't belong here? He clearly has a destiny, if he was able to get a key for this book." he said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"That book is a fake, didn't you hear that Cedar bitch announce it to all of Ever After? The real book is missing, that means none of us have a destiny. And I refuse to share the same fate with the foreigner." Henry said, teeth grit in anger. He reached behind his back, pulling out the Vorpal Blade he had taken. Jack's eyes widened, as he backed into the pedestal containing the fake book.

"Dude...is that what I think it is?"

"One two, one two, and through and through. The Vorpal Blade went snicker-snack, he left it dead and with its head, he went galumphing back." the boy chanted, holding the dagger downward, his hand tightly wrapped around its hilt.

"Where the hell did you get that? Do you know how fucked you'll be if you get caught with that?" Jack asked, earning a chuckle from the boy.

"Who said anyone was going to say anything? The only two that know it's gone is me and you...and after tonight, it'll just be me again." he said. Jack's breath hitched in his throat, understanding what the boy meant. He broke into a sprint, jumping over the banister and racing down the stairs. Henry ran after him, with unnatural speed, a deranged look on his face.

"Okay, definitely not the guy I knew." Jack said, quickly crossing the bridge.

The rain started pouring harder as he quickly approached the entrance of Ever After High, if he could find a teacher, Henry would definitely be dealt with. He felt a sharp pain in his thigh, causing him to fall down, a scream of pain leaving his lips. He glanced at his thigh, seeing a small knife sticking out it. Eyes wide in shock, he grabbed the blade and pulled it out, a small amount of blood coating his fingers.

"Tsk, tsk. You tried to run, but that is obviously not a good idea." Henry said, quickly closing the distance. Jack rapidly stood up, turning to face the prince.

"Dude, what is wrong with you? This isn't like you man, the fuck!"

"What's wrong with me? My life has been a living hell ever since that goddamn foreigner arrived here. I hate him, I hate him so much! He ruined my chances of going to Thronecoming, destroyed my band, and turned you against me. It isn't gonna hurt, besides a few broken bones will definitely be worth the damage you did to my guitar." he said, a grin on his lips.

Jack turned around, quickly heading toward the school. Even though his leg was injured, he wasn't going to let Henry do anymore harm to him. He growled in pain as he climbed the stairs, quickly entering the foyer of the school, finding it completely empty. He let out another scream of pain, felling to the ground, he noticed another knife sticking out of his left leg this time. It had sliced his Achilles tendon, making him unable to walk. Henry let out a laugh, about to stab the boy when he felt a sharp strike to his side, causing him to jump a few feet away.

"Are you okay?" Blake asked, glancing at Jack who's jaw hung wide open.

"Why would you help me? After I was so rude to you?"

"Because we don't deserve this kind of fate...it doesn't matter what you did. We're all the same in the end, human beings. Henry, drop the blade, right now or I will not hold back." he said, getting into a fighting stance. Henry let out a chuckle, running toward him.

"You're the one I wanted to kill the most!" he cried, throwing a slash at his face. Blake quickly shifted his wooden sword, parrying the hit.

He could see his blade had been chipped from the attack. He doubted he would be able to hold the boy off for much longer. Henry threw a few more wide slashes at him, which he easily blocked or deflected. With one heavy slash, Blake's wooden sword was sliced in half. The Vorpal Blade went snicker-snack as it sliced a gash on his arm, making him cry in pain.

"Blake!"

"Lizzie, Kitty, get out of here now!" the boy cried, tossing the remains of his sword away. Henry turned to face the two girls, holding the dagger in his hand, blood dripping to the floor.

"Well lookie here, two of Blake's friends. I might as well send you all to the other side...if I find the real Storybook, I can definitely benefit from stealing your destiny, dear Lizzie." he said, walking toward the girl. She quickly brandished her rapier, holding it in a defensive grasp. Blake grabbed his scabbard and broke it over Henry's head, hoping to knock the teenager out, sadly that didn't work.

"Kitty, get the headmaster...I got this." he said.

"But Blake."

"Go now Kitty!" he cried, ducking in time to dodge another swipe from the angered boy.

He tackled him to the ground, slamming his fist into the underside of his chin. Henry growled punching Blake in the face, causing him to move back a few feet. Feeling a bit stunned, the black haired boy quickly dodged another stab, knocking Henry off his feet. Still he didn't let go of the Vorpal Blade. Quickly tucking his legs in, he placed them on the taller teen's chest, using all if his strength to kick him back into the wall, causing him to finally let go of the Vorpal Blade. Blake scrambled to it, grabbing it from the ground, quickly running in the opposite direction.

Henry let out a growl of anger, racing after the black haired teenager. Blake glanced over his shoulder, eyes widening as he saw Henry nearing. His footfalls were growing heavier as he continued to get closer. With nothing else to lose, the boy decided to seek refuge in the library, blocking the doors with several book filled carts. Looking around, he grabbed a nearby lamp and pulled it from its plug, using the cord to tie the handles shut. He felt a sharp stinging in his arm, and noticed his jacket had been drenched in blood. He grabbed a hold of the cut, having placed the Vorpal Blade behind his back. He started looking around for someone, but knew the Evil Step Librarians were most likely in the charmitorium with the rest of the staff.

Walking further into the library, he started hearing Henry's angry shouts and pounding at the doors. Swallowing the lump in his throat, he hurried into the next chamber, seeing another door which was black in color, having a plaque at the front which read, Forbidden Books. He heard the doors to the library slam open, causing him to go inside the room, locking the door right after. Looking around, he saw hundreds of floor to ceiling shelves stacked heavy with books. There were a few desks and unused tables, which he noticed had a thin coating of dust. He saw another door and started walking toward it, looking for the handle, only it didn't have one.

"What...where's the handle?" he hissed, glancing over his shoulder. He heard the knob rattling behind him, causing him to lean back against the door, grabbing a hold of the Vorpal Blade.

" _You can't hide from me Bigby, come and face me like a man you asshole!"_ came the muffled howl from Henry. Blake growled angrily, holding the blade up defensively. His eyes widened a bit when he saw it start to glow, morphing into a different blade all together.

It now looked like a traditional Katana, with various engravings on the entirety of the blade. He noticed the poem associated with the Vorpal Blade had been etched on the edge of the blade in beautiful calligraphic letters. The hilt was black in color, with leather lacing crossing over the metal hilt. The tsuba was also rather unique, still bearing the look of a traditional sword, while following the shape of a traditional tsuba. He grabbed the sword with both hands, leaning back against the wall, watching as the door started being kicked in. The wall behind him glowed brightly, sucking him inside. He let out a yelp of surprise, falling onto his back.

"Ow...what a night." he muttered, rubbing his head. He glanced at his injured arm, noticing a slight violet light slowly sealing the cut. He figured his magic had activated on its own and had started healing his injury.

He forced himself to his feet, glancing around the new area. It was a spiraling chamber, with shelves lined with books. There was a long winding staircase, leading further down. Knowing there was no way he could go back, Blake grabbed a hold of the Vorpal Blade and started walking down, hoping to find some refuge in whatever this place was.

 _ **xxx**_

It had taken him around twenty minutes to finally made it down all of the stairs. What he found was rather interesting, it seemed all of the old tomes associated with Ever After High were kept in this place. He had seen files dating back to the original fairytales, back when Ever After High had first been established. He was even more surprised to see that Milton Grimm was actually far older than he let on, at least centuries old, according to some of the files he had read on his way down. He however had reached the end of the Forbidden Library, seeing a large Mirror Screen on the far wall. There was a desk underneath it, lined with various books, all stacked in a rather messy manner. Glancing around, he noticed there was a bathroom to the far left, along with what looked like a kitchen and even a bedroom. It made him start to worry, did someone actually live here?

"Hello? Is there anyone living here? I'm in a bit of trouble and I need help!" he called out, glancing around the room.

He moved toward a dresser, seeing a few picture frames on it. He took a hold of one, blowing the dust from it, seeing a black and white image of two young boys, standing side by side. He felt a presence behind him and quickly turned around, surprised to see someone in front of him.

"Who are you?" Blake called out, holding the Vorpal Blade defensively.

"A request for help is one I heed, I shall help you indeed." the man said, causing Blake to tilt his head. He narrowed his eyes in confusion.

"Riddlish? Uh...you're going to help?" he asked, earning a nod from the man. He didn't feel any sense of danger, so he ended up lowering his sword.

"I ended up falling in here, I was hiding from another student, Henry Andersen, he stole this Vorpal Blade from Alistair Wonderland's gift box. He tried to kill me with it." he said.

"A dangerous fiend, your life is safe if it is here you choose to stay."

 _(Translation: You can stay here for as long as you like.)_

"Thank you...my name is Blake Bigby, you must be Giles Grimm right?"

"Indeed, indeed. Friends of a feather, together alone." the man replied, earning a nod from Blake.

"Why are you speaking in Riddlish? Are you cursed?" Blake asked, feeling a bit concerned for the man. He gave him a nod, pointing to the other boy on the picture he was holding. His eyes widened in shock.

"You're brother did this? How cruel! I don't agree with many of the things he's doing. Especially with the Storybook of Legends, I'm sure you know but the one on display is a fake. He tried forcing Raven to sign it!" he said.

"A tradition to follow, and names to be writ, on the tablet of bone, inscriptions must be placed." Giles replied, earning a nod from the boy. He closed his eyes mentally translating what he had said.

"So...Headmaster Grimm is one to follow traditions...which is why he's so adamant to follow the stories...even at the cost of someone's happiness. But why is that?" he muttered, eyes narrowing in thought. He felt his phone vibrating a second later, reaching inside his pocket he slide his thumb across the screen, holding it to his ear.

"Hey Lizzie, what's up? Did you get Jack to the nurse's office?" he asked.

" _I did, he's being transferred to the local hospital. Henry sliced his Achilles tendon, and he might not be able to walk on that foot for awhile. He also has two stab wounds on his legs, Kitty managed to tell the Headmaster."_ she replied, earning a sigh from the boy.

"What about Henry, where is he?"

" _I'm not sure, but the school is under lockdown. Everyone is either in their dorms or in the charmitorium. No one even knows, they're just doing an encore of last night's show. Blake, where are you, I'm worried!"_

"I'm fine Lizzie, I'm underneath the school. There's a door in the Forbidden Library, Henry chased me there and I ended up falling through it. I'm actually with the Headmaster's brother." he replied.

" _Oh thank goodness. I was worried that you got hurt, I didn't mention anything about the Vorpal Blade to the headmaster, he just thinks Henry went on a rampage...if we can recover it, we'll be able to return it before anyone knows it's missing."_

"Don't worry about that, I managed to get the blade off him...so I'll bring it back whenever I have the time. Stay safe alright, let me know what happens." he said, ending the call. He let out a sigh, glancing at his phone screen.

"Is Thronecoming ever this exciting here?" he said, earning a chuckle from Giles.

"Excitement is here, but never like this, only this year." he replied.

"I figured."

 _ **xxx**_

" _Now, you all might be wondering what happened after that night. As it turns out, Henry was indeed found by police later on in the morning. He had run off when he hadn't been able to follow Blake into the Forbidden Library."_ Chester said, a tone of seriousness in his voice.

" _Indeed, he had taken the cowards way out, and tried returning to his home in the Southern Isles, but was quickly apprehended. Headmaster Grimm has managed to keep everything under wraps, not even the students of Ever After know what happened, except a select few."_ Weiss said.

"And Thronecoming is back underway! Happy Friday by the way!" Blake said, continuing where the narrators had left off. He heard a sign from Weiss, though Chester seemed amused by it all.

" _Indeed it is...might I say you were a brave young man, taking on someone like Henry all by yourself. I commend you young man, not many can handle themselves like you did that night."_

"It's nothing Chester...he was going after Lizzie and Kitty, and I wasn't going to let that happen. In the end, Jack is safe, I have the Vorpal Blade in my hand, and we can all go back to figuring out what's the most important event of Thronecoming Week, the Bookball Game or the Thronecoming Dance!"

" _It's definitely the dance! No one ever listens to me."_

" _It is not the dance! It's the Bookball Game, look over there, the guys are getting ready for the game! You can't tell me you aren't excited!"_

" _I'm not excited at all. I'm much more excited in figuring out who's going to be Thronecoming Queen. After all, the ladies have already gotten their dresses Fairest, and are waiting to break them out during the dance!"_

"Ah, and just like that our sense of normalcy is totally back." Blake said, taking a sip of his drink. Maddie slammed her hands on the table, startling the boy a bit. She glared right into his eyes, an annoyed look on her face.

"What's the hatter with you? I had finally gotten them to stop arguing and here you are setting them off?"

"Hello Maddie, did anyone ever tell you that you're cute when your mad? Well...angry?" he asked. Just light that, her anger vanished being replaced by girlish giggles.

"Why thank you Blake, I very much enjoy your compliments...but this doesn't make me forget what you did here...I'm watching you Mister." she said, glaring at him as she left keeping her eyes on him until she left the street they were on.

"This is my life now." Blake said, almost dejectedly.

" _You say that like it's a bad thing...I've grown quite fond of your presence here, and I don't think it would be the same without you."_ Chester said.

" _I agree with Chester, you would have been missed had you left. I know it's hard...but I'm sure you'll be just fine."_

"Thanks Weiss, I know I'll be fine too...I just...wish I could see my family one more time." he said, a frown on his face.

He saw something sparkling not far from where he was sitting, causing him to stand up from his seat. He walked over to a nearby table, seeing what looked to be a coin. Picking it up off the ground, he looked it over, seeing the image of a hand holding the coin above what looked like a well. Flipping it over, he saw the same image only the coin was suspended above the well. He turned it back and forth a few times, seeing the motion of the hand dropping the coin. His eyes widened with realization.

"The Wishing Well, of course! It might not be able to break my curse, but it might help me see my family again. Yes! Thank you!" he cried, grabbing a hold of his backpack. He grabbed a hold of the Vorpal Blade's hilt which he had set on the table, and slipped it into his belt.

"Might as well return that while I'm at it."

Following the path out of Bookend, Blake started walking toward the Enchanted Forest, knowing that to be the current location of the Wishing Well. He had heard from Lizzie that the well was never in one place for too long, but during Thronecoming Week, it remained stationary, most likely to support Heritage Hall during it's week long stay in Ever After. Since the hall was closer to him than the well, he decided to head there first, so he could put the Vorpal Blade back and end this nightmare that he had been locked in for the last couple days. The familiar Greek style building soon became visible and he closed the distance with a short sprint. Climbing up the steps, he decided to take a look back at Bookend, a small smile on his face.

The village that was more akin to a city had started growing on him. With Ever After High as its backdrop, and its colorful students and staff. This certainly wasn't anything like his world, but unlike his world, it was much different. There was magic, hope, love and various other things, that his world often times lacked. Even though this wasn't the world he was born into, he would at least try to live his life to the fullest while he was there. He didn't know when he would be able to break this curse placed on him, when he would be able to speak with his family, and when he would be able to return home. But he wasn't going to think too hard about it, for now he would just embrace his situation and continue living on.

As if casting away his past self, Blake turned around, moving into the Hall. The familiar musty smell and beautiful portraits of the local fairytales greeted him. It was almost surreal to be there again, seeing it all for the first time, without having to deal with Henry's antics or deal with his own anger. He was lucky to be surrounded by the stories that had molded his mind when he was young. He was definitely lucky to be a part of the current story as well, even though he didn't have his part to play. Reaching the Storybook of Legends, he took a left, walking back to the area where the Wonderland Children had their boxes set up. Reaching Alistair's box, he reached behind his back for the Vorpal Blade, looking it over.

"Man, if Lucy we're here she would definitely flip her lid. She always wanted to wield this thing...she's probably gonna get jealous when I tell her this one. Well, back you go." he said, trying to open the box. The only problem was the fact that it was locked.

He tried finding a way to open it, but the only way it would open would be with a key. Looking at the keyhole, he noticed it didn't look like a what a normal keyhole would look like. It was some weird key that looked to be in the shape of a flamingo. There were a few other knobs and switches, along with a few other things lining the outside of the box. He remembered that Henry had to force the lock open with a knife in order to open the box. He tried using the Vorpal Blade, but in its retracted form, they blade was completely hidden. He sighed, face palming.

"Leave it to Alice to make everything into a damn riddle. Then again, she is Alice." he muttered dryly, taking a deep breath. With no other options, Blake decided it would be a wise idea to just leave Heritage Hall and find another means to open the box, even if it meant getting a knife and forcing it open.

As he was leaving however, he realized he wasn't the only one in Heritage Hall. Raven, Apple, Maddie and Cedar had also decided to explore the place, making it rather awkward when they all saw each other. Blake remained silent, not knowing exactly what to say to the four girls, similarly Raven felt the same, wondering just what he was doing there. Apple took the initiative, standing before the boy.

"What are you doing here Blake? Weren't you gonna watch the Bookball Game?" she asked curiously.

"Hmm, watch our team get brutally creamed by giants? Explore Heritage Hall and not get caught? Which one seems like the better option Apple?" he asked, giving her a smirk. She rolled her eyes, shaking her head.

"I suppose that is true...we're actually here to search for the Storybook of Legends, we think it might be in the big one." she said, causing Blake to look at it.

"You think the little book, is inside the big book? Okay, Ever After one, Blake zero...it's gonna take me awhile longer to get used to this nonsense." he said.

"Blake, what is that in your hand?" Maddie said, eyes narrowed as she glanced at the hilt of the sword he was holding. He brought it behind his back, giving her a smile.

"It's uh...nothing." he said.

"Really? Because to me it looks like something, and that something is actually a very important something. So if that something is nothing, then it's a nothing that we can afford to see." she said.

"You got me there, and since it's an important something that I know nothing about, it's now your responsibility to return this something into it's proper place so that nothing happens to it." he said, handing her the Vorpal Blade. He turned to leave, flicking the collar of his jacket.

"You're lucky we're friends Blake, or else you would be in a whole heap of trouble!" Maddie cried. The boy just gave them a wave, a smile on his face.


	20. Thronecoming Finale

**A/N:**

 **Huzzah! We have reached 20 chapters! A momentous day! I wasn't expecting this story to have already reached this many chapters, but I am so happy it has. I'm having a lot of fun writing this story and exploring Blake's adventures in Ever After. It's become really fun, and I hope I can bring you more chapters in the future. This shall be the finale for the Thronecoming Arc, which shall conclude with the dance. The chapters following this arc will be covering various episodes in this series, following the season shift from Fall to Winter. We will also start seeing more Winter events in the future along with a slow transition into Spring. So I do hope you enjoy this lengthy chapter.**

 **Last chapter, we got to see Henry slowly fall into insanity...I do apologize for not writing a lengthier fight scene, I wanted too but at the moment I didn't think it would fit the story. While Blake does know martial arts, he prefers not to fight unless he really has to, unless it's in self defense. The only exception to this was of course when he broke his own rules and punched and kicked Henry in the castleteria. He does have slight regrets about doing that as he broke a capital rule in Martial Arts which he takes really seriously. So please forgive me for not writing a longer better fight scene, I promise to have some good ones in the future, though they'll mostly be caused by Blake's shenanigans in Ever After High.**

 **For the chapters following this arc, I have decided to give Blake a relationship, though I shall not reveal who it is until you read those chapters. In order to reach the final pairing of sorts, I decided to at least give Blake a relationship in Ever After. I wanted to do something later on surrounding this relationship which will show Blake in a stage of vulnerability, all of this will happen around the Spring Unsprung arc of the story, so do look forward to it. As for who you think it is, eh...take a guess if you'd like, I'm not gonna confirm nor deny anything, but it's always fun to see you all speculate and stuff.**

 **This chapter will contain a song, so prepare thy anus, for it shall have fire surrounding it. I have included a key so you all know who is singing what...I do apologize, I realized too late that the underlined parts don't actually show up here on fanfiction for some reason, so it might look awkward...I'll just have to post edit them in. I do recommend you listen to the song during that part so you get a feel for it and how I want the scene to play out. Trust me, when you write a song in a chapter, it takes quite a lot to set the scene and stuff. I'm working on a future chapter that will include another song, but it will also be a live performance style, meaning it's gonna be a little challenging to write, but hey, I love a challenge. I hope you all like this chapter and you like the song I have included within. Clearly, I claim no ownership of the song, since I'm just borrowing the lyrics, don't sue me!**

 **Song Used in this Chapter: Strike Back: Cover by Caleb Hyles. (Please show him some love, this man is one of the greatest singers on YouTube, and has done amazing covers, with my other favorite cover artist, Jonathan Young. Seriously, these two are talented as fuck, check out their content, you will not regret it.)**

Ever After High

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 20

Thronecoming Finale

 _Key for the song:_

 _Italics: Blake singing_

 _ **Bolt Italics: Dexter Singing**_

 _Underlined Italics: Cupid Singing_

 _(Papercut Break): Cerise singing_

Though he wanted to head to the Wishing Well right away, Blake realized that it was already late afternoon. The Bookball Game would be coming to an end soon, and it wouldn't be long until the Thronecoming Dance would start for the night. He knew there was quite a lot to do before that, so instead of getting his wish granted, he pocketed the coin he had found and headed straight back to his dorm for a shower. He wanted to take care of that before anything else, especially since he had been running for most of the day, as a means to stay fit. He had also practiced some parkour on his way back from Heritage Hall, as to not forget that important skill set. After all, he didn't know when it could come in handy. He had also made a mental note to thank Mr. Knight for all of the training he had given him with a sword, if it wasn't because of his quick thinking, he was sure Jack would have been severely hurt or worse, even though he didn't fight Henry for long.

Not wanting to think of that, the boy quickly finished his shower, and put on his underwear and socks, grabbing a white tee shirt from the towel rack, putting it on his body. He walked back into his room, trying his hair as he moved toward his closet. He had gone shopping with Hunter the previous day, having found himself a suit for practically any occasion. He was glad that his friend was more fashion savvy than he was, though he had Ashlynn to thank as well. He had grabbed a hold of the clothes hanger holding the suit, within its protective pouch, and placed it in his bed. He glanced at the digital clock, seeing it was only three twenty-four in the afternoon. Even though it was still early afternoon, he knew that time wouldn't stay still, and he had to make the best of every single minute until the dance. He grabbed his black slacks and slipped them on, slipping his studded belt through the loops.

He grabbed his white dress shirt and slipped it on, making sure the buttons were lined up with their proper holes before quickly buttoning them up. The last thing he needed was to look like an idiot because he was trying to rush. Once his shirt was fully buttoned, he tucked into his pants and fastened his belt. Sitting down on the bed, he grabbed his black leather boots, which he had recently bought, and put them on, zipping the zipper all the way to the top. He let out a sigh, laying back down onto his bed.

"Is homecoming happening back home? Does time even run in the same axis? It would suck if that were the case." he muttered, glancing at the ceiling.

He couldn't stop himself from wondering what his family was doing? If they did in fact not remember him. Would they be living life normally? Would they start questioning who the boy in the pictures was? Or did the Evil Queen somehow manage to get rid of those too. He decided not to think about it, and got up, deciding to continue getting dressed. He grabbed the tie he had bought along with the suit and walked into his bathroom, looking at his reflection on the new mirror. Headmaster Grimm had gotten some enchanted mirrors so that the Evil Queen didn't make contact with him, and he was rather thankful for that. He lifted his collar up and started putting on his tie, like his father had showed him a few years ago, when his aunt got married. He remembered that day rather fondly, his cousins ended up driving a golf cart into the hotel pool they had been staying in. It had been a rather interesting wedding. Once he had finished fixing his tie, he brushed his hair down, having added some gel to it.

Just as he set his brush down, he heard a knock on his door. Sighing to himself, he grabbed his suit and put it on, quickly buttoning, fixing his cuffs and lapels as he walked toward the door. He pulled it open, seeing a tired looking Dexter on the other side. He gave him a quick look, brows raising quite high. He was also dressed in a rather fancy suit, which was a dark navy blue, with bright golden buttons and cufflinks. He was wearing a white shirt underneath with a stripped tie, tucked into his suit. He wore a pair of dark blue jeans instead of slacks, and was also wearing a brand new pair of sneakers. Blake noticed the white sash the boy was wearing around his shoulder, bright golden letters spelling the words, Thronecoming Court on it. He stood aside, letting his friend into his dorm.

"How was the game? I heard Cerise saved your asses...Daring and Sparrow should now know not to mess with her." he said.

"Oh they do, she totally saved our butts out there...she's really awesome, though she is rather...well...beast like, in some ways." the boy said.

"She's certainly something." Blake said, walking over to his dresser, grabbing his charm bracelet. He placed it on around his wrist, snapping it into place. He grabbed the violet-blue rose he had bought, placing it in his pocket, using a safety pin to keep it in place.

"Anyway, there's a reason why I came here early, two actually. I wanted to see if you wanted to help me do a final check on our set for the night."

"Sure, is Melody already there? Looking her fairest?" he asked jokingly, earning a chuckle from the brown haired prince.

"You know it, she actually looks really cute...no one asked her to the dance though, they all figured she was too busy with the band and her DJ gig to ask her. It's a shame too." he said.

"Mhmm, what about you? You get yourself a date? Is it Raven?" Blake asked, wiggling his brows a bit, causing the boy to blush.

"No...I didn't ask anyone. I was afraid of getting turned down, besides I'll be busy with the band too, and handling the votes...which reminds me, the second thing I'm here for." he said, reaching into his suit for a what looked like a white cloth.

"You're gonna blow my nose?" he asked chuckling softly.

"Nope, I'm here to officially welcome you to the Thronecoming Court." he said, unfurling the sash in his hand, placing it over his friend's shoulder.

"What the fuck? I'm on the final ballot?" he asked, earning a nod from the boy.

"Let's just say, Tuesday's encore of our performance during the talent show sealed the deal. The polls close at the start of the dance, so if you haven't voted for king or queen, then hurry up and do it."

"Oh, I already voted for both. I voted for Cupid as Thronecoming Queen and for you as Thronecoming King." Blake said, fixing his sash.

"What...seriously? Why me?"

"Because man, you live in Daring's shadow all the time. I figured you could actually stand out if you won the crown this time around. Besides, didn't Daring win last year? Imagine the look on his face when his little bro wins instead." he said, earning a nod from Dexter.

"That is true...so who did you ask for Thronecoming? Are you still saying you aren't gonna date anyone?"

"No...since my situation here became more...permanent, I'll just let the chips fall where they may. I'm a rebel after all...as for your answer, I asked Kitty to the dance, I even got her one of these." he said, holding up a plastic box, which was holding a beautiful corsage, made entirely out of bright blue and purple Forget-me-nots. Dexter gave a low whistle, quite impressed with his choice.

"Nice, I bet she'll like this. We should head out, the only ones at the Grimmnasium now are some of the committee members, so we'll be mostly undisturbed." Dexter said, earning a nod from the boy. He placed the corsage in his pocket, grabbing his MirrorPhone and his dorm keys. He paused for a second, grabbing the Wishing Coin as well, placing that in his pants pocket. He didn't know why, but he had felt the need to grab it as well.

Once he had everything, he followed Dexter out of his dorm, making sure his door was locked before they left. On the way to the Grimmnasium, the two discussed the songs they would be doing, as well as throwing some ideas in for future songs. He had also discussed a new song, the same one he had talked to Cupid about. Dexter had been on board with the music video, and had said that he would happily film it, though that would also make it a bit challenging since the bass was an integral part of the video. Blake had told him that they would need to record the song in the studio before they actually filmed the video. He had also proposed the idea of doing it live, but they weren't any events coming up, except the Winter Formal, which was still a couple months away.

The two arrived at the Grimmnasium a few minutes later, which was finally fully decorated. Blake looked around, taking notice of every little detail that had been put around the large room. He saw several ice sculptures on various tables around the room, some frost fairies had been flying around them, to keep the ice from melting. The school chefs and some of the students had been helping put all of the food on the buffet tables. Blake walked toward the center of the room, glancing up at the giant disco ball that had been placed there. He had only seen one in a movie, but seeing one in real life was a rather interesting experience. He was sure that ball rivaled the size of the ball that dropped in Times Square on New Years Eve. Dexter tapped his shoulder, pulling his attention toward the stage, where Melody was, currently looking over her set up.

"Yo Melody, how's it going?" Dexter asked, reaching the edge of the stage. The girl looked up, giving the prince a smile.

"It's all coming along fine. Well look at you, a true Prince Charming, that Thronecoming sash definitely suits you." the white haired girl said, causing Blake to blush, though he hid his embarrassment with a grin.

"Thanks Ellie, you look wicked too. That dress totally suits you." he said, giving her a wink.

"I appreciate the compliment, but it isn't time for you to swoon the ladies, at least not yet. I reviewed the songs we're gonna perform, the order is up to you."

"Well, we already decided on Hysteria as our first song...I think we should do Somebody right after, Set it All Free third, and finish off with Strike Back, the new song...maybe if we get another standing ovation, we can perform another song." he said, a smirk on his face.

"But Blake, this is a dance, everyone will be standing." Dexter replied, earning a nod from the boy.

"And?"

"You cheeky bastard, I got no issue with a fifth song...but we haven't exactly practiced one, so let's stick to the four we do know." Melody said, grabbing a clipboard, checking off everything she had already checked.

"True, well I'm gonna check the guitars to make sure they're all in tune...I may or may not play something." he replied, grabbing Cupid's guitar from it's stand, sitting down at the edge of the stage.

"Feel free too, might curve our boredom a bit. Hey, have any of you seen Henry? I haven't seen him since the parade on Tuesday." Dexter said, earning a shrug from Melody.

"Me either, what about Blake? Have you seen that shit for brains?" the girl asked, earning a shrug from the boy.

"Not at all, it's been rather peaceful though...maybe be went home?" he said. It hurt a bit, having to lie about what had happened, but Headmaster Grimm didn't want the news to come out yet, so he wasn't going to say anything. He started playing a tune, making sure each string was perfectly tuned.

"I don't doubt it...maybe he was so heartbroken from losing his guitar that he went home to his parents. After everything he's done over this entire week, he doesn't deserve to be in Ever After High." Dexter said.

"Who are we to judge though? He did that all for a reason I'm sure. There is a justice higher than that of man, Henry will be judged by him." Blake replied, setting Cupid's guitar back in it's stand. He grabbed his own, playing a few chords on it, tweaking it when he needed too.

"That's a rather interesting quote, come up with that one on your own?"

"No Ellie, I did not. It actually comes from a Stephen King novel, called Misery...oh hell, if you read that book I'm sure you'd love it. In fact, I actually have the movie version on my computer, we should watch it some time, maybe do a movie night so you can all watch movies from my world." he said.

"Hey, that would be really cool. I heard Apple mention something called Angel Beats a few days ago, she said she had been crying for two hours after finishing the final episode." Dexter said.

"Yeah...that one...always brings a tear to my eye...well let's all focus on this stuff, we've got time for dillydallying later!" he said happily, playing the intro to Thunderstruck, perfectly on key. It wasn't long before the screams of Sparrow Hood filled their ears.

 _ **xxx**_

People started showing up in pairs around six in the afternoon. By then, Blake and Dexter had done the final checks on all of the instruments and made sure that Melody had power both on the stage and in her booth, which overlooked the entire Grimmnasium. There was some music playing for the moment, so the place didn't seem dead though thanks to the students already showing up, it was rather lively. Professor Piper had been in charge of the Thronecoming pictures, and Melody had already dragged Dexter and Blake over, having taken several pictures, one of which was going into the yearbook.

After having some snacks, Blake had told Dexter he was gonna head back to the dorms to get his date. Hunter and Sparrow had decided to accompany the boy, seeing as they had to get their own dates for the night. It was a bit awkward to see Sparrow so well dressed, it almost made him look like a prince. His suit was a dark green color, with studded shoulders and lapels. He was wearing a pair of black jeans, with long leather boots, also having golden studs on it, his hair was neatly brushed back, glistening with gel.

Much like himself, Hunter was also wearing a suit, though it was the same one he was wearing during their meeting with Cinderella and Aurora. The only difference he had made to the outfit was the vest he had taken off, and replaced with a black jacket, made of the finest silk in Bookend. He was also wearing a bright red tie, with an equally red rose sticking from his pocket. The three of them were holding their corsages in their hands, each hoping their dates liked them.

"So, what can we expect from Purple Rhapsody today? Any new songs?" Hunter asked, trying to make conversation.

"Definitely, the final song we're performing is a brand new song...no spoilers."

"Aw come on, do me a solid! Tell me a few chords at least?" Sparrow said, giving the boy a pleading look. He shook his head, pushing the orange haired lad back.

"Sorry man, like I said, you gotta wait...hey man, I gotta question for you. How did you get Holly of all girls to agree to be your date to this?"

"That's a good question Sparrow, how did you do it?" Hunter asked, turning to face his friend.

"That is a secret of course! But as you know, I happen to be a god when it comes to serenading the ladies! The right song will easily seal the deal." he said, strumming his air guitar as he walked.

"That's true, I gave Ashlynn some flowers and a pair of new heels for her collection. The real question here is how you, Blake J. Bigby, got a girl like Kitty Cheshire to be your date. I mean, she's so..."

"Eccentric?" Blake said, earning a nod from his friend.

"Yeah...something like that. How did you get her to say yes to you?"

"Yeah man, spill the details. I heard Kitty once say that she was looking for someone who was the Cat's Meow, you're just Blake to me." Sparrow said.

"I dunno man...I just asked her and she agreed. Besides, we're the same...both of us can't go home, so we have that in common." he replied.

"I guess that's true...all I can say is, I'm glad we met. You're super chill, and you help Ashlynn out a lot in her store...so you're a good man to have around." Hunter added.

"Yeow! You're totally awesome dude, teaching that bastard Henry a lesson! You gotta teach me how to fight like that!"

"Maybe I can show you a few things Sparrow, later of course." he said, earning fist bumps from his friends. The three finally arrived to the girl's dorm, where many of the girls were already making their way to the Grimmnasium.

"Gentlemen, time to pick up our ladies. Onward, to the future!" Blake said, putting a firm look on his face, earning a chuckle from his friends. Finally arriving at Kitty and Maddie's dorm, the boy gave a few knocks on the door, stepping back to fix his suit and tie a bit. He glanced to his left where Sparrow and Hunter were, waiting for their own dates to come out. A few seconds later, the door opened, and out came the daughter of the Mad Hatter, a bright cheery smile on her face.

"Hiya Blake, don't worry Kitty is putting on the final touches on her make up, she'll be out in a second. How do I look?" she asked. Blake was honestly amazed with the detail in her dress, right down to the tea cups on her shoulder.

"It's uh...you look amazing. This dress is insane, totally fits someone like you." he said. Maddie giggled, reaching into her purse for her MirrorPhone.

"Let's take a few pictures for the album. It's not every day my friend from another world is this gussied up, and a Thronecoming Court too!" she said. The boy nodded, wrapping his arm around her waist as she snapped the picture. Earl Grey jumped between the two, just as she took the second one.

"These will look great in the yearbook, I'll definitely add them to the album." Blake said, after taking his own pictures.

"I know, the Royal Student Council will start working on it right after we visit the Legacy Orchard, maybe you'd be willing to join?" she asked, giving him a cute puppy look. He sighed, closing his eyes.

"I'll think about it. I got band practice now, and I've gotta keep my martial arts or I'll forget everything I've learned...there are a few other things I've got to handle too." he said.

"Eee, I'm sure you'll make up your mind and when you do, we'll save you a seat, and some tea!" the girl said, pulling a tea cup from behind his ear, taking a sip from it. The two heard the door open and looked toward it, seeing Kitty had finally joined them.

"Thanks for keeping him company Maddie, I only needed a few more sparkles." she said, earning a nod from the girl.

"You two better have fun! I'm gonna go see if Raven's ready, toodaloo!" Maddie cried happily, taking her leave. Blake watched her go, a look of amusement on his face. He turned to his date, eyes widening a bit.

"Kitty, you look...wow." he said, completely speechless.

The daughter of the Cheshire cat giggled happily. She was wearing a beautiful floor length sleeveless purple dress, the area around the shoulders being a dark violet, almost black, decorated with silver thread. She wore a black and purple belt around her waist, which had a glowing amythist crystal embedded in the center. She was wearing long black gloves, reaching up to her elbows, lined with purple feathers and purple studs around the knuckles.

Her hair was the most interesting part of her entire ensemble. It had been picked up and tied into a high ponytail, but most of it had been used to create cat ears. She kept her bangs swept to the right, falling slightly over her eyes. The boy was honestly speechless by her beauty...her blue eyes were sparkling in the light, making her even more alluring. He shook his head a bit, wordlessly handing her the corsage he had bought.

"How pretty, you do know you have to put that on for me right?" she said, earning a surprised look from the boy.

"Oh uh...sorry, this is the first time I've done this. I skipped out on Homecoming back home so it's a new ball game for me." he said, taking the flowery bracelet from it's protective case. He slipped it onto the girl's wrist, making sure it was secured properly.

"It looks good, I'm glad I got the purple and blue one...Hunter wanted me to get the red one, but that would have looked awful with your dress." he said, earning a giggle from the girl.

"I'm sure I would have made it work...or I would have had you give it to Lizzie, I'm so sad. She didn't get a single date for this dance, so you better be a gentleman and offer her a dance."

"I will, I will. Come on, let's get you to the Grimmnasium so you can hang out with your friends while I rock the place to the sky." he said. She nodded, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"You're reward for saving Jack a few nights ago. You're a real hero, too bad we have to keep it a secret, oh well right?"

"I'd rather not bring more attention to myself, the band is enough in my opinion." he replied.

"If you say so, but now that you'll be sticking around, you have to help me bring more chaos to this school. You promised me you wouldn't get hurt, and you did so now you have to face those consequences."

"Oh joy." the boy said dejectedly, earning a giggle from the girl.

"Aw, it won't be that bad. Every kitty needs her confidant, and it just so happens that your claws are just as sharp as mine. I can see that hint of mischievousness in your eye, and it's honestly time for you to set it free."

"You can keep trying to talk me into it Kitty, but I'm not gonna let you string me into pranking people on a daily basis. I don't need to turn into Duchess." he said.

"We'll see." Kitty replied, giving him her famous Cheshire grin.

Having arrived at the dance, the two teenagers looked around only to see the Grimmnasium filled with people. Blake was honestly impressed to see how many students had actually shown up in the twenty minutes he was gone. He glanced around, seeing some of his other friends along with their dates. The girls were wearing rather interesting dresses, all of them fitting the nature of their stories to a T. He now understood that Thronecoming meant a lot to Ever After High, seeing how seriously everyone took the entire event.

"Come on, let's get our Thronecoming pictures taken! Do you mind if Lizzie joins us? I don't want her to be alone."

"Sure Kitty, I don't mind." the boy said. She smiled, grabbing a hold of his hand, dragging him over to where her best friend forever after was standing, looking at the drinks being served by Madam Yaga.

"Lizzie!"

"Gah!" the girl cried in surprise, dropping the glass to the floor. A low hiss started coming from the spilled drink, making her cringe a bit. She glanced up at her friend, a look of annoyance on her face.

"Please refrain from shouting in my ear next time...although you did save me from consuming that." she said.

"We wanted you to join us for our Thronecoming picture. You look spectacular by the way, red really suits you." the boy said, glancing at her dress. The girl flushed, looking away from the boy.

"Thank you dear, it means a lot that you think so. Are you sure you'd like for me to join you? The Thronecoming pictures are more for couples."

"Don't worry, we don't mind at all! I just don't want my best friend to be alone all tonight, you don't fit the lone kitten look." Kitty said, a pout on her lips. Lizzie shook her head, hiking her dress a bit.

"Oh very well, come along now. It won't be much longer before Blake heads up stage."

"Thanks for reminding me Liz, I hope you two are looking forward to the songs, we're debuting a brand new one tonight...so I hope both look forward to it." he said, earning nods from the two girls.

They got into the long picture line, chatting away like old friends, even though Kitty and Lizzie were doing most of the talking. Of course some of their friends decided it would be funny to photobomb them, holding up the winning trophy from the Bookball Game. Blake honestly found it hilarious that they were waiting for people to take pictures just so they could photobomb them, Sparrow wanted to be in every picture taken so they could all brag about it in the future.

"Let's go get some snacks, I haven't eaten anything since lunch." Kitty said, earning a nod from Blake.

"I haven't had anything since lunch either, no grapes though." he said, a hint of seriousness in his voice.

"Why do you not like grapes? I think they're wonderful fruits."

"You know why I don't like grapes? There was this one time I was happily enjoying a bunch of grapes. Ten year old me was having a wonderful time, and then my sister Susan, felt the need to take those delicious grapes, and soak them in hot sauce, for three hours. The result was obviously not a good one...so now I hate grapes and hot sauce, and my sister, just a smidge." he said, earning a giggle from Kitty.

"Honestly, I love hearing your stories, they're rather...entertaining." she said.

"Yeah, I've done a lot of stupid shit over the years, don't worry...at one point I'll tell you some of the better ones. I'm sure you and Liz will be quite entertained at my shenanigans." he replied, handing the girl a glass of punch, thankfully not the same one Madam Yaga was making.

"I look forward to hearing them...even if it's through other means." Lizzie replied, giving her friends a knowing smirk.

"There you are Blake, it's almost time for our gig to start. The others are already on stage." Melody said, grabbing the boy's attention.

"Okay, I'll be right there. Well girls, I hope you enjoy the performance, it's gonna be great. At least I hope."

"Don't start with me mister. You guys rock, just believe in yourselves and your music, now go on. Don't keep all of us waiting."

"She's right, I'll be waiting right here for when you come back." Kitty said, giving the boy a hug. He hugged Lizzie as well, following Melody through the crowd.

"This has been a trying week you know. I'm glad everything ended well...despite the rather crappy way it started."

"Yep, I was ready to pounce that bastard Henry all week, serves him right. I'm sure everything around here will be more peaceful now that he's gone and can't antagonize Blake anymore. Which will make it super boring, but that's nothing I can't fix." the daughter of the Cheshire cat said, pulling out a vial of rainbow liquid from inside her dress.

"No! Kitty, we agreed you wouldn't do this here...we don't know what that rainbow water will do to the people here."

"Which is why we should try it, as a social experiment." she said, uncorking the vial, pouring the liquid into the punch, a small smoke cloud erupting from it. Lizzie shook her head, trying to drown out Kitty's giggles.

 _ **xxx**_

The last notes of Set it all Free came from the speakers, being drowned out by the applause of the crowd. Cupid bowed politely, waving at the crowd as she switched places with Blake who now stood as the lead, his hand wrapped around the neck of his Gibson Explorer. The applause died down, giving the boy almost total silence. He gave the crowd a grin, gathering his thoughts.

"Well, this has certainly been an interesting week for all of us. What started out as a crappy week for me, has ended in a momentous event, surrounded by awesome friends, great music and free food." he said, earning laughs from the crowd.

"See, I knew you liked free food!" Cupid added, earning an eye roll from the boy.

"Oh come on, parties are awesome, and if there's food then that's an added bonus. I wasn't expecting to ever come to something like this, gatherings aren't my forte. I missed my own Homecoming dance last year, but I'm glad I was able to attend this one. I may not be from Ever After, but I honestly hope I fit in with everyone here...not like I have a choice." he said. He glanced over his shoulder, giving Melody and Cerise a nod, preparing them for the final song.

"This is gonna be the final song of the night, before DJ N-chant takes over. This is a cover song from my favorite anime, but I myself wrote the lyrics and the melody from scratch...so I guess you could call it mine. So, I hope you all like this song, which we are debuting here tonight! I dedicate this song to my fellow Rebels, hope you all have an awesome night!"

Another round of applause stirred the crowd, filling the air with cheers and chants of their names. Blake took the initiative and decided to start the song, strumming the beginning notes to the intro, his voice echoing through the speakers.

" _Whoa-oh-oh_

 _Whoa-oh-oh_

 _Whoa-oh-oh_

 _Whoa-oh-oh_

 _Strike Back!"_

The intro kicked in, causing the crowd to break into another round of cheers as the thumping drums filled the air. Blake bobbed his head a bit, rapidly moving his fingers across the neck of his guitar. He glanced at his friends, giving them a grin as he prepared for the first verse of the song.

" _This talk of destiny and where I belong's been_

 _Fed to me now for too long_

 _The Pursuit of a purpose for my life has left me dead inside._

 _We talk, so casually about how "It's fate", but_

 _When did I give fate the control?_

 _No one's taking my future away, that is_

 _something saved for you!"_

" _ **Bring it on! Cuz I'm jus gonna grow up in the battle HEY!**_

 _ **Buchinuku donten!**_

 _ **Still burning my fire, ten wo kirsaku raimei**_

 _ **I gotta kakikesu Nightmare tada mirai ga mitakute!**_

 _ **Kako, mirai, soshite ikiteru ima, I ain't scared of my past**_

 _ **And now for takusareta asu**_

 _ **Screaming out for my Pride!"**_

" _With all this pain inside of me, the tears I could_

 _Never let you see, I know_

 _I'm never falling down, cause I know there's no such thing as destiny!_

 _This smile is fragile incomplete, Hidden away_

 _For none to see, you know!_

 _I gotta blast off the pain for you and me! Tell the darkness to rest in peace!_

 _It's time to Strike!"_

" _It breaks my heart, to tell you that I'm a fake._

 _And that his confidence I show,_

 _Cannot take another hit, or it all will then begin to fall._

 _I'm rational and grounded in my resolve, but_

 _When my reality dissolves_

 _I must fight for tomorrow so that I can share_

 _This dream with you!"_

" _ **Rally the troops, gather round, tell the soldiers**_

" _ **Follow me now" Don't you ever stop! We'll pay**_

 _ **Them back in spades now. For taking mine and taking yours, rewind the lies as it plays back.**_

 _ **Don't try to, control me, you'll find this beast impossible to tame.**_

 _ **Struggle! Sorrow! They'll disappear like bubbles!**_

 _ **But this flame in my heart is like an ever-burning candle**_

 _ **Screaming out for your Pride!"**_

" _I'll take on all the agony, if it means we can both be free, let's go!_

 _Nobody can blow out my fire, you and I never knowing how high we will climb_

 _No more living to hesitate. I won't lose sight along the way, my goal!_

 _Don't blind your eyes, if you're lost on the way, Trust in me now, I will be your light!_

 _So take my hand!"_

" _(Hahaha,I live for this shit!)_

 _(It's like I'm, paranoid and I'm looking over my back,_

 _It's like I got a whirlwind inside of my head,_

 _It's like I can't stop when I hear it within,_

 _It's like the Fates inside, it's Right Beneath my Skin!)"_

" _With all the pain inside of me,_

 _The tears I could never let you see, I know!_

 _I'm never falling down, cause I know that there's no such thing as Destiny!_

 _This smile is fragile incomplete. Hidden away_

 _For none to see, you know!_

 _I gotta blast off the pain for you and me! Tell the darkness to rest in peace!_

 _Kokoro wo moyashite, terashi tsudzukeru yo zutto.._

 _Nobody can blow out my fire kesenai! Koeru hai I ro no sekai!_

 _Mayowana I yo wo ni, miushinawana I yo ni zutto.._

 _Don't mind your eyes, if you're lost on the way!_

 _Kamawanai I'm gonna be your light!_

 _So take my hand!"_

The crowd exploded with vigorous applause, once again cheering the band for another great song. Blake was panting a bit, smiling brightly as he waved at the crowd. He gave a thumbs up to his friends, he was immensely proud of every single one of his bandmates, not only for practicing the song on short notice, but nailing every note and getting it to sound just like he envisioned. He set his guitar down, handing the microphone to Melody who took the center stage.

"Ladies and Gentlemen of Ever After High, that is Purple Rhapsody's performance for the night, but if you'd like to listen to any of these songs, then you'll be happy to know that our first EP is coming out soon, with a brand new song, including the four heard today. It will be on the MirrorNet in the coming weeks so look forward to it. I'd like to thank my friends for giving me the honor of being in this band, and of course all of you for listening to our music!" she said, earning another round of applause from the girl.

"Thank you all for your support! We promise to bring you nothing but the best music in all of Ever After! We owe it to all of you!" Cupid said. Blake took a hold of the microphone again, a smile on his face.

"I would personally like to thank Cupid, not just for her beautiful voice, but for her song. If it wasn't for her, we wouldn't be here right now...we were all graced with a beautiful angel, who also happens to be part of the Thronecoming Court! I'd like to remind you all that there is only a few more minutes to vote for Thronecoming King and Queen, the results will be revealed in an hour by our very own DJ N-chant, so I'll turn the floor to her! You were a wonderful crowd, thank you all!" Blake said, taking a bow with the rest of his friends.

"Alright, let's turn this party up to eleven! First up on our list is a brand new song that I mixed just for this dance!" Melody said, grabbing a hold of a vinyl record, placing in her turntable. She pressed a few buttons, a bright laser bounced off the disco ball, sending bright sparkling lights in all directions.

Blake sighed as he got off the stage, being congratulated by several people. He was honestly just looking forward to going back to his date and having a peaceful Thronecoming. He stuck his hand in his pocket, feeling something inside. When he pulled it out, he was greeted with the Wishing Coin he had found earlier that day. His eyes widened in realization, having forgotten he had brought it along with him. Kitty appeared before him, holding a glass of punch out for him to take.

"Here, you did an awesome job, and you were right, I totally loved that song."

"Oh...thanks Kitty, I'm actually really thirsty after all that singing." he said, downing most of the drink in a single gulp, while Kitty took a dainty sip from her glass. Her sapphire eyes landed on the coin, which she took from his hand.

"A wishing coin...these are really rare...how did you find one of these?" she asked curiously.

"I dunno, it was just there on the ground...I don't know what to wish for, and even if I did, I don't know where the wishing well currently is."

"Oh, well I do...during Thronecoming it stays in Wonderland Grove. If you want we can go there together, and be back before they announce Thronecoming King and Queen." she said.

"Would you? I would really appreciate that...plus I could use some fresh air." he said. She gave him a nod, setting her glass down on the table. He finished his own punch and placed her glass beside hers, following her out of the Grimmnasium.

 _ **xxx**_

The night was rather cool, the skies were bright with millions of glowing stars, the disk of the full moon visible to the entire world. The path to the Enchanted Forest was clear, as everyone was currently at the dance, the thumping bass from Melody's music being nothing more than a dull roar to the two teenagers. It didn't take long for them to reach Wonderland Grove, the place where they had hosted his farewell party the last time. Kitty traced her finger on the shrub, forming the head of a cat, with a bright grin that matched her own. The bush spiraled out of the way, allowing entree into the Grove.

"It's quiet." he said, glancing around Ever After's little piece of Wonderland.

"It matches Wonderland to a T...even though there a lot of dangerous creatures that come out at night, it's rather peaceful. The beautiful violet skies are what makes it worth it. I miss my home dearly...I miss my mom, my old friends...but I'm coping." Kitty said sadly, a frown on her face. Blake took a hold of her hand, giving it a light squeeze.

"Hey, I'm here for you...I know better than anyone how that shit feels. So does Liz, and so does Maddie...one of these days we'll all go to Wonderland. I promise, I'll find a way to go back." he said firmly.

"Don't make promises you can't keep. Headmaster Grimm blocked the only portals to Wonderland, even talking about going back is forbidden, let along travel between the two realms. Besides, the poisoned magic would just make us all sick."

"Now Kitty, you look prettier when you smile! Don't focus on the negative, focus on the positive. Lucy's dream was to visit Wonderland, and after awhile, it became my dream too. I will find us a way to Wonderland, even if I have to dig a goddamn rabbit hole myself. Besides, I gotta return this to Alistair." he said, holding up the Vorpal Blade.

"Wait...didn't you give that to Maddie, how did you get it back?"

"She said it was my responsibility to give it back to Alistair myself. She didn't know how I got it, and wasn't interested either, as long as I don't use it to harm people. Which I don't plan too, this will be for self defense if I ever need it. Though with Henry gone, I doubt I'll ever need it." he replied.

"Well...at least you have it. You gotta admit, this is the purr-fect sword for you, and you look like a bad ass holding it. Well, here's the well." the girl said, pushing aside from tree branches, leading him to the well.

It was made entirely out of golden bricks, being about three feet in height. There were a few cracks in the brick, tiny bits of rainbow water were falling from the cracks, spilling around the base of it. The two teenagers walked to it, looking into it, seeing the sparkling rainbow water.

"Whoa...I didn't think it had actual rainbow water."

"Hehe, that's a common occurrence in Wonderland. The reason why Ever After thrives so well is because of this one well. You can't block all incoming Wonderland magic, it would just destroy this place, and get rid of its wonder, which is why it was enchanted to move locations every few minutes. If this became plugged...we'd all be screwed." she said, earning a gulp from the boy.

"It wouldn't be good if anyone decided to plug this puppy up." he said, seeing his face reflected on the water. Kitty knelt down leaning against the fountain, running her finger over the surface of the water.

"So...what are you gonna wish for?" she asked, giving him a grin.

"Um...I...no that won't work...I can't break my curse either, and even if I wanted to leave, I would still die." he said, a frown on his face.

"Well, what's your heart telling you? Maybe you can make that a wish?"

"Hmm...that could work. Kitty I...came here to say goodbye...to my old life. I won't be able to live my life to the fullest here if I'm still attached to the notion of going back home...I've just decided." he said.

"Huh? But that's...are you sure you want to do that?" she asked, clearly taken aback by what her friend said. He gave her a nod, flipping the coin through his fingers. He held it over the well, closing his eyes.

"I wish I could see my family!" he said, dropping the coin into the well. It plopped into the water, causing it to blow brilliantly. He backed away from it, just in time for a tall plume of orange smoke to appear from it.

A holographic screen appeared in the smoke, showing the two teenagers Blake's family home. Susan and Mary were both in the kitchen, deep in conversation, though they didn't know what it was about. His parents walked into the room, hugging the twins tightly. They seemed to be talking about something, that had gotten the two girls quite excited. When Blake looked closely, he noticed his mother holding a pamphlet with a picture of Hawaii on it. He realized the twins had been excited about their family trip. The two girls raced out of the kitchen, most likely to pack their belongings for the trip. His parents shared a kiss, leaving the kitchen after them, the image broke apart, fading out of existence.

"They got their family trip...after so long, they finally got it." Blake said, a sad tone in his voice.

"Blake...are you okay?"

"No...but I will be." he replied. Kitty brought the boy into a tight hug, wrapping her arm around his waist. He smiled a bit hugging the girl back.

"Oh...shit, I thought no one would be here." the familiar voice of Briar said, startling the two teenagers.

"Briar? What are you doing here?" Blake asked, looking the girl over. Her dress was a bit mattered from walking through the woods, and her heels were covered with a bit of dirt. She was holding something behind her back, but he didn't see it fully.

"Nothing...nothing at all...so, you two dating?"

"What? No! Blake and I are friends! He needed to find the Wishing well because he found a Wishing coin and wanted to see his family again. But I am a little curious, why do you have the Storybook of Legends with you?" she asked, making the girl go stiff.

"The Storybook of Legends? Kitty that's a fake, remember? The real book got stolen by the Evil Queen." the boy said.

"Actually, this is the real book. The Evil Queen was the previous owner of my dorm, and she had hidden it there. So I found it, and I decided to bring it here." Briar said, holding the book out to the boy. His eyes widened a bit when he saw the swirling violet energy within the mirror. He took a hold of the book, pulling it open, flipping through the pages seeing all of the pictures of his friends inside.

"No way, this is the real book. All of your pictures are inside it...wait a spell, there's a blank page." he said, turning to the last page in the book, seeing it was completely blank.

"I found that weird too...but I'm not here to figure anything out. I'm here to get rid of it...I don't want to sign my name in it, and if it's found, then all of us will have to sign it."

"What was your plan? Just throw it in the well and be done with it? This leads to Wonderland you know, imagine what would happen if someone found it? Oh my godmother, Blake throw it in! I wanna see what happens!" Kitty said excitedly, giving the boy a grin. Blake's hands were shaking a bit as he held onto the book.

He had finally gotten to see the real thing. He at first didn't believe that everyone's fate was contained in a single leather bound magic tome. But here it was, in his hands, and it was something curious. But the look on Briar's face told him everything he needed to know. She was going to suffer if she returned that book, and even though he worried about the fate of his friends, it would be much better to get rid of the damn thing and be done with it. So much like the coin before, he dropped the book into the well, watching it drop all the way down. They all backed away from the well, watching as it disappeared from sight.

"Well...that was anticlimactic." he said, glancing at the two girls.

"Oh, this is so exciting! Too bad we can't tell anyone about it...it'll be our little secret!" Kitty said, giving Briar a wink.

"Yeah...secret." she said softly.

"Well, it's getting a little chilly, let's all go back to the dance eh? I wanna see who won the Thronecoming vote." he said.

"What, excited to see if it's you?" Briar asked, earning a smirk from the boy.

"Well, I might not be a prince, but I think I got what it takes to be a king. The crown looks absolutely bad ass." he said, already imagining himself with a crown.

"Then let's all hurry back to the Grimmnasium for the final votes. You also owe me a dance mister, since you decided to sing for all of us." Kitty said, hooking her arm through Blake's. Briar frowned a bit, but it was quickly replaced with a smile.

"You gotta admit, it was an awesome song. It certainly did change the minds of many."

"Did it change yours?" Blake asked curiously, earning a shrug from the girl.

"It might have...I'm not sure...I think I'm still a Royal."

"I doubt it, refusing to sign the book, deciding it would be better to get rid of it, and basically handing it off to someone who tossed it into the well, that classifies you as a Rebel to me. We'll welcome you with open arms!" Kitty said.

"I know you will, but I'll remain a Royal for now, to keep appearances and all...you know...Thronecoming week started off rather shitty, but I'm happy with how it ended. I feel like there are gonna be a lot of wonderful things to come!"

"I agree with you Briar, and I'll make sure to live life to the fullest while I'm here in Ever After. It is my home after all, and I can't exactly choose to go back to my world. I'm thinking of joining the yearbook committee, Maddie was rather insistent that I did."

"Let me guess, she gave you a puppy look and because you have a weakness for blue eyed girls, you decided to join. We gotta address that weakness of yours." Kitty said, earning a scowl from the boy.

"Yeah, I'll start by liking brown eyed girls instead." he replied, causing Briar to giggle.

"Come on, let's not start fighting now...let's just...enjoy the night."

 _ **xxx**_

"Alright everyone, the results are finally in. After we got over that little hiccup, we were able to calculate all of the votes! Now, let's all give a warm round of applause for our new Thronecoming Queen. And the winner is...Raven Queen!" Melody cried out, causing the crowd to break into applause.

"What...me?" Raven asked, clearly surprised and confused. The previous Thronecoming Queen, Apple White, took a hold of her hand, bringing her up to the stage, placing the gold and white sash over her shoulder, along with the glittering Thronecoming Crown.

"Congratulations Raven, I just knew you'd win." Apple said cheerfully, handing the girl a bouquet of red and white roses.

"Thanks Apple, I'm honestly surprised I won." Raven said, giving her friend a hug.

"Settle down everyone. Now it's time to reveal Raven's counterpart, the Thronecoming King, let's just say the votes were neck a neck between these four boys. But when we were calculating, it was rather obvious who the winner truly was. He may be new to the school, but he definitely deserves this title, give it up for Blake Bigby, our new Thronecoming King!"

Hunter and Sparrow clapped the boy's shoulder, a look of shock still present on his face as the crowd started cheering him on. Daring, shook his hand as he approached the stage, presenting him with his sash, along with the golden crown. He stood next to Raven who had a smile on her face.

"Shocked? I am too." she said.

"I...just don't know what to say...I mean, wow." he replied.

"Now that our two Royals have been crowned, let us all transition into the slow dance, with our King and Queen leading the way. Come on you two, don't be shy now." Melody said, earning giggles from the crowd. Raven handed Apple the bouquet back, taking a hold of Blake's hand, leading him to the dance floor.

"I don't know how to dance that well Raven."

"Neither do I, just do what I do..but don't trip." she said firmly. He placed a hand on her hip, placing his left hand on her shoulder. It felt a little embarrassing, especially with everyone taking pictures of the two.

"Well, I can certainly say this year is going to be interesting."

"Yep, I haven't told you yet...apparently, Headmaster Grimm tricked me into wanting to sign the book. He gave me a wishing coin and played some image through the well." she said, earning a sigh from the boy.

"Seriously? That man is so hardset on tradition, I think he should just let us all find our destiny. Hey, at least now that the book was revealed as a fake, you won't have to worry." he said.

"Exactly...though I do wonder...where did my mother hide the real book? And why would she bother stealing it?"

"I'm not sure what goes through her head...but I'm not gonna let what she did to me define me. So don't even blame yourself for what she did either, I can tell you do. You aren't like her, you're my friend."

"Thanks Blake, I'm happy you treat me like a friend. Since we both have the same magic, I'll take responsibility for your training, after all we can't have you exploding like I do from time to time." she said, giving him a smile.

"I'd like that, you'll be like my older sister here. In fact, I think I'll call you big sis from now on."

"I...oh...okay...um...that'll be hard to get used too...I guess I've always wanted a little brother...I don't mind, it'll be fun." she replied, earning a grin from the boy.

"Okay! Enough of this sappy romance crap, time to get the bass thumping! Let's Get This Started Again!" Melody cried, playing the song of the same name, the words echoing through the speakers.

"Well, so much for the slow dance...thanks for letting me dance with you Raven."

"Any time Blake, now go on...I'm sure Kitty wants to dance with you too, since you are her date."

"Yeah, have fun Raven...I know for a fact Dexter wants to dance with you, so don't keep him waiting." he said, giving her a wink. She flushed a bit, walking into the crowd in search for the brown haired prince.

With Thronecoming Week finally over, Blake would be looking forward to a great many things here in Ever After. Most would be life changing, while others would be the most memorable experiences of his life. There would be hardships to come, and at times he'll be down in the dumps, but he couldn't deny that he wasn't excited to see what the future had for him.


	21. The Legacy Orchard

**A/N:**

 **Hello everyone and welcome to a filler chapter! That's right ladies and gents, todays chapter is filler but it is necessary plot building filler, I guess if you want to see it like that. Well it does cover two episodes of Ever After High so I wouldn't necessarily call it filler. In fact, I won't have another story arc for awhile, which will be the Winter Formal arc which will take place on the first day of Winter, and I might introduce Crystal Winter then but only to visit the school before heading back home. It will also be the time where Blake shows us his superior Hockey skills cuz Canada eh eh! Hehe.**

 **Today's chapter consists of two episodes, The Legacy Orchard and Duchess Swans lake. I know I said I would label each chapter whenever I did the xxx breaks, but it just became a hastle and it looked clunky and shitty and being the cock I am, I decided to just name each chapter and explain which episodes are derived from it.**

 **Um...I will be covering several things including the introduction of a new oc which you will see when she is introduced. I have also introduced Ramona Badwolf a bit early into this story because she's one of my favorite characters in this series. I think she's really cool and I'm disappointed that she didn't get more screen time during the final days of Ever After before Mattel ultimately pulled the plug and fucked our asses with a story that has no ending...now I can't stop seeing those goddamn Enchantimals commercials every time I want to rewatch an episode of Ever After High for research purposes, it just pisses me off without a fucking end...like holy shit.**

 **Anyway, I hope you guys are having an awesome Wednesday evening, I'm hungry as fuck, most likely will take advantage of that Dominoes 50% on all online orders deal and get myself some food cuz I'm hungry...and before you ask, indeed it shall be meat lovers because of reasons that will be explained in three years...yup.**

 **I shall leave you with this chapter, uh...no songs in this one, but I believe the next one does have a snippet of one sung by Cupid so I'll let you know what that is tomorrow, hehehe! Uh...be sure to review, follow the story, and favorite my profile so you get updates whenever I upload. Remember to stay gold, only you can prevent forest fires, and snap into a slim jim if you get hungry. I'm gonna go back to watching My 600 Pound Fat ass life...and no I'm not saying that to sound like a douche bag or anything, while I do show concern for these people, I don't have pity for any of them because they got themselves that way...eat healthier, stop drinking soda all the time, have yourselves a salad and at the end of the day, Have yourself a good night!**

Ever After High

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 21

The Legacy Orchard

Days had passed since Thronecoming Week, and slowly everyone in Ever After High were returning to their normal daily routines. Since Blake was going to be a permanent student now, he had gotten a few of his classes switched around. He now had Crownculus instead of Mathematics, since he clearly needed a harder mathematics subject. He had at least been happy to be placed in a class that was filled with people he knew, in fact almost half of his friends were all in this class, making it much better than his Mathematics class where he knew almost no one. Though he only had a few free periods now, he didn't mind the more challenging classes, especially if he had to live in Ever After now. He had also started taking a more advanced course in Sword Training, having moved on from the wooden swords to actual steel swords, though they lacked an edge.

Mr. Knight was impressed with his growing skill, and had been giving him more harder challenges, including even more complicated Damsel rescues, though he always found a way to pull through in the end, even if it wasn't the cleanest rescue. Even Maid Marian had been impressed with the boy, and gave him praise anytime her Damsel-in-Distressing class was invited to participate with the Sword Training class. People had also started asking him if he knew anything about Henry's whereabouts, since he hadn't shown up to any of his classes since Thronecoming. He of course denied everything, as he still didn't know when Headmaster Grimm would announce what had happened.

He was also happy to see Giles had been set free from his prison below the school. According to the happy man, Raven and her friends had broken the curse his brother Milton had placed on him. They had rekindled their friendship during Thronecoming, and he had taken his spot back as the second Headmaster of the school. It was more apparent now that Giles Grimm was an advocate for the Rebels, while Milton Grimm remained the stiff Royal that he was. And while they still had brotherly spats, he could tell they're relationship was better than ever.

Getting used to his new life was a bit challenging, but Blake had decided to embrace it wholeheartedly. That included decorating his dorm to match his personality. It was a bit challenging at first, but thanks to his photo storage on his Iphone X and a color printer, he had been able to print quite a lot of anime pictures, memes and various other things to decorate his room. His walls had blown up posters of his favorite animes and movies, and he had used the money he had saved up from helping Ashlynn to buy himself a new computer, setting it up so it looked almost like a gaming studio. He had even gotten himself a flat screen television, along with one of the local video game systems, as recommended by Dexter. His room wasn't exactly perfect, since it lacked all of his manga and his glass ponies, but he at least lived comfortably and surrounded by what he liked.

Today however was the yearly field trip to the Legacy Orchard, a place filled with the stories of classes of the past. Blake had done a bit of research into the place, gathering all of the necessary information for himself. Apparently, the orchard was where the yearbooks were kept, and worked almost like a record storage facility. The cool thing about it was that there was a tree containing one book per year, per class, and the orchard was filled with the trees belonging to every class of students Ever After High had taught throughout the years. It would be an honor to even gaze upon the past journeys of these students. So as soon as the bell rung, he grabbed his MirrorPad and backpack and met with his friends outside.

It had been a rather long walk, but they had been getting closer to the orchard, which could be seen from the high tower back at the school. He had decided to snap a few pictures of himself and his friends, as he was planning on joining the Yearbook committee anyway. He didn't exactly feel like writing anything, but he could at least help the committee with taking pictures, as he was always surrounded by rather interesting people. He turned his camera over to Ashlynn and Hunter, who were pointing a few birds flying over head. The soft click of his camera alerted them of what he had done, both flushing in embarrassment.

"Come on guys! No need to be embarrassed! You two look cute together, I'm sure everyone in the future would love to see pictures of the two of you." he said, giving them a smile.

"I suppose...it's still so embarrassing though." Ashlynn said, earning a kiss on the cheek from her boyfriend. A crimson blur shot past the three, followed by Sparrow and Daring who were both racing each other.

"Come on, I bet I'll get there first!" Daring said.

"Na-uh! I will!" Sparrow cried, holding onto the neck of his guitar as he raced.

"Hang on, I'm gonna school these fools in a footrace. Take care of Ashlynn for me Blake." Hunter said, running off after his friends. Blake shook his head, earning a sigh from Ashlynn.

"He's such a boy sometimes."

"Hey, growing young men need to stretch their legs. I however am perfectly content with snapping pictures of everyone." he said.

He turned his MirrorPad over to Kitty who was holding a rather large rock in her hands. She looked up at him, giving him a grin as she dropped it, disappearing right after. He heard a loud thump, followed by what sounded like a giant boulder falling down the cliffside into the river below. He cringed a bit, not wanting to know what the bottom of that ravine looked like.

"Excuse me, Headmaster Grimm...I have a question about the orchard." Blake said, grabbing Milton's attention.

"Of course, what would you like to know?"

"How exactly do you plant the yearbook tree? I mean this is a book we're talking about, you can't exactly plant a book and expect a tree to grow from it, right?" he asked.

"Actually Blake, we don't plant a book in the orchard. We plant one of these, an E-corn. They're given to the editor of the yearbook to fill with every single picture and story they want in their book. Once done, they are planted at the end of the year, and the tree will sprout from it." Giles replied, showing him the acorn shaped flash drive.

"Wow...if my world learned about this...hell I think this would below their minds." he said, glancing at the E-corn.

"Which is why Ever After's magic is well guarded. While we don't have many incidents like yours, there have been students in the past from different worlds. You might even recognize some of them, if you look through these yearbooks." Milton said, earning a curious look from the boy.

After a few minutes, the Sophomore class had finally made it to the front gates of the Legacy Orchard, which were firmly locked. Daring of course was raving about how he beat Hunter and Sparrow, only for Cerise to dash his hopes of ever beating her in a race. Blake honestly found that funny, and Daring's look of shock had definitely been the perfect picture for the album. Milton and Giles of course decided it was time to get serious, standing in front of their students.

"Now students settle down, it isn't the time for horseplay. You are all about to step into a wonderful world filled with the tales of your fairytale ancestors. We truly do hope you enjoy this experience, and do be careful, these books are precious." Milton said, pulling out a key from his pocket. Giles did the same, both placing them in the appropriate keyholes, pushing the gates open.

"Remember, this is also a learning experience. We hope you all learn a little something about your fairytale ancestors today. If you have any questions, we'll be delighted to help you." Giles added, watching with a smile as the students all wondered into the orchard.

Blake was honestly amazed with how Ever After did everything. While back in his old high school, there would be several kids in a stuffy room, all putting together a yearbook that would be printed for everyone to buy, the yearbooks here meant a lot more. They weren't just printed books that everyone could buy. These books were all put together with care and love. He stood in front of a nearby tree, reaching his hands out to catch the red book that came from it.

"Cool...this is literally a yearbook tree...wonder how these came about?" he muttered to himself, opening the cover, seeing the smiling faces of the ones who put the book together.

"You know Blake, since you're part of our class now, your face is gonna be in these books forever. Wouldn't you want to do something awesome so that history would remember you until the end of time?" Kitty asked, causing the boy to glance up at the branch she had settled on.

"Actually, time isn't gonna end. The universe is supposed to just get so hot that it just implodes in on itself." he replied. She blinked a few times, shaking her head.

"I just thought, maybe we could do something to get us in the yearbook for life? Maybe pull the prank of all pranks?" she said, giving him a sneer.

"Nice try Kitty, but I'm not gonna do that." he said, allowing the book to return to the high branches.

He continued walking deeper into the orchard, taking a few pictures before settling at the base of a tree, having grabbed the book that belonged to the class before theirs. He flipped through the pages, seeing Ashlynn and Briar's mom happily hanging out with Apple's mother, Snow White, who seemed to be laughing at some joke the two had shared with her. He saw a few pictures of the Mad Hatter as well, being his normal kooky self, something that made the boy laugh. Having turned the page, he saw a picture of Little Red standing next to the Evil Queen, who was wearing a matching hood, her long violet hair obscuring her face.

He honestly didn't know what he felt from looking at that picture. He didn't know how to describe what he was currently feeling. While he still disliked the Evil Queen and downright hated her for what she did, he knew that hanging onto those feelings wasn't good. He just continued flipping through the pages, reading some of the stories contained within the book. He had to admit, the previous alumni of the school did have some interesting moments, but all of them didn't compare to the ones they had already had. Judging by the time of year, late October, he could tell the school year had just stared, and already a lot had happened.

" _This is all really cool, but I doubt any of them would have thought their future children would be rambunctious enough to split the student body in half."_ he thought, flipping to the next page. He saw a picture of Hans, along with who he assumed was Kristoff. He still didn't get why the story of the Snow Queen matched the one from the Disney version in his world, but he was honestly just gonna accept it as fact now.

"Judging by the look on your face, I can tell you found someone you don't like." He looked up, giving Melody a smile as she leaned against the tree next to his, grabbing the low hanging book.

"You're right, I found Henry's father...I'm still not over what he did you know. I just...can't believe he went crazy like that." he said.

"I can't believe it either...I'm happy you told all of us at least, even with the Headmaster telling you to keep it on the down low."

"Hey, you deserved to know. After all, people have been asking about Jack too, and none of us know how he's doing. He got really badly injured by him, and we don't even know if he'll walk again." Blake replied, a frown on his face.

"No one deserves that, I'm just glad that stuff is all over. Now all of us can just focus on life and stuff...and of course our killer concerts." she said, bumping fists with the black haired boy.

"Definitely, we gotta practice hard...when are we recording again?"

"Friday afternoon...we gotta record the instruments first and then we'll get you and Cupid in the booth to work on Somebody, I'll take care of the mixing and all of that good shit to make it sound killer." she said.

"Awesome, it's gonna be a hit I can already tell!"

"Gather around students! It's time for us to discuss the true purpose of this field trip!" Milton said, clapping his hand. All of the yearbooks retracted into their trees, earning disappointed cries from the ones reading them. Kitty let out a surprised yelp, almost falling from the tree she had been snoozing in.

"We hope you've all learned a lot about the previous students that came to Ever After High, but we've brought you here for a special occasion. Like the alumni before you, it is now time for you all to plant your very own E-corn, which will grow into a Yearbook tree containing the yearbooks of your class." Giles said, holding the E-corn out for everyone to see.

"That's right, you've all got until the end of the year to fill this E-corn seed with all of the special events and stories befitting your class. On the last day of school, we will all come here to plant it, and watch as it sprouts into the new yearbook tree. So, who will volunteer to be the editors of this years E-corn?" Milton asked, glancing around the gathered students.

"Oh, we will over here!" Apple cried excitedly, pulling Raven along with her.

"We will?"

"Yes Raven, it will be an amazing experience. We get to write about what everyone in Ever After High does...it'll be wonderful." the blonde said happily, taking the E-corn from Giles.

"It's certainly gonna be interesting, that's for sure." Blake said, crossing his arms over his chest. He glanced to his right, noticing Kitty was placing something in Dexter's pocket. She looked up at him, giving him a grin. He could already tell this year was going to be rather interesting indeed.

 _ **xxx**_

Once back at the school, Blake decided to go straight to the Royal Student Council room, so he could talk with Apple and Raven. Since the two of them would be the editors for the yearbook, they were the ones he had to go to in order to join the committee. He was honestly rather excited at the prospect of doing something for his school. If he was back in his old one, he doubted he would bother getting so active within the school. He would have never thought of forming a band with his friends, or joining a yearbook committee, or even going to some big event like Thronecoming had been. Ever After was changing him for the better, and he was honestly glad he had the experience of coming to another world.

Once he reached the council room, he pulled the door open, stepping inside. He was surprised to see quite a few people gathered there, all of them discussing various school related topics and events. There was a more open deliberation room, where students would be able to put forth their requests with the Royal Student President, or Presidents in this case, since the roll was shared between Apple and Maddie this year, something that he also didn't see in normal schools. He glanced around, seeing Cerise sitting near the back, a dejected look on her face. He stopped next to her, grabbing her attention.

"What are you doing here? Still trying to get meat days passed in the castleteria?" he asked curiously.

"Yes, Maddie is convinced but Apple wants healthy choices. There's nothing wrong with having some honey smoked brisket every once and awhile. Why are you here?"

"I'm joining the yearbook committee...I wanted to capture all of the awesome moments we all have for anyone who wants to read the book in the future. So I'm gonna see if I can get a spot as a photographer." he said, glancing at some pictures on his MirrorPad, discarding a few he didn't like.

"Well, I'm sure you'll capture a lot of cool moments. Knowing you, you're bound to be the center of half of those. If you ever need any help, just let me know."

"Thanks Cerise, I appreciate that. Don't worry, I'll try to talk Apple into passing that vote, honey smoked brisket sounds amazing right now." Blake replied, earning a smile from the girl. He walked toward the front of the room, watching some of the other committee members scrambling around for stuff.

"Blake, what a surprise seeing you around here. Do you perhaps have a request for us to consider?" Apple asked, giving the boy a smile. Maddie looked bored, munching on her tea scones while Earl Grey was sitting in her empty cup of tea.

"Actually, I was hoping to join the yearbook committee. A certain Mad Hatter convinced me to join. Do you have any spots for photographers open?" he asked curiously.

"Why of course do. We have two spots available, well one now...you'll be working with Cedar who has also volunteered to take pictures. Would you mind writing a short paragraph to go with each event? And list those in the picture?"

"Not at all Apple, I'll definitely do that. I've actually already started, I got some nice pictures of our class at the Legacy Orchard." he said, holding up his MirrorPad.

"Wowie! I wasn't expecting you to jump to it like that! I'm so happy you decided to join, I should use my puppy look more often."

"No Maddie, no you really shouldn't. Before I go though...Meat Days, think about it. Wouldn't you all like to walk into the castleteria one Friday afternoon and be like, yes! Honey smoked Brisket! Or you take that last bite of a juicy steak and your like, I wish I could get another steak, and you can, because on meat days there's no shortage of meat!" he said, slamming his fist on the podium.

"Nice try Blake, but Cerise already broached this topic to us before...see you later." Apple said, dismissing the thought, an amused smile on her face.

"Damn, well I tried Cerise, sorry." Blake said, earning a sigh from the girl as he passed. It would be just awhile longer before Apple even started to consider the idea.

 _ **xxx**_

Finding a subject for his first picture was a bit more challenging than he thought, but Blake wasn't going to stop until he found the right one. Wondering around Bookend always seemed to cheer him up when he was down, so he decided to do that today. He hadn't found anything, other than a few pictures of Sparrow and the Merry Men, serenading girls who didn't really want to be serenading, and while it was funny seeing said girls yell at them, it wasn't exactly picture worthy. He caught a lucky break however when he wondered toward the Enchanted Lake, and saw his friend Duchess dancing on the water's surface.

He knelt down, trying to take the best picture he could. Duchess still hadn't noticed his presence, to busy with her dancing to actually notice anything around her. He didn't exactly like ballet before meeting the Swan Princess, but the art of dance had actually started warming up to him, especially with the tragic story of Swan Lake. He held his breath a bit, having finally gotten the perfect shot of the girl in the middle of a pirouette, a smile on her face. However, she ended up slipping on the water, letting out a small surprised scream as she fell back into the water, sinking below it's surface.

"Shit, did she see me?" he muttered, a look of concern on his face. The girl surfaced a second later, spitting out some of the water.

"What the hell?! That was perfect!"

"Duchess are you alright? Are you hurt at all?" Blake called out, grabbing her attention. She gave him an annoyed look.

"When did you show up? We're you spying on me?"

"I was trying to get a picture for the yearbook, so yeah, I sort of was. But that doesn't matter...what matters is if you are hurt or not." he said, getting close to the water's edge.

"I'm fine, I normally don't slip like that but...ew, what is this green gunk?" she cried, taking a handful of the slime floating on the lake's surface. Blake held his hand out, helping the girl out of the lake.

"This looks like slime, it's all over you too." he said. He reached into his backpack, handing her the towel he always carried around. She started drying herself off, brushing all of the gunk off her dress and legs.

"It's all over my shoes! Grr...I'm gonna find the bastard responsible and when I do, it's off with their head!" she cried, stomping away in anger.

 _ **Meanwhile in the Student Lounge...**_

"Eh...did you feel that Kitty?" Lizzie asked, glancing at her best friend.

"Feel what? Does your tummy hurt?" she replied. Lizzie shook her head, glancing out the window.

"It's weird...it feels as if someone...stole my catch phrase."

"Huh? Lizzie I think the madness is finally getting to you. Who would steal your catch phrase?" Kitty said, earning a shrug from the future Queen of Hearts.

"Yeah...you're right, no one would steal my catch phrase...right...right?" the girl asked, giving her friend a desperate look. Kitty chuckled, glancing at the wall, trying to ignore her friend's madness.

 _ **Back at the Lake...**_

"To me this looks like waste, like someone decided it was a good idea to just dump it in the lake." Blake muttered, his nose scrounging up a bit at the smell of the gunk.

He took a picture of it, snapping a few of the rapidly filling lake. He noticed the rusted pipe sticking out over the water, and followed it with his eyes, back to what looked like a building. Rapidly standing up, he started walking over in the general direction. He was greeted with the most disgusting looking establishment he had ever seen. The building was a single story, the walls were covered in a sickly green gunk that seemed to be pouring out of the front door. The entire area around the restaurant looked dead, the grass looking mattered and disgusting. In front of the store was a large green man wearing a green sweater vest and matching brown shorts, handing fliers out to whoever would take them.

"Come one, come all to the Marsh Pit! Marsh like mother used to make! Help celebrate our grand opening!" the man cried, earning disgusted looks from passersby.

"Excuse me sir...what is this?" Blake said, holding a handful of gunk out to the man.

"Hehe, that's the best marsh in all of Bookend kiddo. If you want to take that with you, it'll be five gold."

"Five gold...for something that was dumped into the lake? Don't you know this is poison to the environment? Not only that, you're dumping it into the Enchanted lake, and my friend could have gotten really hurt slipping on this!" he said, throwing the gunk onto the floor.

"That's the price of business kiddo. The environment isn't my concern, not as long as I line my pockets with cash. Now if you want some marsh then go inside, if not then scram!" the man said.

"Man fuck you! If we don't take care of our environment then animals could die and go extinct, the fish in that lake can't breathe with all of that shit in the water. So you better stop dumping that stuff into the water, or else." Blake said, standing firm glaring into the man's eyes. He chuckled, giving him an equally frightening glare.

"Or else what kiddo? What's a little shit like you going to do to a business owner like me? If you don't want to end up like that sludge in the lake, you'll take your leave." he said gruffly. Blake growled under his breath, walking away from the man.

"Hehe, thought so. Come one, come all to the Marsh Pit! Help spellelebrate our Grand Opening!" the man said, handing off more fliers to passersby.

As Blake walked away however, he ended up getting an idea. He held his MirrorPad up, pressing the record function on it, holding it up so the camera recorded him. He took a deep breath, giving a smile to the camera.

"I'm not exactly sure how I feel about Vlogs but...well I guess I've always wanted to do one. I'm here to inform everyone about a restaurant that just opened up in Bookend. It's currently dumping gunk into the Enchanted Lake, poisoning the environment. Not only that, but the owner threatened my life not long ago...I can't close this place down on my own, so please help me show the authorities what disgusting people are doing to our environment! I'll be posting the pictures I snapped on my MirrorBook page right along with this video. Let's all join forces Ever After High, only we can do this!" he said, ending the video. Just as soon as he did, he created a file on his MirrorBook profile and posted it onto his page, along with the image. He tagged Blondie in the post, and knowing her, she would definitely get the word out. He smirked, giving the restaurant owner one final wave before he went back to the school.

 _ **xxx**_

"Blake, you've got to help me. Nobody takes me seriously when I tell them I want to get back at that bastard poisoning my lake. You're the only one who was there with me...please you've got to help me." Duchess said, giving the black haired boy a pleading look.

"Don't worry, I've already posted some pictures online, but we need video proof. Even if he's dumping shit into the lake, all they'll do is tell him to dump it somewhere else. We need to get the Food and Health department involved. But to do that we need proof of the conditions inside the restaurant." Blake said.

"How do you plan on getting that? I tried confronting him too but he just brushed me off." the monochrome ballerina said, a frown on her face.

"Well...we can't work alone that's for sure. Hmm, this will be perfect for the yearbook, a headlining event. Students of Ever After stop local restaurant owner from poisoning the environment, yes I like it! Come on, let's go speak with Ashlynn, she'll definitely help us." he said, walking toward the dorms.

"She already turned me down...I may have put ants in her dress during our trip to the Legacy Orchard yesterday." she said, giving the boy a sheepish grin.

"You see, that's the kind of shit that gets you enemies Duchess. Come on." he said, grabbing a hold of her hand as he walked toward the dorms.

Having arrived at Ashlynn's dorm, the boy gave a few knocks on the door, hoping the girl was still inside. To his relief she was, but as soon as she saw Duchess, her smile turned into a frown. She however didn't close the door, after all she couldn't be rude to Blake, and she didn't have a right to judge who he spent his time with. So she forced a smile onto her face.

"What's up Blake, need anything?"

"Actually I do...I'm not sure if Duchess informed you, but her lake is being poisoned. We need your help to get the bastard responsible shutdown, and I know for a fact you hate when animals get hurt." he said. She sighed, giving him a nod.

"I'll go find Hunter." she said, grabbing her dorm keys, closing the door behind her.

"Thank you Ashlynn, this means a lot to me." Duchess said.

"I'm only doing this because Blake asked me, I'm still mad at you, you know. As if getting Sparkles to poke us wasn't bad enough." she said. Blake jabbed Duchess in the side, gesturing to Ashlynn a couple times. She growled, a pout on her lips.

"Fine, I'm sorry for getting Sparkles to poke your butt in class, and I'm sorry about the ants too...I didn't mean it. It was just a harmless prank." she said.

"My ass has a huge bandage on it because of Sparkles, so that wasn't a prank...but I accept your apology. Just don't do it again." Ashlynn replied, stunning the two a bit with her language. Blake honestly didn't think she had it in her.

Finding Hunter didn't take long, he had been chasing his pet squirrel Pesky, through the castleteria. Apparently his small friend had stolen a few peanuts from the boy who was trying to get himself a snack. When Ashlynn told him what the issue was, he instantly dropped what he was doing, to help his friends out. The two nature lovers were aghast when they saw the lake, which was now almost completely covered in green slime. Duchess let out a small gasp when her pet swan waddled over to her, covered in the disgusting slime. She knelt down before it, brushing some of the green gunk off its feathers.

"Oh Pirouette, look at you! You shouldn't have been swimming in that crap." she said sternly, though her motherly tone betrayed her a bit. Blake took a few pictures of the swan, an angry look on his face.

"It's already affecting the wild life. Don't worry Duchess, Pirouette will be fine. Let's just get the evidence we need." he said, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Alright, let's do this, time to go black swan on this place." she said, a firm look on her face.

"Okay Pesky, you know what to do." Hunter said, earning a salute from his pet squirrel. He jumped onto the ground as the four teenagers hid behind some bushes. They all watched intently, as the small squirrel through an acorn right at the owner.

"Hey, get back here! That'll be the last acorn you'll ever throw!" the man shouted, running after the squirrel. Once he was gone, Blake dashed out of the bush toward the restaurant, holding the door open for his friends.

They all gasped, blocking their noses a second later. The dining hall of the establishment was utterly disgusting. There was green gunk all over the place, all of the tables were dirty and covered with buzzing flies. Large rats could be seen jumping on the counter top, and eating from piles of rotting food. It took all of their will power not to vomit on the spot. Blake took a few pictures of the dining hall while Ashlynn handled the video recording.

"Oh my Godmother, this is so gross!" Duchess cried, trying not to step into any trash.

"Tell me about it...I'm kinda glad I didn't eat before I came here." Hunter said.

"Totally should have skipped lunch today." Blake said, looking a bit sick himself.

"Should we...get some from the back?" Ashlynn asked, earning a nod from the two boys.

They wondered to the back, almost scared of what they would be facing beyond that door. Being the brave one of the four, Duchess pushed the door open, letting out a scream just before fainting, thankfully into Blake's arms, who almost dropped his MirrorPad. Just beyond that door lied the most disgusting kitchen anyone had ever seen. The pots were bubbling with slime, several frogs were jumping around from sink to sink, some even relaxing in the bubbling filth. The fridge lied open, the rotting food spilling from within. The smell was absolutely horrible, and was enough to cause Hunter to vomit into the nearest trash can. Even though she felt sick, Ashlynn swallowed her disgust, recording everything they were seeing.

"Hunter, take the pictures, I gotta get Duchess out of here." Blake said, handing Hunter his MirrorPad. He looked up briefly, only to feel another round of vomit hit his throat. Blake picked Duchess up, hurrying out of the restaurant.

 _ **xxx**_

"Duchess, hey are you okay?" Blake asked softly, fanning some air onto the girl's face. She stirred a bit, her eyes fluttering open. A look of realization washed over her face and she instantly sat up, sticking her head in a nearby bush, loud retching sounds filling the quiet area.

"Well, that's not the first time I've made a girl vomit with my presence." the boy said, earning a few quiet toots from Pirouette, who was preening her dirty feathers.

"Oh shut up you, I'm not puking because of you...mostly." Duchess replied, wiping her lips with the inside of her dress. She still had a bit of a green look on her face, watching as Ashlynn and Hunter took a seat on the bench next to them.

"I cannot believe that place was allowed to open. Who inspected it, who approved it?" Ashlynn said, looking deflated as she sat back on the bench. Hunter handed Blake his MirrorPad back, already on the Photo Gallery. He sifted through all of the images, feeling his stomach churn.

"How about...we just take this up with the cops eh?" he asked, closing the gallery.

"Yes, let's go...I don't think I'll feel comfortable until that place is shutdown." Duchess said, picking up her pet swan from the ground. The four teenagers started walking toward the nearest police station, still feeling gravely ill.

"Let's just get out of here, I don't need a gastric exorcism right now." Ashlynn said, leading her friends away from the restaurant. They walked back to Bookend, heading straight to the police station.

It was a rather interesting place in Blake's opinion. For one, there were only a few human police officers, as the others were giant gingerbreadmen much like their coach. All of them were, oddly enough, eating cookies and drinking hot chocolate. A few of them were tossing jokes back and forth, while others discussed current cases. All of them were rather laid back, unlike most police officers back in his world. Bookend was a peaceful village, even with Henry's crime, he hadn't heard of any other criminal wondering around. They walked straight to the counter where the chief of police was sitting, glancing at a news paper.

"Excuse me, we would like to make a report." Ashlynn said, grabbing the man's attention.

"A report? What would you like to report?" the man asked curiously, setting his paper down. Blake handed the man his MirrorPad, having his gallery already open.

"There's a new restaurant that has unsanitary conditions, on top of that, the owner is knowingly dumping toxic waste into the Enchanted Lake." he said.

"Look at what it did to my pet swan!" Duchess added, holding Pirouette up for the man to see. His eyes widened a bit, surprised etched on his face.

"Well...I believe the Health department needs to be called in. Good job, you were on the ball with this problem, we'll take care of it right away. Steven, get the Health department on the line, we've got a report to make!" the man said, earning a nod from his Deputy.

With nothing left to do, the four students left the Police station, having given their full statements and copies of the pictures and videos they had taken. Though they were disgusted they were immensely happy with everything they had done to save the lake.

"I can't thank you enough you guys...it'll take a long time to get the lake back to normal, but if we all work together, we'll get it back to the way it was." Duchess said, a smile on her face.

"You know, I'm happy to have helped you Duchess. It gave me a new sense of perspective about you, you might not be the nicest girl around, but you still care about the important things, and that's what matters." Hunter said, earning a glare from Ashlynn.

"You could have worded it better."

"No, it's fine...I'm glad you think that. I'll...try to be nicer from now on. No promises." Duchess said, a flush on her cheeks.

"How about a celebratory picture for the yearbook guys? It'll make a hexcellent first page." Blake said, holding up his MirrorPad.

"Can we give Pirouette a bath? I'm sure she wants to look her fairest in this picture, we owe her that much." Hunter said, earning a happy toot from the swan. Blake chuckled, giving him a nod.

"Sure, we could all use a bath after walking around in that shit hole, we can meet up later, before dinner, what do you say?" he asked. The three gave him a nod, bidding him farewell while they all headed to their dorms for a shower.

 _ **xxx**_

The soft clicking of keys was the only sound that filled Blake's dorm, as he was currently preparing the first few pages of the yearbook. Having taken several good pictures, he decided to start piecing everything together. He had to skip a few classes the day before in order for Apple to show him and everyone else how everything needed to be done. It was a meticulous process that needed to be done accordingly, but he had been able to pick up everything rather well. It helped that he also recorded the lesson entirely so that he could watch it if he needed too. He had put the pictures of him, Duchess, Ashlynn and Hunter first as it was the biggest event that had happened during the week. He had also included some pictures from Thronecoming listing the names of the ones who were in it, along with a few other details. He pressed the Enter key a few times, rubbing his eyes as he leaned away from the screen.

"Well, I think I'm finished, and before lunch too. Just in time for my daily shenanigans." he said, saving his work.

He closed his laptop and stood up from his desk, pulling the charger from the wall, wrapping it up and shoving it in his backpack. He grabbed his laptop, wallet and keys heading toward the door. He was met with a surprised Apple who was about to knock on his door. Raven was standing next to her, holding her own MirrorPad in her hands, a curious look on her face.

"Hey you two, something I can help you with?"

"We we're wondering if you were done with the first few pages of the Yearbook, since we're the editors we need to see what you've got so far." Apple said, earning a nod from the boy.

"Well, luckily for you, I just finished five pages. Could I borrow the E-corn for a sec?" he asked, holding his hand out. Raven unplugged the E-corn from her tablet, handing it to the boy, who plugged it into his laptop. He pulled it open, dragging the save file he had prepared into the new storage device. Once done, he handed the E-corn back to Raven, closing his laptop once more.

"I'm impressed Blake, we checked in with Cedar and she's only got two pages done. How did you get five pages done so fast?"

"Well Apple, I just happen to be in the right place at the right time. I added some Thronecoming pictures, since there's gonna be a Thronecoming section, and I decided to highlight some local heroes, who managed to save the Enchanted Lake from illegal dumping." he said.

"You didn't include yourself in any of these pictures...you know there's nothing wrong with that right?" Raven asked.

"Oh...well I didn't want to seem like I was hogging the spotlight. I thought it would be better to talk about my friends instead." Blake replied, rubbing his neck in embarrassment.

"We're gonna have to amend these then...nice job Blake, but next time don't be afraid to include more pictures of yourself. You're part of the yearbook staff and part of our school. It wouldn't be right if you didn't include yourself in any of these." Apple said.

"We can start right now, say cheese!" Raven said, snapping a picture of Blake and Apple, both of them cringing a bit from the flash.

"Give me a warning next time, does my face look stupid?"

"It looks perfectly fine Blake...thanks for your hard work, I'm sure everyone will love reading these rather unique stories behind these pictures." the daughter of the Evil Queen said, earning a smile from the boy.

"Ah before I forget...I was thinking about what you said a few days ago. Honey smoked brisket does sound good so I...passed Meat Days, don't tell anyone." Apple said, just above a whisper, earning a chuckle from the boy.

"See, I knew you would eventually agree. No one can resist honey smoked brisket! I'm sure Cerise is gonna be happy about this, and I'll be there to get her expression. I'll give you five more pages by Sunday afternoon, I've got plenty of stuff to photograph." he said.

"Good luck Blake, make sure to keep taking the best pictures in all of Ever After!"

"I will Apple, see you two later!" the boy said, giving them a wave as he disappeared down the hall.

"Can you believe they were able to shutdown an entire restaurant? That place was totally nasty." Raven said, earning a nod from Apple.

"Tell me about it, that place was disgusting. I still can't believe Duchess took credit for it all, I mean...I believed she would do something like that, but I didn't think she would actually do it."

"Oh come on, it's Duchess...you can't expect any less from her, even if she is a Rebel now. Let's get this to the office so we can start editing it." the violet haired girl said, earning a nod from her friend.

The two girls started back to the Royal Student Council room, getting ready to see the first few pages of the Yearbook. They didn't know it yet, but their yearbook was going to be the best one yet, and would be enjoyed by many students for years to come.


	22. Lizzie Heart's Fairytale First Date

**A/N:**

 **Hey guys! I would like to welcome you to Chapter 22 of Through the Looking-Glass. Last night's chapter was a rather fun one to read, and we got to see a bit more of Duchess, who's one of my favorite characters. I'm honestly a bit sad that a lot of people don't like her and her attitude...I honestly think she's just doing what she needs to do to get a good ending, which is rather admirable...she has a shitty way of doing it, but at least she has a good heart whenever she feels the need to be good. I will be including more of Duchess and many other characters later on as we slowly approach the next major story arc of the story, the Winter Formal. I'll be doing a bit of a time skip to that point in time, most likely after chapter twenty eight is done, which I'm currently writing, so prepare for it.**

 **Today's chapter includes two Lizzie centered chapters, Lizzie Heart's Fairytale First Date and Lizzie Shuffles the Deck. I wanted to handle these two separately, but I decided to kill two stones with one bird and just write both in this chapter. Let's just say, Blake gets the shaft for most of this chapter, in rather funny ways too. I couldn't stop laughing when I was writing this chapter all because of the scenarios that Blake got himself into. Now before you all say anything, this chapter will include my own special twist to Lizzie's first date...you'll all have to read it to find out.**

 **Chapter 23 will be something different too, so I do hope you look forward to it. I will be introducing two new ocs later on in the small filler arc between Thronecoming and the Winter Formal which is the next major event, of my creation. It's basically another dance, nothing to special...after that I'm gonna handle some of the Spring events, including the Blue Moon Forest Fest, where Blake will be recovering from something that I'm not gonna mention now because it's for the sake of the story...all I know is that you'll all understand what that will be when the time comes. After that, I'll get started on the true pairing for this story, which I have yet to reveal and most likely will not until it happens, for the sake of the plot!**

 **I might add Darling Charming a bit earlier to the story too because I want to explore her character a bit. I think I like the idea of a Princess Knight being in this world. I'm sure Blake would definitely get along with her because he is a rather interesting person, and I'm sure Darling would want to learn everything she could about him and his work. That and he's probably the only one who'll know about her secret since to him it's rather obvious that she likes swinging swords more than being in distress.**

 **I do hope you like this chapter, tell me your thoughts in the reviews, follow and favorite the story so you get my updates and as always if you have any questions feel free to ask me. Have a good night everyone...**

Ever After High

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 22

Lizzie Heart's Fairytale First Date

With winter slowly approaching in Ever After, the students were scrambling to enjoy the last few good days of sunshine before it started to get really cold. Even now that it was nearly November, it wasn't as cold as it normally would have been in Canada, Blake noticed. Of course since Canada was the country farthest north on the North American continent, it started getting colder much earlier than some of the lower 48 states. Even in his previous home of Seattle, it got cold rather fast, so he was enjoying the warm end of October days. These were only some of the few differences between his previous home and his current home that Blake was truthfully enjoying.

While collecting pictures for the Yearbook, the black haired boy had taken up an offer from Daring and Sparrow to hang out at Hocus Latte. Blake didn't exactly like going back to that place, not since the original rumors had started, but it had been so long ago that he decided it was time to go back. To his surprise, he had gotten an apology from the manager, and the cashier as well as a job offer. He of course turned it down, since he was already working for Ashlynn during her delivery days and was practically her employee at this point. The man understood and gave him a card for the cafe so that he could get himself free coffee for an entire month.

So now, Hunter, Sparrow, Daring, Hopper and Blake were all hanging out in the center lounge of the cafe, enjoying their coffee and discussing general things from school. Blake had also shared a few stories from his time on Earth, making the four boys burst into laughter at his expense. He decided to keep his most precious stories to himself, but there were plenty of things that he and Joey had done that would classify the two as idiots for the rest of eternity. He set his cup down on the table beside him, leaning forward in his chair.

"Okay, so after we climbed to the top of this building, mind you it's four in the morning, Joey decides it's a good idea to call to the guards. This guy was so fat, that his fat folds hung over his fat folds. Imagine that running at full speed up the stairs. We tricked him and all the cops by going on the elevator and getting off on the third floor, using the emergency escape to get away. That's the story of how I almost got arrested."

"Man, you two are insane. But this parkour stuff sounds a bit fun, what exactly do you do?" Hunter asked curiously.

"It isn't that hard, all you need is upper body strength and good coordination. As long as you're a good climber and are wary of your surroundings, you'll be able to run on rooftops. It's a good skill to have if you want to sneak into your friend's house." he replied, chuckling a bit.

"I don't think I'd be any good with parkour...I don't have good coordination." Hopper said, earning a chuckle from Daring.

"No you do not. You barely have any coordination with the ladies, running over rooftops isn't your forte. But you are the strongest swimmer around, so hone that skill." he said.

"Oh, are you saying you would be good at running over rooftops Daring? Maybe you could show us." Sparrow said, earning a cringe from the boy, who just gave him his winning smile.

"Charming princes don't climb rooftops, I'm afraid. So I'll have to decline."

"Actually, Charming princes do climb rooftops, and towers, and fight dragons. Parkour would be a good skill for you to have Daring, maybe you should consider learning some." Hunter said, sipping his latte. Sparrow just chuckled, strumming his guitar.

"Daring Charming is just too pussy! Yeow!"

"I am not! Dare me to do anything, and I'll do it." the blond boy said, earning a chuckle from Blake.

"Okay, I dare you to go on a date with Cerise." he said, earning ooos from the other boys, who were high fiving Blake. Daring chuckled, tugging on his varsity jacket as he stood up from his seat.

"Consider it done my man. No girl will ever reject Daring Charming, but if I'm being dared to do this...I believe Blake should also bear the same stipulation, yes?"

"Hey yeah, he's always saying that, I'm not gonna date anyone because I'll eventually leave bullshit! Now that he's staying here permanently, he can find himself a girlfriend! I dare you to ask the first girl that walks through those doors out on a date!" Sparrow said, pointing at the boy, who just chuckled.

"Bro, is that all you got? I'll definitely score a date with whoever that is, much faster than Daring will." he said.

"Then maybe we should raise the stakes?" Hunter asked, earning a nod from Hopper.

"Yes let's! Alright then, if neither of you can get a date, then you have to wash our Grimmnastics uniforms, after Swamp Swimming."

"Ew...done!" the two boys said, clasping hands and firmly shaking. They all watched the doors intently, waiting for it to open. The small bell jingled, and in came Lizzie Hearts, glancing around the cafe briefly before heading toward the counter.

"Ha! You are so totally screwed!" Sparrow sung, laughing at Blake who narrowed his eyes. He stood up, brushing the wrinkles from his jacket.

"I'll have you know, Liz and I are friends so she won't have an issue going on a date with me." he said.

"It can't be a pity date either, it has to be a real honest to goodness date and it has to end with a kiss at the end, or you're washing my underwear." Hopper said, earning a hiss from the boy.

"Fine...I'll get a kiss from her, just you see." he replied, walking toward the counter with his nose held high. They all watched as the black haired boy made his way to the counter.

"Hey Lizzie, what are you doing here all alone?" the boy asked, grabbing her attention.

"Oh, hello Blake. I'm just stopping by for a latte, it helps me concentrate with homework." she admitted, glancing back at the menu.

"Really? Caffeine usually just makes me jittery, and I can hardly concentrate when that happens. Hey miss, could I get two lattes over here?" he called out, earning a nod from the girl.

"I'm used to jittery, I'm from Wonderland, after all. So, are you working on the yearbook?"

"I am, but I decided to take a break, hang out with the guys. I haven't found anything interesting to add to the yearbook really. The shut down of the Marsh Pit was the best highlight so far." he admitted, a frown on his face.

"I'm sure you'll find something interesting."

"Here you are, two lattes, no foam for you Miss Hearts, that'll be 3 gold for both of you." the cashier said. Blake pulled out his wallet, handing her his card.

"Here, I'll pay for it this time." he said.

"Are you sure Blake? I have no issue with paying for myself."

"No no, you're my friend and friends do nice things for each other." he said, giving her a smile. She blinked a few times, giving him a nod.

"Very well, but I shall pay you back later."

Blake sighed, glancing back at his friends, all of them watching him intently. Daring rose his hands up, mimicking two people kissing with them while puckering his lips, causing the others to laugh. Blake glared at them, shaking his head in disgust.

"Um well...I was wondering, this is gonna sound really weird but...are you free tonight? I convinced the Multi-Hex to play a movie from my world and it feels weird to go alone." he said.

"Oh...I'm not sure...it's a sweet gesture Blake, but I'll have to refuse. A royal can't be seen dating a Rebel, it would tarnish my future as the Queen of Hearts. You understand right?" she asked, earning a frown from the boy.

"Sort of...but I figured, since Ash and Hunter can do it, why can't anyone else do it? Right?" he asked.

"That is true...I apologize...but I simply cannot risk that at the moment. I'm sure another lady will find your gesture quite lovely. I'll see you later." she said, heading toward the exit. Blake face palmed, earning laughter from his friend.

"Loser!" Sparrow cried. Blake flipped him off, muttering more swears under his breath than Joe Pesci in Home Alone.

 _ **xxx**_

Lizzie closed her eyes for a brief second, striking the croquet ball with her flamingo shaped mallet, earning her the winning point. She smiled and turned to her friends, giving them a bow.

"That's how you do it ladies. Are we ready to go up against the Rebels?" she asked.

"I'm not sure we're ready...we aren't that good." Apple said, a frown on her face.

"We can't exactly play Indoor Golf either...the school is still repairing some of the damages from the last game." Blondie added.

"I know, Lizzie this is the part where you rally your team with a motivating speech! Come on, I know you got one saved up for just an occasion." Briar said, giving her friend a grin.

"Okay, I got one. Play better, or it's off with your heads!" the girl shouted, causing the three to jump back slightly.

"Um...that's not exactly that motivating." Apple said.

"We have to beat the Rebels! By any means necessary, so grab your mallets and get playing!"

"No I don't think so! You can't just scream at us and tell us what to do, that is so not just right! I'm sorry Lizzie, but you're on your own." Blondie said, placing her mallet back in the crimson bag.

"Me too, I've got something to do for the Yearbook committee anyway...see ya Liz." Apple said. Briar shook her head, following after her friends, trying her best to convince them to play with Lizzie. The girl growled, grabbing a hold of her mallet.

"Fine, I don't need you to beat the Rebels anyway!" she cried, slamming her mallet into the ball, sending it flying through the air.

"It's a beautiful day, to walk down the road, and if I stop singing my pie will explode!" Blake sung happily as he walked by the croquet field, holding an enchanted pie for a prank he was going to pull on Sparrow. As he walked however, a crimson ball slammed into his pie, causing him to stop singing. He glanced at Lizzie who had hit the ball with her mallet, a look of horror on his face.

"What have you done?!" he shouted, just as his pie exploded, covering his face with cream and crust.

"Hehehe, look at Blake, he just pied himself!" Kitty cried, pointing at the boy and laughing. He flushed in embarrassment, jolting a bit as Sparrow appeared behind him.

"Nice try Blake J. But if you don't get that date, you gotta wash my undies!" he sung, running off the before the boy could punch him. He glanced at his pie, noticing the croquet ball was actually a hedgehog, who was currently feasting on the remains of his pie. He walked over to Lizzie, placing the tray in her hands.

"I believe this belongs to you."

"Blake, I'm deeply sorry. I let my anger get the better of me." she said, trying not to laugh. He wiped the cream off his face, shaking it onto the ground. He nodded and just walked away, not saying anything.

 _ **xxx**_

After the travesty at the croquet field, Lizzie felt it was time to head inside the castleteria for lunch. However none of her friends wanted to sit with her, so she decided to sit by herself. She had a frown on her face, watching jealously as the rest of her friends were having fun chatting among each other. She glanced down at her broccoli, using her finger to slice their heads off. She often times hated acting the way she did, but she knew it was just what her mother wanted from her. If she wanted to succeed her as the next Queen of Hearts, she had to rule with an Iron Fist, and ignore the notions of friendship and camaraderie.

"Hi Lizzie, mind if I sit here?" Briar asked, earning a nod from the girl.

"I just don't understand. I try to make friends with people, but they just keep avoiding me." she said softly, grabbing one of the broccoli stalks, placing it in her mouth.

"Well, you're idea of making friends differs slightly from others. You aren't that kind to people. Matter of fact, you act kinda bitchy." Briar said, earning a wide eyed look from the Princess of Hearts.

"I do not! I am kind and proper, mother told me I must rule my subjects with an iron fist!" she said.

"That's the problem, we aren't your subjects!" Briar snapped, glaring at her friend.

"Excuse me, would it be a bother if I borrowed your salt?" Dexter asked, approaching their table.

"NO! Off with the salt!" Lizzie shouted, causing the boy to scramble away.

"Ah, finally. I was able to get myself the best apple from the basket, literally nothing can ruin this." Blake said, a smile on his face as he looked at his shiny Red Delicious apple. He didn't notice the salt shaker on the ground until it was too late. He ended up slipping on it, falling back onto the ground, his lunch tray falling over his brand new shirt.

"Fucking Shit!" he shouted, causing everyone to start laughing at his expense. Kitty almost fell from the second floor, clutching her stomach and pointing at the boy.

"Oh my gosh, Blake are you alright?" Apple asked, watching the boy slowly sit up.

"Just peachy...what the fuck, this was my new shirt! And my apple got crushed." the boy said, pulling the destroyed apple from under his leg. He grabbed all of the bowls of food, plates and utensils and dumped them all in the trash, not caring about the utensils at all.

"Poor Blake, I heard someone threw a ball at his pie earlier today." Briar said, earning a sheepish smile from the Princess of Hearts.

"Yes, I...heard the same."

"Hmm...hey wait a minute, when did you last talk to your mother?" Briar asked, earning a smile from her friend. She reached into her purse, pulling out a deck of cards from within.

"She gave me this daily deck of cards before I came to Ever After. She said these rules would help me settle into my future role as queen." she said, handing them to Briar. She took the first one from the top, reading it.

"Rule my way, I'll be watching? When in doubt, off with their heads? Lizzie, these are...insane to say the least. But you aren't your mother, so you shouldn't have to follow these rules." she said.

"I know, but they've been guiding me along since my arrival here."

"I understand but...we don't have to follow our parents rules to the letter...I say, the details are up to us. You're mother is the Queen of Hearts, but that doesn't mean you have to play the role just like her. Think about your friends and how the feel every time you shout at them." she said, handing her the cards back.

"I...never thought of it that way. Thank you Briar, you've given me a lot to think about." Lizzie said, shoving the cards in her purse. She grabbed her empty tray taking it over to the others.

"Hey, I'll convince the girls to join us this afternoon for croquet, but don't yell at them alright?"

"I won't, I promise!" she said excitedly, exiting the castleteria. Dexter returned to Briar's table, a sheepish look on his face.

"So, that salt?"

 _ **xxx**_

"You're running out of time Blake. You'll never score that date now." Sparrow said, earning a sigh from the black haired boy, who was currently in the Student Council room working on the yearbook.

"We never agreed on a cut off date, first off. And second off, I'm working right now, so unless you have pictures to submit, fuck off." he replied.

"Don't be like that Blake, it isn't our fault that Lizzie keeps giving you dirty shirts instead of her glossy red lips!" Hopper said, high fiving Sparrow.

"Aren't you guys supposed to keep tabs on Daring? He hasn't gotten anywhere with Cerise, in fact she told him to fuck off rather loudly in Muse-ic Class today." he said, leaning back in his chair.

"Yes, and it was hilarious...but he's actually giving her a dragon ride around the school. Don't worry, Hunter is keeping tabs on them, we're mostly here to make sure you get your date. If not then you know that that means." Sparrow said.

"Cedar, I need the E-corn, I just finished my quota for the week." the boy said, earning a nod from his fellow photographer, who handed him the brown USB device.

"You've been working rather hard on this, I'm sure Raven and Apple will be happy to read the new articles you've written." the girl said, earning a nod from the boy.

"I hope so, you have no idea what it was like trying to get solid pictures of Lily teaching her sheep how to tap dance. She's quite talented with them, I'll admit." he said, dragging the file onto the device. Once it was copied over, he handed it back to Cedar.

"Thank you Blake, I'll give this to the editors as soon as I'm done. I'm glad you joined, it makes my work a bit easier. It's gonna be so much fun reading this when it's done."

"Hey Cedar, maybe you should be on standby when Bigby loses our bet and has to wash our Grimmnastics Uniforms, I'm sure that'll be yearbook worthy." Sparrow said.

"Hell yeah, that will be recorded for the rest of eternity. Blake J. Bigby, the boy that comes from another world, washing uniforms because he couldn't get a girl to kiss him!" Hopper added, breaking into laughter, wrapping his arm around Sparrow's shoulder. Blake slammed his fist against the table, standing up angrily. The other Yearbook committee members all looked at him, quite surprised at his outburst.

"You think it's so funny huh? I don't see you two trying to score a date with anyone. But I'll show you! From this moment forward, I'm getting what's mine! Fame, money, respect, chicken chains...and if you doubt that, all of you can suck my nuts. Suck on them so fuckin hard, you can't even breathe through your mouth, only through your nose, but even then it'll be hard to do. Because my big fat dick will be clogging that shit!" he shouted, grabbing his backpack, heading toward the door.

"Oh my godmother, tell me you got that?" Hopper said, earning a nod from Cedar who was trying her hardest not to laugh.

"I'm definitely sending this to Blondie, this is comedy gold." she said, tagging the blonde girl in the post.

Blake was honestly starting to get annoyed. What started off as a good day had been rapidly turning into shit. First his pie gets destroyed, so he couldn't use that to prank Sparrow and get back at him for the teasing, but his new shirt got ruined when someone threw a salt shaker on the ground. Now Sparrow and Hopper wouldn't leave him alone, and worse of all, he had been rejected by Lizzie. While that didn't exactly hurt, it did make him feel a bit self conscious. He wasn't used to dealing with rejection, especially after what happened with Lucy. He just wanted this all to end, be that with a date or with everyone laughing at him.

"Hello Blake, fancy running into you." Daring said, clutching a white towel to his face.

"The hell happened to you?" he asked. The blond prince removed the towel, showing the boy the violet shiner he had gotten.

"Cerise got startled when I took her on that dragon ride. When we finally finished the tour, she punched me in the eye and told me to get lost. I can certainly say, I lost this bet." he said.

"Yeah, maybe I gave you a bit of a challenge. Cerise is a wonderful girl, but she's rather hard to understand. Have you tried just being her friend?" Blake asked.

"Hmm...I've never tried that. She still resents me for what I said to her during Thronecoming, but I'll admit. She saved our butts out there."

"Then invite her to play a game with you. The Bookball team is taking on Nottingham next week, and you're a man down without Jack, so just toss a book around. Who knows right?" he asked.

"You're right...well, wish me luck!" Daring said, walking off with a spring in his step.

"Good Luck Daring, make sure to keep that ice on your eye." Blake said, chuckling a bit. He heard a familiar voice coming from the monitor behind him and turned around, seeing Blondie on the screen, holding back her giggles.

" _Before we go on, Cedar just tagged me in this funny video that you all have to see. Blake, I'm sorry but I have to do this...Dexter, playback please."_

" _You think it's so funny huh? I don't see you two trying to score a date with anyone. But I'll show you! From this moment forward, I'm getting what's mine! Fame, money, respect, chicken chains...and if you doubt that, all of you can suck my nuts. Suck on them so fuckin hard, you can't even breathe through your mouth, only through your nose, but even then it'll be hard to do. Because my big fat dick will be clogging that shit!"_

"What god out there brandishes this type of punishment on one mortal man?" he asked, a dejected tone in his voice.

 _ **xxx**_

"We totally schooled those Rebels, even with Kitty on their side, they stood no chance against us!" Briar said happily, her arm wrapped around Lizzie's waist.

"I agree, I'm glad you decided to shout less Lizzie, you look a lot better when you don't shout." Apple said, smiling at her friend.

"Thanks girls, this means a lot. And I truly do apologize for shouting at you...sometimes I tend to forget that you are my friends, not my subjects." the girl replied, a frown on her face.

"Hey, no frowning. How about we discuss this hot juicy rumor, so I heard from the cashier of Hocus Latte that Blake asked you out, and you turned him down, explain!" Blondie said, earning a flushed look from the princess.

"I...well he did. He payed for my latte and asked me on a date, he convinced the Multi-Hex to play a movie from his world, and he didn't want to go alone." she said.

"Oh right, I totally forgot about that...what movie was it again? It was a comedy...Date Night?" Briar said, earning a nod from Apple.

"Me and Blondie went to see it last night, I haven't laughed that hard in years. I almost peed myself." the daughter of Snow White said.

"Well, if it's a good movie then I believe you may have made a mistake Lizzie. I think Blake is a wonderful young man, and you should definitely take him up on his offer. Besides we're in high school, dating happens everywhere. Maybe you could be the next Huntlynn." Blondie said, earning a nod from Lizzie.

"Maybe you're right...my mother said it was okay to fall in love. The most important heart you'll have in your life is the heart of the one you love, and that's one heart I haven't gotten yet." she said.

"Well, I think you might get lucky and get yourself a good guy. Go for it, who knows right?" Apple said, earning a nod from the girl.

"But...what about our standing, he's a Rebel and I'm a Royal...wouldn't it cause drama?"

"Do you think Hunter and Ashlynn care about that? They're so happy together, besides Ashlynn is a Rebel now that the Storybook was revealed as a fake. So it doesn't matter right now, not until the book is found." Briar added.

"I suppose."

"Oh, there's your chance. Go talk to him, and watch the cake." Apple said, gently pushing her friend forward. Lizzie gulped, shakily walking toward the cake toting boy, who was holding the cake in his hand, glancing at his MirrorPhone.

"Blake, could I speak with you real quick?" the girl asked, startling the boy out of his thoughts, making him drop his cake, face down. It splattered all over the floor, getting frosting over the tile and part of his shoes.

"Why does today keep giving me the shaft? I mean all day today nothing good has happened to me, yet I still keep getting fucked right up the ass." he said, looking at the destroyed cake.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to startle you Blake, I'll repay you for that cake." Lizzie said, earning a sigh from the boy.

"It's fine, I was gonna smash that into Sparrow's face for pissing me off earlier. Is something the matter?" he asked, giving the girl his utmost attention.

"Will you go on a date with me?" she asked, stunning the young man. He shook his head a bit, blinking away his confusion.

"I'm sorry?"

"Will you go on a date with me? I turned you down yesterday because I was unsure of myself and my status. But let's say...my friends told me that I should give this a shot. You're my friend, and I should at least give you a chance. Besides I really do want to repay your cake."

"I...sure...I'd love to go on a date with you. Sadly, the Multi-Hex only ran Date Night for three days, so we'll have to watch something else." he said.

"I don't mind, you can pick me up at six, see you then." she said, giving him a kiss on the cheek. She walked off, a smile on her face. The boy rubbed his cheek, flushing a bit. He glanced at the floor, noticing his destroyed cake.

"Dammit, I spent twelve gold on that." he muttered, grabbing a nearby trash can.

 _ **xxx**_

Blake was once again dressed in his favorite outfit, the same one he wore when he had arrived in Ever After, though this time he was wearing a beanie over his black hair, making sure his violet bangs weren't blocking his eye. Instead of his hoodie however, he wore his varsity jacket, which he had grown fond of. He knocked on the door a few times, standing back a few feet, leaning up against the wall behind him, hands in his pockets. He glanced at his wrist watch, seeing it was just past six, two minutes in fact.

" _Just a minute!"_

"Take your time." the boy said, bowing his head a bit as he closed his eyes.

" _Well, now would be a good time to do a mental check list. I brought my wallet, breath mints because I'm not a dumb ass. I made at reservation at the Silver Swan, and I picked out some movies for us to watch back in my dorm...yeah this should be fine."_ he thought to himself. He heard the door open and looked up, opening his eyes.

Lizzie stood before him, looking quite embarrassed. She was wearing a crimson shirt, with a black halter decorated with small playing cards. The front of the dress had golden thread around it, forming various shapes on the front, most of them being hearts. She wore a tight fitting dress that accented her hips quite a bit, and reached down to her knees. It was black in color, the hem being decorated with more playing cards. The skirt had hundreds of tiny hearts sown onto it, all of them glittering in the low lighting. She was wearing a pair of crimson heels, which had golden accents and more playing cards. She was also wearing a pair of crimson gloves, which had decorative black cuffs on it. Surprisingly enough, she wasn't wearing her crown, her hair falling down to it's full length. She was wearing a small heart shaped hat atop her head, which had a small humming bird on it.

"Sorry about the wait, it takes a bit of time to paint the heart over my eye." she said.

"It's fine, I'm not in a hurry. This is your night after all, you were the one who asked me out." he said jokingly, earning a giggle from the girl.

"You asked me first...so where will you be taking me tonight?"

"Well, I made reservations for us at the Silver Swan, after that we can take a walk through town. I picked out some movies we can watch back at my dorm, if you're up for it." he said, earning a nod from the girl.

"I'd be delighted to watch those movies. Seeing as I missed Date Night."

"Worry not, I still have it. After all, I just burned it into a disk for the Multi-Hex to use. I'm sure they'll ask me for more movies in the future. Which would be awesome, I wouldn't mind sharing my culture with Ever After." he said. She slipped her hand into his, making him gulp a bit.

"I'd love to learn more about your world. It would be, hmm...I don't know what word to use."

"On fleek?" he asked, earning a shrug from her.

"What does that mean?"

"Well, on fleek is a term that means nice...it's also a term that people use when they want to say something is on point, or perfect. It's normally used by people who prefer slang over normal English." he replied.

"It isn't exactly a bad thing. Proper English is sometimes hard for people to grasp, so they rely on slang a lot. It took a while for me and the others to get used to speaking English instead of Riddlish, though we all still have our slips from time to time." Lizzie replied, earning an interested look from the boy.

"So, Wonderlandians don't speak Riddlish all the time?"

"No, we speak both languages. My mother often times makes strange laws that my father has to over turn, there was a point in time where Wonderland was a monarchy where only Riddlish was spoken. It was illegal for anyone to speak regular English, making visitors to our world violators of a law they had no knowledge about."

"You're father repealed it right?" Blake asked, earning a nod from the girl.

"Yes, it didn't last long. My mother has temper issues, if you hadn't noticed, I inherited them." she said dejectedly.

"We all have anger issues. I'm not sure if you saw that video earlier today, but yeah, I flipped my shit on Sparrow and Hopper."

"Why was that?"

"No reason...we have this dare going on, and the loser of it has to wash the losers Grimmnastics uniform, after Swamp Swimming." He said, earning a disgusted look from the girl.

"That's disgusting! Wait a spell, does this have to do with Daring trying to get a date with Cerise? I saw her deck him in the face earlier...am I also part of this bet?" she asked.

"Um...no." he said. Lizzie glared into his eyes, making him rub his neck.

"Oh alright...at first this started as a dare. Sparrow dared me to go out with the first girl that walked into Hocus Latte, but when you turned me down, I just decided to leave you alone. Daring however is more, persevering, and kept trying to get a date from Cerise. I'm sorry Lizzie, I really do want to go on this date with you, honest." he said.

"Hmm...I should be mad, but you seem sincere. I'm already prepared for this night out, so I'm not going to waste it. But you'll have to buy me some ice cream on the way back to the dorms...or else it's..."

"Off with my head, I know...I'll get you whatever you want." he said, earning another kiss on the cheek from the girl. They passed by Sparrow and Hopper who both had shocked looks on their faces. He just gave them a troll face, continuing on his way out of the school.

 _ **xxx**_

The two teenagers surprised quite a few others who started whispering to each other and pointing at the two. While Lizzie seemed embarrassed, Blake just took it in stride. They just ignored the people after awhile, chatting among themselves getting to know each other a bit more. The couple were on their way back to the school, a few bags in their hands filled with various snacks, though they had eaten quite a bit at the restaurant. They were actually having a good time, and Lizzie had to admit, she was having a wonderful time with the black haired boy. Having returned back to the school, the two were making their way back to the dorms, when they once again passed by Sparrow and Hopper, though this time Hunter was with them.

"Hey look, my friends are watching us." Blake said, grabbing Lizzie's attention. She glanced at them briefly, giving them a smile.

"They really want you to lose this dare, don't they?" she asked, earning a smile from them.

"Yeah, Sparrow said that in order for me to get out of washing his uniform, I had to go on a genuine date with you and get a kiss from you. But I'm not gonna ask you for that." he replied. Lizzie glanced back at the boys for a brief second, smirking slightly. She wrapped her arms around Blake's neck, standing on her tip toes as she kissed the boy on the lips.

His eyes widened in surprise, being taken aback by the girl's action. His eyes softly closed as he kissed the girl back, wrapping an arm around her waist. She let out a muffled giggle, kissing him back with vigor. They finally broke the kiss, breathing a bit raggedly as they walked away hand in hand, blushing brightly. They did garner the desired result, causing Sparrow to fall to his knees and start crying like a baby.

"Oh my god Lizzie, I can't believe you did that." Blake said, wiping a bit of her lip gloss from his lips.

"I wanted you to win that dare, and you have. Besides I can tell you didn't want to wash dirty underwear...and maybe, I want to see where this goes." she said.

"Where what goes, our relationship? You wanna keep going out?"

"I was tossing the idea of dating around my head, why not give it a shot? I certainly don't mind...besides you're a hexcellent kisser." she said, giving him a wink.

"I mean...I guess I wouldn't mind dating. It would strengthen our friendship a bit, sure I'd love to keep doing this." he said happily.

"Alright then, but if we do continue this, no skirt chasing, or else, you know the rest."

"Lizzie I wouldn't do that to you, I'm not Henry after all." Blake said jokingly. She gave him another kiss on the cheek, pulling him toward his dorm. He slipped the key into the door, throwing it open a second later.

"Well, welcome to my humble abode. Please ignore the overflowing trash can filled with paper clippings and messed up ink cartridges. I'm still working on getting that damn printer to work." he said, allowing the girl to enter the room first. She looked around, seeing some of the posters the boy had created hanging around the room.

"It's quite rustic...it fits you." she said.

"Yeah, I wanted to bring my love of anime to Ever After, but since we are in a different world...I can't exactly get the same memorabilia on my walls. So for now, all I can do is get the stuff off my phone and this stupid printer." he said, placing the ice cream in his mini fridge, placing all of the drinks he had bought on the shelves below it.

"Perhaps you should ask Dexter for some assistance. He is the best when it comes to technology."

"Yeah, but I feel like I ask him for a lot, we have band practice too. Plus I just want to do stuff on my own...well I got some movies cued up, do you care which one we watch first?" he asked.

"Surprise me." she said, taking claim of his computer chair.

He sifted through his computer memory, humming to himself as he searched for his top three favorite movies. He double clicked on Titanic, turning on the Bluetooth projector with the small remote. Once it had synced with his computer, it beamed the image to the other wall, which he had painted white just so he could use the projector this way. He took a seat at the corner of the bed, grabbing a bag of chips from the table.

"Well, it isn't exactly Multi-Hex quality, but this is the only place you'll get a 70 inch screen for free." he said, earning a giggle from the girl.

"It looks fine, despite it being played on a wall from a projector...what's this movie about?" she asked curiously.

"Uh-uh, I'm keeping that a secret, it's better if you just watch it. I'll answer any questions after it." He replied, his eyes going back to the screen.

"Is it a romantic movie? I do love those quite a lot...could you tell me that at least?" Lizzie asked. Blake gave her a nod, turning his eyes back to the screen.

"Yes, it is...I'm sure you'll like it, I've watched it 530 times...531 times with this one." he said.

"Seriously, it must be a wonderful movie if you have seen it that many times."

"It is, it's my guilty pleasure." he admitted, growing a bit silent when the opening of the movie started playing. Lizzie noticed his shift in attitude and shifted her eyes to the boy, who was frowning a bit.

"Is something the matter?"

"No, me and Lucy used to watch this movie a lot. Alice in Wonderland was that movie that she overplayed the shit out of. So I needed to find something to annoy her with, so I started watching the shit out of Titanic...I just fell in love with the story, the myths, the ship, everything surrounding the tragedy that befell the vessel. I can't watch this without remembering her." he said. She smiled, pulling one of her gloves off, slipping her bare fingers through his own.

"Hey, I'm sure she's fine where ever she is. Live for her, and never let her memory die, that's all you can do I'm afraid." she said.

"Yeah...sucks but it's all I can do. Let's enjoy this movie at least...I watched this movie on my own for the last 130 times, it feels good to watch it with company." he said, giving her a kiss on the cheek. She smiled a bit, her eyes returning to the film.

 _ **xxx**_

Blake yawned as he doodled in his notebook. It was second period Riddlish on Thursday, and while he would normally be more animated during this class, he was a little tired. The night before he had spent watching Titanic with Lizzie, and having to comfort her after she started crying due to it's ending, and it was a bit hard for him to handle. But after telling her that it was all a movie. He rubbed his eyes, struggling to stay awake. The Mad Hatter appeared before him, slamming his hands on his desk, causing him to jolt a bit.

"There will be no sleeping in my class Mr. Bigby, drink your tea, it'll help you wake up."

"But you haven't given me tea." he said. The Mad Hatter started laughing, shaking his head.

"Check your pocket." he said, walking back toward the front of the room. Blake reached into his jacket pocket, feeling the handle of a tea cup, which he quickly pulled out. He blinked a few times, not bothering to ask how the man got that in his pocket.

"Wow, you must be working super hard on the Yearbook Blake, I'm so proud of you!" Maddie said, giving the boy a smile.

"Actually, he's tired because of me. You see, the two of us went out last night and we stayed up late watching movies." Lizzie said, causing everyone in the class to look at her.

"You two, went out...romantically?" Kitty asked curiously.

"Yes, they did. They kissed right in the foyer, full contact for almost fifteen seconds." Hunter said.

"Why didn't you tell me this? Come on Hunter, you're supposed to share this stuff with your girlfriend!" Ashlynn said, a look of disappointment on her face.

"I hardly think two people kissing is such an interesting topic. But please, discuss it among yourselves. It proves to be quite entertaining." Blake said, leaning back in his seat as he sipped on his tea. Kitty giggled, shaking her head.

"If you decide to go out with my best friend, you better take care of her. Or you'll see just how sharp this kitty's claws can become."

"Oh trust me, between you clawing my eyes out and Lizzie cutting off my head, there will be hardly enough me to crawl away. And if there is I'm sure I'll get mauled by whatever animals are out in whatever place you take me too." he said.

"You have a vivid imagination." Ashlynn said, earning a chuckle from the boy.

"My vivid imagination keeps me a live Ash. By picturing just how horrible my fate would be should I fuck it up with Liz, I can avoid all possible mistakes leading to said fuck up...you see, it's all in his pamphlet." he said, reaching inside his backpack for a folded piece of paper, handing it to Ashlynn.

"How not to fuck up a relationship, by Blake Bigby, five key ways for you not to dump shit on your love life." she read out loud.

"Oh, it says it comes with an extended manual that's free to download on the MirrorStore." Hunter added.

"Yeah, I actually haven't written the manual yet so if you go onto the site, all you'll see is a GIF of a frog on a unicycle." he replied.

"This is too funny, I'm honestly going to burst! If the pie to the face and you falling on that salt shaker wasn't enough, this definitely seals the deal." Kitty said, earning a sigh from Blake who placed his head on his desk.

"I had already forgotten about the salt shaker...when I find the person who threw that, I'm gonna wring their neck. They ruined my new shirt, and for that they must pay." he said. Lizzie stiffened a bit, leaning back into her seat.

"We've dillydallied enough! Onward, this train must get back on it's course to Riddlish! Come on, let's all work together. I don't need to remind you there's a test tomorrow." the Mad Hatter said.

"Aw, come on daddy, can't you give us tomorrow off?" Maddie asked, earning a chuckle from the man.

"Sorry sweetheart, but Riddlish waits for no one. Now then, from the top!" he cried excitedly, pulling his laser pointer from his sleeve, pointing to the words on the board.

 _ **xxx**_

"Scrub them good Daring, that's what you get for being a loser!" Sparrow cried, strumming the strings of his guitar as Daring Charming was forced to wash his, and Hopper's dirty Grimmnastics uniforms. The prince still had his black eye, to proud to go to the nurse to get it removed. He scrubbed the dirty shirt against the wash board, as the crowd of students behind him, laughed at his misery.

"You know, this isn't funny." Blake said dejectedly, earning a glare from his friend.

"Yet you continue to record it, for what purpose?" Lizzie asked, earning a grin from the boy.

"For the yearbook of course. I just found out from Giles that you can add video to it, isn't that neat?"

"Really? Think you could record me winning the croquet tournament on Saturday?" she asked, earning a nod from the black haired boy.

"Sure, anything for a friend." he said.

"I should apologize, I'm sure you were looking forward to continuing this, but after a few days...I'm not sure anymore." Lizzie said, a frown on her face.

"Hey, it's fine. I don't want to make you uncomfortable or anything, you've got your whole life as the Queen of Hearts to worry about. Besides, I at least got to take you out a couple nights and got a few kisses, that's enough for me." Blake said, snapping another picture of daring. Hopper tossed his uniform into the bucket, earning a glare from Daring.

"Couldn't you wait until I was done with Sparrow's?"

"Sorry bro, I needed mine dry for tomorrow." he said. Blake sighed, handing Lizzie his tablet. He took off his varsity jacket, wrapping it around her shoulders as he took off his watch, and his charm bracelet.

"What are you doing?"

"Helping out a friend, I can't watch this anymore...besides I sort of feel responsible. I was the one who challenged him with asking Cerise on a date." he said, shoving his accessories in his pockets. He walked over to Daring who just looked up at him.

"Here to gloat because you won the dare?"

"I'm here to bail a friend out of his embarrassment...and to apologize for getting you into this." he said, kneeling down before the bucket. He started scrubbing the dirty uniform, sloshing water in all directions.

"Why would you do that?" Daring asked curiously.

"It just wasn't in the cards...besides you deserve a break, I got this."

"Hmm...I will admit, I was surprised that you two started dating, even more surprised when you broke it off so soon."

"Sometimes it just doesn't work out, it wasn't in the cards I think."

"I'm sure you'll find someone else. Whoever that may be, I hope you take good care of her."

"I will, thanks Daring." he said, giving his friend a smile. Cedar snapped a few pictures of him for the yearbook. He shook his head, not minding one bit. At least he would have an interesting story to share.


	23. Ginger in the BreadHOUSE

**A/N:**

 **Hello everyone and welcome to chapter 23 of Through the Looking Glass. This chapter will cover the events of Ginger in the BreadHOUSE. I didn't know when I was going to add this chapter in the time line so I just posted it before the winter events. It's a bit hard to come up with a timeline for this shit especially when there isn't one, so I'm just assuming everything that's going on happens in a linear path. Some of the chapters will be missing some characters that are supposed to be in that episode's counterpart. Like the canon version of Fairest on Ice is supposed to have Alistair, Bunny and Faybelle in it, but in my version, they're somewhere else. I actually made it so Faybelle was in the Reform School with Ramona for something, so she'll be introduced later on in the series, around the Winter Ball.**

 **I'm glad that you guys liked the last chapter, it was fucking hilarious and I had a fun time writing it. I just wanted to make it so that Blake ended up getting fucked over during the whole day, following his failure at getting a date with Lizzie. The highlight of the night was her asking him on a date and winning the bet, but he's still a good guy so he bailed Daring out of his chore. I was thinking of having Blake have his own MirrorCast where he and Lizzie watch movies so he can see her reaction, this would also include anime series. I was gonna have Apple do some Let's Plays of games from Blake's world, with the most infamous one being School Days, just her expression at getting a bad ending is gonna be the most fun. I was also thinking of having her play through Danganronpa to see her reaction to that too. But Blake has a lot to do, he's working on the Yearbook, has a band, along with school work, so I decided against this at least for now. Until the Yearbook is done at least, he won't be doing anything else. He also has a job so he has his time allotted, so he wouldn't be able to post anything or actually handle his MirrorCast. Maybe he can start it and have Lizzie manage it. I've also held back on some Radio Rebel stuff, but I will explain why he hasn't been doing any radio casts in a later chapter.**

 **I do hope you enjoy this chapter. It does contain a snippet of a song, which is a cover of the Sword Art Online II opening Ignite. It's performed by Christina Vee, who if you didn't know voices Marinette in Miraculous Ladybug, Compa in Hyper Dimension Neptunia and various other anime and video game characters. It's under Natewantstobattle's channel, he actually started his own record label and his music has always been wicked awesome, so do look it up if you'd like and show them some love. Have a nice day, remember to review, favorite and follow the story. Shoutout to all of my readers, if you have any questions then please feel free to ask me, I'll do my best to answer them. See ya later taters!**

Ever After High

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 23

Ginger in the BreadHOUSE

" _I'm taking aim at the sky!_

 _Cuz once again, my whole life is changing!_

 _I won't give in_

 _We'll Ignite the World_

 _I won't let life pass me by_

 _With bloody tears in a pool around me!_

 _Softly, slowly_

 _Take away this pain!_

 _So if you're hurting follow me!_

 _Begin again and you're set free!_

 _First we change, then we sing!"_

The last few notes echoed through the room, earning applause from the ones gathered there. Cupid was breathing a bit hard, a smile on her face as she just finished recording another song, this time based on an anime she had watched with Blake. Melody gave the girl a thumbs up, gesturing for her to take off her headphones, which she hung on the microphone stand. She walked out of their miniature recording booth, which they had all worked to create in Melody's room, and while cramped, they had all found a way to actually do it. Blake snapped a picture of the girl, intending to place it in the yearbook.

"You did amazing girl, you're voice is absolutely stunning!" Melody said.

"Thank you Melody, I've been doing vocal practices like you taught me. I make sure to practice every night for an hour much to Blondie's delight, and I also drink that herbal tea you had me buy." the cherub replied, a flushed look on her cheeks.

"Well, it's definitely helping. One more song and our EP will be finished and ready for the MirrorStore...I can't believe this. Back in my world, I wouldn't have dreamed of releasing an album, yet here I am with friends actually working toward a music career, and I'm super excited about it!" Blake said, earning a giggle from Cupid.

"Yup, we're about to finish our first EP and most likely mark the beginning of our musical careers. Even if we are Rebels, at least we'll be Rebels together." she said happily.

"Well, Dexter isn't a Rebel, I doubt he'll stick with us after high school. I got nothing better to do, so I'm in it to win it. However, we do need one more song to finish this EP...either of you got anything?" Melody asked, glancing at her clipboard.

"Not really, I only wrote two songs. I'm in the middle of writing another love song but I'm not getting anywhere." Cupid replied, playing with a strand of hair.

"Well, I wrote another cover song. It's actually a song that was performed by the lead singer of one of my favorite bands. He passed away a couple months before I showed up here, and I wanted to do this in his honor." Blake said, handing the lyrics to Melody, who started reading them.

"I like it, these lyrics have a really deep meaning...it fits in with you quite a lot." she said, earning a frown from Blake.

"More than you know...the only problem with them is that this song is a duet. I wanna find someone who can get a new meaning from these lyrics too, to their singing is just as passionate. That's why I didn't ask Cupid to sing it with me, because I'm not sure if she'll emote them correctly." He said, handing the lyrics to Cupid so she could read them. She hummed to herself, eyes narrowed slightly.

"You're right...these lyrics wouldn't fit me at all. But who else do we have that could sing them? Raven is busy being the editor of the yearbook, and though we got her to record Set it all Free with us, we still haven't gotten her voice yet." the pinkette replied.

"I know, I'll see if I can get her to come up with something. Maybe we can have nine tracks on this EP instead of eight, should she agree to sing something. It'll take me a few days to mix these tracks and get them all perfectly, so by Tuesday I would need that song." Melody said, pulling her laptop toward her, typing a few things into it.

"I can definitely do that...maybe I can get Cerise to record more than back up. She has a pretty voice, but all she wants to do is howl for some reason." Blake said, earning a confused look from Cupid. She shrugged, grabbing a hold of her purse.

"I'm gonna head out, my MirrorCast starts in fifteen minutes and I have to meet Humphrey in the A/V room. If you need any additional recordings then just let me know, alright?"

"Sure thing Cupid, have a good show." Melody said, briefly hugging her friend before she left the room. Blake grabbed his backpack, shoving his notebook into it.

"I gotta go too, I promised Ginger I would help her around Spells Kitchen. I decided to add her shop to the the yearbook so that people would actually try her sweets out." he said.

"That's so sweet of you, hehe." the white haired girl said, earning a glare from the boy.

"I'll get back to you on that song though, have fun mixing."

"It's what I do best, later!"

Blake left the room, stretching his arms above his head slightly. Glancing at his watch, he saw that it was already three forty-five in the afternoon, and he was set to meet up with Ginger before four o'clock. He started heading toward the foyer, feeling a yawn coming on. He did his best to hold it back, but in the end, the yawn reigned supreme. He made a mental note not to stay up late rewatching anime or working on the yearbook and to actually get some sleep. Even though they weren't dating, Lizzie liked to drop by once in awhile, and they ended up watching anime or more movies from his world. The night before, they had watched School Days, and she had been quite unnerved by it. In his defense, he did tell her to pick something else, but arguing with Lizzie was like talking to a brick all made of hearts.

"I'm gonna need some coffee if I'm gonna make it through this afternoon." he muttered to himself, making his way to Hocus Latte for some coffee.

 _ **xxx**_

Blake knew it wasn't going to be a good afternoon when he saw Gus and Helga Crumb standing outside of Ginger's store. It was almost routine for these two to just ruin her day, almost like clockwork. Should she make something in Cooking Class-ic, no one would try it because they kept reminding everyone of what her mother did to Hansel and Gretel. It was almost normal seeing the two candy themed teenagers outside of the shop, scaring away the customers, but even they couldn't stop the other world teen from walking into the restaurant. Today however they had brought sandwich boards with crudely drawn pictures of Ginger, holding who he assumed was them over a cauldron, mixing up some sort of stew.

Taking a sip of his rapidly cooling latte, he stood in front of the cousins, a glint of anger in his eye. Gus Crumb was the older of the two, being the son of Gretel. He had sun kissed skin, and short pinkish white hair which was brushed neatly. He was wearing a white shirt with a pair of bright pink lederhosen, and light pink sneakers. Similarly, Helga Crumb was dressed in a candy themed dress, with a bolero jacket over it, light pink in color with the image of candy and lollipops printed on it. She was wearing a chocolate brown skirt and candy pink heels. She was rather cute for a glutton, but Blake wasn't exactly attracted to people with a sweet tooth, and this girl absolutely had more than one. 32, he was willing to bet. He let out a sigh, shivering a bit from the slight cold air.

"Please tell me you two haven't been standing here since Ginger opened for the afternoon?"

"Of course we have! We have to save Bookend from her horrible food!" Helga cried, a look of fear on her face.

"Listen to my cousin! She is evil!" Gus added.

"Okay, let me just get this point across. Just because someone's parents are bad, doesn't mean they are. So kindly fuck off, before I call the police...oh wait that wouldn't work, you two would just eat them. Hey, could it count as cannibalism if you ate them? Well, they are gingerbreadmen so it wouldn't be cannibalism...hmm." he finished his statement, rubbing his chin in thought.

"You have rapidly lost us...what we're you here for again?" the pink haired girl asked. Blake blinked a few times, a smile appearing on his face. He pulled out twenty gold from his pocket, tugging the bill a few times.

"I heard a candy store opened in the woods, go and get yourselves some candy, but leave some for the rest of us, got it?" he asked, handing Gus the bill. The two shared a look, breaking into a sprint toward the Dark Forest. He sighed, grabbing their discarded sandwich boards, making them turn into ash with his magic.

"I'm so glad Raven gave me all of her notes from last year." the boy said, walking toward the door.

He and Raven had been hanging out a lot to work during the yearbook. During these meetings, she also took the time to teach him about magic since she had to learn everything by herself. He was glad that he at least had someone like her as a teacher, and he did start looking up to her as a sister after everything that happened. It helped ease his mind a bit. Now he knew more than minor levitation, he knew slight teleportation, though not like Kitty, and was able to turn things into ash with a single thought. He also had a bit of a handle on water magic, though making Apple's water bottle burst wasn't exactly a feat of magic. Still he was rapidly learning and that was a good thing.

"Hi Ginger, I dealt with your problem outside." the boy said, once he entered the store. The girl gave him a smile, though she looked a bit sad.

"Thank you, those two have been standing outside since lunch. I've been here all by myself since I had the afternoon free, you have no idea what it's like to see them scare away any potential customer." she replied. He tossed his empty cup in the trash, placing his backpack on a nearby table.

"Hey, that's what I'm here for. Some people have tried your sweets now, all we need to do is get some marketing going on...and no offense girl, but this place looks dreary. It needs to look more like a bakery and not...like some diner in the middle of the desert." he said.

"Oh?" she said, looking a bit shocked. She hadn't really done anything for the ambiance since buying the locale. Perhaps that was also why she was having trouble getting customers.

"Trust me, my mother is a Home Decorator, and while this isn't exactly a home, I can definitely spruce up the place, enough to get some revenue through the door. Once we get you a stable income we can start discussing further embellishments." he said, a professional sounding tone in his voice. Ginger was honestly impressed with him.

"What did you have in mind?" she asked, glancing around the store.

"Well, this is a bakery and a candy shop right? We gotta give the customer that feeling. Slapping a showcase at the front and filling it with stuff isn't enough...I'm thinking we paint these walls candy pink, maybe paint some lollipops here and there, add some candy themed ornaments. Maybe some Gummy bear lamps coming from the ceiling, as a start." he said.

"That would be interesting...I do have some money saved up from working at Hocus Latte, it isn't much but we can at least get the paint." Ginger said, earning a nod from the boy.

"I'll pitch in some money too, I want to help you get this business up and running, because you deserve that for all the hard work you do. And I'm not gonna let two little shits ruin this for you." he said, reaching into his pocket for his MirrorPhone.

"Thank you! This means so much to me."

"Anything for a friend Ginger...now then, I need to get a good look at these walls, figure out if the natural light will bring out the colors perfectly, get the dimensions for those light fixtures, what do you think of replacing these tiles for wood?" he asked.

"Isn't wood expensive?"

"It depends on the kind and the finish, you know what, we'll just get those tiles that look like wood, no one will know the difference."

So, for the next few minutes, Ginger watched intently as Blake walked around the entirety of her store, looking closely at the walls for any imperfections he would have to fix. Thankfully, everything was in good condition, aside from the dreary paint. He added everything up in his head, checking it with the calculator on his phone.

"Well, with everything I have planned that includes just the paint and the light fixtures, we'll need about five thousand gold for it. That's if we get the tiles, if not then we can cut those out and drop down to three thousand. I did notice some of the tables were wobbly so I added in some replacements." he said.

"Alright, that sounds reasonable, I have fifteen thousand saved up. People here in Bookend don't buy my stuff, but those in Hood Hollow always go the extra mile, and I do provide Hocus Latte with things too so they pay me for that as well." Ginger said, looking over the list of materials they would need.

"Perfect, I already turned in my work for the yearbook and I'm taking a few days off to work on our bands album. If I run to the Hardware store before they close, I can at least get all of the paint here and get started before curfew." he said.

"Okay, let me just grab my purse and we can go...I'm trusting you with the money though, so don't let me down." she said, giving him a stern look. He chuckled, shaking his head.

"I'm not gonna let you down, trust me this place is gonna look real spiffy real soon!" Blake said happily.

 _ **xxx**_

Having gotten three big gallons of candy pink paint, and some replacement tables, Blake and Ginger started the process of peeling the old paint off the walls. When asked why they couldn't just paint over it, Blake had told the girl that it looked much cleaner and brighter if they peeled the old paint off. It would also reveal things hidden by the paint, like holes that needed to be filled in or cracks in the wall that the paint had been used to cover. The black haired boy honestly found this part of the job rather fun, since he got to peel the paint off the wall by pulling it, and it usually became more fun when it stretched and refused to break.

Thankfully, they had been able to get an entire wall completely peeled and checked over and it was completely fine. So they cracked open a gallon of paint and started painting, with Ginger handling the top part and Blake handling the rest of the wall with the paint roller. He had almost forgotten the last time he had actually painted something that wasn't a figurine or something in art class, it was almost fun in a sense.

"You were right about this glossy pink, it just looks amazing on these walls." Ginger said, grabbing his attention.

"Oh, right yeah. Don't tell anyone, but pink is one of my favorite colors, so I know how to pick it when I have to." he said, almost in a whisper, earning a giggle from the girl.

"It's okay, not many men will admit to liking pink. It isn't a bad color, and it goes well with white and red."

"Well duh, white and red makes pink, so it would go well with it. I feel like a hot pink tie with a neon blue shirt would look awesome. I might just do that one day, wait for it, it'll happen." he said in a reassuring tone.

"I think you'd look absolutely dashing in it." Ginger replied, giving him a smile. She got off the ladder, having finished her work at the top. Blake continued painting with the roller, making sure to give the wall an even coat.

"It's starting to look like something...that other paint will be here tomorrow, so you can start drawing the candy in after the second coat, while you do that I can work on the other wall." Blake said.

"Alright, how about some snacks? I have some cookies in the oven if you'd like?"

"Please tell me they're snowflake cookies."

"I'm sorry, I didn't make any of those today. I made a batch of heart shaped cookies though, I promise they're just as good." she said, feeling a bit bad when he gave her a pout. He rolled his eyes, giving her a smile.

"They'll do just fine, I love all of your baking...I'll just continue painting this wall." he said, earning a thumbs up from the girl who walked into the kitchen.

He set the roller down into the paint pan, dropping another bit of paint into it. Glancing at the candy apple clock across the dining hall, he noticed it was time for Blondie's afternoon MirrorCast, and decided to turn the television onto the Mirror Channel. He wiped his hands with a spare cloth, shoving it into his dirty apron pocket as he turned the telecast on, catching the last of Cupid's show.

" _Alright Ever After High, I got time to answer one more question...the lines are still open so do call in. I'd love to give you any advice you need."_ the pink haired girl said, giving the camera a smile.

"Pfft, if Cupid sets foot in here she's gonna go love crazy." he said softly to himself. He soaked the roller in paint, once again painting the wall, making sure not to get any on the tiles at the edge of it.

" _Alright, caller twenty you are on with Cupid, what can I help you with today?"_

" _Um...my name is Wolfie101 and I just had a bit of advice. You see, there's this guy I like, but I don't know how to get his attention. It's really awkward too, we talk a lot and whenever I look at him or get a good glimpse into his eyes I just...I need help."_

Blake set his roller down, hanging onto the handle as he turned his attention back to the television, looking at Cupid who was trying to contain her giggles. She closed her notebook, giving a smile to the camera.

" _I understand that feeling Wolfie, I've been there myself many times. It can get really awkward especially if you keep thinking about it. You run through it a million times and then you regret it and you just never get to do it. My advice to you is simple, get him alone, maybe invite him to a picnic or something and just tell him how you feel. The only regret in life is not doing something because you're scared. You only live once upon a time, I always say, take the plunge, take his hand, hell give him a kiss in broad daylight, it's all endless. If he likes you back, then you got yourself a good man, if he turns you down...there are more fish in the sea. I hope this helps you out!"_

"Leave it to Cupid to always give spot on advice. She's really good when it comes to that." Ginger said, handing Blake a plate of cookies.

"Thanks Ginger. It's so sad that Cupid does so much for this school's love department and yet she doesn't have a special someone in mind. It's totally obvious she likes Dexter, but he likes Raven, it must be so bad for her." he said, taking a bite from one of the cookies.

"I agree with you, it must hurt seeing the guy you like being in love with someone else...it must feel like someone is twisting a knife in your heart whenever you see it happening in front of you."

Blake glanced over at Ginger, slowly chewing his cookie, swallowing right after. He set the plate down on the counter, earning a weird look from Ginger, who looked at the floor dejectedly. She grabbed a paint brush and a bucket of paint, walking to the other side of the shop.

"I'll get started on the area over by the booths." she said.

"Ginger, do you like someone that likes someone else?" Blake asked, crossing his arms over his chest. She sighed, giving him a nod.

"I like Hopper, but because of all those rumors, he thinks I'm gonna turn him into frog soup. I would never do that, I find his mannerisms really cute, and he has such a way with words in his frog form." she said. Blake chuckled, shaking his head.

"A school girl crush on a frog prince, never thought I would check that one of the list. Listen, after we set your intentions straight with all of Ever After High, people won't see you as the daughter of the Candy Witch, they'll see you as Ginger Breadhouse, the baker extraordinaire who also happens to be a Chocolatier and a Confectioner."

"That's a long title."

"But it's a just one dammit! And I'm gonna help you achieve it! By the sweat of my brow, and the paint in my bucket, we will get people walking in through that door, begging for more candy!" he said.

"Excuse me, do you guys sell cookies here?" A young man asked, walking into the store. Blake pointed at the man with a dripping paint brush.

"We're closed! Come back tomorrow!"

"Ah, okay!" he screamed in fear, running out of the store.

"Seriously?" Ginger snapped, earning a cringe from the boy.

"I'll just...paint this wall." he said, returning to his work, trying to hold back his laughter. Ginger sighed, wondering if the price of business was worth forsaking her first customer in months.

 _ **xxx**_

Blake didn't really know why, but looking around his dorm, he saw he was missing something. It wasn't anything material, he had a television, a gaming system, a computer and clothes. It wasn't anything like that, but he did feel like something was missing from his room, something that he had back in his old world that he didn't have in Ever After. But as he lay on the floor, questioning what was missing, he saw something on his ceiling. He couldn't put a finger on it, but he felt like he saw something up there. Getting up from the floor, he jumped onto his desk and looked at the ceiling, noticing it was a button, not just any button, a red button.

Feeling a sense of curiousness, he decided it would be a wise idea to press the button. A quiet hiss filled his ears as he almost fell off the desk, watching as a spiral staircase materialized right out of thin air. Looking at it in confusion, the boy decided to let his curiosity guide him. He paused as he grabbed the rail, glancing at the drawer on his desk. He walked over to it, pulling it open and reaching inside for the hilt of the Vorpal Blade, which he tugged into his belt.

"Well, I guess I'll lead myself up these steps...wonder what this is all about." he muttered to himself, making his way up the metal stairs, slipping into the room above his room.

Looking around, he realized it was in fact a loft. An entire room had been built right above his, and it looked like it hadn't been used in years. He walked into it, looking around at all of the things contained inside. Several chests could be seen placed next to each other, there were some shelves with white dusty sheets placed over what he assumed were books. He brushed some cobwebs out of the way, coughing a bit due to the musky air. He noticed light pouring in from a circular window, made out of stained glass. Walking over to it, he used his sleeve to wipe some dust away from it, peeking to the outside, but he couldn't see anything.

"This is weird...why would this even be up here?" he muttered to himself, wondering to the other side of the room, seeing a rather old bed laying up against the back wall. He reached for one of the pictures, brushing the dust off of it, but he saw that there was no picture in the frame.

He wondered back toward the shelves, grabbing the sheets and pulling them off. Underneath were several old tomes all of them having a golden scripture written on them. He grabbed one of the books, brushing the thin layer of dust from it, his eyes scanning the words.

"What...this is Latin...are these magic tomes?" he asked himself, opening the cover. He saw the word Magia written in the first page. Flipping to one of the middle pages, he started reading the words, translating them in his head.

"Etenim vis magia...wish granting magic? Is that even a thing?" he muttered, glancing at the words on it. It was a series of phrases all of them chained together. He looked around, closing his eyes as he chanted the spell.

"Hoc autem projectisi nos magico carmine dona mihi votum, a somno, opus et magicum est praeter nos!" he cried out. The book glowed a brilliant gold, the magic almost exploding from it, sending him flying back into the wall. He shook his head, feeling a bit dizzy.

"Ow...okay, never read Latin from a book in a loft above you bedroom." he muttered. He glanced at the ground, seeing a silver wand on the ground beside him. Picking it up from the floor he looked it over, seeing the small glowing runes on it.

"If you so wish it, so it shall be." he muttered, translating the Latin written on the side of the wand. He reached for the book, looking at the enchantment he had just cast. He read the details, frowning a bit.

"Whoever shall cast this spell shall receive a wand that grants three wishes. These wishes are legal binding and permanent beyond midnight on the day the wish was granted. Cannot be used to travel to different worlds, and cannot be used to break curses or other enchantments. Cannot open portals to other dimensions, and it's a single use wand, once it runs out of wishes, you can't make another one for seven years...great, a useless trinket." he muttered disdainfully.

He closed the book and placed it back on the shelf, wondering who the owner of the books truly was. He glanced at the white wand in his hands, noticing it looked rather familiar for some reason. He waved it around, seeing a bit of sparkles coming from the tip of it. He cleared his throat, holding his hand out.

"I wish Mountain Dew was real in this dimension and I had one in my hand right now." he said, waving the wand in the air. The brilliant sparkles swirled around his hand, forming a can of his favorite soft drink. Other sparkles flew out of the room, most likely spreading throughout the land. He cracked open the can, taking a drink from it, frowning a bit.

"Should have wished it was cold. Well, at least I can use these wishes for cool stuff...hey, it doesn't say I can't wish for more wishes. Wand, I wish I had ten more wishes!" he said. The wand glowed brightly, the numeral on the side of it changing from two to eleven. He nodded to himself, tucking the wand into his inside pocket.

Once he had put everything back in place, he walked back down into his room and pressed the button on the ceiling, making the spiral staircase rise back up. He placed the Vorpal Blade back in his drawer, along with the wand...before he shut the drawer however, he grabbed the wand, a smile on his face.

"I wish this room looked exactly like mine did back on Earth, including all of my anime, figurines and everything else." he said.

The wand once again glowed brightly, the magic literally swirled around his room, changing everything it touched into something anime related. When the magic stopped, he looked around the room, seeing all of his current stuff hadn't changed, instead all of his other things had been added to it. Surrounding the television was a black entertainment system, filled to the brim with his video games, books and movies. Underneath his television was his Playstation 4, along with his spare controllers, his Playstation 3 and his Retro Game consoles with their games. Surrounding the white wall that he had made as a projection screen were his two other bookshelves, which were also filled with all of his manga which he had been collecting since he was twelve years old.

The floor had changed to solid oak like his room back home. He now had a glass coffee table in the center of it, with a faux zebra skin rug. There was a beanbag chair near the bookshelf along with a see through hanging chair which was moving slightly, the cushions being bright blue. The area around his computer had been decorated with some of his figurines. The coup de gras was of course the glass shelf containing his collection of glass ponies, all of them being kept in pristine condition. He also had his wall scrolls and posters in all of the empty spaces that were left in his room, and finally he had a Harley Quinn blanket hanging from his window acting like curtains, the light of the sun making it looked like it was glowing.

The boy almost fainted when he took a look around his room. Back in his old home, his room was rather small so everything looked cramped, but now that he had more space everything fit perfectly. All of his anime had the perfect spot, the scrolls looked good on the walls and not too against each other, and the room looked even more complete. Even his dresser and vanity had changed to the one that he had back in his room. He kissed the wand, hugging it tightly.

"Thank you Wand, you are fucking awesome! I can't believe this...my room looks so...complete! Wait a minute, something is missing...Frozen Chandelier." he said, flicking his wrist. From the ceiling sprouted the ice chandelier from Elsa's castle, glowing a brilliant blue. It was of course smaller than the one in the movie and wasn't actually made of ice, but it did helped tie the room together. He sighed contently, dropping into his bed.

"This is the best day ever...but this magic is a bit too dangerous. Anyone who finds this wand or that room could easily make that. I know, I wish only I could see that button. I also wish only I could use this wand and that my desk drawer had fingerprint identification which only I can open." he said. The magic flew around the room, once again changing the things he had requested. Once he did, he pressed his thumb against the scanner that had appeared on his desk drawer and placed the wand inside, next to the Vorpal Blade.

"That was a lucky find, but now I gotta get some information...perhaps Giles knows." he said, grabbing his backpack, slinging it around his shoulder. He grabbed his dorm keys and shoved them in his pocket, closing the door after himself. He pulled the door back open, squealing like a little girl when he saw his dorm again. He let out another sigh and closed the door, this time for good.

 _ **xxx**_

"I hope I'm not bothering you Giles, but I had a question I was hoping to get an answer too." Blake said, earning a nod from the younger brother of Headmaster Grimm. He had been living at the bottom of the school, even though his curse had been lifted, it was the place he felt the most at home. The man had prepared tea for them, though both agreed it didn't beat Maddie's tea.

"Of course my boy, what questions do you have? My brother caught me up on your situation...could it be related to the curse the Evil Queen has placed on you?"

"No that isn't it...I've already made peace with that and know that it's nigh impossible to revert it. I have a question...is the legend of King Arthur relevant in this world?" Blake asked, taking a sip from his tea.

"Why yes it is. However, Arthur Pendragon didn't have any successors, so when he passed on, his story ended. It was said that his story would repeat, should someone find the Legendary Sword Excalibur. However, it has been lost for the last eight centuries or so. The Wizard Merlin awaits when another child finds the sword." the man replied. Blake narrowed his eyes, pursing his lips a bit.

" _Is that why there's a blank page in the Storybook of Legends? Because there's no successor to the Pendragon Legend, and anyone who finds Excalibur will get it's destiny?"_ he thought to himself.

"I should further iterate, though Merlin is a centuries old wizard, he himself has retired and let another take his name. He does indeed have a successor, a young girl by the name of Jessica. She's two hundred years old in wizard years, but is still in fact a growing teenager. Last I heard, she was in Magic School, training to succeed her father." he said.

"Wait...Wizards in this world are immortal?"

"Well, they aren't immortal, they have longevity, meaning they have a nearly immortal life, but can still die. Of course no one would tempt Merlin's life...he is a kind man who will help anyone out with magic should they need it. He is the headmaster of Merlin's School of Magic and Witchcraft." Giles said, earning a nod from Blake.

"So basically Hogwarts exists here...nice. But wait...has Jessica come to Ever After High before?"

"Why do you ask? Did you perhaps find a secret room with some books you shouldn't have been messing with?" the man asked, earning a dry laugh from the boy.

"No...not at all."

"Son, I know you were using magic...there's a difference between light magic and your dark magic, and the magic that I sensed earlier was full of light. That and by checking your student record, I realized that Jessica Merlin was once inhabiting your dorm though she had her secret wizard tower above her dorm. I'm not gonna tell my brother, but do refrain from using that magic...combining it with your darkness magic wouldn't be good for anyone." the man advised, earning a sigh from the boy.

"Here I thought I would have an awesome time learning new magic, but the Evil Queen's curse still screws me over. Oh well, I made it so only I can see the access to that area of my dorm so no one will see it. I doubt they would with the chandelier I put in there."

"Chandelier?"

"Uh...anyway, thank you so much for this information, I've learned quite a lot about Merlin. Hey, maybe if I'm lucky I'll find Excalibur, doubt I'll be able to pull it from the stone though...I'm hardly worthy for that sword...besides it's rather demanding, and I don't like being called a Fool over and over...thanks for the tea Giles." the boy said, politely excusing himself.

"What a peculiar boy...a chandelier?" the man asked, stroking his beard imagining what the boy had done in his dorm.

 _ **xxx**_

"I can't believe this is happening! The famous Jack Horner is coming here, and my store isn't finished yet!" Ginger cried, startling Blake who was in the middle of drawing a lollipop onto the wall. His brush ended up smearing across the pink paint.

"Dude." he said, glancing at the owner who gave him a sheepish grin.

"I'm sorry! But I just had to vent...I didn't think my store was going to take longer to finish. Raven ended up calling Jack Horner and he's gonna come here to try my things! This is so not right! I don't even have ingredients, or food or anything prepared!" she cried, shaking Blake a bit.

"Okay sweetheart, calm down before you have a nervous breakdown, and trust me you wouldn't look cute frothing at the mouth. Just take a deep breath and tell me the important stuff, like when he's gonna show up here, so I can fix that lollipop." he said, jabbing his thumb toward the wall.

"He's coming to Bookend at three today. I mean, I can maybe give him some stuff from Cooking Class-ic and borrow a food cart so I can present it at the square. But Raven wanted me to bring him here so he can see the store...I don't know what to do!" the girl cried. Blake glanced at the clock, seeing it was half past one.

"Okay Ginger, I got an idea. You go to the Cooking room and bake everything you can, I'll finish getting this place spruced up and make it look presentable. Just leave it to me alright? I got this!" he said.

"Alright...okay, I'll let you handle this...oh but what if he doesn't like what I bake, what if he doesn't eat my cookies, or my pie? What if Helga and Gus tell him about me?" she cried.

"Ginger Breadhouse shut up! He's gonna love your food, stop focusing on the half empty class and focus on the half full one instead. Now go to the Cooking room or so help me I will drag you there myself." the boy said sternly. She gave him a nod, grabbing her purse from the counter top, tossing him the keys.

"I trust you Blake, please just...make this place look neat." she said, leaving the shop.

He looked around, seeing all of the work that still needed to be done. Only two days had passed, and he had yet to paint the other side of the restaurant, fix the broken tables, replace the others, and start changing the floor tiles. There was no way he was going to get that place ready before three o'clock. He started sweating a bit, feeling a bit jittery.

"Alright, I got an hour and a half, to paint the other wall, fix the tables, put in the new fixtures and change all of the tiles...no way in hell that's gonna happen...maybe I can do something about it." he said, smirking a bit. He took his gloves and apron off, laying them on the nearby booth, walking toward the door. He grabbed his backpack and slung it over his shoulder, leaving the store. He locked it up, testing the doors a bit before turning around.

"What are you doing helping Ginger out? Don't you know she's gonna shove you in her oven and cook you?" Gus asked, or rather shouted at Blake.

"Nobody can fit in her oven. Look at me, I'm nearly six feet tall, does it look like I can fit in that oven?" he asked.

"True...but she'll just cook you in her pot!" Helga screamed, causing the people around them to start running, mostly from being startled.

"Oh my god...have you two even tried to get to know Ginger? Have you ever just asked how her day has been? Or what she's making? No you haven't, because you judge her for something she hasn't done and will never do. She's a Rebel for a reason, and that's because she wants to bake and share her treats with the world. But you two dumb asses are too thick headed to fucking try them. So before you judge Ginger for what she hasn't done, try her damn cookies or a slice of pie. Until then, don't fucking judge her!" he said, spinning on his heel, running back toward Ever After High.

"I think Blake is right cousin...perhaps we were being too hard on Ginger...we've never gotten to know her." Helga said, earning a nod from Gus.

"You are right, mother and uncle have said horrible stories about the Candy Witch, but we've never truly gotten to know Ginger at all. Perhaps we should...try her food?" the boy said, earning a nod from his cousin.

"Yes, but let us wait until Jack Horner arrives...he's a good judge of character so if he doesn't die, then we'll try it."

"Good thinking cousin! That's why you're my best friend!" the boy said, hugging Helga tightly who let out a giggle.

"I have some sweets saved up from the candy store, let's go eat them!" she cried, breaking into a sprint toward the school, followed by her cousin.

Meanwhile, Blake made it back to his dorm, pausing to look around for a few seconds before moving toward his desk, putting his thumb against the fingerprint scanner. Once it unlocked, he reached inside for the white wand, looking it over. It still had seven wishes, from the last time he had used it. He placed it in his back and turned to leave the dorm, closing and locking the door behind him. As he was leaving however, he almost bumped into Cerise who was about to knock on his door. They shared a look, and Blake straightened up a bit, giving her a smile.

"Hey Cerise, I haven't seen you for a couple days now...is something the matter?" he asked.

"Um...no, not at all. Are you busy? I wanted to talk to you...about the band, yeah...the band." she said, looking away from him.

"I'm supposed to be helping Ginger with her store, Jack Horner is coming over and I have to finish getting the place ready for his visit. If it's important, we can talk now."

"No no, no. It's not that important, how about we meet up here at six this afternoon and we can discuss things." she asked. Blake glanced at his watch, giving her a nod.

"This afternoon, six o'clock. I'll see you then Cerise, sorry about being in a rush."

"It's alright, it's wicked cool that you're helping Ginger out, she sure as hell needs it." she replied. The boy gave her a quick hug, dashing down the hall right after. She sighed contently, clearing her throat right after, a low growl leaving her lips.

"No Cerise, behave yourself." she said, taking a deep breath. She walked off, relishing in the brief contact she had with the object of her affections.

It didn't take long for Blake to make it back to the candy shop. Thanks to his athletic nature, he had been able to get there in about ten minutes with a light jog. He glanced around, seeing Ginger hadn't returned, and even if she had, he had the only keys so she wouldn't be able to get in. Looking around, he decided to pull down the shades, throwing most of the shop into darkness, save for the fluorescent lights and some of the lamps he had installed. He reached into his backpack for the wand, tapping it to his chin.

"Alright then, I wish the walls of this establishment were candy pink and had candy decorations all over them." he said, flicking his wrist outward. In an instant, the walls changed from their mostly finished look to exactly the look he had been going for.

The walls were now glossy candy pink, decorated with chocolates, lollipops, hard candies and gummies all of them being carefully painted onto the wall as if an artist had done it. With another wish, he changed the boring tile floors to chocolate brown hard wood, contrasting with the candy theme. With his third wish, he changed all of the lights, replacing them with candy shaped fixtures which were a white color, the fluorescent bulbs making them glow softly. With his fourth wish, he fixed up all of the booths, making them a crimson red in color, all of the tables looking like ice cream sandwiches. With his fifth wish, he changed the entire showcase and the kitchen, making it the most modern place he could while still making it function as a candy shop. With his final wish, he got a brand new sign outside of the shop, with the name Spells Kitchen written in it. He let out a sigh, shoving the wand in his backpack.

"Well, this place looks amazing...I promised I wouldn't use that wand for anything unless I needed it. I'm sure Giles already sensed all of the light magic, but I couldn't help myself. I used every last wish for Ginger, because she needed this more than I needed stupid stuff from my world. She's definitely gonna love this." he said, almost excited.

He hated to admit it, but sometimes he slipped into his Home Decorator mode. His mother had drilled it into his mind, having always done everything with Feng Shui and making sure everything was properly placed. But he also had his own style of doing things, case in point, the candy store. He had an image in his mind and he brought it to life, sure it took a bit of magic but he didn't really care. He knew he only had a single use wand and he would never hesitate to grant someone elses wish. Ginger was a nice girl who always gave him discounts on her stuff because he was her only customer. It was the only thing he truly wanted for his friend. Nodding to himself, he grabbed the keys and walked out of the shop, locking the door after himself.

 _ **xxx**_

Blake was honestly quite impressed with the crowd that had amassed in Bookend. As it turned out, Jack Horner was actually the main character from a nursery rhyme his mother read to him during Christmas. He was a rather tall handsome man wearing a very fancy suit. He had seen his image on magazines before but never truly questioned it. As it turned out, he was a chef and also a confectioner who specialized in pies. According to what the crowd was saying, he also owned a five star restaurant else where in the Fairytale World, but he didn't catch the location. He was currently eating one of the Cherry Pies Ginger had made for him, and by the look on his face he looked to be quite enjoying it.

"I'll say Miss Breadhouse, this pie exquisite! I would love for you to make some for my restaurant." the man said, earning a vigorous nod from the girl.

"Yes of course! I have no problem filling out orders for you! I'm actually in the middle of my Grand Re-Opening. My friend has been helping me get the store ready." She said, giving the man a smile.

"Uh Ginger, when did you get the sign?" Raven asked, pointing to the large sign that hung above the store.

The name Spells Kitchen was written on the sign in golden letters, which were outlined with glowing pink and white lightbulbs. The sign itself was in the shape of a cake, with several lollipops sticking out of it, along with sprinkles and soft pink icing on the sides.

"Hey yeah, this is the first time I'm seeing that sign...is it new?" Ashlynn asked.

"Uh...yes?" the girl asked, unsure of her answer. Blake appeared next to her, giving Ashlynn a smile.

"To answer your question, yes it is new. We had it commissioned from someone...far away, and it arrived a few hours ago." he said.

"And who are you young man? I don't believe we have met."

"Ah yes, it's a pleasure to make your acquaintance Mr. Horner, my name is Blake Bigby...I'm...Ginger's employee, I manage the store while she works her magic." he said.

"Oh? You must be new then, I don't see a name tag anywhere." the man said, looking the teenager over.

"Yes...he is...I hired him two days ago...he was helping me renovate. Is the inside finished?" she asked, looking at Blake who just smiled, flashing the keys.

"Oh yeah, the inside is finished...let's just say, you'll all be impressed with my work." he said.

"Your work? What do you mean by that?" Apple asked curiously.

"I think he means his decorating expertise. Remember, his mother is a Home Decorator, that's why Ginger hired him in the first place." Raven said, earning a nod from the blonde. Ginger finally opened the door the the top, turning to Jack Horner with a smile on her face.

"Well, welcome to Spells Kitchen, I hope everything is to your liking." she said, holding the door open for the man, closing her eyes when he stepped in. It was silent for a few seconds, with Blake holding his hand up, counting down from five. When he got to zero, he blocked his ears, a smirk on his face.

"OH MY WORD! THIS STORE IS ABSOLUTELY SPLENDID!"

Ginger glanced at Blake who just gestured for her to walk inside. When she did her jaw dropped. She couldn't believe what she was seeing, the walls looked professionally painted, the floors were traditional wood and looked almost like chocolate bars, the tables were in the likeness of ice cream sandwiches, the show case was three times bigger and filled to the brim with all of her pastries, cakes and pies. The light fixtures were just like she had imagined they would be. She was at a loss for words, being unable to even speak. Jack Horner turned to her, taking a hold of her hands.

"How is it that someone so young could come to own such a spellbinding store? Look at this place, it's so unique, unlike many boring bakeries and candy shops I have been in. These booths remind me of the ones from an ice cream parlor I used to visit as a child. The glossy paint fits in with the candy theme and reminds me of the sweet icing on cupcakes, and this magnificent showcase is filled with all of the pastries any one person could ever eat. Miss Breadhouse, I would love it if you agree to me filming an episode of my show in your shop. Please say yes?" the man said.

"Film...an episode?" she asked, earning a nod from the man. She shook her head feeling a bit faint, only for her to actually faint a second later, thought thankfully Blake had caught her before she got injured.

"She'll be fine...as to your answer, it's a definite yes." he said.

"Hexcellent! It would be an honor to film in such a beautiful shop, this young woman has talent, despite her upbringing. It just goes to show that sometimes, the apple can fall so far from the tree that they grow into their own tree." the man said. Blake reached for the counter, handing the man one of the business cards.

"The Bakery's number is at the top, the middle one is Ginger's and the bottom one is my own. If you ever need anything, you are more than welcome to return. For now, I think we should let Ginger recover." he said, placing the girl in a nearby booth, making sure she wouldn't fall out.

"Indeed, it was a pleasure meeting you Mr. Bigby, you are definitely a wicked decorator...perhaps we could work something out for one of my restaurants?"

"I'm not sure, I think all of my creative magic has run out for now...this was my biggest project ever...perhaps in the future I'll come up with a spark of genius." he said, earning a nod from the man.

"If you do, do not hesitate to call me. I shall contact both you and Ginger for the filming of the Jack Horner show." the man said. Blake shook his hand, watching as the man took one more look around the store, before ducking into his car, grabbing one of the many pies he had purchased. It wasn't long before everyone else had walked into the shop, gasping from shock.

"Look at this place, Blake you seriously did all of this?" Raven asked, earning a nod from the boy.

"I had a little help, but that'll be my little secret. For now though, I think we should give Ginger some space, she hasn't woken up yet."

"You're right, but I expect an explanation from you later good sir, and I will be back to review Spells Kitchen." Blondie said, taking her leave along with her friends. It wasn't long before the store was once again empty. Blake smirked shaking his head, as he shook Ginger, hoping to wake her up. She stirred a bit, her eyes opening a second later.

"Oh...Blake, I had this amazing dream. Jack Horner tried my sweets, asked me to make some for his restaurant, everyone else tried them too, and then my store was unlike anything I had ever seen." she said.

"That wasn't a dream sweetheart, that was and is real." he said. Ginger stood up, holding her head a bit as she looked around the bakery, her heart beating a mile a minute.

"This is impossible...you can't be telling me that in an hour and a half you were able to do all of this...we didn't even have these booths, or the fixtures. And how were you able to get these Gummy Bear candelabras on the walls? I didn't even order those!" she cried. He sighed, reaching into his backpack pulling out the wand.

"This needs to stay between us. I found a spell book that helped me craft this wish granting wand. It only made three wishes, but I used one wish to get ten more. After I spruced up my dorm, I was gonna save the wishes for whenever I wanted something from my world that I couldn't have. But when you told me that Jack Horner was coming here to see your shop, I used the last six wishes to create all of this." he said.

"You...used all of those wishes, on my store?" she asked, a shocked look on her face. He nodded, placing the wand back in his backpack.

"I did...I saw how you were freaking out, and this store meant so much to you. You worked hard just to buy it and even with the little time and money we had, we weren't able to get it up and running on time. It would have been fine, but when you mentioned Jack Horner, I knew that at my pace I wouldn't have gotten it like this. So I used every single wish to bring out my image of this store to life." Blake said, placing his hand on one of the tables.

"You shouldn't have done that...you could have used that wand to go back home, you could have used that magic to open a portal, to fix your curse...why use it on me?" Ginger asked, a frown on her face.

"Well, that book I read gave the details of this magic wand. I can't open portals with it, I can't break curses or enchantments, and the wishes become permanent at midnight. I also can't create a new wand for the next seven years. Like I said, I was saving it for when I wanted something new from my world, but it would have been selfish to use those wishes on myself when I could have used them to make someone's dream come true." he said.

The girl wrapped her arms around the boy, giving him a tight hug. He smiled a bit, hugging the girl back. He could tell she was trying not to cry, and even felt how hard her heart was beating. He pulled away from the hug, not just because he couldn't breathe, but because Ginger was practically shoving his face in her boobs and he didn't want to seem like a pervert, though she probably didn't notice.

"Thank you so much for this Blake. How can someone be so kind? You could have used those wishes to make your life in this world easier but you wasted them on someone like me...I probably didn't deserve this."

"But you did Ginger...you were suffering because of what people thought of you. They hadn't met you, tried your sweets like I did, and even though all the time we've spent together is me buying those snowflake cookies, I knew you were hurting. You and I are the same...I was an outcast in my old school, barely had any friends, was treated like a door stop...it was horrible. I refuse to let that happen here in Ever After, and I refuse to let my friends suffer, not when I have the power to make a change for them! I'd give my friends the world if I could, they mean so much to me, you don't even know." he said.

"You're so sweet, I can't ever repay you."

"You don't have to repay me...just live your dream, and change the status quo, that's all I could ever want." he said, a smile on his face.

"Yes of course...but I can't not do something for you...hmm, how about you become my true employee? You can be the manager while I bake everything in the back, it would help me out immensely, plus with Gus and Helga, I'll need all the help I can get." Ginger said, earning a surprised look from the boy.

"I well...I won't be able to work full-time. I mean, I have band practice, and I'm working on the yearbook too, but I'll definitely help you out around the store. Hell, knowing you, you'll have people wanting to work here just because of the ambiance." he said.

"That's true too, I don't mind you working part time...after all, Purple Rhapsody is quite famous in this village, and I would hate to take you away from that." Ginger said, walking around the counter.

"Yeah...I love my band a lot, music is timeless and I want to spread a good message with our music, to tell Ever After to be who they want to be. Whether a Royal or a Rebel, it doesn't matter just as long as you follow your heart!" he said happily. Ginger nodded, handing the boy a plastic bag filled with snowflake cookies.

"I made these just for you, a Blake special. You know, now that you are a manager here, you get these for free." she said, giving him a wink.

"I'm definitely gonna love working here. Who knew that I was gonna be so involved in my community in Ever After? Maybe coming here did change me...I would have never done anything like this back in my world." Blake said, taking a bite from one of the cookies.

"That just goes to show how much a person can change for the better. You've taught me that lesson, and I'll make sure to teach everyone I know that lesson, so they never judge a book by their cover again."

"Mhmm, that's just the way the cookie crumbles." he added, earning a cute laugh from the girl. Blake couldn't help but laugh as well, neither of them noticing the glare they were getting from the windows.


	24. The Wolf that Fell in Love with the Boy

**A/N:**

 **Hello guys and welcome to Chapter 24 of Through the Looking Glass. Last chapter, Blake was able to grant Ginger's wish and make her store the best one in Bookend. Of course by using Jessica Merlin's magic, he did ended up getting her attention, but she isn't going to be making an appearance until a few chapters. She is one of two oc's that I will be introducing in the next few chapters.**

 **This chapter is...well it's an interesting one. Let's just say that I am giving Blake a little relationship for the time being. Because of course we need to explore that kind of stuff and I couldn't help myself. I'm honestly just doing this because I felt like I owed this character this for what happened in past chapters, so I do hope you guys like this chapter, I'm sure you all will!**

 **This chapter includes mostly original stuff, but I'm also covering the events of Maddie's Hat-Tastic party, which happens nearly half way through the chapter. Originally this was supposed to be the emphasis of the entire chapter but I got lazy and decided to add it at the end instead. So, yeah most of the chapter is in fact dealing with Blake and his new relationship, as well as some other stuff that is band related. Chapter 25 will be the introduction of Ramona Badwolf into the story, so look forward to that...well at least I think it's her introduction chapter...I write these out ahead of time so I tend to forget what they're about until I do a revision before the final posting...so I'll finding out tomorrow just like all of you.**

 **PS, it's snowing here in New Hampshire, and it's cold as shit, so aside from being distracted by the Mid-Season Finale of the Walking Dead, I'll be staying toasty warm in my bed, so if I don't post anything tomorrow, you'll at least know why...you have been warned. I do hope you like this chapter, thanks once again to all the reviewers for reviewing, shoutouts to all of my readers. Remember to follow and favorite my profile for the new updates, review and leave me a PM if you have questions. See you all later!**

Ever After High

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 24

The wolf who fell in love with the boy

"Man, making people's dreams come true is so tiring." Blake muttered, as he made his way back to his dorm. It was nearly six so he was making his way back to meet with Cerise. He heard a chuckle from above, making him look to the sky.

" _I've got to admit, it was absolutely sweet of you to use your wishes to make Ginger's dream come true. She's still screaming by the way."_ Chester said, earning a giggle from his wife.

" _Yes, if it wasn't because she's in the kitchen, I'm sure all of Bookend could hear her. You made her very happy Blake, and for that we thank you. We're so proud to know you, young man."_

"Thanks you guys...I'm not a selfish person, after all I got my room to look identical to the one back home. I got my manga and my movies and games, so I'm content with that." he said.

" _You deserve a reward for being such a sweet person. I know, if you ever need a time skip or wish to start at a certain event, just let us know and we'll make it happen."_

"Oh, a time altering jump forward, Chester that's nice. Thank you, really...I'm not sure why I would want to skip ahead though. I want to live every single moment of my new life here, the good times and the shit times are all precious to me." he said.

" _He hadn't uttered a swear in such a long time, leave it to you to always end a good streak."_ Weiss said, earning a laugh from her husband.

" _Now now dear, you know how it is with him. Ah yes, we have some news Blake, our daughter is coming home soon for her school break, so you'll finally be able to meet her...or hear her."_

"Awesome, I've been wanting to meet Brooke for such a long time. I'm sure your daughter is just as well mannered as you two are."

" _Well...I wouldn't call her well mannered. She's a sweet young girl, about your age, I'm sure you'll be the best of friends...you're arriving at the school now, we'll leave you be."_

"Okay...thanks for keeping me company, tell your daughter I said hi! I'm really excited forward to meeting her." he said cheerfully, ignoring the odd looks he was getting from the students he passed. By now, they all just ignored those chats when they happened.

The halls of Ever After High were rather lively during the afternoon. It was always when all of the cool events happened...everyone was still talking about Ginger's shop and her sweets, and he already knew Cedar had gotten a head start on writing about it for the yearbook, as she had taken quite a lot of pictures before she left. While he was looking forward to covering that story for the yearbook, he would let his colleague take over it. After all, he still had to focus on his song for Purple Rhapsody's EP.

Cerise was actually early, when he arrived at his dorm. Judging by her body language, he knew what she wanted to tell him was serious. She wasn't a girl of many words, choosing to express herself through actions, but if you spoke to her about something that interested her, she wouldn't stop talking about it. That often times was her older sister Ramona. He could tell that Cerise loved her dearly, and missed her quite a lot. He didn't know much about her, but all he knew was that she was currently in a Reform School for something she had done the year before. She looked up from the floor, jumping a bit when she saw him.

"Oh um...hi...Blake...sorry for waiting out here...I didn't know when you'd be back, with all of that craziness at the store." she said.

"It's fine, I promised I would speak to you and with everything that happened, I would have likely forgotten. So I'm glad that you came here early." he said, slipping his key into the knob. He opened the door allowing the girl to walk in first.

"Wow...what the hell...I...when...how did this happen?" she asked, looking back at the boy who just gave her a smile.

"Personal secret, let's just say...I was able to conjure up things from a picture on my phone and all of them are perfect replicas." he said, closing the door behind them. He hung up his backpack on the hook beside the door, along with his varsity jacket.

"This is insane...is this seriously what your room looked like back in your old home?" she asked.

"Well, everything except the bad ass chandelier. My room was half the size of this one, so everything looked cramped as all hell. But here, I have space for everything. I got all of my movies, games, gaming consoles, figurines and yes those are glass ponies if you are curious." the boy said, pointing to the glass case of ponies.

"Hey, I don't judge people by what they like to collect. I like collecting crystals, something about the way the glow just makes me calm down."

"That's probably because your wolf side likes shiny things." he said, earning a punch to the arm from the girl. He rubbed his arm, cringing in pain.

"It's a pretty sweet room none the less, I really like it."

"Thank you Cerise...so what was it that you wanted to talk about?" he asked, opening his mini fridge, pulling out a can of Mountain Dew. He tossed one to the girl who caught with ease, looking it over.

"It's something important...really important...what is this?" she asked, glancing at the can.

"The greatest drink ever created by man, also from my world. I got magic fingers." he said, his finger tips glowing violet with his darkness magic.

"I can see that." she said. She cracked open the can, taking a sip from it. She licked her lips right after, only to drain the rest of its contents. Blake just watched as she drank the soft drink without stopping. She finished the drink, crushing the can with ease, letting out a burp right after.

"Excuse me, that almost never happens."

"Yeah...right." he said. He honestly found that really impressive, especially because the girls he had met were proper and polite.

The last time he had seen a girl do that was Lucy and she did more than just burp. She wasn't exactly a lady, even though she loved dressing like one. Cerise lowered her hood, pulling her long black hair from the inside of her hood. It was actually the first time Blake had seen it's full length. Even while he was meeting Red Riding Hood, she had kept her hood on. The white streak in her hair reminded him of Rogue from the X-Men comics. She brushed some hair behind her ear, giving him a firm look.

"Well, um...this is something rather hard for me...I've never done this before so...bare with me." she said.

"Uh...okay...hey listen, I wanted to talk to you about a song I wrote. We need another one for our EP and I thought maybe you'd want to do a duet with me, since you've only sung backup."

"Yeah sure, I wouldn't mind doing that, I guess. But let me get this out first okay...Blake, for awhile now I've..." the girl paused when he phone started ringing. She pulled it from her pocket and slid her finger across the screen, rejecting the incoming call.

"Shouldn't you have answered that?" Blake asked, taking a sip from his drink.

"It wasn't anyone important, whoever it is I'll call them back later. As I was saying...for awhile now I've...had these weird, stings in my heart, they feel really weird and I don't know what they are." she said.

"Stings in your heart? Are you alright? Maybe you should get that checked out."

"I already did, it isn't a medical problem...I'm trying to tell you that..." she stopped once again, looking at her ringing phone. She started growling a bit about to crush it in her hand when the boy took it from her. He glanced at the contact, seeing the name Ramona written on it.

"Cerise, it's your sister...don't you want to talk to her?" he asked.

"My sister? Why would she be calling now of all times?"

"I dunno, answer the call!" he cried, handing her the phone. Cerise quickly answered it, pressing her phone to her ear.

"Hey big sis...something the matter?" she asked, walking a few steps away from the boy. He sat down in his computer chair, glancing at his own phone.

" _I wonder what's wrong with Cerise...she's acting weird. In fact she's been avoiding me ever since that dare with Daring...I've tried to talk to her, but she just ignored me...wonder why that is?"_ he thought to himself, sifting through his newsfeed. Not finding anything interesting, he decided to just head to the MirrorCast site, looking for Blondie's MirrorCast.

"So...apparently Ramona is being let out of school for her yearly visit with mom and dad. She's gonna come home this weekend and wanted to see if I wanted to hang out with her." Cerise said.

"So, are you going?"

"Probably...it's just...I love my sister, I truly do. But she just pisses me off sometimes! Whenever we see each other, she always berates me for hiding who I am. It sucks that I have to hide the fact that my mom and dad got married and I shouldn't exist. It sucks even worse that my destiny is to be the next Red Riding Hood and she becomes the Bad Wolf...I just don't want to argue with her."

"So you're skipping out on that? Cerise she's your sister! I would do anything to spend time with my own sisters! Especially now that I'm stuck here! No matter what the issues are between you two, at least you should let them go and spend time with each other...that's what matters in the end." he said.

"You're right...I don't know why I even considered not going. Especially since my father and my mother are going to be there too. Hey, maybe if we have some time, you could meet Ramona. She already knows we're in a band." She said, earning a nod from the boy.

"I would love to meet your sister. She sounds really cool...anyway what was that thing you wanted to say before?" he asked. The girl flushed a bit, turning away from him.

"Oh right...that thing that I was saying...what was that again?"

"You know...the stinging in your heart? That you said wasn't a medical issue even though it clearly sounds like it is? Cerise if something is wrong with you, you should just tell me...I can take you to the hospital if that's the issue." he said, placing a hand on her shoulder. She jumped a bit, placing her hand over his.

"That's not the issue...like I said, it isn't a medical problem...these sharp stings in my heart only happen when a certain someone is nearby. I've been avoiding you for a reason, because ever since Thronecoming...I've started feeling these stings when I'm near you." she said.

"Eh? I'm sorry...you feel sharp stings when I'm nearby? Shit could it be my magic? That could happen right? I should talk to Madam Yaga about this." he said. Cerise turned around to face him, taking a hold of the boy's shirt, glaring into his eyes.

"I feel these sharp stings in my heart because I'm in love with you, you idiot!" she cried, pressing her lips against his a second later.

" _What the actual fuck?!"_ Blake screamed in his head, clearly confused. Cerise pulled away from him, pulling her hood over her head after slipping her hair back through it.

"I'm sorry...I shouldn't have done that...you're probably mad at me, because you and Lizzie are a thing and...I should go...I'm sorry."

"Cerise wait! Who told you me and Liz are dating?" he asked curiously. She turned around, looking right into his eyes.

"It's obvious...I saw the two of you kissing the other night, and she's been hanging out here a lot after that. It's obvious that you two are dating." she said, a frown on her face.

"But we're not. I wanted to see where that relationship would go, but Lizzie didn't feel comfortable. She wanted to see where it went too, but didn't know how to broach the topic, so we just decided to stay friends. We watch anime together, and Kitty is usually here too. That's it." he said.

"So you aren't dating? Like at all?"

"No...we're just friends...nothing more, nothing less." he replied, a chuckle escaping his lips.

"Oh...oh my gosh...I'm sorry, I just screamed that at you and then kissed you...this is all so weird. My heart is beating faster than a jack rabbit...I'm sorry."

"Cerise calm down, it's alright. I'm not mad at you, I think it's actually kinda cute that you feel this way. And you know...I might be interested too, I mean...no girl has ever grabbed my shirt and screamed their confession into my face following it with a kiss." he admitted, taking a sip of his drink.

"You...wouldn't mind...going out with me? For real?"

"Cerise, do you like me?" he asked, a hint of seriousness in his voice. She gave him a shy nod, her gaze firmly on her boots.

"Don't nod, tell me with your voice...do you Cerise Hood, like me, Blake Bigby?"

"Yes, ever since Thronecoming. I thought you were really cool before, how you stood up for yourself and stuff. But after what you did during the talent show, how you were the bigger man and apologized to that dill hole Henry...I dunno...I'm attracted to the pack leader you know...and you happen to be that for me." she said, flushing crimson.

"The pack leader huh? For some reason I wanna punch Cesar Millan in the face." he said, balling his fist.

"Who's Cesar Millan?"

"Some guy I used to watch on television, he trains dogs or some shit, always looked like he was choking them to me. Anyway, that's besides the point. Cerise, if you really do like me...then I don't mind going on a date with you. After going on a date with Liz...I sort of started...I dunno...wanting a girlfriend?" he asked.

"I get what you mean...I've been a bit jealous of Hunter and Ashlynn for awhile now...still, I should apologize...I viciously assaulted your mouth with mine because I like you."

"That is honestly the first time I have heard that one...I should write that one down." he said jokingly, earning a giggle from the girl.

"So...do you really...wanna go out with me?"

"I would be delighted too Cerise." he said, holding his hand out. She slipped her hand into his, giving it a small squeeze. She started panting a bit, biting her lower lip lightly.

"Um...could I kiss you again? Please?" she asked. He rolled his eyes, leaning down a bit, placing a kiss on her lips.

 _ **xxx**_

"So, I got some good news for you, I was actually trying to tell you this, but since you were avoiding me, I couldn't tell you." Blake said, earning a curious look from his hooded girlfriend.

"Oh, what good news have you got for me?" she asked curiously.

"Well, remember when I joined the yearbook committee and I broached the topic of Meat Days to the Council Presidents? Yeah, I was able to convince Apple. The Honey smoked brisket sealed the deal, she passed it and now this Friday will be the first ever Meat day at the castleteria. They've actually combined with with Veggie Day so that Vegetarians don't feel disgusted."

"Oh my Godmother, you're joking right?" Cerise asked, a shocked look on her face.

"I'm not! I wouldn't lie to you...there are now Meat days at the castleteria! It's different every Friday, and the first week is Honey smoked brisket and glazed ham." he said. Cerise wrapped her arms around the boy, pulling him into a passionate kissed, giggling a bit with giddiness at the thought of meat days finally being approved.

"Whoa...what the fuck is this?" Melody cried, startling the two.

"Uh...this is nothing, we are not the droids you are looking for." Blake said, waving his hand and two raised fingers in front of the white haired girl's face.

"Stop being an ass, are you gonna explain what the fuck I just saw?"

"Um...I told him how I felt and he agreed to date me...is that so bad?" Cerise asked curiously.

"Well no but...aren't you dating Lizzie?" Melody asked.

"No, we remained friends. Though it was thanks to her that I didn't have to wash dirty ass underwear. We hang out a lot watching anime but that's it, nothing more nothing less." Blake replied, wrapping his arm around Cerise's waist.

"Yeah...besides I've liked him for awhile, and I've had trouble with these feelings. That's why I was avoiding him this entire time, because I was struggling with those emotions...I even called into Cupid's show." she said, blushing in embarrassment.

"Wolfie101? That was you?" Melody asked, earning a nod from the girl.

"Wow...well, I had a feeling it was you...but I didn't think you would be attracted to me. I'm hardly pack leader material." he said.

"Idiot, I don't like you because you are pack leader material. I like you because of what you do. You stood up for yourself, helped us create a band that sings awesome songs about being yourself and following your heart...you just helped Ginger score a show with Jack Horner...how can I not like you after that?" Cerise asked.

"And I got you meat days, the clincher in all potential relationships where one person loves eating meat." the boy said. Melody sighed shaking her head.

"Whatever, just settle the whole dating thing with Liz so people don't think you are cheating on her or look like a player. I'm glad I ran into you, we need to talk about that missing song we need to do."

"Yeah, I totally forgot about that...we can record it tomorrow, Cerise said she'd do the duet with me." Blake said, earning a nod from Cerise.

"I just have to get a copy of the lyrics and memorize them. I need some advice for singing though, since I only did backup."

"Hmm...you have a good voice but...well yours is a bit nasally, which makes it sound cute, but also makes it sound strained. We need to do vocal exercises." the white haired girl said, earning a nod from Cerise.

"Okay...I'll do whatever you ask me too."

"Cool cool...let's get some grub first, I'm fuckin starving." Melody said, earning a chuckle from Blake.

"It's good to be surrounded by cute ladies who don't act ladylike at all."

"Hey, we're Rebels not Royals...we're all improper, burp loud as hell, scratch our pits and eat more chips than little kids on a sugar rush." Cerise said. Melody nodded in agreement, high fiving her friend.

"Yeah, fuck being proper!"

"Ahem, Miss Piper...I would advise you watch your language in the halls." The White Queen said sternly, earning a flushed look from the girl. Blake and Cerise laughed at her expense, making the girl's blush increase.

After they had gotten their dinner, Blake decided it would be a good idea to sit with the rest of the band. So they all walked to Dexter and Cupid's table, the two friends had been catching up on homework, judging by the books next to them. Cupid looked a bit thankful that they had arrived, setting her quill down beside her notebook. Dexter paused himself, cracking his knuckles before grabbing his quill once more.

"So, you two working hard, or hardly working?"

"Funny joke Blake, we're cramming for the Crownculus test we got tomorrow, shouldn't you be doing the same?" Dexter asked curiously, earning a chuckle from Blake.

"No...I'm an ace in Crownculus, honestly moving up from regular Mathematics was a godsend. I felt like I was surrounded by idiots who didn't know simple addition. 2+2 = 4-1 that's 3 quick math, simple as that, those idiots didn't know the how to do that." he said, taking a spoonful of his rice, shoving it in his mouth.

"No need to be a dick about Blake, not everyone can be a whiz at math. Hey that's actually interesting, what were your strongest subjects back in your world?" Melody asked.

"Yeah yeah, what were you good at?" Cupid added, having gained an interest in her friend's academics.

"Well, before anything else, let me just say that Ever After High and Red Maple Academy, my old school, is basically the same. Minus all of the magic and evil classes and the Geografairy and studies about family trees. My strongest subject was definitely Creative Writing and English. My second strongest subject was Calculus and Trigonometry. My weakest subjects were Biology and Chemistry, Liberal Arts and I failed Music Theory because of a missed project." he said.

"So, you were a rounded out student. Not bad, how does it work back in your old school?" Cerise asked curiously.

"I honestly forget how it works in Canada, but back in America, it works on a Credit system. The school is split into four years, Freshmen, Sophomore, Junior and Senior. In order to pass into Sophomore year, you need ten class credits. Each subject you take is worth either one full credit or half a credit. It takes a combination of classes to get enough credits to pass. In order to graduate high school, you need 22 and a half credits, I had nine and a half and repeated the 9th grade, Freshmen year." he said.

"That's outrageously complicated. Here in Ever After all you need to do is pass a class once and you're good. As long as you don't fail more than three classes you'll move onto the next year. If you're really good in once class, taking Sword Training as an example, next year you'll be able to take Advanced Sword Training and learn more techniques. I heard from one of the Juniors that you use armor and dull swords to fight." Dexter said.

"Man, that sounds tough...I don't want to know what follows Advanced Sword Training, probably have you fight goblins or some shit." Blake said, stabbing his broccoli with his fork, he made a tiny screaming sound before shoving it in his mouth, causing Cupid to laugh.

"Well, now that we're together we can discuss some band stuff. I've been getting some questions through Blondie's blog about us. Basically, there are places want to know if we're available to play gigs for them." Dexter said.

"Whoa, seriously?" Melody asked.

"Yeah, Dex showed me some places interested in having us play music for them. They tend to forget we're high school kids." Cupid added. Blake shrugged his shoulders, setting his spoon down.

"Honestly, I wouldn't mind...it would be awesome to play gigs. But right now the lead guitarist is grinding like a mother fucker, working on the best yearbook to ever come out of this fuckin school and I'm starting tomorrow working at Spells Kitchen, so I'm afraid I can't do anything now." Blake said, placing his hands on the table.

"Hey, at least people are starting to like our music, that means we gotta put the finishing touches on this EP. So Blake, Cerise we need to get that song recorded."

"Don't worry Melody, we're gonna get it done. I already took a look at the lyrics earlier and they're really good. But Blake wanted to make the song a little more special." Cerise said, glancing at Blake who gave her a nod.

"That's right, it's gonna be a guitar cover. So most of the song will be focused solely on the guitar, I've already tuned mine to a high frequency so I can get higher notes. So we've gotta record that before we get voice work into the song." he replied.

"I haven't heard this song and I can already tell it's gonna be bad ass." Dexter said.

"It was written by Blake, he tends to be that." Cupid said, earning a chuckle from the black haired teen.

"Now now, I'm just a humble young servant in this beautiful world of ours."

"My ass, you're the most interesting person in Ever After High and you know it. Shit, if I didn't know any better, you are the main character of this story of ours." Cerise said, earning a smirk from the boy.

"Well, if I'm the main character then that makes you my right hand, wouldn't you say?" he asked, giving her a kiss on the cheek. Cupid let out a little squeal, clapping her hands happily.

"I knew it! I knew as soon as you called in that you were Wolfie and you had a crush on him! But wait, weren't you dating Lizzie?"

"For like a day, we decided to stay friends." Blake said, almost annoyed with all the constant correction.

"So you two are dating now?" Dexter asked, earning a nod from Cerise who tried her hardest to hide her blush.

"I'm still new to this."

"Yet she doesn't mind glomping the boy in the middle of the hall, with no discretion of her surroundings." Melody added, earning a jab from the hooded girl.

"You guys, we need your help."

"Is something wrong sis?" Blake called out, standing up from his seat. While his friends looked at him in confusion, they decided to ignore it for now.

"Maddie just told me something's wrong in Wonderland Grove. She wants all of us to go there and help her." she said.

"Sure, I got no issue helping her out. Give just us a minute to pack up and take care of our stuff." Dexter said, grabbing all of his books.

"Thank you guys, this means a lot...I'll be waiting by the front entrance...see ya then." the daughter of the Evil Queen said, hurrying out of the castleteria.

"Sis? Since when have you started addressing her like that?" Cerise asked curiously, earning a shrug from the boy.

"Since I embraced the fact that I have the same magic as her and am practically her sibling. That and it's due to the fact her mother shoved a mirror in my chest. You're okay with it, right?" he asked. She nodded, giving him a quick kiss on the lips.

"I'm fine with it, it's cute." she said.

"Not to ruin your lovey dovey stuff, but come on!" Melody said, snapping her fingers. Blake rolled his eyes, grabbing his and Cerise's trays in his hands.

 _ **xxx**_

Blake was heartbroken when he stepped into Wonderland Grove and saw that everything was dying. All of the tall flowers were losing their petals and rapidly wilting, the trees were losing their leaves and everything looked devoid of color. The worse thing was that everything was slowly spreading, as if everything that was alive in the Grove and the surrounding areas of the forest were slowly being poisoned and killed. He knelt down next to some Dandelion flowers, which often bore the faces of actual lions on them, seeing they were all wilted and dead, their seeds being all over the ground. He brushed his hands clean, glancing over at Kitty and Lizzie, a frown on his face.

"What's going on here girls? Don't tell me the Grove is losing it's magic?"

"We're not sure what the problem is. Wonderland Grove is our only connection to Wonderland. If it dies than Ever After's magic goes with it." Kitty replied, glancing sadly at the wilted flowers.

"I've already checked on the well and nothing is wrong with it. However, the curse on Wonderland is starting to seep through. The Brothers Grimm cast a spell on Ever After so that the poison doesn't spread, but if we don't restore the Grove's wackiness soon...I'm afraid all of Ever After will lose it's magic." Lizzie said.

"That can't happen, Ever After is all about magic." Cedar added, a worried look on her face.

"Titty Sprinkles! There's always something there that keeps ramming its fist right up our asses. Let's see...let's see...oh! I got an idea, Maddie what day is it today?" Blake asked, looking at the daughter of the Mad Hatter.

"October 31st. Uh...Tuesday, it's Cerise's Birthday, happy birthday!" she said, handing Cerise a blue frosted cupcake with a lit candle on it.

"Oh...um, thank you...Maddie this means a lot to me."

"Why didn't you tell me it was your birthday today? None of us here knew it!" Raven said, earning a shrug from the girl.

"I didn't want to alarm anyone, it's just another day to me. I've already got plans to meet up with my mother and sister this weekend to celebrate it."

"What about Halloween? Don't you celebrate that here?" Blake asked curiously.

"Halloween? What even is that?" Apple asked.

"Some sort of holiday, maybe?" Daring added, earning a sigh from the foreigner.

"Never mind. I know it's technically someone's birthday, but we have to celebrate one of Wonderland's oldest and noblest of wacky traditions! It's time for all of us to celebrate our Unbirthdays!" Blake said happily.

"Genius! Unbirthdays are one of Wonderland's greatest and wackiest traditions! I'm sure if we go crazy we can get some Wonder back in Wonderland Grove!" Lizzie said.

"Yes! Then let's have ourselves an awesome birthday/unbirthday party!" Maddie said, reaching into her dress for prewritten invitations. She tossed them at her friends, each one of them turning into swirling light that changed their outfits.

Blake looked himself over, seeing he was now wearing a pair of black skinny jeans and sneakers, along with a long sleeved tan sweater. Over it he was wearing a black vest, the collar of a long sleeved shirt being visible. He was also wearing a bright pink bow tie with a flower in the center. He reached for his hair which was now a bit longer than before, seeing it had several streaks of red, white and violet running through it.

"Spiffy, I look like a nerd." he said.

"It isn't a bad look you know." Dexter said, wearing a similar outfit to Blake.

"If this is a Wonderland Unbirthday party, why aren't the boys wearing skirts?" Hunter asked curiously, causing everyone to look at him.

"Why would any of us want to wear a damn skirt?" Blake said.

"Before you kill me, just listen to this very valid point. If we're supposed to be bringing wackiness back to the grove, wouldn't it make sense that the guys wear skirts and dresses and the girls wear the fancy nerd uniforms?"

"Hey yeah, he brings a valid point." Ashlynn said.

"Hmm...it would bring a lot of wackiness to the grove. I bet the boys would look absolutely spelltacular in a skirt." Kitty said, a mischievous look on her face.

"Fuck that shit! I am not getting in a goddamn dress." Blake said firmly.

"Aw but Blake, it's for the grove...and I know just how much you love Wonderland, will you do it...please?" Maddie asked, giving him a puppy look.

"Ha! I knew you would try that shit on me but it won't work! I don't have a weakness toward blue eyed girls anymore...that's right, yeah bask in my glory...for I shall never get in a dress!"

"Blake, if you put on a dress I'll make out with you." Cerise said, earning a sigh from the boy.

"I'm a size female size four, don't ask how I know that." he replied, crossing his arms dejectedly.

"Well, what are the odds of that...I happen to be size four...looks like your wearing my skirt Blake Bigby, you're gonna look so hot in it." Melody said, giving the boy a shit eating grin.

"Fine, but I'm wearing spats underneath." he said, turning his nose up as he walked off.

"What the hell are spats?" Hunter asked, earning shrugs from the Charming brothers.

After the boys were forced to switch clothes with the girls, everyone started getting into the party. The music was blaring, there were wacky balloons hanging from the chairs looking in all different shapes and sizes. Maddie had poured tea for everyone in flying tea cups which were hovering around the grove, but nothing seemed to change, at least not in Blake's perspective. He was trying not to move much as the skirt Melody had given him was a bit tight around the hips and he didn't want to tear it. He was forced to wear her black fishnet stockings and even her heels which he was surprised he fit into. The top part of the dress was covered in various musical notes and looked rather odd on him. At least he had been able to keep his jacket.

"Well, things are looking wacky enough...come on guys! Start dancing, do some funny stuff, just don't tip over your cups, bad things happen when you do!" Maddie said.

"I suck at dancing." Blake said, earning a huff from the girl.

"It's alright Blake, your shitty dancing is totally okay here. Especially if you look like a dying antelope." Kitty said, earning a glare from the boy.

"Do it for the vine Blake!" Dexter shouted, having his phone out. Like Blake he had also been forced to wear a dress, having traded with Briar. Hunter had traded with Ashlynn and Daring somehow got out of not wearing one. Hunter pulled out his own phone, aiming it at the boy.

"Yeah, do it for the vine!"

"I can't believe that fucking app exists here." he said, taking a hold of his tea cup, downing the entire thing in one go, tossing the cup behind him.

He grabbed a hold of his skirt, doing a back hand stand, using his legs to keep his balance. Using his strength, he quickly flipped back to his feet, doing a spin before he started shuffling, he was humming the Party Rock Anthem in his head, trying to keep pace with it.

"What the hell? He can dance! Liar! You're a liar!" Hunter screamed, causing the boy to stop.

"I'm sorry, I said I couldn't dance for shit, and when I said that, I meant ballroom dancing. I got rhythm...besides I don't consider shuffling a dance." he replied.

"Well you keep doing whatever that shuffling thing is! The crazy meter is responding to it! So dance, dance like you haven't danced before!" Maddie cried, laughing like a maniac right after. Blake was at least glad Taylor Swift's Shake it Off started playing right after.

It wasn't long before Blake was kneeling on the ground, panting from his dancing. He was fanning his face a bit, sweat dripping off his face. Cerise knelt down beside him, holding out a bottle of water to him, which he quickly downed.

"Thank you, I thought I was gonna die."

"Don't be a baby...you have some neat dance skills...what was that called again? Shuffling?"

"Yeah...there's this group back in my world called LMFAO. For like two years, their music became a staple back in high school. Everyone started dressing in their style and started shuffling. It was the precursor for Gangnam Style, another dance craze that took the whole damn planet by storm." he said, standing back up.

"Well, it looked like fun...but I'm not one to dance, it's embarrassing." the girl said, glancing away from him. He smirked, taking a hold of her gloved hand. He was at least glad she had been one of the few girls to keep her dress on. He doubted she could live without her hood, due to her ears.

"Well too bad, we're dancing here and now so get ready." he said.

"Oh...okay, what do I do."

"We're gonna do the hammer dance of course! Melody, put on the song Can't Touch This." Blake called out, earning a thumbs up from the girl, who quickly started sifting through her laptop for the song.

"Blake, we can't do this...I'm not that good at dancing." Cerise said, a worried look on her face.

"Just pretend your playing Dance Dance Revolution...I've seen you play that at the arcade...come on, you can do this!" he said cheerfully, the familiar voice MC Hammer started filling the Grove, causing everyone to start dancing.

"Okay fine...but I'm keeping my hood on." she said, pinning her hood to her hair so it wouldn't fall out.

"Guys! We're so close! We need a little more action, come on...shake those bones!" Maddie cried out. She did a handstand off the table, kicking her legs wildly in a manner Blake had never seen before. He had finally gotten confirmation one of his suspicions, that Madeline Hatter was absolutely insane.

 _ **xxx**_

After another round dancing, Blake had finally given in to the throbbing pain in his legs. It didn't help that he was wearing a skirt in the slightest, especially when he was doing the Hammer Dance. At least he had made Cerise loosen up a bit when he tore the skirt and now half of his pasty white leg was visible for the world to see. He swore Maddie and Kitty were still laughing.

"Friends we gather here to celebrate the Unbirthdays of...everyone gathered here! It's an amazing honor to be the host of this party! Switch!" Maddie cried. She shot out of her seat, along with Lizzie, Kitty and Blake who were the only ones who understood what was happening.

"Come on guys, you're supposed to move every time Maddie says switch!" Kitty said, finally shedding some clarity on the current situation. Blake sat down in Lizzie's previous seat, grabbing a hold of the tea kettle that was still floating before him.

"Okay then, so how old are you now Cerise? Just asking since I don't know." he said, glancing at the hooded girl.

"Um...I turned Seventeen today. One more year and I'm a free adult...yay." she said, spinning her finger around, a dejected tone in her voice. He poured her a cup of tea which she instantly grabbed.

"Hey, being seventeen is pretty cool. You're almost an adult, but still underage...besides what's good about being eighteen anyway?" Raven asked.

"Oh oh, you can rent porn!" Kitty said, earning a face palm from Blake.

"Of course you would say that you nasty alley cat!" Lizzie snapped, earning a giggle from her best friend.

"Don't act like a saint, I know what you're hiding under your mattress!"

"Guys, are seriously talking about..."

"Switch!" Maddie cried, cutting Ashlynn off in the middle of her sentence. Everyone moved three seats ahead, with Blake now sitting at the front of the table. He grabbed the sugar, pulling Earl Grey from it. The door mouse squeaked happily, jumping onto his shoulder.

"Anyway, what we're we talking about?" Maddie happily asked, glancing around the table.

"I believe we were talking about...never mind." Daring said, not really up for the previous conversation.

"Uh...shit, I think there's a skunk in the grove." Hunter said, plugging his nose.

"Oh godmother it hit me, I can taste it." Apple said, pursing her lips a bit as she tried not to vomit.

"Don't let Pepe bother you, I'm pet sitting for a friend tonight, he's right over there." Kitty said, pointing to the rustling bushes, where a cute baby skunk came out of, chewing on what looked like a cupcake. Blake took a deep breath, trying his best not to cough.

"Let's have a smell eh? Okay, wafting, wafting...aha...Analysis! Oh it smells like carrots and throw up. Aw, that could gag a maggot! It smells like hot sick ass and a dead carcass! Oh even stink would say that stinks! You know when you go to an apartment building, and you can smell other people's cooking on every floor and you're like, what are they cooking? That plus shit!"

"Blake for the love of all that is holy, shut the fuck up!" Briar screamed, throwing her empty tea cup at the boy.

"Switch! Heheha, this is so much fun!" Maddie cried, once again forcing people to switch seats.

"At least it doesn't stink over here." Cedar said.

"Oh lucky you, half of your nose is plugged up because of your curse you can barely smell your own perfume." Cerise said, earning a pout from the brown haired girl.

"Come on, just a little more! We're almost there guys! We need a smidge of wacky and we can call this party a success!" Maddie cried out, showing them all her Crazy Meter. Raven smiled, glancing at Cerise who was sitting next to her. She whispered something in her ear, causing her to gasp.

"But Raven I can't...you know why." she said softly.

"I know, but wouldn't you want to feel comfortable here?" she asked. The girl sighed, standing up from her seat. She took a deep breath, grasping the sides of her crimson hood, pulling it down. Kitty's jaw dropped, as well as her kettle which broke into hundreds of pieces on the ground. Blake choked on his tea, causing him to sputter and wheeze.

"Oh my goodness! Cerise...you put on fake wolf ears for the party?" Maddie cried, giving her a stern look.

"Um...yes?"

"Hat-tastic! They look so cute and wacky...hey look! We did it!" the girl cried, watching her Crazy Meter literally explode in her hand. Blake started looking around, seeing all of the wackiness had started to return to the Grove. The large flowers started blooming once more, and all of the grass regained its natural look. Even the dandelions had returned, roaring like they used too.

"This is great! The Grove is back to normal!" Apple cried happily.

"Indeed, and it was thanks to Cerise and her fake wolf ears. I believe we need to give her a round of applause!" Daring said, as he started clapping his hands, earning the same reaction from everyone else. Blake pulled the girl into a hug, giving her a smile.

"See, people aren't gonna judge you...too bad we can't do this back at school." he said softly into her ear, causing her to frown.

"It's alright...I'll be fine. How about some cake?" she asked.

"Oh, I would love some." he said, earning a smile from the girl, who smeared her cake into his face.

"Yeah, face cake!" Maddie cried out, shoving an entire slice of cake into her mouth, giggling like a school girl.

"How's it taste?" the hooded girl asked, earning a smirk from Blake who pulled the girl into a kiss, making sure to smear the frosting all over her lips and face. This action of course left almost everyone completely surprised, except for Maddie who just kept laughing. Blake released his hold on his girlfriend, who licked her lips right after.

"So? Do you like the cake?" he asked, a cheeky grin on his face.

"It's just right!" she said.

Somewhere back in Ever After, Blondie Lockes sneezed loudly, startling everyone next to her.


	25. Getting Ramona's Approval

**A/N:**

 **Hi guys! Welcome one and all to the twenty-fifth chapter of Through the Looking Glass...I can't believe after 25 long chapters, the title still makes no sense! Ah but the title jokes shall have to come to an end at some point, but tonight is not the night they do...I give it until Chapter 35 for them to run their course. Anyway, last chapter Blake and Cerise got into a relationship...weird huh? But there is a reason I took this move early on...you see to me this story is a game of chess, I'm moving my pieces accordingly...every plot twist or major event in my story will be a major move I make, or a piece I take from my opponent, in this case, the audience. So I decided to move one of my pieces ahead of time and give Blake this relationship, the purpose of which is to make these two grow as characters and increase their bond.**

 **So, you will all enjoy sappy romance shit, sweet enough to give you cavities, I know it has for me...damn cookies. There will be a lot of moments between Blake and Cerise and I want you all to enjoy them. Writing romance is one of my favorite aspects as a writer and it's always fun to explore relationships between two characters. I'm sure most of you wanted Blake to be with Lizzie since I did tease that, and for awhile I was gonna pair them together, but Cerise snuck her way past.**

 **Last night's chapter was one of the funniest ones I have written, especially that movie reference I threw in there, I just couldn't stop laughing whenever I tried writing it. It was the most fun I've had for awhile, and today's chapter was also a fun experience to write. As I said yesterday, I will be introducing Ramona Badwolf into the story. Blake already met Ruby and Cerise's grandmother, the only one he has actively avoided was Mr. Badwolf, mostly because he didn't have any classes with him, but now he has a reason why he wants to avoid him, and he has an overactive imagination so it isn't hard for him to imagine what the man will do when he finds out he's romantically involved with his youngest daughter. Of course, I'm sure Ramona will smooth things over with him, so it'll be fine...you know maybe.**

 **Also before you ask, no I will not be making a lemon between them, you sick perverts! I did entertain the idea, but no It will not happen, sorry.**

 **Anyway, enjoy the chapter...for I shall prepare my anus for the astronomical ass fucking I shall recieve with tonight's episode of the Walking Dead, someone is gonna die, I just know it, so I'm gonna use what little funds I have left to by myself some good quality snacks and four ply tissues, not for the crying mind you, but to absorb all of the blood. So I hope you all have a wonderful Sunday night...I know I won't.**

Ever After High

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 25

Getting Ramona's Approval

It was a bright and sunny Saturday in Ever After, and everyone was making use of it. It had started getting cold now that November had finally rolled around, so the last few warm days were starting to disappear being replaced with late the late fall chill and the beautiful colors associated with the change of seasons. It looked even more sensational here than it did in Canada, Blake mused. He was currently on the fourth floor outlook of the high school, glancing outward into the village, seeing the unchanging dark trees of the Dark Forest, and the beautiful fall colors of the Enchanted Forest. It was as it someone had taken a paint brush and literally divided the two forests in half. It was an amazing sight to behold.

He and Cerise had finished his cover of Linkin Park's Heavy, a tribute song for the deceased lead singer of the band. He went to add a bit of an outro for the song, explaining why he had done it. Their music, along with the voices of countless other artists had gotten him through the depression he felt when Lucy had disappeared. He had a lot of them to thank, and since most of those artists were unknown to Ever After and it's inhabitants, he was going to do his best to spread their music and love throughout the land, even if it took a lifetime to achieve. He was supposed to be working with Ginger at Spells Kitchen, but she had given him the day off, even though he didn't ask for it. She was going to be busy training her other employees, which consisted of her new day manager, Gus Crumb and her cashier and barista, Helga Crumb.

Blake had told her it had been an awful idea hiring the two of them to work her shop, especially knowing that it was in fact a bakery and candy shop. But the Crumb Twins had actually surprised her, saying they wouldn't eat anything from her shop while they were on the clock, unless specifically allowed by Ginger. She hadn't bought it, but during their first afternoon, they had abstained from every single pastry, waiting until their break to actually eat something, and they even showed manners. It was so impressive that she recorded it, because didn't believe it at all.

So, now he had nothing to do. His girlfriend was getting ready to head to Hood Hollow to spend time with her sister and her mother. Mr. Bad Wolf however had to stay back to handle student reports and other school related things, so he wasn't able to attend. He did give his daughter a new bracelet for her birthday which she hadn't taken off since. He found it really adorable. They still hadn't told her father that they were dating, mostly because he wanted his face to be attached to his body. Cerise reassured him that he wasn't going to do anything, but when he saw the man puff his chest in the middle of the hall, he quickened his pace, even though he was just blowing balloons for a demonstration in class.

Cerise hadn't stopped laughing at him, especially because she had seen it all go down. Yes, he hated to admit it, but even with his martial arts there was no way he could defend himself against Mr. Bad Wolf. So he just decided to avoid him all together...in case he ever found out he was dating his daughter, which would be soon seeing as how Blondie wouldn't keep her mouth shut about the matter. Yes, his minutes were counted, and since Werewolves weren't weak to Silver in this world, he didn't have a single lifeline to use should the need arise, meaning he was better off digging his grave and waiting inside it with a shovel than to try and appease the man.

He did care about Cerise though. He didn't know why, but was starting to see her in another light now that they were dating. People said that you couldn't fall in love in a few days, but he was starting too. She reminded him a lot about Lucy, sans the blue eyes. They had the same similarities, quiet in school but outspoken when alone. Protective of her friends, and stood out for those that needed help. She was also very involved in her school, one of the differences between the two girls was that Cerise actually enjoyed planning School events and attending the Council Meetings, something Lucy never bothered doing. She made him smile every time she made a funny face or growled when biting into her meat. He had also started seeing Carmine as close friend, and even played fetch with him when he had the time.

She had also taken a liking to all of his retro games, quickly beating his high score in one of the newer versions of Pac-Man on the Playstation 3, and had even beat him in Mario Kart, which he regretted ever showing her, because she didn't let him win a single race for two hours. She had also gotten addicted to other games like Pokemon, and had been playing Pokemon Gold for the last day and a half, having borrowed one of his Gameboys to play the same. He found her developing nerd side quite cute...especially when she got annoyed that the Gameboy needed to be charged before she continued, and forgot to save and got mad.

Aside from hanging out with Cerise and his friends, he had been focusing a lot on the yearbook, having added pictures of the Wonderland Tea Party they had hosted a few days prior in a segment called "Saving Wonderland Grove". He hated being in a dress more than anything, but Apple kept begging for a picture until he finally relented and now he was filled with regret and embarrassment at the mere notion that future generations were gonna laugh at his pasty legs. He had searched for a tanning salon nearby but apparently they didn't have those in Ever After, so he would have to wait until the summer to tan the old fashioned way. He wasn't looking forward to the wait.

Milton Grimm had also addressed the school about what had transpired during Thronecoming, revolving around Henry. He didn't mention Blake, Lizzie or Kitty's names, but he did say that Jack Hills had been wounded by Henry in an attack which would have claimed the young man's life unless a good Samaritan hadn't stepped in. The man had asked him if he wanted credit and he said that he didn't want to be hailed as a hero for something anyone would have done in his position. He just wanted to have a normal life in Ever After High, well as normal as he could since he was in a band, was good with a sword and had gained a reputation as a Home Decorator thanks to his _work_ with Ginger's shop. Even though he had gotten attention because of that, he was glad that it didn't last long and that he could live a relatively normal life without being bothered every few minutes. He was thinking of starting a MirrorCast, using his knowledge on home decorating to help people out, but he was honestly too busy as it was.

Blake reveled in the fact that he had so much going on at one time. He had a job, was working on the school's yearbook, was in a band and was really involved with his school. It was something he would have never done back in his old school. It was a testament to how much he had changed in such a little amount of time, and that people could change for the better no matter the situation. He could have easily let his situation get the better of him, and allowed dark thoughts to take over, but he knew that would lead him to a dark path. While it was still hard on him, he wouldn't let dark thoughts over take him.

"It's a pretty day...good thing I got my jacket." he said softly to himself. It had gotten a bit cold outside, so he was wearing a light hooded sweater with his varsity jacket over it. It wasn't much, but he wanted a hood just in case. He blamed his girlfriend for wanting a hood, since she didn't go anywhere without hers.

He heard footsteps behind him and glanced over his shoulder, smiling a bit when he saw Cerise approaching him, holding her special basket in her hands. She had told him it was a gift from her mother, a basket with fingerprint recognition and it was enchanted to keep her food fresh for far longer than it would normally. She came to a stop in front of him, a frown on her face.

"You're a hard person to find when you want to be. You didn't answer my messages." she said.

"I'm sorry, I was just so entranced by the colors of the leaves." he said, reaching into his pocket for his phone. He saw six unread messages from Cerise. He also noticed the little bell at the top with a line going through it, making him sigh.

"It was on fucking silent, no wonder I didn't hear them come in." he said, quickly turning the volume and vibration on.

"It's okay...I've got some uh...worrying news I guess? My sister wants to meet you."

"What's so worrying about that?" he asked curiously, leaning back against the railing. She sighed, glancing away from the boy.

"She can be a hard ass when she wants to be. She basically wants to test you, to see if you are worthy to be my mate. She thinks because she's older she's the alpha and I'm the omega. It pisses me off so much." she said with a growl, eyes turning momentarily gold.

"Worthy to be your...oh I get it. She's wants to test me to see if I can gain her blessing...she's just looking out for you Cerise. After all, to her I must be some vagrant or mugger who wants nothing more than to eat you up." he said, a bit gruffly which made the girl giggle.

"You are not! You haven't got an evil bone in your body...but I do worry. There was this cute boy I liked back in Middle School, and she tested him too. He ended up hating me for the rest of the year. Last year, before she left, there was this other boy from Nottingham Academy that transferred as an exchange student. He didn't even last an hour before transferring back. I'm scared she'll do the same to you!" she replied.

"Cerise, even if your sister doesn't give me her blessing, that isn't gonna keep me away from you. You're my girlfriend, and I already got used to you being my girlfriend, even though it's been three days, ten hours and five minutes."

"You kept count?"

"I have a stopwatch going on my Iphone, it's really neat for this sort of stuff." Blake said, showing her his Iphone, which he barely used anymore. She smiled, placing a hand on his cheek.

"I've gotten used to dating you too, I truly do like you and I want to see where this goes. But knowing Ramona, she's gonna make it harder on both of us. Worse yet, there's a chance she'll rat you out to daddy and you know that wouldn't be good." she said.

"Great, it's bad enough I gotta deal with the older sister, but your father...shit, he scares me. Can I just hide behind Ruby and hope for the best?" he asked, earning a giggle from her.

"No, you can't hide behind my mother. She'll help you out if it comes to daddy, but she can't help you out if he wants to tear you apart. If you want to date me, then I guess we'll have to go meet with my sister. Don't even bother suggesting to stay here, she'll come and drag you to Hood Hollow herself, she's done it before."

"Fucking hell, okay. I guess I can come along, it's better to face an older sibling than to face the father." he said. She smiled, giving him a kiss on the lips.

"Come on, let's go then." she said, slipping her hand into his. He took a hold of her basket, deciding to carry it for her.

"I've been thinking about getting a pet, any suggestions?" he asked.

"Hmm...how about a dire wolf? Carmine likes you, and I think it's a nice fit with you." she said.

"Where would I even get a wolf pup? Let alone one that's trained like Carmine?" he asked.

"That's true...how about a cat?"

"Pass, I got enough with Kitty...besides I have had like six cats during my life, and they were all assholes. Except Juvia, all she did was vomit on my carpet constantly." he said. Cerise scrounged her nose a bit, not wanting to imagine that.

"Maybe you can sleep on it?"

"I'm gonna have to." he replied with a sigh. He kissed her hand, making her flush a bit.

"We'll find you a cute pet to call your own, and if not we can share Carmine, unless you'd rather have a cute she wolf instead." she said, giving him a toothy grin. He gave her a soft kiss on the cheek, smiling a bit.

"I'd much rather have that cute she wolf as my girlfriend." he said, making her shiver slightly. She punched his arm, making him yelp in pain.

"Don't do that! You know it makes me blush and if my daddy sees me he's gonna start asking questions."

"Yes, because the boy who's walking next to his daughter holding her hand would raise less questions than the blush on your face." he said. She rose her fist again making him zip his lip. He didn't want another bruise on his arm, as he had just recovered from his last one.

 _ **xxx**_

Having heard about her sister's new boyfriend due to her own slip up, Ramona decided it was best if she tested the boy to see if he was worthy of her. She knew Cerise was going to whine and moan about it, but she didn't know if he truly was a good person. She had heard about Blake Bigby through the MirrorBlogs and had listened to one of the songs his band Purple Rhapsody had performed, and while she agreed they were good for a high school band, she didn't know the boy as well as she wanted. She was sure Cerise let her heart speak instead of her head and jumped the gun, which was why she had decided to play the older sister card, to make sure he truly was a good person.

She was already an adult, technically being a Junior in Ever After High before she had been transferred to the Reform School for bad behavior. It her defense, the guy was being an ass and he needed to have a tooth knocked out. She was quite surprised to hear the same guy had tried killing another student and was now awaiting his sentencing in the Southern Isles. It was a testament how time could change a person, it truly was. Having heard the news about that boy's arrest had her on edge for her sister's safety. It pissed her off to no end being stuck in a reform school for an entire year, but thankfully she was gonna be let out before the summer for good behavior.

Ramona Badwolf was an eighteen year old young woman, with long knee length dark brown hair which she kept neat and straight. She had streaks of white and burgundy running through it, to give it a bit of personality. She was a rather tall woman, having inherited her height from her father, while her little sister got hers from her mother. She wore dark make up around her eyes and cheeks, with bright crimson lipstick. Her skin, while light tan, was more akin to that of her mother than her father. Like her sister, she also had steel blue eyes, that turned gold when enraged.

She was wearing a long sleeved blue shirt with a silver wolf printed on it, its snout raised in a howl. She wore a matching red plaid skirt, with a black frilled hem, slightly torn in certain areas. She also wore a black wrap around her waist with dark blue suspenders attached to it. She was wearing her favorite pair of boots. They were knee length buckle boots, lined with brown leather and fake wolf fur. They had thick golden heels, perfect for a girl who loved running through the woods on her off time. She wore a golden wolf necklace, attached to a matching gold shoulder pad, with a howling wolf etched into it. She also wore a golden headpiece on the side of her head. Unlike her sister, Ramona had no issue with people seeing her wolf ears, in fact she was proud to be half wolf.

When she heard from her mother, the current Little Red, that her sister was on her way to Hood Hollow with her new boyfriend, she had left her grandmother's house and found herself a good spot to wait. She was sitting on the roof of a house, that looked right at the Dark Forest, laying back with some beef jerky in her hand. This was part of her first test, if the boy scared easy, then he definitely wouldn't be able to save her sister, even though she knew for a fact Cerise could outrun nearly anyone. If he passed that one, then she would proceed with her usual routine of testing the boy until he broke up with her sister or just quit from exhaustion. She took a bite from her jerky, a smirk on her face.

" _This is gonna be the most fun I'll have since punching that bastard Henry in the schnoz last year. Can't believe he went ape shit and tried killing someone."_ she thought, closing her eyes as she enjoyed the taste of the dried meat. Her ear twitched a bit, catching the sound of a familiar voice. She swallowed the jerky in her mouth, and sat up, hiding behind the brick chimney, laying in wait.

Finally arriving in Hood Hollow, Blake could breathe a sigh of relief. He never had fun when he had to walk through the Dark Woods, but Cerise had showed him an exact path to Hood Hollow and had told him of the land marks they were passing in case he ever got lost without her. As long as he went over the river and through the woods, he would make it. The quaint village was still as welcoming as ever, all of the small houses were billowing smoke, the scent of burning wood prevalent in the air. It wasn't hard to find Cerise's house, as it was the biggest in the village, a traditional log cabin which reminded him of the ones in Alaska when he and his folks went to visit his aunt and uncle in Anchorage.

"Oh wow, there's a bit of snow here." Blake said, glancing around at the small amount of snow gathered on the ground.

"It snows early here, because we're so close to the mountains. It was really fun at first, but it got annoying too, especially because we had to shovel it." Cerise said, not at all amused at the sight of the frozen water.

"It isn't so bad. You can make snow angels in the snow, and have snowball fights, and if you take some snow and keep packing it, you can make an ice ball and use it to crack someones head open." he said.

"Who's head did you crack open?"

"My cousin's...hey she was asking for it, taunting me from across the street like the little shit she is. It's also one of the reasons I'm not allowed to speak with her ever again. She still has the scar, right down the side of her head." Blake said, earning a frown from Cerise.

"You aren't going to do that ever again alright? Unless you really need too or someone is pissing you off far beyond anything else you've faced."

"Fine...for the record, it was only to get back at her. She broke one of my glass ponies...didn't you see the one in my room that has a crack on the hind leg? That's where I glued it. It was a limited edition, with gold plating around the hooves." he replied, earning a sigh from his girlfriend. She stopped mid stride, her nose wiggling slightly. She closed her eyes, trying to pick up the scent.

"Whoa...are you tracking someone?" he asked.

"Yeah, my sister. I know you're there Ramona, no use hiding." she called out. Blake looked around, trying to see if her could find Cerise's older sister anywhere. That was of course before he was tackled to the ground by a blue blur. His eyes widened a bit when he saw steel blue eyes looking into his own.

"So, you're the pup that's taken an interest in my sister...you don't look like much."

"With all due respect miss, you haven't met me...and it's rather rude to tackle people to the ground wouldn't you say?" he replied, earning a smirk from the girl, who backed away from him, still sitting on his body.

"You've got nuts back talking like that, but I still think you aren't worthy of my sister."

"Ramona would you get off him? Jeez, you're sitting on his lap in broad fuckin daylight! Think of the elderly!" Cerise hissed, earning a chuckle from the young woman, who stood up from the boy she had been straddling. Cerise held her hand out, pulling Blake back to his feet, who brushed the hay and dry grass off his jacket, thankful he hadn't been tackled into a patch of snow.

"Well, I've always wanted to be straddled by an older woman, didn't exactly have this in mind." Blake said, brushing his hand through his hair. The glare Cerise gave him just made him shudder a bit, while Ramona just chuckled.

"You're real funny...so funny man, think you got what it takes to date my little sis? If you want to get into a serious relationship with her, you gotta get my blessing, and I'm letting you now, that isn't an easy task." she said.

"You don't scare me...I like Cerise, more than you think or know. So I'm gonna do whatever it takes to get your blessing. Blake Bigby." he said, holding his hand out. Ramona rose a brow, a smirk tugging her lips.

"Ramona Badwolf." she replied, grasping his hand in a firm shake. She however didn't let go, squeezing his hand rather hard. The boy did the same, a smirk on his face.

"You got a nice name, I'm gonna call you Momo from now on. So come at me with everything you've got." he said, letting go of her hand, cracking his fingers right after.

"Oh I like you, no one's had the balls to call me Momo to my face ever. Alright then, you wanna date my sister, there are three tasks you have do to for me. The first task is simple, you see that mountain at the edge of Hood Hollow?" she asked, pointing forward. Blake followed her finger, seeing the snow capped mountain at the edge of town.

"I see it, what about it?"

"There's a cliff that over looks a deep ravine, on the underside grows a special crystal flower, that only blooms during cold temperatures. Get me that flower, and you pass the first test." she said, earning a smirk from the boy.

"Consider it done. Do you want me to bring it to you on a silver platter? Oh wait, a gold platter?" he asked jokingly.

"Don't make me hit you...we'll be going as a group, but you get the flower by yourself. And don't make me mad, or else the last thing anyone will ever see of you, is that stupid violet fringe of yours." she said firmly, taking the lead through Hood Hollow.

"Seriously sis, do you have to do this?" Cerise said.

"Sweetheart, it's alright...she wants to test me, so I'll just play along. Nothing she says or does will make me leave you...come on, we can do this." he said, taking a hold of her hand. Ramona smiled a bit, already impressed with the boy. She would have quite a lot of fun running him ragged.

 _ **xxx**_

The walk to Hacksaw Ridge was actually a really cool one. Hacksaw Mountain was the nearest mountain to Hood Hollow, and it was known to have the best views around Ever After. Blake had honestly been quite happy to make the trip up there, he had always wanted to climb a mountain, and now he was getting his chance to. He was taking pictures of the surrounding mountains, which reached almost to the heavens, topped with the purest snow he hadn't seen in awhile. The area they were currently walking through was a bit dry and barren, and quite rocky, but they all had boots on, so it hardly bothered them.

"So, where did you find this one?" Ramona asked, earning a sigh from Cerise, who stuck her hand in her basket, reaching for a can of Mountain Dew.

"He goes to Ever After High...he's not from this world." she said.

"Oh, not from this world, where are you from kid? Nottingham? Wonderland? Please tell me you aren't from Neverland? Those kids are so damn prissy."

"Neverland exists here? Shit why didn't anyone tell me that?" Blake asked, glancing at Cerise who just gave him a shrug.

"You never asked." she replied, tossing him a drink. He cracked the can open, taking a sip from it. She gave Ramona one as well, who looked at it rather oddly.

"Anyway, to answer your question Momo, I'm actually not from any of those worlds. I'm from a place I call the Real World...back in my world, all of you are just Fairytales, make believe. But I was brought here through a mirror. The Evil Queen brought me here, cursed me so I couldn't leave, shoved a piece of mirror in my chest and enchanted my family and friends back home so they wouldn't remember me."

"Ouch...tough shit...sorry to hear that." the girl replied.

"Eh, it's alright...I've come to terms with it...I would rather just live my life here as best as I can. With my girlfriend by my side." he said, wrapping an arm around Cerise's waist.

"We'll see...what does dad think of this?"

"He doesn't know Ramona, and he isn't gonna know alright? I don't think Daddy will be too accepting of this relationship. He's gonna find out soon, thanks to Blondie, but I want to live these few days without him wanting to choke my boyfriend." She replied.

"Let it be known that the innocent party does not, I repeat, does not, want to be choked." Blake said, earning a scoff from Ramona.

"It doesn't matter, soon as Blondie start's talking, your ass is grass and dad is the lawnmower. Look alive, we're coming up on Hacksaw Ridge." Ramona said, pointing up to the jutting rock formation that over looked a very very deep ravine. Cerise gulped audibly, being a bit scared.

"Why do they call it Hacksaw Ridge? Is it because of the mountain or for another reason?"

"Oh, there's a good story behind it. You see there was this man who lived in Hood Hollow, his name was Willard. Yeah, he was a real messed up man...history would remember him as Hacksaw Willie. He was convicted of murdering his wife and his sister...with a hacksaw."

"What? That's total bullshit Momo...how come I haven't heard of this?" Blake asked, causing the girl to stop.

"Because dumb ass, you aren't from here. So you don't know the local lore...yeah, it was really messed up. Sliced his wife's throat open with a single swipe...you see, he was getting a divorce, and had to pay child support, he had no money, and had to file for bankruptcy. The judge still made him pay all the money he owed." Ramona said, earning a raised brow from the boy.

"Typical lovers quarrel ending in murder then?" he asked, earning a nod from the girl.

"That's right...except Willard got mad at the judge, oh yes he did. He shot him with a 22 caliber rifle right in the back of the head, started hacking him up in his bathtub. That's where his sister saw him, and in order to shut her mouth, he did the same to her. He sliced them up, stuffed their bodies into garbage bags and tossed them over the ridge. Thing was, another judge took the first one's place, and ruled the case in favor of his wife...he needed to take revenge."

"Ramona, can you please stop telling this story? You know how much I hate it!" Cerise said, shivering slightly.

"It's alright sweetheart, it's just a story." he said, pulling her close to himself as they continued to walk.

"Of course it is...a true story. Anyway, Willie didn't want to pay child support, he had no money to pay it with. So he had to get rid of the thorn in his side...so he brought out his special friend, the hacksaw he used to hack up his dear little sister and the judge that fucked him over. He made his way to his ex-wife's house, started knocking on the door and begging to be let in, a blubbering mess to sell it all. Opening the door was Martha's biggest mistake." Ramona said, coming to a stop before the ridge.

"What...did he cut her head off her something?" Blake asked curiously. Ramona turned around, a smirk tugging her lips.

"Oh, he did more than that. He cut her head off, and put it on a pike outside her house...they found her body at the bottom of this ridge. He knew he couldn't get away, so he came back to the place where he got rid of those bodies, and strung a sturdy rope to that tree over there, and hung himself. The thing was, when they found his body, his chest had been sliced open, the skin matching the serrated edge of a hacksaw."

"What? But his neck would have snapped, how the hell would he be able to cut his own chest open?" he asked.

"That's the thing, they saw it was the headless body of his wife that sliced him open. Others say he hacked himself open and then someone strung him up...no one knows...but the first is thought to believe the truth, because the bloody hacksaw was found in the hands of his headless wife. They say her soul still stalks this area, and on the eve of the night she died, a hacksaw appears on that tree, hanging by it's bloody red handle, crimson blood dripping from its blade."

"SHUT UP!" Cerise cried, earning a boisterous laugh from her sister, who pulled down her hood, ruffling her head.

"I'm fuckin with ya sis. Come on, it's just an old wives tale...that's one hundred percent real." she said.

"I don't buy it...sounds like a bad creepypasta to me...whatever, what do I have to do to get this flower?" he asked.

"Oh right...I'm not gonna risk you falling your death, last thing I need is you joining Willie's sister down there. I'm gonna tie you a safety rope, after that, you are on your own." she said, grabbing a rope from the messenger bag she had brought with her.

"You don't have to do this Blake...remember, it doesn't matter what Ramona or my father say, I'll still be with you." Cerise said, quickly pulling up her head.

"Honey it's alright...I'm up for a little adventure. Besides, your sister is really cool, she reminds me a lot of Susan...I want to prove to her that I can take care of you, and I'm not just another fuckboy. It'll take more than some scary story to scare me away." he said happily. He let out a grunt when he felt Ramona tie off the rope around his waist.

"We'll see about that, if you can even pass this test that is. The second test is gonna make you shit blood...good luck." she said, pushing the boy forward as she walked over to the tree, tying the rope around its trunk.

He cracked his knuckles as he walked over to the edge of the cliff, glancing at the rope to make sure it was firmly tied around his waist. He had a good length to work with as well so he would at least be safe. Walking to the end of the cliff, he glanced down at the ravine, seeing just how far down it went. It spanned for miles down below, with large rocky shelves and spikes jutting out at odd angles. It certainly did look like a hacksaw, and it wouldn't be pretty if someone fell down there. He was sure they were likely to die. He knelt down, back facing the edge as he started lowering himself down over the cliff.

"Blake, you don't have to do this!" Cerise cried out.

"Already leaning over the edge babe, not much of a choice now." he replied, grabbing onto the ledge.

He kicked his legs forward, his boots snagging the underside of the cliff. He started slowly moving down, making sure his grip on the shelf was firm. He hummed as he started looking around, seeing the glowing crystal flower Ramona had mentioned. It was rather big for a flower, the petals wrapped around most of its base, the veins on the petals glowing slightly. It had three small spikes sticking out from the base of the flower, which was firmly latched onto the rock. It looked almost like a conch shell, made entirely out of crystal.

"This is insane." he muttered to himself, making his way over to the flower. His leg slipped, a few pieces of rock falling to the depths below.

"Ramona, this is insane. What if he falls? He could really hurt himself or worse!" Cerise snapped, earning a frown from her sister, who stopped filing her lengthy nails.

"I wouldn't let him fall, he's got the rope for a reason. I've been to the bottom of that ravine before. Besides, he's probably gonna puss out and not even bother getting the flower." she said with a shrug.

"That's not the point. Every single guy I've been interested in, you scare away, either that or you put them in harms way. What's wrong with you? Are you so sour that you can't get someone to like you that you drive away anyone I like?"

"Listen you little pup. I'm not doing this for shits and giggles like you would assume. The world is a dark place, far darker than our dad blowing apart houses for fun. I have to make sure the people you associate with are capable of defending you should the need arise. You're half wolf sure, but your wolf side can only help you so much. It isn't gonna stop a silver bullet, and it sure as hell isn't going to save you if your attacked by a mob of hungry goblins." Ramona said, glaring into her sister's eyes.

"That's rich coming from you. You don't know any of my friends, you don't know the shit Blake's had to go through. Besides who the hell told you I needed help defending myself? I'm not damsel in distress, I can handle myself."

"That's cute...let's just hope it doesn't come to war or far worse. Ever After is a peaceful place, but when our stories are over, there won't be anything but the real world to come back to." she hissed, glancing away from her little sister, returning to her nail filing. They heard a loud grunt and looked toward the cliff, seeing Blake pulling himself back over. He let out sigh, placing the flower on the ground, much to their surprise.

"Ha...I win!" he said, giving Ramona a shit eating grin. She blinked a few times, smirking to herself.

"Well done, not many have been able to even get close to the edge. You have balls, let's see if those balls are big enough to save you from my next trial. Bring the flower." she said, turning around and walking off. Blake stood up and grabbed the flower, pulling himself free from the rope.

"Well this is fun, I'm having a fun time." Blake said, earning a sigh from Cerise.

"You're a dumbass for doing what she's telling you to do."

"Cerise it's fine. I want to prove to Momo that I am worthy of being your boyfriend. She's just being over protective of you, which is really sweet when you think about it. She cares a lot about you...trust me, if in my world siblings were like this, teen pregnancy wouldn't be so common." he said, a frown on his face.

"Teen pregnancy? You mean there are underage kids out there doing the nasty? At what age?" Ramona asked, a serious look on her face. Blake sighed, glancing at the dark gray skies.

"The common age is 16, in America that's the legal age of consent. I've seen fifteen year olds getting pregnant too...the youngest I've seen is a thirteen year old, but there was one story on the news some years back of a ten year old being pregnant."

"That's fucking horrible! How the hell does that shit even happen?" the older teen asked, an angry look on her face.

"Most is just kids thinking they can do what the adults can. No good education at home, parents who aren't taking good care of their kids and shit. But some have been rape victims...yeah, my world can be a dark place at times...a lot of grim shit happens on a daily basis." he replied, not wanting to think about the darker aspects of his world.

"It's disgusting, I wouldn't know what to do if I got pregnant that early in life." Cerise replied.

"Well, the most important thing about that is simple. You have to be ready to take that step in life, obviously if kids see something online or their folks are doing it, they'll want to do it too. But as rational not yet adults, not exactly kids, teenagers, we have the rational thinking of an adult while still being underage. You shouldn't be having sex at all unless you are comfortable with the person you love, and if you are then use protection, simple as that." He replied, glancing down at the flower in his hands, tracing the veins with his thumb.

"That's true...I guess if it's with the person I love, I wouldn't mind taking that step in the relationship."

"I'm the same. I would never force someone to do something they aren't comfortable with. I saw too many girls back in my old school getting pregnant to early in life, they were just kids in high school. Didn't have a degree or a job, shit they didn't even finish Freshman year half the time. I want to have kids in the future, more than anything, but I want to have a stable home, solid income and a beautiful wife by my side who'll the the best mom in the world." Blake said, a smile tugging his lips.

"You know Blake, that's rather mature of you to say. Not a lot of kids your age think like that...if you get my blessing, _if_...I want you to at least wait a year before you start boning my sister, and it better be wrapped."

"Ramona! Shit shut up!" Cerise cried, bowing her head in embarrassment. Blake blushed brightly too, not wanting to think those thoughts, of course his male mind still had him thinking those thoughts. Let's just say, he was in need of a cold shower...for now he hoped Bill Buckner's fuck up would take his mind to another place and time.

 _ **xxx**_

Ramona lead Blake and Cerise to a secluded spot in the forest, a cavern entrance located in the back of a clearing. There was a bit of snow gathered around the cavern entrance and judging by the footprints, something lived within that cavern. Blake wasn't exactly sure of what but he wasn't looking forward to finding out. Coming to a stop before the cave, Ramona stood before the boy, giving him a smile. It wasn't a joyous smile, more of the smile you give someone when you want them to do their dirty work, it didn't not ease his nerves at all, but he was going to stay firmly by Cerise's side no matter what.

"So, we have arrived at your second trial. This cave once belonged to a wise old dragon, who loved humans very much. However, an ugly disgusting goblin took over its home. This normally wouldn't be a problem for the dragon, if it was capable of fighting back. It was in the process of laying its eggs, so it was in a weakened state." she said, earning a nod from Blake.

"You're telling me that this dragon was kicked out of its home by this goblin?"

"No...sadly she ended up getting killed, and her eggs are still inside. While the goblin was out on its hunt, I wondered inside and saw a single egg still in the nest being near a fire. So I can tell that it's been getting a constant heat source. Dragon meat happens to be a delicacy for these fuck ups, it doesn't sit right that the dragon was killed. Your next task, is to rescue that dragon egg from inside the cave."

"Ramona, he can die from this." Cerise hissed, only to be silenced by her sister who looked back at Blake.

"Let me get this straight, I gotta go in there, get a dragon egg back from this goblin and come out of there alive?"

"I never specified that. Getting out alive would be ideal, but if you fuck the pooch in there then it's totally cool...you'll be hailed as a hero, and if we can salvage your carcass we will give you an honorary burial." she replied. Blake pressed his lips in a thin line, shaking his head.

"Momo, you are a cold hearted bitch, possibly the most cold hearted bitch I have met in my entire life. If I wasn't already dating your sister I would pounce you like a lynx. Hold this flower babe, I'm going in." he said, handing Cerise the crystal flower. He tugged his varsity jacket a bit as he walked toward the cavern entrance, a firm look on his face.

"Well, so far so good. I like this one a lot little sis, he has a lot of gull to say something like that too me...and he's got a cute butt. If you don't fuck him, I will."

"Ramona, I swear to the Fairy Godmother, I will maul you." the younger girl snapped, glaring at her sister, eyes glowing gold. Ramona smiled, giving her a pat on the head.

Wondering into the cavern, Blake took notice of a few things. For one, he actually had good eyesight in the darkness. He figured it was due to having the Evil Queen's magic, in his mind he figured high ounces of magic enhanced senses slightly, but not on a god tier level. He almost wished he could be a dragon slayer like some of his favorite wizards, but he knew that would be insulting to some of the kind dragons of Ever After. He hid behind a stalagmite, peeking around the corner to the middle of the cavern.

He saw a raging fire near the other end of the cavern, along with a few amenities, making it look almost like a small apartment. The slow dripping of water from above was causing a constant echo as the drops struck the ground. It smelled dank and disgusting, as if someone had been rolling around in dirty and rotting moss. Spotting another stalagmite further ahead, he decided to quickly move toward it. He reached behind his back, his fingers wrapping around the hilt of his borrow Vorpal Blade. He had brought it along just in case he and Cerise were attacked in the forest, but he didn't think he would need to use it.

Just beyond the stalagmite was a ghastly creature, with dark moss colored skin, beady crimson eyes and a disgusting smirk on his countenance. His ears rose back behind his head looking pointed and covered in what he assumed was fur. The goblin was wearing some sort of vest over his sickly green body, with dark brown pants that did little to hide his gimpy legs. He noticed it was just sitting there, staring at the egg that still lay in its nest.

The egg was almost entirely white, with black and violet markings around it. He noticed snowflake patterns on the shell, as if they had been expertly painted by the gentlest of hands. It was a rather large egg, reminding him of the one Happy had hatched out of in his favorite anime, Fairy Tail, an aptly named anime for this current scenario. The biggest egg he had ever seen was an ostrich egg, and this one tripled its size.

The goblin must have noticed his presence, because a second later he let out a growl and stood up, reaching for what looked like a battle axe. He started looking around the cavern, growling slightly before locking eyes with the stalagmite Blake was hiding behind. He let out a violent screech, jumping at it with great speed. Blake jumped back at the same time, watching as the rock formation exploded into chunks. He drew his weapon, the blade glowing a brilliant white as is sprung out of its hilt.

"So, you're the little shit that was here earlier eh? You don't look like a female, I was hoping to have some fun with you." the creature growled. Surprised that it could talk, Blake just took his stance, holding his katana outward.

"Not a man of many words eh? Then allow me to end your life as swiftly as possible." he cried, lunging at him swinging his axe.

Blake angled his blade slightly, blocking the large axe blade from making contact with his body. Easily pushing the creature back, he took a couple jabs at him, all of them blocked by a sturdy shield he didn't see the creature grab. Changing his stance, he grabbed the hilt of his sword tightly, he angled it downward, the tip of the Vorpal Blade slicing up some of the rocks with a snicker-snack. Using the dust to his advantage, Blake raced forward, delivering a strong kick to the goblin's chest, sending it flying back.

"Heh...this one is good, I didn't think goblins were this strong. Maybe if I roll a d20 I can crit his ass." Blake muttered, licking his lips as he watched the creature get back to his feet.

"Well, this is gonna be fun. I haven't had a good fight in a long time kid, so come at me...or I will." he said. Blake pulled his hand back, channeling some dark magic into it.

"Darkness Stream!" he chanted, his voice sounding a bit two-toned as he shot the spell forward. Several lances of dark magic shot at the goblin, who easily sliced them apart with his axe.

"Nice try, but magic ain't shit compared to my quick reflexes!" he cried, swinging his axe two and fro, causing Blake to back away. He smirked, quickly doing a Reversal, delivering a slash to the creature's back.

"What the? This is a Vorpal weapon, it should have sliced you clean in half!" Blake snapped, earning a smirk from the goblin.

"Enchanted garments kid, all fighters should use them. You look no older than a sprout, mid teens...you fucked with the wrong goblin, I'm afraid...I'm gonna have to kill ya, then I'll find that dame that wondered in here and take her as mine!" he shouted, swiping his axe at the boy, who quickly jumped back. He formed a swirling orb of magic and threw it at the creature, only for him to dodge it. It struck the back wall, causing an explosion of dust and debris.

The Goblin spun around, bashing Blake in the side with his shield, quickly pulling his axe down in an attempt to slice his arm off. Angling his blade, the boy was able to deflect the incoming attack, pushing the creature back. He ran at him, swiping and slashing the air before him, the glowing edge of the blade looking orange due to the fire. Blake slammed back into the wall, quickly turning away when the Goblin struck the wall with his axe. He growled as he tried to pull it free, giving Blake the moment he needed.

With a loud cry, he rose his sword high in the air, a brilliant blue light swirling around it. He dashed forward, slicing right through the creature's neck, the sword going snicker-snack as it sliced through its flesh. The Goblin hacked loudly, a stream of sickly orange blood pouring from its neck hole. Blake slashed the sword through the air, cleaning it of blood before placing it through his belt loop, the blade retracting back into the hilt. He cleared his throat as he walked over to the dragon egg, lifting it from its nest.

"It'll be alright little one...I got you now." he said softly. He felt the baby inside move slight, almost tapping the shell. He wrapped his jacket around it, hugging it tightly to himself as he started walking out of the cavern.

"It's been half an hour, aren't we going in?" Cerise asked, earning a sigh from Ramona.

"He can handle himself fine right, you said he was good with a sword."

"But he didn't have a sword with him!" the younger girl snapped, earning a frown from her older sister.

"Oh...well it would have been a good idea to procure one beforehand. Okay fine, I'll go see if he's okay, but if he's dead then it isn't my fault."

"No need Momo, I'm completely alive." Blake said, walking out of the cavern with the egg in his hands. Cerise quickly closed the distance, hugging the boy tightly.

"I was so worried about you! Are you alright? Did you get hurt?"

"I'm fine Hun! Look, I brought the egg!" he said, moving his jacket slightly. Cerise looked at it closely, placing a hand on its shell.

"It's moving...this is the first time I've actually touched a dragon egg." she said.

"Hmm, very good...I thought you would be shitting blood, but color me surprised. Alright then, let's go back to Hood Hollow for the final test." Ramona said, earning a smirk from the boy.

"Bring it on Momo, you can't defeat me!" he said happily.

"We'll see." she replied, once again taking the lead. The group of three plus their egg started back toward Hood Hollow, with Blake wondering what the final test was going to be like.


	26. New Arrival

**A/N:**

 **I would like to apologize to everyone for the late update today...I've felt rather depressed through out the day. For all of you who saw The Walking Dead last night, you all know why...I've been a fan of this show since it's pilot episode, October 31st 2010. It's been a long eight years and over those eight years we have seen Rick and the crew go through some grim shit, fucked up shit and downright cruel and sad shit...but last night's episode felt like a fucking cop out. It's no secret that the show has...decreased in quality a bit...but I've stuck with it because I care about the characters enough to see everyone make it. I've invested a lot of time and love into the series...but right now I'm just so disappointed.**

 **It's sad what happened, it truly is...especially with what happened and who it happened too. I'm not gonna spoil it for those who haven't seen it, but for those who have, you know exactly what I am talking about. Season 8's all out war was supposed to be one of the high points in the series, but it has rapidly turned into a low point, and honestly I doubt I'm gonna stick through into Season 9. I might stick around, but I sure as hell won't watch it religiously every Sunday night.**

 **But enough of that...thanks to everyone who's read Chapter 25 and showed a lot of love for this story over all. I know this is all a filler arc of sorts before the Winter Formal arc, but I do strive to make sure the narrative is gripping enough for you all to stick around. I'm happy that you are all taking Blake and Cerise's relationship seriously and are loving every moment of it, because I am too. I did this because I honestly fucked her over during True Heart's Day, so I felt the need to make this relationship happen. But I shall have to inform you all that this isn't the OTP for this story...the candidates for this relationship were Cerise, Lizzie and Duchess but ultimately I settled on Cerise because she has a good bond with Blake. I have also realized that I need to have Blake spend more time with other characters...so expect some chapters to be centered around one or two people. I'm gonna give Apple her own chapter, same as Raven and Briar. Cerise is still gonna be in those chapters, but I want to make sure Blake is getting along with everyone since he's just like Crystal, he gets along with everyone no matter what. If they show him respect then he will respect them too.  
**

 **I haven't decided what these chapters will be about yet, but it will be mostly dealing with personal problems. Like Raven's insecurities and doubts about her choice in being a Rebel, or Apple's worries about losing her friends due to them rejecting their fate. I want to expand on those characters so their bonds with Blake are strong. I'm using my Danganronpa Mindset for this, as I want him to spend time with everyone and get to know them on a personal level, so that literally everyone will consider him a BFFA, or at least a best friend. Even Duchess considers him a BFFA even though she isn't gonna admit that to anyone.**

 **Honestly, I might even make Duchess get into a future relationship with Blake, I know that I'm mostly like gonna write separate chapters for every girl that has an interest in him, but I won't be including those special chapters for girls he's dated in the main story...it'll be more like a cut away that will lead to another alternate ending...actually scratch that...if they get in a relationship in the main story and then break it off, I will write an alternate chapter that will end with another separate story exploring that pairing...so yeah, there you go.**

 **This chapter introduces two oc characters, with Jessica Merlin, the daughter of the Wizard Merlin, being one of them. I'm gonna leave the second Oc as a mystery for all of you. You also get to see Blake's new pet dragon hatch from her egg. Sorry to one of my reviewers, but she isn't gonna be a Snow Dragon, there's already a Snow/Ice dragon during Dragon Games so I can't have two of them. I hope you all enjoy this chapter, let me know what you think, Review, like and follow the story to get my alerts, and if you feel the need to vent your Walking Dead sorrows to someone who's in your position, please PM me...we shall suffer together in silence. Have nice night everyone!**

Ever After High

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 26

A New Arrival

The three teenagers made it back to Hood Hollow, with Blake and Cerise not knowing what Ramona's final test was going to be. They weren't at all worried, but Cerise was rather annoyed that her sister was going through so much just to test her boyfriend. He gave her a smile, kissing the back of her hand affectionately, making her blush brightly. Unknowingly, Ramona had been glancing at the two silently seeing what the boy was doing. It was obvious that Cerise had a puppy crush on the boy, but he seemed to genuinely like her back, so she had no issue with letting them show their affections to each other. She didn't doubt that something wasn't forming between the two, even if it was still a bit early in their relationship.

"You know, this has been a really interesting day." Blake said, doing his best to keep the dragon egg warm. He noticed the baby inside was moving around a lot, but he didn't understand why.

"Yes it has, but here comes the last part of the test...if you manage to pass this one, then I will concede defeat." Ramona said.

"Sis can't we just leave it at this? He climbed under a cliff to get this flower and killed a goblin to get the egg, this is enough." Cerise said. Ramona shook her head, stopping before the two teenagers.

"Sure, you proved yourself and how far you would go to actually get my blessing. But the last task is always the easiest one...all you have to do, is beat me in a footrace."

"Seriously? You're half wolf, how the hell do you expect me to beat you?" Blake asked curiously.

"That's where the handicap comes in...I'm gonna put a piece of silver in my boot, we can't die from it, but it debilitates us quite a bit. That piece is enough to give me near human traits, including stamina. I'll just be a bit better than you. Beat me in a footrace, and you win." She said, holding her hand out.

"Don't trust her, she's gonna do something." Cerise said softly, earning a chuckle from her boyfriend, who handed her the dragon egg.

"Keep it warm, when I beat your sister in this race, we'll finally be able to date in peace...until your father decides to disembowel me and hang my entrails from the nearest tree." he said.

"Thanks for the visual." the girl replied. He smirked, giving her a peck on the lips. She took a hold of his jacket, pulling him into a more passionate kiss, which earning a growl from Ramona. He turned to face the older sibling, who had finished putting her boot back on, securing the straps.

"Alright, from here to that tree at the edge of the forest. You can start standing straight or kneel down, I don't care." she said. He gave her a nod, lowering himself to the ground, getting in a traditional running stance. Ramona did the same, kicking the dirt a bit, cringing a bit due to the pain in her foot.

"Jeez, this doesn't...alright, ready...set...go!" Cerise cried.

The two teenagers took off, kicking up a bit of dirt from how fast they had shot off. Blake smirked slightly, keeping his eyes focused on the edge of the forest. Thanks to his parkour and martial arts, he could easily control his breathing and focus on the race itself, but he could tell Ramona was quite an excellent runner. She got a few paces from him, but he easily closed the distance, not at all letting her gain the edge.

"Come on Momo, I thought this was a race!" he cried, quickening his pace a bit.

"Don't taunt me kid, I can still trip you." she snapped, a smile on her face.

The two slowly started approaching the edge of the woods. Throwing in their last bit of energy, both started running at full speed, hoping to shorten the distance between them and their goal. Blake stuck his hand out, hoping to touch the tree first. Ramona did the same, with both of them slapping their hand on the bark at the same time. The black haired boy let out an annoyed grunt, coughing slightly, tiredness washing over him from the race.

"Damn...I was so close too." he muttered between pants of air. Ramona looked at him, barely winded.

"You did good, not a lot of people have tied with me, except my sister of course...I'm impressed with you."

"So, does that mean he gets your blessing so all of this can end?" Cerise asked, already having caught up with the two.

"Yeah about that...we tied and I'm letting that slide...but, I'm sorry sis he doesn't pass." Ramona said, causing the two to look at each other.

"What? Why? He did all of this stupid shit!"

"Momo, I know you don't approve of our relationship, but it doesn't matter. I like your sister and I should have the right to date her...we've gotten too involved now. She's...she's my first real girlfriend, I've been through a lot of shit, and she's been there to cheer me on through most of it. I'm starting to fall in love with her, even if you don't give me your blessing, I'm still gonna date her, no matter what you say." Blake said firmly, looking right into her eyes. Ramona rolled her eyes, crossing her arms.

"Nice speech, but did you ever...I dunno...ask me for my blessing?"

"Eh? What?" the boy sputtered.

"I dunno...nobody else asked me for my blessing before. All of the other boys pussied out because of my special tests, or they just refused all together because Cerise wasn't worth it. If you proved to me that she is worth it, if you killed a goblin to save this egg, risked your life for a flower and tied with me in a race, then you have no problem with asking me for that." she said.

"Goddamn it! I knew all of this shit was pointless!"

"No...it wasn't Cerise. It actually shed some clarity on those other guys...all they wanted was to date you because of your looks or your body, because they're horny teenagers. They only went along with these tests and quit half way through, because they were scared of your sister. But I'm the only one who stuck all the way through, and proved myself. Ramona, may I have your blessing to date your sister?" he asked. The older girl cracked a smile, giving him a nod.

"You may...I hope you make her happy...but this goes without saying, if you hurt my sister in any way. If you break her heart, hit her or think it's fun to stick it in without wrapping it, I will break every bone in your body, and feed your innards to the vultures, got it?"

"Duly noted! Hey, that wasn't so hard." Blake said, a smile on his face

"It's good to know I'm worth the trouble." Cerise replied.

"Of course you are, your my adorable meat loving she wolf girlfriend!" he said happily. Cerise rolled her eyes, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"Okay enough of that...now, there is a reason why I had you gather the crystal flower and the egg. You see, the dragon that once inhabited the cavern was a crystal dragon."

"A crystal dragon? Those are like super rare...full grown crystal dragons can breath crystals instead of fire. It's one of the rarest dragon elements in Ever After." Blake said, an excited look on his face.

"You're well read on dragons, I like you already. Yes, that is in fact true...now, I want you to take the flower and poke one of its spikes into the shell." Ramona said, handing the flower to Blake. His eyes went wide as he looked at the egg, a surprised look on his face.

"You want me to what? Isn't that harmful to the baby inside?"

"We don't want to be responsible for killing a baby dragon sis. That would be cruel." Cerise said, earning a sigh from her sister.

"Listen, that crystal flower is needed to get it to hatch. The magic stored inside it will give the baby the energy it needs to break out of the egg. It's moving a lot, so that means it's getting ready to be born, but it'll need that little boost. Just trust me, okay?" she asked. Blake nodded, glancing at the bottom of the flower. He closed his eyes as he poked the eggshell with the flower, holding it against it.

"Uh...it stopped moving." Cerise said. They all watched as the flower in Blake's hand started glowing, the petals around its base unfurled, forming a beautiful crystal flower which started glowing a brilliant blue. All of the energy started swirling around the egg, being pulled inside.

"No way." the boy said softly, having pulled out his phone to take a video of the event.

The flower ceased glowing, falling uselessly to the ground. A small crack formed from the hole, as the egg started breaking. It wasn't much longer until the top of the egg burst open, sending broken pieces of shell in all directions. From it came a newborn dragon, unlike the ones Blake was familiar with. This one was a pure white color, with its claws being a deep icy blue. It had a long thin tail, which was a deep violet, forming a three toned snowflake at the end, being white, ice blue and violet. It had feathers around its face, its snout being snowy white. It had two small horns growing from atop its head, which were violet in color and glittered brightly. Its eyes were the deepest blue Blake had ever seen. The baby let out a little cry, spreading its wings for the first time.

"It's so cute!" Blake said, taking the baby dragon from his girlfriend's arms, hugging it tightly. She started cooing happily, nuzzling up to the boy.

"She's your responsibility now, Cerise told me you were looking for a pet earlier today, so I did you a favor. Nothing says awesomeness like a fuckin dragon."

"She's right, dragons are really cool. You know Raven has a pet dragon? She must have grown really big by now." Cerise added, earning a surprised look from the boy. He grabbed the discarded flower from the floor and held it out to the baby dragon, who took a bite from one of the petals.

"Thanks Momo, it means a lot that you would help me find a pet, especially one as cool as this...but we need to give her a name. It is a her right?" he asked.

"I dunno, do you see a big ol pair of balls on the other end?" Ramona asked, earning a glare from the boy. Cerise shook her head, placing a hand on the baby dragon's snout, earning a small squeal from her.

"I think we should call her something pretty...something that matches her colors." she said.

"Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, we can call her Cadence for short." Blake said, earning a surprised look from the two girls.

"Princess?"

"Mhmm, because from now on, she's gonna be my little princess!" he said, hugging the dragon tightly. Ramona shrugged, patting her sister on the head.

"I like the name, she almost sounds like Royalty. Come on, we should head to mom's before she thinks we were eaten by an orc or something."

"Orcs don't eat humans sis...that's just how they're often portrayed." Cerise said.

"Sure, whatever. Come on Blake, time to tell mom that her little girl's got herself an awesome boyfriend." Ramona said, earning a nod from the boy.

 _ **xxx**_

It was night time in Ever After, and it was quite a cold night. Blake, Cerise and her sister Ramona had finally arrived at Ever After High after walking through the Dark Woods. Their mother Ruby had been ecstatic at hearing that her youngest daughter was in a relationship with Blake, who she wouldn't stop hugging after they had told her. The boy felt rather comfortable around her, as she reminded him of his own mother Marissa, whom he missed dearly. After spellebrating Cerise's birthday with her grandmother who baked cookies for them all, they all started heading back to the school as they had a curfew to keep. Ramona was going to spend the night in Ever After High with her sister, just because she wanted to piss off the Headmaster, which honestly made the boy laugh.

They had stopped at the school registry to get Cadence's papers in order. Once they had, they had given Blake her tags and a collar as she was still a baby, she would have to wear one to let people know she was domesticated. He wouldn't be able to pick her up until Monday, as she would have to go through a battery of tests to make sure she was happy and healthy. He would be able to keep her in his dorm until she was a bit older, and then she would have to go to the school stables with the other dragons, which he didn't necessarily mind. Thankfully, the owner of the stables had finally allowed him passage, as it had been weeks since the rumors spread. In fact he doubted anyone even remembered those rumors.

He hadn't been able to rest at all, for some reason he had a feeling like someone was watching him, and he felt a bit unnerved. He felt it during his walk through the Dark Forest, but he didn't tell Cerise or Ramona about it, as they were busy catching up with each other. So he came to the forth floor observatory like he did whenever he needed some fresh air. He hadn't bothered taking his clothes off when he went back to his dorm, so he just slipped his shoes on and grabbed his backpack, something he had been doing from habit. He had been leaning against the railing watching the moon for awhile now.

Whenever he felt down, he would always climb to the roof of his house and stare at the moon. It was so much prettier in Ever After without the light pollution. The skies there were filled with millions of little stars, all twinkling like little nightlights in the night sky. It was absolutely alluring...he always remembered how his grandmother said she loved the day, because she didn't like the darkness. In contrast, he loved the night. During the day, you could only see one star and that wasn't worth it to him. At night, you could see millions of them, it was much more amazing than the plain day time sky. She would always laugh when he told her that.

He was wondering what his sisters were doing...most likely having a blast in Hawaii. Knowing them, they would take Thanksgiving Week entirely off so they could travel to the pacific island paradise. It had been a dream of him to go to Hawaii, but he never would be able too. Of course he had originally wanted to visit Paris, but it was far too expensive for them all to go, so he settled on Hawaii instead. He didn't have money for a passport anyhow. He frowned, his eyes shifting to the Enchanted Forest, which looked much different now that it was dark. He shivered a bit from the cold wind that had picked up.

"Yo, what are you doing out here?" a voice called out, startling Blake a bit. He glanced toward the school doors, sighing with relief when he saw that it was Ramona. He shrugged, glancing back at the forest.

"Getting some air, you?" he asked. She didn't say anything, sitting on the railing next to him.

"Thought you would be asleep by now...what's wrong? Miss my sister so much that you have to come here to clear your thoughts?" she asked jokingly, earning a sneer from the boy.

"I could ask you the same thing Momo. Are you so in love with me that you searched the entire school to ravage me before your sister finishes her shower?" he replied. Ramona socked him in the arm, twice as hard as Cerise normally did, causing him to scream in pain.

"Jesus Christ, fucking shit! You almost broke my arm!" the boy cried, earning a grin from the girl.

"Now we're even. Seriously, what are you doing out here?"

"Nothing...whenever I can't sleep I come out here to clear my mind. Been almost two months since I showed up here for the first time...guess I miss my family." he replied, turning away from her.

"Oh...that's normal I guess. I miss my family all the time, I got lucky they let me out to visit them, and that's because I saved all of my good will tickets to get two free days."

"Good will tickets? God, what fucking school do you go to?"

"Ever After Reformatory Academy, where bad fairytales head when they get out of hand. I wasn't the only one who got sent over there, a girl named Faybelle Thorn was sent there a week before me for casting a spell or some shit, I don't remember." Ramona said, reaching into her pocket. Blake glanced back at her, eyes widening a bit when he saw her pull out what looked to be a pack of cigarettes.

"You smoke? Those are really nasty."

"Relax, these aren't the deadly kind. They're magically created for those who want the effects of smoking without all the nasty shit. Your basically smoking water vapor." she said, pulling out one of the black sticks from inside the pack, lighting the end of it with a lighter.

"Oh...Ever After thinks of everything. Back in my world that shit gives you cancer...really fucked up disease...kills a lot of people a year." Blake replied. She exhaled a cloud of smoke, looking the boy over.

"I take it you aren't just thinking about your family, there was a girl right? Some girl named Lala or something?"

"Lucy...and yes I think of her a lot. I...ended up telling her how I felt one day, because I was hopelessly in love with her. The next day she went missing...it was never the same without her. It just sucks that I'm in a place surrounded by Fairytales that we grew up with and she can't experience any of it. My friends and family said she's dead, but I don't buy it...she's alive, somewhere...and one day I will find her." he replied, a firm tone in his voice.

"I take it you see a bit of this Lucy girl in my sister right? What is it that you like about her? Is it her cute face? Her hair? Her boobs?" Ramona asked, wiggling her brows a bit when he scowled at her.

"No. Cerise is...she's amazing...she has to hide who she is because she's scared of what people will think of her, and it pisses me off. People shouldn't judge others by their looks, or their choices in life. She has a beautiful personality, she's cute, kind, protective of her friends, involved in school events, eats more meat than a Slaaneshi cultist and well...she's just cute. I could stare into her eyes for hours and not get bored."

"Oh Godmother, you truly do love her."

"I suppose...when I fall in love, I fall hard. One of my most hated traits, if I'm being honest...I've had crushes in the past, but this is my first genuine relationship, and I don't intend on wasting it. I'm gonna make each day count, until she decides to move on, or seal the deal for the rest of our lives." he said.

"You my friend, have gained my respect...I know you've already promised to take care of my sister, but seriously...do take care of her. I love her and my family more than anything else."

"I will Momo, you don't have to be scared or worried...she's in good hands. I got magic fingers after all." he said, his fingertips sparking a bit with his darkness magic. The older girl took a drag from her cigarette, exhaling the smoke a second later.

"So, you got any friends back home I should know about? Any cute guys that might be taking the Mirror Super Highway into Ever After?"

"Sorry, but the only guy friend I got is Joey and I doubt he even knows who I am, thanks to that curse. It sucks you know...aside from Lucy, he was my closest friend. My brother from another mother...we would do a lot of parkour too." Blake said, looking at his wrist watch for the time, it was almost midnight but he didn't care.

"You do parkour? Explains how you kept up with me, despite the silver in my boot. Shame I gotta go back to Hell 101 on Monday, man if I could get one over on Grimm I would." she said, putting out the last of her cigarette, tossing the butt over the railing.

"Me and Joey had several places we wanted to visit in our world so we could climb. There was this tall slide in England we wanted to climb in the dead of the night. There's the Eiffel Tower in Paris, two dudes climbed it two years ago, the entire tower was closed off, they had to deploy the army to find their asses, thankfully they never did. There's plenty of other places too. If Joey was here, I'm sure you two would hit it off just fine." Blake said, a smile on his face.

"Maybe I would...shame isn't it? That you can't just wish on a star and hope he makes it here."

"That would be wrong, I wouldn't do that to someone. Joey would most likely miss his family like I miss mine and that wouldn't be good. I'm gonna miss you can you leave though. I wish you could stay here as a student, and that Joey was here too, that would be spelltacular." he said happily. Ramona stepped away from the boy when she saw something glow in his bag, causing him to give her a confused look.

"What was that glow? It came from your backpack."

"Oh that? I carry my laptop with me...I guess it must have opened or something, I should have turned it off...anyway, I have to go, it's getting late and I gotta go to work tomorrow." He said.

"You work? Where at?"

"Spells Kitchen, it's a Bakery and Candy store owned by my friend Ginger. You gotta have some of her cookies before you leave Ever After, or I'll go after you and beat you up." he said.

"Oh yeah? You'll have to catch me first wise guy...after all I'm superior in strength to you in every way." she said, putting him in a choke hold, giving him a noogie.

"Ah...okay, okay...you're the Alpha here, I get it."

"Good, never forget. Get outta here, and don't to nasty things before you sleep." She said, earning a flush from the boy.

"I won't, goodnight Momo."

"Night Blake." Ramona said, giving the boy a quick hug before he went on his way. She waited until he was out of ear shot, taking a deep breath. She started howling loudly at the moon, something she had been itching to do since stepping out into the landing.

 _ **xxx**_

"I got a kink in my neck." Blake muttered, looking a bit tired as he walked through Bookend. Cerise giggled, giving his hand a small squeeze.

"Did you hug your pillow again? You only have one so you need to stop doing that." she replied.

"Well, I needed something to snuggle, seeing as we can't sleep together yet...besides, I'm sure Momo would kill me if I even broached that topic."

"The fact that you think you could even get a word into me edge wise is enough for me to kill you. You would be like, Hey Momo and that would be it, you'd be dead right after that." Ramona replied, taking a bite from the apple she had taken from the castleteria. She had been catching up with some old friends before she had followed after Cerise, who would be going back to Hood Hollow with her.

"Awesome, good to know. At least I would die with that last thought in my mind, so even in the afterlife, I get the last laugh." Blake said, flipping the girl off.

"Cheeky little shit. Go to work before your ass gets fired!"

"Yeah yeah. I'll see you tonight, okay sweetheart?" the black haired boy said, earning a nod from the hooded girl.

"Have fun at work, don't eat all the cookies." Cerise said, earning a chuckle from the boy. She shared a brief hug and kiss with him before he entered his new work place. Cerise and Ramona waited for the area to clear out before breaking into a sprint toward the forest.

"Blake, I'm so glad to see you! I've got a lot of orders to fill, can you handle the front while I start off on those?" an exasperated Ginger asked, earning a nod from the boy.

"You got it boss, let me clock in and grab my apron and I'll take care of these people." he said, walking through the double doors into the kitchen area.

He walked into the small office and typed his information into the computer, printing out his time stamp. He grabbed the blue apron from the hook and put it on over his clothes, grabbing his name tag from the inside pocket. Once he was ready, he walked back to the front, taking the orders for the customers that had already lined up. It wasn't even nine in the morning and everyone already wanted their sweets. Most of the customers had orders for cakes or other pastries, so he just wrote down everything on an order slip and set it aside, since he couldn't calculate how much it would be until it was made. Once he took the first few customers, he took a small break, glancing around the shop.

" _Not even a week and this place is booming...I guess my magic definitely was well spent."_ he said, smirking a bit. He heard a jingle and looked up from his notebook, a smile forcing itself onto his face.

"Welcome to Spells Kitchen."

The girl that walked into the shop didn't even greet him, which annoyed him quite a bit. She just looked around the store, a scrutinizing gaze on every single aspect of the shop. She was wearing a rather peculiar outfit as well. She wore a sleeveless ruffled camisole, which was white in color and dotted with blue stars. She was wearing a royal blue skirt, ruffled around the ages, and secured to her waist with a white belt, which had black star buckle on the front. Violet stars and sparkles dotted the skirt, along with various other colors that looked almost like fireworks. She was wearing fishnet stockings, and short ankle boots which were blue in color and had a star at the front.

Her light colored skin was accented by light make up, bringing a little pink to her cheeks. Her eyes were lined with black eye liner, a mystic blue eye shadow being over her eyes, which were a sparkling emerald green. She was wearing cherry red lipstick, with a few sparkles in it. Her long wavy white hair was felt down, and fell down to her waist. She was wearing a half cloak around her shoulders, reaching down to her mid back. After her initial glance around the store, she walked right toward the counter, looking right into Blake's eyes.

He felt really creeped out by this girl. She hadn't uttered a single word to him, but the look in her eye was enough to make him nervous, and that was something that didn't happen often. If he could face the Evil Queen, Henry and even Ramona and not feel goosebumps, then what the hell was this girl? Why was she different from those three people? One of them was a snobby prince, the other an over protective older sister, and one was the freaking Evil Queen, who cursed him for the rest of his life. He really didn't understand it at all. Of course he wasn't going to let one teenage girl get the best of him, so he was determined to face her head on, no matter what.

"May I get you something?" he asked, being overly polite.

"You can definitely get me something. I would like for you, to take all of your stuff out of my dorm room. I would also like for you to give me the wand that you created by using my book, so I can undo all of this stuff that you conjured up here without my approval."

"Huh?" the boy asked, clearly confused.

"What language do I have to say it in shit for brains? Do you want me to say it in Latin? Because you can clearly understand that."

"Man, I don't know what the hell your issue is little lady, but you cannot just come here and start putting me on blast." Blake snapped, a look of annoyance on his face. The girl let out a laugh, grabbing the attention of a few customers who had been eating and hanging out with friends.

"Are you serious? What's wrong big boy? Think I wouldn't find out that you stole my magic? I got that stuff on lockdown...you think you were being cheeky hiding your discovery from me, but no no no. You cannot, steal my magic!" the girl snapped, slamming her hand onto the counter top.

"Is there a problem here?" Ginger said, walking out of the the kitchen with a stern, I'm the Boss of this place look. Blake shook his head.

"No problem at all boss, this girl is a little irate because she hasn't gotten her cookies yet. Don't worry, I'll give you an order on me." he said, almost sarcastically.

"Listen here you delusional fuck, if you do not give me my room back, and my wand, I will jump over this counter and beat the shit out of you. Do you think it's fun having your magic stolen from you? Do you think it's fun having your father tell you how shitty a wizard you are because you couldn't even cast a proper protection enchantment? And do you know how embarrassing it is when all of your friends are laughing at you because someone is using your magic all willy nilly to cast spells and grant stupid wishes? Magic isn't supposed to be used by filthy casuals like you!"

"Blake, what is she talking about?" Ginger asked curiously, glancing at the boy who was still really confused. His eyes widened in realization, a sheepish look on his face.

"Shitballs, you're Jessica Merlin, aren't you?"

"Ding ding ding, give the man a fuckin award. You got balls doing what you did, and it's time for me to punish you for it!" she said, reaching into her cloak for her wand.

"Whoa, okay no. There's a huge misunderstanding here, Ginger, let me take five to deal with this, I'll be right back."

"Fine, make it snappy though, I got snowflake cookies in the oven." she said, giving him a wink.

The boy walked around the counter, taking a hold of Jessica's hand pulling her along, much to her dismay. They walked around the store until they were behind it. The girl pulled her hand free, crossing her arms over her chest, her wand still in her hand.

"Talk, depending on your answer, I'll think about not turning you into a Eunuch." the girl said, earning a cringe from the boy.

"Okay, now I know what you must be thinking. Here's a little shit who stole my magic, but before you magically remove my testicles, just know that I used that magic to make my friend's dream come true." he said.

"What about the bedroom? All of your anime stuff? The Mountain Dew?" she asked, a look of annoyance on her face.

"Okay, so I took some of those wishes for myself. But can you blame me? I'm stuck here against my will for life...if I try to go home, the mirror shard in my chest will explode and kill me, worse yet my own family doesn't remember me. I needed something from my world that I truly loved and would be my connection to my old home...so I'm sorry that I used that magic without asking. If you're gonna take something, then just take all of the stuff I wished for, my anime stuff, the Mountain Dew, video games..everything. Just...don't take this away from Ginger...she worked too hard for you to take it from her." he plead, placing his hands together. She sighed, bowing her head.

"I'm sorry, I came all hard on you because I thought you were using my magic selfishly. There was this one guy in Belfast that got a hold of my wand and conjured up a buttload of money. He ended up making a deal with this other guy. One thing lead to another and the next thing I know, well 1,500 people had tragically died in Earth's most tragic ship sinking of all time." she said, sheepishly rubbing her arm. His eyes widened a bit, jaw dropping in shock.

"Wait a minute...you mean to tell me, you were the cause of Titanic's sinking?"

"It's creation, the fire that weakened the bulkhead, the iceberg that magically appeared before it...it was all just one chain of events that I couldn't stop. You see, when someone that isn't a trained wizard uses my magic, it tends to go a little trippy...which is why I'm impressed you were able to do all of this...then again wish magic is rather simplistic."

"Okay no, we aren't just gonna skip over the fact that you sunk the Titanic...the _Titanic,_ Jessica...Christ...wait a minute...you can travel to my world and back?" Blake asked, earning a scoff from the girl.

"Interdimensional travel is easy for wizards like me and my old man. You ever hear of the Loch Ness monster? Yeah, that was my fault too...in my defense, I turned eighty nine and I wanted to show my dad I could hatch an egg without magic...I ended up creating something entirely new. I got magic fingers." she said, her finger tips exploding with a bit of excess magic.

"Oh my god...I just...can't wrap this shit around my head. It was you that created the Loch Ness monster, you sunk the Titanic, what else did you do? You didn't start any wars did you?"

"No, I wouldn't do something that fucked up. Well...in a dystopian future on Earth 331, I did give the survivors condensed nuclear rods that may have started the third nuclear war." Jessica said.

"I'm gonna stop now...fuck...I can't believe this shit. Listen, I'm gonna head back to work now, I get off at two...come back then." he said, turning around heading back to the restaurant, a look of shock and disbelief written on his face.

"I don't think I made a good impression on him...at least he's a good kid...hmm, maybe I should tell him about that kid that he accidentally wished here...oh yeah, the curse...hmm...maybe I can fix the kid's kerbobbled mind." she said, spinning her wand in the air, disappearing in a shower of sparkles.

 _ **xxx**_

He didn't know what was going on. The last thing he remembered was him walking to his next class when all of a sudden everything went dark. After what felt like hours, he ended up opening his eyes, seeing nothing but forest all around him. He sat up, feeling immensely tired for some reason. His brown eyes scanned his surroundings, eyes widening a bit when he noticed he wasn't in a classroom anymore, rather he was now in some forest in the middle of nowhere.

He shook his head, his short brown hair shaking a bit as he moved. He rubbed his eyes a bit, pinching his skin hoping it was a dream, but sadly it wasn't. He looked himself over, seeing he was wearing his normal faded blue jeans and worn out converse sneakers with the likeness of the Joker on them. He was wearing his black shirt which had a middle finger printed on it, with his favorite light jacket. He checked his pockets, realizing he had his phone and wallet, and he also had house keys, aside from that, he didn't have anything on him.

Standing up from the ground, he brushed his pants and shirt of dirt and grass, looking around for someone or something to tell him where he was. He glanced at his phone, seeing he had no bars at all, not even an ounce of WiFi either. He tried calling his mother, but the call didn't go through. Confusion washed over his face as he closed his eyes, trying to remember what was going on.

"Okay...I woke up late, headed to school...held that remembrance ceremony for Lucy...and went to class but...I can't remember anything else." the boy muttered. He felt a sharp sting in his head, making him clutch his temple.

At the same time, a flurry of images appeared in his mind. They almost looked like the fuzzing of an old television set when it had no cable. He saw a familiar looking black haired boy, along with his best friend Lucy, all hanging out together. He saw the same boy running beside him on a rooftop, trying to get away from the police. He saw himself and Lucy skating down a street, being chased by a Pit bull. He shook his head a bit, glancing at the blue sky, a shocked look on his face.

"That was...Blake...how could I have forgotten him? He went missing six months ago...how...I just forgot about him? He's my best friend, how the hell could I forget about my best friend?" he called out.

"Well, I can give you the answer to that."

The boy let out a yelp, glancing up at a nearby tree, seeing a white haired girl sitting on one of the tree branches, an amused look on her face. He took a deep breath, calming himself down a bit, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Don't do that! It scares the shit out of me, how are you anyway?"

"Me? My name is Jessilina Tribeca Mariana Merlin. But you can call me Jessica, your name is Joseph Martineu, Joey for short, am I in the ball park?" the girl asked.

"How do you know my name? Who are you?" he asked, earning a sigh from the girl. She snapped her fingers, bursting into sparkles. She flashed next to the boy, making him scream.

"Okay, enough of the screaming! Like I said, my name is Jessica Merlin...you know, daughter of Merlin the great Wizard?" she asked, giving him a smile as she spun her hands before herself.

"From the legend of King Arthur?" he asked.

"Exactamundo! It is I, bask in my glory. I was actually taking a little stroll earlier and found you passed out on the floor right over here. I had more pressing matters at hand so I just let you be, but when I spoke to Blake, I sensed the recent use of my wand and...well little did I know that pasty brown haired kid I passed was actually his best friend."

"Wait...you know Blake? Where is he? He's been missing for six months!" Joey said, clearly taken aback at the new information.

"Yes I know...he's in the Village of Bookend. Straight down this path, you'll keep going straight. Search for a shop called Spells Kitchen, he's the manager there. The sign looks like a cupcake, you can't miss it." she said. The boy broke into a sprint, running toward the nearby village. She smiled, only for it to be replaced with a frown when her MirrorPhone started ringing. She swiped the screen and placed it to her ear.

"Hello...oh hi daddy...no...I haven't been using magic irresponsibly...no...I didn't start World War III, at least not in Earth 213. Alright, I'll make sure no one can enter my room again, don't worry...bye...sheesh, and people say I'm careless with magic." the girl said, bursting into a shower of sparkles a second later.

 _ **xxx**_

"So, you mean to tell me that girl who was here a couple hours back sunk a famous ship back in your world?" Ginger asked, earning a nod from Blake, who was munching on a snowflake cookie.

"Yeah, and she did a lot of other stuff too. I don't think I believe her, but she said her name was Jessica Merlin...I sort of borrowed that wand from her, it was how I was able to make all of this." the boy said, glancing around the empty shop.

"That explains why she was so mad...are you sure she isn't gonna take it away?"

"I'm not gonna let her Ginger, this was my gift to you and I am standing firm! Besides, if this shop goes back to the way it was, I lose my job and my free cookies." he said.

"You're lucky I make those with no sugar and a lot of love...or else you'd have diabetes by now."

"Great, it's good to know that Ever After has the shittest fuckin disease ever...oh well, you only live once upon a time!" he said, a grin on his face. The door to the shop burst open, startling the two teenagers. Blake sighed, wiping his mouth with a napkin which he tossed into the trash as he walked toward the register.

"Welcome to Spells Kitchen, we're having a sale on tea scones today, by a dozen and you get one half of. We've got fresh cookies and donuts daily, and some weird blue chocolate that I know nothing about. What can I get ya?" he asked, glancing at the boy who was panting for breath. He looked up, causing the black haired boy to gasp in surprise.

"Blake?"

"Joey?"

It was silent for a few seconds, neither teen saying anything. Blake walked around the counter, hugging his best friend who he thought he would never see again. His friend hugged him back, patting his back rather hard.

"I can't believe this shit! You're alive man, what the hell happened to you?" Joey asked, earning a laugh from Blake.

"You've got no fucking idea man. It's a long ass story, but what are you doing here in Ever After? Did you get sucked into a mirror like I did?" he asked.

"What? No...Ever After, is that where I am? I have no idea...I was in school, studying some shit for a test when I blacked out. I woke up in a forest twenty minutes ago and some white haired chick told me you worked here."

"That must have been Jessica...so it was her that brought you here...dammit...I didn't want something like this to happen...especially to you or my sisters." Blake said, a frown on his face.

"What...what do you mean?"

"Sit down, it's gonna take me awhile to explain everything that happened to me here. Would you like anything? It's on me of course."

"No no, I'm fine...just...tell me your story man."

Blake spent the next fifteen minutes telling Joey everything that had happened, starting with Ever After and what kind of world it was. He told him about what the Evil Queen had done to him, how he couldn't go back home, how his sisters and his parents didn't remember him because of his curse, and finally that if he tried to leave Ever After, the shard in his chest would explode killing him instantly. Joey had a hard time understanding most of it, but when Blake showed him his darkness magic, he had finally understood. Everything sunk in and he just sat there silently.

"That's about it really...I've spent the last month, three weeks and six days here in Ever After, going to the local high school." Blake said, leaning back against the showcase.

"I'm...at a loss for words. A world where Fairytales are real? And they have to relive their parents stories if they don't want to disappear?" Joey asked.

"It's hard to understand for a visitor like you...but it's all true. I'm Ginger Breadhouse, the daughter of the Candy Witch."

"From Hansel and Gretel?" the brown haired boy asked, earning a nod from the girl.

"That's right, my mom tried eating Hansel and Gretel...oh but don't think of me like that. I don't want to follow my destiny at all, I just want to bake sweets for everyone, nothing else. When someone loves my baking it just warms my heart." the girl said sweetly, earning a smile from the boy.

"You're the sweetest person I have ever met...I hope you get everything you want in life, I mean it." Joey said, making the girl flush.

"Joe, it isn't the time for you to start swooning the ladies. This is serious...we need to find Jessica and have her send you back home...I'm sure people are already looking for you man."

"Yeah, you're right...it's just...it hasn't been the same without you there man. I don't remember absolutely anything about you, it was as if I never met you. But when I came here, all of those memories rushed back into me...your parents never started a search when you went missing, somehow I still hung out with your sisters, we were still friends but...our meeting was never established. Every picture in your house didn't have you in them, your entire room was just a storage room...everything was like you never existed."

"I figured that was the case. How much time has passed, I mean since my initial disappearance?"

"Well...judging by the time that passed from the first month of school to just now...six months or so...it was around March when I blacked out and landed here. Your sisters went to Hawaii with your folks for Spring Break, we actually hosted a memorial for Lucy's two year disappearance." Joey replied, earning a nod from the boy.

"So...this world is three months behind the real world...I was hoping time here and time there were the same but, it isn't that much of a gap...shit, what kind of curse did you put on me Evil Queen? What's your end game?" he asked, glancing at the ceiling.

"I'm not sure what this Evil Queen wants from you man, but if what you said is true and you suspect she wants your magic, than it would be really bad if she ever got free."

"It would be, she already cursed Wonderland, if she got out and tried taking over Ever After, I don't think we would be able to do anything about it." Ginger said, a fearful look on her face.

"She isn't gonna get out...besides, I'm getting a handle on my magic now, if she wants it then she'll have to fight me for it. Plus I have the Vorpal Blade, so I'll just stab her with it...I feel bad for sis though." Blake said, a frown on his face.

"Sis?" Joey asked in confusion.

"Raven Queen, I consider her a sister. I mean, her mother stabbed my chest cavity with a mirror and ejaculated some magic into me, so that makes us siblings right?"

"It makes you her father dumb ass...that joke sort of fell flat." the brown haired boy said, giving him an unamused expression.

"I missed you a lot you son of a bitch...especially when I made flat jokes and you gave me that dead expression of yours." Blake said, laughing a bit.

"I missed you too, even if I didn't miss you until I realized I had forgotten you...sorry if it sounds fucked up."

"It doesn't, don't worry about it. Hey, it's almost two...my shift ends then and my other manager takes over, we can hang out in town for a bit and then try to find Jessica...sound cool?" Blake asked, earning a nod from his friend.

"Hell yeah, I wanna see what Ever After is all about!"

The bell dinged as the door open, alerting the black haired boy of another customer. He was about to walk around the counter when he realized it was only his girlfriend and her sister, who had returned much earlier than he thought. He looked at the two girls in confusion, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Cerise, Momo...what are you two doing back so soon?" he asked.

"You won't believe this shit if I emailed it to you. Headmaster Grimm called my sister when we were having lunch with mom. Something must have tickled his balls because he told me he had called the reform school and retracted his order to have me there for a year. He reinstated my matriculation papers here in Ever After High." Ramona said. Blake looked at her confused, his gaze shifting over to Cerise.

"Trust me, I was confused as all hell too. But apparently he wants her to come back as a full student...she's getting her dorm reassigned and doesn't have a roommate for now...but I'm happy that my sister is back." she said. Blake hugged her tightly, giving her a smile.

"Hey, I'm too. Now me and Momo can get to know each other and hang out, you can show me all of your parkour spots."

"Totally, I wouldn't mind going on a run with you pasty legs." she said, earning a gasp from the boy.

"Cerise, did you show her those pictures of your birthday party?" he asked.

"She took my phone and sifted through it, it wasn't my damn fault you look hot in a skirt!" she cried back, earning a growl from the boy.

"If I didn't love you so much I would steal your hood and have you run all the way back to the dorms." he said.

"Whoa whoa whoa, hold the fucking phone...what the hell is this?" Joey asked, causing the two girls to look at him. Ramona chuckled, crossing her arms.

"Who's this toothpick? You know that shirt is gonna get you a black eye right?" she said.

"Excuse me? Who are you calling a toothpick you goddamn Twilight wannabe bitch?"

"Hey hey hey, knock it off you two. Momo this is my best friend Joey, don't ask how he got here, I still don't fucking know. Joey, this is Ramona Badwolf, the next Big Bad Wolf, and this is her little sister Cerise Hood, the next Red Riding Hood."

"Badwolf...Hood...sisters? Wait...the Big Bad Wolf boinked Little Red?" Joey asked.

"Yes you cock, our father boinked our mother and she gave birth to us. Congratulations, you are now informed. This is seriously the parkour kid you were talking about? He looks so skinny he'd snap in half if he even tried climbing Rapunzel's tower."

"Momo, he isn't that skinny. Besides, Parkour is all about upper body strength and stamina, so he's actually quite lean for his age. Now can we all act like rational teenagers here?" Blake snapped.

"I'm sorry, I didn't think my big sister could be such a boob." Cerise said, looking a bit ashamed.

"Hey, it's alright...you can't control Momo's attitude, she's technically a villain, so she's supposed to be a potty mouth who talks more shit than the toilet she pisses in on a daily basis. It's totally cool, I accept that wholeheartedly." he said. Cerise giggled, giving the boy a kiss on the lips, causing Joey to squeak in shock.

"You're dating the next Little Red...what?"

"Bro, you've missed a lot...I'll explain everything later, for now I gotta get back to work. You can wait until my shift ends, you girls want anything?" Blake asked, earning a nod from Ramona.

"I want a muffin, with nuts, and one of those boysenberry donuts...get me some donut holes for the tyke." she said, patting her sister on the head.

"Uh no, I'll be having a bagel with cream cheese, thank you very much."

Blake shook his head, his day was getting quite interesting, and it wasn't even two o'clock in the afternoon yet. He could only hope the rest of it went better than he imagined. Of course, knowing Ever After, it was about to give him a kick in the shins he wasn't even ready for.


	27. An Ever After Grand Tour

**A/N:**

 **Hello everyone and welcome to Chapter 27 of Through the Looking Glass. Last Night, you all read about the two new ocs, Jessica Merlin, daughter of Merlin, and Joey Martineu, Blake's best friend from his homeworld. Over the next few chapters you will get to see Blake gradually introduce Joey to everything in Ever After and how it all works. Of course Joey will see just how different Blake is now that he's adapted to living in Ever After. He will also take notice of just how many friends he has made since going there...**

 **After all, Joey didn't remember for awhile, but now that he does, he will feel slight jealous, not just for all of the girls that Blake talks to on a daily basis but for all of the friends and cool things that Blake does. In the past, Blake was a nobody, just blending into the crowd, but in Ever After he is a different person, outgoing, helpful, kind to everyone. He's working on the Yearbook, in a band, works two jobs, has a girlfriend, he is definitely a different person, and that will spark something in his best friend. It won't totally be a good thing, but it won't be a bad thing either. So you will all bare witness to Joey's reactions as he gets used to his life in Ever After, however short that time may be.**

 **Now, some news for the story...I have been writing Ever After non stop for awhile now, since it's inception back in November...so I might take a couple of days to write some extra chapters and work on the plot a bit. I'm a little stressed as the moment, due to the fact that I still haven't found myself a new computer, and just life in general is weighing me down...so I do apologize if I suddenly stop posting. After all, I can't keep writing the same thing for awhile, and my sudden reinterest in Miraculous Ladybug might hinder my progress with this story for a bit. Don't you all worry, I will return with new chapters soon enough, once I continue something else and leave it at a point where I feel comfortable at. So I do hope you all understand.**

 **For now however, do enjoy this chapter. Tell me what you think in the reviews, if you have any questions, please PM me and I will answer your questions to the best of my abilities. Have a good one you guys! Later!**

Ever After High

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 27

An Ever After Grand Tour

Having gotten out of work, Blake decided to head back toward Ever After High, so he could show his best friend Joey around the school. He didn't know how long the boy would be in Ever After, but he wanted to at least show him around and have him meet some of the new friends he had made. It felt almost surreal that his friend was there with him, it was almost like old times, despite the fact that both of them were in an entirely new world. Joey still hadn't gotten used to the fact that he was in a world of fairytales, and he still couldn't accept his best friend had gotten himself a girlfriend too. He didn't know much about Cerise or how long they had been dating, but he could tell they really cared a lot about each other.

They were now approaching the central square, the stone bridge leading to Ever After High started becoming visible. Blake had kept Joey distracted so he didn't see anything in front of him. He had showed him Hocus Latte, his other place of Employment, the Glass Slipper, the Tower Hair Salon, the Dance Studio and many other places in Bookend, but he hadn't said a single thing about Ever After High, he wanted the boy to be genuinely surprised just like he was when he first saw the castle. They had been catching up, mostly on things that happened in their world, with Ramona and Cerise listening in.

"Yeah, I totally lost the campaign...I seriously did want to be Student Council President. I had a lot of cool ideas of how we could change the school. I wanted to have people recycle more, use less paper and find alternative sources for power. But apparently metal lunch trays, more concerts and dances and free ice cream Fridays were more important than our environment."

"Man, that's fucking bullshit! That school really needs to fucking prioritize what's important...what else happened in our world during the six months I was gone?" Blake asked. Joey hummed to himself, tapping his chin.

"Oh...Donald Trump won the elections for President of the United States." he said. Blake's eyes widened a bit in shock.

"Are you...are you serious?"

"Yup, oh and Ted 2 came out, it was fucking hilarious. Don't worry, I got it on my phone, we can watch it before I head back." Joey said.

"Awesome, we're all watching that movie alright? Actually we haven't seen the first Ted yet, so it'll be like a date." He said, kissing Cerise's hand, making her flush a bit.

"I wouldn't mind. Lizzie seems to like all the anime you two watch, I might as well join you for a movie." she said.

"What the hell is this anime crap you keep talking about? What have you been teaching my little sister Blake? She wouldn't stop talking about Pikachu earlier and how she couldn't find one in the Viridian Forest." Ramona said, earning chuckles from Joey and Blake.

"You got your girlfriend into Pokemon?"

"Hell yeah son. I can't have myself an awesome beautiful girlfriend that doesn't know jack about the second best RPG series on Earth. It's the only video game I can whoop her ass in." he said, earning a glare from the girl.

"It isn't my fault that there are 867 Pokemon including Mega forms, Alolan Variations and other stupid shit. I'm still playing through Pokemon Gold so don't say anything!" the girl snapped, looking away from the boy, an annoyed look on her face.

"She'll get used to it, at least it's the games and not the TGC, she'd probably lose her shit then. As for the anime explanation Ramona, it's basically cartoons for adults. They're much more mature, sometimes gory, very awesome stories that you just have to get into for yourself. I recommend Bleach as a start." Joey said.

"Man fuck you, I told you this before. If you're gonna recommend an anime to someone, none of the forbidden four! Momo, what do you like in a story?" Blake asked, earning a hum from the girl.

"I guess blood and gore is alright...I love slasher films...well I did tell you about Hacksaw Ridge after all and that's one of my favorite wives tales."

"Okay, then Akame Ga Kill is the perfect anime for you. I'll give you the manga instead, the anime starts off good but then fucks up half way through. Anyway Joey, prepare your butt for you see, we have arrived in front of Ever After High." Blake said, pointing to the castle ahead of them.

Joey's eyes went wide as saucers when he saw the castle. He had a look of pure disbelief on his face, unable to believe what he was seeing. He glanced around the area, seeing all of the people walking around, most of them being students of the academy. He saw the castle was five stories tall and had various towers. He even saw a large violet dragon flying around one of the tall towers, before taking off in the direction of the dragon stables. Ramona waved a hand in front of the boy, poking his cheek slightly, finally pulling him from his musings.

"The school is a giant castle?" he asked, earning nods from the three.

"Indeed it is. The purpose of Ever After High is to prepare the children of Fairytales for their roles in the future. However, thanks to sis rejecting her destiny and not signing the Storybook of Legends, the school's been split in half. The Royals want to follow their destiny, and the Rebels want to write their own destiny. Me and Cerise are on the Rebel side of the conflict."

"Oh...what about Ramona?" he asked, looking at the taller girl.

"I'm a Roybel, I'm alright with following my destiny, but I also think I should do what I want." she replied with a shrug.

"Still, this is all so cool...was that a dragon earlier?" the brown haired boy asked, earning a nod from Blake.

"That was Legend, she belongs to one of my friends here. She's been living in the school for awhile now and helps all of us train. How about a grand tour?" the black haired teenager asked, earning a vigorous nod from his friend.

"Shouldn't we find that Jessica chick first? You know, so we can send this one back home?" Ramona asked.

"You're right, but I don't know where I would even look...I'm just gonna wonder around the halls until I run into her. It's the best thing I can do right now, you two should head to the Headmaster's office to handle the matriculation process." he said.

"He's right sis, we have to handle of that stuff first." Cerise said. Ramona sighed, a frown decorating her lips.

"I hate paperwork...it pisses me off, let's get it done. Catch you later Blake, it was nice meeting you Toothpick."

"Pleasure's all mine Holo, try not to steal people's wheat will ya?" the boy asked. The joke clearly went over Ramona's head, so she just ignored him, pulling her sister along.

"Don't make anime jokes to someone who wont understand them, come on. We can stop by the foyer first." Blake said, leading his friend toward the school entrance.

It took them around seven minutes to actually cross the bridge. In that time, Blake had been explaining several things that Ever After handled, including the Good and Evil classes. Since some people were destined to be villains, they had to take villain classes, others took Hero classes and some just too regular academic classes. This was because they were neither hero nor villain, and were mostly set up to be background characters, who didn't even need to sign the book. He also explained that aside from those classes, there were extracurricular classes that awarded more credits toward graduation, though they didn't use a credit system entirely.

"This is all so interesting, so in this world you don't need to worry about credits that much, as long as you pass all of your classes you move on?"

"That's right. People are usually slated to take either Villain classes or Hero classes, so as long as you pass them you'll be fine. This year however, there are a lot of Rebels taking any class they want, so it's all over the place." he said, leading the boy into the foyer. He looked around the main hall, eyes scanning the entire entrance.

"Wow." he whispered softly, earning a chuckle from Blake.

"This is the foyer, or entrance hall. If you go straight ahead you'll reach the grand staircase leading to the second floor. The path to the right leads to the castleteria, the two hallways on the sides of the staircase lead to some classrooms and eventually the back courtyard. Each floor is lined with lockers, most of the Sophomore's have their lockers here on the first floor." he said.

"Dude, this is insane...I can't believe you go to school here...what's it like?" Joey asked, earning a blank expression from the boy, who remembered some of the stuff that had already happened to him.

"Well, I've been here for almost two months to the date, and I've had a grand old time. Got into a fight on my first day of school, helped organize a secret dance, saved someone's life, was humiliated in front of the entire student body, started a band, won the talent show and recently we just had our Thronecoming which is this world's equivalent to Homecoming." he said.

"Oh...that's quite a lot of stuff...what do you mean by, humiliated before the entire student body?" Joey asked, concern written on his face.

"So, there was this guy named Henry Andersen, the son of Hans from the movie Frozen, don't ask. He made it his personal mission to make my life here a living hell because I was a _foreigner._ He found out that I couldn't go home because if I did I would die, and told everyone that my family didn't remember me. He did this so he could get an edge in the talent show, since my band was entering, but all that did was piss everyone off, in the end we won and he...he lost his mind...tried killing a dude." he said.

"Well there's certainly a lot of anger and hate here."

"Anger and Hate are supreme. They shall go together! Oh man, I haven't played Kingdom Hearts in forever...anyway, our first stop on this tour is the castleteria, because I'm fucking hungry." he said, leading his friend down the right hallway.

"Hey, what's this about you having a band? You never got this into music back home."

"Well, it all started when I wanted to enter the talent show as a solo act. But that cock meat Henry taunted me, so I decided to show him up. I'm the lead guitar, Cerise is the drummer, my buddy Dex is the bassist, our friend Melody is our keyboardist and sound mixer, basically runs the entire show, another girl, Cupid, is our current lead, because Raven is working on the yearbook and won't be able to join us for awhile." he replied, pushing the doors to the castleteria open.

"Man, that's some surprising shit...you gotta hook me up with your music then, I wanna hear the stuff you've been writing. Whoa, this place is huge!" Joey exclaimed, taking a look at the Grand Castleteria.

"Boasting enough space to seat two thousand and a second floor mezzanine where you can enjoy your lunch and look down at the plebs down below. The castleteria offers hot breakfast, lunch and dinner fit for an King or Queen, in this case Prince or Princess. The most popular dishes here are spaghetti and meatballs in a rich marinara sauce, beef stew, served every Wednesday afternoon, oh and we got Meat Fridays now." Blake said, earning a nod from the brown haired boy who walked further into the large dining hall.

"Damn, whoever built this place must have been rich as all hell...look at the chandelier, it looks like it was made of diamonds."

"It is Joey, the chandelier was put in place back in 1867 by a young Milton Grimm who inherited it from one of the previous Snow White's. It was a gift to the school that she loved so much. Here, have an orange." he said, tossing his friend the round fruit, snagging an apple for himself.

"Thanks, so when are we meeting some of your friends?" he asked, earning an eye roll from the boy. He glanced around, spotting a few of his friends sitting at their usual table. He started walking over to them, giving them a wave.

"Hi Blake, fancy seeing you here." Briar said, giving the boy a smile.

"Hey Briar, everyone. I want you all to meet my friend Joey. Before you ask, yes he's the one from back in my world, no I don't know how he got here." he said. Briar, Dexter, Blondie and Apple all looked at the boy, confusion written on their faces. Ignoring that, Apple stood up giving the boy the most charming smile she could.

"It's a pleasure to meet you Joey, my name is Apple White, daughter of Snow White." she said, holding her hand out.

"You're blonde?" Joey asked, earning a cringe from Blake.

"We don't talk about her being a natural blonde. It's like, an untouched subject." he said, earning an apologetic look from the boy. Apple brushed it off, giving the boy another smile.

"It's alright...not everyone can be like their parents right? My mother does have black hair, and my father has blond, so I was gifted with that trait as well. I'm perfectly fine with it." she replied.

"It goes to show that even Princesses have to make do with what they're given. It's a good trait to have...next in line we have Blondie Locks, she's the daughter of Goldilocks. Be careful with this one, she won't stop snooping through your life until she finds your juiciest secret. Oh and she's a living keyblade, she can open any lock with a bobby pin, pretty impressive stuff." he said.

"Hey! That is so not just right! I don't snoop through people's lives to find their juiciest secrets!" she cried.

"You broke into my room yesterday while I was in the shower and tried to unlock my secret drawer. Do you think I'm blind? I was watching you the whole time." Blake said, crossing his arms.

"Oh look at the time, I've gotta get ready for my MirrorCast...I'll see you all later." the blonde said, running out of the room at blinding speeds. Blake just shook his head.

"Wow, she inherited her mother's stamina...that was impressive." Joey said.

"Yeah, and the fact she did that in heels is even more impressive. Joey this is Dexter Charming, son of Prince Charming. He's Purple Rhapsody's bassist and one of my close friends here."

"It's nice to meet you Joey." Dexter said, holding his hand out. Joey shook it firmly.

"Likewise, I can tell you like technology, you play Dungeon's and Dragons?"

"Yup, we have a session every Saturday night. Blake was going to join but he didn't want to jump in the middle of our campaign so he's waiting until we're done to jump in."

"Cool, I didn't expect that game to exist here, but color me surprised. Judging by your outfit, your the daughter of Belle and the Beast right?" he asked, glancing at Briar.

"Close but not cigar...my name is Briar Beauty, daughter of Sleeping Beauty...if my cousin Rosabella was here you would have been right."

"Briar here is the go to gal for the hottest parties in Ever After. She's the best party planner around too, it's thanks to her study parties that my grades are actually good." Blake said, earning a frown from the girl.

"Hey, I'm not just a party girl you know."

"Of course I know that, you're a zip liner, mountain climber, dragon fighter, you can skate, and for some reason you like jumping out of windows." the black haired boy said, earning a nod from the girl.

"Damn straight I do. I was gonna tell you, I was gonna go to Nottingham this Friday to BMX with Sparrow and his friends, you wanna tag along?"

"Sorry Briar, I'm working that day. I'd be down to do it any other day though, we'll make plans. Anyway, I'm gonna keep showing Joey around."

"See ya Blake, it was nice meeting you Joey!"

"It was nice meeting you all too! Stay gold Apple White, stay gold." the boy said, earning a frown from Blake when the princess gave him a confused look.

 _ **xxx**_

"Next stop on our tour is the back courtyard. The school had a normal courtyard here, normally used on Legacy Day when fairytales got ready to pledge their destinies. But in order to make the Wonderland students more comfortable, they created a croquet field styled like the one in the Red Queen's castle. It is here we will find the croquet team, normally practicing for their games." Blake said, gesturing to the croquet field. He moved his head back just as a crimson ball flew in front of his face.

"What the the hell was that? If you don't fix your swing it'll be off with your head!"

"Was that the Queen of Hearts? She's real here?" Joey asked.

"No, that wasn't the Queen of Hearts, it was someone less scarier than her. Come on." Blake said, leading his friend toward the croquet field, where Lizzie and Ashlynn were practicing their croquet swings, along with Kitty who had her famous Cheshire grin.

"I told you I was sorry Lizzie, my hand slipped." Kitty said, earning a sigh from her best friend.

"It's quite alright, but don't do it again! This game has to be perfect, it's the last one for the season, and if we don't win because of you...I'll...think of something, not related to decapitation." the crimson themed princess said, earning a dry laugh from Ashlynn who looked down at her glass slippers, wondering when practice would end.

"Hey girls, hope we're not bothering you." Blake said, greeting the three.

"Not at all Blake, I think we could all use a break. Who's this? I don't believe we've ever met." Lizzie said, becoming rather polite.

"Damn girl, got hearts? You look like a Valentine's day card made by a fourteen year old who had his first crush on someone. Do you deliver Valentine's to people too?" Joey asked, earning a growl from the girl.

"Well, I've never met someone as rude as you! What's it to you if I choose to wear hearts? I am the future Queen of Hearts just so you know. I also do not deliver Valentine's Day cards and I never will!"

"Joey, please don't piss my friends off. Lizzie is a good girl but if you drive her over the edge she's gonna break that mallet over your knee caps, and I'm not gonna stop her from doing it." Blake said.

"Hehehe, this is fun. I take it this is the Joey we've heard so much about, hi...Kitty Cheshire, it's so purr-fect to meet you." Kitty said, holding her hand out to the boy.

"Daughter of the Cheshire Cat?" he asked, shaking her hand.

"That's right, me and Blake get into trouble from time to time. Have you told him about Indoor Golf yet?"

"The fuck is Indoor Golf?" Joey asked, turning to face his friend who was holding his chuckles back.

"Okay, so one day we all got bored as fuck. I ended up creating a new game called Indoor Golf, basically we play golf, like Hockey, tee off with croquet mallets, we make the rules up as we go, if we spot a hole we score in it, and if we caught caught by the authorities, we lose a player. There's also a rule Kitty made, every twenty-seven seconds, you call Team Switch, and it goes from Boys vs Girls to Royals vs Rebels. The Rebels won last time, and since then, we've wanted a rematch, but it's hard to play it."

"Don't forget, you and Lizzie got into a sword fight in the middle of the castleteria. All while the rest of us tried scoring into a pot." Ashlynn added, causing them all to laugh, leaving Joey a bit confused.

"Hehe yeah...I bet that game was really fun and stuff. So, you must be Cinderella's daughter right? Glass slippers suit you." he said, earning a smile from Ashlynn.

"Thank you. My name is Ashlynn Ella, call me Ash if you'd like." she said, giving the boy a hand shake.

"You have a lot of lady friends Blake, a lot more than you did back in Canada." he said, earning a jab to the ribs from his friend.

"It's because I'm an awesome guy. We should move on, we don't want to bother you for too long." Blake said.

"You aren't a bother to us at all Blake, if you'd like to join us you can." Lizzie said.

"I suck at croquet, Lucy wouldn't stop forcing us to play it whenever we were over her house. Besides I sort of want to see the rest of the school grounds." Joey said, glancing back at the castle.

"Suit yourself. Hey Joey, I want you to keep this, it's a gift for if you have to go home." Kitty said, handing the boy a sterling silver necklace with an amethyst crystal in the shape of a tear drop. He took it in his hand, giving her an awkward look.

"Thanks?"

"Give me that, this belongs to Duchess...you know she's been looking around all week for this?" Blake said, snagging the necklace from his friend's hand. Kitty giggled, disappearing into thin air.

"What the...she just...huh?"

 _ **xxx**_

Deciding it would be best to find Duchess, the two teenagers headed back into the school, heading toward the Charmitorium. Since it was starting to get cold, the ballerina stopped practicing her ballet in her lake, as it would soon freeze over. Blake had given his friend several warnings on how to deal with the Swan Princess. One of them was not to say anything that would piss her off, something that was easier said than done. The next was not to say anything about her story, as it still upset her. That was at least a good thing for Joey, since he had never even seen Swan Lake or any movie speaking about the Swan Queen, so it was perfectly fine for him. They entered the Charmitorium a second later, earning a gasp from Joey.

"Whoa...this place is bigger than our auditorium. There's enough seating here to fit like, three thousand people!" he said.

"4,362 actually. The Charmitorium is the place where the talent show is held, along with school performances, theatrical plays, school wide movie gatherings, dance recitals, the works. It's also where the Theater class is taught, as well as Ballet, though that's also taught in the dance club. Oh look, Duchess is here." he said, walking toward the stage.

Joey stopped looking around the room, his eyes moving toward the stage, eyes widening a bit. He was fully entranced by the young woman dancing across the wooden floor, her dainty but precise steps chaining together to make a rather beautiful dance. Her eyes were closed for utmost concentration, and he could tell that she was in her own world. Her long white and black hair moved slightly with every movement, her arms ever so slightly adding to her balance and poise. Blake was about to say something to him but stopped when he realized his friend had been rooted in place. He glanced back at the stage, and then at Joey, shaking his head.

" _Hoo boy, this one is barking up the wrong tree."_ he thought, holding back his chuckles. He walked back to his friend, snapping his fingers in front of him.

"Yo buddy, you still there?"

"Yeah...who is that girl? She's amazing."

"She's out of your league, not even playing the same game as you, not even on the same spiritual level, fuck not even in your mind. So don't even think about it. Come on." he said, pushing his friend forward. The two approached the stage, with Duchess tripping slightly, causing her to lose concentration. She glanced at the floor, seeing a nail jutting out of the board.

"Damn it! I thought I told that shit for brains to fix that, what the hell is the point of having a handy man if he doesn't do his job?!"

"Duchess, how many times have I told you not to run the janitor ragged?" Blake asked, causing the girl to look down at him.

"Not enough I'm afraid. And it isn't my fault he doesn't do his job...do you see this rusty nail? If I fell on that I could get hurt and really sick. I'm not doing it for me, I'm doing it so that my dancing isn't harmed by it!" she said.

"Oh Duchy, I don't think I can take you seriously anymore...just admit that you care about the rest of your ballet group. It doesn't hurt to say that you care about their well being."

"Pfft, those little ducklings don't know jack about dancing. I'm the Swan Princess after all, so my ballet is far better than theirs will ever be. Why is this guy staring at me?" she asked, her brown eyes focusing on Joey, who flushed and looked away.

"Ah yes...this is my friend Joey...he somehow ended up here in Ever After and I'm showing him around. Joey, this is Duchess Swan, daughter of the Swan Princess and a reformed bitch." he said.

"Reformed bitch? Please I'm still a bitch, that hasn't changed at all. Call me that again and I'll twist your nipples off. Why did you come here? Am I so awesome that you needed to see my lithe body in action?" she asked, earning a laugh from the boy. He clutched his sides, throwing his head back in laughter.

"Ha! The pure notion that you think I'm attracted to you is fucking hilarious...ah...don't flatter yourself sweetheart. I'm here to return your necklace, turns out Kitty had it the entire time." he said, holding out her necklace.

"Oh my gosh, thank you! That necklace was a gift from my mom, I've had it since I was a hatchling." the girl said, jumping off the stage. Blake unhooked the clasp and placed the trinket around her neck, securely fastening it.

"I'm sure Odette would be disappointed if you lost that...anyway, we won't bother you anymore. You have a recital coming up right? I'll feature it in the yearbook."

"Would you? It would mean a lot to me...and I guess I don't hate my ballet group that much...they're the only other friends I got." she said, a flush on her cheeks.

"It's alright to show concern for them, just be a tad nicer to them. You're movements are flawless, keep it up...you're doing an awesome job." he said happily.

"Um...Miss Swan, would it be alright if I took you on a date tonight? I'll pay for everything." Joey said, earning a surprised look from the two.

"No thanks, not that you don't look like a nice guy, but I'm far to busy to be gallivanting around the city. Thanks for asking me though." she said, walking away from the boy.

"Rejected, rejected! You just got rejected! R-E-J-E-C-T-E-D rejected!" Blake sung, earning himself a punch to the gut from his friend, who just walked away with a pissed off look on his face. He was glad Duchess was out of ear shot because she would have heard him crying in pain and would have definitely called him a bitch.

After painfully making his way back out to the hall where Joey had cooled off, Blake decided to take the tour to the next place, the dormitories, his in specific. He still had his hand on his bruised stomach, taking it a bit easy as he approached his door, slipping his key into the door knob.

"And now, the piece de resistance. My dorm room, prepare your butthole, as it shall get fucked." he said, throwing the door open. Joey took a few feet into the room, eyes widening in surprise. He walked toward the middle of the room, doing an entire three sixty to look at everything.

"No way...dude how did you do this?"

"Magic of course...before you ask, yes that's the Frozen chandelier, and yes it does work." Blake said, clapping his hands. The chandelier turned on, causing the boy to squeal a bit.

"Dude, this is a fucking man cave, an otaku's wet dream. You got so many complete series over here, and look at that, your entire video game library all neatly packed around the television. That shit is sick...and look at this glass table, just like the one you had back home. This isn't real." Joey said. Blake chuckled, walking over to the mini fridge, pulling out a couple of drinks.

"It is man, it is. I also made Mountain Dew real here, just cuz...so now we have every flavor of Mountain Dew ever made here, even that one from the Wiener-schnitzel restaurants." he said, cracking open the can, taking a sip from it. Joey sat down in the computer chair, holding his can lightly.

"You've been having a grand old time here...you got all of these cool friends, go to an awesome school, have this kickass room and a cute girlfriend. Have you even been thinking about your old life?" the boy asked, earning a nod from Blake, a frown on his face.

"Every day of my life. There isn't a day that doesn't go by where I don't think of everyone back home. Of Susan and Mary, of my parents, of you and Lucy...I've been suffering on the inside. But I can't keep doing that to myself, I have to move on even if it hurts." he said.

"How can you say something like that? You got magic, can't you just remove that curse yourself?"

"The Evil Queen made it impossible. The only person who can break the curse is her biological daughter Raven Queen. But if she breaks the curse, the mirror shard in my chest will release all of the magic it's storing and it'll poison my system, killing me from magic poisoning. If they try to remove it without breaking the curse, the shard will explode and send shards into my heart, killing me instantly. If I leave Ever After and go home, I die...the Evil Queen is the only one who can set me free, and she's not going to." Blake said, taking a gulp from his drink, setting the can down on the desk beside him. Joey just remained silent, unable to think of anything to say.

"I didn't know you had it that rough man...I don't know what you've had to face in this world. But it's been really bad back home...now that I think about it, your folks are always wondering around like lost puppies looking for something that they can't find. It's like they want to remember but every time they're about to, they forget. It was like that for me too."

"No doubt it's the Queen's curse...there's nothing I can do for them from here I'm afraid. I'm stuck in Ever After unless she decides to set me free, but since people from our world are natural magic sponges in this one, she isn't gonna let me go. That's the only reason she brought me here."

"So wait...if I try to go home, what'll happen to me?" the brown haired lad asked.

"Don't even worry about it. We can talk to Jessica to get you back home, so there's no issue with that. You'll most likely forget all about me if that curse is still in effect though." Blake replied.

"Actually, it isn't!" a familiar voice said. Jessica flashed into the room in a shower of sparkles, bringing a basket of Red Delicious apples with her, which she set down on the table.

"Jessica, jeez can you at least use the door?" the boy asked, earning a glare from the girl.

"Why would I do that? This is my dorm remember? I live right up there...I don't have to knock." she said, pointing to the ceiling.

"She lives above you? Wait isn't this the boy's dormitories?" Joey asked.

"They are, but my dad's secret room was located above this bedroom so the school let me stay here. I spoke with Headmaster Grimm already, and he said that we were technically roommates. Don't worry, I'm just gonna flash into my own room and not even bother you, unless I need help on something." she replied, earning a defeated sigh from the black haired teenager.

"I guess that's fine...not like I have a choice. But do try to flash into your room, or at least knock and let me know it's you so I'm not like, naked or something. Anyway, would you mind sending Joey back home? I'm sure his family is already looking for him."

"Yeah...about that...I'm sorry but I can't help you there." Jessica said, turning away from the two. She wondered over to Blake's manga collection, her eyes scanning the titles of each series.

"What the hell do you mean you can't help me? You're Merlin's daughter, you sunk the Titanic and started a nuclear war in a dystopian future. I'm sure opening a portal to my Earth isn't that hard." Joey said.

"Oh it isn't...I can definitely open the portal. The problem is that my magic is conflicting with itself. That only happens when someone makes a booboo. And it turns out, Blake made a big one." she said, turning to face the two.

"Eh? What are you talking about?" he asked. Jessica snapped her fingers, in her hand appeared Blake's backpack. She stuck her hand inside, pulling out a white wand that looked exactly like hers. She set the bag down, looking the wand over.

"This wand was created from a book you read upstairs. It normally contains three wishes, but it can't break curses or other enchantments and it can't open portals to other worlds. Anything else under the sun is possible. You wished for more wishes, which you then used to get yourself this sweet room and Ginger's shop. Did you keep track of how many wishes you had left?" she asked.

"Duh, I had six wishes left. I used all six of them to make Spells Kitchen look the way it does now."

"But did you make sure?" Jessica said, giving him a stern look. He sighed, shaking his head.

"I didn't...I assumed the wand was out of magic, which it was. There was only ten wishes when I got the new ones. I used four for myself and six for Ginger." he said.

"That's where you're wrong, I'm afraid. I kept track of every wish you made. You see, my magic is traceable, so when someone takes my wand or makes wishing magic, I get an alert on my phone. The first wish you made was to make Mountain Dew real in this world. The second wish you made was to give you ten more wishes. Then you made a wish so only you could use the wand, you made another wish so that only you could see the access to my tower and to have a fingerprint recognition on your drawer. Finally, you made a wish to have this anime themed room and the chandelier. That is four out of eleven wishes."

"Eleven? That can't be...I saw it said six on the side of it. There was a Roman Numeral on it. An I and a V."

"Blake, was the I before the V or after it? How many I's did it have?" Joey asked, giving the boy a firm look. He closed his eyes, trying to remember.

"It was after it. And I think it had two I's."

"You dumb ass...that's seven. So when you made those wishes you had one left." the brown haired boy said, causing Blake to go wide eyed. He started remembering the events of the last few days, cringing a bit when remembered his conversation with Ramona the night before.

"I made a wish last night, on accident. I wished that Joey could come to Ever After and that Ramona could come back to school with us. That explains why Headmaster Grimm called Ramona back...shit, I'm sorry man...it was me all along."

"It's alright bro...you didn't even know you had that extra wish so it's perfectly fine. But why can't you send me home Jessica?" the boy asked, earning a sigh from the girl.

"Wish granting magic is rather specific. At twelve o'clock midnight, all wishes become permanent. This wouldn't be an issue, but dunderhead here made that wish at exactly 11:59PM last night, so when the clock struck twelve, the wish became permanent. So I can't send you back home. However, if you speak with Headmaster Grimm, I'm sure he can send you back." Jessica replied, walking over to her basket of apples, holding a few of Blake's mangas in her hands.

"Hey yeah...it's not that bad of a process. They'll just draw some blood, create the magic drain potion and then send you home when it's ready. It was originally how I was going to be sent back. Come on, we can speak with the Headmaster right now." Blake said, jumping to his feet.

"Good luck with that, I'm gonna borrow these for a couple hours. One of the things I love the most about your world is the manga stories. In fact, I'm gonna add my collection to yours, think of it as a dorm gift." she said.

"Okay...cool, I would appreciate that...thanks for all of this Jessica, I'm sure the headmaster would want the full explanation of how Joey got here." he said.

"Eh, blame it on me, it was technically my fault for not hiding this place better. I finished my re-certification in my dad's wizard school so I'll be staying here as a full student from now on. But don't make a habit of it, these wishes were freebies, but the next one you want will cost you." she said, disappearing in a shower of sparkles.

"Are you sure the headmaster will help?" Joey asked.

"I'm sure, he's a bit of a hard ass, but he's a good guy. Just don't make any mentions of the Royal vs Rebel conflict and you'll be alright. Follow me, I'll lead you to his office." Blake said, grabbing his backpack and his dorm keys.

 _ **xxx**_

"So let me get this straight. You created a wand using Miss Merlin's magic book, you used said wand to grant yourself some wishes, and during one of said wishes, you brought this young man into Ever After. Because the wish magic conflicts with Miss Merlin's magic, she can't send him back, so you are asking me to send him back for you?" Milton Grimm asked, earning nod from Blake.

"Yes, that's...pretty much it." he replied. Milton sighed, bowing his head slightly. He stood up from his seat, walking over to the back window, looking out into the village and the rest of the school.

"Mr. Bigby, I do not understand how you keep being the center of everything that happens here. Ever since your arrival, everything has gone off the page...I will admit that some of those events were for the better...but you must show caution before...making wishes."

"I know, and for that I apologize...I just want to send him back home. It was my mistake so I want to make it better." Blake said firmly.

"I'm totally okay with it too, it was an accident. He just sucks at reading Roman Numerals." Joey said, earning a glare from his best friend.

"Oh totally, and you suck at getting an actual date with someone."

"Don't bring that up here, what the fuck man? That's like a total low blow!" the brown haired boy snapped back, earning a laugh from Blake.

"I call it like I see it. You know you are actually the first person to ever ask Duchess on a date. Be glad she didn't spit in your face."

"Gentlemen please...now is not the time for tomfoolery. Since I do not want Mister Martineu to remain in this world longer than he has too, I shall grant your request. You shall be enrolled as a student here for the time being until your tests are complete and the potion is crafted. However, the wait is that of three weeks, are you alright with that?" Milton asked, earning a nod from Joey.

"I'm okay with that. Blake already talked me through the process, just three vials of blood and then a long ass wait until the potion is made. No biggie."

"Quite...since you are a guest for the time being, I am only giving you the basic academic classes. To make it a bit easier on you, I shall place you in Mr. Bigby's classes, it shall be his responsibility to show you around the school. However, if I do hear of you two causing trouble in your classes, I shall suspend you from extracurricular activities, is that understood?" the man said sternly, earning a nod from the two boys.

"Yes sir...I've been taking my classes seriously, I'm not gonna risk losing my academic grades to cause trouble." Blake said. The man narrowed his eyes.

"Of course...you are also part of the Yearbook committee and I doubt you would want to lose that privilege. Take him to Madam Yaga's office and give her this slip. I shall send an email to all of your teacher's Mr. Bigby, so all you have to do is show him to his classes. Here's your locker combination and your dorm key." the man said, handing Joey another sheet of paper, and a bronze colored key.

"Thank you so much for this Headmaster Grimm, it means a lot to me that you would allow me to stay here." Joey said, giving the man a polite bow.

"Not to worry son...I wouldn't turn away anyone who was in need. I can tell you are a smart young man, and this shall be a rather interesting experience for you. However, upon your return home, you cannot tell anyone about this world, for yours and our safety, is that understood?"

"Yes Headmaster, I won't tell a soul." he said, giving the man a salute. The man nodded, silently dismissing the two.

"That went far better than I thought it would...well for the next three weeks, this shall be your home. I'll show you to your dorm and then have you meet all of our teachers...it's gonna be really cool man."

"I hope so...I'm having a lot of fun already. You better show me all of your hangouts and shit, no excuses."

"I'll try to...remember I got work. I know, I'll talk to Ashlynn and hook you up so you can have some money while your here. It's an easy job, all you have to do is help her when she gets a shoe shipment. You unpack, break the boxes and help her shelve them. Simple." Blake said, pulling out his MirrorPhone, searching for Ashlynn's contact.

"What the hell...how do you have that many contacts in your phone...what kind of phone even is that?"

"It's a MirrorPhone...it's the local kind of phone used here. It's so much better than Android and Iphones...this thing does everything. Music, video chat, data transfer by just tapping phones together, the whole shebang. You can even tune into the MirrorCast and search through the blogs." Blake said, mentioning some of the features of his phone.

"Ever After is an impressive place, I'm gonna have an interesting time here."

"Yes you will. Tomorrow is gonna be the best, you get to meet Princess Mi Amore Cadenza! She's just the cutest."

"What...don't you have a girlfriend? I don't think Cerise would want you to talk about other girls like that." Joey said, earning a laugh from the boy.

"Bro, Princess Mi Amore Cadenza isn't a girl, she's my pet dragon."

"You have a pet dragon?" he cried, making Blake crack a smile. He was at least happy to have a tiny little piece of home with him now, even if it was for a short period of time.


	28. Fairest on Ice

**A/N:**

 **Hello everyone and welcome to chapter 28 of Through the Looking Glass. I would like to apologize to all of you for not posting for the past couple of days. I've run out of written chapters, so I wanted to write a couple more and give myself some breathing room. I'm actually working on Chapter 30 right now, which is why I didn't want to post anything, but I don't like making my readers wait. Chapter 29 is the last chapter I have ready to post, so after that, I might slow down my posting schedule so I can increase my count, I'll most likely start posting once I reach chapter 40...man, it's insane that I'm already 30 chapters into this story huh? Blake has been on an incredible journey, and it isn't over yet!**

 **This chapter covers the events of Fairest on Ice, which is a little different than in canon. Like I said before, Faybelle Thorn, Alistair Wonderland and Bunny Blanc, who are in this episode, will not be in this chapter, because I'm trying to keep a semblance of a timeline, and trust me that's really fucking annoying, keeping continuity in a series that has no official timeline is a bit hard, especially when some chapters cover events in the future and in the past. But I am managing as well as I can, so it shouldn't be an issue.**

 **Chapter 30 will be the first chapter in the Winter Formal arc, a five or so chapter arc that will cover a very special dance that will welcome the first snowfall of the year, even though this is the official first snowfall, that snowfall will be the first snowfall of winter, so don't get confused, even though you are all probably looking at your screens and asking what the hell I'm even talking about. You'll get it soon.**

 **After that, I will skip ahead to spring, and right into Sugar Coated, where Ginger is tasked with making pastries and stuff. This will be preparing the things that will be in the Spring Festival, which of course is the beginning of Spring Unsprung. However, after the Winter Formal Arc, there will be a few chapters to split up the next arc, the Blue Moon Forest Fest, which all happens in a single day, but will most likely be in a few chapters. I'll try to keep it in four or five chapters, but if I go over that then it isn't my fault. After that, we will have the chapters covering Heart Stuck...a couple more chapters and then Spring Unsprung will officially take place.  
**

 **With the addition of Joey, we will get to see more of Blake's past, as well as his relationship with him and Lucy, a girl who he has talked about quite a lot, but we haven't actually seen in canon yet. We will get to see how they met, and how he eventually fell in love with her, along with the truth of why she disappeared and where she is...though with the information available in this story and from Blake's own stories, I'm pretty sure you all know where Lucy is right this moment, and if not, take a few moments to guess where she is, it's rather obvious.**

 **This mini arc will of course lead us to Way Too Wonderland, the arc that I am looking forward too the most. I still haven't figured out what Blake will be wearing while he visits Wonderland, but it will be something way different than the outfit Farrah made for him. It will be unique to him of course...as to him going to Wonderland High? He will attend the school, but Blake will have another priority while in Wonderland, which will of course include Courtley Jester...who I really didn't like, but I'll most likely make her redeem herself in one way or another...she isn't gonna be best friends with Lizzie Hearts though, in fact those two will get into fights very often in the later parts of this story. For this arc, I am going to have Blake go to Wonderland High, but I also want to show other parts of Wonderland that weren't in Way too Wonderland, like the White Queen's castle, which I was hoping to see, Tulgey Wood, the home of the Jabberwocky, which he will face, and various other areas...I'd rather not spoil anything else, but do know that those locations will be in this story.**

 **Um...I hope you like this chapter, sorry for the wait but I really want to have a good amount of chapters ready to post so I don't have to back myself into a corner. It's been a bit difficult to write, since this is an original story arc and I want it all to flow seamlessly like it would in the story. In my story, the canon story based around the Snow Queen is Frozen, but will have throwbacks to the original Snow Queen Fairy Tale, I never read the Snow Queen, so I can't make nods to it without messing something up...so I will combine some parts from either story to make it all make sense...sorry for any confusion you might have had in the past, I should have expanded on this a bit. Please leave me a review, favorite and follow my profile to receive alerts, and if you have any questions, please feel free to PM me, I'll be available to answer them to the best of my ability. Have a good night! And for those who live in California, you have my sincerest wishes and prayers, I hope you are all doing fine in this crisis. If you have to evacuate, don't wait, leave as soon as you can...you can replace material things, but you can't replace a human life. Stay safe everyone...**

Ever After High

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 28

Fairest on Ice

A week had passed since Joey's arrival in Ever After due to his best friend Blake. It had been a rather busy week for the two of them, as the visitor had been getting used to how things operated in Ever After. He had been taking everything in stride and learning quite a lot about the fairytale world. In return, he would teach a few of his new friends about his world, whenever he had the chance. He and Blake had also been reliving some of their memories and telling stories to their friends about all of the stupid things they did, often leading them to break into laughter in remembrance. Even though Blake had to go to work, and Joey had other things to do during the day, they still made time to hang out with each other and their friends.

Blake had also been happy that Ramona had rejoined Ever After High as an alumni. It gave them more time to hang out. His relationship with Cerise was growing as well, as it was finally their two week anniversary, and the two had taken time off from their daily activities to spend time with each other and go on a date. Blake and Cerise were starting to get close, and it was apparent just but their actions. Blondie had been trying to get them on her show as a couple, but the two had refused several times already, as they wanted to keep it a secret from her father, though the blonde didn't know this detail. How they had managed to keep this from Mr. Bad Wolf was a surprise to the two of them. They avoided showing affection when he was around, had abstained from hand holding in the halls, and left all of their hugging and kissing for when they were alone or away from the school. It was a rather stressful relationship, that was making their bond quite strong.

Ever After of course had surprised everyone with a blizzard the night before. Everyone had been ecstatic for the snow to start falling, and now that it was almost mid November, everyone was hoping it would snow. As soon as Headmaster Grimm called a snow day while the areas of the school we're cleared, everyone got their snow gear and started heading out, to enjoy the powder while they could, and Blake was no exception.

Since Blake was used to the cold, he didn't really dress too heavy, just for most of the stuff he would be doing. He was wearing some thermal pants, under a pair of thick blue winter jeans. He was wearing a pair of thick Eskimo style boots, which were knee length and had some thick brown buckles on it. It had various areas covered in thick fake fur, which was a dark gray in color. Cerise had picked them out for him, and when he said they were women's boots, she told him that no one cared what he wore. But to reassure him, she showed him the tag that said they were men's. He was wearing a short sleeved shirt, with his hooded sweatshirt over it, and over that he had his normal varsity jacket, which he buttoned all the way up, making sure his hood and hair were pulled out of it. He grabbed a pair of fingerless gloves and put them on, making sure he had his keys and phone before exiting his dorm.

"What the hell are you wearing?" Joey asked, startling the teen a bit.

"Oh...nothing? My winter stuff?" Blake answered, looking himself over.

"Seriously, furry boots? Only chicks wear those man."

"Yeah I know, and I don't care. I like them, and these are men's boots, Cerise told me they were fine. Besides you want me to dress like you?" he asked, looking the boy over. He was decked out in full winter wear, thick coat, thick pants, thick non slip boots, and a snowboard in his grasp.

"Hell yeah...it's cold as shit. I may be Canadian, but that doesn't mean I'm used to the cold."

"Bruh...I lived in Seattle for half of my life, and I stayed in Yukon with my uncle once, compared to that, the blizzard that happened last night ain't shit." Blake said confidently. Joey shrugged it off, brushing past him as they headed outside.

"If you say so. What are you gonna do though? Gonna have some fun in the snow?"

"I'm there mostly for yearbook pictures. Apple and Rae are handling the ice skating rink down below and I'll be up top taking pictures of the figure skaters." he said, gesturing to his MirrorPhone. He didn't want anything to happen to his MirrorPad, and he was thinking of skating himself.

"Well, while you take pictures of the girls prancing around on ice skates, I'm gonna be hitting the slopes. Been too damn long since I felt the bitchin powder. Daring and Sparrow are taking me to the nearby mountain...so I'll be there for most of the day." he said.

"Alright, I hope you have fun then." Blake said, giving his friend a pat on the back as he quickly headed to where Sparrow and Daring were standing. Blake started heading toward the Enchanted Lake, which had been turned into an ice rink by the students.

Apparently, since the lake had an upper part that connected to the lower lake via waterfall, some of the more magically inclined students created an ice ramp connecting the two lakes, for anyone who wanted to skate down it to the other lake. The area surrounding it was covered in fresh snow, the trees bore no leaves and looked alluring covered with snow, making the perfect backdrop for this early winter wonderland. The skies were gray, as another snowfall had been predicted for later that day. It was one of the reasons why the students of Ever After wanted to enjoy themselves on the ice.

Finally making it to the upper lake, he looked around seeing several people hanging around the edge of the lake. There were several others already on the ice, practicing their figure skating moves. Some were struggling, while others like Duchess Swan, were dominating on the ice due to their natural transition. He noticed a nearby shop had been set up, which rented ice skates to those who wanted to try their luck on the ice, it was actually run by Farrah and Jessica, who just magically provided everyone with skates. The lower lake was barely visible, the only connection to it being the ice ramp, though he did see Tiny skating on the ice, somehow not breaking it due to his massive size. He pulled out his phone, and started taking a few pictures of the students that had gathered there.

"Hey Blake, take a picture of us! It's Poppy's first time on the ice!" Holly called out, grabbing his attention. He turned to face them, a smile on his face.

"So, we got a new ice skater eh? You nervous?" the boy asked, seeing the girl's frightened expression. Her legs were wobbling a bit as she tried to remain standing.

"I'm not nervous! It's just...I don't want to fall." she replied. Blake lowered his phone, having snapped a picture of the twins already.

"It isn't that hard once you find your balance. I'm a professional at this."

"You are?" Holly asked curiously, earning a nod from the boy.

"I'm from Canada remember? Ice skating is like a national sport there. We play Hockey, race on the ice, hell we just skate when we're bored sometimes. We have a sport called curling, basically you take these polished granite stones and slide them across the ice, the team with the most points wins." he said.

"Wow...your world has some interesting sports." Poppy said, glancing back at the ice. Blake stepped up beside her, snapping a picture of himself and the twins, a grin on his face.

"How about I teach you to skate? Just the basics...you should be fine with that, I think." he said.

"That's a hexcellent idea...he is a professional at it Poppy, take his offer!" Holly said, earning a sigh from her older sister.

"Fine, but just the basics. I want to learn everything else by myself...if you let fear control you, then you'll never do what you want in life." she said firmly.

"Awesome, I'll be right back, let me get some blades on these." he said, giving them a quick wave as he made his way toward the rental booth. He ducked in time to dodge a snowball Kitty had thrown at him. A single glare in her direction quickly made her disappear, a giggle escaping her lips.

"Well look who it is, the man of the hour. I thought you would be snowboarding with Joey up on the high mountain." Jessica said, looking the boy over.

"Nah, I'm not that good at snowboarding, or skiing either...think I could get some blades on these boots?" he asked, glancing over at Farrah who gave him a smile.

"I would love to provide you with skates. I actually have a question, or rather I need a favor...me and Lizzie designed a new winter jacket for guys and we need someone to model it for us, are you up for it?" Farrah asked. Blake hummed to himself, glancing at the swirling clouds above.

"Uh...that depends, I might need to clear my schedule. My next due date on the yearbook is Wednesday, since Joey took my job at the Glass Slipper, I got some extra free time...does Tuesday at four work for you? That's when I get out of work." he said.

"Sure, that works out perfectly. We just need a few pictures, we made an extra that you can wear around campus for us. Anyway, here are your skates! Be sure not to slip and fall." the girl said, flicking her wand outward. The magic swirled around Blake's legs, forming a pair of sharp steel blades which attached to his boots magically.

"Sweet, if magic was a thing in my world, this would make skating at Rockefeller Center so much better. I mean, they charge you so much just to spin around in circles."

"Tch...tell me about it. I got kicked out of there once for calling some Italian guy a prick, in my defense his fat ass pushed me out of the rink." Jessica said, earning a scoff from the boy.

"I somehow doubt that. See you girls later." the black haired boy said, slowly inching his way to the edge of the lake. Once he was on the ice, he kicked off, skating back toward the O'Hair twins. He came to a stop before them, standing firmly before the girls.

"Alright then, shall we start?" he asked.

"Sure, come on Poppy it isn't so bad." Holly said, taking a hold of her sister's hand, moving slowly toward the ice.

"Don't pull so hard, I don't want to fa...whoa!"

Poppy ended up slipping and falling down on her back, causing a few people to look at her in concern. Duchess skated by them, breaking into laughter and pointing at the girl. Blake grabbed a bit of snow from the edge of the lake and formed a ball, a smirk on his face.

"Hey Duchess, have a little snow!" he cried, throwing the ball at the ballerinas, hitting her square in the face. She slipped back, falling on her back as well, earning several laugh from their peers.

"I'm gonna beat your ass Blake, you fucking prick!"

"Anyway, this is actually rather good that you fell. In order to stand up, what you have to do is get onto your knees, one leg first and then the other. If you try to stand up normally then you'll just bust ass all over again." Blake said, ignoring the stream of swears Duchess was throwing at him.

"Okay...I'll give it a try." Poppy said, doing what the boy told her. She managed to get back onto her feet, her legs wobbling a bit.

"There you go! Now you can stand up sis, that's wonderful!"

"I agree, you did it in one shot. It took me five before I got it down pat. Alright, we're gonna focus on getting your balance on the ice. No pirouettes, no figure eights, none of that spinning shit...just normal forward movement. Take my hand." he said, holding his hand out to the short haired twin.

"Okay...I trust you Blake, don't let me go." she said, taking a hold of his hand.

"We'll go slow okay. Holly take her other hand, we'll be her balance for now." he said. Holly nodded taking a hold of Poppy's other hand. They slowly kicked off, moving rather slowly across the ice.

Meanwhile at the top of the mountain, Joey was looking down at the steep incline, hearing the cheers and laughter of the others who were in the process of going down the mountain. Daring finished snapping his snowboard to his feet, moving around a bit to make sure it was secure.

"Haha! I'm ready for this lads, watch me. I'm going to own all of you in this sport." he said, putting his beanie on his head.

"I somehow doubt that. I'm practicing for the Winter Olympics my dude, I'm the best snowboarder around." Joey said, cracking his neck as he fastened his helmet onto his head, lowering his snow goggles over his eyes.

"No one's ever gonna bring him down! Yeah!" Sparrow howled, his voice echoing all over the place.

"Dude, hold off on the screams. We wouldn't want to start an avalanche up here." Ramona said, earning a chuckle from the orange haired boy.

"I seriously doubt that'll happen. It's gonna take more than my awesome voice to start an avalanche."

"No seriously dude, don't scream. I saw this happen once on a mountain me and my old man were gonna board down. This dude ended up screaming as a dare and he caused a small avalanche, we barely made it out alive. And we were on snowmobiles. Shit isn't fun." Joey said, making sure his gloves were secured onto his hands.

"Fine, whatever I won't scream...but you aren't beating me in a race." he said. Joey smirked, punching the boy in the stomach, causing him to fall back to the ground.

"No you aren't, see ya." he said, jumping forward, twisting his board to the side. He let out a loud whoop of joy as he started his descent down the mountain.

While it was very steep, there weren't any rails or anything else in the way, aside from a few ramps. He moved his way toward one, doing a Cab 720 double cork, taking a few onlookers by surprise. He landed a bit harder than he wanted, putting his hand outward kicking up a bit of snow. He glanced behind him, seeing Daring catching up to him. He smirked, allowing the blond prince to pass him.

"You aren't defeating me Joey, I've got this in the bag." he said happily.

"If you say so, look out for that tree." Joey said, causing the blond prince to pull himself to a stop, just shy of a fallen pine tree. Joey kept going, doing a Cab 360 off the next ramp.

He did a few other tricks, before he came to the base of the mountain, just shy of touching the frozen lake. He glanced back to the mountain seeing the others quickly making their way down the mountain. He started laughing when he saw Sparrow fall forward, tumbling in the snow, coming to a stop several hundred feet in front of the lake.

"Yo, you okay man?" Joey asked, earning a thumbs up from the snow covered boy. Ramona came to a stop beside him, shaking her head in disappointment.

"Is running through the tree tops in tights the only good thing you can do?" she asked.

"Shut up, I can do better than that! Come on, let's get back to the top and I'll race you for real!" he said, taking his snowboard off, grabbing a hold of it. Ramona did the same thing, giving the boy a smirk.

"Alright, let's do it. If I beat you, you gotta do my laundry for a week."

"And if I win, you gotta become my personal maid for a week, you gotta wear the uniform too." he said, spitting in his hand. She did the same, firmly grasping each others hands. They grabbed their boards and started running back toward the lift. Daring same to a stop beside Joey, watching them walk off.

"So...what did I miss?"

"They made a bet, Ramona beats Sparrow, she gets laundry done for a week. Sparrow wins, he gets Ramona as a personal maid, outfit and all." he replied.

"Wanna go watch?" the prince asked, a smirk on his face. Joey was going to answer, only to see Duchess skate by the edge of the lake, her eyes closed as she did a figure eight. He flushed slightly, glancing away from his friend.

"You go, I'll stay here and...get some hot chocolate, or something." he said. Daring glanced at Duchess for a second, before glancing at Joey shaking his head.

"Suit yourself."

Meanwhile, Blake, Holly and Poppy were still in the beginning lessons of their skating. Poppy had fallen several times but had quickly gotten up. She had gotten a bit frustrated a few times, but through gentle coaxing from both her friend and sister, she got back up and kept trying. She had at least gotten her balance on the ice and had been skating on her own, though she still did lose her balance quite a bit.

"There you go, you're starting to get the hang of it!" Blake said cheerfully.

"Yeah, but I feel really unstable, like I might fall." she said, as if on cue, she started to slip, her legs moving wildly before she fell down on her rump, causing Holly to laugh.

"Sis, stop thinking about falling so much...if you do then you will fall." She said.

"It's hard not to think about it when your legs feel like jelly on this!"

"Just keep practicing, I'm sure you'll get it in now time." Blake said, a smile on his face. A snow ball struck the side of his head a second later, courtesy of Duchess Swan who flipped him off as she skated away.

"Now if you must excuse me, I must strangle someone." he said, giving the two girls a bow before he turned around, kicking off toward the monochrome ballerina, who was busy doing another figure eight. Blake tackled the unsuspecting girl into a nearby snowbank, pinning her to the ground.

"What the hell are you doing? That was the best figure 8 on this entire rink!" she cried, glaring into Blake's eyes.

"I know, but you threw that snowball at me and I wanted revenge. You know, if you hit someone in the armpit hard enough they'll shit themselves, I've been dying to try it out!"

"You better not shit face, we may be friends but I'm still gonna kick your ass!" Duchess shouted, earning a grin from the boy.

"Uh...what are you two doing?" the familiar voice of Cerise said, curious as to why her boyfriend was currently pinning Duchess to the ground. Carmine was by her side, licking the snow beside them.

"Oh...she threw a snowball at me and I felt the need to tackle her into this snowbank." he replied.

"Oh...alright...I'm gonna get some hockey sticks, you down for a game?"

"Sure babe, see ya soon." he replied. Duchess wriggled under the boy, looking up at Cerise.

"Aren't you gonna do something? This is your boyfriend and he's pinning me down to the ground!"

"Don't throw snowballs at him and maybe he wouldn't do it. See ya." she said, walking off with her pet wolf by herself.

"What hell, Cerise you bitch! Come back here!"

"You threw a snowball at me while I was teaching Poppy how to skate. I am not a fucker you want to anger. But I shall give you one chance, one opportunity, to seek forgiveness from me. All you have to do, is go on a date with my buddy Joey...that's it." he said, earning a look of disgust from the girl.

"Ew gross! No offense but your friend is creepy as hell, he was following me the other day and wouldn't stop complimenting me. I mean, I get it, I'm beautiful and any guy would be lucky if I spat in their direction. But that doesn't mean I should be followed!" she replied. Blake got off the girl, allowing her to sit up, much to her relief.

"He just has a crush on you okay. I agree with what you said, you are beautiful, and I know he's a little...weird sometimes...but there's only one girl that he dated in the past and she wasn't good to him. Besides he leaves in two weeks, can't you at least entertain the thought?" he asked, a serious look on his face.

"I don't wanna date anyone, especially someone that's gonna leave soon. And no, this has nothing to do with my story and the eventual betrayal I have to face. I'm just not in the mood to date anyone." she said, looking away from the boy.

"That's true...I'll give you fifty gold if you show him your tits." he said, earning a gasp from the girl, who slapped him across the face.

"Excuse you, I am a lady! I am not doing something so nasty and perverted even if you pay me for it!"

"One hundred, and I buy you those ballet heels you were raving about to Kitty the other day. Homework for two weeks, and you get to keep my coffee card and cash in on the rest of my free coffees for the month." he said.

"Deal, but I'm doing it in the dark, with my bra on."

"Fair enough." Blake replied, shaking the girl's hand. She stood up, and skated off, flipping the boy off before heading to the other side of the lake.

"What was that about?" Joey asked, walking up to Blake who jumped back to his feet.

"None ya business. My girl is bringing some hockey stuff, you up for a game?" he asked, wiggling his brows a bit.

"Shit yeah. I've been dying to whoop your ass in hockey."

"Pfft fuck you. You aren't that good at hockey, you're mediocre compared to me." the black haired boy boasted. Cerise came back with several sticks in her hands along with a puck, which Joey took a hold off, along with a stick, tossing it to Blake.

"Ready to put your money where your mouth is? Fifty gold says I can beat you."

"Fine, I'm looking to make more money. First to three points wins, get yourself a partner, I call Cerise as mine." he said.

"Huh? Okay I guess." the girl said, walking onto the ice, standing next to her boyfriend.

Joey looked around the area, trying to find the perfect person for his team. He noticed Lily at the edge of the lake, along with another blonde boy who he hadn't met yet. She had her crook in her hands and was using it as a hockey stick, shooting rocks into a nearby trash can, with surprising skill. He smiled, smirking inwardly.

"Hey you, Sheep Girl, you got a sec?" he called out. She turned to face him, curious look on her face.

"Yes, may I help you?"

"We're playing a quick game and I need another player, you up for it? If we win I'll split my winnings with you." he said. She glanced over at her friend who shrugged, giving her a nod. She handed him her crook, skating over to where they all stood.

"It's nice of you to join us Lily, how are your sheep?"

"They're fine Blake, thankfully their fur grew in just in time for the cold weather." she replied, a smile on her face.

"That's good, we wouldn't want them to freeze in the cold. By the way, this is Joey, he's a friend of Blake's from his world. Joey, this is Lily-Bo Peep, the daughter of Little-Bo Peep." Cerise said.

"Cool, it's nice to meet you Lily. How good are you at hockey?"

"I've played a few times, my mom is really good. She was the one that taught me how to play." she replied shyly, glancing at her skates.

"Well, I'm sure you'll do fine...we've already decided that it's a short game. All you have to do is keep the puck away from the wonder couple and we'll win." Joey said, earning pouts from his friends.

"Just for that, we aren't going easy on you. Come on boo, let's teach them a lesson." Cerise said, skating to the other side of the lake.

"Boo? Really?" the black haired boy said, following his girlfriend across the lake.

Thankfully, someone had already put up the two hockey nets in case someone wanted to play a quick game. After a few minutes, Joey and Blake moved to the center of the lake, with the brown haired boy putting the puck on the ground.

"Let's do this like we did when we played street hockey. We hit our sticks together three times so we don't get the advantage. Everything else goes, just be careful with the girls." Blake said, earning a nod from his friend.

"Sure, won't matter to me. We don't need body checking for us to win this shit." he replied. The two boys struck their sticks together once...twice and then a third time. Blake quickly swiped the puck to the side quickly skating after it, pushing it toward Joey's goal, which was being guarded by Lily.

Blake was about to shoot it into the goal when Joey shot past him, striking the puck in the other direction. He hissed skating after his friend, attempting to steal the puck back, striking his stick against Joey's to knock it away. Cerise moved forward, aiding Blake in his attempt at taking the puck, shooting it back toward the opposite goal, causing the two boys to go after it. Blake reached it first, using his momentum to take it as far away from Joey as he could. Once he got close he shot the puck toward the goal, only for it to be blocked by Lily who shot it back at Joey.

" _Damn, that was pretty good...is that a little smirk? Oh I am so gonna wipe that off her face."_ Blake said, quickly heading toward his own goal aiding Cerise in its defense.

"Hey, you guys mind if we join?" Dexter called out, causing the two struggling boys to look in his direction. Alongside Dexter was Hunter, who was holding his own stick in his hand.

"Sure, the more the merrier. Just choose a side!" Blake said with a grunt, passing the puck to Cerise who quickly directed it back to the other side of the rink.

"I'll join Blake's team, good luck Dex." Hunter said, going after the puck with Blake.

The boy passed it over to his friend, successfully keeping it away from Joey. Just as fast as he could however, Dexter closed the distance, shooting the puck backward to Joey. The two boys came to a hard stop, trying to close the distance. Joey took a shot at the goal, Cerise blocked it with ease, the puck bouncing off her stick. She shot it toward Hunter who skated in front of the goal, sending it back toward Blake.

"That isn't fair! You're cheating!" Joey said.

"Oh am I? I'm just playing the game buddy, not my fault you suck!" Blake replied, taking a half shot at the goal. Lily tried to block it, but the puck struck the edge of her stick, going into the net.

"Nice one Blake!" Hunter said, high fiving his friend.

"Thank you very much...it's been forever since I played this, but I still got it!"

"Ass-munch." Joey taunted, earning a chuckle from the black haired boy. Lily slid the puck back toward Joey who set it down in the middle of the rink.

"Dexter, Hunter face off...anyone else wanna join before we start? We could use another few players." he said, glancing at the gathered crowd.

"I'll join! It looks like fun." Holly said, grabbing a stick from the pile, joining Blake's side of the game.

"I might as well jump in, I am a little bored." Briar said, grabbing her own stick, officially joining Joey's side. Cerise grabbed one of the gloves she had brought, handing the other one to Lily so they wouldn't have to stop the puck barehanded. Once they were all in place, Hunter and Dexter proceeded with their face off.

"Okay, strike sticks three times and then play off." Blake said, taking the defensive spot to Hunter's right, while Holly guarded his left. Similarly, Briar and Joey guarded Dexter. The two boys struck sticks, with Dexter hitting the puck first.

All of them went after the puck, striking each others sticks as they tried to get a hold of the puck. Holly used her skating skills to quickly take control of the puck, passing it to Blake who shot it toward Hunter. Immediately, the son of the Huntsmen moved toward the other end of the rink, hoping to reach the goal. Briar struck his stick away, allowing Dexter to take control of the puck, moving behind the goal and sending the rubber disk back toward the opponents goal. Blake was about to go after it, when he felt something pull him off his feet. He slammed into the ice, glaring at Joey who flipped him off as he skated past him.

"Hey, no sweeping asshole!"

"You never said we couldn't!" was the boy's reply. Blake quickly got up, speeding after the puck. Briar took her shot at the goal, the puck being blocked by Cerise who slid the disk to Holly.

The long haired girl glanced at her sides, trying to predict what Briar and Dexter were going to try. She pulled herself to a stop, using her skate to kick the puck to Hunter, who shot it across the rink to Blake. He stopped it with his stick, rising his stick for a slapshot only for Joey to steal the puck before he could swing. He growled, once again going after the puck, trying to use his stick to trip the boy. Joey moved his stick back and forth keeping the puck almost in mid air, trying to confuse Cerise as much as he could. He took a mid air shot at the puck, sending it flying into the goal, causing him to cheer loudly.

"Ha yes! One to one, next point wins the game!" he said happily.

"Yeah yeah. Briar, Holly it's your turn to face off." Blake said, earning a nod from the two girls who quickly took their positions at the center of the rink. Dexter placed the puck in the middle of them, quickly taking his spot to Briar's right.

The two girls faced off, with Holly being the quicker of the two, sending the puck flying toward Hunter, who bunted it off his stick, sending it forth on the ice. Blake skated beside him, guarding him as much as he could. He took a shot at the goal, striking the metal side of the net, sending the puck hurdling to the side right toward Joey's waiting stick. He chuckled, shooting it toward Dexter who took it back toward the opposite goal.

"Man, that was a bonehead mistake. Looks like this game is ours!"

"Kiss my ass Joe, I'm winning this game and you know it. Holly pass it to me!" Blake cried. The girl moved forward, teeth chattering a bit from the cold as she pushed Briar's stick away, claiming the puck they had been fighting for.

She shot it toward Blake who rose his stick up, waiting for the right time. He took his shot, slapping the puck as hard as he could straight at the goal. Lily let out a yelp as she ducked to the side, letting the puck sail right into the next. Blake dropped his stick to the floor, skating as fast as he could, doing a backflip over the ice, landing hard on the ground, arms spread outward.

"What the fuck? Are you shitting me?" Joey snapped, earning a chuckle from his friend.

"No, I'm not shitting you...you owe me...unless you wanna take another crack at it, raise the bet to a hundred." Blake said, placing his hands on his hips.

"Fuck it, bring it on!"

 _ **xxx**_

"Hey Raven, have you seen Briar? I've been trying to call her but she hasn't answered any of my calls." Ashlynn said, grabbing Raven's attention. She and Apple were looking through the pictures they had taken for the yearbook, along with some videos of people skating.

"We haven't seen her at all. I think she was going to skate at the high lake with Holly and Poppy." Apple replied, earning a nod from Raven.

"Oh...that sounds weird. We were supposed to wait for our friend Crystal by the school. She's coming to visit for the week and we wanted to hang out."

"Well, she's most likely up there...if you want we can go with you. Of course if you'd like, we could also wait for Crystal with you, it's been quite awhile since we last spoke." Raven said.

"It has, she's part of our class too and she needs to be in the yearbook." Apple added, earning a nod from Ashlynn.

"That would be wonderful, thanks! She texted me a few minutes ago, she's making her way here from Spells Kitchen. We can meet her by the bridge." the daughter of Cinderella said, leading her friends back toward Ever After High.

As soon as they left however, the girl they were all looking for had arrived at the lower lake. It had been quite awhile since she had seen any of her friends in Ever After High. She had various responsibilities in the Snow Kingdom, so she hadn't been able to get some free time. This time however, her parents had agreed to let her go back to school for a few days so she could once again meet up with her friends.

She was a tall girl, with long wavy mint colored hair. It had streaks of white and violet running down it. She had pale lavender tinged skin with soft baby blue eyes. She was wearing light pink lipstick, her eyes being colored with mint green eye shadow.

She was wearing a pale-purple snowcoat lined with white fur. Beneath it, she wore a light lavender colored sleeveless dress, decorated with glittering snowflakes. She wore a violet belt around her waist, the skirt of her dress was pale-purple fading into a dark mint blue. She wore white leggings with snowflakes printed on them, and thick white furry boots, the laces had fluffy white balls at the end. Tucked into her belt was a crystal blue wand with a blue snowflake at the top. She was also wearing a glittering ice crown atop her head. This young woman was the Snow Princess, Crystal Winter, and currently she was looking for her friends.

Her eyes scanned the lake, but she didn't see Briar or Ashlynn anywhere. She didn't see Apple White or Blondie either..of course she figured they had gone somewhere else, so she would just hang around until they showed up. She would text them, but through some weird stroke of bad luck, her phone ended up falling into a sewer grate and when she had managed to use her ice magic to retrieve it, it had been completely fried, and it smelled like sewage. She sighed, leaning against a tree, taking a small bite from a snowflake shaped cookie. She just hoped something interesting would happen to keep her distracted while her friends showed up.

Up on the high lake, another battle for the puck had been waged between Blake and Joey. The stakes had been raised along with the point counter, now it was the first one to twenty one points, and so far, Blake's team had been dominating. They had gotten a little more fiercer too, and even though Blake's team lacked a player, they were still doing their best, or at least trying too. Holly had to leave with her sister, so they were a player short. It had been increasingly hard to keep Joey back, but he wasn't going to give in.

"Blake, go long!" Hunter cried, smacking the puck away from Dexter, straight toward Blake. He skated toward the puck, only for Briar to shoot past him, claiming it for herself. She passed it to Joey, who tried to score another point, but was quickly stopped by Cerise who caught the puck in her glove.

"Damn, stop catching our pucks! You're reflexes are too damn good!" the boy cried.

"Sorry buddy, it isn't my fault you can't score for shit. Git gud." she taunted, causing Blake to break into laughter.

Cerise sent the puck toward him, and he quickly skated toward the other end of the rink. Dexter followed after him, hoping to get the puck. The boy quickly turned around, striking the puck with the edge of his skate, sending it toward Hunter who skated around the brown haired prince, taking it toward the goal. He took a shot at the goal, striking the edge of the net. Lily sent it back toward Briar, causing everyone to start moving back toward the opposite side of the rink. Joey took a slapshot at the puck, managing to get it past Cerise who moved out of the way, as to not get hit.

"Yeah! That's fourteen points to your ten! No way in hell you'll beat us, that's a hundred smackaroos from each of you!"

"Shut up Joe, we haven't lost yet. We aren't going too either, you're just taking advantage of our missing player!" Hunter snapped in annoyance. Blake and Cerise skated over to the boy, doing a huddle of sorts while Joey kept taunting them.

"We can't afford to keep loosing leeway, we're gonna have to sacrifice our goal and get Cerise in the game, it's the only thing that we can do." Blake said.

"We'll be leaving ourselves exposed and that wouldn't be good. I'll just have to raise my guard up, I've been trying not to overdue it, but I don't have the money to line his pockets." the girl replied, earning a frown from the two boys.

"We're gonna have to do our best, if not I'll cover you, okay hun? It's what boyfriends do after all. Let's just give em hell." Blake said, bumping fists with both of them. Cerise took her spot back at the goal, while Blake went to face off against Briar.

"What was that, a strategy meeting? You aren't beating us Blake, no matter how much you try."

"That's what you think sweetheart, I'm in it to win it and I ain't letting a princess whoop my ass at the only sport I'm good at." he said. They struck sticks three times, with Briar winning the face off, shooting the puck toward Blake's goal.

Hunter quickly went after it, keeping it away from Dexter and Joey as he skated around the goal, sending it back toward Blake. He moved back toward Joey's side of the rink, with Lily getting ready to block his shot if needed. Joey swept his stick in front of Blake, causing him to stop, giving the brunette the chance he needed to steal the puck from him. He let out a growl, going after his friend once more. The two got into a vicious fight for the puck, pushing each others stick back and forth.

"Give it up, you aren't winning this round." Joey said, giving the boy a sneer.

"That's what you think! I got this in the bag!" Blake snapped, striking the puck with his stick, sending it flying toward the ice slide that connected to the lower lake. The two shared a look, going after the puck.

"Blake, what are you doing?" Cerise cried.

"It's the only puck we have, I'm not losing this shit!" he cried, jumping into the slide. Joey did the same, kicking forward as fast as he could, sliding past Blake.

"You aren't winning this game Blake, give it up. You were gone six months, I've been training for the Winter Olympics in both hockey and snowboarding. You beat me last time because we agreed on three points, I won't let that happen again!" he cried out, his hair whipping in all directions. Blake sped up, striking his stick against Joey's, turning to face him.

"I don't give a shit what you're practicing for. I'm not paying you money, you never let me win back on Earth, and I'm not letting you beat me here." he spat, turning away from his friend. He spotted the puck not far from where he was, heading toward a decline in the slide.

He grit his teeth, preparing to pick up speed using his weight to his advantage. He used his hockey stick to keep himself balanced as he trailed after the speeding puck. Joey used his stick to try and trip Blake, striking the boy's own stick causing him to lose balance. Quickly regaining his balance he moved toward the puck. Sliding in front of it, he struck the rubber disc as hard as he could, sending it back a few hundred feet, but not enough to get it back to the high lake. Joey smirked, hitting the stick back down the slide.

"Nice try, but as soon as this hits the lower lake, I'm taking it back up and scoring a goal!" he cried, a grin on his face. Blake sighed angrily, seeing the other lake swiftly approaching. He threw his stick forward like a spear, watching as it flew toward the center of the lake, stabbing itself into the ice, as it had been cracked and broken near the center.

Near the edge of the lower lake, Crystal was bored out of her mind. She hated to admit it, but she had the energy of a ten year old. She couldn't sit in one place for too long without doing anything. None of her friends were around, and she hadn't seen Apple, Briar, Blondie or even Raven. She had eaten all of her cookies, save for one that she wanted to save for later. She let out a sigh, about to leave the lake when she saw what looked like a spear stab into the ice, right near the spot where it had broken. Her eyes widened when she realized it was a hockey stick, not much after, a black rubber puck slid off the ice slide, slowly coming to a stop near the hole in the middle of the lake.

Everyone just remained silent, not exactly knowing how to react. Crystal got a bit curious and wondered toward the lake edge, almost expecting someone to take the stick, but no one moved. It wasn't until she saw some people pointing toward the slide that she turned her head, curiosity written on her face.

In that very moment, she saw a teenage boy slide on the ice, wearing a pair of blades on his furry winter boots. When he reached the edge of the ramp, he got ready to jump. The worried look on his face was replaced with a look of confidence as he jumped from the ramp, expertly spinning through the air, landing on the ice with grace and poise, placing his hand on the ice so he wouldn't fully fall. He glanced toward the ramp, seeing another boy quickly coming off the ramp, holding a hockey stick in his hands.

Crystal watched the first boy intently, watching him skating straight toward the hockey stick, pulling it free with little effort. He spun it in his hands, slamming the blade onto the ice, taking control of the puck that had come to a stop near the hole in the ice. He didn't even look phased by the hole, and just skated around it. The other boy had landed on the lower lake, skating in the opposite direction, hoping to cut the black haired boy off. He struck the puck to the right, causing the brown haired boy to go after it, only he retook the puck, spinning around the boy and skating toward the other direction.

"Come on Joey, you were talking that good shit a second ago, but I took the puck. Let's go! Weren't you gonna defeat me?" he cried, grinning at his friend.

"You're full of shit Blake, and you know it! You think that because you're better on the ice than I am, that you can defeat me! You don't have to show off those figure skating techniques from when you were a little girl!" Joey snapped back, earning a chuckle from Blake, who stabbed the handle of his hockey stick into the ice, holding the blade in his hands.

"Excuse me, but as I recall it was your sister who was teaching me how to skate, and she was my partner during contests. The reason why was because you refused to wear spandex on the ice. On top of that she said I looked cute in it, so it isn't my fault that you refused her offer. So are we gonna play the game, or are we gonna talk jank to each other?" he asked.

Joey started skating toward the boy, who quickly pulled his stick free, striking the puck toward the edge of the lake. It wasn't long before the others showed up, along with the hockey nets which they had brought along. Once they had been set up, the players started moving toward the puck, earning a smirk from Blake who shot the puck at Hunter. He slid to a stop a second later, shooting the puck into the goal, it sailed across the ice going into the net just shy of hitting Lily's stick.

"Ha! Yes! Screw you Joey, screw you!" Blake said, flipping the boy off, a grin on his face.

"We're still winning fourteen to eleven! There's no way you'll catch up, so give it up. Come on, we gotta move to the high lake again, that hole in the middle of the ice is gonna get us hurt." the brown haired boy said.

"Excuse me? Are you guys playing hockey? Can I join?" Crystal cried out, causing the two boys to look in her direction. Joey let out a whistle, a smirk on his face.

"I have no issue with you joining us honey, but are you sure this is what you want? This is a rough game and we wouldn't want someone pretty like you getting hurt." he said, earning a glare from the girl.

"I wouldn't speak to her like that if I we're you Joey, she's the best of the best when it comes to hockey. Glad to see you again Crys, why didn't you call me?" Briar asked, giving the girl a tight hug.

"Oh I'm sorry! My phone took a swim in the sewer and it's fried beyond repair. I've been waiting here to see if you or Ashlynn showed up...I wasn't expecting you to be playing hockey though."

"Yeah, I got really into it, especially when we started betting. We're at a hundred bucks per player for the team that wins. My team is winning, fourteen to eleven." Briar replied, earning a scoff from Blake.

"That's because we're short a player and you're taking advantage of that. If Holly was still here, our team would be kicking your ass. But sure, go ahead and boast about your "Mad Skills" Joey." he said, earning a chuckle from the brown haired boy.

"I'm sorry that no one wanted to play for your team Blakey, but we're gonna win and that's that!" he replied. Crystal smiled, reaching for her wand.

"Alright then, how about we raise the stakes, two hundred gold per player for the winning team. I'll even fix the lake for you." she said, flicking her wand to toward the hole, a swirl of ice magic patching up the hole in the ice.

"Whoa...ice magic, that's pretty cool." Blake said, making the girl giggle at his pun. Joey on the other hand smirked, holding his hand out.

"Alright miss, two hundred gold per player to the winning team, first to twenty-one wins. Oh, and as a little added bonus, if my team wins you agree to a double date with me and my buddy Blake here."

"Wait what? Huh?" Blake said, looking at his friend.

"Yeah dude, you and your gal will accompany me and this fine young woman to whatever restaurant happens to be open on a snow day. If we lose, then I'll personally pay you four hundred gold, two hundred more than my due amount, do we have an accord?" he asked, holding his hand out.

"Are you sure about that Joey? You really don't know who you are messing with here. Crystal is the Snow Princess, she lives hockey...the odds of you winning a game against her are zero to none." Briar said.

"I'll take those chances! I'm a chance taking guy, what do you say babe? You in or out?" he asked. Crystal shook the boy's hand, giving him a smirk.

"I'm definitely in, and I'm going to school you in this." she said, using her wand to give herself some ice skates, made out of literal ice. She also crafted a hockey stick made out of ice, which was a brilliant blue color.

"She's serious...I'm definitely gonna enjoy this." Blake said, skating toward his side of the rink. Briar shook her head, a deep frown on her face.

"Now we're fucked, thanks...fair warning, don't call Crystal stuff like babe, honey, sweetheart and princess. Unless you're her boyfriend, she'll freeze your nuts off. Let's take our place Dex."

"Uh...okay." Dexter said, following Briar back to their spots as the defense-men.

Joey skated toward the center of the lake, expecting Blake to handle the face off. Blake shared a few brief words with Crystal, most likely to introduce themselves, judging by the handshake. He was however quite surprised when he saw the mint haired girl take his friend's spot, placing the puck on the ice between them.

"Ready to lose Snow Angel?" the boy said softly, earning a smile from the girl.

They struck sticks three times, with Joey taking a swing at the puck, only to see it was gone. Rapidly turning around, he saw Crystal had already shot past Briar and Dexter, who had been unable to keep up with her. She shot the puck into the net, before Lily could even react. She skated back toward Joey, giving him a smile as she pressed a finger to his nose, her baby blue eyes glittering with excitement.

"Hope you have enough cash in your wallet Ponyboy...because momma plays to win." she said, giving him a wink as she took Hunter's spot. Joey shook his head as he let Briar take the next face off.

Shot after shot, face off after face off, Blake and Crystal managed to get past Joey and Dexter's defenses, each of them playing a game of keep away with the two. It became apparent that Joey did in fact make a mistake when he taunted the Snow Princess. Briar wasn't even trying anymore, having given up when her icy friend joined the game. It wasn't long before Blake's team passed their score and kept adding to it, with Joey and his team only raising their score to seventeen points. Blake's team had already made it to twenty points, and were most likely to score the next once. Joey and Crystal once again were about to face off, a worried look washed over the boy as he was forced to look at his opponent.

"Um...is it a little late to change our bet? I don't really have four hundred gold." he said.

"Mmm, nope. We shook on it, and once you shake on a bet you can't undo it...what's wrong? Didn't you want to take me out on a date? I thought you were really cute too." she teased, causing the boy to flush, which was rather apparent in the cold weather.

"Game point guys, this is possibly our final face off...let's all do our best." Blake said, earning a glare from Joey. He and Crystal struck sticks, with the Snow Princess easily getting the puck from him. He growled, quickly skating after her.

He tried his hardest to get the puck away from her, but she didn't make it easy. It was as if he was staring at a professional NHL player on the ice, instead of a teenage girl with ice powers. She easily got past Dexter and Briar, shooting the puck into the net. She gave Joey a pat on the shoulder as she skated by, letting her hockey stick disappear from her hand.

"I'll be here for the rest of the week, pay me before I leave, or you owe me. And it isn't a good idea to owe me." she said, kissing his cheek. He flushed a bit as she skated off.

"Thank you so much Crystal! How can we ever repay you?" Hunter asked.

"You don't have to repay me...seeing the look on Joey's face when I schooled him was enough. I find cocky guys really unappealing, so even if he did win, I wouldn't have gone on that date with him." she said.

"That's just like you Crystal, you could have at least gone easy on him." Briar said, stopping next to the mint haired girl.

"Sorry, you know how competitive I am in hockey." she replied, rubbing her neck in embarrassment.

"Hey, don't be embarrassed. You're awesome when it comes to this game, far better than I am at least." Blake said.

"That's true, what's this I hear about you being a figure skater growing up? You like wearing tight spandex?" Cerise asked, earning a sigh from the boy.

"No, I didn't like the spandex, but it was the only way Molly would teach me how to skate. I mean come on, she was almost a professional figure skater, there was literally no one else that wanted to teach me. So yeah, I did what I had to do to get that good on the ice." he said, a smirk on his face. He wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her into a kiss. Crystal looked a bit disappointed by his action, but quickly shook it off, giving her friend a smile.

"Do you know where Ash is? We were supposed to meet, but my phone died before I could text her." she said.

"Sure, I'll give her a call. You guys wanna get some chocolate? I do owe you all money." Briar said.

"Why not? We could all get to know Crystal a little more." Hunter said.

"Hey, I got a question...is your mom's name Elsa by any chance? Do you have an aunt named Anna?" Blake asked.

"Um...yes, how do you know that?" the girl asked.

"Oh right, this is the Blake I told you about Crys, the one that comes from another world. He knows all of our tales already, so that's why he's asking about your mother and your aunt." Briar said.

"Ah yes! Oh my gosh, I've wanted to meet you for so long! What's your world like? Do you have talking snowmen too? Can reindeer fly? Is Santa real there too?"

"Whoa girl, rapid fire questions aren't good for my mental health. Too many answers at once, let's just take it one at a time." the boy said, earning a flush from the girl. Cerise narrowed her eyes a bit, taking a hold of Blake's hand.

"Let's go find Ashlynn, then we can get that chocolate." she said, stepping off the lake, the blades disappearing from her boots much like everyone elses. Blake didn't know why, but he could sense his girlfriend was a bit annoyed. He just hoped he didn't do anything to annoy her.


	29. Joey's Choice

**A/N:**

 **Hello everyone and welcome to chapter 29 of Through the Looking Glass...man can you believe it, almost 30 chapters...I didn't think that this story was going to make it this far in such a short period of time, but here we are. This will be the last chapter of the filler arc, as Chapter 30 is the beginning of the Winter Formal Arc. We will get to see quite a lot of things happening, including a very special performance by Purple Rhapsody, which is really hard to write, but will be really fun regardless. It's gonna be a bit challenging to get it right, but I'll do my best to bring you a quality chapter, and it will most likely be from Apple's point of view, since I haven't actually made any important chapters with her. When you've got this many characters, it becomes hard to write stuff around all of them...I just noticed that I neglected Kitty a lot in this filler arc, so I will be making most of chapter 33 about Kitty.**

 **This chapter will be about Joey's choice, at least near the ending, and you will all get to see Blake and Joey's dynamic slowly start to change. After all, Joey didn't remember him for six months after Blake disappeared into the mirror, so having lost all of those memories and then regained them, it's changed him quite a bit. His attitude in Ever After is a bit different from the norm and how he would act. He's already shown interest in Duchess, and a few other girls, but Duchess is the girl that he will try to go after...let's just say that Joey isn't the same person that Blake remembers him to be...in this chapter you get to find out a secret that Joey had kept from Blake for quite awhile and a major event that will change their dynamic. You'll get to see just how everything turns out.**

 **The Winter Formal will be a rather important dance as well, as it will be the changing point of various things in this story, though everything will be happening in Spring Unsprung, the things that take place in this arc will finally explode in that arc, so you'll all just have to wait and see what I mean by that...let's just say, it's gonna be explosive.**

 **As for Blake and what happens to him in Spring Unsprung...well there are a lot of things that are still in the proto-stage, I haven't worked my story around that plot yet, but I will be outlining that arc soon, so I'll be coming up with most of the important events. As all other arcs, it will be either four or five chapters long, covering the events of Spring Unsprung, and the results of this arc will of course carry over into Way too Wonderland...every choice has consequences, and the choices made in this chapter will ultimately decide a great many things in the future of this story...so I do really hope you look forward too it.**

 **As always, favorite and follow my profile for updates, review the story if you feel like it, and is you ask questions then please feel free to PM me. I will always be here to answer them...also if we could get the hashtag #FuckTheWalkingDead trending, that would definitely make me happy...as you all probably know, I am quite disappointed with this show that I have literally spent my last seven years watching and it pisses me off how this show was fucking ruined. I hope Robert Kirkman fucking wins the lawsuit against AMC because he is definitely getting cheated out of major bucks from this show...have a good one.  
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Ever After High

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 29

Joey's Choice

It was fun having one of his friends from his world in Ever After. In some ways, he could tell Joey things he couldn't tell Cerise, or Hunter or anyone else he was close to this world. It was hard for Blake sometimes, but he made do with what he had. Now that Joey was in Ever After, for however short that time may be...he could finally feel comfortable. It was difficult thinking about his home, wondering how his family was doing, how everyone was doing. It was hard having to think about the times he had played with Lucy and had hung out and spent time with her. No one in this world knew who she even was, so to them it didn't fully sink in like it would with someone he had known from childhood.

In his mind, it sounded a bit messed up. But there was no way for him to convince himself...it was a rather challenging thing, especially after he had forced himself move on. Outwardly, he was the happy, charismatic person he always was. He was outspoken, loving toward his girlfriend, a bit snarky when needed and took shit from no one. Inside, he was a ball of worry, anxiety and stress. He had his games to relive said stress, he had wooden dummies to take out his rage and aggression, and he at least had ways to cope with his anxiety. It was hard for him sometimes. The nightmares were worse now than they were before. There were days where he slept fine, and days where he barely slept at all...of course make up went a long way to hide the bags under his eyes. It was something he had taught himself for whenever he got into fights and had to hide his black eyes. It fooled his mom for awhile, but after several times, she started catching on. He didn't get into fights anymore, but he kept fresh make up on him in case he ever did.

He frowned as he looked up at his ceiling, silently petting Cadence who had fallen asleep by his side. His little dragon had kept his mind off those types of matters. She was a well behaved dragon, but she was still a baby, so he had to make sure she didn't tear anything up, though she never did, and he also made sure she got her milk and crystals whenever she was hungry. He was thankful to Ramona for helping him get an amazing pet like Cadence, but sometimes it was hard for him to take care of the baby dragon on his own.

At least Raven had helped him out, since she herself had a pet dragon and had gone through the same things he was going through. She had told him that in a few months, Cadence would outgrow her newborn tendencies and would rapidly start growing, to the size of a medium sized love seat. She would become more mature, but would still be in her toddler stage. It would take around thirty years for her to mature into a full dragon, which hadn't been seen in a long time. In fact, Legend had been the only fully grown dragon in Ever After for while. He was honestly looking forward to that, especially because she would be able to fly by then, and then he wouldn't have to walk anywhere.

Blake moved his hand away from his snoozing pet, reaching for his projector remote. He flicked the device on, reaching for his laptop. Sitting up in his bed, he started typing his password, accessing his profile, he moved his cursor to his anime folder and clicked it open, frowning a bit. He had several series stored on his external hard drive...it wasn't hard for him to just rip an entire program and just save it onto it. It was something he had been doing since he was thirteen. Now that he was sixteen, he had a decent collection of digital anime, along with his extensive physical copies.

Along with that, he had copied all of his movies into they're own separate file on his hard drive. He had nearly fifteen hundred movies, all of which he transferred onto his laptop the second he bought them. His physical copies were practically for display purposes only, since he could watch anything he wanted with a flick of the wrist. In his mind, he had been preparing for a Zombie apocalypse. He would just find himself a bunker, rig up a solar panel he had bought and use that to power his laptop, projector and anything else he would need. If he couldn't find a bunker, he would just take over a supermarket and hope for the best.

Of course, thinking back on it, it had been a silly idea. Taking over a supermarket would be a wonderful idea, at least until someone else tried taking over it. Without a gun, you would die, and if you die well, you become a flesh eating monster. Even though he wanted one to happen, he knew a zombie apocalypse would probably be the literal death of him. He rolled his eyes, exiting his anime folder. He moved to the movie folder, and started looking through that.

"Hmm...I think Twister is a good movie for me right now...eh, but it's all weather related. I could watch Titanic again, but it feels weird watching it on my own. I had Liz last time, and she wouldn't stop crying after the ending. I'll just watch Curse of the Black Pearl, it's been awhile." he muttered, scrolling all the way to the P list. Once he found the movie, he double clicked it. It took awhile to boot up, but it wasn't long before it started playing.

He stood up from the bed, partially waking up Cadence who just let out a yawn. She stretched her limbs almost like a cat before rolling over, going back to sleep. He smirked, shaking his head as he walked over to his fridge, pulling it open, reaching inside for a can of Mountain Dew Supernova. Thanks to his wish, literally every flavor of Mountain Dew, from the original Red, to the most recent Tropical and Arctic Game Fuels had been available for sale in Ever After. Everyone wondered what kind of drink it was, and didn't sell for a few days, it wasn't until after some people started drinking it that it became popular. It was a soda that to them just kinda showed up and became something they all could enjoy. He almost regretted not wishing Dr. Pepper Cherry and Vanilla Coke into Ever After, but he figured every dew ever made was alright for now.

As he was going to sit down in his computer chair, sinking into it as if it we're a bean bag. That's of course when he heard someone knock on the door. He sighed, cracking the soda open with his teeth, a small bit of fizz shooting into his mouth. For the untrained mortal, that would have easily gotten a soda can spilt onto the floor. But he was of course a trained individual who had been shotgunning soda cans since he was nine, so this didn't bother him at all. He unhooked the door chain and unlocked the door, not surprised to see his hooded girlfriend standing on the other side of the door.

"Hey sweetie, did you get bored?" he asked.

"You know me, hang out with Ramona, play with Carmine, the usual. May I come in?"

"Do you need to ask?" he replied, stepping side to let her in the room. She gave him a kiss as she walked into the room, setting her basket on the glass table. Cadence jumped off the bed, giving the girl a few yips in greeting.

"Hello to you too sleepyhead. How's daddy treating you? Is he giving you food when you get hungry?" she asked, taking a hold of the baby dragon. Blake rolled his eyes as he closed his door, making sure it was locked.

Dragons were highly intelligent. He had found out that the first person they often see, become their parent for their early years. Since Blake and Cerise hatched her together, she imprinted on them and acted as if they were her parents. She usually had to be put to sleep by Cerise at night, since she had to leave for her own dorm room. But she had gotten used to her not being there. The hooded girl glanced toward the wall, where the opening credits to Pirates of the Caribbean was being played.

"So...what are we watching?" she asked, glancing up to her boyfriend, who reclaimed his seat at his computer chair.

"Pirates of the Caribbean, Curse of the Black Pearl. In my opinion, the best in the series, but the others are good too. Except the fourth one." he said.

"Sounds interesting, I'm not into the whole pirate thing, but it beats sitting at the lounge all alone." she replied. She reached for the silver strings holding her hood in place, unfastening them.

"You know...you don't have to take that off. If you don't feel comfortable, you don't have too." Blake said, giving her a concerned look. She rose a brow, continuing to take her hood off. She quickly folded it, placing it on the pillow beside her. Cadence wondered over to it, resting her head against it, instantly falling asleep.

"I am comfortable here...we've been dating for three weeks now, I think I'm ready to start taking my hood off around you. Besides you already know about my wolf ears, so it's no use hiding them from you." she said.

She started unbuttoning her plaid flannel shirt, placing it around Cadence as a makeshift blanket. Blake swallowed hard, noticing she had been wearing a tight red spaghetti strap shirt underneath. It had been the first time he had seen his girlfriend without her long sleeved shirt. It had also been the first time he had actually seen her...assets. He quickly turned back to the movie, biting the inside of his cheek a bit.

"Is something wrong Blake? You're usually more talkative than this...if there's something bothering you, you can tell me."

"It isn't that Cerise...nothing is bothering me, honest." he said.

"Really? Then why don't you look at me?"

"Huh? Oh...I wanted to see the movie, the intro is really cool." he said.

"Are you sure about that? Because the movie's been paused since I sat down here." she said, making him blink a few times. He noticed the two white lines at the bottom of the screen, paused right at the beginning credits. He hissed in annoyance, hitting the space bar of his computer.

"Like I said, nothing is wrong! I promise."

"Then look at me, don't make me sit on your lap." she said, a teasing tone in her voice. He sighed, turning to face the girl, who snickered a bit at his flushed face. She glanced at her chest for a second, a proud smile on her face.

"Blondie was right, going a bit provocative did make you flush, how cute."

"What? You did this just to make me blush? What the hell Cerise? I didn't think you'd be one to give me blue balls." he said, an annoyed look on his face.

"It's nothing wrong, I'm your girlfriend, and I feel comfortable around you. I'm happy that I can be like this other than in my dorm. The only one that's seen me like this is Cedar, and that's because she's my roommate. You make me happy, and I want you to be comfortable around me too." she said, giving him a smile.

Blake felt his heart skip a beat...he wasn't expecting the girl to be so trusting toward him. He stood up from his seat, leaning down to kiss her. She wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer to herself, kissing him back with vigor. She moaned into his mouth, her fingernails digging into his back, though his shirt protected him slightly from injury. They broke apart to breath, staring into each others eyes...he gave her a smirk, bringing his lips close to her ear.

"I'm not taking my shirt off." he whispered, earning an annoyed growl from the girl. She pushed him away, crossing her arms in annoyance.

"Damn it, this isn't about your shirt...ugh...let's just watch the movie." she said.

He rolled his eyes, pulling on the laces of her boots, pulling them off her feet. She was of course wearing red fluffy socks, he was sure she was obsessed with the color red, and being the next Red Riding Hood wasn't an excuse. They both leaned up against the wall, using his comforters to cover themselves up. He gave her a kiss on the cheek, and she settled into his side, a smile on her face.

"You know...I like moments like these. I always thought I would never have a moment like this...I thought love was sappy and stupid. I guess all that I needed was to meet someone like you." she said softly.

"I'm glad that you changed your mind on love then. I've never felt this way either...I mean, I did fall in love with Lucy, but the stinging rejection was ingrained in my mind. It was hard not too, since she disappeared the following day...I'm still convinced she left because of that." he said.

"I'm sure she didn't...Blake don't keep blaming yourself for her disappearance. The fact that you opened up your heart to her, and she disappeared right after is just a coincidence. Maybe she ran away, maybe someone kidnapped her...or maybe she just...I dunno. But what I do know is that she wouldn't run away just because her best friend was in love with her." Cerise said, earning a sigh from the boy.

"If you say so."

"Blake, look at me."

He closed his eyes for a couple seconds, before turning to face his girlfriend. He looked into her silver-blue eyes, seeing the concern in them. She placed a hand on his cheek, her glossy crimson lips curling into a smile. She gave him a kiss on the lips, touching her forehead with his.

"Don't blame yourself for Lucy's disappearance...I can see how much it hurts you. Maybe you are right, maybe you are wrong...but the fact of the matter is that she left, and her answer left with her. You have to move on from that. I'm here for you, just like you're here for me...that's because I love you, okay?" she asked.

"I...okay Cerise, you're right...it's been two years since she disappeared in my world...so I just...have to let it go. I...I love you too." he said, flushing a bit. She was about to say something, but was quickly silenced. She ran her thumb under his eye, noticing the sort of oily feeling to it. He backed away from her just as she narrowed her eyes.

"Foundation? You use make up?"

"Uh...no?"

"Blake Bigby, tell me what's wrong with you or I'll twist your nipples with all my strength. Remember, I'm part wolf." she said, bearing her fangs a bit. He shuddered a bit, remembering Holo the Wise Wolf and how annoyed she had often gotten at Craft in Spice and Wolf. He sighed, closing his eyes.

"Fine...ever since I first arrived here...I've been having nightmares. They weren't an issue at first...but they've been getting worse. Sometimes I sleep fine for a few days, other times...I can barely sleep. I don't want to concern anyone, so I just hide my baggy eyes with foundation and take a shot of an energy drink to stay alert during the day."

"What? You've been having this problem for so long and you didn't tell anyone? Why?" she cried, a shocked look on her face. He backed away from her a bit, glancing at the bed sheets.

"I didn't want to worry anyone. Cerise I'm sorry, I really am okay? I've been dealing with it for awhile, and ever since True Heart's Day, I was perfectly fine...but they've been getting worse. Ever since I found out about the shard in my chest." he said, placing a hand over the area where it was located.

"Sweetheart I...damn it...I'm sorry okay...I didn't think you would be suffering so much. Forgive me for snapping at you."

"It's fine okay...you're just concerned. I haven't told anyone, well...other than Duchess, she heard me one night but didn't say anything about it. I promise to get some help."

"My grandmother told me, that talking about your nightmares helps you understand them. When you do, they're less likely to happen. Want to tell me what it was about?" she asked, slipping her fingers through his. He took a shaky breath, glancing up at the movie that had been ignored for the last ten minutes.

"It's always the same...I wake up in the Mirror Realm, and start hearing the Evil Queen's laughter. I run away from it, as far as I can...until I find this mirror. I'll be looking through it, and see my family on the other side. I scream at them, and pound on the glass but they can't hear me. I hear that damned laughter getting close and I try to break the glass, but I can't. When the Evil Queen finally reaches me, she stabs me in the chest with that shard and breaks it off. That's usually when I wake up."

"Okay...so maybe this dream is a recurring memory...that one memory that was taken from you by the Evil Queen. Maybe your subconscious is trying to make you remember through dreams." Cerise said, earning a curious look from the boy.

"That could be it...I never really thought about it that way."

"Hmm...have you had any other dreams?" she asked curiously, earning a nod from the boy.

"Whenever I'm not in the Mirror Realm, I'm wondering through the empty halls of Ever After High...I'll be looking for my friends but none of them are ever around. It isn't until I walk into the castleteria that I find them all turned into glass...mirrors to be exact. Recently, I've been seeing those close to me being shattered by the Evil Queen...the night before, it was Lizzie, last night was you...two days before that, it was Kitty." he said. Cerise swallowed the lump in her throat, reaching for her basket.

"Who else has been in this dream?" she asked, as she typed in the combination to open the safeguarded basket.

"Apple was first...the Evil Queen actually spoke in this one. She said, don't worry boy, I'm only doing what my useless daughter didn't have the gull to do. Then she turns her back to normal and shoves a poisoned apple into her mouth. I'll try to save her life, but I'm not her Prince Charming, so she chokes to death in her sleep. I managed to save Raven, and ran toward the exit...but when we reach the entrance, she gets impaled by a mirror shard, right through the heart." he said.

"How...how do I die?"

"I don't want to talk about it...sweetheart please." he said, giving her a pleading look. She gave the boy a nod, giving him a peck on the lips. He took a hold of her face, kissing her back a bit harder, earning a soft sigh from Cerise.

"I didn't want to bring those bad memories up...but at least we know the extensive effects of these nightmares. But I have a solution to it." she said, pulling a white napkin from inside her basket, holding it out to him.

"A napkin? What am I gonna do with this?" he asked.

"Nothing dumb ass, it's what's inside the napkin that will help you." she replied, flicking his nose. He glanced at it curiously, unfolding the napkin. He glanced back at her, brow raised in curiosity.

"A cookie? How is this gonna help?" he asked. She swiped the cookie from his hand, shoving it in her mouth.

"Wrong napkin...here." she said, handing him another napkin. He chuckled a bit, unfolding it. Inside it was a small crystal, in the shape of a crescent moon. It was attached to a thick leather cord, decorated with bright blue, soft pink, and light green beads. He held it in the palm of his hand, looking back at his girlfriend.

"What is this?"

"This my handsome boyfriend, is a moon crystal. There was this legend in Ever After, revolving around the nursery rhyme, Hey Diddle Diddle. When the cow jumped over the moon, it knocked a few crystals from it, and they fell down to the fairy world. For generations, children have been using them as natural night lights. This one was given to me by my Daddy before he became a teacher here."

"That's so cool...I didn't think something so cool would exist here...but wait, if your dad gave you this, then you must have had nightmares too...right?"

"I did as a kid. I used to think that no one would want to befriend me, or speak with me because I was part wolf. I started hiding behind my hood and not speaking to anyone. I would have nightmares of everyone hating me, and screaming at me. When I told my daddy, he went to a far away cave, and got me this moon crystal. It's helped me out for years, but I don't have nightmares anymore...I keep it around as a good luck charm...but now I'm giving it to you."

"Huh...no, I can't accept this...this means too much to you." he said, holding it out to her.

"No, you need it more than I do. These nightmares are crippling you, and I'm not going to watch you slowly deteriorate until these nightmares get the best of you. I love you Blake, I really do. I know I shouldn't, but I fell hard. I don't want you to suffer in silence." she said, hugging him tightly. He frowned a bit, wrapping his arms around the girl, burying his face in the crook of her neck.

"Thank you Cerise...I'll cherish this forever. I love you, you're the best thing that's happened to me in this world." he said, closing his hand around the crystal.

"I'm happy then, you're the best thing that's happened to me too...now stop hugging so hard, I know you just want to feel my boobs against your chest." she said, causing the boy to let go of her.

"S-sorry."

"It's fine...how about we restart this movie? Seeing as we've been messing around for half of it?"

"Don't say that! It makes it sound like we really were messing around!" he said, his face flushing like a tomato. She gave him a kiss on the lips, a smirk on her face.

"It's what you get for not taking off you shirt."

 _ **xxx**_

"Are girlfriends supposed to rustle your jimmies?" Blake said, glancing at Joey and Hunter, the three boys were hanging out at Hocus Latte, feeling the urge to get some hot chocolate.

"Hell yes! I've been dating Ashlynn for eleven months, and she teases the shit out of me all the time. She loves wearing silky gowns when we're alone, sweet talking me and then leaving me half cocked while she goes out with her friends...it pisses me off more than you know." the son of the Hunter said, earning a laugh from Joey.

"You two are losers for letting your girls blue ball you like that. What you're supposed to do, is blue ball them...or blue lip them...I dunno...make them wet and then just leave them hot and bothered. That should even things out."

"Joe shut up...if we leave them hot and bothered, then they'll just double their fucking efforts...trust me, Cerise would just up the ante somehow." the black haired teenager said, taking a long gulp from his lukewarm chocolate.

"Tell me about it...I tried doing that with Ash once, and she just started crying. She didn't stop until I got her ice cream, and then she told me never to make her wet again unless I was manning up and sealing the deal. It's not fun." Hunter said, not wanting to remember that one moment.

"You see, that's your problem, you let females take a hold of you. Once they have you in their French tipped grasp they'll never let you go. It's even worse when they're on the rag...it's why I don't have a girlfriend, too much work." he said, leaning back in his seat.

"Or you don't have a girlfriend, because you act like a misogynistic piece of shit who's never getting his dick wet in his life." Blake said, shrugging his shoulders as he finished his chocolate. Hunter pressed his fist against his lips, trying his hardest not to say anything.

"Alright...okay...you got me there."

"Sorry for being a dick about it, but you have to act a little...humbler? I mean...you need to stop thinking about pussy and value what they're worth! You've asked three girls out and all of them have rejected you. It was because of how you projected yourself, I mean, Duchess is a twat..."

"Hey! I'm right here you know!" the monochrome haired girl cried, as she was sitting by herself four tables from the boy.

"It's alright Duchess, I called you a twat in a nice way...you haven't proved me wrong yet." Blake replied, earning a chuckle from his friends. The girl just growled, sinking into her chair, eyes narrowed in anger. Once could almost hear the searing honks blaring in her mind.

"As I was saying, Duchess isn't exactly the nicest girl, but even I got a date out of her. It isn't because I'm handsome, smooth talking, an awesome singer or any of that. It's because I'm nice to people...what was the first thing you said to Lizzie when you met?"

"I don't recall...it was such a long time ago, you know me and my memory." Joey said, brushing off the boy's question.

"You asked her if she was a Valentine's Day delivery girl, because she liked hearts. Bad first impression...what was the first thing you said to Apple when you asked her out?" Blake said, earning a frown from the boy.

"Apple? Apple Apple...nope, I've never met no Apple. Who names their child Apple anyway? That's just cruel." the boy said, earning a chuckle from Hunter. Duchess had regained interest in their conversation, so she turned to them, not exactly wanting to join, but not exactly wanting to leave either. Blake set his empty cup down on the table, leaning back in his chair.

"Okay then, I'll remind you since you have bad memory. You walked up to her, after I told you Apple was off limits to everyone. You wrapped your arm around her her waist, and said and I quote, Hey honey, I've got a stiff pole for your wet hole if you agree to dinner with me tonight...what did she reply with?"

"Um..."

"What did she reply to you with Joseph?" Blake asked, standing up and pointing at the young man. He sighed, crossing his arms.

"A slap to the face."

"A slap to the face, but not just any slap...it was a back handed pimp slap, with her ring hand. You had a diamond encrusted apple shaped bruise on your cheek for the rest of the day. Trust me, I was slapped by Apple too, but she didn't hit me as hard as she hit you! Finally, the third girl you attempted to court, the sweetest kindest girl I have ever met, one Crystal Winter...what did you say to her?"

"Okay I get it! I suck at asking girls out, but it isn't my fault! I only had one girlfriend in my life and that relationship turned sour real fast...she...she just...well Blake you should know this story."

"Eh...what? I should know this story? I never met your girlfriend bro, you just told me all the fun stuff you did, but you were elusive as a naked mole rat." he said. Joey sighed, shaking his head.

"Of course she never told you...that girl that I spoke so much to you about, that I loved with all my heart...that was Lucy."

"What?" Blake asked, barely above a whisper. Joey nodded, bowing his head a bit.

"I thought she had told you...but I guess she decided to keep it secret. We were dating for around a year, I even got her this sweet charm bracelet for our first year anniversary, and she filled it with all of these cool charms. She was acting weird the night she disappeared...like something was concerning her, but when I called her the next day, she was gone...I never got the chance to tell her what she meant to me." he said.

Blake remained silent, the ever present look of shock on his face. He swallowed the lump in his throat, jumping to his feet, grabbing his jacket from the back of the seat, slipping his arms through it. He grabbed his hat from the table and put it on his head, brushing his bangs from his eyes.

"I gotta go...I just remembered I was supposed to work on the yearbook tonight...thanks for coming out you guys, it means a lot." he said, walking toward the door.

"Okay...see you later then." Hunter said. Joey however didn't know what was going on with his friend. He was going to follow him, but decided against it, as he was most likely rather busy. Duchess got up from her seat, grabbing her half full cup, leaving the cafe right after the boy.

"So...you and Ashlynn reach second base yet?" he asked, earning a frown from the boy.

"No." he said dejectedly.

 _ **xxx**_

"Blake wait up...jeez, don't make me run in the snow, I'm wearing heels!" Duchess cried, causing the boy to stop. She let out a sigh, catching her breath a bit, her hair falling around her face.

"What's up Duchess?"

"What...was that about? Back at the cafe?" she asked, looking up at the boy.

"That was nothing...I just remembered I needed to work on this and left. Nothing more, nothing less." he replied. Duchess crossed her arms across her chest, narrowing her chocolate brown eyes in annoyance.

"Blake, you are the only person aside from Sparrow that I give a remote fuck about. You have helped me realize a lot about myself, stuff that I couldn't have realized on my own. I do agree that I can be a twat some times, but I'm at least a good listener, I'm a swan after all. So tell me, what was that about?"

"Okay fine...it just...all sunk in. I told Lucy that I loved her, and she disappeared a day after...I didn't even know Joey had spoken to her the night before. Now that I know they were dating for more than a year...I understand why she left. It was totally my fault!"

"No it wasn't...you can't possibly think that she left because of you." Duchess said firmly, shivering a bit because of the cold.

"But she did! Christ! Joey and I are best friends, we have been since we met, and she's been what's kept us together...she was dating Joey, and I told her I loved her...she didn't want to cause any trouble between us so she took herself out of the equation. She disappeared so she didn't have to watch us fight over her...it all makes sense now." he snapped, glancing at the bracelet around his wrist, which shook with sadness.

"Don't make me slap you dammit! It wasn't your fault okay? When you fall in love, you fall in love. There's no denying it, there's no predicting it, it just happens! You told her that you loved her, but she didn't reject you, she fucking left. She took the cowards way out, instead of telling you that she and Joey were dating! That's what she did, it's her fault, not yours!"

"Duchess...I."

"Don't you interrupt me, I'm not done speaking! I don't know you well enough, I don't know jack shit about your relationship with Joey and Lucy, but I know enough that what happened isn't your fault. Never, let it be your fault, because it isn't. Falling in love sucks, especially when it's with someone unattainable...maybe she did it to stop you and Joey from fighting, or maybe she did it because she loved you too, and didn't want you to poison yourself with that unattainable love."

"That...makes sense I guess...but why couldn't she tell me? Why couldn't she just say she was dating Joey?" he asked, a frown on his face.

"A girl's heart is fragile...especially when we are teenagers. We're starting to grow into adults, we have hormone imbalance, we get self-conscious about our looks, and we have a monthly subscription to the Rag magazine. We can't possibly know what to do when your best friend falls in love with you." Duchess said, clutching a hand over her heart.

"I guess...I'll just never know what she was thinking...now that I at least have this, I guess I can...no...I'll never be used to this. But I understand now...when did you become a love doctor Duchess?" he asked curiously.

"Blame Cupid, I never miss an episode of her stupid love show...I don't want a relationship right now, not because I'm not comfortable with one...but because I'm scared that whoever I fall in love with, will just leave me behind. It's the fate of the Black Swan after all."

"Hey, that isn't true. You rescinded fate and told it to fuck off...you are Duchess Fucking Swan, you are beautiful, you're dancing is amazing and I'm sure if you can do a split you'd drive any man wild within a mile radius. Hone your beauty, become a gentler kinder person, and you'll have throngs of suitors waiting to take your hand." he said, giving her a smile.

"Well...I am good with splits...but that's not the point...I can't fall in love right now...because the one that I love, is in love with someone else...so I've got something I can't act on. I'll just focus on my dancing, by the way, I'm not flashing Joey, I changed my mind." she said, spinning on her heel, turning back toward Hocus Latte.

"Where are you going?"

"Back to the cafe, I left my jacket there...I stand out here any longer and my nipples will pierce through this shirt...I'll catch you later." she said, giving the boy a wave.

"Hey Duchess...do you have a best friend? Someone you can share your darkest secrets too?" he asked. She stopped, turning to face him.

"No...my only friend is Faybelle and she won't be back until the spring...the fuck you asking for?" she asked curiously.

"I'll be your best friend then...I'll be there when you need me...so don't be scared to approach me or my friends when you feel alone okay?"

"Ugh...you give them advice and then they expect you to piss on them as if they were a fire hydrant...whatever." she said, muttering swears under her breath. Blake shook his head as he left, taking her last statement as his answer. If he had been paying attention, he would have noticed her turn around and watch his retreating form, and he would have noticed the look of sadness in her eyes.

 _ **xxx**_

"Thank you all for coming, I know this meeting is a bit sudden but we really did need to host it now." Apple said, standing in front of the entire Student Council. Maddie stood on a podium next to her, a piping hot cup of tea sitting on top of it.

"What's this meeting about? You just asked us to show up with no details at all." Cerise said, earning similar mutters from the others. Blake leaned up a bit, wanting to hear Apple's explanation. Most of the Yearbook staff had also been present, as she had requested for them to be there as well.

"Yes, I apologize for that. The reason this meeting was called up on such short notice is because we need to discuss the upcoming Winter Formal. As you all know, it is a dance celebrating the coming of winter, however it just came to my attention that our guests of honor, the Snow King and Snow Queen will be unable to make it." she said.

"That's right, we tried asking Crystal why that is, but she said that her parents are a little busier with winter this year, so they cannot make it on the Winter Solstice. Hehe, I said solstice."

"Anyway, because of this...we will have to come up with something to replace their traditional visit. Crystal did say she would be able to attend, so we will at least have her there as the Snow Princess." Apple said, earning nods from everyone.

"So wait...I apologize since I'm still getting used to Ever After...what exactly happens during the Formal?" Blake asked, a curious look on his face.

"I can explain that. You see, the Snow King and Queen normally welcome the winter season and bathe Ever After with the first snowfall of Winter. Then, the Thronecoming King dances with the Snow Queen while the Thronecoming Queen dances with the King. Once the first dance of winter is celebrated, we end the night by placing a decorative snowflake at the top of the Christmas Tree in the square in front of the school." Raven said.

"It's a tradition that has been held in Ever After since the first stories started being told. But Crystal hasn't been able to convince her parents to show up this year, she doesn't know why, but her mother seemed a bit worried. She even said she could stay here for longer if she needed too. I'm honestly a bit worried." Briar said, a look of concern on her face.

"If the Snow King and Queen aren't here, then we can't welcome the first snowfall of winter, and then there's no dance, and we can't light up the tree and the tradition won't be spellebrated...and that can't happen! The Winter Formal is the most important and beautiful tradition in Ever After!" Apple cried, a disappointed look on her face.

"Apple, sweetie you're being a bit over dramatic." Blake said, causing the blonde and several others to gasp. Maddie dropped her tea cup, which clattered to the ground, surprisingly without breaking.

"Come on man, you can't just say something like that to her. She has a point, this is a tradition and we've hosted it for longer than you can imagine." Hunter said, earning a sigh from the boy.

"Alright, before you all plan my murder hear me out. Apple, may I take the stand?" he asked, earning a silent nod from the girl. He handed his MirrorPad to Cerise, standing before the joined Student Council and Yearbook staff.

"Okay then, in the last two months and two weeks I have been here, I have learned that this year hasn't been traditional. So how about we make the Winter Formal our own? The Snow King and Queen can't be here, so it can't be a Royal Formal...so what do we do?" he asked.

"We give up?"

"No we don't give up. The hell is wrong with you? We have to make the Winter Formal something different. Crystal is the Snow Princess so it's a safe bet she'll be responsible for the first snowfall of Winter...so let's make the formal around her. The Thronecoming King and Queen can't dance with the Snow King and Queen because they won't be here, so that means we need to replace that with something that'll fit." Blake said.

"So...you don't want to dance with Crystal?" Briar asked, a confused look on her face.

"Hey yeah, he's the Thronecoming King so technically he would have danced with Queen Elsa."

"Can we get back to the matter at hand please? I'm starting to get hungry." Cerise said, a look of annoyance on her face.

"What's wrong? Is Little Red jealous that her boyfriend was going to dance with Queen Elsa, and maybe even Crystal?" someone said in a teasing tone, earning a growl from the girl.

"Hey now, I don't appreciate you taunting my girl like that. For your information, I had a different idea...we will hold a raffle to see who gets the lucky dance with Crystal. It's rather simple really." he said, reaching into his backpack.

He pulled a glass jar from inside filled to the brim with Jellybeans. He had just bought it from Ginger earlier that day with his employee discount. He knew the number of beans inside because he had been the one to fill it. It was an unmarked jar, filled with brilliant colors and different flavored beans. He placed the jar on the podium, placing his hand over it.

"This my friends, is a jar full of beans. Not just any beans, the sweetest most awesome jelly beans created by the hands of the goddess Ginger. The exact number known is in my head, and of course written on a little card that Ginger made with the exact count when I filled it up. So, here's how it'll go down. This jar shall be in the possession of Crystal Winter, the Princess of Snow...Apple will handle the raffling tickets...Raven will keep track of the voters. One vote per person, per class, I will of course abstain." he said.

"So...you want us to guess how many beans are in that jar, and the winner get's to dance with Crystal?" Hunter asked, earning a nod from the boy.

"Precisely...whoever guesses the number accurately or gets close to the final amount, will win first place. A dance with Crystal, second place gets a dance with the Thronecoming Queen, Third place gets a dance with me, and fourth place keeps the jellybeans." he said, a smirk on his face.

"Okay...that's fair...but what's stopping any of us from buying a jar just like that and counting the beans ourselves?"

"Hey yeah, can't we just do that instead? It'll be really easy to get the exact amount then." another girl added, earning several mutters from the gathered council. Blake nodded, reaching into his pocket for his phone. He dialed Ginger's number, placing the device to his ear.

"Hello, Ginger? Yeah this is Blake...listen, I'll explain this to you later, but we cannot sell those jellybeans until after the Winter Formal. I'll tell you everything in detail but right now, I want you to take every single jar off the shelves and put the beans away. Don't let anyone talk you into buying one, trust me okay?" he asked. He got a few replies back before ending the call, giving everyone a smirk.

"You all thought you could pull a fast on me, I like that. Just for that I'll give you a little hint. There are less than three thousand beans in this jar. You have until December 19th to submit your guesses to my awesome sister, Raven Queen, if you have any questions, do ask me." he said, giving everyone a smirk. He handed the jar over to Raven who struggled slightly with it's weight.

"Jeez, are you sure there are less than three thousand beans in here?"

"Yes, since we will be the ones practically hosting the raffle, I'll give you and Apple the cards containing the exact amount of beans, guard them with your lives." he said, earning a nod from the two girls.

"Hey hey, I already know just how many beans are in that jar." Maddie said, giving the boy a smile.

"Oh really? Then tell me your guess." Apple said, earning a grin from the girl.

"2,649 jelly beans." she said. Blake's eyes widened a bit in shock. He opened the jar and took a handful of beans from inside, turning to face the crowd.

"The raffle starts next Friday, that guess was invalid...Cerise let's go." he said, shoving the beans in his jacket pocket.

"Can I eat some of the beans? Please?" she asked.

"No, I have to count these and subtract them from the amount left to get the new amount...can't believe Maddie got the guess right. Ugh...she scares the shit out of me." he said, shuddering a bit.

"She scares the shit out of everyone...I got a text from Joey, said he wanted to speak with you about something." she said, earning a nod from the boy. He gave her a kiss on the cheek, pulling out his cellphone as he walked. He shot a text to his friend who instantly replied back, telling him to meet up at the castleteria.

"Wonder what he wanted to talk about...I hope it isn't about Lucy." he said, a frown on his face. Cerise had already been caught up with everything, thanks to Duchess who felt concerned for her friend. She took a hold of his hand, giving it a small squeeze.

"It'll be fine. It was a bit of a shock to hear that they were dating before you told her about your feelings, but I doubt he put two and two together. He's not...well he isn't the brightest crayon in the box. He's a bit of a dumb shit if you ask me." she said, earning a laugh from the boy, who gave her a nod.

"Yeah, I agree with you there. He's a dumb ass and he's never gonna get a girl...I'm gonna miss him. He's supposed to leave tomorrow, I'm sure the potion is all ready for him. Maybe he just wants to say his goodbyes before anything else." he said, a frown on his face. Cerise was going to say something when she saw her father turning the corner. She let go of Blake's hand, getting a few feet away from him.

"Everything will be fine...one day you'll return home too." she said, continuing the conversation. Mr. Badwolf stopped in front of the two, looking closely at them.

"Cerise, why aren't you in class right now?" he asked sternly, the girl swallowed hard, glancing at Blake.

"We just came from a council meeting sir. We were discussing the topic of the Winter Formal, since the Snow King and Queen are unable to attend. In fact, I came up with a raffle idea to see who would dance with Crystal since she's handling the first snow fall. I'll walk Cerise to class and then head back to my own, alright?" he said, very politely.

"I would appreciate that boy...I would also appreciate you telling me when you want to court my youngest pup." the man replied. The blood drained from Blake's face hearing those words. Cerise stood in front of the boy, holding her arm out.

"Don't kill him, daddy please!"

"Why would I kill him? Sure, I don't think he's the right person for you, but he hasn't done anything to make me think otherwise. Just remember boy, you treat my daughter with respect and love. You have only one chance in this relationship, and I don't have to tell you to keep her secret. If I find out that you were the cause of it's exposure, you will never see my daughter again, understood?"

"Yes sir...I will never expose her secret. I'll guard it with my very life if I have too." he said firmly. The man nodded, giving him a pat on the shoulder.

"Good, take her to class...I look forward to seeing the results of this raffle." he said, once again resuming his walk down the hall. Blake released the breath he'd been holding, feeling drained.

"I scared shitless." Cerise said, earning a nod from the boy.

"So was I...guess we don't have to hide it from him anymore. I will protect your secret okay? I'm not gonna let anyone find out what it is, ever. Now come on, let's get you to class before he comes back." he said, taking a hold of her hand.

 _ **xxx**_

Blake felt a bit stressed when he walked into the castleteria. It was mostly due to Mr. Badwolf finding out about his relationship with Cerise. He had gotten an apology text from Ruby ten minutes after, saying she had accidentally told him during their last phone call. He of course didn't mind, but he did tell her to give him a warning next time so he would be prepared. He was sure the woman was giggling like a school girl at the thought of her daughter's boyfriend being afraid of the Big Bad Wolf, who she said was a sweetheart. Of course he hadn't seen that side of him yet, so he seriously doubted it.

It wasn't hard to spot Joey, he was the only one who was leaning against the post, holding his lunch in his hand instead of sitting at the table. He looked up from his food, setting his bowl down as he held his hand up in greeting.

"Yo, what happened to you man? You look like you saw the face of Beelzebub."

"I sort of did...I...never mind, I'll tell you some other time. So what is it you wanted to tell me?" he asked, sitting down at the table.

"Well...I've been thinking about this for a few days now and...do you know how I was supposed to leave tomorrow? I've decided to stay here in Ever After." he said. Blake blinked a few times in confusion, chuckling a bit.

"You're kidding right?"

"I'm not."

Realization finally hit the boy like a ton of bricks and he rapidly stood up, slamming his hands on the table. He was gonna say something but he remained silent, gathering his words before he said them. He was still shocked, confused and curious. He bowed his head a bit, closing his eyes.

"Okay...explain to me what you just told me, a bit slow so I can understand."

"Like I said...I've decided to stay here in Ever After. I got nothing back home, nothing to go back too." he said firmly.

"Nothing to go back too? Dude you have a sister! You have your family! How dare you say you don't have anything to go home back too? You can't just fucking decide something like that on your own."

"Well it isn't your choice now is it? I didn't ask to come here in the first place, you were the cause of that." the brown haired boy cried back.

"It was an accident. I thought that wand had no more wishes, I got you a way back home, and you have to take it. You have too, you can't abandon your family like they mean nothing to you!" Blake cried angrily, ignoring the few people looking in his direction.

"It practically feels that way. My sister isn't home anymore, she's too busy with her new boyfriend to give a shit. She's training for Ice Skating competitions too. My dad is nowhere to be found and all my mother does is drink all the time. I don't even have Lucy back there, so what point is there in me going back?"

"It doesn't matter...at least you can go back, at least you can see your sister and your mother again. I didn't have that choice, I can never go back, or see my family ever again. You on the other hand, can...you have that choice, don't waste it." Blake said, a firm look on his face.

"Well I'm sorry, I've made my choice...Madam Yaga told me that if I want to go home, my chance is now. If I spend too much time here, my body will absorb too much magic and the potion won't work." Joey said firmly.

"You're an idiot...why are you staying here, can you at least tell me the reason?" Blake asked, crossing his arms. Joey smirked, glancing around the castleteria.

"Look around you...this place is awesome. There's magic, cute girls, and you get to live in a freaking castle. You have a pet dragon bro and you know how to use a sword. If you can do it, then I think I can do it."

"That's a stupid and petty reason for wanting to stay here. Yeah, it's cool that you have magic, and having a pet dragon is awesome. Learning how to use a sword, hanging out with cool people and having a beautiful girlfriend is worth it. But it isn't fun after awhile, not when you are forced to forget about everything back home. I love my family more than anything, but you know what...I would never betray them to stay in Ever After." he said firmly.

"Then I guess we don't agree on that. You've changed Blake, you used to be cool...the old you would have jumped at the chance to leave Earth easily. You and I both know the real world is shit, or else you wouldn't write so much fanfiction about leaving it." Joey said, causing the boy to growl, his eyes flashing violet.

"You know nothing of the pain, the suffering I've had to do in silence. The humiliation I faced when Henry exposed my secret. You have no idea what it feels like to miss your family, to never be able to hug your mother, play ball with your father or hang out with your sisters ever again. You are a selfish individual who has no regard with cutting ties for personal benefit. You're not the same person I knew before I fell in that Mirror. If you want to stay fine...but don't blame me later on for making that choice, because you have to own it." he said, walking away from the boy.

"Pfft...whatever, you'll come around. Hey, can you give me Duchess's number? I want to ask her out."

"Get it through your thick head, Duchess Swan will never go out with you, so I would appreciate it if you stayed away from her." Blake said, a firm tone in his voice.

"Worry about your own woman man, I still got a shot. Hey, maybe we can be roommates?"

"No...my room is my own...you already got your own. Let me be the first to say Welcome to Ever After, I hope your stay here is everything you ever hoped for. Selfish prick." the black haired boy said, leaving the castleteria with a huff.

"Hey thanks!" Joey said, a grin on his face. He glanced around the castleteria, shrugging at the others. He grabbed a hold of his tray, licking his lips.

"Roast beef sandwiches are awesome, gotta love meat days." he said happily.

Sometimes choices are made for the benefit of others. Sometimes choices are made for the benefit of one's self. Whatever the choice may be, it will affect people around you. For those who don't have a choice and people that do, it will become a bit more complicated. Eventually, those choices will come back to haunt the one that made it, and the person that it will ultimately affect.


	30. The Winter Formal I

**A/N:**

 **Hello people of Earth, Mars and Space, welcome to chapter 30 of Through the Looking Glass. It has finally happened, thirty chapters...man what a ride...and it isn't over yet, we're gonna be stepping on the gas soon and carrying through some of the middle parts of this story.**

 **So, now we are entering the Winter Formal Arc, which will be very lengthy...around six or seven chapters at most, and five at the very least. It's gonna contain a lot of narrative but it will include information which will play out during Spring Unsprung. You also get to know more about Joey and a bit about Lucy as well, who thus far has only been mentioned but hasn't made an actual appearance. You will also get to see a bit of Blake's past, and you get to see how he acted before going to Ever After High. I do hope you all look forward too it, since it will also play into the story later on.**

 **This chapter will be mostly setting up for the Winter Formal, there will be a time skip soon so we can get to the actual event, but for now it will be discussing Blake's most ambitious performance for Purple Rhapsody, since they're going to handle the Winter Concert. It's...gonna be something...I'm working on being descriptive and also making it all flow perfectly, but sometimes it's all a bit challenging. You'll get some more information on it in this chapter and during the next few.**

 **Sorry for the short authors not, I'm in a bit of a hurry right now...so I'll just leave you with this chapter. Please review, favorite and like my profile so you can get updates. Shoutouts for all of my readers and followers, you are also a part of this story just as much as I am. So have a good night, and remember to stay frosty and snap into a slim jim if you get hungry.**

 **#FuckTheWalkingDead...**

Ever After High

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 30

The Winter Formal I

Even though the Winter Formal was still several weeks away, Ever After High was starting to transition into the event. The raffle had officially started, with Crystal being the holder of the jelly bean jar. She usually held the raffle at lunch, with Apple handing out the raffle tickets and Raven took over the count. It was a rather straining event, as everyone lined up and virtually fought over the jar to see just how many it contained, but Crystal was rather firm on it. As long as she held onto the jar, no one would be taking it. She had even gone as far as freezing the lid onto the jar so no one could attempt to open it. That had of course held back several people, but even among the ones that had voted, no one had come close yet. Only a few weeks were left for those who wanted to take part in the raffle to guess, as the first week had already gone by.

Blake was still getting used to the fact that Joey had decided to stay in Ever After. Apparently, he had spoken with Milton Grimm and convinced him to let him stay in Ever After. Joey had told the black haired boy that he had lied to the man, saying his entire family had died and that he had no one back home, that he didn't have anywhere to go back too. Blake had been rather angry when he heard this, and if it wasn't for Cerise, he would have likely hit his friend. Now that it had happened however, he knew there was nothing he could do to change his friend's mind. He had chosen to stay in Ever After and he couldn't convince him other wise.

So in the mean time, he would just focus on his classes, the yearbook and his job. He had barely spoken to his best friend during that time as he had been busy with his academics. Joey on the other hand had been skipping a few classes to hang out with his new friends, just like he did back on Earth. He was starting to doubt if he had said the truth about the true reason for his loss of the Student Council. Since he wasn't there, he would never know. Now that he knew the truth, that he had been dating his best friend and held that secret for an entire year, he didn't know if he could trust him.

He would just continue living his life like normal. But he wasn't without his regret...while he didn't regret having Ramona in school with him and Cerise, he did regret bringing Joey to Ever After. Everything had gradually gotten better after Henry, but with Joey in this world, he didn't know. It was as if he was speaking to a different person. He had noticed how selfish he had become during the time that he had been missing from Earth. He went on and on saying magic was awesome, and that he would have dropped everything back home if it meant he could travel to Ever After sooner. He just didn't want to snap so he ignored most of his conversations.

That however didn't go unnoticed by his fellow classmate and friend Apple White. Being the kind person that she was, she often times liked to keep tabs on her friends, so she could help them out with problems should they need it. She had noticed Blake's demeanor change since Joey had made his choice to stay in Ever After. She had heard his stories before, and how highly he spoke of his best friend, all of the good times they had, but it was as if something changed between the boys, but she couldn't quite put her finger on it. So, she decided it was time to pay her friend a visit. Knocking on his door, she backed away from it, folding her hands over her skirt.

"I hope he's in here...he's been avoiding everyone but Cerise for the past week." she muttered softly to herself.

She had noticed several things about the black haired boy. He had been rather excited at the beginning of the raffle, and seemed overjoyed when people tried to take guesses. But his demeanor had slowly started changing, he still put on a smile on his face and was outwardly friendly, few noticing his actual feelings. In fact, it was Raven that had convinced her of checking up on him, since he wasn't answering to her texts. His bandmates were also concerned, since he had skipped out on various practices. Cupid was the most worried, since the Winter Formal was going to be the biggest event for Purple Rhapsody, and she hadn't gotten a single word from their song writer. She knocked again, a little firmer this time. The door opened a second later, revealing the black haired young man.

Apple couldn't help but flush. She was used to seeing the boy wearing long sleeved shirts and his favorite jacket, but today he was actually wearing a muscle shirt, which accented his toned chest. His arms were quite muscular as well, not overly so, but not undefined either. He was wearing a pair of loose fitting basketball shorts and a pair of black socks. She noticed Cadence was on top of his head, her eyes closed as she seemed to be sleeping. He gave the girl a smile, hiding something behind his back.

"Hiya Apple, is something the matter?" he asked.

"Um...not exactly. Might I come in? I need to speak with you." she said. He nodded, allowing her entree into his room.

She had been there a few times, but she was still awestruck by everything inside. She had noticed a few new things about his room, like it had more figurines and manga volumes, courtesy of Jessica who lived above him. He walked over to his desk, grabbing a screw driver from on top of it. He looked to be working on something, but she didn't see exactly what it was. She walked over to his hanging chair, quietly sitting down. He glanced over to her, setting down what he was working on.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" he asked, giving her his attention. The girl fiddled with her skirt a bit, glancing at the floor.

"Um...are you alright? You've been avoiding people for a week now, only Cerise has spoken with you. You've outright ignored us unless you had a reason to speak with us. Did we do something wrong?" she asked, a frown on her face. There was a look of worry and disappointment on her face, as well as one filled with fear, as if he was going to reject her. He chuckled softly, placing a hand on Cadence as she wriggled a bit.

"You've done nothing wrong. You're all my best friends, I would never do anything against you and I would never reject you. The reason why I've been locked away this entire week, aside from working on the yearbook, is because I'm coming up with our Winter Formal performance." he said.

"Performance? I completely forgot Purple Rhapsody will be the headlining act. Does that mean you're writing new songs for the concert?" she asked, a look of excitement on her face.

"I've written three new songs yes...but I'm working on our headlining act. It's called Shatter Me...and it's going to be a cover of one of my favorite songs back on Earth. I want our music to shatter expectations, to make this Winter Formal different and more memorable than the traditional one. I know you don't want to break tradition, but I'm not gonna deny that I want to shatter this one." he said, earning a sigh from the girl.

"It's true...I'm a girl who was raised in tradition. It's why I want to follow my destiny more than anything. But if Thronecoming taught me something, is that we need to be more open with each other, and let our hearts decide." Apple said, placing a hand on her chest. He smiled, remaining still as Cadence jumped off his head and onto his lap.

"I'm proud of you Apple, you've changed a lot since I first met you. You're more open with breaking away from the Storybook. There's nothing wrong with that...which is why I have a very important task for you." he said.

"Huh...for me?" she asked.

"Mhmm...I need you to bring me Lizzie and Duchess, they're going to be essential for this performance. I've already called up my bandmates and they'll be here soon."

"Oh...okay, I'll bring them right away!" she said happily, standing up from her seat.

"Tell them nothing, this performance is going to be secret alright? People know we're gonna perform, but they don't know what we'll perform, and I want to keep it that way." he said, earning a nod from the blonde. She gave him a wave, leaving his dorm a second after.

He set down the finished device he had been working on. It was a heart shaped music box, made entirely out of spare parts he had gotten out of old toys. It had been hard to re-purpose a forgotten music box, making it play the exact notes he wanted in the beginning. He had even taken apart his Ipod, using the inner mechanisms to make the device fully work. Using his computer, he was able to create a Midi file and stored it in the Ipod's memory, and had created a program that would play it only when the box was wound. That mechanism was in the shape of a heart, with a small keyhole in it.

The rest of the music box was made from the parts he had left. The heart he had created would be placed on the front, hooked into it. Once it was wound and attached to the base, it would power up the rest of it. The glass covering the small ballerina was a bit old, scratched and cracked, but it made it look even more rustic. The small ballerina was holding a tiny violin, inside the base of the box, was a bluetooth speaker, which would be hooked up to the back of the heart with an auxiliary cord for a direct connection. Once a small switch was flicked on the heart, the music would start playing. He smiled at himself, already picturing the performance in his mind.

While Apple was out, he decided to take a shower and make himself more presentable, donning a light blue shirt with white snowflakes on it. A pair of faded blue jeans and his boots. He brushed his hair slightly, noticing the color dye was staring to fade away, leaving only the violet strand through the fringe that worked its way to the back of his head, a reminder of his meeting with the Evil Queen. He heard Cadence whimper a bit and he looked down, giving his pet dragon a smile.

"I'm fine sweetheart, just some bad memories. You want some food? I'm sure you do!" he said happily, causing the baby dragon to happily jump around.

He walked over to his mini fridge, pulling out a bottle of milk and a small bag of crystals. He crushed a few of them with a hammer and poured them into the milk, shaking the bottle a bit. He didn't even fully close the bottle when the dragon jumped into his arms, taking the bottle in her grasp. He chuckled, placing the dragon in her bed, watching as she started suckling on the bottle with glee. He heard a knock on the door and started moving toward it, quickly throwing it open, expecting to see Apple, instead he saw his friend Joey, his smile turned into a frown.

"Hey man, what are you up to?" he asked jovially.

"Oh...nothing...waiting for my bandmates." he said simply.

"Cool cool...I had nothing to do so thought I would hang out here. You've been incognito for a week bro, something wrong?" the boy asked, walking into the room. Blake didn't really say anything, moving toward his desk, throwing a pillow case over the music box.

"I've been busy working on the yearbook and doing my homework, you know...because I want to graduate." he said, sitting back in his seat, crossing his arms over his chest.

Joey glanced around the room, seeing a line up of guitars across the room, two acoustic guitars were placed on either side of a couple electric guitars. Blake's left handed Gibson Explorer was in the center, after their first performance, Melody had let him keep it, and he had taken excellent care of it. It had become his favorite instrument to play. Next to it was a Fender stratocaster, with a light purple paint job, mimicking zebra stripes. It had a glossy finish, making it shine brightly in the room. It was a righty guitar, which he had as a back up in case his main one didn't work.

"I suppose...you know you didn't really care about academics back on Earth. You skipped most of Freshmen year, so what's the deal now?" Joey asked, taking a hold of the violet guitar.

"Well, I don't have a choice but to work on my academics. You know, so that I'm actually somebody in this world...instead of just a moocher. Put that guitar down, it costs more than you think." he said, causing the boy to jolt a bit in surprise, putting the guitar down.

"I wasn't gonna break it man...you know, I play a little...I got into bass guitar a while back. You know what would be really cool? If you let me into your band! Come on, I can play a few songs, let Dexter take a break." he said.

"No...Cupid is our frontman, while Raven is gone she makes the calls. Dexter is our best bassist, we've been together since the beginning, and I doubt she'd replace him over you." Blake said, earning a scoff from the boy.

"Why is that? Because he's a Royal?"

"It has nothing to do with Dexter being a Royal. We take our music seriously, I hate to break it to you, but we don't have any extra places left in our band." he said, glancing away from the brown haired boy.

"Oh...that sucks. Hey, I can play classical...maybe the saxophone, that would be cool, toss in some jazz into the boring pop music that you all do." he said, earning a low growl from Blake. He took a deep breath, slowly exhaling.

"Like I said, we have no spots left...now I would appreciate it, if you left. I'm really busy, and this band meeting is rather private." he said.

"Come on bro, we've barely hung out since that night at Hocus Latte. It's like something changed between us."

"I dunno...maybe telling me that my best friend was your girlfriend was what pissed me off. What would you do if I told you I was dating someone you were close too for an entire year without telling anyone?" he asked, a pissed off look on his face.

"Pfft, you did the same. You were dating Little Red while you were here, and didn't tell me about it!"

"How the fuck would I have told you about it moron? Up until that day, I thought I would never see you again, so I didn't feel the need to share it. And I call shenanigans, seeing as I fucking told you right there, we kissed in front of you. You dating Lucy was different...now I get why she was so hesitant to come over for the first few weeks." he said. Joey sighed, lowering his head.

"I'll admit...it was wrong of us to hide it from you...but we just didn't know how you would react. Probably like you are now...I'm sorry alright?"

"Sorry doesn't cut it...it was an entire year Joey...there's a difference. But it hardly matters, Lucy is missing so I forgive her for it, you on the other hand, are on thin ice." he said, earning a frown from his friend.

"Alright I guess...but there is one thing that you need to accept man...Lucy isn't missing. She's dead." he said.

"No she's not. Her body was never found, there were no found reports, no news reports and she wasn't in any morgues as a Jane Doe, I checked. Lucy is still out there, and one day she will come back. But she's gonna be there and find her two friends missing." Blake said, a look of anger on his face.

"Just face the facts man...either she crossed the border into Trump Land, or she got murdered. The fact of the matter is she is dead and gone and she isn't coming back, no matter how much you hope. No matter how much you wish for it, she is dead...get over it. I got over it months ago, I had too." he said, clutching his chest.

"I think it would be best if you left...I want to focus on my music." the black haired teen said, glancing at the far wall. Joey nodded and stood up from his seat, walking toward the door.

"You know, it isn't healthy to hold onto the past. You're in a new world, a clean slate, maybe it's time you let Lucy rest." he said, walking out the door. Blake growled angrily, glaring at the spot his best friend was sitting at.

"Hypocrite...you stayed in this world because you're fucking scared. Scared that if Lucy does come back, she'll be different and won't love you anymore...pussy." he spat, glancing at Cadence, who just looked at him. He smiled, patting his lap. She shot out of her bed, jumping into his lap.

 _ **xxx**_

After calming down for a few minutes, Blake grabbed his music binder and pulled out his sheet music. He started looking at the fixed guitar lines for Shatter Me, checking the notes to make sure they were all translated correctly. This song was split in half, obviously the higher pitched notes would be for the lead guitar, while the rhythm of the melody would be played by the back up. He set those two pieces of music aside, grabbing the bass and drum lines, making sure they were also down as accurately as possible. He had listened to the original song hundreds of times before so memorizing each note wasn't hard. He let out a sigh, placing those two pieces next to each other, pulling out the lyric sheet right after.

"This performance is going to be the death of me...but it's go hard or go home. The music is only the first part, dear Cadence, everything else will slowly click into place." he said, giving the dragon a smile, only to realize that she had once again fallen asleep. He rolled his eyes taking a deep breath. He heard a knock on the door, and he stood up, cracking his knuckles.

"Show time." he muttered happily, walking toward the door. Throwing it open, he barely managed to get a word out when he was tackled into a hug by his girlfriend.

"I missed you." she said, hugging him tightly.

"I missed you too...but please don't tackle me into a hug, I'm still trying to get over the concussion you gave me last time." he said, setting the girl down.

"Hey man, good to see you. What have you been up too?" Dexter asked, giving his friend a hand shake.

"Eh, same old same old. Working on the best performance of the year, duh." he said.

"This ought to be good, I was worried...especially because you haven't shown up for our...homework sessions." Melody said, adding air quotes to her statement.

It had been a while since Blake had actually joined, Melody, Kitty and Duchess for Radio Rebel. In fact, the show earlier that day had ended a bit early, with the Rebel saying he would be taking a break for the year and would be back after January 12th. They played some Christmas songs before ending their broadcast, the final one for the year unless they decided to host a special show, which was bound to be the case. Cupid entered the room, eyes widening a bit when she took a look around. She was of course followed by Duchess and Lizzie, the former bearing the same look as the pink haired cherub. The final person in the room was of course Apple, who still looked curious about the meeting.

"I heard Liz talk a lot about your room, but I didn't think it was this...I can't even describe it."

"Awesome, glad to leave you flabbergasted Duchy, it makes me happy when I do. So, you must all be wondering, why I called you here instead of meeting in Melody's room like usual." he said, turning away from them, walking back toward his desk.

"Yeah, that is a good question. Why did you have Apple get us?" Lizzie asked, a curious look on her face. The boy smiled, grabbing the sheet music he had spread out, folding each one in half.

"Well, let's just say, I've gotten an idea for how we're gonna start the Winter concert. It's gonna be big, ambitious and with luck, seared into the minds of millions, forever." he said.

"Seared into the minds of millions...wait, you want this to be live?" Apple asked.

"A live performance isn't challenging, but having it broadcast throughout Ever After...that would be an honor." Cupid added, an almost romantic look on her face.

"It isn't that hard to pull off either. The Winter Formal is usually broadcast, at least the first dance of winter is...after the King and Queen bring out the first snow fall, the dance goes on television. Getting Grimm's permission to broadcast the concert shouldn't be an issue." Melody said, typing a few things on her laptop.

"Yes, I'll speak with the Royal Student Council, we can hold the First Dance of Winter following the concert. Do you think you can handle the music after that Melody?" Apple asked, earning a thumbs up from the girl, who's eyes remained trained on her screen.

"Okay, that still doesn't explain why we were brought here. I was in the middle of my practice you know...if it wasn't because it was you, I would have definitely ignored Apple." Duchess said, arms crossed over her chest.

"Well, I called you here because you are an integral part of this performance. Every single one of you has a role to play, and you will play it accordingly. Dexter, this is the new bass line I want you to practice, you and Cerise are gonna keep the song in line, so practice it until you memorize it, and practice it again. Same goes for you honey, no slacking." he said, giving the two their sheet music.

"This is serious, especially if he's telling them to practice it repeatedly." Cupid said. Blake smiled, patting her head as he gave her the corresponding sheet music for her part.

"You are an important player as well. The back up guitar is going to be very important, since my line will be the heart of this melody. You and I will practice this twice a day until either your fingers quit, your strings snap or you die of exhaustion, maybe all three."

"Yay." she said dejectedly, accepting her sheet music.

"Melody, the biggest part of this performance falls on your shoulders. We need a light show, but not just any light show. This show has to showcase shattering, breaking free of what holds us back. It has to be dark, it has to be bright and it has to flow well with the music. Most of all, it has to be powered by this." he said, showing her the music box he had built, causing her jaw to drop.

"You want me, to run a light show off a music box? Do you know how challenging that is? I don't think that's even possible." she said.

"It is...I built this using my old Ipod...it has a single song in it, arranged with Midi data. This disc holds that song...it shouldn't be hard to program it so that this box powers the light show." he said, handing the girl the disc.

"Hmm...we have plenty of time for this concert, I'll talk with Humphrey and we'll create a program that'll sync to this box. We can get it down, and honestly it's a bad ass idea. It'll get us plenty of attention." Dexter said, a smile on his face. Blake could already tell he was thinking of how to make the program work.

"If you say so...I can get the light show up easily...but I'll need an image of what you want to go for...the stage is gonna play a crucial role for all of this, and if the dance is outside, it's gonna be cold." Melody said.

"Worry not, this is also why I asked Lizzie to be here. She's a fashion designer, so she'll help me design all of the outfits. I'm thinking, steam punk...and your dress has to be the best one out of them all, because you're gonna be singing the lyrics." he said, handing her the last folded sheet of paper.

"I'm sorry, I didn't hear you correctly...did you say I'll be singing this?" she asked, holding the open sheet to the boy.

"That's correct...we'll need some glow in the dark make up. I just got this awesome image of the opening, us standing in the dark and the only thing you can see is the brilliant red heart and your lipstick...yeah, I like that." he said, grabbing his notebook, jotting that down within.

"I think he's lost it. He's never acted like this before." Cerise said, impressed with her boyfriend's sudden ambition.

"But I do like this idea...a steam punk stage, with outfits that stand out, shield off against the cold...I believe I've got some ideas. Farrah's gonna want to hear this. It would be an honor to sing this song for you, the lyrics are quite lovely...but are you sure a Royal should be singing these? They sound rebellious." Lizzie asked, earning a nod from Blake.

"This is exactly why I needed a royal to sing it. The impact is there, but if a rebel sings it, people will just see it as another song about breaking away from the norm. But if a Royal sings it, then it will help everyone realize that destiny isn't certain, and that everyone deserves a choice. That sometimes it's alright to break away from tradition." he replied passionately. She couldn't help but smile, her eyes reading the lyrics.

"Hmm...I think I like this song, but it'll love it more when I get to sing it. When will get together to practice it?" she asked.

"When we all learn our respective parts, it's how we did it last time." Dexter said.

"Duchess, I'm gonna give you the violin version of the song...the one that this one is based off of. Your task is to come up with a dance routine that will fit with this song. The original music video was of a ballerina breaking out of her music box, so that's why I needed a ballerina for this." he said, handing her the disc. She smiled, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

"If this song is going to be on your first album, then I want to be on the cover, right smack in the center." she said.

"We'll worry about the damn picture later...finally, the last and most crucial role will be given to Apple White." he said.

"Huh...me? But I'm not even part of the band, I don't have anything to do." she said, a shocked look on her face. Blake walked over to the music box, and pulled the heart he had created off of it, passing a golden necklace through a loop he had attached to it.

"But you do...this heart, is what powers the music box. Without it, then there is no light show, and if there's no light show, there is no performance. You won't know when, you won't know how...but when I give you the signal, you'll bring this heart with you and wind it. You'll attach it to the music box and hit this little lever, that will begin the show. You'll be our Heartsmith." he said, wrapping the chain around her neck, resting the heart in the center of her chest.

"I don't know...what if I break it...what if I miss the signal?" she asked, a worried look on her face.

"You'll be just fine Apple. When Blake gives you a role this important, its because he has the utmost trust and respect from you. He trusted us with this band, and we made a great performance back in the talent show. We can do this...together." Melody said firmly.

"That's right, we're all a team...just a couple of Royals blending in with some Rebels." Blake said, making Dexter clear his throat.

"Four rebels, three royals."

"Yeah yeah...we've got...a month until show time...that means we need to practice, design the outfits, ready the stage and everything in between in that time. I want this performance to be a surprise for everyone in Ever After High, so you will say nothing to no one. This stays in this room, they all know that we're performing, but they don't know what we're performing. Along with this song, we'll make time to practice the two other songs I wrote, and we'll do some from the EP. We've got this in the bag." Blake said, a proud smile on his face.

"Right, end the year off with a bang...I like it." Cerise said, giving her boyfriend a kiss on the cheek, making him blush a bit.

"Where exactly will you get glow in the dark make up though? Wouldn't that be bad for your skin?" Apple asked, still holding the heart box in her hands, a look of curiosity on her face.

"Not necessarily...this shall be part of the outfits, so I shall speak with Farrah. Blake, since we have a bit of time we can speak about this steam punk fashion line...I do have an interest in it."

"Sure thing, do you have everyone's measurements? If not it would be good to take them now." the boy said.

"I've got them, I've already gotten an idea for Apple's outfit, since she's the Heartsmith, she'll need something that screams Hearts! Luckily, you are speaking to the Princess of Hearts, so this shall be cakewalk." the girl said, a grin on her face.

"I'm scared...should I be worried?" Apple asked, earning a chuckle from Blake.

"You should...because if you don't accept her idea, then it'll be off with your head...and you wouldn't want that would you? You're to cute for decapitation. Alright, let's go Lizzie, we've got a long month ahead of us." the boy said, grabbing his wallet and keys.

"Can I come with you? I want to help out with the outfits too." Cerise said, earning a nod from Blake, who took a hold of her hand.

"Oh, you two are so cute together! Do you mind if I profile you two on my next MirrorCast?" Cupid asked, earning a sigh from Blake.

"I don't mind, but it wouldn't be ideal...Blondie won't stop asking, and we just want our privacy. But for a friend, I'll do it." he said.

"Thank you, I'll be sure not to ask too many personal questions. This is gonna be so much fun!"

It would going to be a hard performance, but if it played out like Blake had designed it. He was sure it would be a rather memorable event...the hardest part would be to keep it a secret from the entirety of Ever After High, and that was going to be rather hard to do. Especially when Blondie Lockes got her hand on any secret regardless of how well protected it was.

 _ **xxx**_

It didn't take long for Crystal to be bored. She had been tasked with something important, to guard the jar of jellybeans at any cost. She had already frozen the lid onto it, making it impossible for someone that wasn't her to open it. But the repetitive routine of walking into the castleteria, staying the whole time to let people guess and then heading back to class was really starting to annoy her. The only reason that she had been willing to do this is because Blake had asked her too. She hated to admit it, but in the short time she had been back in Ever After High, she had fallen hopelessly in love with the boy.

Not just for his hockey skills, and the fact that he was amazing on the eyes, but because of how kindhearted he was. She had heard stories of the boy, and how he would never see his family again. The humiliation that Henry had put him through, how he had helped out with True Heart's Day, started his own band, and helped anyone that needed a hand. She had also heard him advocate for the Rebels, and encouraged everyone to break away from traditional and to forget the Storybook of Legends. She herself wanted to follow her destiny of being a Royal and the next Snow Queen, but that didn't mean she didn't entertain the thought of joining the Rebel side. She found herself smiling, her cheeks tinged slightly pink as she thought about the boy. She looked around the castleteria, spotting Cerise near the lunch line, her happy smile turning into a frown.

She remembered, that Blake was currently unattainable. She was hopelessly in love with a boy who already had a relationship. She sometimes hated having an overactive imagination, because she often imagined herself being held by the boy. She imagined him smiling at her, cuddling her next to a fire, even though she preferred the cold. Watching movies from his world like his other friends...to be held when she saw a scary part, to look into his eyes for a few brief seconds before sealing their lips together with a kiss. She grit her teeth a bit, trying not to imagine any risque thoughts, knowing full well her mind would already make them up. She shook her head a bit at the sound of a metal lunch tray clattering on the table top. Briar and Ashlynn looked at her for a second, noticing the pink tinge on her cheeks.

"Is something wrong Crys? Are you sick or something?" Briar asked, concerned that her friend was catching a cold...or a hot as the Snow Queen called them.

"Huh? Me sick? Please I haven't been sick since my ice magic was coming in. No no, I'm not sick...it's just...really hot here." she said, earning a surprised look from Ashlynn.

"You, the Princess of Ice and Snow, are hot? It's the end of the world, Hell has officially frozen over!" the daughter of Cinderella said, placing her hand on her forehead in a dramatic fashion.

"Okay fine, I'm not hot...I'm just really annoyed with this raffle. No one ever asked me who I wanted to dance with...and I'm getting sick of carting this jar around...especially because I'm hungry and I want to eat the beans." she said, poking the glass with her finger, a bit of frost forming over it.

"Well, you'll have to wait until after...oh yeah right...that jar is supposed to go to the forth place winner. We'll get you one from Ginger's shop before you head back home...it's the least we can do." Briar said, earning a sigh from the mint haired girl.

"That doesn't solve my problem now does it? Eh, I've got some cookies left, I'll just snack on those." she said, reaching into her icy blue knapsack, pulling out the small bag of snowflake shaped cookies.

"Oh, you like those too? I hear Blake doesn't go a week without eating one of those. He's really addicted to them, he's even tweaked the recipe so it doesn't use that much sugar in them." Ashlynn said. Crystal choked a bit, at having heard the black haired boy's name.

"Speaking of which, I heard some rumors about the Winter Concert, apparently he's going all out on this performance. Blondie has been trying to get some information from him, but he's tight lipped. Everyone hasn't said a thing, even Apple is keeping quiet."

"I heard from Lizzie that she and Farrah are busy coming up with outfits for the concert. She usually shows me some designs, but she hasn't said anything to me about this. Duchess is practicing in a secluded place, guarded by Dexter who won't let anyone near it. Something fishy is going on." Ashlynn said, earning a giggle from Crystal.

"I can already imagine what it'll be...if it's anything like the Thronecoming performance, than it's bound to be amazing. He's just so...talented, and awesome and cute." Crystal said, a heartwarming smile on her face.

"Whoa...I think I know what's wrong with Crystal now...she's head over heels for Blake." Briar said.

"I think so too...oh you poor thing, he's dating Cerise you know?"

"I know Ash, but I can't stop myself from imagining it. He's so good on the ice, and I just want to see what he looks like without that sweater on." she said, biting her lower lip, her cheeks becoming even redder.

"This is serious, she's probably having raucous thoughts." Ashlynn said, earning a giggle from Briar.

"With her overactive imagination, I'm willing to bet that's a yes."

Blake closed his notebook as he entered the castleteria, placing it in his backpack, slinging it over his shoulder. He wasn't going to stick around for long, just grab a few snacks before heading back to his dorm. He was busy coming up with a stage plan for how he wanted the stage to look. Apple had already gotten the approval of the Headmasters and they had free reign in where they wanted to perform and how the stage was going to be built. It was a bit challenging, as he wanted the stage to be built in secret, and looking for a good spot was hard. So he was going to make a general plan of how he wanted it, sketch it out and talk to Jessica to see if she could use her magic to create the stage for the night. Knowing her, she would be able to handle with the flick of a wrist. He had been wanting to talk to her, but she had said something about going on a mountaineering trip with some friends and had left right after. He only hoped she had picked a mountain in the Fairytale world, the last thing he needed was to hear about how she ended up destroying Mount Everest, or how she made Krakatoa erupt or something.

He wasn't a good artist, but he would at least try his best to get everything done. But he wanted to have enough time in case Jessica wasn't able to help them, so he could at least try to build it. He would need Raven's help with casting a protective barrier around the area so no one could see it. He wanted the crowd to be as impressed by it as he could, after all he wanted this concert to shatter expectations. He walked over to the lunch line, looking at the fruits that had been laid out for everyone. One thing he liked about the school was that fruits were always free, since they came from nearby farms and orchards. He spotted the Red Delicious apples and went to grab one, only for another hand to snag it before he did.

"Hey, I was going to grab that one." he said, glancing up at the one who had taken it, frowning when he saw that it was Joey.

"I know, which is why I took it first." he said, taking a bite from the fruit. He frowned, looking around for another decent looking apple.

"If you have something to say, then go ahead and tell me. I'm really busy right now, so I can't spare much time." Blake said, frowning a bit at the selection of apples. He walked over to the Golden Delicious apples and snagged the biggest one from the bunch.

"I heard about that secretive performance that you're coming up with. I also saw Apple trying to hide some heart shaped necklace. Aren't you gonna tell your best friend what that's all about?" he asked, a grin on his face.

"Absolutely not! I have already decided that this performance is going to be a secret, so how we plan it, built it, the song behind it, everything is going to stay between the members of Purple Rhapsody and anyone associated with it. So don't bother asking, because I'm not gonna bother telling." he said, heading toward the exit.

"Come on man, can't you tell me a little bit? We're best friends bro! You can't leave me in the dark!"

"Joey, you are like the worst person to tell a secret too...I vowed to myself never to tell you any secrets." Blake said, crossing his arms over his chest, looking at his friend.

"Why is that? I've never told anyone any of your secrets." the boy said, causing Blake to raise a brow.

"Are you kidding me? In third grade, I told you that I liked to play with Barbie dolls since my sisters had a huge collection of them. You told every fucking person in our class. They called me Barbie Boy until the end of fourth grade when I joined the basketball team. Why the flying fuck would I tell you about this performance?" he asked.

"Okay...so it might have slipped out, but it's totally cool that you like playing with Barbies...I noticed you have three of them in your room."

"Dude are you trying to piss me off? I'm not telling you shit, so fuck off!" Blake snapped angrily.

"Bro, it's not fair that you told Lizzie, Duchess and Apple about this performance and not your best friend. I think you're playing favorites here!" Joey said, earning a growl from the boy. He clenched his fist angrily, wisps of darkness magic flowing from his fingertips.

"Joey, please stop insisting that I tell you about this performance alright? I want this to be special for everyone in Ever After High. I've worked hard to write the melody behind it, plan the performance, design the stage and everything in between. If I told everyone about it, then no one would be looking forward to it. So please try to understand." he said politely.

"Ugh...fine...whatever. I thought that maybe you'd consider asking me to help you, since you know...we're friends?" he said, stressing the word.

"I already told you, I don't make the calls, Cupid does, and there is absolutely no vacancy in this performance. I'm sorry...now please I have a lot of work to do, not just on the yearbook and this performance, but at Spells Kitchen too...so may I be excused?" Blake asked, earning a nod from Joey. The boy took off in a hurried pace, earning a frown from Joey.

"You know, it isn't nice that you try to pressure him into doing stuff you know." Cerise said, an annoyed look on her face as she brushed past the brown haired boy.

"How would you know what Blake likes and doesn't like? You haven't known him for more than two months."

"I know a lot about him that even you don't know. You aren't acting like a good friend right now, he's busy with this show, we all are, so please leave him alone will you?" the hooded girl asked.

"Or what? I have a right as his best friend to help him when he needs help. It isn't fair that I get left out of everything...ever since I showed up here, he's become vastly different than what he used to be. I just want to make sure he doesn't over work himself." Joey said, a look of concern on his face. Cerise smirked, setting her tray down at a nearby table.

"Are you sure you aren't jealous of him?"

"Pfft...what? Why would I be jealous of Blake? He's no one I need to worry about. I've never been jealous of him...I've had everything I ever wanted growing up, I had an awesome dog, the best bicycle on the market, all the coolest gaming consoles...it's practically why we became friends." he said, a proud smirk on his face.

"That's a bullshit lie. He told me he had everything he ever wanted and you were always annoyed when he got something new that he didn't want. Joey, are you listening to yourself? Are you sure you aren't jealous?" Cerise asked, a hint of annoyance on her face. By now a lot of people had been looking between the two. It was a well known fact that the daughter of Little Red Riding Hood was quite protective of her friends, her boyfriend was no exception.

"Of course I am! This is all personal feelings, honestly I think he was jealous of me! After all, the only reason we met was because of Lucy...and now that she's gone we have nothing to keep us on the same level." he said with a shrug, taking another bite from his apple.

"That is total bullshit! Why the hell would Blake be jealous of you? You are acting like a total dingus, I mean come on! Look at all the shit he's had to go through, finally he has a little piece of home back with him, and it's only reminding him of bad times!" Cerise snapped, her eyes glowing yellow.

"Take a deep breath girl, before you end up doing something you regret." Joey said.

"Like what? Slapping some sense into you? Because right now that wouldn't be a bad idea...seeing as all you are doing is stressing Blake out. He's gone through hell and back, finding out he couldn't see his family was the last straw for him...he was teetering on the edge, but he pulled himself back, and we were there to support him. You don't know what he's been through, and you don't have any idea how much it hurt him when you decided to cast away your past, because Ever After had magic and hot chicks. You had something that he can never hope to get, a way back, and you threw it away!"

"Shut up Cerise! It was my fucking choice, and I don't appreciate you of all people telling me my decision was bad, when you've made worse calls than I have! You don't even know the truth about him and his family, in the end the two of us are cut from the same cloth, neither of us have a home to go back too!" he cried back. Cerise looked at him in confusion, about to say something when she felt the air around them get slightly colder. She glanced over her shoulder, seeing a rather angry Crystal standing up from her seat.

With barely any effort, she closed the distance between herself and Joey, a cold mist surrounding her. Every single step she took left snowflake shaped patches of ice on the marble floor, which glittered brightly in the light. She came to a stop before the boy, a rather angry look on her face.

"You wanna know something, from the second I met you, I didn't like you. I'm a nice person, I love all of my friends dearly and I'm open to making friends with anyone. But the vibes I got from you were different...I can see the jealousy in your eyes...Blake has a good life here, he's surrounded by people that love and trust him. He had a good home, had everything he wanted despite coming from a slightly dysfunctional family. His parents were never around, yet he was happy...but you on the other hand, are stewing in something...something poisonous." she said firmly.

"What do you know Snow Angel? You don't know jack shit about me, hell I don't know jack about you...you are just some Princess from a story that is sub par in my opinion. I never really liked the Snow Queen either, I absolutely detested Frozen when I first saw it. So I would appreciate it if you stayed out of this."

"See, even in that statement I saw the raging jealousy within you. You're jealous that Blake has a good woman by his side...that he has amazing friends that he didn't have back home. You're jealous that his life is so much more interesting than yours here, and that's the reason why you stayed in Ever After. Because you wanted to be like Blake, to have his life here, but you were selfish...he had no choice, and you did. That's what makes you different, that he embraced his fate here and moved on, and you only embraced a fate you want to create for your own personal gain." Crystal said, earning gasps from the people around her. She smirked inwardly, patting herself on the back for what she said.

"Heh, like I said...you don't know jack...next time you see him, ask him what the J in his name stands for. I assure you, it isn't that long ass name he gave you, it's something else entirely." Joey said, turning on his heel, taking a bite from his apple as he walked off.

"What an unbearable jerk off. I thought he was going to be cool like Blake, but I've never been so wrong in my life." Cerise said, a frown on her face.

"Hey, not everyone can be the same right? Just because they come from the same world doesn't mean they're alike. I don't know Blake much, but he seems to care about all of his friends. He's still hurting for the bonehead mistake Joey made...and it's clear that Joey is jealous of Blake's life here in Ever After." Crystal said.

"I guess Lucy was the glue that kept them together, and when she disappeared, their dynamic went with it. When Joey first came to Ever After, they were laughing and joking like they used too, but now it's completely different. It's like Joey is trying too become Blake...I'm rather worried about him."

"Blake or Joey?" the Snow Princess asked, earning a glare from the hooded girl. She laughed, already knowing her answer.

"Anyway, thanks for standing up for Blake, I really appreciate it. I would also appreciate if you stopped giving him lecherous looks...I saw you biting your lip when he entered the castleteria earlier. He's mine, so don't even think about it." Cerise said.

"I don't see your name on him, so he's free to claim...unless you mark him that is." she said, giving the girl a sly smirk. Cerise went wide eyed for a second, tugging on her hood a bit.

"You try something, and I will claw your eyes out."

"Relax, I'm just messing around...take care of him, but if you make a mistake, or break up, he's mine and no one will stop me." Crystal said, walking off with the grace and poise of a princess.

" _This bitch has balls, I'm gonna have to keep an eye out for her."_ Cerise thought to herself, grabbing her cold lunch. She sighed, grabbing her tray, maybe her boyfriend would let her use his microwave to reheat her food.


	31. The Winter Formal II

**A/N:**

 **Hello everyone and welcome to Chapter 31 of Through the Looking Glass. I have received a lot of positive vibes from the last chapter, which is good. As you know, I am currently writing up this arc, I'm actually finishing it up as we speak...er...type. I want to have a good amount of chapters ready to post, which is why I'm only doing posts every two days until I have a sufficient amount for daily posts. It won't be long until I have a manageable amount.**

 **This chapter will be the second in the Winter Formal arc of the story, so I do hope you enjoy it and this arc...it's been one of the harder ones to write, if I'm being honest, because this is completely original and not from the show itself. But that's the fun of writing, getting to use those creative juices in a positive way. This chapter will explore a bit more of Joey, and his changing attitude in Ever After, let's just say he's...uh...metamorphosing, rather slowly. I want to capture his character well enough and see the gradual changes I can make to him. Let's just say he'll be cunning as a fox, which should be interesting in the later arcs.**

 **You remember that dick hole Henry? yeah you get to learn about his past, how awesome right? Yeah, I wrote up a bit of his past from Crystal's point of view, after all she is from the Frozen story, instead of the Snow Queen story as she originally was created. Crystal is one of my favorite characters to write, because she's excitable and curious while also being kindhearted and open to everyone she meets. She's also shown an attraction toward Blake as many other girls have in the past, but as you know Cerise has already staked her claim, so moving forward, she'll be acting a bit lovey dovey around him, but not saying anything or making any moves, because she at least respects that.**

 **Honestly speaking, we all have that one favorite chapter when we are writing stories...we all do. I have plenty of favorite chapters in every story I right, and for the longest time, Henry revealing Blake's secret was my favorite chapter, even before it was written, I had that idea in my head. The beginning of this chapter in my opinion blows that out of the water. I randomly wrote this while listening to Shatter Me, the song that inspired this entire story arc. It was just automatic, my mind was listening to the song and my hands were typing and when I finally finished the first twelve pages and went back to proofread, I was stunned at what I had written. It was all unconscious too, like I was in a trance when I wrote it, and after I was done reading it, I was choked up by how much emotion I had put into it. The beginning shows a very human side to Duchess Swan that not many people care to explore. We all know why she does what she does, but she's still a bit hated among the community, I think she deserves her own happily ever after, and I will strive to give her one during this story. Which is why she's one of my favorite characters in this series, because she is unloved and hated, destined to be a Black Swan, but what they don't know is the betrayal she has to face for her to make that choice, and stay stuck in a Swan's body forever. This chapter is in fact mostly about Duchess Swan, so I do hope you like it.**

 **Um...I have also decided to write Sprung Unsprung earlier than expected. In fact it's going to be the next major story arc...I was planning to write it after the Blue Moon Forest Fest, but I realized that happens in mid spring, and Spring Unsprung happens literally on the first day of Spring, since were having a Winter Formal, and the Spring Festival, I figured I would write that one earlier...plus everything I have planned for that arc that will lead to Way too Wonderland fits much better than if I did the Forest Fest before. There will be three chapters splitting up these arcs, with Heart Stuck being one of those chapters, along with Sugar Coated and maybe Best Feather Forward, I haven't decided. Tell me what you all think of this chapter, thanks for all the love, remember to review, favorite and like my profile, so you get all my alerts...and have yourselves a frosty afternoon/night...later taters!**

Ever After High

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 31

The Winter Formal II

The soft sound of the bow being pulled across the strings filled the room, the beautiful song echoing through it. Duchess had listened to the song on repeat practically since it had been given to her. Blake had tasked her with creating a dance that went along with this song, and she was already half way done. It was definitely going to be a difficult transition from her normal routines, but she was really excited. Especially with the sketches of her dress for the event. She was going to give it her all, until her legs caved under her. Until then, she would dance, ignoring everything around her to hone her movements, to make them as smooth and clean as possible. She let out another content sigh as the song came to an end. She bowed the non-existent crowd, returning to the center of the room, to once again start her routine.

Her worn dance shoes silently clacked on the smooth marble, as she started the routine. She walked around in a wide radius, eyes closed as she held her arms out. When the first notes from the violin filled her ears, she started adding the more complex movements, stretching her lithe body in ways she never imagined she would. She jumped across the room in a single leap, landing on her tip toes with the grace of a swan. She knew her mother would be proud of how far she had come along, and she almost wished she would be able to see her perform. She slowly returned to the center of the room, momentarily abandoning the dance she had been vigorously practicing moments ago. She was panting a bit, her chest rising and falling from how much energy she had exerted. Her hair had been taken down hours ago, and was drenched with sweat, stuck to her forehead. Her long sleeved shirt, which normally felt like a second skin, felt tight and bothersome, and her skirt felt uncomfortable. She grabbed a nearby chair and sat down in it, glancing around the empty room, placing a hand on the violet pendant around her neck.

She couldn't help but miss her mother. Ever since she was young, she wanted to see her, since she had hatched from her egg. It had been a rather weird experience, especially when she transformed into a human. Her grandmother, the one who had raised her, had explained everything to her from a young age, that she was the daughter of the Swan Queen, and would have to become the next Odette to relive her story. She had been given the name Duchess because it was a name that was beautiful, but also sounded powerful. There were times she wondered of her mother had picked her name from a fortune cookie or something, because there were times where her name didn't fit her. Eventually, she started liking the idea of being a Queen, she had embraced it with open arms. Until her grandmother told her the ending of her story.

Destined to be stuck in the body of a swan, watching as her love was stolen from her by another woman, the wretched White Swan. She started hating her story and the fate she had been given, and wanted her own happy ending. It was why she had become so bitter, and so bitchy growing up...she had met Ophelia in fifth grade, and had hated her since. The daughter of the White Swan, the woman who stole her mother's love...the man who was her father, who didn't know Duchess was his daughter. It absolutely infuriated her, being related to the White Swan, but she swallowed it, because she was going to make her own happily ever after. It would have worked too, if it hadn't been for Blake Bigby and his arrival in Ever After.

She didn't know what she thought of him at first. He was a foreigner, didn't know anything about how Ever After worked. But slowly he started becoming a Rebel, even though he swore he would remain neutral. It was a natural fit for him...and him advocating and standing up for the Rebels showed that. It was why she loathed him at first, and had planned to make his life a living hell, at least until True Heart's Day. She hated to admit it, but that day was the best and worst day of her life. He had treated her so roughly, unlike what she had been taught a man should do. He held her against her will, handcuffed to a bed, insulted and serenaded. It had been a rather weird experience over all.

When Kitty let her go, she hadn't wasted a single chance. She ran off, with plans of making their party a living hell. But the only reason she had done that was because she hadn't been invited. It was then that she realized what her attitude had done, it had pushed everyone away, and left her alone. Even Sparrow had stopped hanging out with her, because he didn't get invited to the dance. Even though he said he didn't care, it was obvious he did. He didn't talk to her much anymore, and even though she missed her first and only friend, she knew he wouldn't want to hang out with her like last before. When she was about to turn in for the night, he had appeared before her, asking her to be his date to the dance. She had put on her best, for a silly dance.

They had fun, joked around and became friends. She hated to admit it, but he had been the first honest true friend she had made in her life. Along the way however, things started to change, and she didn't know what to do. She started feeling weird whenever he smiled at her and spoke to her. When he helped her shut down the Marsh Pit, and held Pirouette in his arms, a look of worry on his face, she had started seeing him differently. When he pinned her down on the ice rink and had asked her to go out with his friend, she felt repulsed, because she would never consider going on a date with anyone that wasn't him. She didn't want to stop staring into his eyes, and she most certainly didn't want him to stop pinning her to the ground.

When he asked her to create a dance routine for his performance, had given her such an important task, she jumped at it. She wanted to give the best damn performance, to make her mother proud, all because he had asked her. She had realized it the day he hurried out of Hocus Latte, the day that he found out his best friend had kept a big secret from him. He looked hurt and broken, and no one could help him. It was during that moment that Duchess Swan realized just what was making her act so weird around Blake. She had fallen in love with him, and she had fallen in love with him hard. She knew she couldn't, because he was dating someone else. She knew that if somehow he and Cerise didn't work out, and she got a chance, that it would most likely end with him leaving her, because that was her destiny, that was her story, to be betrayed by the person she loved.

She wanted to have a beautiful family, to live with the person who had stolen her heart. She wanted to have lots of kids, to teach them how to dance. To hear her son groan because ballet was for girls even though male ballerinas existed. She wanted to see her daughter giggling and whooping for joy when she discovered she could walk on water. She wanted to hold her love as they watched their kids go to school for the first time, to watch them grow up, to grow old together...but she knew that fate would never become true...because she was the Black Swan, and she was going to get betrayed. It hurt, and it twisted her heart, but the more she danced, the more she listened to Shatter Me, she wanted to break that fate, to tear it out of the Storybook of Legends. With every lyric, she feel deeper in love with the man who was unattainable. With every break in the song, she jumped into the air, telling herself that it had to be the best most precise jump she could muster.

With every replay, she would restart the dance from scratch, eliminating moves, adding new ones. Changing her shoes when the straps snapped, dousing herself with cold water when she got hot, tearing into chip bags because she didn't want to leave the silence and secrecy of her practice area. With every jump, she felt her muscles ache, with every pirouette, she felt herself get dizzy, with every single replay, her heart raced and beat wildly in her chest. She just wanted Blake to love her performance, to love her...but she knew that wouldn't happen. So she would pour every ounce of love into her dance movements. But when she finally couldn't go on, when the slick sweat on her forehead rolled down the sides of her face, her shirt became disgusting and covered in sweat, and her legs felt like they were going to break, Duchess relied on that final burst of adrenaline to finish the song. Remembering her mom, everything she went through, it had finally been the breaking point, and she felt herself shatter.

In that one moment, Duchess Swan finally broke, realizing that she had made the one mistake she promised never to make. She fell in love with someone who couldn't reciprocate her feelings, the one person who had been her only friend. She had fallen in love with the foreigner who had stolen the spotlight the second he walked through that mirror. She had fallen in love with Blake Bigby, and there was nothing she could do but embrace it, and hope and wish on every single star, planet or moon, that he felt the same way toward her, even though she knew in her heart, mind and soul that it would never be meant to be.

 _ **xxx**_

"What do you think Blake? Is it coming along fine?" Lizzie asked, dragging the boy to the show room, where Apple was currently standing, arms spread out as Farrah was currently adding and taking away patches of cloth from her dress.

It was going to be a sleeveless strapless ballgown, at least to him. The area around the breasts was shaped like a heart, and a brilliant red color, with glittering sequins. The silhouette extended downward, forming a thin satin skirt that reached to her knees, and had various red and pink hearts currently pinned to it. Around her waist was what would become the gown. He could tell the bodice and the skirt had been sown with precision, the precise black stitching adding a nice color to the overall dress. Apple was blushing, not expecting the boy to actually look at her in that state. Of course she knew he was looking at the dress and not exactly at her.

"I love it so far. The heart shaped neckline suits her quite well, especially since she's the Heartsmith. Apple don't take this the wrong way, but you've definitely got the boobs for this dress, it fits you nicely." he said.

"Blake! Don't say stuff like that, you'll make her antsy." Farrah scolded, giving the boy a scowl, even though she was holding back her giggles.

"He's right though. Now for the gown itself, look at what I've designed...it's rather innovative, if I do say so myself." Lizzie said, showing him her sketch pad.

He saw a crimson heart on the center of the page, along with some small arrows pointing to the finished design of the dress. The gown itself was to be sown around the skirt, and make it look more heart shaped. It reminded him a bit of the long train on wedding dresses. He hummed to himself, holding the pad up and looking at Apple.

"I like the design, I can see it easily blending into the overall look. But instead of having it all crimson, how about you make a black corset with red lace. The gown itself needs to be bright pink, and then it will go through the levels of pink, from dark to bright, to white, to finally it's base color which is red. If Apple wears white leggings and bright red heels, it will definitely go with it." he said.

"Hmm...I do like that idea, but we can't go bright to dark, we need to go from dark to bright...we can make it a dark red, almost maroon in color, going from red to finally ending with pink, it will go better with the white leggings and red heels." she said, earning a nod from him.

"Blake, I had a question...what should I do with my hair? Should I keep it the same?" Apple asked, grabbing his attention.

"Straighten it, dye a couple strands of crimson into it, and attach a heart shaped pin to the right side of your head, or if you'd like maybe an apple shaped pin, to go with your name. I can already imagine the finished dress, you are definitely gonna make the boys drool." he said, earning a giggle from the girl.

"Most definitely, but I've already got someone in mind...anyway, how are preparations coming along? I haven't been keeping up with the raffle because of this dress thing."

"It's all coming along smoothly, Raven is managing the meetings with the Student Council, and I just submitted another ten pages to the staff. I'm busy designing the stage, Melody and Dexter finally got the lights to work with the Music box, so they don't need the heart anymore. I came here to bring it back to you." he said, handing her the mechanical heart. She took it in her hands, holding it tightly in her grasp.

"Blake...I wanted to thank you, for giving me an opportunity like this. It's going to be a memorable Winter Formal, and I want to remember it for as long as I live."

"There's nothing to thank me for Apple. I gave you this important role, because you're my friend...because I remember you shattering me out of my delusions when I first arrived here. Of course, my way is a little less painful than your way." he said, rubbing his cheek.

"Dear me, I had completely forgotten about that slap, I never asked you why you had a hand print on your face, I suppose I know the answer now." Lizzie said, earning a sigh from the boy.

"Yes, it was that one painful slap that made me realize what world I was in. A world where beautiful blonde princesses love slapping people out of their delusions. At least it wasn't with your ring hand." he said, earning a cringe from the girl. She let out a little yelp, glaring at Farrah.

"That was my thigh Farrah! Remember, I bruise easy."

"Sorry, I was trying not to laugh at that apple shaped bruise Joey had on his face." she said, clenching her teeth.

"Well, I've got to check in on Duchess to see how her routine is coming along, you girls keep working on these dresses, they're looking amazing. Stay beautiful Apple, we'll need you to swoon the hearts of millions." he said, giving her a wink as he left Farrah's dress shop.

"If I didn't know any better, he's skirt chasing." Lizzie said.

"Blake, skirt chase? I doubt it...he's in love with Cerise, he wouldn't betray her...but if it doesn't work our, Apple don't let him slip through the cracks. I've seen him shirtless and he's definitely a looker." the daughter of the Fairy Godmother said, earning a bright red look from the Fairest girl in all the land.

 _ **xxx**_

Duchess tiredly made her way back to her dorm. Dexter had been worried about her, but she just said dancing her heart out had made her exhausted. She didn't stick around much longer after that...she was covered in sweat, and wanted nothing more than to take a nice hot bath to loosen her muscles a bit. Perhaps she could forget about everything for awhile and just relax, and be by herself. She didn't greet anyone as she made her way back toward the dormitories. Normally, she would at least greet her acquaintances, but today she was just too tired for her to even bother. She just wanted to get to her dorm and take that bath, maybe cue up something on tv and just take a nap. She finally reached her dorm, pulling her keys from her small handbag, slipping it into the knob.

"Duchess Swan, just the woman I wanted to see." the familiar voice of Joey said, startling the girl a bit. She quickly spun around, seeing the brown haired young man standing behind her, a smile on his face.

"What do you want?"

"What? Can't I say hello to a beautiful girl?" he asked, earning a glare from the monochrome ballerina. She straightened up as best she could in her worn down heels.

"You can, there are hundreds of other girls you could be bothering. Why the hell does it always have to be me?"

"Because you're cute, that's why. What's wrong with you? You're normally more...alert, more snarky and mouthy...you look ready to drop." he said, a look of concern on his face.

"Well I am, I've been working hard on a new dance routine and I'm tired as all hell. So if you have something to say, spit it out and leave so I can take my bath in peace." she snapped, crossing her arms.

"He's doing this to you isn't he? He's making you run ragged because of that stupid performance right?"

"Who are you talking about? No one is running me ragged." Duchess snapped, confusion in her tone.

"Blake, who else? He thinks he can do whatever he wants, command who he wants to do anything. You shouldn't listen to him, he doesn't even care about you!"

"You're wrong! Blake asked me to be a part of his performance because I'm the only one who can fulfill this role. You have no idea what it's like to create a new dance from scratch...I'm tired because I'm giving it my all, because I love ballet more than anything in this world. It has nothing to do with this performance, so if you would please fuck off, I would appreciate it." she snapped angrily, turning the knob on the door. Joey took a hold of her wrist, stopping her from going into her room.

"Don't you see what he's doing to you? He's just using you...like he's using Lizzie, and like he's using Apple. That's all he ever does, use people!"

"Oh and I should believe what you say? I've known you for how long? I don't think I can trust you. I've gotten to know Blake, I know he's sweet, caring, kindhearted, will help anyone in need and protects those close to him. You are just jealous that he has so many friends and he's popular here, unlike you who are an unpopular dick-sneeze back in your world!" Duchess snapped, pulling her wrist free from his grasp.

"Dick-sneeze? See he's already twisted your way of speaking. All I want is the best for you, I am genuinely falling in love with you. I just want a date, that's it." Joey said, looking hurt.

"I don't want to date you! I don't like you, I don't want to be anywhere near you, leave me the fuck alone!" the Swan Princess cried, her voice echoing through the empty hall. Her brown eyes were filled with rage, hands clutching her skirt tightly.

"Come on, why not? I'm a nice person...I can make you happy." he said, wrapping an arm around her waist, pulling her close to himself. His hand started snaking its way to her chest as he leaned in for a kiss. She growled angrily, kneeing him in the gut. She quickly spun on her heel, kicking him with all her strength, sending him back toward the wall.

"Don't you ever, EVER! Put your fucking hands on me again, or I swear to the Fairy Godmother I will fucking kill you!" she cried, slamming the door to her room as hard as humanly possible. The boy clutched his chest tightly, smirking inwardly.

"Aw come on honey, you don't have to play hard to get!" he said, walking toward the door, frowning when he found it was locked.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

Joey looked to his right, looking like a deer in headlights when he saw Blake standing next to him. Judging by the look on his face, he knew the black haired boy had seen what had just happened. He plastered a smile on his face, looking a bit embarrassed.

"I was just trying to ask Duchess out on a date again, she's playing hard to get though." he said.

"My fucking ass. I saw what you were trying to do, I am only warning you once. If you ever touch her like that again, I will beat the living shit out of you. It's one thing to ask a girl on a date, sexually harassing her is an entirely different manner all together. If you know what's good for you, you'll leave her and all of my girl friends alone." he said firmly.

"Pfft, who the fuck made you king of the castle? If I want to date someone, then I will date them. It doesn't matter what you say or do...you think you can tell me what to do? Man, you really have changed, you've become an asshole."

"And you became a piece of shit who thinks touching girls sexually against their will is cool. Joey, we're friends and I care a lot for you, like a brother...but when you put your hands on a woman, that's when I draw the line. Walk away man, please." Blake said, a look of hurt on his face. Joey sighed, turning away from the boy.

"Tell Duchess I'm sorry alright? I just...she reminds me a bit of Lucy, I...want a genuine relationship with her."

"Well you fucked the pooch there...I was going to talk to her, maybe get her to give you a chance, but you fucked up. So start barking at another tree, because Duchess is off limits." Blake said, earning a nod from Joey, as he started walking away. He stopped, glancing at his friend once more.

"When you first showed up in Ever After, did you ever think that you would be this popular? Did you ever think that you would have so many friends? So many girls pinning after you?" Joey asked.

"Pinning after me? You talk as if I was Hugh Hefner...there aren't girls pinning after me, I'm already in a relationship." he said.

"Man, you are as dense as Snow Villiers is stupid...clearly you haven't looked around...Mr. Popular, I don't know what Ever After High sees in you." he said, walking away.

"Everything you want and can't have." Blake muttered under his breath, watching his best friend disappearing around the corner. He didn't know how long his friendship with him would last, especially with his current attitude. He gave a few knocks on the door, keeping his eyes to the left.

" _GO AWAY!"_

"Duchess it's me, Joey's gone I promise!" he called out, hoping the girl wouldn't turn him away too. He heard what sounded like splashing water, along with a couple loud honks. A few seconds later, the door opened, enough for the girl to poke her head through.

"Oh Blake, what brings you around these parts?" she asked, ignoring the fact that she was soaking wet, and was clutching a black towel around her body.

"I just wanted to check on your routine, I can come back later...I can tell you were taking a bath." he said, about to leave.

"No no no...please come in, I'll just take a shower and I'll be out soon." she said, opening the door further so he could step inside. He tried not to look at the girl, instead focusing on Lizzie's half of the room.

Duchess had clearly jumped out of the bathtub, her body was still soaking wet, her fluffy black towel soaking the water. Her hair was also sopping wet, and covered with suds, so he concluded she was washing her hair when he interrupted. Her black towel was doing little to hide her lithe body, and he knew it wasn't a wise idea to look at the girl while she was like that, especially because he was already dating someone. She turned around, hiding her blush as she walked to the bathroom.

"Are you sure you want to cut down on your bath? I can come back later, I think that would be a better idea." Blake said, trying his hardest to get out of this awkward situation.

"It's fine, you're already here so I can just hurry up and finish. Remember you have a girlfriend so don't you dare come into this bathroom." she snapped, closing the door after herself.

"I would never think of that Duchess...I wouldn't want to hurt Cerise like that, besides she's done this to me too." he said, glancing at the framed pictures around Lizzie's vanity.

"You and Cerise have been intimate? Already?"

"No, she just enjoys seeing me squirm." he called back, smiling a bit at some of the pictures. He wondered over to Duchess's half of the room, petting Pirouette as he looked at her family pictures. He only saw a few, a younger Duchess along with an older woman, who he assumed was her grandmother. He didn't see any pictures of Odette anywhere, making him frown.

" _It must be hard for her, living without her mother or father...I guess me and Duchess have this in common."_ he thought to himself, taking a seat at her bed. Pirouette settled beside him, making the boy smile.

It wasn't long before Duchess had finished her shower, walking out of the bathroom in a pair of black shorts and an oversized white tee shirt. Her hair was wrapped around in a towel, which she was trying to keep tied. He spotted her pendant around her neck, which she normally tucked inside her dress and kept mostly hidden. He remembered how it had been a gift from her mother, her most cherished item. She sat down at her computer, turning to face the boy.

"So, what were you here for again?" she asked curiously.

"Your dance routine...I wanted to see how it was coming along, but when I went to your secret spot, you weren't there. Dex told me you'd come back here for a shower, something about smelling like the boys locker room?" he asked, earning a chuckle from the girl.

"Damn straight...I left in such a hurry this morning that I forgot to put on deodorant, it was driving me crazy. My sweaty outfit kept sticking to my skin and I just couldn't focus. So after practicing for at least six hours without quitting, I decided to come back to take the rest of the day off and then I get sexually harassed by your friend." she said, earning a sigh from him.

"I'd like to apologize for him...I'm not sure what is going through his mind right now. You did good with that side kick though, where did you learn that?" he asked, earning a grin from the girl.

"I taught myself of course. A lithe ballerina needs to know various movements to make her dancing interesting. That and I needed to learn self defense, now I'm glad I did."

"I am too...I would hate for something bad to happen to you. Joey was never like that back in our world...I guess he didn't like to overstep his boundaries because of our society. But now that he's in Ever After, he's starting to do things he wouldn't do back home."

"You mean like you did here? You became more active in the school, you started interacting with people and started helping those that needed help. You became your polar opposite." Duchess said, earning a nod from the boy.

"I did, and I'm happy I did...despite being stuck here against my will, I will never regret touching that mirror. It sucks that I can't see my family again, but I'm happy I met everyone here. I'm happy to have met you too...even though you were a hard ass, and a bitch." he said, earning a pout from the girl.

"I feel insulted, but since you are my best friend forever after, I'll let it slide. Blake...please tell me Joey will never do that to me again...I know I defended myself, but I can't stop myself from picturing a worst case scenario." she said, shaking a bit in her seat.

"He isn't going too...I already made it clear to him that you were off limits. Your my friend, and I will do anything to protect you...the only one who can touch your body is you and whoever you decide to fall in love with." he said.

"Ugh...that sounded so perverted." Duchess said, looking away in disgust. He chuckled, rolling his eyes.

"You know...you look nice without make up...you look more relaxed, more like a normal girl." he said.

"Thank you, I know I'm beautiful with make up, but it warms my heart knowing that I'm beautiful without it too. Come on, keep complimenting me, what else do I look good with?" she asked.

"Don't be a narcissist...do you want me to brush your hair? Cerise asks me to help her with hers every night. Hers is wicked long, probably longer than yours."

"It probably is...sure, would you mind helping me with my nails too?"

"Fine, but I've only painted nails once and my sister got really pissed at me when I messed it up. So don't blame me if they look like shit." he said, standing up from his seat.

Duchess did the same, pulling her hair free from her towel. She tossed it on the back of the chair, running her fingers through it. Blake grabbed one of her hair brushes, about to start brushing her hair when she jumped at him, wrapping her arms around him in a hug. He was taken aback by this action, but figured she was still getting over what had happened with Joey. He smiled, wrapping his arms around her too, returning the hug.

"Thank you, for being my friend Blake." she said softly.

"Sure...I wouldn't trade our friendship for anything in the world."

Duchess tried her hardest not to cry, but she felt the tears brimming her eyes. She would relish in this moment, even if it was just a simple hug between friends. While her heart was shattering into pieces, neither of the two noticed the flash of the camera coming from the slightly opened door.

 _ **xxx(Three Weeks Later)xxx**_

" _Hey look, our first major time skip...this is very interesting, isn't it Chester?"_ Weiss said, earning a chuckle from her husband.

 _"Why yes it is...and it turns out this wasn't requested by Blake himself. I guess time needed to pass to get to the juicy parts. This story is very emotionally gripping!"_ Chester replied, making Weiss sigh lightly.

"Whoa, it's been awhile since you two have floated over me. How's it been you two?" Blake said, glancing up from his clipboard, ignoring the odd looks he got from the people around him.

" _We've been well...the reason why we're floating over you is because well...honey why don't you greet him?"_ Weiss said, a happy tone in her voice. Blake looked up in confusion, brows furrowed a bit, at least until he heard a smooth yet playful voice.

" _Um...hello, you must be Blake...my name is Brooke Page, mom and dad have told me a lot about you."_

"Oh my god, it's so nice to meet you! Weiss and Chester have told me so much about you Brooke. It's about time I finally heard your voice!" he said excitedly, earning a giggle from the young narrator.

" _Mom was right, you really are an interesting person. I was able to read some of the stuff that's already happened, and I'm glad you are here in Ever After. It keeps things interesting."_

"Well, things are about to get much more interesting Brooke...but this stuff is a secret, so I can't be openly talking about it. I'll tell you later if you'd like."

" _Sure...hey, I got a question...do you have narrators back on Earth? How does that world work? Do they have tacos there too?"_

"Okay, first question...no we don't have narrators, but there is this man named Morgan Freeman, who's silky smooth voice will take anything he reads and make it melt like butter in your ears. He's the best narrator ever, with Samuel L. Jackson being second and Gilbert Gottfried being third. Earth works just like Ever After, except there's no magic, no Storybook of Legends and everyone pretty much wings it, and yes they have tacos there. There is a restaurant called Taco Bell, I got a love/hate relationship with them." he said.

" _Wow, your world sounds so interesting...wait, why do you have a love/hate relationship with Taco Bell? It sounds like heaven to me."_

"Yeah, you won't be saying that when you have gastric exorcism at 30,000 feet. All because the only thing you could afford was a Triple XL Burrito before your next flight. That shit is not fun...oh, sorry, uh don't repeat that word okay?" he said, earning a giggle from the youngest narrator.

" _Don't worry I won't. Momma said you were a really funny person, and had a very profane tongue, I can see we're gonna have an interesting relationship. I gotta go for now, narrator duties and such, but if you want to talk, just call me, I'll be around."_

"Okay, nice meeting you Brooke! Talk to you later, thanks for introducing us Chester and Weiss!" he called out, waving at the sky.

" _Our pleasure Blake, heads up your sister is coming toward you."_ Chester said, causing the boy to turn around, giving Raven a smile.

"Hey Rae, something wrong?" he asked.

"Uh...you were speaking to the narrators right? Some people are asking me if my mom's curse gave you schizophrenia."

"Pfft, that's a good one. Yeah, I was talking to the narrators, they have a daughter named Brooke, and she sounds really cool. Anyway, what's up? Something wrong?"

"Not really...I just wanted to say that the last student finally voted...we got two weeks before the announcement date...how exactly do you want us to do this?" she asked.

"Oh...shit I guess I never thought of that. Damn, if there are multiple winners then that's gonna cause conflicts, and I'm sure some people guessed correctly too. I know...grab all of the names of the people who were close to or got the number correctly, those people will then partake in another raffle to lower the number of people."

"And then what? We keep hosting raffles until there's only a few people left?" Raven asked, earning a frown from the boy.

"That wouldn't be fair for anyone...I know, I need to speak with Crystal...grab all of those name cards and put them in a glass bowl, and meet me in Blondie's studio in ten minutes...I got a plan!" he said, breaking off into a sprint.

"Okay...sheesh, I hope this one works." Raven muttered, glancing at her MirrorPad. She felt the fluttering of wings beside her, and saw a rather familiar dove landing on her shoulder. She sighed to herself, deciding to ignore the bird in favor of handling the raffle. It wasn't like she was going to leave anyway.

Blake walked into the foyer of the school, panting a bit from his sprint all the way there. He started looking around, not at all finding a trace of the Snow Princess. He kept his eyes peeled for the mint haired girl, but she was rather hard to find when you wanted to. He blamed her excess energy for that, he had only spoken with the girl a handful of times, but each one she looked ready to just run off. She said it was because she had boundless energy, and was highly curious about everything, so she wanted to hang out with all of her friends while she had free time. He admired that, wanting to hang out with your friends, because you wouldn't be able to later on, it changed his opinion on many things. He felt someone clap his shoulder, causing him to jolt a bit.

"Heh, I like that you jolt when I touch you, that's good...keeps the senses alive."

"Dammit Momo, you need to not do that in the future!" he snapped, glancing at Ramona who was giving him a toothy grin.

"Looking for my sister? She's in the laundry room washing her panties, if your quick enough, you might get to sniff a pair." she said. Blake brushed her hand off his shoulder, turning to fully face her.

"I'm looking for Crystal, we got the final votes tallied for the raffle and came to a wall. Have you seen her?" he asked. She hummed to herself, placing a hand on her chin.

"I think she was heading to Briar and Ashlynn's dorm...she was with Ashlynn so they're probably hanging out. Be sure to knock in case their doing things."

"Hey, Ashlynn is in a relationship with Hunter, and she doesn't look like the type!" the boy said, quickly coming to the defense of his friends. Ramona gave him a playful smirk, a smile tugging her lips.

"Yeah, but you can't help but imagine it right? Three hot girls in a single room, making out, doing things...you looking through the keyhole like the naughty boy you are."

"You and Cerise are cut from the same cloth, you really fucking are." he said, turning toward the dormitories.

"You didn't deny that you wouldn't be peeking through that keyhole you pervert!" Ramona cried, making the boy hurry. He was honestly going to ask Cerise for a spare hood so he could hide under it like she did when her sister embarrassed her.

It didn't take long for him to find himself in the dormitories. He had found Briar and Ashlynn's dorm rather easily. He often times forgot the two girls shared a dorm. He was about to knock when he heard voices on the other side. Thanks to Ramona, his thoughts were definitely going in a different direction. He knew that what was going on behind those doors was definitely not what he was imagining, but now he couldn't help but imagine it. He turned around, taking a deep breath as he slapped his cheeks. He turned around, about to knock on the door, only to stop a second later.

" _Ow, don't touch that Ashlynn. It's really sensitive."_

" _Sorry Crystal, I'll try to be gentle next time...I know how much it would hurt if I wasn't careful."_

" _See Ash, I told you that you were being rough...you have to take a breath and do it slowly. It isn't going to fit unless you do it like that."_

"Oh my god...no...no...no." the boy whispered to himself, his overactive imagination filling his mind with perverted thoughts.

" _Be careful Briar, don't poke it too much, we wouldn't want Ashlynn to start bleeding would you?"_

" _You're right Crystal, I'm just no good with this sort of stuff. Maybe we should have called Lizzie, she has the experts hand when it comes to this."_

" _Yeah, but she's busy at the moment. I think if you just ram it in, it should fit...it's supposed to be really stretchy."_

"God damn you Ramona...god damn you to hell." Blake said, his face turning even more crimson. He turned around, about to leave when he heard Ashlynn scream...it was too much for the boy, and he grabbed a hold of the door knob, throwing the door open.

"Stop it! You girls are too young to be doing this shit!" he cried, catching the three girls by surprise. It was at that moment that Blake noticed all of the boxes around the room, along with what looked like a shelving unit and some curtains, the former being assembled by the three girls. They all just stood there, not knowing what to say, until he felt brave enough to speak.

"I...um...I'm sorry." he said, bowing his head.

"Blake, what's wrong with you? You usually don't burst into people's dorms like this." Briar said, letting go of Ashlynn's hand. The girl had apparently struck her thumb with the hammer she had been holding, resulting in the scream he had heard.

"I thought it was customary to knock on the door before walking into the room. Oh, is this how you do it in your world? Do you just burst into people's rooms not caring what they're doing? That actually sounds like fun!" Crystal said, earning a sigh from the boy.

"No...I need to borrow Crystal for a bit to settle the damn raffle, and Ramona started filling my head with naughty thoughts. When I heard you messing around with that shelf, I thought you were doing other things." he said, trying to hide his flushed face.

"Oh...oh." Ashlynn said softly, a look of realization on her face.

"That damn she wolf is going to be the end of me...I'm gonna go talk to her, Ashlynn, Crystal we can continue later." Briar said, hurrying out of the room in search for the daughter of the Bad Wolf.

"What exactly do you need me for Blake? I don't mind helping my friends out...it's how I got stuck on shelf duty." Crystal said, pointing to the disassembled shelf.

"Well, the final votes were tallied in, I asked Raven to gather the names of the people who were closest to the correct answer. I'm gonna have you pick out four tickets which you will then seal with in an envelope. We won't announce the winners until December 19th." he said.

"That's actually rather reasonable...I'm impressed with your abilities to always come up with ways to handle things." Ashlynn said, earning a flush from Blake.

"Well, it just came to me you know...Ashlynn, I have a big favor to ask of you. Could you please never say the phrase, "Don't just ram it in" ever again?" he said, earning a giggle from Crystal.

"It did sound pretty bad Ash...I'm sure poor Blake is gonna have wet dreams from now on."

"Crys! Sheesh, don't fucking give him fuel...I remember once flashing Hunter and he wouldn't stop saying the word boob for like a week." Ashlynn replied.

"That's actually pretty funny...anyway, I'm gonna take Crystal now, if you need help with that shelf I'll definitely lend a hand." he said.

"I'll bring the lube." Crystal said, earning glares from the two teenagers.

 _ **xxx**_

"Hey Blake, I have a question for you, it's rather serious." Crystal said, causing the black haired boy to frown. He didn't think the girl could actually be serious, given her aloof nature. She reminded him a lot of Lucy when she was younger, though she mellowed out with age.

"Sure, what is it?"

"What did you do to make Henry snap?" she asked curiously. He sighed, figuring it had to do something with the son of Hans. He shrugged, glancing at the lockers beside him.

"I didn't do anything...on my first day of school, I bumped into him. He thought it would be cool to steal my apple, so I knocked him on his ass. Over the weeks that I was here, he started taunting me and becoming a fucking asshole. He humiliated me in front of the school, told them all that I could never leave, that my family was better off without me. The only thing I did was the right thing to do...I forgave him." he said.

"You forgave him? So that's what you meant when you said you forgave him." she said, earning a nod from him.

"I think what made him snap was the fact that the entire school was against him. After he humiliated me, he thought that he could just use that to push me into the darkness. Instead, I channeled those feelings into my music, and into Purple Rhapsody's performance that night. What drove him over the edge, was definitely Jack breaking the guitar his father had given him."

"I heard from someone that he tried to kill Jack, is that true?" Crystal asked. He nodded, wondering when she had gotten that information. It hadn't been that long since it was made public after all.

"He did...he went to Heritage Hall and broke into Alistair Wonderland's gift box. He ended up stealing the Vorpal Blade, and wanted to use it to kill me, Jack and anyone who interacted with us. He was going to kill Lizzie and Kitty too. He ended up slicing my arm open, but thankfully my magic was enough to heal me." he said, pulling his arm free from his jacket, showing her the thin scar on his bicep. She traced a finger over it, a frown on her face.

"I'm so sorry...I didn't think he would do something like that." she said softly, genuine sadness on her face.

"Why are you apologizing for? This isn't your fault."

"It isn't Henry's either...as you most likely know, his father didn't get to the throne in the Southern Isles that easily. After he attacked my mother, and left my aunt to die, he was taken back to the Southern Isles and tried for treason against the Snow Kingdom. He was sentenced to life in Prison...however, due to some circumstances, he was released from prison a bit early."

"What circumstances?" he asked curiously. She placed her hands together, her frown growing a bit. He noticed her shift in tone, she had become serious, regal and poised, acting like the princess and future queen she was. It was honestly quite shocking.

"We don't know who, but a hit was placed on his family. Everyone who was supposed to succeed the throne was eliminated, some of his brothers had already retired or passed away at this time, so they just had to get rid of them and any child over the age of twenty-one who could succeed the throne. That only left him as the last true heir of the Southern Isles. As it turns out, before Hans left for my mother's coronation, he had gotten a girl pregnant, resulting in Henry's birth."

"So, he was born out of wedlock, basically a bastard child since he grew up without his father. Then he was thrust into the royal life when his father came out of jail, succeeded the throne, and took the girl he had impregnated years in the past as his wife and queen. What a disgusting fuck." Blake spat, a look of genuine disgust on his face.

"My thoughts exactly. My mother changed completely, she met my father the Snow King, a man who was exactly like her, and they wed. the Kingdom at the top of the world merged with Arrendale, and both became a large kingdom. In order to keep everything flowing smoothly, my mother let my aunt Anna take over Arrendale as a Princess, but also as a Queen."

"Hehe, that sounds just like Anna and Elsa, coming up with something that doesn't exist. Just because it benefited them at the time." he said, holding back his chuckles.

"Mhmm, mom does that a lot...she's a loving and benevolent queen and my father is the love of her life. I was born shortly after they were married, at around the same time Henry was being born. I grew up mostly with my Aunt, until my Ice powers started coming in, then I kept living with both of them, at odd intervals. It was then when I met Henry, while wondering through Arrendale. Apparently, they had moved there when he was just an infant, so he had never been to the Southern Isles. We were close friends."

"You two...friends? He told me outright you were the biggest bitch he had ever met. The wicked frozen cunt of the north, ruler of polar bears and penguins. It was then that I told him that Penguins weren't found in the north pole and called him a retard." Blake said, remembering the memory fondly.

"I figured he would call me something like that. The thing was, we spent almost all of our childhoods running around, having fun with Sven and Olaf. It was a great time, I even made snowcones for everyone when it was really hot. But then his father showed up...he didn't know I was Elsa's daughter, so he found it cute that his son had a little girlfriend. He said he wanted to meet my mom, so he could arrange a marriage between us when we were older. Henry was ecstatic, saying he wanted me to be his wife when we were grown ups...I was only seven, so I didn't really care." she said, giggling a bit.

"Hmm...I take it Anna went to look for you, saw Hans near you and flipped her lid. After decking him in the face, she called the palace guards, and Henry started screaming because he was confused. His mother found him, ran into Hans, and everything crashed around you two."

"Mhmm, you got some details right...auntie didn't deck him in the face. She uppercut his chin and knocked him into uncle Kristoff's ice sleigh, and then he decked him...anyway, he told Henry's mother that he had come in search for her, that he was the King of the Southern Isles and wanted her to be his Queen. Henry was happy to finally be with his father, and wanted to go back with him. He asked me if I wanted to go with him to the Southern Isles too, but that's when I got a good look at him."

"No! You're the meanie who tried to kill my mommy, and you left my auntie to die! I hate you! Then seven year old Crystal kicked Hans in the shin and hid behind her aunt." Blake said, earning a cute pout from the girl.

"Yes, that was surprisingly accurate. Hans looked at his son and then at me and remembered my mother. He grabbed his son's hand and told him that I was a bad person, that I wasn't going to be his wife because my mother had tried to kill him in the past. A total bullshit lie...that's when Henry changed. He chose to leave with his father, leaving his mother behind. Since he was his father, and a King, he could basically do whatever he wanted with custody. Henry was born in the Southern Isles so there was nothing she could do. Whenever we tried having formal meetings to have good relations with them, Henry would just call me names. As we grew older, his insults started changing."

"Did he...you know...hit you, or touched you?" he asked.

"Yes, he's hit me before. My mother would have brought winter to summer all over again if I hadn't told her to stop. We cut all ties with them, and that was the last time I had seen Henry...at least until I visited him in jail recently. After five and a half years, I was expecting to hear some insults, sexual slurs...but now, he just spat in face. So I grabbed him by his shirt and cut into his face with my finger nail, freezing his blood at the same time. I told him to get ready, because when my turn came to rule the Snow Kingdom, I wasn't gonna give him any mercy."

"Holy shit Crystal...you seriously did that?" Blake asked, earning a nod from the girl.

"Not the proudest moment in my life. My mother taught me to conceal my feelings in front of my enemies, but reading the case file, all the atrocities he's already committed...it just infuriated me. I was ready to freeze his heart and yet...I saw his eyes...the hurt in them. I think he wanted to go back to the times before he met his father...he probably wished he could have lived a normal life in Arrendale...probably expecting us to be married...I never loved him, and I never will. He's too much like his father." she said simply.

"I...don't know what to say Crystal...I've learned so much about you and Henry...I at least know why he's the way he is now. I honestly thought he became that way because of me but...it ran deeper than I thought...thank you for sharing that with me. It must have been difficult to talk about." he said. She smiled lovingly, her cheeks tinging pink.

"S-sure no p-problem. I just wanted you to know me a bit more, so we c-could become better f-friends." she said, stuttering a bit. She looked away from the boy, mentally scolding herself.

"Um anyway...about the first snowfall of Winter, how would you like to do it? Since you are bringing it this year, we've all decided to let you handle it."

"After your performance of course...it can be the highlight of the night. Besides I wouldn't want to do it before, because then your stage will become slippery. That wouldn't be good for you guys." she said, earning a nod from him.

"Excellent, I'll be sure to tell the Heartsmith later on." he said, jotting something in his notebook.

"Heartsmith? What's a heartsmith?" she asked, clearly confused.

"You'll have to wait dear Crystal, you'll know soon enough." he said, giving her a wink. Crystal couldn't help but let her inner child out to voice her curiosity, but no matter how many questions she asked, the boy never relented.


	32. The Winter Formal III

**A/N:**

 **Hello people of Earth and Fanfiction, welcome to Chapter 32 of Through the Looking Glass, the story that doesn't involve looking or glasses in the slightest! Yesterday's chapter made you detest Joey, this one will make you loathe his ass even more. Today we all get to finally see Lucy for the first time, but of course not currently. Yeah, I decided to blue ball everyone but I needed to add her into the story, to at least have her in the story instead of being talked about all the time. You all get to see Blake and Joey's relationship back on Earth while Lucy was still around. So let me know what you think of that part.**

 **This chapter will be the introduction of Darling Charming into the story...I had completely forgotten I had brought her into the story in this chapter, until I reread it of course. She will make more appearances during the following filler arc before Spring Unsprung. I have gotten plenty of ideas for that story arc, and I'm sure you'll all have a love/hate relationship with that arc once it is written. You'll probably hate me for awhile too, but do not shoot the writer, for he will make art, no matter how he has to do it.**

 **There will be three more chapters for the Winter Formal Arc, this is the third one. It is one of the longer arcs in this story, and I'm currently writing the sixth part, which will be the finale. It will also include the Christmas part of the chapter, to give a proper ending to the Winter Formal Arc, plus I couldn't not add a Christmas chapter to this story, it is the season after all. With Christmas being a few days away now, I might just post the finale to this arc on Christmas Eve or Christmas day, as a little gift to you all, and you'll all finally get to see the long awaited Winter Concert as well as the welcoming of the Winter Season. So I hope you all look forward to it.**

 **Shout outs go to all of my readers, I would name you all but right now I don't have your names. Just know that you are all awesome and I'm writing this not just for me by also for all of you. So all of your support and kind words are awesome and keeps me motivated...so I do hope you like this chapter. Have a nice night everyone!**

Ever After High

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 32

The Winter Formal III

Ever After High had started decorating for the season the day December had entered. Being the final month in the year, the students took to the season wholeheartedly. Beautiful paper snowflakes decorated almost every hallway, with candy canes being placed all around the area, and decorative garland being tied around every single handrail. In the foyer of the school right at the top of the stairs was the Christmas tree, a large fir tree decorated to the brim with colorful blinking lights, balls of different shapes and sizes, tinsel, silver icicles, and ornaments made by the students themselves. The glittering star was apparently made of glass, and was an heirloom kept at the school from the first era of fairytales that had come to the school. The tops of the lockers were also decorated with various paper ornaments and more unique snowflakes. Blake had seen Lizzie cutting a few of them, all of them being in the shape of hearts, yet still being snowflakes. He honestly wondered how she did it.

Ginger was handing out candy canes, snowflake cookies and various other Christmas themed sweets. He had already gotten his limit of cookies, because he knew that his friend and boss would quickly run out if he kept going back for more. It had been a bit weird when he saw a small army of Gingerbread cookies carrying various platters into the school, but he figured she had used some weird magic to animate the cookies...it was rather odd, but seeing as the local police force and there Grimmnastics teacher was a Gingerbread man, he didn't question it.

The students were also dressed more warmly, as the cold of winter was slowly starting to set in. Even though the school was toasty warm, that didn't stop people from wearing long pants and jackets. Some of the girls still wore skirts and dresses, though they chose to pair them with warm leggings and other types of clothing. He wasn't at all bothered by the cold, so he just wore his normal attire, leaving his hooded jacket unzipped. He was currently standing at his locker, having just gotten out of class. He had some things to check on while he had a free period, so he was going to check in with his bandmates to see how everything was coming along. He closed his locker door, just in time to see Cupid approaching him.

The pink haired girl had, like many other girls in the school, dressed a bit warmer for the season. She was wearing a long sleeved pink shirt, which had a bit of a low cut collar. She was wearing a matching layered skirt, which was a dark red in color, the bottom layers being light pink and black. It had various hearts and roses sown into it, which he thought was very cool, since the roses seemed to change color under different levels of light. Like most other girls, she was wearing a pair of thick wool leggings, and was somehow wearing heels. He still didn't get their fascination with them, if he was being honest. But after three months of being in Ever After, he had just gotten used to it. He gave her a smile, opening his notebook to the last marked page, his checklist for the event.

"Hey Cupid, I was just going to come see you...how's practice going?" he asked.

"I think I've gotten everything down, hearing it with your part made it easier to remember. What are you doing right now?" she asked curiously, glancing at his notebook.

"I'm gonna check on some stuff, you can tag along if you'd like. The front man needs to see this anyway." he replied, jotting something down in his notebook.

"Sure, I don't mind...but I came to you because...well I need some advice." she said, earning a curious look from the boy.

"Advice huh? I can help you with anything that isn't love related, it isn't my forte."

"It...actually is love related...it might sound shocking, but yes the love expert needs advice from someone other than her." Cupid said, stunning the boy a bit. He shook his head, poking Cupid on the cheek a couple of times. He reached for one of her wings, plucking a feather from them, making her yelp from the pain. He looked at it closely, nodding to himself.

"Yeah, you are Cupid alright...but what would the daughter of Eros want my love advice for? Thanks for the feather by the way, I needed a new quill." he said, tucking the silky feather into the spirals of his notebook. She looked at him a bit annoyed, crossing her arms with a huff.

"I need advice because aside from Hunter and Ash, you're the only other one in a relationship. So tell me how you did it!"

"How I did it? I didn't do jack shit, Cerise grabbed my shirt, shouted, "I feel these stings in my heart because I love you!" and then processed to assault my lips with her own because she loved me...that's it." he said. Cupid flushed a bit, tugging on a strand of her candy pink hair.

"So...she just went for it? I didn't think she would actually follow my advice like that."

"Come on, you are C.A. Cupid, the love doctor who has helped a lot of hormonal teenagers get over their shyness, awkwardness and maybe with those that wanted to...um...seal the deal. Hey, what does C.A. Stand for?" he asked.

"I never told you?" she asked, causing the boy to shake his head. She sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Well, since we're friends I suppose I can tell you my full name. It's Chariclo Arganthone Cupid...a lot of people can't pronounce the first two, so I just shortened it to C.A...or Cupid." she replied.

"Well, at least it's easier to pronounce than my middle name...I'm sure you've seen the video. Anyway, you need advice, I already know who you are pinning after, it's kinda obvious...and a little scary sometimes. I get scared because when we all hang out, you look like this fierce animal, ready to mount him and drain him of his life force and seminal fluid." he said.

"Oh my goddesses, that makes me sound so perverted! Don't say it like that, jeez." she cried, slapping his arm while hiding her flushing cheeks.

"Sorry, I gotta deal with Ramona a lot more now that me and Cerise are dating. I didn't know someone could be so goddamn perverted all the time...anyway, if you want to get Dexi to notice you, you have to stop being so...uh...well...you." he said.

"I have to stop being me? I feel insulted now, thanks."

"Ugh...it's hard for me to explain. Whenever you see him, you just expect him to start showering you attention, but he's clearly in love with Raven. You have to make him notice you in only the ways that count...you are his best friend, you give him advice, and you hang out with him quite a lot. The little things matter, like maybe a new necklace, some perfume, a new shirt...get him to notice you, as a woman and not a friend. Embrace the inner you, bring out your natural beauty, and he will notice you." he said, placing a hand on her shoulder, earning a nod from her.

"And...if he doesn't?"

"Then it's not meant to be...and pinning after him could only get you pain and heartbreak. Sometimes, you have to stay friends with someone instead of courting them. If I was in love with you and I knew you were in love with someone else, then I would rather set aside those feelings and keep you in my life as a friend, than risking those feelings at the wrong time and losing you entirely." Blake said, in the most honest tone he could muster.

"You're...you're right...I'll do just as you said, and if he doesn't notice me, then I'll move on...do you think you could help me get some mistletoe just in case?" she asked, a hopeful look on her face. He reached into his bag and pulled out a green elf hat, with red felt around the bottom of it, and a large bundle of mistletoe instead of a bell at the end. He placed it on her head, giving her a grin.

"That should work for you...mistletoe hats are the perfect way to get a kiss from the person you like. After all if they want to talk to you, they'll be under the mistletoe." he said, poking the green and red leafy plant.

"Thank you Blake, you are an awesome friend!" the girl said, hugging him tightly.

"I know I am, nice touch on the Cinnamon Spice perfume, really captures the season." he said, giving her a grin. The two heard some people beside them gasp at something, causing them to look toward the Entrance of the school, seeing someone they had never seen before.

It was a very beautiful young woman, with lightly tanned skin and long wavy platinum blonde hair, bearing streaks of baby blue. Some was tied into a small bump on her head, the rest being left to cascade down her back in curls. She had bright blue eyes, and was wearing light blue eyeliner and eye shadow around them. She was wearing a white dress, the which looked to be made of silk, the skirt only reaching to her mid thigh. The outer parts were light blue in color, with streaks of hot pink, dark blue and a few specks of green being visible. She wore a matching bolero jacket, reaching to her mid back, over it she wore a pair of silver shoulder guards. She was also wearing silver heels, which almost looked to be made of actual silver. She looked around, noticing everyone was looking right at her, with a small smile she flicked a strand of hair over her shoulder, time literally slowing down as it fell perfectly behind her back.

"What the fuck? Did time just slow down?" Blake asked, glancing at Cupid, who gave her a nod.

"It did...I felt it. That must be some magic hair." she said softly.

The unknown girl didn't do much after that. She glanced at the screen on her phone screen for a couple of seconds, before resuming her walk into the school. Having lost interest in the unnaturally attractive female, Blake looked at his notebook, shortly before looking at his wrist watch, frowning a bit.

"I don't have much time, I promised Duchess I would watch her dance routine, then I have to speak with Lizzie and Farrah about the outfits. I have to check in with Melody to see how the mixing coming along, and I have to speak with Cerise for our picnic with Ruby and Ramona." he said.

"Aw, you two are already having family dinners?" Cupid asked, earning a nod from the boy.

"Ruby adores me, she texts me all the time asking how her little girl is doing, and always asks me if I'm eating my vegetables. She's...been a real mom to me these last few weeks."

"Hey, don't be sad...I'm sure one day you'll see your parents again...now turn that frown upside down! It's December and we need to be full of holiday cheer!" Cupid said cheerfully, earning a smile from the boy.

"You're right, let's get down to business."

"To defeat, the Huns! Did they send me daughters? When I asked, for sons!"

"You're the saddest bunch, I've ever met. But you can bet, before we're through. Mister I'll...make a man, out of you!" Blake continued, bumping fists with his friend, both laughing while everyone around them just looked on in confusion.

"Excuse me, I hate to bother you, but could you possibly tell me where I could find Dexter Charming? Or Daring Charming?"

Blake glanced to his right, now noticing the platinum blonde from before had stopped right before them. He didn't even notice her approach them, much less hear her. He was honestly impressed with someone who had the ability to do that, then again he and Cupid were lost in their little singing moment, so it was possible their voices drowned out her movements. Regardless, he greeted her with a look of confusion, while Cupid adopted a more predatory look, masked under a sickly sweet smile.

"Might I ask who you are to Dexter? I'm not sure he would appreciate some random girl asking for him."

"Cupid!" Blake snapped, disbelief written on his face. The pink haired girl said nothing, her eyes not shifting from the blonde before her. She looked confused for a second, an airy giggle passing through her lips.

"I get it, you must be one of my brother's admirers. I apologize if I came out a little weird, I'm Darling Charming, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Darling? Oh right...I feel so dumb now. Dexter did say something about you coming to school this week...sorry if I came out a bit aggressive...I really like your brother."

"I can see that, the predatory look in your eye told me everything. You must be Cupid, he mentioned being friends with an angel, didn't think he meant a literal one." Darling said, glancing at Cupid's wings.

"He talks to you about me? I feel so special now...I'm definitely going to make this mistletoe hat work for me. I gotta go rehearse, sorry Blake but I'm gonna be busy for awhile." the girl said taking off in a sprint.

"Okay...practice your guitar chords for tonight!" he called out, frowning a bit when he glanced at his watch, a crossing something out of his notebook, rather hard too. Darling just stood there awkwardly, not knowing what to say, at least until she noticed the silver hilt attached to his waist, barely poking through his jacket.

"Is that what I think it is?" she asked, making the boy look up from his notebook. He followed her gaze to his waist, covering the Vorpal Blade.

"Yeah, it is...don't tell anyone okay? I'm not supposed to have it. Anyway, I'm about to speak with another one of my friends, Dexter is with her so I'll walk you to him. Something tells me you'd like to speak with him over Daring." he said.

"Why do you say that?"

"Just a hunch, I'm Blake by the way, it's nice to meet you Darling. I've heard a lot about you from Dexter. Even though you are a princess, you tend to be a bookworm, have no set destiny and believe that women should be able to fight instead of being a damsel. My girlfriend is just like you." he said

"Dexter has spoken a lot about you too, the boy who traveled to Ever After through a mirror, I've been wanting to meet you for awhile too. I hope you don't mind answering some questions for me." she said, giving him a sweet smile, which would have melted the hearts of other boys. Thankfully, Blake didn't seem to be affected by her charm so he just gave her a nod.

"Sure thing, I'd love to get to know my best friend's little sister." he said happily.

 _ **xxx**_

Joey frowned as he glanced around the nearly empty Student Lounge. He was looking through his phone, a Samsung Galaxy 8, which was now useless due to him being in a new world. He could easily get it to work, but he decided to buy himself a new phone instead, his MirrorPhone IX, apparently the newest line of MirrorPhones. He was mostly looking through his old pictures, the ones he had transferred over from his previous phone. They were all of himself, Blake and Lucy, back on Earth. He smiled a bit, seeing the glittering blue eyes and brilliant smile on his ex-girlfriend's face. He also saw the frown on Blake's face, as if he was contemplating something.

Blake was only ever happy when he was skating, practicing parkour or watching anime. He used to be a happy person, but when Lucy disappeared he had started to change. He noticed more pictures of that point, all of the pictures of himself, Blake and his sisters Susan and Mary. He wasn't as happy as he used to be. But compared to now, he was three times the person he was then. It was crazy to think that six months could change a person so much, or rather three months in Ever After. Joey just couldn't wrap his mind around it, and it honestly annoyed him.

Blake had everything he wanted in this new world. He had a large room all too himself, filled with everything he owned back on Earth. All of his manga, anime collections, hundreds of movies and video games. He had a lot of friends, was active in school, defended and advocated for the Rebels, had a girlfriend and was in his own band. It was everything that Joey wanted, but could never have back on Earth. He wasn't a popular person, he admitted, but he at least had other friends. He cared about his school and the environment, but no one ever voted him Student Body President. So it really made him mad when his friend, who used to be a morose recluse, was now one of the most popular people in school.

He hated to admit it, but Cerise had been half right. He was jealous of his best friend, because he had such an interesting life. Because he had forgotten about his friends and family, and had chosen to live in Ever After. It didn't matter that he was cursed, it didn't matter that his family and those that knew him were enchanted, Blake had just turned his back away from them without a single damn thought, and that was what truly infuriated the brown haired boy. He didn't know what Joey had gone through when he was missing, he didn't know that he had the worst home life ever. Even before he had disappeared, Blake showed absolutely no compassion, and didn't say anything whenever Joey seemed depressed or angry.

His sister was gone, having decided to become a professional ice skater in the United States, so she wasn't going to be back in Toronto often, that and she had a boyfriend as well. His mother was too busy managing the house to even pay attention to him, and his father had left them when he was five years old. He was miserable, barely had any toys to play with growing up, or anything to do. That was why he cherished Lucy so much, because she always found something to do, but now that she was gone, he and his best friend didn't have many things in common. It didn't take him long to realize that the only reason they hung out together was because of Lucy. He looked at the last picture they had taken together, on her birthday. She was wearing the charm bracelet he had gotten her during their first year anniversary. He had noticed a heart shaped locket attached to it, but never really asked her where she got it. It didn't matter, since he never found that bracelet, and assumed that Lucy had it when she died.

He set his phone on sleep mode, standing up to his feet. He glanced toward the windows, gritting his teeth. He still remembered what had happened between him and Duchess. The girl was now actively avoiding him, and Blake didn't let him get anywhere near her. He wanted to apologize, for trying to kiss her, for almost touching her. He didn't know why he had done it, but his jealousy had spiked at that moment. It wasn't fair that Blake had someone like Cerise and he had no one. It wasn't fair that Blake had an amazing room and he didn't...it wasn't fair that Blake always had what he wanted and was miserable, and he had nothing and was suffering. It wasn't fair that Blake had a loving family, and he was ignored by everyone in his.

"It isn't fair." he muttered dryly, balling his fist so hard his knuckles cracked. He started walking toward the exit, shoving his hands in his pockets.

He lost himself in memory, one that had happened the summer before Lucy had disappeared. He clenched his jaw a bit, leaning against a nearby wall as he glanced around the empty hallway.

 _ **xxx(Flashback, 2 years prior-Earth Time)xxx**_

Joey frowned as he looked around his room, seeing the bare walls. He had a few posters hanging on them, an old Nirvana poster along with a Beatles poster and a signed and framed Micheal Jackson poster, which had belonged to his mother growing up. His room was rather basic, he had a single bed in the room, at the side of the wall. He had a small bookshelf next to it, filled with some manga issues that he had bought for himself. There was a desk near the only window in the room, his worn out computer, a hand me down from the nearby school was on it. A worn rug was in the center of the room, with a small wooden table on it. He also had a small television, with a Nintendo Gamecube plugged into it. Around the small television were stacks of Gamecube games, which his mother had bought from Garage sales for cheap. He blinked a few times, leaning back in his chair.

"Hey Joey, you want some juice?" a cheery voice called out.

"No thanks Luce, I'm fine."

"Too bad, I already brought some." the girl said, entering the bedroom, shoving the glass in his hands. He rolled his eyes, taking a sip of it.

Lucy wasn't much younger than he was, being only a few months younger than him. She had long dark brown hair that cascaded down her back, reaching down to her waist. She had bright blue eyes, lined with dark purple eyeliner, with small tails at the corners of her eyes. She was wearing a black shirt with long golden sleeves, a pair of black short shorts, knee high black socks and high top black shoes. She sat down on the wooden table, leaning back on her hand as she took a gulp from the juice.

"Blake is almost done in the bathroom...can't believe he sliced his wrist open."

"I told him not to climb the barbed wire fence, the jackass." Joey muttered, earning a glare from the girl. She sighed, glancing at her wrist, the golden charm bracelet jingling a bit.

"Hey, I think we should tell him...about us."

"Lucy, we've talked about this...I'm not gonna tell him shit. We agreed to act normally around him." the boy snapped.

"I know, but he deserves to know...he's my best friend, the first one I made after moving from Quebec. I want to tell him." Lucy said sternly, earning a growl from the boy.

"Why should we tell him? I don't think we should, you know why? Because he won't even care...he's got everything he's ever wanted, and look at him. He's a walking disappointment...his father just got him a Playstation 4, and he barely touches it...while I have to deal with a damn Gamecube, it's not 2002 anymore." he replied, crossing his arms in annoyance. Lucy puffed her cheeks out, clenching the glass in her hand.

"Don't talk about stuff like that, his mother and father love him dearly and have always gotten him everything he's ever wanted. You know why, because he's special to them...just like Sue and Mary are to them. He's our friend and he has the right to know, don't piss me off."

"I'm not telling him, end of discussion. Besides, he's just gonna get in between us, I love you sweetheart." he said, slowly approaching the girl, giving her a soft kiss on the lips. She sighed, glancing at the far wall.

"Fine...we aren't telling him."

"Telling me what?" Blake said, entering the room, his wrist being freshly bandaged.

"Telling you...that we wanted to go skate some more. I figured you were gonna go home, so we weren't gonna bother." Joey said, giving the boy a forced smile. Blake narrowed his eyes, brushing some of his hair out of his eyes.

"It doesn't matter to me...if you're gonna skate, I'm down. I don't need my hands to skate." he said, sitting down on Joey's bed.

"He's right, you're a fool Joe, he beat you." Lucy said cheerfully, giving the boy a playful wink.

"Whatever...hey, let's play a quick game. It's a what if game...I'll go first, what if one day you got a single wish granted, what would you do with it and why?" Joey asked, glancing at Lucy, a smirk on her face.

"I would use my wish to go to Wonderland of course! I've always wanted to find a rabbit hole and just jump into it. To see the Red Queen's castle, to meet Alice and the Mad Hatter, that would be a dream come true!" the girl said, finishing her juice.

"Of course you would want to go to Wonderland. I bet you my life savings that you would jump right into that rabbit hole."

"What life savings? You only got a loonie left in your pocket, because you spent it all on Doritos and Mountain Dew." Blake said jokingly, earning a growl from the brown haired boy.

"Alright then asshole, what the hell would you do with your wish? You got everything you could ever want." Joey said, earning a glare from Lucy, who was clearly starting to get pissed off.

"You wanna know what I would do with my wish? It's simple...I would use to to grant someone elses wish." Blake replied.

"Huh...why would you do that?" Lucy asked, earning a small smile from the boy.

"Because Lucy, there are people that have it worse off than I do...people who don't have what I have. There are children suffering because they're poor, women and men suffering because they've lost a child or a loved one...there are homeless people who no one cares about. Veterans that are treated like trash after serving our country...I would use my wish to help someone like that. Even if it's one wish, I would use that wish to brighten a persons day, instead of wishing something stupid for myself."

"Heh...that's dumb...you do know you could do anything you want with that wish right? You could make your favorite anime real. You can become an awesome singer, have all the money you want in the world."

"Yes I know, which is why I would much rather give my wish away. It doesn't matter right? After all it is my wish." Blake said, glaring at his friend.

"Alright you two, enough of that...we all would do different things with our wish, I think it's wonderful that Blake wants to use his for someone rather than himself." Lucy said, giving her friend a smile. He smiled back, flushing a bit. Joey shook his head, leaning back in his chair.

"My wish would be simple, I would leave this crappy world and go to another one. A world where I can be someone else, be different, be surrounded by cool people, and have a lot of hot babes around me." Joey said.

"Pfft...that's a stupid wish...why would you do that? What about your family here on Earth? Wouldn't they miss you?" Blake asked.

"Not really...my mother barely pays attention to me, big sis is focused on her College classes, and doesn't live here. So why would I stick around, besides...we all gotta leave the nest at some point." he said with a shrug.

"Joey, I think it's wrong for you to wish something like that...your mother loves you dearly. She goes through a lot just getting you what you want, sure it isn't exactly what you want, but at least she tries." Lucy said, earning a frown from the boy.

"Well, she should try harder."

"Dude, that's messed up...you have no idea what your mother goes through, to put your ass through school and get you fed. Hell even Molly is suffering because of her student loans falling flat, and has to work at a fucking strip joint to get through college. Don't say shit like that about your mom!"

"Screw you Blake, of course you would say that. Your mother is a home designer, she gets paid to travel and decorate houses. Your father is businessman, going to Wall street and raking in the money. You get whatever you want whenever you want, and you don't appreciate any of it. So yeah, my mother should try harder, because I'm her son and I should get what I want."

"Okay that's enough! Blake don't say anything, Joey I think it's fucked up that you would say that. You don't even know why Blake's parents treat him the way they do. Your mother loves you dearly and she works herself to the bone to make enough money to get you what you want. So fucking respect her!" Lucy shouted, earning a cringe from Blake. Joey stood up, clenching his hands tightly.

"You have no idea how I feel. My mom doesn't love me, because she would be finding better jobs to get me what I want. You don't even know what motherly love is, considering the fact your mom walked out on you and your father when you were seven!" he cried. His eyes widened in shock, covering his mouth right after he said that. Lucy dropped her glass to the ground, standing up from her seat, running out of the room.

"Lucy! Hey Lucy wait up! Nice going asshole, the fuck is wrong with you?" Blake snapped, glaring at his friend.

"I didn't mean to say that...I just...got really mad."

"You know her mother leaving is a sensitive topic, yet you continue broaching your selfish ass attitude. This is why you never get what you want, because you want what you can't have. Get your ass a job, use that money to help your mother so she doesn't have to come home at midnight smelling like piss and bleach." He cried angrily.

"That's rich coming from you...Mister I get whatever I want."

"Grr...do you know why my mom and dad get me what I want? Even when I don't ask for it? Do you know why my sisters are so overprotective of me? Do you know why I'm so angry and pissed off all the time? Because I'm adopted!"

"Huh...what? Now you're just making shit up."

"I'm not...I was adopted as a newborn...I never knew my parents, and I grew up blissfully unaware that they weren't there. Marissa and Steven, they're not my parents. Susan and Mary, they're not my sisters...that's why they give me what I want, whenever I want! Because they know I'm not their biological child." he replied.

"Oh...Blake I didn't...I'm sorry."

"Don't apologize to me dick-sneeze...apologize to Lucy for that knife you plunged into her back. I'll bring her back in an hour, so you better work on your fucking apology, or I'll knock your goddamn teeth out." Blake said, walking out of the bedroom.

He heard the front door slam shut a second later. Joey walked over to the window, seeing Blake walking toward the mailbox where Lucy was standing. He didn't say anything to her, he assumed...because he just scooped her into his arms, giving her a hug. He stood there for the next few minutes, watching as his best friend wiped the tears out of his girlfriend's eyes. Watching the loving looks he was given her, and everything he was doing to cheer the girl up. He closed his eyes, turning away from the window.

"I changed my mind...if I had one wish...it would be that Lucy never met Blake, because he doesn't deserve her as a friend."

 _ **xxx(Flashback ends)xxx**_

Joey cringed a bit, shaking himself out of his thoughts. He didn't think he had ever thought anything like that. Finding out his friend had been adopted was a shock, but it didn't change his opinion. It wasn't his fault that his father was a bastard drunk who decided to drink himself to death. It wasn't his fault that his mom didn't finish high school and couldn't get an actual job. He was her son, and as her son he deserved to have whatever he wanted. As his mother she needed to get him what he wanted until he was an adult. He didn't care if he sounded selfish, it was just how the world worked.

But now that he was in a different world, he started seeing the truth of what had happened. Blake had stolen his wish...he had left for a different world, his family and friends discarded like a plastic bag flying in the wind. He had become a popular person, he had been surrounded by cute girls, had a smoking hot girlfriend...and joined a band. It was everything someone like Joey could ever want...it was then that he realized his friend had betrayed him without him even noticing. It took Lucy's disappearance for him to finally realize just how lucky Blake was. And it took Joey deciding to stay in Ever After, to decide he would get his wish, by any means, even if it meant destroying his best friend's life. He smirked to himself, glancing at his phone, seeing the pictures he had taken of Blake and Duchess hugging.

" _Hehe, first step in getting my wish granted...slowly taking away everything Blake holds dear...but it isn't the time for that. It's too early for this plan to come about...I'll wait for now, keep acting like his friend and work from the shadows...I'll make his life so shitty here, that he'll have no choice but to go back to Earth...even if that shard will kill him. It would probably be for the best. After all, he was the cause of Lucy's death, and he needs to pay for that."_ he thought, angrily to himself. He pocketed his phone, heading back to his dorm. It would be a while before he would set his plan into motion, but he had things to do, and plans to make.

 _ **xxx**_

"Are you kidding me? He seriously thinks that girls shouldn't use swords?" Blake asked, earning a nod from Darling, who crossed her arms across her chest.

"Yes, my father is so...ugh...I can't even describe it. Daring is his spitting image, and it isn't hard to see that he's our father's favorite. Dexter is always the butt of Daring's jokes, and I have to sit there like a little doll." she said. She sighed, glancing at the marble floors.

"I hate it...I pretend to be the little girl he wants to see...I have to hide who I am and it just drives me nuts. I want to save people, I want to show everyone that just because I was born a woman, doesn't mean I can't defend the weak. My dream is to be a knight, but my dad would never let me join the Royal Guard."

"That's disappointing...hey, maybe you should scream vagina power at the top of your lungs while holding a sword in your hand. No one would mess with you then." he said, making the girl laugh.

"I don't think so...that would just get me in more trouble. Still, I can't believe you're the second best swordsmen in our school...maybe you'd like to pick up arms against me?"

"Sure, I'm always up for a spar...it isn't fun fighting against Daring. He always acts like it's an actual fight...Dexter is really good, but I can almost always get through his defense. Everyone else either pussies out, or gets defeated too easily...so yes, I would love to spar against you, but I'm not going easy because you're a girl." he said, earning a dainty laugh from the girl.

"Excellent, I wasn't expecting you too. I already finished my courses in Princess School, so I'll be transferring here. I'll see when I'm free and we can head to the Grimmnasium...I'm sure it'll be after the Winter Formal." she said.

"Yeah, I'm actually really busy with that. I should be in class right now, but I really didn't feel like going to Science and Sorcery at the moment. Thankfully, all yearbook staff members are excused from class if they're working on the book, which is why I asked you for those pictures earlier."

"It's not a problem, I'm looking forward to reading more when the yearbook gets printed."

"Hey, sorry for making you two wait so long. Duchess needed help putting everything back." Dexter said, leaving the room with Duchess right on his heels.

"It's fine big brother, I was just telling Blake here a few stories. I think we're going to be great friends." Darling said, giving her older twin a bright smile.

"Well, you should know that Blake has a girlfriend and she's really defensive. So try not to over step your boundaries." Duchess added with a haughty tone.

"Good to see you haven't changed a bit Duchess...though I heard from Blake that you're a Rebel now? That's nice, makes me happy to have a friend on our side."

"Well you guys, I hate to break this up but...Dex and I need to head back to Melody's for our first dry run. We're gonna get Lizzie to record the lyrics today and give her some vocal training." Blake said, earning a frown from the two girls.

"Have fun, I'm just gonna go and take a nice hot bath." Duchess said, pulling her hair from her ponytail.

"Can I tag along? I'd like to catch up too. Maybe I can wash your hair and you tell me some juicy rumors." Daring said, taking a hold of the monochrome ballerina's hand, pulling her toward the girl's dorms.

"We could have walked together, we're going in the same direction."

"Forget about it Blake, my sister is of a free spirit sometimes. She pretends to be a princess in front of our father, but when it's just her and her friends, it's totally different." Dexter said, earning a sigh from the black haired boy. They begun their journey toward Melody's dorm.

"I have some news from Farrah, she's finished Apple, Cupid and Melody's dresses, so she'll be free to take our measurements and start with our outfits. I haven't seen the finished designs, so they must be something, she'll be finishing Duchess's dress this afternoon." Blake said.

"I can't believe this dude...this performance is going to be nuts...I took a peek at some of your stage designs and had an input. You know the part where you and Lizzie are at the back of the stage?"

"Yeah, that's what starts the show, what's up?" the black haired boy asked, brushing his bangs out of his eyes.

"Okay, so I was thinking, instead of being in the back of the stage where it's dark and waiting for the light show, you two are on a raised balcony, made of ice and snow. There are two stairwells leading down to the stage, you and Lizzie stand back to back, the only thing visible from the balcony being Lizzie's glowing heart." he said.

"I like that...that would also make it so that we don't get into Duchess's way while she's dancing on the stage. The two of us walk down the separate stairwells, meet in the center of the stage and start spinning around each other, before my riff kicks in, we stand on the platforms and act as if we were dolls inside a music box. I love it, thanks for your suggestion Dexter, this is definitely gonna make the over all show look cleaner."

"You're welcome...I had to build all of the lights and figured we could hang some underneath the balcony, to add to the steam punk look. It would also give Apple a place to safely put the music box instead of having it in the middle of the stage where Duchess can trip over it." Dexter said, earning a nod from the boy.

"Mhmm, that's also where Cerise's drumset and Melody's set up could be, giving us that much more stage to work with. Cupid will be standing across from you, in front of Cerise and Melody. Since it will still be half dark on the stage, I'm thinking all of us could wear some of that make up." Blake said, jotting everything down on his notebook.

"You mean like hearts? It seems like this is all based around shattering. Is there a deeper meaning behind this?" the prince asked, earning a sigh from Blake.

"Yes...this was Lucy's favorite song...she was always singing it. She was the one that designed that heart shaped music box, but never got around to building it. Not enough parts and stuff...since Ever After seems more magically developed, it wasn't hard for me to turn that design into a reality. I'm sure she had a lot on her mind the day she left, I can somehow feel her life shattering before her...it's probably why she took off. I wanted to bring out the songs true meaning into this world." he said.

"To shatter expectations...that just because you are destined to be someone in life, doesn't mean you can't do something else. Like a ballerina shattering out of her music box...it's a powerful song. I'm happy to be a part of it." Dexter said.

"I am too, come on, let's go practice!"

 _ **xxx**_

The outdoor courtyard behind Ever After was almost unrecognizable. The stage normally used on Legacy Day had been broken down, leaving the large area completely empty. In it's place, was a large Christmas tree, bright green in color. It was currently being decorated by some of the students, long strands of blinking lights being wrapped around it. Others were checking on the ornaments and making sure they weren't broken. The lower branches were already covered with decorations, lights and many other ornaments, compared to the tree in the foyer, this one was twice as large and more special. As this one would bare the star of winter, which would be created by Crystal after the first snowfall. The area around the tree would be used as a sort of dance floor, and the inside hallway, would be where the food and drinks would be kept, so the snow didn't ruin anything. The entire area was abuzz with activity, and many students were busy making decorations, decorating the hallway leading to the courtyard, or messing around with their friends.

The biggest area of interest was the one directly across from the Christmas tree, to the very left of the central area. It was a large outdoor stage, which had been built by a few students, but once it had been set up, it had been enchanted, so only the members of Purple Rhapsody and those associated with them were allowed to enter it. A large thick violet curtain had been hung from the scaffolding, and had been enchanted so it wouldn't move, not even in a light breeze. Blondie had tried many times to get past the enchantment, but had failed various times. Even King Charming had tried to profile the performance, but no one said a thing. Even when he told his son to get Apple to speak she remained silent, not saying a single word, no matter how many times she was asked.

That of course didn't stop Kitty Cheshire from making her way toward the stage. She had been wondering what was behind that curtain for just as long as everyone else. She was currently inside the large Christmas tree, hanging onto one of the thick branches near the bottom, her eyes focused on the stage. She had a grin plastered onto her face, mischievous giggles escaping her lips. She waited until someone opened the curtain, this being Lizzie who was talking with Farrah about something, before the curtain flapped closed, she used her teleportation magic to warp to the stairs. She broke into a sprint up the stairs, trying to pass through the curtain, only for her to slam into an invisible wall.

"Ow, what the hell?" she muttered, rubbing her face. She placed her hand in front of her, feeling the barrier between her and the stage.

"Nice try Kitty, you know...I had a feeling you would be attempting something like this. Aside from enchanting the curtain, I put this barrier in front of the stage, so Cheshires like you wouldn't use their teleportation as a means to pass through here." Blake said, catching the girl by surprise.

"What...you think this silly barrier is going to keep me out? This kitty has plenty of tricks up her sleeve. My magic let's me get through barriers you know." she said, giving him a grin.

"I know...but I also know that in order for you to teleport into a new place, you have to have seen a picture of it, or a map. You haven't seen anything behind this curtain, and you haven't seen a picture of it...IE you can't get past this barrier. Sorry Kitty, you'll just have to wait." he said, using a tone similar to hers, a grin on his face.

"You win this round Bigby, I will get past that barrier." she said, disappearing from the stairs.

"I didn't think keeping her out of this place would be so stressful." the boy said, a frown on his face. It had been a rough few days for the boy, but the stage was coming along nicely. Thanks to Jessica, who had returned early from her mountaineering adventure, she had been helping out to build it.

But it was hard keeping an eye on everyone trying to get past the curtains and the barrier. He knew Blondie was resourceful, and would somehow find a way past it. And he knew Kitty would be through the second she caught a remote glance past the curtain. Even with his barriers, he knew someone was bound to find out...the thing was keeping them quiet. The Winter Concert was only going to make an impact if it was kept a secret, so he had to do something to keep the two most curious women in Ever After at bay. It would take some elbow grease, but now that there was only five days until the formal, he was sure everything would fall into place.


	33. The Winter Formal IV

**A/N:**

 **Welcome everyone to chapter 33 of Through the Looking Glass. I hope you guys are liking the Winter Formal Arc of the story, I am currently writing the next bit of filler before Spring Unsprung...I can't believe I'm already about to start writing that arc, it's gonna be interesting of course. I'm going to have at least two or three filler chapters in between arcs so I can focus on character development and exposition before starting the first chapter of the Spring Unsprung arc...it's going to be a rather difficult arc for Blake and everyone else, but I am looking forward to it.**

 **In the last chapter, a lot of things happened...in fact in the chapter before last a lot of things happened too. I just love how everyone ignored the sexual innuendos and Darling's introduction into the story. I was like, yeah people will laugh or point this out, but everyone was like...Joey is a fucking cock meat, I hate him...and honestly I don't know what to think of this. On one hand, I'm glad you all think Joey is cock meat, but on the other no one is pointing out the other things in the chapter...eh it matters not.**

 **Now about that cock-splooge Joey, let's just say as this arc progresses, he's gonna go through the levels, starting out from Best Friend, to whatever you commenters can come up with...Cock-splooge works for now, but I'm sure you creative people can come up with something. One of you pointed out in the comments that Joey's thought process and his plan only benefits him, and you are in fact correct. Joey wants to ruin Blake's life because he's jealous of him. Plans formulated from Jealousy are different than plans that form from Evil. Henry also thought like this, his plan was derived from hatred and rage, so he wanted to make Blake look like a douchebag and ultimately failed. But Joey is different than Henry...where Henry failed, Joey will succeed, for the most part. Everything will culminate in the next arc of the story, you will see just how far Joey will go to get what he wants. Joey will get information and he will use that information as blackmail, to make everyone do his bidding, will he succeed? Well that'll be up to how I feel, but let's just say Blake won't be the same after that arc.**

 **This chapter will be the fourth in the Winter Formal Arc, and you get to find out some interesting things from Blake near the end...there's copious amounts of sex in this chapter too...ha, gotcha...there is no sex in this story you bastards...there is only Titanic...copious amounts of Titanic...in fact there will be a lot of Titanic in the future.**

 **I was thinking of writing a spin off based on Jessica and how she ruins every planet she goes too...in fact, I was thinking of having a miniature Titanic arc in this story, thanks to Jessica and her magic...but I might not do that. It would be a lot of work, but I might consider it for that spin off if I decide to get around it. Just thinking about all of the shit Jessica messed up is funny as hell.**

 **I do hope you enjoy this chapter...please let me know what you think, talk more about that Cock-meat Joey if you'd like, and if you have questions about said cock-meat then please feel free to PM me. Remember to review, favorite and follow my story and all that jazz. I would also like to say that this story received over 2000 views in one month, you guys are awesome for that. It makes me happy that you like something like this, after all I write this not just for myself, but for the fans who have stuck around for this long! Worry not, more chapters and douchebaggery are on the way!**

Ever After High

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 33

The Winter Formal IV

Blondie Lockes was proud of herself. She was proud of who she was, what she did in school and how she did it. She had earned her title of Ever After High's top reporter through hard work, and less than honest means. But her friends didn't mind, even if she sometimes had to break into their rooms to find their juiciest secrets. She was good at what she did, because she applied every skill in her arsenal to do it. Everything had to be done in the correct way, or it wouldn't be Just Right for her. But there was something that was driving her insane, a secret so big that she couldn't access. It was the current cream of the crop, the secret of secrets, Purple Rhapsody's Winter Concert. She had been trying to get answers as to what it was about, but no one had said a single thing.

She had asked Lizzie and Farrah what outfits they would be using. They didn't say a thing, and just dodged the question all together. She had asked Duchess what dance routine she would be doing, the girl had turned into a swan and flew off. Dexter and Melody had run off as soon as they had seen her, Cerise just growled at every question. Cupid avoided her every chance she got, Apple remained silent and the leader of it all, Blake just wasn't broken by her prodding. It was enough to drive her nuts, her golden locks were starting to turn silver, and she was only seventeen. There was no way she was going to let this secret escape her. She vowed on her name that she would find out what this secret was.

She grabbed her baby blue MirrorPad and swiped her finger across the screen, going to the MirrorCast app. She had it automatically set to her website so she could automatically start streaming. Taking a deep breath, doing a final check on her hair and make up, she put a bright grin on her face as she hit the broadcast button on the bottom of the screen, the red blinking dot telling her she was online.

"Hello everyone and welcome to this special vlog. As you all know, Purple Rhapsody has been planning the Winter Concert for the last three weeks and four days. Today, will be drawing for the winners of the raffle, and those who will be lucky enough to dance with Crystal Winter, the Princess of Snow, Raven Queen, our Thronecoming Queen, and Blake Bigby, our Thronecoming King. However, I have yet to see anything about this concert." she said, taking a pause. She closed her eyes, annoyance written on her face.

"You all know I pride myself in bringing the most current news about our fellow students here. But this one, it has driven me bonkers! No one is speaking, and it is so not Just Right! So, I shall be trying to get you all the answers you seek, what is happening behind those curtains? What is this concert going to be like? What songs will be sung? Will Blake and Cerise agree to be on my show as the hottest new couple in Ever After High? All of these questions will be answered, or my name isn't Blondie Jasmine Lockes!"

"You're middle name is Jasmine?" the voice of Joey said, causing her to turn around. She giggled dryly, ending her broadcast a second later. She lowered her tablet, turning to face the boy.

"Joey, I need your help. You're Blake's best friend, can you get an answer from him? About the concert?"

"Ha! That's a funny one Jazzy, I have been barking at that tree and failing for the last month. That bastard is as tight lipped as an oyster. There is no way in hell, he is telling us shit." the brown haired boy said, walking past the girl on his way to his locker.

"Come on, you have to know something...anything, no matter how small it is. Tell me, I'm dying too know! It wouldn't be Just Right to leave without saying anything." the blonde cried, running in front of the boy. He sighed, glancing up at the ceiling.

"I did see something, Apple has been carrying around a special necklace. It's a mechanical heart, and she's protecting it with her very life. She has it hidden inside her shirt, so no one has seen it...but I saw it on Blake's desk, and I saw her giving it to Blake a few weeks ago."

"A mechanical heart? That sounds intriguing...do you know what it does?"

"I haven't got a clue, sorry. You might want to talk to Apple about it, she's hiding it well but she has to answer now that you know about it. Catch ya later Jazzy." he said, ruffling her hair as he walked off. The girl huffed.

"Don't call me Jazzy, forget about my middle name being Jasmine too!" she cried to no avail. She glanced at her tablet, seeing it was only eleven in the morning. She had time to intercept Apple at her next class, making her grin happily.

Meanwhile, Kitty Cheshire found herself in a bit of a pickle...metaphorically speaking of course. She had been following Blake and Lizzie for the last hour, since the two of them were working on the Winter Formal, they had been given free passes to miss their classes, just as long as they caught up on homework and exams on their off time. Blake of course only used his free periods and classes he didn't like, IE Science and Sorcery, to work on the Winter Concert. Hiding from Blake was easy, as long as he didn't see her disappearing, she would be safe. But hiding from Lizzie was another matter all together. They were best friends, and thanks to her Wonderland Magic, the Princess of Hearts could sense when her best friend was nearby. It made it increasingly difficult, so she stayed at a safe distance.

She was currently on the banister on the fourth floor balcony, peeking down at the third floor. The two were walking into the Charmitorium, the place was empty so they could talk without being heard. As soon as she saw the doors close, she teleported into the charmitorium, appearing on the second floor. She went as far as taking her boots off, to lessen the sound of her footsteps as she walked toward the edge of the balcony, peeking up to the third floor, hoping to hear something.

"These are the finalized designs for the outfits Blake, me and Farrah are putting the final touches on everything, I wanted you see them so we could make some last minute adjustments." Lizzie said, handing the boy her sketch pad.

He had already seen Apple's finished dress, so he skipped over it, glancing at Cupid's. Her dress was a combination of Greek inspired style, with more modern designs. The bodice of the dress was a dark brown in color, with a leather corset decorated with hearts. It had a low cut skirt, reaching just to the mid thigh, and had golden lacing around the hem. Extending from the back part of the dress was a long ruffled train, also a dark brown in color, with dark pink sequins on it. Small brown heeled boots would be her chosen footwear, giving her a slight increase in her height. She would be wearing long brown gloves, that reached to her biceps, her hands being covered with fingerless leather gloves. She would be wearing a pair of goggles around her forehead, her hair styled into twin tails.

"I like this, the steampunk feel too it is really captured here. We can give her a bit of dark make up, around her chest face and legs. Make it look like she was working with oil or something, maybe even the back part of the stage." he said.

"Yes, that will do. I'm gonna paint a spade over her eye, if we're going to make this look good, everyone has to wear some sort of symbol. You and I will be wearing hearts, I on the left, you on the right, since that's how we'll be standing on the stairwell." Lizzie said.

"Sure, just as long as you don't get paint in my eye. Okay, let's look at Melody's dress next." he said, turning the page.

Melody's dress was rather simplistic, yet also very interesting to look at. It was a long sleeved dress, the center being ruffled, the white cloth being stained so it looked brown. The bodice was also brown in color, with various leather cords and buckles at the front and back. Two thick straps rose from the center of the dress over the shoulders, as a pair of suspenders, attaching to the back of the corset. A bell shaped skirt made the bottom of it, having various layers, the inside was a dark blue in color, baring a black hem, looking like a set of piano keys. The outer part of the skirt was a royal blue color, with golden embroidery over it, forming various musical notes as well as hearts. She would be wearing white leggings with dark blue heels, decorated with golden markings on them. She would also be wearing a bowler hat, with an eighth note pinned to the left side of it.

"This one is really cool too. It fits with Melody's musical talents, I also like the hem matching the keys of a piano."

"Yes, she made that request. Farrah thought it would be an amazing concept, so we sowed up a strip and added it in at the last minute. Anything you'd like to add or take away?"

"Hmm...not really, what's her symbol?" he asked curiously.

"I was thinking of giving her a white diamond, over her right eye. The Diamonds are a noble family back in Wonderland, so I wanted her to bare this symbol." Lizzie replied. He flipped the page to the final dress for the band, Cerise's dress.

It was a Victorian style dress, completely sleeveless. The bodice was white in color, with ruffled trim around the bust. Crimson buttons came down from the neckline, to the base of the dress where the bodice and the skirt were joined. Over it, was a brown leather corset, with three thick belts, and silver buckles. Attached to it, was a large black waist pocket, with silver chains attached to it. It incorporated Cerise's family heirloom, the silver locket she always carried around. The skirt of the dress was made from red silk, the under part was white in color, with three layers fading from pink to red, the hem was black. She would be wearing a bright red hood, made completely out of silk and ramie, with a forest design on the back. Cerise would be wearing long black leather boots with wedge heels. The areas around the skirt, bore hearts as well as black clubs, following a pattern of sorts.

"You love it, I can tell by the look on your face." Lizzie said, earning a laugh from the boy.

"Of course I do. Cerise is going to be wearing this, and it just...fits her personality too much. I love what you did with the hood though, made of silk and ramie, and the forest design too. It really fits her story." he said, tracing every line drawn on the paper.

"It wasn't hard to come up with this outfit. The hardest part was the hood, basing it around Cerise's body shape, while also making it fit with the theme. It's also why I decided to give her the clubs instead of spades...clubs are also called clovers, which as you know are a symbol of good luck, and I figured, Cerise was lucky to have someone like you by her side, so why not?"

"You never cease to amaze me Liz, you truly are an interesting person, behind the insanity and decapitation." he said, earning a boisterous laugh from the girl.

"That's the first time I've heard something like that. You truly are a charming young man...you've already seen your outfit, as well as Duchess and Dexter's...all that's left is the Box Keeper's outfit." she said, flipping to the final page of the book.

This dress was different than the others, based around the music box that Blake had created. It was a sleeveless dress, with thick brown off the shoulder straps, which had metallic rings attach to them. It was a snug looking dress, the bodice being a light brownish gold color. A black leather vest would be worn over the dress, being buttoned at the front with small heart shaped buttons, being gold in color. The dress skirt was very short, slightly above mid thigh, but to compensate, the wearer would be wearing a pair of biker shorts underneath. It had a long train extending from the back, a bit shorter than Cupid's, and a lot less ruffled. It had golden thread around it, the embroidered design made it look like a winding key in the center of it. Along with the dress, was a pair of long thigh high boots, with silver markings on them, making a fleur-de-lis over the knee. Along with it, the wearer would also have a top hat, bearing a resemblance to a music box, it even had a ballerina inside it.

"This is amazing. You really went out on this one Liz, I'm so happy to have come to you for this." he said.

"I'm happy to be a part of this as well...but I have to ask, why did you chose me to sing this song? I've already done my takes and took all of your vocal lessons, I heard Melody say I finally sounded like her. What exactly does that mean?" she asked curiously, earning a grin from the boy.

"This as you know, is a cover of a song from my world. The original singer, is a woman called Lzzy Hale, and since your name is also Lizzy, I felt the need to you know...give the part to you?" he said, sounding a bit unsure. She rose a brow, a smirk tugging her lips.

"So, because our names matched you picked me? That sounds just like you...I suppose her full name is Elizabeth just like me?"

"That's right...I dunno, when I came up with this idea, I saw nobody else but you singing this song. I tried to imagine Cupid singing it, but her voice is soft and full of love. Your voice on the other hand is rough, ruthless, filled with passion and death threats. It just fit you know." he said with a shrug, leaning against the railing.

"I suppose...have you found the Box Keeper? I heard you were keeping your eye out for the right person to keep the box. Honestly, I thought you would pick Duchess."

"I was leaning more on Crystal, but she's going to be the guest of honor. The one who's going to welcome the first snowfall, she already has something important she has to do. I was thinking of asking Kitty to be the Box Keeper."

"Kitty? Why her? She can't keep a secret worth a damn." Lizzie said. Below them, the girl in question was trying to hold back her giggles. If only the two of them knew that she was one deck below them, they wouldn't be speaking so openly.

"It isn't about her keeping the secret...at this point we're three days out. We're going to be handling the raffle later on, the finishing touches are coming along nicely...all we have to do is the dry run and we'll be golden. That's also why I put that sound barrier around the stage, so no one hears the music. But in order for everything to start, we need the Box Keeper...Kitty would be the perfect choice, she could flash in and out without anyone seeing her, until the dance of course." he said.

"That is a good reason...no doubt about it, Kitty would have a blast having something like this. She may be a bit antagonistic from time to time, but she has a good heart. I think she's a fine choice, but we would have to get her into the dress to make some adjustments. She likes to drink a lot of milk and despite the exercise we do, she still tends to be a bit chubby."

"All that's left is to ask her. So, how about it Kitty, you wanna be our Box Keeper? Or should I ask someone else?" Blake called out, his voice echoing through the empty Charmitorium. Lizzie looked at him oddly, realization striking her face. She slowly moved toward the balcony, glancing down, though she couldn't see the deck below them, she could sense her friend's magic below them.

"Katherine Cheshire, get your butt up here young lady! Right this second!"

"Aw, did you really have to say my first name? You know how much I hate it!" the girl replied, appearing right in front of the two. She sat down in a nearby chair, slipping her boots back onto her feet.

"Your first name is Katherine? That name doesn't suit you, I can see why you shortened it to Kitty." Blake said, earning a pout from the girl.

"My mom gave me the nickname Kitty, my father was the one who named me Katherine, I barely use it anymore. Anyway, I heard everything you said, naturally I accept this offer. What exactly do I have to do?" the girl asked curiously. Blake held his hands out, a small wave of violet magic swirled in his palms, the music box he had created appearing on them.

"This music box powers up our lighting. When the heartsmith connects the mechanical heart to it, the melody will begin and that'll be our cue to start. It will be plugged into a special base on stage, that connects directly to the lights. Your task, is to get it there but to also keep it a secret from everyone in the school." He said, placing the box in her hands.

"Wow, this is so...are you sure you want me to do this? You do know who I am right?" Kitty asked, earning a nod from the boy.

"You're my friend, and I trust you with this task. Even if you manage to screw this up, or expose this box early, no one will expect it to be connected to the show. You will also be responsible for keeping the winding key, which you will present to the Heartsmith so that she can wind the mechanical heart." he said, placing the golden winding key around her wrist. She noticed it was attached to a golden charm bracelet, the one that belonged to Lucy in the past.

"Lucy's bracelet...your trusting me with such a huge task, you're even asking me to keep this bracelet until the performance. Do you really believe I can do this?" Kitty asked, still sounding unsure.

"Yup, you're one of my closest friends Kitty, I trust you with this task. I want nothing more than seeing that Cheshire Grin lighting up the eyes of all of Ever After, as the best performance of the year kicks off this years Winter Formal."

"This is an amazing honor Kitty, it'll be absolutely wonderful...I'm sure you're mother would be proud to see you on that stage." Lizzie said, earning a grin from the girl.

"Consider me your Box Keeper...now show me that stage already, I've been dying to see it!" the girl said, earning a sigh from the boy.

"Follow me then, Lizzie and Farrah have to get everything ready, so after I show you what you need to do, go to them for the fitting. We'll be doing a dry run of the show tonight and tomorrow." Blake said.

"I can't believe this is happening, my heart is beating so fast...this will definitely be a memorable night!" the Princess of Hearts said, rather excitedly.

 _ **xxx**_

"Come on Apple, please at least let me see it! I know you have it on you." Blondie said, earning a sigh from her best friend. She was trying her hardest to get her friend to speak, but she hadn't said anything.

Apple on the other hand continued walking toward the Royal Student Council room, trading messages with Raven who was already waiting for her. The raffle would be broadcast through Ever After High for the winners to see. But she had been followed by her friend for quite awhile, since she finished Princessology class in fact. She didn't know how she knew that Apple had the mechanical heart with her, but now that she did, the girl wouldn't leave her alone. She had messaged Blake about it, but he hadn't answered, most likely busy with everything else to answer her texts.

"Blake made it didn't he? Since it's a heart, then it has to be important, the heart of the performance? What do you have to say on the matter?"

"Blondie, please...I'm not aloud to disclose information on this matter. It was an agreement I had with Purple Rhapsody." Apple replied, earning an annoyed huff from the girl.

"That is so not Just Right! Come on, even a little hint? What the heart looks like?"

"Please Blondie, you'll have to wait until the day of the performance. It isn't going to be special nor memorable if I start running my mouth right?" the daughter of Snow White said firmly.

"But Apple..."

"No buts, now unless you are here to broadcast the results of our raffle, I'll have to ask you to leave. Blondie please, just...wait until the formal, you can wait three more days can't you?" her friend asked, earning another sigh from the girl. The two entered the Royal Student Council chambers, heading toward the front.

Maddie was already sitting at her spot, chatting with Raven as the two had some tea. The other members were already discussing various things, and the yearbook staff was trading information with each other. Crystal was standing near the center of the room talking with Briar and Ashlynn, holding the jar of jellybeans in her hands. Briar was holding a glass bowl in her hand, filled with hundreds of raffle tickets, which were the ones that had gotten close to or had guessed the correct number of beans within the jar. Blondie put aside her hunt for answers, deciding to help broadcast the raffle instead. She knew her friend was going to cave in soon enough.

"Alright everyone, I would like to call this meeting to order. Thank you all for being here today, it means a lot that you could join us." Apple said, taking her spot at the podium, facing everyone present. Maddie, Raven and Crystal stood beside her, with Briar holding the glass bowl in her hands.

"Today we'll be choosing who gets to take that awesome jar of beans home. Everyone got to vote once, but there were a lot of people who got it right, so we had to put all of those names into this bowl." Maddie said, gesturing to the bowl in Briar's hands.

"That's right, it was still amazing. Out of nearly three thousand students that voted, almost one thousand of you got it correct, or got near the correct answer. Those that weren't even close had to be discarded, I would like to thank you all for voting. Now, we will have our guest of honor, Crystal Winter select four tickets, the winners of which will win a chance to dance with her, myself or Blake." Raven said firmly. Crystal gave everyone a smile, ignoring the fact that she was being broadcast live to everyone in Ever After.

"I would like to remind everyone that no matter what happens, this Winter Formal is going to be seared into our minds and hearts for years to come. Now, the number of jelly beans in the jar was 2,536 jellybeans, and many of you got that answer spot on. So now, I shall select the first place winner, who will dance with me during the formal." she said, sticking her hand in the bowl. She pulled out the crimson ticket, glancing at the number.

"The first ticket winner is...Madeline Hatter, what a surprise." Crystal said, glancing at the daughter of the Mad Hatter, who had a grin on her face.

"I'm sorry, but guessing the number of jellybeans in jars is the easiest thing in the world. I've done it so many times it comes to me like second nature. I will be honored to dance with you Crystal." she said. Crystal reached for the second ticket, turning to face the camera.

"This next ticket shall be for the lucky gal or guy to dance with our Thronecoming Queen. What a surprise, the winner of the second place prize is Dexter Charming." she said. A loud Yes could be heard echoing through the halls, causing a few people to chuckle.

"Well, he's certainly happy." Raven said, not showing much emotion, even though she was secretly ecstatic. Crystal handed the ticket to Apple, grabbing the third one from the bowl.

"The winner of the third place prize, who shall dance with the Thronecoming King, is...Ashlynn Ella, you entered this?" Crystal asked, earning a small smile from the daughter of Cinderella.

"What? I wanted the jellybeans...they're really good." she said.

"Leave it to you to draw that ticket...I'm sure Hunter is going to be annoyed with you." Briar said, earning a shrug from the girl.

"He and Blake are close friends, and it's just a dance, not a kiss." she said, giving her friend a knowing smirk. Briar flushed, glancing at the floor.

"Anyway, the final ticket will be the winner of the jellybeans. And that lucky person is Cerise Hood."

The red hooded girl stood up from her seat, taking a hold of the jar of jellybeans, not saying a single word to anyone as she left the room. The sound of running could be heard right after, making everyone look at each other, confusion clear on their faces. Raven cleared her throat, once again regaining everyone's attention.

"Well...there you have it folks, the winners of the raffle are Madeline Hatter, Dexter Charming, Ashlynn Ella and Cerise Hood. I would once again like to thank everyone for their votes. If this thing is a success, then we'll definitely be hosting it again next year, so you'll have a chance then. Now, let us proceed with the meeting and the discussion regarding the dance preparations." Raven said.

 _ **xxx**_

"Did you see the results of the raffle? You get to dance with Ashlynn." Kitty said, earning a smirk from Blake. Melody, Cupid and Cerise were on Purple Rhapsody's stage, the thick purple curtains blocking all of the light. The stage lights were currently on, as they were still working on the final preparations.

"That's wonderful...that probably explains why my girlfriend is eating the hell out of those jellybeans." he said, glancing at Cerise, who glanced up from the jar, a pout on her face.

"I've been around these damn beans since last month, and you didn't let me eat any of them. I could care less who you dance with, as long as you don't kiss her, I don't care." she replied.

"You're a very lenient girlfriend, I don't think I would let my boyfriend dance with another girl, unless I knew her. I know Ashlynn wouldn't do anything, but if it was someone else...yeah that wouldn't happen." Melody said, typing a few things into her computer.

"Guess we'll have to wait until you get a boyfriend eh Melody?" Dexter asked, from the second floor balcony. The girl flipped him off, putting her headset on as she started listening to her mix of the songs they would be performing.

"Anyway, I brought you here to show you what you have to do with the box. As I told you before, Apple is our Heartsmith. When the signal is given, the two of you will walk through the crowd onto the stage, up the stairs and to the back of the stage. Kitty, you'll place the box on the special platform, like so. Apple will attach the mechanical heart to the box, and you'll hand her the winding key, once the heart is winded, she hits the lever, and that will start the lights and the show." he said.

The base of the box had been placed on the floor, right in the center of the stage, at the very back. It was located below the second floor balcony. There was a thick black cord, which was taped down to the wooden stage, running to the back area. There, strands of hanging lightbulbs could be seen, all of them hanging downward from the bottom of the second floor stage. Kitty also noticed there was a large gear there, along with some levers, and various other things. There were two platforms near the center of the stage, surrounded by crimson lights, which also connected to the music box. That would be where Lizzie and Blake would be standing in the show.

"Okay then, while Apple is winding the box up, you'll stand here. Once the music starts, you'll pull back the red lever, that will give power to the lights. The green lever will be pushed forward, that will power the platforms me and Lizzie will be standing on. The third lever will be for Duchess's stage light, which will be following her the entire time. The yellow lever will be the emergency stop in case something goes wrong. We've tested this three times already and everything is operational, so there shouldn't be any problems." Blake said.

"Wow, this seems really complex." Kitty said, looking at the levers in front of her.

"It really isn't...just remember, red back, green forward, monochrome back, emergency stop."

"Blake, what about her cues? How will she know when Duchess get's on stage?" Cupid asked curiously, setting down her guitar. She had been tuning it for the last few minutes, getting it to the right tune.

"That's true, we never discussed Duchess's entrance onto the stage." Cerise added, earning a smile from the boy.

"You've already seen it, it's right above you." he said, pointing right above them. As if on cue, Duchess dropped down from high above, almost invisible ropes being attached to her wrists and legs, as well as her back. She landed on the stage, as if she we're ready to dance.

"Whoa, I didn't see that one coming...you've really thought of everything haven't you?" Dexter asked, earning a chuckle from Blake.

"I didn't come up with this one, Duchess did. She said if this routine was about a Ballerina breaking free from her box, she wanted to be held back by ropes, which would snap during the final Chorus and she would be free to dance around the stage, without being bound by the safety lines." Blake said, earning a smirk from Duchess.

"Yes that is correct, bask in the glory that is I, Duchess Swan, as I have graced you all with an amazing idea."

"Don't be so full of yourself, everyone's parts are important in this after all." Melody said, crossing her arms before her chest, earning an eyeroll from the girl.

"Indeed, we shall all play our parts to the letter. Lizzie just messaged me, finalizing the designs on the Box Keeper's dress, Apple will be here soon as well. So we need to be ready for our first dry run ladies and gentlemen. Humphrey, Hopper how are we looking on those safety lines?" he called up, causing the two boys to look over the railing.

"The mechanism is operational, Duchess will be perfectly safe. We also have a back up in case they fail mid show." the blond son of Humpty Dumpty replied.

"We've also checked the stress on those wires. She'll be practically weightless during her dance routine. We've tested the relay various times for when the time comes to release her. They're set to go." Hopper added.

"Excellent, Dexter how are our lights back there?"

"I've tested every strand, every bulb is brand new and in working order. Until we get the mechanical heart in place, I won't know for sure. But we've got power to it." Dexter said, looking up from his tablet.

"Okay, that'll do then. Melody, are you ready for the dubstep parts of this song?" he asked, earning a smirk from the girl.  
"Does a ten pound bag of flour make a really big biscuit?"

"Quite, Cupid our guitars are all tuned, Cerise has some extra sticks...did we have a sound check on all the headsets?" he asked, glancing at his checklist.

"100 percent working order!" Kitty cried, her voice echoing through the speakers.

"Okay...let's give it our all during this practice run. We only got three days to get this down pat and fix anything that may need fixing. We're gonna shatter their expectations, just you see." he said happily, his infectious attitude carrying on to the rest of Purple Rhapsody and everyone else.

 _ **xxx**_

Blondie was infuriated, somehow Apple had managed to slip away from her, so she couldn't get any answers. She had tried finding a few others who might have worked with Purple Rhapsody, but no one that knew anything was around. It lead her to believe they had all congregated right at the stage, where the Winter Concert was going to be held. So she headed in that direction, only to remember that there was an enchantment on the stage so that non-band members couldn't get past it. She growled to herself, almost snapping her MirrorPad as she came to a stop before the exit, just shy of the back courtyard.

"How am I going to do this? I need answers dammit!"

"Hey Jazzy, still having trouble finding those answers?" Joey greeted, causing the girl to whip her head in his direction, her blue eyes glittering with annoyance.

"I told you to stop calling me Jazzy! My name is Blondie, use that one please, my middle name isn't Just Right!"

"But you said your middle name was Jasmine, so that means anyone can call you that. So I will keep calling you Jazzy, because it's a cute name." Joey said, ruffling her hair. She sighed, blowing some strands out of her eyes.

"Fine, but it is still not Just Right to me. I tried talking to Apple, but she wouldn't relent...she ditched me, can you believe that?"

"I can believe it. If an annoying blonde girl followed me throughout my day asking me about something I'm not allowed to talk about. I'd want to ditch you as well." he said, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"I am not annoying! Everybody loves me." Blondie said happily, giving the boy a grin.

"Right...sure. I saw Apple and Lizzie walking into the stage a couple minutes ago, so you aren't getting anything from anyone. I believe Kitty is involved now too."

"Kitty? Hmm, maybe I can get information out of her. She's the most mischievous person in Ever After High, and well known for spilling the secrets of many. Oh, if only Radio Rebel was around, I'm sure they would have spilled the beans already." the girl said, balling her fist in annoyance.

"Radio who?" Joey asked, clearly confused.

"Seriously? You've been here for how long and you don't know about Radio Rebel? They've done daily shows while you were here, what were you doing all this time? They have different times every day!" she cried, causing the boy to look at her in confusion.

"I haven't heard a thing...oh well, I listen to music in class a lot so I might have not heard anything. I'm good at reading lips too, so I know what my teachers are saying, in case I'm asked a question."

"I can't believe you've been here this long and haven't heard a single broadcast, they do it on Saturdays as well, from noon to two. What were you doing during that time?"

"Parkour, running through the rooftops, and helping Ashlynn at the Glass Slipper. I got a raise last week." he said proudly, earning a sigh from the blonde.

"I think I need to educate you on how things work here in Ever After. Dexter is already my cameraman, but you shall become my assistant. Together, we will share the juiciest secrets from everyone in Ever After High, including the identity of Radio Rebel, the one show that I can never beat in ratings!" she said, an angry tone in her voice.

" _This chick is nuts...but I can definitely use her to my advantage. I do know the juiciest secrets about the most popular person in Ever After...this will definitely help me out."_ Joey thought, smirking inwardly.

"I'd love to help you out Jazzy, whatever it takes to get those secrets out right? Besides I need to get more involved in school. It just helps that you are cute as hell too." he said.

"My apologizes, I'm in love with someone else...my one and only love, porridge! It can't be to hot, and it can't be to cold, it has to be..."

"Just right, I get it." the boy said, earning a grin from the girl.

"Good, come along now...I shall teach you how to be Just Right in every aspect of your life. Starting with your attire, that shirt is too long, the collar is too wrinkled. Your hair is parted too far to the left, and your right pant leg is a bit shorter than your left one, so that needs to be fixed."

"Oh brother." Joey muttered to himself.

 _ **xxx**_

After a very tiring practice day, Blake decided to head back to his dorm. They had finished just before dinner, and everyone had been tired. Thankfully, they hadn't run into any problems, and had enough time to practice three times, getting the routine perfectly memorized. But the following day, they would be practicing several more times, tweaking things as they went to get it as flawless as possible. It had gotten a bit colder, as the 21st of December was practically around the corner. After taking a shower, he grabbed some Hot Pockets from his mini fridge and tossed them into his microwave, being too lazy for him to get dinner from the castleteria. Cadence jumped onto his lap as soon as he sat in his computer chair, and grabbed his projector remote.

"I missed you too girl, you were sleeping all day again weren't you?" he asked, earning several coos from this dragon. Cadence had gotten quite big over the last few weeks, now being the size of a lion cub. She was starting to fly too, which made her a bit difficult to control at times. He grabbed his laptop, plugging it into his projector and sifting through is movies.

"Eh...what to watch...I'm feeling a bit romantic...fuck it, Titanic it is." the boy said, quickly searching for the movie. He double clicked it, and set his computer aside, grabbing a hold of Cadence as he walked over to his microwave. He set the dragon down on the floor, grabbing the plate from inside.

"If this motherfucker is an icicle in the middle, I swear to god I'm chucking this piece of shit out the window." he snapped angrily, glaring at the microwave.

He sat down on his bed, remote in hand, plate at his side, soda tucked to his side. He hit play, watching the familiar Paramount Pictures logo slowly making its way onto the screen. He took a bite from his hot pocket, nodding to himself at it's adequate heat. As he went for a second bite however, he heard a knock on his door, causing him to squeeze it as he had gotten startled. The insides of said hot pocket splattered all over the floor, quickly licked up by Cadence. He growled angrily, tossing the rest of his hot pocket at Cadence as he grabbed a napkin, hitting pause on his move just as the title was being shown on screen. He opened the door, not surprised to see Joey and Blondie standing on the other side.

"Which one of you two knocked on the door?" he asked.

"Oh, that was me." Joey said happily. Blake slapped him across the face, making sure to get the hot pocket sauce all over his cheek before wiping his hand with his napkin.

"There you go, you made my hot pocket explode, so you get the slap in the face. Anyway, how might I help you?" he asked, ignoring the fact that Blondie was trying her hardest not to laugh.

"We wanted to hang out, is that too much to ask?" the blonde girl asked, earning a smirk from Blake who leaned against his open door.

"Oh it isn't...and normally it wouldn't be. But Blondie Jasmine Lockes is here for one soul reason, and that's to get information about our performance. Isn't that right?"

"Huh...no! Not at all, the mere notion that you would think I came here for that is so not Just Right!"

"Then why are you here?" the black haired boy asked.

"Your dragon...we wanted to take pictures of your dragon...for an ornament idea, for the tree." Joey said, glancing at Cadence who was currently eating Blake's unattended hot pocket. He growled angrily, taking a deep breath to calm himself.

"Fine, take all the pictures you want. I gotta go make more fucking dinner for myself." he said, walking over to his mini fridge, grabbing two more hot pockets and tossing them into the microwave, not bothering to put them on a plate. He grabbed the disposable one into the trash, as it was covered with slobber.

"Dude, you're watching Titanic? How many times have you seen this since you came here?" Joey asked, snapping a few pictures of Cadence, who was licking her claws after her dinner.

"Once with Lizzie, two by myself, once with Apple, cried like a baby by the way, and now of course...so five." he said with a shrug, sitting down at his bed.

"I heard from Apple that this movie was really good, and really sad at the end, do you mind if I stay and watch it? I do movie reviews so this would definitely be a good chance to review an Earth movie."

"I was planning on watching this alone, but sure...whatever. If I see you trying to snoop around or find anything about the performance, I'll cut your hair." the boy said, giving the blonde a grin, mimicking scissors with his fingers. She nodded, not wanting to lose her previous golden locks. Joey on the other hand frowned, having taken enough pictures of Cadence.

" _This bastard...I can't believe I let Blondie talk me into coming here, and now he's watching us like a hawk. How exactly will I get information if he watches us?"_ he thought to himself, sitting on the floor beside the bed. Blake hit the play button, leaning back against his desk, tossing a napkin to Joey.

"There, clean your face off. Sorry about the slap by the way, I was just annoyed."

"It's fine, was it the last meatball hot pocket or something?"

"It was...you know how much I like those." Blake said, grabbing the new ones he had made for himself, sitting down at his computer chair.

"So Blake, can you tell me about this movie? From the way Joey spoke of it, It's clearly your favorite movie." Blondie said, earning a smirk from the boy.

"Sorry Jazzy, but I'm not saying anything about the movie. I want you to have a genuine experience watching it. If you must know, I have watched it 537 times in my entire life." he said, causing her to go wide eyed.

"537 times? Really?"

"I believe him too, this bastard played this shit just as many times as Lucy played Alice in Wonderland. They really knew how to piss me off with it." Joey added, earning a chuckle from Blake.

"Ain't that the truth? Here, Ginger gave me a bunch of broken and messed up cookies to take home. If you want drinks, grab them from the fridge, I just restocked." he said, grabbing his phone. He shot off text to Cerise, inviting her over.

"Only the proper cookies can be eaten during a movie. None of these are just right, but I guess they'll have to do." Blondie said, grabbing a broken gingerbread man from the plate.

"Man, I'm surprised you don't have diabetes from eating so many damn cookies all the time." Joey said, grabbing a few broken snowflake cookies.

"Well, that my friend is thanks to magic. Ginger uses her candy magic to create these confections and makes them with special sugar. Once they're baked, she removes the excess sugar from them, but leaves in the sweetness, the result is a delicious cookie, that doesn't rot your teeth." he said, biting into his hot pocket.

"Oh, so is that a secret to how she makes cookies? I'm so going to share that with everyone."

"Feel free too Jazzy, she was gonna go public with that information when she started her show." he said, glancing back at the screen. Not much time had passed in the movie, in fact they were still in the very beginning, where they were looking for the safe.

"Great, are you going to call me Jazzy too? That is so not just right you know!" the blonde snapped, clearly annoyed.

"Aw come on, Jasmine is a cute name."

"See? Even Blake thinks your middle name is cute. Don't be ashamed of it." Joey added, earning a sigh from the girl.

"It's not that I don't like it. My father gave me my middle name, as you know, my mother is Goldilocks. After she left the Three Bears's cottage, she ran home. During that, she ended up meeting a farmer's hand, who had some trouble with his horse. She ended up helping him out, and eventually they fell in love."

"What happened to your father? Did he leave?"

"No...there was a an accident at the farm. One way or another, it caught fire, and he tried getting the horses out. They made it, but he was trapped inside the barn...I don't really like talking about it, I was only four so I barely remember it. It's one of the reasons why I don't use my middle name." Blondie said, glancing at the floor. Blake wrapped an arm around her waist, giving her a side hug.

"Hey, I'm sure he's watching over you. He's definitely proud of the beautiful, smart, cunning, annoying and wonderful person his little girl has become. Be proud of that name, because it was given to you by the man who will forever love you." he said.

"Such a ladies man...tell me, how did you become a professional at swooning the girls? Considering the fact that you were a recluse back home." Joey said, earning a glare from the black haired boy.

"Is it hard to believe that I want to be nice to my friend?"

"No, but it is hard to believe that someone like you could change in two months and become Mr. Popular, especially when you didn't like talking to anyone." he said, a sneer on his lips. Blondie felt a bit awkward between the two, but decided not to intervene.

"Well, since you were kind enough to tell me you were dating my best friend, I'll tell you something I was keeping to myself. Lucy came to my house the night before her disappearance." he said.

"What? Why didn't you say something? You kept that to yourself this entire time? You could have told the fucking Mounties about it!" Joey snapped, jumping to his feet.

"I didn't tell anyone because it didn't help with the investigation at all. If you must know, I did tell them I saw her, but I told them she was acting weird, which she was. The last thing she said to me before leaving was this. "Don't be afraid to make friends. There are a lot of wonderful people out there, strangers are friends you haven't met yet." So I took that advice to heart, and when I landed in Ever After, I decided to abandon my past self and make friends here." he said. Joey growled, grabbing a hold of Blake's jacket, pulling him to his feet.

"You could have told me that. Two years, two fucking years you held onto this secret, and didn't bother telling me?"

"Why should I? After all, you didn't tell me you and Lucy were dating for a year, so why am I going to say anything? After all, I was just following your example." Blake replied, giving the teen a Cheshire grin. Joey pulled his fist back, about to hit the boy when Blondie took a hold of it.

"Stop it Joey, don't hit him!"

"Why shouldn't I? He kept this secret for this long, she died because of him!" he cried angrily.

"She didn't. Lucy left of her own volition, now if you would be so kind as to let go of my jacket, I would appreciate it." Blake said, causing Joey to let go.

"I kept my secret relationship from you because you didn't need to know that. But this is way worse than that."

"Joey, I think you keeping that relationship from Blake is horrible. And Blake is the same as you for keeping that secret to himself. The two of you have kept secrets from each other, something friends, especially best friends shouldn't do. Now that they are exposed, you can move on. You hurt each other, but you can also reconcile and become better friends." Blondie said, glancing at the two boys.

"Heh, I'm sorry then, Mr. Popular...I hope my girlfriend's advice helped you out. I'm not forgiving you for keeping that secret for so long however."

"Fair enough Joe, I don't want your forgiveness. I only withheld that information, because I knew you weren't being truthful with me. Besides, she confided that in me, and it was at my discretion who I would share it with. So sorry...not sorry." he said. The brown haired boy grabbed his phone from the floor and walked toward the door, slamming it right after he left.

"You know, you shouldn't antagonize your best friend like that." Blondie said in a scolding tone.

"He isn't my best friend...the only reason we hung out was because of Lucy. I thought he was my friend, I thought he really cared about me. But I know exactly what he cares about...himself. If he truly did care, he would have told me about him and Lucy, I would have accepted it, and I wouldn't have told her that I loved her that night. She wouldn't be gone, and I most likely wouldn't be here."

"Oh...so you regret telling Lucy you loved her?" the blonde asked, a hurt expression on her face. He shook his head.

"No...at one point in time, I detested myself for telling her. I fell into depression, didn't want to leave home, didn't want to speak to anyone. Joey was there because he felt bad, but that was most likely because he knew Lucy would be by my side. I had more in common with my other friend Javi than I did with Joey. I gave up my old life the moment I realized it was impossible for me to head home. So no, I don't regret it. Joey not telling me he and Lucy were dating was the greatest thing that could have happened in my life, because it lead me here, to Cerise, to you...to my friends. For that, I am thankful." he said, turning his attention back to the movie.

Blondie was about to say something when Cerise, Melody, Dexter and Cupid walked into the room, carrying a couple boxes of pizza, several bags of snacks and a lot of soft drinks.

"Sup guys, we brought food!" Dexter greeted happily.

"You guys are awesome, I was just about to order pizza too. You read my mind." Blake said, standing up from his seat, taking a hold of the soda bottles his friend was holding.

"Yeah, I know you were. Also yes, we brought supreme and meat lovers, because I know you like a little bit of everything. Before you ask why we brought four, that's because of." Cerise stopped when the door opened again, only for Lizzie, Apple, Kitty and Duchess to walk in.

"Are we late? We aren't late are we?" Apple asked.

"No...I don't think so...I didn't know there was a party here tonight?" Blake said, clearly surprised.

"Well, Cerise was the one that thought about it. A little celebration for coming up with an awesome performance. Farrah and Humphrey were busy so they couldn't show up, and Hopper is playing Leagues with his friends." Kitty said, setting the bags she was carrying on the glass table.

"We saw that fuck off Joey walking briskly out of the dorms, what happened in here?" Duchess asked, a hint of curiosity in her voice.

"Joey and Blake had a bit of an argument. You could say he was taunting Blake for being popular here in Ever After. Blake told him something he had withheld from him, and he got mad, almost hit him in the face. If I wasn't here, surely he would have." Blondie replied, earning a chuckle from Blake.

"You act like I would have. I'm a martial artist remember? Do you actually think I would let that pussy hit me? Watch yourself Jazzy, every rose has its thorns, and Joey is an entire rose bush." Blake said, sitting back down on his chair.

"Screw him, he's just jealous of your life here...so what are we watching?" Cerise asked, placing a pizza box on the desk next to Blake, sitting down on his lap.

"Titanic, don't worry I'm restarting it. Apparently every time I want to watch a movie, either my girlfriend will distract me, or I get threatened." he said.

"I got it." Dexter said, taking a hold of his friend's laptop, quickly restarting the movie.

"I've been wanting to see this movie again, the last time I watched it, I didn't make it through the ending." Apple said.

"I did, it was so sad. Blake held me most of the night, but I still remember this movie fondly." Lizzie said, earning a giggle from Kitty.

"You are such a sap, you know that?"

"Alright quiet, I actually want to see this so I can review it." Blondie said, her attention firmly on the movie.

"Honestly, I thought you would be hounding all of us for answers. About the performance?" Cupid said, earning a smile from the blonde girl.

"I've decided to wait...sometimes in order for something to look Just Right, you have to wait."

"That's really mature of you Jazzy, just for that we'll let you see the Mechanical Heart, but you have to keep it a secret until after the performance. We'll answer every question you have, from how it came to be to everything in between." Blake said, giving Apple a nod. She reached into her shirt, pulling the Mechanical Heart from around her neck, handing it to Blondie.

"Wow...this is so innovative. What does it do?" she asked.

"This, is the heart of the performance. This is why I'm called the Heartsmith...without this, our performance won't be possible. It's a very special trinket." Apple said.

"The movie is starting, let's watch it for now." Cupid said, shushing her friends. Blake rolled his eyes, watching Blondie for a few seconds, asking Apple various questions. For now he didn't mind, after all the heart wasn't the only thing that was important about their performance.


	34. The Winter Formal V

**A/N:**

 **Tis the season mother fuckers! Welcome one and all to Chapter 34 and 35 of Through the Looking Glass. That is right, I'm doing a double post today as my Christmas present to you all...the final two chapters of the Winter Formal Arc will be available to read. I'm happy that you all have stuck around so long and have been liking this story, already I have 99 reviews and thousands of views and it makes me immensely happy. So I do hope you all like this chapter.**

 **During these two chapters you will gradually see Joey sinking deeper and deeper into the pit. You'll actually get to see his plan of attack in this chapter, so you all get to see how delusional he is becoming. After this, there will be a few filler chapters, but Chapter 40 will be the official start of The Spring Unsprung arc. But these filler chapters will be important, because they will be the first chapters where Joey starts putting his plan into action. There will be a lot of things happening, that will all coalesce into one giant problem that will take place during the Spring Fairest. Yes, people will be hard set on believing Blake is a good person, because he is...but that doesn't mean there won't be doubts, and that's what Joey is aiming for, he wants people to doubt Blake, and that doubt will weaken him, and that's when he will swoop in.**

 **So yes, many things will change after the Spring Unsprung arc, relationships will be tested, friendships will be tried and tested and trust will be lost and regained. People will be hurt, and Joey will be sitting at the top enjoying it all with a bowl of popcorn, because he is a giant dick hole. Hopefully he gets a corn kernel stuck in his stigola. Then when he pees, he'll start pissing blood and it'll come out like the mist setting on a garden hose.**

 **I apologize for that last joke, but really even I hate Joey and I'm his creator...that says a lot. He's the necessary evil of this story, like Negan in the walking dead, except no bad ass leather jacket, no smooth beard and no Lucille.**

 **I apologize for this authors not being so short...I just want to wish you all a Merry Christmas. After this, I'll take a couple days to write some new stuff, so I might not post anything until New Years Eve, since I'm out of chapters to post...I only have up to chapter 36 written, and I have to rewatch Spring Unsprung, along with the episodes Heart Stuck and Sugar Coated so I have sufficient filler. So I do hope you like these two chapters, together it's about 20,000 words or so, so you'll be entertained for at least a few others.**

 **Remember #FuckTheWalkingDead #FuckThatDickJoey #SantaClauseIsComingToTown**

 **Read, review, favorite, like, all that jazz...shout outs to all of my readers, this is all for you! Merry Christmas, don't drink and drive, get high and fly!**

Ever After High

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 34

The Winter Formal V

Knowing when to strike was the most important thing in a fight. If one threw a punch to early, you're opponent could counter attack, and you would be on the receiving end. The timing was crucial in any matter, whether it be a cyber attack, a physical attack, and even tactical warfare. All of this was rather important for Joey, as he had made his final decision. What had happened in Blake's dorm had been the straw that broke the camels back. He had been waiting for the right moment, and it seemed as if the right one had finally presented itself. Now his long awaited plan would start coming to fruition.

Studying every tradition in Ever After had been key. He had found the perfect one to strike, the Spring Fairest which was to happen on March 21st of the following year. It was a large school wide event where a large carnival would be held for an entire week. It was to celebrate the incoming spring season, and was one of Ever After High's most important holidays. He knew if he wanted to strike, he would do it then. Joey smirked as he sat down at his desk, glancing at the pictures he had taken on his phone. He had one of Blake hugging Duchess, and one of Blake hugging Blondie. They would become rather important later on.

However, even if he wanted to slowly ruin his so called best friend's life, he would have to plan everything accordingly. He would have to start by slowly removing the things that made Blake happy in Ever After. There was no way he could take away Blake's dorm room, after all it had been given to him by the school. He couldn't take anything from the inside, since it was protected by Jessica's magic. So he couldn't do anything against his room, which made him disappointed. But there were several things that he could take away that made Blake happy.

He would start by getting rid of two things that made his day in school good. Riddlish and Wonderland History. Blake had told him several times that those two classes were his favorite ones in Ever After, and the ones that he loved the most. He had straight A's in those two classes, along with Muse-ic Class. Since Blake was a good musician as well, he would have to ruin that class for him too. It would take some work, but he would be able to get his grades down, get him in trouble with his teachers, maybe even get his classes switched.

His second plan would be simple, knowing Blake's charismatic nature in Ever After, it meant he had many friends. He couldn't easily start rumors, apparently it had happened in the past, so getting people to believe he was a bad person was out. But there was one thing that had caught his attention, the Radio Rebel. He didn't exactly know who they were, but if they had the ability to hack into the school system, then he could easily do it. He would start by telling people secrets that only Blake would know. That would start lessening his friendships until eventually, he wouldn't have many friends left.

His third plan, get Duchess Swan to hate Blake. That one was a stretch, but he was still mad that his ex-best friend had taken Duchess away from him. Ever since he had laid eyes on her, he wanted her. But it was obvious that Blake had poisoned her mind. He wouldn't be able to get her trust, so he would have to once again rely on exposing things that only Blake would know. Once Duchess broke away from their friendship, he would swoop in and befriend her, eventually making her fall in love with him. He would have to use Blondie for this one too, since breaking into people's dorms would be key in this plan.

The final plan to ruining Blake's life in Ever After was rather simple. It was of course the coup de gras, if Lucy had left Joey back on Earth. Then he would make sure that Cerise left Blake as well. If he couldn't have his girlfriend, then Blake didn't deserve to have one. It would be hard to break those two apart, seeing as they were absolutely in love. It was almost sickening how in love they were, and he was starting to get annoyed with the two. Especially with Cerise's protective nature...this would be the hardest part of his four step plan, but he knew it would be what would break Blake emotionally and finally make his revenge complete. He would break Blake and Cerise apart, making them unable to see each other, this in turn would ruin Purple Rhapsody's dynamic, since she was their drummer.

Once this four step plan was complete, Joey would seal the deal. He would make sure to leave Blake so emotionally broken, that he wouldn't have a single choice but to return to Earth. He would relish in the fact that as soon as he did step through that portal, the shard in his chest would explode and he would die. Joey would just act like nothing bad happened to him, but in the end he would be having the last laugh. Blake deserved it for admitting his feelings to Lucy that night two years ago. It was his fault that she had run away, because she was conflicted with her emotions. Lucy was so unfocused that she didn't even notice Joey following her. Neither of them noticed him standing behind the fence in the back yard, listening into their conversation. Blake thought he was smart, but he wasn't. That's why he deserved everything he was going to get, because his love confession killed Lucy.

The brown haired young man chuckled dryly as he finished jotting everything down in his personal book. He would wait for the right time, and he was would be sure to strike. The new year was around the corner, and it was going to be a rather explosive year. By the end of the second term, Blake wouldn't be around, and he could finally grant his own wish, of being in a different world, surrounded by beautiful girls, and having magic. It would be a wonderful feeling, watching his so called best friend slowly shattering into a million pieces, until they finally disappeared, becoming nothing more than sand in the breeze.

 _ **xxx**_

Blake and the rest of Purple Rhapsody was going over the final preparations for the dance, which would be happening the following night. They had practiced their main event, along with four other songs for the concert. After it's end, the Winter Formal would begin, and the traditional welcoming of Winter would happen. Crystal had already run her practice, along with Blake and Raven, the Thronecoming King and Queen. Of course, Purple Rhapsody's practice had been in secret, so even the Headmasters had no idea what was going to happen. Milton Grimm smiled brightly as he looked at his students, his brother Giles stood by him, a similar smile on his face.

"I would like to thank everyone present, for coming together and creating this Winter Formal. It won't be exactly the same, due to the Snow King being ill, but I know all of you have something wonderful planned...something that...breaks away from tradition." the man said, earning a sigh from his younger brother.

"Now now, we can't follow tradition all the time. I'm sure this shall be like Thronecoming, a very exciting performance by Purple Rhapsody, followed by an amazing dance."

"We've all worked hard to bring this Formal to fruition, and we all know that it's going to be spelltacular!" Apple said happily.

"Apple is right, this shall be the first major event to be covered by the Yearbook staff, so we encourage all of you to attend. Blake and Cedar will be taking loads of pictures, so if you want to be in the book, now is the time." Raven added.

"The final preparations are set, so all we have to do is wait until tomorrow. Thank you all for being so kind and for helping us out. This isn't Ever After's Winter Formal anymore, its our Winter Formal, and it'll go down in history! It'll shatter every notion of tradition, so I do hope you all look forward to it!" Blake said happily, earning applause from those gathered there. The members of Purple Rhapsody all bowed before the crowd, walking off toward the stage.

Blake however remained behind, taking a hold of Raven's hand. He gestured for her to follow him, and lead her back into the school. He hadn't spoken with Raven for a few days, aside from things that had to do with the formal. He felt a bit bad, since he considered her his older sister, yet he almost never had time to hang out with her. He made a mental promise to spend more time with Raven whenever he wasn't busy with work, so he could get to know her a little better and get a more sibling bond going on. Once they had disappeared from sight, he came to a stop, standing before the girl.

"I have a request for you. It has to do with the concert." he said.

"You want me to be a part of it? You know I can't be part of the band, I would love to help out, but I truly can't."

"Yes I know...but you don't have to do anything major. All you have to do is give Apple and Kitty the signal." Blake said, reaching behind his back. He pulled out a violet flare gun, handing it to the daughter of the Evil Queen.

"A flare gun? How did you get a hold of this?"

"Kitty gave it to me. She said she had a friend in Bookend that could get her one and she did. This has a single flare, that is of course purple in color. Apple and Kitty are tasked to keep two important items. When I give you the go ahead, you fire this into the air. That will be the beginning of our concert." he said.

"You're giving me this big of a task, I'm so flattered that you would think of me for this." the girl said, bowing her head a bit. He gave her a smile, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Raven, I want to apologize to you. During our Thronecoming dance, I told you that you were my new older sister. But I haven't been a good little brother, I haven't spent much time with you. You remind me of Susan, she even went through a goth phase too. I miss her and Mary a lot...I don't want to seem like a dick for replacing them but...I dunno."

"You aren't...you're human, so it's normal to want to replace what you have lost. In a way, you are honoring your sisters memories...it's my pleasure to be your sister, and I sort of owe you, since my mom impaled you and everything." she replied, earning a chuckle from the boy.

"You don't owe me anything. Your mom will get her comeuppance one day, and she will understand that she can't curse other worlds, and she can't curse people willynilly. It's just sad that she'll never realize what a wonderful beautiful daughter she has." he said, giving the girl a hug. She smiled, hugging the boy back.

"You'll see them again one day, I'll make sure of it. Once I find a way to reverse your curse...I will get you home."

"I am home Raven, and I know one day I'll see my family again. Come on, I want you to see how much my magic has improved." he said, giving the girl a grin.

"You haven't blown yourself up yet have you?"

"Once or twice, I will admit. I'm having a bit of trouble though, I decided to teach myself attack magic. Think you can help me out? My Dark Holy isn't coming along the way I would want." he replied, earning a curious look from the girl.

"Dark Holy, why would you teach yourself attack magic on that level? I didn't learn that attack until just recently." Raven said, completely taken aback. He shrugged, glancing at his magic which looked like flames over his hands.

"You never know when you might need it. I don't have a destiny in this world, so I'll have to make one. Maybe I can take some monster hunting quests or something after High school. Plus you never know, some messed up prince might attack Ever After for some reason or another. Better safe than sorry." he replied.

"That is true...you are the second best swordsmen in school. I suppose I can teach you to be the third best mage in school."

"Third best? Who's second best?"

"Me of course. The best dark mage in our school is Madam Yaga, I mean she's a witch so she's pretty strong. Faybelle isn't here, so that technically makes me second best. So since you are technically my apprentice, that makes you third best." Raven said, leading the boy away.

"Makes sense I suppose...who's this Faybelle girl I keep hearing about? Ramona won't tell me anything, and apparently she and Duchess are best friends." Blake said, curiosity written on his face.

"Well, Faybelle Thorn is the daughter of the Bad Fairy, from Briar's story. She's the one who's supposed to curse Briar and put her to sleep for a hundred years."

"Oh...so why isn't she around?" he asked, earning a chuckle from his surrogate sister.

"Same reason Ramona got kicked out of Ever After. For bad behavior...she was apparently caught casting a lot of bad enchantments, and using her magic to piss people off. Headmaster Grimm had enough of her and sent her off. Her first year is up after Spring, so she should be back by the Spring Fairest." Raven said, earning a nod from the boy.

"So...I should definitely avoid her then...knowing Duchess though, she'd probably force me to hang out with her. I have no idea why, but she's been hanging out with me a lot more."

"Blake, you are totally dense aren't you?"

"Huh? What do you mean by that sis?" he asked curiously, earning a sigh from the girl.

"Yup, as dense as granite...don't worry about it. Eventually you will find out, how are you and Cerise doing?"

"We're fine...we've grown rather close. I hate to admit it, but I'm falling in love with her, a lot harder than I wanted too. It's weird, but I never considered getting into a relationship back in my world, aside from maybe Lucy." Blake replied, glancing at his wrist, momentarily forgetting he had given Kitty his bracelet.

"Would you consider marrying her?"

"I'm not sure Raven...I guess we'd have to wait and see. Maybe after we have a long relationship, like the one that Ashlynn and Hunter have, I would consider it. After all, we're still Sophomores in high school. Maybe when we're older." he replied.

"That's a good outlook I suppose. Come on, it's time for you to show me that magic!" the girl said excitedly.

"Alright, but don't be mad at me if I blow us up!"

 _ **xxx**_

After spending some time with Raven, Blake decided to head back to his dorm. He only needed to grab his books to place them in his locker, since Christmas Break started after the Winter Formal was over. Once he had grabbed his books and stuffed them into his backpack, he slung it over his shoulder. Cadence of course didn't want to be left alone in the dorm, so she of course jumped onto Blake's shoulder, hanging onto his backpack, refusing to be left behind. He chuckled, petting her head, making sure he had his keys with him. Once he locked his room, he started making his way toward the foyer of Ever After High so he could dump his books in his locker.

"You know something Cadence, I am definitely looking forward to not worrying about school. It's hard keeping my grades up in so many classes." he said, earning a happy yip from his dragon. He wasn't sure if she did understand what he was saying, but he knew dragons were highly intelligent.

It had been a crazy few weeks, ever since his arrival back in early October. Things had quickly spiraled out of control, but he had regained everything. Henry had tried his damnedest to ruin his life, and even thought of taking someones life. Thronecoming had been one of the best nights of his life, he had started dating a wonderful girl, and now he would be celebrating another of Ever After's most revered events, the Winter Formal. All of his hard work during the past month would definitely be worth it. Purple Rhapsody and everyone involved in the Winter Concert would definitely be able to enjoy the fruits of their labor. He finally reached his locker, imputing the combination with lightning speed, wasting no time to dump his books inside.

"Well, what do we have here? Aren't you a sight for sore eyes." a familiar voice said, causing Blake to look beside him, eyes widening in surprise when he saw Jack.

"Holy shit, Jack how are you doing? It's been awhile man." he said, shaking the boy's hand.

"I'm fine, took a few magical surgeries to get everything repaired, and after some weeks of physical therapy, I'm back to normal. I see that you've got yourself a pet dragon, somehow I'm not surprised." he said, glancing at Cadence, who hid behind Blake's back, making him chuckle.

"Yeah, I actually got to hatch her. Her name is Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, but I call her Cadence for short." he replied.

"That's some name, never thought a dragon could be royalty. Then again, you being a rebel let's you do whatever you want, even rewrite everything here. Thanks to Henry I missed Thronecoming, but I made sure to be healed enough to make it back for the Winter Formal. My sister is here somewhere, but she's probably talking with some friends." Jack said, earning a nod from the boy.

"I'm sure I'll meet her at some point. It's good to have you back man, I'm sure Frost and Pierre have missed you too...I heard rumors of them wanting to start another band, now that your back, we'll have some nice competition."

"I don't doubt it. The new Yuletide Bliss is going to be way better than before, it's gonna be a band filled with freedom, not some monarchy lead by a tyrant front man." Jack said, his nose scrounging a bit as he remembered Henry. Blake cringed too, remembering what the man had done to him.

"Well, my band and I have been preparing an awesome winter concert, so I'm sure you'll enjoy it. Be sure to have your MirrorPhone handy, because it'll be something you want to record."

"Lookie here, if it isn't Blake and his pet dragon, what's up?" Joey said, causing the black haired boy to whip around, facing the brown haired teenager. Jack looked at him in confusion.

"You know him Blake?" he asked.

"Yes, this is Joey Martineu...some things happened, and I accidentally wished he would be here in Ever After. He's from Earth just like I am. Joey, this is Jack Hills, the son of Jill from the nursery rhyme Jack and Jill." Blake said.

"Nice to meet you Jack. Blake told me your Achilles tendon got sliced in half, you doing fine now?"

"Sure am, magic is a wonderful thing. But even with magic, I had to go through a lot of pain, it sucked ass...but I'm back on my feet and ready to join my friends. Especially our new band."

"A band you say? Do you have an open spot for a bass player? I was hoping to join my friend's band, but he's a hard ass and won't let me join." Joey said, glancing at Blake who just sighed and turned back to his locker.

"I've told you before, Cupid makes the calls. He's a good bass player Jack, if you have room for him, then he'd be an awesome player." he said, glancing at his locker door.

He had various pictures taped to it. Pictures of him with Apple and Raven, various with Briar and Ashlynn, some with Cerise, and of course his favorite one, the one of himself and Lucy four days before she disappeared. He shook his head, closing the locker door right after. Jack looked the brown haired boy over, nodding to himself.

"Yeah...I think we would do with a good bass player. I was the previous bassist, but now I'm moving onto lead guitar so that spot is open. If you want we can meet up later and see how you play, you got an instrument?"

"Nah, but Mr. Piper said I was free to use the ones in the Muse-ic Room until I had enough money for my own. I've been practicing up there with one of the guitars."

"Seriously? How come I didn't know of this? It would have been cool to see you play." Blake said, leaning back against the lockers. Cadence had jumped into his arms, playing with his hoodie strings.

"Because you were always busy with that stupid concert you're keeping secret. Besides I didn't feel the need to tell you that." Joey said, shrugging his shoulders.

"And here I was, ready to apologize for what happened last night. But you had to ruin it by being a dill hole. Jack, it was nice seeing you again. Hope to see you at the formal." he said, clapping the boy's shoulder as he walked off.

"Douche!" Joey called out, earning a wave from the boy who merely walked on.

"Something going on between you two? I heard some conversations from my other friends here. People said you two were like brothers."

"We were like brothers Jack, but that was before he caused my Lucy to disappear. It's all water under the bridge, if you'd like we can go to the Muse-ic room now and we can work on something."

"Hell yeah, I've been dying to play something. You've got no idea how annoying it is being stuck in a damn bed all the time. Especially when your annoying little sister keeps bugging you all the time." Jack said, leading the way to the third floor.

" _Hmm...this just happened to drop onto my plate. What better way to destroy Blake's band? Making my band better than his...maybe I can even steal his songs before he sings them...that would be an interesting development."_ Joey said, a sneer on his face.

"What's that look for?"

"Huh? Oh, I'm just really excited for this band. I've heard Purple Rhapsody's music, and I've been dying to work on some stuff too." he replied.

"Oh...yeah, they're music is great. It helps that they got Melody Piper in their band, she's the best when it comes to mixing. She is the Pied Piper's daughter after all."

"Interesting...so they're music sounds good because she's at the reigns. Very interesting indeed...maybe I can talk her into helping us?" He said, a hopeful tone in his voice. Jack chuckled, shaking his head.

"I highly doubt it...she's exclusive to Purple Rhapsody now...even if she quit or they broke up, I doubt she'd work for someone else."

"That's true...oh well, guess we'll have to worry about that on our own." Joey said with a shrug.

" _I'll be sure to befriend these idiots...keep appearances and such. Ever After better get ready to hear my awesome music, even if I'm borrowing it from Earth. It's not like copyright laws exist here."_

Blake meanwhile had made it to the castleteria. He was rather annoyed with his friend, but there was nothing he could do about it. His attitude was subtly changing, and he honestly didn't like it. Lucy was always the one that kept him on a leash and with her gone, there was nothing he could do. He would just ignore him, after all it was his choice to stay in Ever After and he would have to face whatever consequences this world deemed on him. He had prepared an apology and everything. After everyone had left the previous night, he felt really bad, especially when he remembered how he felt at finding out Joey was Lucy's boyfriend. That same feeling of anguish and disbelief must have been exactly what Joey had felt when he told him he had a final conversation with her.

After awhile, he decided to apologize to his friend. Joey had always acted like a dick to him and Lucy, so he just thought he was acting like that because of what happened. There wasn't a way to have someone change attitude overnight. He just hoped the boy would straighten out soon, he didn't want something bad to him. Even if he was acting like a douche bag, he was still Blake's friend, and it was still partially his fault for bringing him to Ever After High. He grabbed his lunch, carefully balancing it out on his hand, grabbing an apple and tossing it to Cadence who caught it with ease, and started eating it. He grabbed another one for himself and started walking toward his usual table.

"Hey Blake, mind if we join you?" Jessica called out, followed by Duchess and Kitty.

"Sure, I don't mind. What have you three been up to?" he asked, taking his usual seat. Kitty gave him a giggle, twirling a strand of her curly hair between her fingers.

"Are you seriously asking us that question? We were getting the final touches on our outfits duh. Me and Duchy just came back from the salon, we got our nails done." she said, showing the boy her finely manicured hands. Duchess did the same, a proud smile on her face.

"It was my idea to have them follow the monochrome theme. I got my hair straightened and got some new highlights in just for this performance." she said, showing the boy the silver and violet streaks running through her normally black and white hair.

"I like that, it gives you a good look, and it goes perfectly with that swan your wearing as a dress." Jessica said, shoving some food into her mouth. Duchess barely withheld her honk, slamming her fist onto the table top.

"It isn't a swan! You just don't know fashion like I do, yes I used swan feathers, but I asked all of Pirouette's friends for them and they happily obliged. You have no idea how hard it is to design a dress that's half leotard half ball gown." she said, a proud smirk on her face.

"That's true...Lizzie took the challenge on and she delivered, your dress is perfect for you. The fact that the train will appear after your released from your relays is an ingenious idea." Blake said, glancing at his notebook. He handed Cadence a few stalks of Celery which she happily ate.

"Everything will go down tomorrow night ladies, so you better be prepared. It's gonna be a long tiring night for all of us, but it'll definitely be worth it. I was thinking of doing one final practice in costume, to see if we need to make any last minute adjustments." Blake said.

"That wouldn't be bad idea. If any of our outfits need to be amended, now would be the excellent time. Lizzie wouldn't mind, and she'll be doing our face paint too. Farrah was able to create some paint that glows in the dark but wouldn't cause us any harm." Kitty said.

"Glow in the dark face paint...honestly, I have no idea how you came up with that idea Blake." Jessica said, earning a chuckle from Blake.

"Well, there was this group in my world called the Black Eyed Peas. They had glow in the dark paint in one of their music videos, when I saw Lizzie's heart shaped mark over her eye, it just fit." he replied.

"Ugh...check it out, it's that bastard Joey, and he's hanging out with Henry's old crew." Duchess said, causing the others to glance at the entrance.

"It is a bit odd...hey, what's happening between you two? Wasn't he your brother?" Kitty asked curiously, earning a frown from Blake.

"I thought he was...but he kept a huge secret from me, for an entire year. He betrayed my trust, and right now...I don't trust him as I used too. He's getting a bit of a rotten attitude." he replied, glaring at the brown haired boy, taking a bite from his apple.

"Not only that, the bastard thought it was a good idea to lay a hand on me. He's tried approaching me, but Dexter has kept him back. I'm honestly a bit worried."

"You have nothing to worry about Duchess. I already told him, if he touches you the way he did last time, I'm breaking his face. I'm a black belt in mixed martial arts, he knows not to fuck with me." Blake said, earning a smile from the girl, who was doing her best to hide her flushed face.

"Whoa, what kind of touch are we talking about? Is it a simple hand touch or a bad touch?" Kitty asked. Duchess shivered slightly, placing a hand over her chest, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear.

"It was the second one."

"What? Why I ought too...excuse me, I'm gonna head back to Earth for a second and get a Plutonium rod." Jessica said, pulling her wand from inside her dress.

"No don't! We've already dealt with him, besides how the hell would you even get a plutonium rod?" Blake asked, a hint of curiosity on his face. The girl grinned, twirling her head.

"It isn't that hard, there's an alternate Earth where the world went into a zombie apocalypse. There are a few abandoned Nuclear Power plants, so I'll just snag one of those. Besides a bit of radiation never killed anyone."

"No...absolutely not! We can't give him a fucking plutonium rod, the last thing we need to give that planet is a nuclear meltdown in the middle of the zombie apocalypse. Which world was it? Was it the Dawn of the Dead world? The Left4Dead world?"

"The Walking Dead world...let me tell you, Daryl Dixon, is just as hot in real life as he is in the show. Hmm, I had a little fling with him...I erased his memories of course." she said.

"You little slut, I didn't think you had already lost your virginity!" Duchess said, barely above a whisper.

"Please, I lost my virginity a hundred and forty years ago. Let me tell you, colonial Massachusetts, not a good place to get laid. I almost got killed for Witchcraft, just because I misplaced my wand. Gave that guy the best orgasm of his life though...wonder how he's doing? Last I saw of him, he was on the Dollar Bill." she said, placing a finger on her chin.

"Christ, stop ruining my world's history would ya? You already boggle my mind with your existence and the fact you sunk the Titanic!" Blake cried.

"Hey, I saved the Britannic from hitting that underwater mine in World War I. Of course that lead to the Germans winning that war...but hey, at least the Great Depression didn't happen...so that's good. Then again, it did happen in the 1980's and Atari went under, meaning no video games." She said sadly.

"You know Jessica, you should write your own book. Jessica Merlin's Spellbinding Adventures. An autobiography on how you ruin every world you land in." Duchess said, earning a giggle from Kitty.

"I'd love to see that happen...hey, think you could help me with something? I want to switch bodies with someone, so I can see what it's like." she said.

"Absolutely not! Magic can't be abused that way Kitty, imagine what it would feel like for the person trapped in your body? How do you think they would feel? Especially when they have to pee." Blake said.

"Oh, I don't mind that part...especially if they're a close friend." she replied, giving him a wink.

"Sorry Kitty, but body switching magic is prohibited. Only level two wizards are allowed to cast that spell type, and right now I'm a level three. Once I pass my level two certification then I can switch you with whoever you want." Jessica said.

"Aw...alright I'll wait."

"You're fucking weird Kitty, you really are...I gotta go, we need to do that dress rehearsal. And you my little Cadence need to go take your nap." he said, placing the sleepy looking dragon inside his bag, making sure her head was sticking out of it so she could breathe.

"It was nice having lunch with you Blake, we should hang out more, so I can poison your mind with your world's messed up history." Jessica said, earning a glare from the black haired boy as he got rid of his trash.

 _ **xxx**_

" _The time has finally come, the Winter Formal is about to begin, and we all get to finally..."_

" _Daddy, do you think I could narrate this? Please?"_ Brooke cried, causing Chester to stop speaking.

" _I believe we should give her this chance, no spoilers however."_ Weiss said, earning an excited cry from her daughter, who cleared her throat.

" _Ahem, Ever After High was preparing for one of the greatest events in the Fairytale world. All around the back plaza, the students were excitedly walking around, wearing beautiful winter outfits. The large Christmas tree in the center glittered with an array of rainbow lights, adding to the magic of the holidays."_

" _Oh wow, that was pretty good."_ Chester said.

" _Indeed, it seems our little girl is following in our footsteps."_

" _Guys, please let me narrate? I don't want to mess any of this up!"_

"Yoo hoo, down here!"

The three narrators were forced to look at the daughter of the Mad Hatter, who was glaring at them. She was wearing a white dress, with various colors splashed on, giving it the craziness and madness of Wonderland. There was a large tea cup shaped patch sown onto the side of it, along with various colored snowflakes dotting the skirt of said dress. She wore a hat on her head, which was in the likeness of a tea cup, her pet door mouse, Earl Grey was laying inside, holding his little umbrella in his paws.

" _Is something the matter Madeline?"_

"Yes there is Weiss, today is the first day of Winter, and four days from now is Christmas. I don't want you three to start arguing during the most hopeful time of the year. So don't make me go up there, because I will." she said, angrily wagging her finger.

" _Daddy, why can she hear us? I thought Blake was the only one who could hear us!"_ Brooke asked, clearly confused.

 _"Well you see, this is Madeline Hatter...the daughter of the Mad Hatter, she's absolutely insane. So insane that she can actually hear us. In fact, she isn't the only one, Kitty Cheshire can hear us too."_ Chester said.

" _It can be inconvenient at times, but she means well. Worry not Madeline, we aren't going to argue. We are as excited as you are to see the Winter Concert!"_

"Oh I know, my friend Blake worked so hard on it. But he didn't tell me anything, I hope you guys enjoy the party. Wish you could come down here though, I want to see your faces one day!"

" _I'm sorry Madeline, but narrators aren't supposed to interact with the story characters. We know a guy in Nottingham that got to involved and well...it didn't end well for him."_ Chester said, a sad tone in his voice.

" _Oh oh, are you talking about Jared? Didn't he get turned into a character as punishment for getting to involved? That would be so cool."_

" _It would not, we don't want something like that to happen to you sweetheart. If you get turned into a character, there is no way for you to return to the narrator realm. We wouldn't see you again."_ Weiss said, earning a sad sigh from Brooke.

"Aw, it's alright Brooke. We can still chat if you want, at least until the show starts!"

" _Go on Brooke, we'll take it from here."_ Chester said happily.

" _Okay...let's get to know each other Madeline, it would be wonderful to know what makes you tick."_

"Sure, but call me Maddie, all my friends do!" the girl said happily, ignoring the odd stares she was getting. At this point, it was normal for her to talk to herself.

Meanwhile behind the curtains...Blake was doing the final checks on everything. He was currently in his costume, tailored to fit his body type and stature. He was wearing a long sleeved brown collared shirt, barely visible due to the other things he wore over it. He was wearing a light green shirt over it, which was made out of the best silk in Ever After. It had various black and gold patterns on it, swirls and flowers, as well as several hearts, as that shape was one of their main themes. It was tucked into his matching leather pants, held up by a thick black belt with a round buckle. He was wearing a leather pouch around his leg, which was mostly for decorative purposes. A matching one was attached to his waist, this one holding extra guitar picks in case he needed them. He was wearing a pair of black leather boots, with a pointed tip and heart shaped silver spurs on the back. The boots had angel wings on either side, being a bright white in color.

Over his shirt, Blake was wearing a brown leather jacket. The lapels were bronze in color, with various small rings on the sides of it. He had a small keychain attached to one of the holes, which was holding a glowing crystal on it. The jacket was left open, and he wore a thick leather belt across his shoulder, with golden hearts sown into it. There was a pocket on his shoulder, which would also act as a shoulder guard. He was wearing fingerless leather gloves on his hands, with studded knuckles. Atop his head, he was wearing a black hat, with a pair of goggles on the brim.

He set down his guitar, smiling to himself as he turned to face the rest of his friends, who were all putting on their finishing touches. Duchess was glancing at herself in the mirror, looking at the make up she had gotten placed on her face. She was wearing a white sparkly leotard, which was rather tight on her body. The collar was a bit lowcut, the area around the bust was decorated with white swan feathers. She even had what looked like the neck of a swan, coiled around the bottom part, coming to rest on her shoulder. She was wearing a pair of white leggings, with black and white checkerboard patterns on it. On her right foot, she wore a black shoe, while on her left she wore a white one. Around her wrists, ankles and waist was the relay that would keep her bound until the final chorus of the song. They were made in such a way that they weren't visible to the ground, except for certain parts, that were set to glow brightly under the light. Her long black and white hair was tied up into a bun, which she would pull down the second she was free of the ropes, a sign of her freedom from the relay. He walked over to her, taking a hold of her hand.

"Stop poking the make up, we don't want to ruin it before the show starts." he said, earning a frown from her. She had a black diamond painted over her left eye, her side swept bangs covered her right slightly, making the make up stand out more.

"I know...it's just, I'm a little nervous alright?" she asked.

"We all are Duchess, you aren't the only one you know." Cupid said, making sure her train wasn't snagged on anything. Melody gave her a smile, the glowing paint on her face catching the light.

"We've practiced hard over the last few days, you only have to do once song, we've got to do three more after this. You'll do fine, the dance you came up with is beautiful and it fits you." She said.

"I agree with Melody, you've performed in front of Ever After before. Just pretend this is a recital, just...don't steal the spot light." Dexter said, playing a quick riff on his guitar. He like Blake was wearing an almost identical outfit, except he was wearing a pair of goggles around his neck, and a crimson crown atop his head, with glowing crystals.

"I wasn't planning on it, that role belongs to Lizzie." she said, glancing at the Princess of Hearts.

She was wearing a rather unique dress, unlike the steampunk ones everyone else was wearing. She was wearing a crimson gown, decorated with hundreds of red sequins and golden markings, around the bust. She wore a black belt around her waist, the skirt of the gown being decorated with playing cards. There was a card for every single suit, all of them following a certain pattern, until they all met in the center, forming a large white heart. She was wearing black leggings, with more crimson hearts printed on them, along with matching black and gold heels, also baring playing cards on the front. Her long hair was straightened and curled at the end. Instead of her normal crown, she wore a golden tiara on her head. She was finishing up Cerise's make up, lining the outer areas carefully.

"I may be the singer Duchess, but I'm not gonna be stealing the show. All of us will, we've got our own amazing roles after all...there you are Cerise, you are all done. Blake you're up next." she said, earning a nod from the boy. He traded places with Cerise, with Lizzie grabbing the crimson face paint from the tray beside her.

"You know...I've had this performance in my mind for years...since I heard this song for the first time. But finally being able to do it...to show this amazing song to Ever After...it makes me happy. I only wish the original creators were here to see it, I'm sure they'd love the time and effort we took to create it." he said, closing his eyes as Lizzie started painting his face.

"I'm sure they would...when do we give Raven the signal?" Melody asked, holding her phone in her hand.

"Um...wait fifteen more minutes. Remember, it has to be a surprise to everyone, even though they're all waiting for it. They know we're gonna perform, but they don't know when...we gotta keep them on their toes." Blake said happily.

"Kitty and Apple are already in place. Looks like people are questioning their dresses, Blondie is all over them right now." Cerise said, from her spot near the curtains.

"She's just naturally curious. Apple hasn't said anything until now, and she isn't going too. Kitty is also naturally mischievous, so she'll lie through her teeth and make it look good. We've got nothing to worry about."

" _Good Afternoon Ever After High and welcome to the Winter Formal!"_ Maddie's voice cried, echoing through the plaza.

"Show time ladies and gentlemen, in thirteen minutes we're gonna welcome Winter to Ever After with a bang!" Blake said happily.

"Aw man, I don't have my mistletoe hat! I thought I brought it with me!" Cupid cried, looking through her bag. Lizzie giggled, giving Blake a smile.

"I ended up hiding that dreadful thing from her. She was insisting on wearing it, and it would throw off her outfit. I'll give it back to her after the show."

"Liz, you are savage...I've got no doubt you'll be a wonderful Queen of Hearts."

"Tell that to my future subjects then, they've got no faith in me." She said, finishing up his heart. She handed him a mirror so he could look at it.

"Don't worry, when I break into Wonderland, I'll be sure to tell them. Let's get into position, we're gonna sell this motherfucker to everyone in the Fairytale world and everyone else tuning in!" he said happily, standing up from his seat. He grabbed his guitar, plugging the wireless amplifier into it.

"Purple Rhapsody is gonna steal the hearts of millions! We'll show the world that our rocking tunes are second to none!" Melody said happily, finished with her final check.

"We're all good up here, are you ready Duchess?" Humphrey asked, earning a thumbs up from the girl. He pulled the lever, slowly lifting the girl into the air.

"Remember Duchess, pull the cord attached to your waist to release the train." Lizzie said.

"Yeah yeah, I've practiced that part six times already. It's my favorite part, the part where I steal the show!" she said, giving her friend a wink.

"Hey, we agreed you wouldn't steal the show!"

"Sorry Dexi, I'm a rebel...and an opportunist." she said, finally disappearing through the rafters.

All of the stage lights were shut off, the only visible glow being from the ice stairwell they had Crystal cast earlier that day. Blake and Lizzie started making their way up the stairs, with Blake walking up the left and Lizzie up the right, until both were on the second floor, standing next to each other. Their face paint was glowing brightly, being the only light source on the second floor, aside from Melody's laptop and launchpad. He wave the Princess of Hearts a nod, both of them standing back to back, Humphrey came down, placing a wireless headset around her ear, making sure the microphone was near her lips.

"I made one adjustment to my guitar...I'm sure you'll like it." he said, flicking the switch on the neck. The strings all lit up, glowing a light violet.

"Whoa, that looks really cool." the son of Humpty Dumpty said, eyes widening.

"It works on the same premise as Melody's launch pad. Which each new note I play, a new color will flash onto each string." he said.

"That will definitely bring you attention. Alright, eight minutes, you guys have an awesome show, me and Hopper will handle everything else." the blond boy said.

"Alright, thanks guys...we definitely couldn't do this without you." he said.

Even though he was nervous, Blake didn't show it. He knew this performance was going to be the best one of the year, and most likely the best one of his life. He and his friends had been working hard on it for the past month, and it all culminated into one event, on a single night. It would be the night that would be seared into everyone's minds for the next few months of their lives, and if it made the yearbook, for the rest of their lives.


	35. The Winter Formal Finale

**A/N:**

 **Hi guys, I just wanted to throw this quick Authors note in this chapter so I can tell you the names of the songs used in this chapter. The first song is called Shatter Me, originally by Lindsay Stirling, but the song that I used in this chapter is a cover by Cole Rolland, I do recommend you listen to that one as it is the version I based this chapter off of, hell this entire arc was created from this single song. That should show you how powerful music can be hehe.**

 **The second song is called No Ordinary Love by Memphis May Fire. This is a very powerful song if you understand it's meaning, it has a couple, but it's mostly about Love and God, if you aren't Christian, then I suppose you can see it as a love song where the love went stale. If you watch the music video, the love shown is that is the unconditional love that a father has for his children no matter what they become in life. So once again, I do remind you to listen to those songs while reading this, as it will improve the overall impact, tell me how did you guys! Again Merry Christmas...I'm gonna grab me some booze now, peace!**

Ever After High

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 35

The Winter Formal Finale

 _Key for the songs:_

Shatter Me _(Cole Rolland version)_ : _Italics-Lizzie singing_

No Ordinary Love: _Italics-Blake singing_

 _ **Bold Italics: Dexter Screaming**_

After the first announcements, the Winter Formal was in full swing. The students of Ever After High were milling about, hanging out with friends and eating food. Everyone was of course wondering when the winter concert was set to start. One of them being Crystal Winter, who was the guest of honor. She didn't bother dressing up like everyone else, wanting to just stay comfortable in her own winter clothing. She could change with a flick of a wrist if she wanted, but she didn't want to bring anymore attention to herself. She was standing next to the refreshment table, holding a cup of fruit juice in her hands, taking small sips from it.

She spotted Kitty among the crowd, it wasn't hard for her to stand out. The dress she was wearing was something out of a storybook. She had been expecting her to wear something more fitting the daughter of the Cheshire Cat, but here she was, wearing a music box on her head. It certainly did fit the Wonderland style the girl would no doubt be wearing. She was holding something in her hands as well, covered by a white cloth, and she wasn't letting anyone see it. Whenever someone wanted to, she would just disappear and flash somewhere else. Similarly, Apple was moving around the crowd, trying not to say anything about her role in the performance.

Crystal took another sip from her drink, wondering just what Blake had been planning. He hadn't let her see the stage at all, but directing her hand, she was able to cast an ice spell creating a stairwell in the center of the stage. After thanking her various times, he told her to leave. While she was disappointed, she knew he wouldn't hold back during this performance, so she would be waiting patiently just like everyone else, even if her inner child was screaming.

"Hey Crystal, how are you holding up?" Briar asked, earning a smile from her mint haired friend.

"I'm fine...just wondering when this show is going to start. Everyone is talking about it, but no one knows jack." she said, finishing her juice.

"Mhmm, I'm honestly getting choked up by it all. But I know Blake isn't going to disappoint us, he didn't hold back during Thronecoming. He won't back down this time." she said, pouring herself some juice.

"I know, I trust him. He's so intelligent, that I'm sure he worked every kink out of this performance." she said, her cheeks flushing.

"Oh brother...you still have the hots for him. Girl, you need to forget about that, he's already in a relationship."

"Just because a goal has a goalie doesn't mean I can't score." Crystal said, giving her a playful smirk. Briar blinked a few times, shaking her head as she drank from her cup, knowing she couldn't talk her friend out of liking someone.

Apple sighed, being hounded for answers constantly was something she was ready for. But she held her ground, knowing that if she spilled anything the performance would be ruined. People already knew about the Mechanical Heart, so she had no issue with hiding it. Cedar had taken various pictures of her and Kitty for the yearbook, asking them what the purpose of their outfits were. The two girls of course remained silent, with Kitty disappearing right after, making sure to keep the music box hidden.

She was shivering, not from the fact that she was wearing a sleeveless dress, but because she was nervous. Small puffs of air trailed from her lips, visible due to the cold. She had gone through the routine several times in the past, had followed after Kitty's lead, had helped her out with her duties as the Box Keeper. She had the entire routine memorized, the movements were down pat and she was confident she could nail them down. It was the fact that she was one of the most important people in the show that was making her nervous. She had to protect the Mechanical Heart with every ounce of her power, because without it, the performance wouldn't begin. It didn't help that she didn't know what the signal was going to be either. She took a deep breath, steeling her nerves.

"Apple, are you alright?" the voice of Ashlynn asked, making the girl jolt. The blonde girl gave her a nod, taking a hold of the heart in her hand.

"I'm fine...just a bit cold." she said.

"Now Apple, I know you aren't a liar. Are you nervous?"

"I...yes, I'm nervous. I'm the most important part of this show Ash, without the heart, they can't start. I'm just scared I'll mess it up."

"You aren't going too. Apple White you have been practicing this for days now, I'm sure you've been through the ringer. So chin up, shoulders back and when it's your cue, just go for it." Ashlynn said, earning a smile from her friend.

"Okay, thanks Ashlynn. For helping me calm down."

"No problem...hey do you think my dress is alright? I didn't want to be cold so I picked a layered one." she said, gesturing to the light blue and white dress she was wearing.

"I think it's fine. Are you looking forward to your dance with Blake?" Apple asked, earning a nod from the auburn haired girl.

"I am, Hunter laughed when I told him not to worry, that I wasn't going to let Blake steal me away." she said, earning a giggle from her friend.

"As if that would happen. He likes Cerise too much, and Hunter is one of his closest friends here...much more than Joey. Speaking of, have you seen him?" Apple asked, a worried look on her face as she looked around.

"I did, he was inside with Jack, Pierre and Frost. Apparently they're reforming Yuletide Bliss...I've noticed he and Blake haven't been getting along. Do you know anything about that?"

"Not a lot of details, but I do know that it has to do with their missing friend Lucy. They kept some secrets from each other, so their trust is broken. It'll take awhile before they can trust each other, but if they're as close as brothers, they'll definitely get that bond back." the blonde girl said, glancing around the courtyard. She spotted Kitty, who gave her a bright grin and a wave before disappearing again, just as Blondie tried to approach her.

"Hey, how exactly will you know when it's time for you to head to the stage?" Ashlynn asked, earning a shrug from Apple.

"I'm not sure, Blake said that we would know what the signal was when we saw it. But he never specified what exactly it was...it could be anything at this point." she said with a shrug. Neither girl noticed Raven Queen glancing at the message she had just gotten. If they had, they would have seen her reach for the Flare gun tucked behind her back.

"Knowing Blake, it's going to be something big and bold, something that will get everyone's attention." Ashlynn said. A loud hiss filled the air, causing everyone to look up into the air watching a violet streak climb high into the air, shortly before exploding, forming a brilliant violet ball of light in the air. Apple swallowed hard, giving her friend a nod.

 _ **(Ashlynn's Point of View)**_

I watched as the crowd parted, Apple and Kitty started making their way toward the stage, the curtains were slowly being drawn, grabbing everyone's attention. The stage was completely dark, nothing was visible on it. The two girls slowly walked up the side steps, not uttering a single word as a single light came on above them. We all watched intently, as Kitty made her way to the back of the stage, placing the item she was holding in her hands on the platform, taking the white cloth off of it. She took off the bracelet from around her wrist, handing it to Apple, who mounted the Mechanical Heart onto the box, winding the key as she had done several times before. The sound of the winding key echoed through the empty area, drawing all of our attention. I noticed that while she did that, Kitty took her place near some levers that barely peeked through the darkness. She took a hold of the red one, glancing at Apple, as if her job depending on whether she pushed or pulled it.

Once Apple finished winding the heart, a soft xylophone started being played, the music started flowing through the speakers. Kitty pushed the lever forward the sound cutting through the music, the hanging lights to slowly turned on, shedding a bit of light onto the stage. Everyone looked up to the second floor, gasping a bit when the only thing the could see were two crimson hearts, due to the darkness surrounding the balcony. I also took notice of the glowing guitar strings, no doubt belonging to Blake. I couldn't see anyone else on the lower stage, but I knew they were there, waiting for their cue.

" _I pirouette in the dark,_

 _I see the stars through a mirror."_

I looked up to the balcony, noticing the different colors as each note was carefully played. With the rising light, it became much easier to see who was singing, and to my surprise it was Lizzie Hearts, the glowing heart on the left side of her face should have been an indicator. She bowed her head a bit, a smile on her lips.

 _Tired mechanical heart_

 _Beat till the song disappears."_

This time, the notes were a bit higher in pitch. It was then that I was noticing the lights slowly turning on around them. Everyone on the stage was wearing rather interesting outfits, that somehow fit with the theme. As Blake finished the next part, he and Lizzie started moving toward the stairs.

" _Somebody shine a light_

 _I'm frozen by the fear in me_

 _Somebody make me feel alive_

 _And shatter me!_

 _So cut me from the line!_

 _Dizzy spinning endlessly_

 _Somebody make feel alive_

 _And Shatter me!"_

The two spun around each other as they sung, Blake didn't miss a single beat as the other instruments joined into the melody. As soon as they had finished, he and Lizzie separated, stepping onto two platforms across from each other, being bathed by red light.

" _Shatter Me!"_

As the black haired boy started playing the next part of the song, I noticed Duchess dancing around the stage. I hadn't even noticed her enter. Getting closer, I noticed the shining wires keeping her in place as she moved around the stage, giving her movements light airy steps.

" _Somebody make me feel alive_

 _And Shatter me!"_

Duchess moved back a bit, as Lizzy got ready for the next part of the song. A spot light appeared above her, as she stayed still, almost as if she was a ballerina inside a music box.

" _If only the clockworks could speak_

 _I wouldn't be so alone."_

The daughter of the Swan Princess slowly start moving, looking almost robotic as she started taking a few light steps around Blake's platform.

" _We'd burn every magnet and spring_

 _And spiral into the unknown."_

The song picked up a bit, causing Duchess to move in wider arcs around the stage. She stopped a few times, tugging on her bindings before continuing her dance. To me, it was obvious that she was a ballerina being held back by the bindings, which would equate to being trapped by a music box. Lizzie and Blake were moving slightly as well, but their movements were so slight that they would have most likely gone unnoticed.

" _Somebody shine a light_

 _I'm frozen by the fear in me_

 _Somebody make me feel alive_

 _And shatter me!_

 _So cut me from the line!_

 _Dizzy spinning endlessly_

 _Somebody make feel alive_

 _And Shatter me!"_

The light focused on Duchess once more, her eyes were closed as she continued dancing. Her movements while lithe and precise were constantly being interrupted by the attachments on her arms and legs. Everyone around me took notice of this too, it was almost as if she was being forced to dance by these wires, and she was trying to break free. She expression on her face was enough for me to interpret this. Blake and Lizzie slowly turned to face each other, baring no expression on their faces.

" _Shatter Me!"_

Much like everyone else, my focus was on Duchess who was slowly being lifted off the ground. She almost hung there like a lifeless puppet, unable to move, as if the ballerina from the box had stopped. Slowly but surely, I noticed the monochrome ballerina trying to break free from her bindings.

" _Somebody make me feel alive_

 _And Shatter Me!"_

" _If I break the glass then I'll have to fly_

 _There's no one to catch me if I take a dive_

 _I'm scared of changing, the days stay the same_

 _The world is spinning, but only in gray._

 _If I break the glass than I'll have to fly_

 _There's no one to catch me if I take a dive_

 _I'm scared of changing, the days stay the same_

 _The world is spinning but only in gray._

Duchess, who had been fighting against her ropes stopped resisting slowly being lowered back to the stage. She bowed slightly, glancing at the wires on her wrists, a hopeful look on her face. She felt them pull against her one final time, before she snapped free of them. A look of surprised washed over her face, and she quickly reached for her hair, pulling it from her bun. She reached behind her back, tugging on a chord, and in a flash a long feathery train appeared around her waist. She started dancing like before, only this time it was different, her movements were refined, daring and free.

" _Somebody shine a light_

 _I'm frozen by the fear in me_

 _Somebody make me feel alive_

 _And shatter me!_

 _So cut me from the line!_

 _Dizzy spinning endlessly_

 _Somebody make feel alive_

 _And Shatter me!_

 _Somebody make me feel alive_

 _And Shatter me!"_

Lizzie's voice carried through the area, slowly fading away with the final notes of the song. She was panting a bit, a bright smile on her face. Everyone else on stage was much in the same state, nervousness clearly washing over them. For a second everyone remained silent, an explosion of cheers ringing out. My shock turned into happiness as I joined in the applause.

 _ **(Normal P.O.V.)**_

"Hello everyone, by your resounding applause I can tell our performance was good, at least I hope so. We would like to thank everyone for your patience, I can tell all of you wanted to know what we were cooking up for tonight, and this was it." Blake said, causing everyone to break into applause again.

"We worked super hard to put this all together for all of you. It wasn't just our music, but we couldn't have done it without Lizzie Hearts, Farrah Goodfairy, Kitty Cheshire, Apple White, Humphrey Dumpty, Hopper Croakington II and of course our star dancer Duchess Swan. So thank you all for helping us with this!" Cupid said happily, applauding the others.

"We can't leave out Raven Queen, who gave Apple and Kitty their signal. So give her applause too!" Blake said, causing everyone to look at Raven, who was trying to hide her blush.

"The night is just beginning, and we've got three more songs lined up for you all. After which, our guest of honor will welcome the first snowfall of Winter!" Melody cried out. Cupid begun the melody for the next song, just as Blake grabbed the microphone before him, having gotten off his platform.

" _Here I stand, nothing more than a broken man_

 _Staring death in the face, all my mistakes_

 _Have got a hold on me, again!_

 _Here we go! Another day, another fork in the road_

 _I never know who to trust, will someone just tell me_

 _Which way to go?"_

" _ **I need a sign!**_

 _ **I need a miracle!**_

 _ **I need to know that this is possible**_

 _ **I've just failed so many times**_

 _ **Is there any way that I can make it right?**_

 _ **God, if you're there I need to hear you now!"**_

" _Come back to me love_

 _I forgive you!_

 _Oh how I've missed you!_

 _Just know every time you run_

 _I'll be right here waiting!_

 _Yeah!"_

Blake's hair moved wildly as he started headbanging. Cupid's fingers were flying across the neck of her guitar, a rather firm look on her face. She was tapping her foot slightly to keep her rhythm. Dexter was much the same as Blake, his notes being more firm than the sharper ones of the guitar. He licked his lips, winking at the crowd as he took a breath of air.

" _ **This is no ordinary love!**_

 _ **Listen up! Listen up!**_

 _ **This is no ordinary love!**_

 _ **Listen up, this love is unconditional!"**_

" _I'm so afraid to admit that you're real_

 _Cause I'm afraid of what I might feel_

 _When your words start to come to life_

 _And it brings my demons into the light,_

 _I know you're here. I shiver as you whisper in my ear_

 _Child have no fear."_

" _Come back to me love_

 _I forgive you!_

 _Oh how I've missed you!_

 _Just know ever time you run_

 _I'll be right here waiting!_

 _Come back to me love._

 _I hope you know I'm always with you!_

 _Oh I forgive you!"_

Blake and Dexter both bowed their heads a bit, as the somber tone of the melody started to take over. The bass line was completely silent, the heavy sounds of each string slowly making their way back into the melody along with the heavy drums. Blake swallowed the lump in his throat, sighing slightly as he once again took a hold of the microphone.

" _We lose faith in things unseen_

 _Unsure of what to believe_

 _Just dying to be loved, when love's right in front of us_

 _We give up on our hopes and dreams_

 _Let doubt take everything!_

 _The door will open when we realize we don't hold the key!"_

" _ **I tried to save myself but I failed!**_

 _ **I Failed!"**_

" _Come back to me love_

 _I forgive you!_

 _Oh how I've missed you!_

 _Just know ever time you run_

 _I'll be right here waiting!_

 _Come back to me love,_

 _I forgive you!_

 _I hope you know that I'm always with you._

 _I forgive you!"_

Blake gave the crowd a smile as they once again broke for applause. He bowed slightly, pointing to Dexter with a grin on his face.

"Give it up for Dexter, who know he could scream like that eh? He's got a fine job in the Post Hardcore Genre." he said happily. The boy blushed brightly, looking down at the ground in embarrassment.

"I'm gonna hand the microphone over to Cupid, I've had my fun singing, so give it up for her. Our beautiful angel is sure to swoon the hearts of many!" Blake said, stepping back as he let Cupid take over the lead.

As the next song started, Joey couldn't help but notice something. It was how good Purple Rhapsody was. Blake had said before that he only sung covers of songs, Shatter Me being proof enough. But he still couldn't believe everyone was hooked onto their music. In his opinion, their music wasn't that amazing, since he had heard those songs before. But their dynamic was what sold the performance. They were all confident in their skills, smiling brightly, having fun. It was something that drove his ire a bit. Jack stood beside his new friend, his eyes trained on the stage.

"They're good aren't they? They totally whooped our asses back during the talent show, then again none of us played when Henry was around. They've gotten much better since then." he said.

"Have they? This is the first performance I'm seeing...I wasn't around for Thronecoming, so I can't judge them."

"Oh they were phenomenal. Our band needs some serious fixing if we want to compete against them." Frost said, arms crossed over his chest. His head bobbing slightly to the beat of Cupid's song.

"I agree with Frosty the Dopeman over here...we've got some serious work to do. I think we should start by changing the name...Yuletide Bliss will just remind people of who we used to be." Pierre said, earning a growl from Frost.

"How about...Yuletide Bliss: Re-imagined? It's the same band, but with different leads, different music, different everything. You could do remixes of your old songs and re-brand them. I even got an idea for our first song, All I want for Christmas is the Charges dropped." Joey said.

"That's not a bad idea...we can definitely use the songs we got. After all, when we all came up with that contract we agreed that any songs produced under our label belonged to the band. Even if Henry somehow comes back, he wouldn't be able to do crap." Jack said, nodding to himself.

"Yeah, but we are definitely not doing that song." Pierre said, earning a chuckle from Joey.

"That's true...we can start after New Chapter Day, maybe by the time the Spring Fairest comes around, we can have enough songs to compete. There's a battle of the bands at that point, we can go head to head with them." Frost said, earning Joey's curiosity.

"A battle of the bands you say? So people just get into bands and play against each other?"

"Yup, Yuletide Bliss won last year. But with Purple Rhapsody being around, everyone is gonna have some stiff competition. We gotta come up with songs that will outsell them, and right now, I doubt that's possible." Pierre said.

"Hmm...this is all so very...interesting. We'll have to work on our image first...they got that whole, steam punk thing going on...we need something like that. Something that'll attract attention." Joey said.

"I agree with you, we'll have plenty of time to come up with it." Frost said, earning nods from everyone. Joey smirked, glancing back to the stage, where his best friend was strumming his guitar like no tomorrow.

" _Looks like the Spring Fairest is going to be the worst event for you my friend. Everything is culminating on that one point, it'll be perfect watching your life slowly derail. This is going to be sweet."_

 _ **xxx**_

"Alright everyone, that concludes our performance for the night. Melody will take over with the music, but now I would like to call Crystal Winter to the stage, along with my awesome sister Raven!" Blake cried out.

Crystal looked relieved as she moved toward the stage, an excited look on her face. Raven trailed after her, a smirk on her face. It was rather obvious that the Snow Princess had feelings for her surrogate brother, but the boy was too dense to notice it. She stood next to Crystal, as Blake handed the microphone to Apple who took his spot on the stage. She gave everyone a wave, along with a heartwarming smile.

"I would like to thank everyone for being here tonight. Purple Rhapsody has outdone themselves as always. It was an honor to be a part of such a wonderful event. As you all know, the first day of Winter is traditionally spellebrated with the Winter Formal. The Snow King and Queen would arrive and help us all welcome the first snowfall of winter. This year however, the Snow King fell ill, and he and his wife were unable to make it. Which is why Crystal Winter, their daughter is here with us tonight." Apple said, handing the microphone to the Snow Princess.

"It's an honor being here everyone. Winter is a magical time of year, we have snow and cold temperatures. For everyone not used to the cold, that means you can huddle by the fire with loved ones, roasting chestnuts and drinking copious amounts of delicious hot chocolate. I'm sort of in the mood for that now, so you better not drink it all Maddie, I'm watching you like a hawk!" the girl said, causing everyone to look at the daughter of the Mad Hatter, who just grinned, ignoring the fact she had a whipped cream mustache on her face.

"Crystal...the snowfall?" Apple said softly.

"Oh right yes...my mother and father love this tradition...it's something that we all take seriously. The first snowfall of winter is always the most magical, because it is the day we welcome winter! We get ready for Christmas four days from now, and to welcome the new year on New Chapter Day. So, it is with great pleasure and honor that I, Crystal Winter, daughter of the Snow Queen welcome Winter to Ever After!" she cried, aiming her wand at the Christmas tree.

Her ice magic swirled around the top of the tree, forming a large snowflake shaped star made entirely of ice. After it had finished forming around the top of the tree, Crystal flicked her wrist, sending another icy blast into the air, forming a large gray cloud. Everyone started clapping and cheering as the first few snowflakes started falling on Ever After High.

"Now, the traditional first dance of Winter! Raffle winners, grab your partners!" Apple happily cried out. Blake walked back down onto the plaza with Raven, giving her a hug as she walked toward Dexter. The boy was flushing brightly, not knowing what to do when the girl approached him. Raven just took a hold of his hand, pulling him along.

"Hi Blake...are you ready to dance?" Ashlynn asked, grabbing his attention.

"Oh...yeah right...I'm super ready. Let's just hope your Glass slippers are slip resistant." he said jokingly, as the music started flowing through the speakers. He gave a subtle nod to Hunter who just gave him a thumbs up as they passed by.

"Don't worry, I'm wearing my winter heels, they have traction on them." she said, making the boy chuckle.

A few minutes after the first dance of Winter, Blake escorted Ashlynn back to Hunter, who had taken a lot of pictures of the two. Ashlynn found it rather embarrassing, but the two boys just laughed it off, bumping fists in a friendly matter. He had told Ashlynn that if it made her feel better, he could let Hunter dance with Cerise so they would be even. She said it was fine, and was whisked away by her boyfriend, who was holding a mistletoe in his hand, in a manner that she didn't see it. It wasn't long before he found himself in front of the food table. It wasn't long before Cerise joined him, tearing into a turkey leg.

"Who knew being in a band could make you so damn hungry?" he said, earning a grunt from the girl. He still wasn't used to her voracious appetite. He heard a plate clattering beside him and turned his head slightly, seeing Ramona grabbing some food for herself. His eyes widened a bit when he saw the food piled on the plate.

"Jesus, that's enough to feed four people. Four turkey legs, half a ham...what the hell is that brown stuff, fried noodles?" he asked.

"Shut up, I'm half wolf. I gotta get it while it's hot, besides my sister eats three times more than I do when she's hungry." she said, pointing to Cerise who had already cleaned her turkey bone, tossing it into the trash. She grabbed a napkin dabbing it gently against her lips.

"That's a bullshit lie, I wasn't the one that ate Granny's pie when she set it out to cool." Cerise said.

"Hey, I'm a Badwolf. Someone sets a pie in a window, it's free pickings for me."

"That's horrible Momo, if you're gonna steal a pie at least bring the tin back so they can make another one." Blake said, scooping some mashed potatoes and gravy into his mouth.

"It was disposable, and Granny had another one in the oven so it didn't matter. I'm gonna go back to my stairwell and scarf this down in peace, feel free to join me if you want."

"It's fine, I'd rather eat in public...I'm not ashamed of being a pig." Blake said, earning a sly smirk from Ramona as she walked off. Cerise sighed, grabbing some more food for herself.

"She forgot to say that she hides from people when she eats because she feels embarrassed. She's really weird about it too, she never eats in public, says people look at her weird when she does."

"Now that you mention it, I've never seen her in the castleteria around lunch time. The only time I saw her eat something was during your birthday party, and that picnic we had a couple weeks ago." he said.

"That's because mom was there to ease her nerves, and because you're practically family. Speaking of that, my grandmother made you something, but she told me not to let you open it until Christmas day."

"Aw...that's so sweet of her, I'm gonna have to get her something too. I've already gotten the Christmas shopping off the list, and hid everything where no one can find it." Blake said happily.

"Oh...that makes me wonder, what did you get me? Any hints?" the hooded girl asked. He was going to say something, but someone else beat him to the punch.

"He got you strawberry flavored condoms, so you can blow him with extra flavor."

"Kitty! What the fuck!" Blake cried out, earning a giggle from the violet haired girl. Cerise flushed as bright as her hood, glancing at the floor.

"The expression on your face was priceless! Oh, you shouldn't set yourself up for it, because I'll take advantage of your innocence. I came to give you this bracelet back." she said, wrapping the golden charm bracelet around his wrist.

"Oh...I completely forgot about that...thank you Kitty."

"No, thank you for making the Winter Formal so awesome. No one ever trusts me with anything, because of my pranky nature. But you trusted me, and that means a lot to me." she said, giving the boy a kiss on the cheek. She flashed away with a giggle before Cerise could say anything.

"I'm gonna get that damn cat back one day." she said, earning a chuckle from Blake.

"Oh, you know she's just trying to rile you up. I like cats, but I like wolves just a little better." he said, kissing her forehead. She flushed brightly, doing nothing to hide her smile.

 _ **xxx(Christmas Eve)xxx**_

Christmas Eve in Ever After was just like in any other place, filled with holiday cheer. Some people had gone home to their families, like the Charming Siblings, who had left the day after the Winter Formal. It was the same for Ashlynn and Briar who bid farewell to Crystal before they left home. Most of the school was empty, save for those students that decided to stick around, or those who didn't have a home to go back too. It was those people that either lived in another realm, or just couldn't do back home due to some circumstances. Blake was one of these people. He was currently walking around the Village of Bookend, just enjoying the cold weather. It had been while since he had just taken a walk by himself, being away from everything.

People were shoveling their entrance ways and driveways. Some greeted him by name, congratulating him for his awesome performance. Some of the children even asked for his autograph, which made him a bit embarrassed. That had stopped after a few minutes, and he just continued his trek through the town, coming to a stop by the edge of the frozen lake. It had been awhile since he had played a game of hockey, the last one being when Crystal first came to Ever After. It was also the last time he and Joey had been friendly to each other. He honestly didn't know what was going on with him. He was starting to worry for his friend, and honestly didn't know what to make of anything. He could try to talk to him, but knowing how Joey acted, he knew it wouldn't go anywhere. He leaned up against a nearby tree, shaking a bit of snow from it, making him shiver as it made contact with his skin. The light crunching of snow filled his ears, and he looked away from the frozen lake, not surprised to see Joey standing next to him. They shared a look, deciding to remain silent.

Often times, Blake wished he had the power to read other people's minds. Just by his posture, he could tell that Joey was a bit tense. Like he was unsure of something. If that meant he was going to apologize or something else, Blake didn't know. But he knew the brown haired young man was there for a reason, he just didn't know what it was. Finally after a few minutes of silence, he saw Joey look away from the lake, a firm look on his face.

"Listen, the last few days have been a little...difficult for me. You're mad at me because I chose to stay in Ever After...I get that. But you have to understand, I didn't have a good life back home."

"You didn't have a good life because you didn't appreciate the little things. Your mother works hard day in and day out, imagine the anguish and turmoil she must be going through, knowing her son is missing. You had the chance to go back home, but you didn't...so no, I can't ever forgive that." Blake said firmly, not taking his eyes away from the lake.

"I get that."

"No you don't. I didn't have a choice to go back like you did...and it hurts that my best friend chose to stay here, knowing that he had a way back. I didn't do it because I had that choice, I stayed because I couldn't go back. I'm happy, that my family forgot me...that way they wouldn't suffer...but while they are blissfully unaware of my existence on Earth, I'm standing here, wishing I could see them again...that I could spend Christmas with them." the black haired teen said, glancing away from the lake.

"Hey, I'm sure they'll remember one day...besides, you have it good here. You just gotta let it go." Joey said, earning a growl from the boy.

"And forget them? Hell no. I will never forget my family, I'm never letting go of them, or Lucy...they're the only thing I have left that reminds me of my old home. I took it all for granted, I get that. I should have spent more time with them, instead of ignoring them all the time. But what could I do? I found out I was adopted when I was ten. How do you think I felt? Looking at the twins and realizing they weren't my sisters?" he asked, bowing his head.

"You're right...I don't know how that feels. But I do know that they at least gave you what you needed to make you happy."

"I didn't want it. I wanted fucking answers, and when I got them I felt fucking empty inside. I regret just ignoring them at every given moment...but I was finally coming around...and then Lucy left. Blow after blow, I just took it. I didn't even care about my schooling, my grades anything. But I was at least looking forward to that trip to Hawaii...I thought it was what we needed to be a family again. I guess I'll never get that vacation. I'm happier now, I think."

"Why wouldn't you be? You got it good here, surrounded by people that like you, a beautiful girlfriend. You have so many good things, at least you don't take it all for granted now." Joey said.

"The moment I stepped through that mirror, was the moment my life ended. Now that I'm in Ever After, I'm going to live my life to the fullest...I'll follow Lucy's advice. You only live once upon a time, I will find my way...craft my own destiny. I will help my friends, find my way to Wonderland, break it's curse, I will do anything and everything to make sure my friends are happy...that's my destiny." he said.

"You're destiny eh...I've been hearing things...about the Storybook of Legends...how exactly do you think it works? If you get a blank page, can you write your name in it?"

"Hell if I know...I've never seen the real Storybook, just the fake one that the Headmaster was keeping. The real book is lost, stolen by the Evil Queen, wouldn't surprise me if it was in the Mirror Realm with her." Blake said, glancing back at the lake.

"I don't think so, you said the Evil Queen stole it right? And she got trapped in the Mirror Realm when she tried taking over Wonderland...so it has to be there, don't you think?" Joey asked, earning a shrug from the boy.

"Following your logic, yes it should be in Wonderland. However the Evil Queen doesn't follow logic, after all she did put three fail safes on me should I try to leave for Earth. The bitch is planning something, and right now I'm nothing more than her pawn. But she forgot an important thing she she turned me into her pawn." he said.

"Oh...and what would that be?" Joey asked curiously, earning a smirk from Blake, who held his hand out. His palm was swirling with magic, taking the form of a chess piece, the Queen.

"A pawn can easily be promoted to a queen. When I get my shot, I'll stop her in her tracks, then it'll be checkmate for me." he said, closing his hand letting the magic fizzle out.

"You need to teach me that...I got my own magic but I can't get a grasp of it." Joey said, earning a frown from Blake.

"Sorry, I can't teach a light magic user how to use their magic. I learned most of this from trial and error and from Raven. You're better off learning magic from someone who can handle light based spells." he said, earning a nod from the boy.

"Anyone you recommend?"

"Uh...I don't really know anyone, ask around...maybe the Headmaster knows a teacher who could help you. That's all I can say." Blake said. Joey frowned, glancing back out at the lake.

"Do you think...maybe you were brought here for a reason? Aside from being the Evil Queen's pawn?"

"I'm not sure, but I'll find that out on my own. How about we start clean from here, no more secrets and no more taunts. I've already said everything I had hidden away...I've got nothing else to hide...I don't want to lose another piece of my old life." he said, turning to leave.

"We start a clean slate if you want, I've got a lot of things I'd like to keep to myself though."

"Fair enough, Merry Christmas Joey."

"Yeah...Merry Christmas Blake." the brown haired boy said, watching the black haired teenager walk away.

" _Heh, who is he fooling? Turning himself into a Queen? Please...he's a pawn, and he's gonna get taken down by the King. This little chess game Ever After has got playing has become interesting. Especially if I'm the one calling the shots."_

 _ **xxx**_

"Hey Blake, are you doing anything right now?" Kitty asked, grabbing the boy's attention.

He was in the castleteria along with the others who hadn't gone home for the holidays. Among them were those who came from Wonderland, who didn't have a place to go back too. Lizzie and Kitty were the only ones still around, since Maddie had gone to spend time with her father, who owned a house in Bookend. Raven had gone back home as well, to spend time with her father the Good King, Apple had left as well though she did look rather disappointed. She said something about her mother having a meeting before she left. So it was just a few students left behind, himself included. He shook his head, stuffing an apple into his pocket, as he normally did.

"I was planning on watching some anime or something. Everyone is gone so I didn't have anything planned. Cerise and Ramona won't be back until tomorrow afternoon, so it's just me and Cadence."

"Would you mind if we joined you? No one should be alone on Christmas...we can't exactly go home at the moment." Lizzie said.

"I don't mind, I've got a few animes we can watch together...seeing as we have the week and the next off, how about we binge one of my favorite series...Pokemon."

"Oh oh, Cerise told me about this one. She said she just started Pokemon Emerald." Kitty said, an excited look on her face.

"Yes she did, she finished playing Crystal a few days ago, and transferred all of her Pokemon to that game. She honestly got addicted to it, I didn't think she'd actually finish the entire Pokedex, seeing as it's almost impossible without the event Pokemon and all that stuff. I have no doubt that she'll complete Emerald too. However, there are currently over 900 episodes, though the Sun and Moon series is incomplete as I did leave before it finished airing." he said.

"Oh my...do you think we could actually watch all of that in two weeks?" Lizzie asked, a worried look on her face.

"If we cut the intros and outtros, skip the credits on the movies, and if we all pee at the same time, yes." Blake said, earning a giggle from Kitty.

"I wouldn't mind peeing in the same bathroom as Blake, it would be interesting. But Cerise would tear me to shreds if she found out."

"Obviously that was a joke Kitty, I doubt we could all actually pee together, that would be weird. Let us go now, no use staying in an empty castleteria." Lizzie said, flicking her hair over her shoulder as she lead the two out of the castleteria.

"So, how are you two doing? It must be hard not being home for Christmas." Blake said, trying to make conversation.

"We're used to it. It'll be our fifth year being here in Ever After, so we've gotten used to not seeing our families." Lizzie replied.

"I can still call my mom. I call it the kitty-line, but there are times she just wants to sleep. I think she misses being part of the story, not that her role has been fulfilled."

"I'm sorry to hear that, you must miss her a lot."

"I do...I may be a rebel, but I want to be like my mom. She's awesome, and comes up with the best pranks in all of Wonderland. I don't care about destiny, I just want to spread chaos all over the place." Kitty said, a grin on her face.

"In other words, you want to come up with the sickest, most brutal prank anyone has ever come up with, in hopes to impress your mother. So you don't have to rely on signing the book...Kitty you are thinking small. Do you guys celebrate April Fools Day here?" he asked.

"April what?" Lizzie replied, giving the boy an odd look. He rolled his eyes.

"Okay then, that answers that. You see, back in my world, pranks are all well and good, but people all have a bad attitude toward them. Except on April 1st. It is known as April Fools Day, a day where anyone anywhere can prank the living shit out of anyone they want, and no one will get mad because it's the international day of pranking. Well, people still get mad, but you know, it's April Fools day." he said.

"You mean in your world, people literally take a calender day for pranks? Oh can we do it here too? I want to prank everyone I meet!" Kitty said, an excited look on her face.

"Sure, I'll help you out too. We'll show that grumpy Cheshire Cat that her daughter is a wonderful prankster. But in return I want to learn that teleporting trick you can do."

"Blake, that type of teleportation is something only the Cheshires can do. It's a type of Wonderland magic tied to their genes." Lizzie said, a frown on her face.

"Yes I know that, and normally Ever Afterlings wouldn't be able to learn Wonderland magic. But I'm not from Ever After, so it's rules don't apply to me...meaning I can learn Wonderland magic." he said.

"That's true...but Wonderland magic is unpredictable...people don't just control it. It can sometimes control you too...although my magic is rather simple in nature, unlike Maddie's who's well...insane. If you get the hang of Wonderland magic, and help me come up with a good prank, then I'll teach you how to teleport...deal?"

"It's a deal Kitty."

"Oh no...I'm not looking forward to this." Lizzie said, a worried look on her face. Blake chuckled, pulling out his keys.

"Don't worry Liz, we aren't going to prank you...you would be expecting it. No one else will however, I did prank my friends back on Earth a few times, so I know my way around a glue gun. It'll take awhile and about a hundred feather pillows, but we should have enough by April Fools Day to work with." he said. Kitty and Lizzie shared a look, the daughter of the Cheshire Cat grinning brightly.

They walked into the dorm, with Kitty quickly claiming Blake's computer chair, much to his disappointment. He grabbed his laptop from his desk, quickly logging into his account. He scrolled through his anime files, quickly finding the Pokemon file, once he had cued up the first episode, which he hadn't seen in around four years, he turned on the projector, jumping back onto his bed.

"Now, in my world this anime aired in 1997, so the quality won't be as crisp as some of the others we have watched. But as we continue into the series, you'll see it steadily getting better." he said.

"How many seasons of this are there?" Lizzie asked curiously, looking up from her cellphone.

"Twenty. The Indigo League is the first season, the Orange Islands is season two, Johto Journeys are season three, Johto League Champions is season four, Pokemon Master Quest is season five, still in Johto mind you. That series was the fucking longest one to date..it annoyed the shit out of me growing up." he said.

"Why? Wasn't exciting?"

"No Kitty, that wasn't it. It was just full of boring filler...it took Ash and his friends twenty episodes to reach Ekruteak City from Goldenrod City, when it was a trip in game that took you a few minutes. The filler was crappy too. That was the ending of the original series. Pokemon Advance starts the Advanced Generation, which consists of Pokemon Advanced, Advanced Challenge, and Advanced Battle. It also contains Pokemon Battle Frontier. After that it's the Diamond and Peal Saga, Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, Battle Dimensions, Galactic Battles and Sinnoh League Victors."

"That's thirteen seasons alone...I take it every one is in a different place right?"

"That's right Lizzie. Each series takes place in a different region...the anime is simple...you travel around a region, defeat eight gym leaders to collect their badges for the Pokemon League tournament, you battle in it, if you win you win if not you move on. You go to another region, rinse and repeat." Blake said.

"Sounds like fun to me, what comes after those first thirteen seasons?" Kitty asked. Blake's face darkened a bit as he glanced at the ground.

"The Black and White saga...god that series fucking pissed me off. It was horrible, the movies were subpar, the plot was shit...and Ash...ugh it was just bullshit. That series consists of Pokemon Black and White, Rival Destinies and the Decolore Islands. Then comes the best series in the Pokemon franchise and my personal favorite, the XY and XYZ saga. I'm sure you'll like that one too." he said, hitting play on the video.

"Oh? If you say it's the best one then that means it's going to be a good time. Is this all in Japanese? I quite like the sound of that language."

"Not the original series. I watched the first thirteen seasons in English, then I watched Seasons 14-19 in Japanese, the English Dub of Pokemon just turned to shit after Sinnoh League Victors. Oh before I forget, I got the two of you something for Christmas." he said, jumping off his bed, walking toward his closet.

"Huh? You got us something? You didn't have too you know." Kitty said, a surprised look on her face.

"Eh, I know I didn't have too. I wanted too...you two, along with Hunter, Ashlynn, Briar, Raven, Maddie, Cerise, my band mates, Duchess...you're all very close to me. It doesn't matter if you two got me something or not, that isn't the point. I just wanted to get you something, as a thank you for being my friends...you two especially. You're not from Ever After, so you know what it's like being unable to go home...it makes me happy that I have someone I can relate to here." he said, handing them two small boxes, wrapped in crimson paper.

"Oh dear, you didn't have to get us anything...being friends is enough in my opinion." Lizzie said, earning a nod from Kitty.

"Yeah, we're happy to be your friends. Like you said, we can relate to you, being stuck here and not being able to go home. There's a difference, one day the curse on Wonderland will be lifted, and even when we can go home, you still won't be able too. Thinking about that, it hurts you know." she said.

"It's fine...I try not to think about it. I figure, even if we do graduate, and Lizzie becomes Queen, and you Kitty, decide do bring chaos and fuck people's shit up, we'll still be best friends. We can all look back and remember the good times we had in high school. You can open them if you want...actually, I want you to open them. That way, I can see your smiles!" he said, standing before the two, hands behind his back. The two girls shared a look, carefully opening their gifts.

"It better not be something expensive Blake, I mean it." Lizzie said, earning a chuckle from the boy.

"Then you'll have to forgive me. I saw this and I just had to get it, same goes for you Kitty." he said. The two girls finally pulled the boxes from inside, seeing that they were similar in shape and color. They opened them, both gasping at the same time.

Blake had gotten the two girls custom made pendants. Lizzie was in the shape of a heart, made out of white gold. The outer edges were lined with small diamonds, a small pyrope garnet hung in the center, shaped like a tear drop. Kitty's pendant was in the shape of a crescent moon, dotted with small violet amethyst crystals. Sitting on the moon was a golden cat, reaching up to a small heart shaped ball, which happened to be a bright green emerald. Both necklaces were gold, and looked like they cost quite a lot of money.

"Blake we can't accept these...I mean, look at this. It looks like it cost a thousand, easily." Lizzie said.

"One thousand, two hundred and forty two actually, Kitty's was two thousand, four-hundred." the boy admitted.

"How did you get all of that money? Does working at Spells Kitchen pay that well?"

"No...well yes I get paid well. I just saved up my money from helping Ashlynn and from working at Spells Kitchen...I saved up quite a lot of money actually. Before you ask, yes I got all of my friends something, no I didn't buy anything for myself, I didn't need too." he said.

"How can you be so selfless, so giving? Ever since you've been in this world you've been nothing but kind to everyone. Even that douche bag Henry...how can you be like this?" Lizzie asked, earning a sad smile from the boy.

"Well...the reason why is because I'm adopted. My family back home...isn't my family. They adopted me when I was an infant, and always gave me what I wanted, even if I didn't ask for it. I took it all for granted, so when I cast away my old life, I vowed to somehow repay them for giving me everything I had. So I'll do the same for my friends, because I know that I can share my happiness instead of horde it all for myself." he said.

"Bless your soul! We don't deserve your kindness!" Kitty said, jumping to her feet, hugging the boy tightly. He chuckled, hugging the girl back.

"I'm glad you like it Kitty. Do you know why I got those stones on them?"

"I would, this is quite a pretty garnet." Lizzie said, glancing at her pendant.

"Yes, the reason I got those two particular stones is because in my world, every month has a birthstone. I was born September 16th, so my stone is a sapphire. Kitty, you were born May 26th, your stone is an emerald. It carries the brightness of Spring, and they're usually given to people as a sign of loyalty and trust. Similarly, Lizzie was born on January 18th, her stone is the garnet. It also stands for loyalty and trust. I trust the two of you, so that's why I wanted you to have these."

"Well, I can certainly say you do your research. This is a wonderful gift Blake, thank you...for everything." Lizzie said, a smile on her face. Blake took a hold of Kitty's pendant, helping her put it on.

"There you are, looks just how I imagined it...let's watch this show now, Ash has been waiting to start his journey for awhile now." he said jokingly, unpausing their anime.

 _ **xxx**_

It had been a bit awkward when Cerise texted him in the middle of the night. He was sure she was going to come back by the next day, but she had told him to go to the back courtyard and wait for her in front of the Christmas tree. Kitty had been the only one awake at that point, as Lizzie had taken his bed, glaring at the two and telling them that if she was woken up she would decapitate them. Blake didn't really mind, since he had made a nest of blankets on the floor anyway, and Kitty had still refused to give him his chair back. So, he put on his winter clothes, not bothering to zip up his jacket. He grabbed Cerise's gift from his closet and left Lizzie and Cadence in Kitty's care. She was currently watching the First Pokemon movie, having stopped watching the anime after thirty episodes. She didn't want to get too far ahead with Lizzie, so she had put on the movie instead. Blake quietly made his way through the empty halls of Ever After, greeting the janitors and few teachers still in the building. Making his way to the back plaza, he stood in front of the large Christmas tree, looking at the ice star Crystal had adorned the tree with. He hadn't been able to give the girl her gift before she left. She seemed rather sad too, and wouldn't stop hugging the boy, something that made Cerise quite annoyed.

He heard a light flurry behind him and turned around, seeing Cerise behind him. She was panting a bit, having most likely run all the way to the school. Judging by the slide marks in the snow, she must have been running quite fast. He didn't see Ramona anywhere, so it was safe to assume that she had been on her own. She brushed some snow off her shoulders as she walked toward the boy.

"Hi, I hope you weren't sleeping or anything."

"I wasn't...I was watching Pokemon with Kitty and Lizzie. One of them already crashed, bet you can't guess who." he said, earning an eye roll to the girl. She leaned up, kissing the boy on the lips, wrapping her arms around his neck. They broke apart for air, hugging each other tightly.

"Merry Christmas honey, I missed you." she said softly.

"I missed you more. It was boring without Raven and Hunter and everyone else here...at least I had Kitty and Lizzie for company. How was family dinner?"

"Mom was hoping you would show up, but I told her that it was a family thing and you didn't want to intrude. It would have been better, dad would have probably hounded you. Ramona told everyone the story of the flower and how you killed that goblin, so he was impressed." she replied, stepping back from the boy. A cold breeze kicked up, and she grabbed a hold of her hood so it wouldn't blow off.

"That's good, last thing I want is daddy dearest thinking I'm a weakling that can't defend his daughter. I got you something by the way, figured you'd want to open it now." he said, pulling the small gift box from inside his jacket sleeve.

"You didn't have to you know."

"You're my girlfriend, so yes I sort of had to." he said, kissing her cheek. She smiled, quickly tearing the paper off, stuffing it in her pocket. She opened the black box, eyes widening slightly.

"You got me a bracelet?" she asked.

"Yup, a charm bracelet. That way you can put all of the charms you want on it, I got the idea from Lucy's...I've added a few to it since I arrived here. I already got you six charms, a wolf, a heart, a pair of drum sticks, a flower, a turkey leg and the winding key for the mechanical heart." he said, taking a hold of the bracelet, wrapping it around her left wrist. She looked at it, a smile on her face.

"I love it...although you could have done without the turkey leg." she said, pouting a bit.

"But you love turkey, and I love that cute look on your face too." he said, giving her another kiss on the lips. She pulled away from him, opening her picnic basket.

"Well, I got you something too. Two somethings in fact, my grandmother couldn't wrap this gift." she said, pulling out a long crimson hood from within.

"Whoa, she made me a hood?"

"A hooded cloak, and yes she did. She saw how you kept looking at my mom's hood, so she figured you wanted one. She even made a wolf design on it." she said, flipping it over.

Much like her own, it had a forest theme to it, only the white trees were made in such a way that it made a wolf's head, howling at the moon. He quickly took his jacket off, handing it to Cerise as he took the cloak from her, placing it on around his shoulders, making sure it was snug on his shoulders. It fell down to just past his waist, and was a soft violet color on the inside. It was also surprisingly warm too. He was used to the cold, so he knew he wouldn't need his jacket.

"Oh my god, I love it! This is so freaking cool!" he said, putting his hood up. Cerise giggled happily, shaking her head.

"I'll let her know, she had a feeling you'd love it anyway. Anyway, here's my gift too you. I hope you like it." she said, handing him a small box.

He tore into the decorative paper, making sure not to tear it too much. He opened the box a second later, eyes widening a bit. Inside was a golden pocket watch, with a lengthy golden chain attached to the top, having a few charms on it. The lid had various engraved designs on it, the picture on the center was of a cloudless sky. He pressed the side button, opening the watch, seeing a small picture inside, of him and Cerise, smiling happily.

"Um...do you like it?"

"I fucking love it! And I love you, this is an awesome gift...I guess I'll have to add a vest to my everyday outfit so I can show it off." he said, closing the watch.

"I'm glad...I figured it would be better than that wrist watch you have now. You kept saying how it didn't work and it was always a few minutes late. I also wanted you to have something with both of us on it, just in case we can't be together." she said. He wrapped his arm around her waist, glancing up at the tree.

"This is my first Christmas away from my family...I honestly thought I was going to be sad. But I was worried for nothing, because I'm surrounded by amazing people. I love you Cerise, I truly do...I know we haven't been dating for long, but I really hope we can have a strong beautiful relationship."

"Me too...I want what Ash and Hunter have...I want to have what my mom and dad have. They have to hide it, and it's bullshit...but even then, they're in love and that's what matters. I'm not supposed to tell anyone this but...my mom is pregnant."

"What? Are you serious?" he asked, earning a nod from the girl.

"We found out today, me and Ramona are gonna have a little brother or sister. I want you to be there for when he or she is born...it would mean a lot to me if you were. Even if we for some reason break up in the future, or something happens...promise me you'll be there."

"I will, I'll definitely be there. Ruby has been an awesome mom to me in the past few weeks, and it wouldn't be right to skip out on that. It's gonna be so cool, then I can tell him or her what an awesome older sister they have." he said, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"Maybe in the future, you and I can have our own."

"Huh?"

Cerise giggled, giving the boy a kiss.


	36. Pet Sitter Blake

**A/N:**

 **Hey guys, welcome to Chapter 36 of Through the Looking Glass...this is going to be the last chapter of the year, as I am building up my collection. Right now I only have two chapters ready to be posted so I want to get a few more chapters ready before I get my posting schedule back on track. Right now I am working on this filler arc. It isn't gonna be one of those filler arcs that are unimportant, this filler is actually going very very important, especially to build up Joey's character. As you all know, Joey is our next antagonist, but I gotta build him up, show just how sneaky he truly is. Blake is a very trusting person, so he will sadly trust Joey but you all get to see how that trust slowly starts diminishing until there is no trust. By this time, Spring Unsprung will already start and his final phase will begin.**

 **You all have been wondering just what will happen, and I will not say, you'll have to wait and read...but by around chapter 45 or so you'll all get to see the extent of everything. This filler arc is mostly just setting up for that. The aftermath of Joey's plan is going to be something hard to write about, and will lead us into another filler arc before The Blue Moon Forest Fest arc. Hopefully you all don't tear me a new one after you get through Spring Unsprung, but I assure you everything will be resolved by Way too Wonderland. The real shit starts happening during the Dragon Games, where Blake finally gets the answers he will start seeking. Does that mean he'll finally get his mirror shard removed? Maybe...you'll have to wait and see.**

 **So for now, enjoy this filler arc, as it will contain important stuff. You'll also get to see a lot of fluff between Cerise and Blake so do enjoy that. This chapter is one that I was planning to write for awhile, since I wanted to include the pets in some way shape or phone. I just found out when I was writing this chapter that Ashlynn has a pet Phoenix named Sandella, who knew right? Definitely not me. But hey, It's really cool to have a pet Phoenix, makes me wonder how she got it. I did find out it was a Legacy year gift, but still a phoenix?**

 **Remember to review, favorite and follow my profile...this year has been...very stressful in more ways than one...but it was also one of the best years for me when it came to writing. I finally got around to continuing Fairy Tail, I got really far into my version of Danganronpa and I got to watch some really good animes and new series, including Ever After High...Honestly, I thought it was going to be stupid, but I grew up with Disney Fairytales so this was a really good series for me. It's a shame that it got canceled, but I guess Monster High is more popular, except with me...I didn't really like that series, I couldn't get into it like I did with Ever After High. I hope to continue writing brand new stories in brand new series, it doesn't matter if they are childish or not...hell I was considering doing an Equestria Girls story cross over with Ever After High, but I never got around to coming up with a plot. I was even thinking of crossing it over with my Hyperdimension Neptunia story, but again I didn't have a plot for that. Hey, I'll most likely figure it out. So if I do and I write that stuff, I hope you all will enjoy it.**

 **Happy New Year to you all...don't become a victim of that New Year New Me bullshit, don't let Memes be Dreams, don't drink and drive, get high and fly, cocaine is bad, don't trust elves, make sure your cats are fed and as always...have a good one!**

Ever After High

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 36

Pet Sitter Blake

It had been a month since Christmas, and Ever After High was back to its normal routine. After the holiday break, the students returned and had a New Chapter Day party to celebrate the incoming year. They had also started getting ready for the midterms that would be taking place on the last week of January. While no one was looking forward to them, they all knew that they were very important tests. Even though everyone was studying hard, there were still some students out there who thought their time was better spent pranking people. Of course this young woman was never caught, so trying to stop her was futile and thus people had left her alone. It would be worth it if they used whatever time they had left to study rather than waste it chasing the daughter of the Cheshire Cat, all of them vowed revenge on her however.

Blake was among the students who had finished their studies early. It wasn't hard to cover everything he had learned when he had all of his perfect notes. He didn't need help on Riddlish or Wonderland History, as those were his strongest subjects. Muse-ic was also one of his stronger subjects, along with Crownculous. He did hear however that those that failed Science and Sorcery had to spin gold for Professor Rumpelstiltskin for an entire month until they had studied enough for the retake. That's why he had borrowed her notes on the subject and crammed everything he could into his mind. He was safe at least, but every night he grabbed his S&S book and started reading it cover to cover, sacrificing precious sleep to do it. He was currently in the Grimmnasium during one of his free periods. Coach Gingerbreadman had taken one of his classes outside for a fitness test. Some of the snow had partially melted but it was still bitterly cold, to some at least. He had set up a few dummies so he could practice for his Sword Training exam. Daring had told him that the exam would be held in full armor, and you would be put through an actual rescue mission. He was confident in his abilities, but a little practice never hurt anyone.

He had changed his attire a bit for the new season. He was wearing a long sleeved white shirt, with a black tee shirt over it, which had a howling wolf on it. He was wearing a black suit vest over his shirt, leaving the top two buttons unbuttoned. He was wearing a pair of dark blue jeans, stuffed into his furry winter boots. Attached to his belt loop was the golden chain belonging to his pocket watch, which hung across his lower abdomen, the watch being tucked into his pocket. The small charms attached to the chain hung down on the chair, glittering in the low lighting. He was wearing the cloak Cerise's grandmother had made for him, in fact he hadn't stopped wearing it since he got it. He had even stopped wearing his jacket so he could wear it. His hair was almost was long as it had been when he had arrived in Ever After, giving him a bit of a punkish look, especially with the purple streak running through it. Poppy had wanted to give him another hair cut, but he said he wanted to keep it the same for now.

He was currently jabbing and slashing at the practice dummy. He had been using a dull sword to train, as the sword was the same weight of a real one. Professor Knight had told him that it would take some time to get him a real katana, so for now he had to deal with the long swords they had. It wasn't a hard transition for the boy, he had actually been glad to learn how to use two different weapons. After all, a hero couldn't depend just on his sword skills, but on his wit and his fighting skills. He had been training himself in the school's weight room whenever he had the time. He didn't want to lose his stamina or the muscle mass he had built up while in Ever After. Combine that with his magic skills, and he was a deadly force. He doubted even Henry had what it took to defeat him now. He frowned a bit, remembering the Prince of the Southern Isles. He had gotten an email from Crystal a few days back, telling him he was on trial for what he did in Ever After. Jack had been called as a witness as well, which worried him a bit. Thankfully, they hadn't called him, Lizzie or Kitty to testify, Jack's testimony was more than enough.

He threw another jab at the dummy's chest, knocking it down from the sheer force behind it. He sighed as he walked over to it, grabbing a hold of the hilt, pulling the sword free from the dummy. He slipped the sword into it's scabbard which he had attached to his right hip. He leaned down to grab the dummy from the ground, standing it back up. The Grimmnasium was empty, save for the dummies placed all over the place. The other people in his class had set them up, since their normal practice field was covered in ice. They had a few lessons outside in the snow, to learn about fighting in weather conditions. It had been a bit challenging, especially when he had been randomly picked by Professor Knight to fight Legend. It hadn't been a fun time, especially in the middle of a snowstorm. He had slipped a few times, but he had still been able to _defeat_ the evil dragon. Legend was just happy to finally be able to take a nap. He stood the nearby dummy up, walking back toward the bleachers where he had put his new messenger bag. He sat down on one of the seats, looking at his phone. He didn't even notice Darling walking into the Grimmnasium, a bored look on her face. Her eyes lit up when she saw all of the dummies. She also noticed one of her friends sitting at the bleachers.

"Hey Blake, what are you doing here all alone?"

"Oh, hi Darling. I'm just practicing for my Sword Training test, thought I could get some last minute swings in. The dummies didn't know what hit them." he said jokingly.

"Really? I can tell just by the tone of your voice that you are totally bored."

"That tends to happen when you have no one to practice with. Hey, aren't you supposed to be in Damsel-in-Distressing right now?"

"Uh...I took a bathroom break."

"All the way in the Grimmnasium?" he asked, brow raised in curiosity. She sighed, taking a seat next to him.

"Alright, don't tell anyone this...but I told my teachers I was sick so I could get the day off. My father will kill me if he finds out I'm not sick...I just couldn't bring myself to go to class. They're all so prissy...Princessology teaches you how to smile like a princess. Princess Sociology teaches you how to behave like a princess in front of company. Kingdom Management teaches you how to manage a kingdom, and Damsel-in-Distressing...ugh...it's all so suffocating! I want adventure, I want sword fighting! I want to teach everyone that a woman can do the same stuff a man can do!"

"Well...why don't you tell your friends about this?" Blake asked, earning a wide eyed look from the girl.

"My friends? They wouldn't understand...they would just think I'm weird. Not to mention crazy for wanting to give up Damsel-in-Distressing for Sword Training." she said.

"See, this is something that annoys the shit out of me. I've been in this world for awhile now, and I've learned quite a lot about all of your stories. But honestly, I think people should do what they want. You're a rebel, you've got no story of your own, so that means you should be free to choose right? Who cares what people think?" he said, earning a sigh from the girl.

"If only it were that easy. If I wasn't a Charming, I would...I wouldn't even bother saying anything. But my father wants me to be proper princess, to behave like a young woman. Once I graduate high school I have to manage part of the kingdom, find a suitor, produce an heir...it's all so aggravating...its times like these that I just want to run away." she said, placing her head in her hand, a frown on her face. Blake set his phone down, standing up from his seat, walking over to the rack filled with swords. He grabbed one from the rack and tossed it to Darling, who caught it with ease.

"I'll take your mind away from the bullshit. I need a sparring partner and you need to forget about your life for awhile. So how about it?" he asked. Darling nodded, strapping the sword to her left waist. She grabbed a nearby chest plate, putting it on for protection. She took a hold of her sword, her manicured fingers wrapped around the hilt, drawing it from it's sheath.

"It's been awhile since I held a steel sword...don't go easy on me."

"Wouldn't dream of it." he said, drawing his own sword.

They stood still for a few seconds, neither moving a single inch. Darling was holding her sword up level with her shoulder. She was trying to see what Blake would do. His stance was a bit more relaxed, one that she hadn't seen before. His sword was extended outward, instead of being used to guard him. She had heard from her brother that the black haired boy refused to use a shield, saying it would slow him down. He also used light armor instead of the heavy armor that most students decided to wear. To date, he hadn't been hit a single time, his reaction was too fast for him to even be hit. He moved his leg slightly, causing the blonde to spring forward, swinging her sword in a wide arc.

Blake's arm barely moved as he turned his sword, deflecting her slash. He easily pushed her back, throwing a jab at her chest, which she easily blocked. She quickly caught herself, aiming another slash at the boy who once again blocked it with ease. He pushed her back, making her stumble a bit. He threw a heavy slash at her, which she barely blocked, the shock wave moved through the blade into her arms, making her cringe a bit. She backed up a bit, grabbing a nearby shield, slipping her arm through it.

"Extra defense? That's fine by me." Blake said, reaching for another sword, causing her to go wide eyed.

"Two swords? You would sacrifice defense for offense?"

"Well, I learned from watching a lot of anime, that sometimes a good defense is to have good offense. My sword is my shield and my weapon as well...so come at me." he said, lowering himself a bit, keeping both swords raised. Darling figured he must have been very strong to be able to wield two swords without strain.

Darling dashed forward, aiming a jab at the boy, who easily deflected it with one of his swords. He threw a slash at her chest, which had been deflected by her shield. He side stepped, aiming a jab at her, sparks flew from the contact between their swords. He spun on his heel, using his momentum for a heavy swing, which made Darling cry from the force behind it. A loud clang echoed through the Grimmnasium, adding to the many clashes between their blades. Blake smirked as he dashed forward, aiming a downward slash at the blonde, who quickly rose her shield above her head to defend against it. He pulled his second sword back, throwing a light jab at her chest, wedging the blade right between the armor plates.

"Checkmate." he said, pulling the blade free.

"Oh man...I totally forgot about the second sword...alright I see what you mean. Sometimes defense can be your downfall." Darling said, a frown on her face.

"Hey, I just got lucky...wanna go again? I can ditch the extra sword." he said, placing his second sword back on the rack.

"Sure, it's been awhile since I've had this much fun. I don't even care that I'm all sweaty either!" she said happily, sweeping her hair behind her should, causing time around them to slow down a bit. Blake blinked a few times, shaking his head.

"Alright, don't do that...I'm still not used to it." he said, earning a giggle from the girl.

"Sorry, okay enough dillydallying...this time I'm going to beat you."

"In your dreams Charming, I whopped both your brothers butts, and I'll do the same to you!" Blake said happily, dashing at the girl with a raised sword. She met his swing with one of her own, sending sparks all over the place.

 _ **xxx**_

Blake was honestly happy hot showers existed. He always felt the most relaxed after taking one, it allowed him to unwind and loosen up his muscles after training. He and Darling had gone at it for quite awhile, neither relenting in their assault. He had to admit, she was very well trained with a sword, it was even more surprising when he found out it was all self taught. She had the makings for a warrior princess, or a Valkyrie how he had come to know them. Ever After was a bit hardset on certain traditions so he didn't know if Valkyries even existed in this world. The blonde girl however wanted to learn all she could on the subject and had asked him to meet her at the library when he had the time. He figured after Midterms were over he could take some time to teach her about his world. Maybe he could ask Jessica for some books from his world, ones that didn't have the messed up history she had created.

After getting dressed in his normal attire, minus the boots of course, Blake decided it was time to study for Science and Sorcery again. So he grabbed his text book and his notebook and get ready to once again start cramming the information he needed into his subconscious. He really wasn't looking forward to failing this test, the last thing he needed was to spin gold for a week straight for that man. He heard a low whimper beside him and glanced at the ground, seeing his pet dragon pawing at the rug. It was obvious she wanted to play, but he didn't have the time. He frowned, closing his book.

"Sorry Cadence, I can't play right now. I have to study for this test, or else I'll fail...and that won't be fun." he said.

She yipped a few times, jumping into his lap, causing him to groan from her weight. It was then that he noticed just how big she had gotten in the last few weeks. She had gone from the size of a small house cat to the size of an adult wolf in a matter of weeks. Wouldn't be long until she entered the late infancy stage before growing into a teenager, as he liked to call it. Raven had told him Nightmare, her pet dragon was currently in that stage, and she hadn't grown much since she had hatched her five years ago. Apparently she would stay like that for a few years before slowly starting to mature. Cadence grabbed a hold of his hand and started suckling on one of his fingers, unknowingly biting into it.

"Ow...Cadence! I've told you not to bite me like that!" he cried, pulling his finger out of the dragon's mouth.

It had been the fifth time since she had started teething. Ramona had told him to give her crystals but every time he got her one she would just chew threw it. There was only one crystal that she wouldn't be able to eat, a diamond and he wasn't going hunting for one. He grabbed an alcohol swab and disinfected the small cut, tossing it in the trash. He sighed, standing up from his eat, walking over to his fridge, grabbing a small bowl he had tucked into the freezer. He pulled out an ice crystal from inside, holding it up for the dragon.

"Alright girl, you want a treat? You can have this ice crystal if you promise to let me study. We can go for a walk after I'm done, alright?" he asked. Cadence yipped happily, jumping into the air, using her wings to get a bit of lift. She snagged the crystal out of his hand, landing right into her noticeably small bed. He made a mental note to grab another one while he was in town. Sighing to himself, he grabbed his book, ready to study once more.

"Alright then, the periodic table of magical elements is what makes Sorcery possible. Such elements include Pixie Dust, Unicorn tears, Troll saliva, ew, and various others...god this is boring as shit." he muttered to himself, eyes tracing his notes.

He heard a knock on the door, making him frown. He closed his book, glancing at Cadence who was still happily biting her crystal. Hopefully it lasted long enough for him to at least get through the first ten chapters of his study session. He opened the door, surprised to see Duchess standing on the other side. She gave him a smile, eyes fluttering a few times.

"Blake, would you mind doing your best friend forever after a huge favor?"

"I'm not getting Sparkles to poke Ramona in the ass. While I do disagree that her knocking you into the mud was messed up, that doesn't mean you should stoop to her level." he said firmly. She sighed, shaking her head.

"It isn't that, I already got plans to get her back. I'm gonna be visiting my grandma for the weekend and I won't have anyone to take care of Pirouette. Normally she'd be in the lake, but it's winter so I'm not letting her stay out. Can you watch her for me?" she asked, holding the swan out to the boy.

"Um...okay I guess?" he said.

"Oh thank you! She doesn't take up much space, in fact she'll probably sleep next to you in the bed, and she makes a good alarm clock. She likes to take her baths at night so just fill the tub and put this special soap in it. Here's a bit of her food, don't let her eat too much okay?" she asked, hanging him several things at once.

"Okay, put the soap in the water, don't have her eat too much food, I think I got it." he replied. Duchess gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"You're a life saver, I'll bring you some souvenirs from my home, see you on Monday." she said, hurriedly taking off. He frowned, closing the door after himself, walking toward his desk, setting everything Duchess had handed him on it.

"Um...Pirouette, you can just...make yourself at home." he said, glancing at the Trumpeter swan. She let out a few loud honks before flying toward his bed, making itself comfortable on his pillow. He rolled his eyes, retaking his seat at his desk, opening his book.

"Okay, chapter one...the history of Pixie Dust. Pixie Dust comes in many varieties, the most common being the golden dust we are all used to seeing. It originates from a special tree located in Pixie Hollow, found in Neverland. Several fairies have planted Pixie Dust trees around Ever After, to keep a constant flow of Dust for the fairies that live here. They are all managed by the Fairy Queen...ugh this is so damn boring." he muttered. He glanced to his right, seeing his Xbox controller on his desk. He glanced around the room, Cadence was still eating her crystal and Pirouette was preening herself, so he had nothing to worry about. He turned on his television, pressing the home button on his controller.

"Maybe a few rounds of Left4Dead will do me some good." he said, quickly turning on the right channel, watching the Xbox logo contently. The game booted up automatically, the sharp bass flowing through his sound system.

It wasn't long before he was playing one of his favorite games ever. He had been playing on Expert mode, trying his hardest not to die before getting to the gunstore in the first campaign. He and Lucy had done it once before, but playing the game alone on Expert was rather challenging. He was almost tempted to play the computer version, since that was the one that had all of his modded maps and weapons, but he was honestly too lazy to do it at the moment. He grit his teeth as his character ran forward, trying to avoid a Tank.

"Come on Nick you gambling fuck, run your skinny ass away. You got a shotgun fucking reload!" he shouted angrily, mashing B as hard as he could.

His character cocked the gun and he quickly took aim at the Tank, only for him to be punched across the screen. He started mashing A to quicken his running, spinning around to shoot the remaining ammo at the giant zombie. His shotgun ran out and he was down to dual pistols, which he had forgotten to reload. He shouted angrily as the Tank incapacitated him, losing the round just as the gunstore game to view.

"Shit, fuck! What the fuck?!" he shouted, having jumped to his feet, squeezing the controller as hard as he could. He took a deep breath, setting his controller down, just as he heard a knock on the door.

" _Great, someone must have heard me screaming like a retard. I gotta go tell them I was playing a damn game."_ he thought to himself, walking toward the door. He was of course not surprised to see Maddie and Kitty standing outside the door, both of them having smiles on their faces.

"Howdy Blake, we heard you screaming obscenities and couldn't help but stop to check in. Are you playing that zombie game again?" Maddie asked.

"Yes, and it's kicking my ass...sorry for worrying you."

"We aren't here to check on you. We're here for a favor, we heard from Duchess that you were taking care of Pirouette. Lizzie, Maddie and I are all hosting a Wonderland only tea party, and were wondering if you could take care of our pets for us." Kitty said, making the boy blink in confusion.

"What? A Wonderland only party...but you're the only ones from Wonderland here, so it's just a party of three?" he asked.

"Well, we would invite you, but you already agreed to take care of our pets, so you can't come." Maddie said.

"Huh? When did I agree to that? I didn't say yes."

"But you didn't say no, so we'll take that as a yes." the daughter of the Mad Hatter said, placing Earl Grey in his hands. Kitty did the same, allowing her pet Carolloo to inch his way onto his arm.

"We'll be back by eight, thanks Blake!" she said, flashing away with a grin on her face. Maddie shrugged and just walked off, or skipped off as she normally did. Blake closed the door to his dorm, walking back to his seat.

"I gotta stop trusting these Wonderland folks, they're gonna be the end of me." he said. Earl Grey scurried into a nearby tea cup, chirping happily before curling into a small ball. As he grabbed his controller, he felt something climbing up his pant leg, looking down, he noticed Lizzie's pet hedgehog Shuffle had made himself comfortable on his lap. He shook his head, going back to his game.

A couple hours and some more sessions of Left4Dead later, Blake was back to his studying. He had already fed Pirouette, made some tea for Earl Grey, let Carolloo eat some leaves from a plant he had in his room and had given Shuffle a bath. He was sure Lizzie wouldn't have asked him too, but he did it anyway to be nice, and the hedgehog wasn't complaining. Blake had gotten a good chunk of the way through his studying, having reviewed most of his notes twice just to be safe. He was about to write something when another knock filled his ears, making him snap his lead. He sighed, pulling his pocket watch from his pocket.

"Three in the afternoon, who the hell could that be?" he muttered dryly. He opened the door, a bored look on his face as he greeted Apple White. He also noticed the brown leash in her hand, and following it, saw the small white fox on the other end of it. It was honestly the cutest thing he had ever seen, but seeing it also meant one thing. He glanced back at the blue eyed girl, taking a hold of the leash in her hand.

"Just give me the instructions and I'll take care of her." he said.

"Okay, she likes being being played with, usually with this rope toy. You also need to brush her fur every two hours. I should be back before ten tonight, so it shouldn't be too long. Oh, here's her food and treats." she said, handing the boy a small bag.

"Anything else?" he asked curiously, making sure everything was inside, including a golden hair brush.

"No, that's it. Gala is very playful and she gets along with anyone, I've raised her well." she said happily. He gave her a nod, glancing at her purse, which was open. He noticed the stem of an apple, and reached his hand inside, snagging it from within.

"I'm confiscating this as payment...I haven't eaten one since this morning." he said.

"Aw come on, that was my snack!"

"Bye Apple, see you later." he said with a laugh, taking a bite from the apple as he slowly closed the door.

He heard the girl huff on the other side before walking off. He took the leash from Gala's collar and rolled it up, walking back to his seat, only to see Shuffle and Pirouette had taken it as their bed. He sighed, sitting at the edge of his bed, taking another bite from his apple. Gala jumped onto his lap, resting her head on it as he started petting her.

"Never thought I would be petting an Arctic fox in my entire life. This is pretty cool." he said. It wasn't long before another knock filled his ears, and he was honestly growing tired. This time however, the door opened, a familiar red hood filling his view.

"Hey honey, I hope I'm not bothering you."

"You aren't...I'm trying to study but for some reason or another, everyone is forking their pets over to me. Not that it bothers me." he said. She gave him a grin, which honestly didn't make him feel any better. Carmine shot into the room jumping onto his bed, scaring Gala off his lap.

"Mind taking care of Carmine for me? Okay, thanks!" she said, closing the door right after.

"Goddamn it woman! You didn't give me a chance to reply!" he cried angrily. Gala started growling at Carmine who growled back for a second before licking her snout, causing her to turn away clearly disgusted.

He knew his girlfriend's pet wolf was quite playful, but it was also a mischievous creature. The last time he had taken care of him, he and Cadence had gotten into quite a lot of trouble. The brown wolf moved toward Cadence who quickly greeted him, the two started running around the room, making Blake close his eyes in annoyance. Loud barks and yips filled the room, the silence and serenity leaving. Pirouette, who had been sleeping, had woken up and started hoking rather loudly, causing the boy to block his ears.

"Alright enough! Everyone stop!" Blake cried, causing all of the animals to stop, looking up at him.

"Now sit!" he said firmly, everyone but Carmine sat down, but a quick glare from the boy made him sit down instantly. He took a deep breath, closing his eyes.

"All of your owners have left you in my care. I don't want any of you to get hurt while you are here, so there will be no running. You will not tear into anything, you will not eat anything other than your own food. The bathroom door is open, if you have to go, go in there. Now I have to study for Midterms, so please stay quiet." he said firmly.

Thankfully, his voice had been firm enough to get the point across. He grabbed his book once more, deciding to pick up where he had left off. He glanced at the time on his watch, seeing it was nearly four in the afternoon. He would finish reading chapters nine and ten and would start brushing Gala's fur.

 _ **xxx**_

It was during dinner time when Blake heard another series of knocks on his door. He was honestly hoping it was someone wanting to pick their pet back up, but that hadn't been the case. Hunter and Ashlynn had come by to drop their pets off as well, having heard about his little pet sitting service. He didn't exactly call it a service, more of a favor between friends. So that was how he got stuck watching Pesky the Squirrel and Sandella the Phoenix, he almost lost his shit when the orange bird flew onto his shoulder. He hadn't been expecting them to exist, but he figured if dragons were real, then Phoenix were real too. By this point, he had given up on studying, and had started watching all of the pets he had taken under his care to make sure nothing happened to them. Pesky of course kept throwing acorns at the others, laughing in their faces whenever they tried and failed to catch them. Cadence had been able to turn the acorns to crystal before they hit her, and had started eating them, much to his annoyance.

He had just finished brushing Gala's fur and cleaning the brush off when he heard another knock. At this point he was about to just put a damn sign on the door that told everyone to just walk in. He tossed the white fur into the trash, allowing Gala to nestle into his bedsheets as he walked over to the door. Sandella who had been perched on his chandelier flew down and landed on his shoulder, just as he opened the door. He wasn't surprised when he saw Briar on the other side of the door, he was surprised when he saw the white Unicorn that stood by her. He took a hold of the reigns, shaking his head.

"Can't you people get yourselves a freaking dog or something? A unicorn? Does one of you have a bear?" he asked.

"Actually I do, would you mind?" Blondie said, appearing next to Briar holding her pet bear cub Grizz. Blake sighed, taking a hold of the bear cub in his arms.

"I'm not doing this for free you two. Briar fork over the Hocus Latte frequent visitor card, and Blondie I want that magic bobby pin of yours." he said.

"Aw really? I was about to buy a latte before I left. Come on Blake, I need my coffee!" Briar said.

"Fine, but I want that card tomorrow morning. I'm gonna need all that coffee for the study session that I didn't get to do today." he said.

"You know, you didn't have to take care of all these pets, I'm sure everyone would have been alright if you said no." Blondie said, handing him one of her enchanted bobby pin. She had told him once that it was enchanted so she could pick any lock she wanted with ease. Of course she was naturally good with a regular pin.

"Yes I know, but I wanted to take care of these pets. Whatever it takes to make your lives easier right? It's what friends are for, now go on...do what you gotta do." he said, pinning his new bobby pin to his watch chain.

"Thanks Blake, you're a life saver." Briar said, giving him a kiss on the cheek. The boy smiled watching the two girls walk off, most likely to do whatever it was that they did on Friday afternoons. He walked into the room, leading Divacorn and Grizz into his room, which looked almost like a petting zoo now.

"Alright then, Unicorn check, Grizzly bear check...this is turning into an odd day." he said, setting Grizz on the floor. He glanced at his watch, seeing it was just past six. He hadn't eaten anything since the apple, so he decided it was time to make some dinner for himself, or rather toss something in the microwave.

He heard some cries behind noticed Pesky was throwing acorns at Gala, who had been trying to sleep. Carmine and Cadence where playing tug of war with one of Blake's discarded socks, both of their growls filled the room. Earl Grey had decided to start scurrying around the room, grabbing the attention of Sandella who had flown off his shoulder after the door mouse. This of course made Divacorn scared, making her get back on her hind legs, her horn snagging on the chandelier. When she brought her body back down, she ended up bringing the whole thing down with hard, making it shatter on the ground.

"Oh my god." Blake cried, eyes widening as he saw the broken remains of his chandelier and table. He looked around but thankfully none of the animals had gotten hurt. He frowned, walking over to Divacorn who still looked spooked. He put his hand on the side of her head.

"Shush...it's alright, it's alright. No need to be scared." he said softly. She wave a low whinny, rubbing her snout against his chest. He turned to the other animals, shaking his head.

"Shame on all of you. Pesky we don't throw acorns at others when their trying to sleep." he said, glaring at the squirrel. It muttered a few swears, making him go wide eyed.

"Do you want a time out mister? You are too young to be using that kind of language with me. This is your last strike Pesky, I'll put you on time out. That means no acorns!" he said, causing the squirrel to scream, hugging his small pouch of nuts.

"Cadence, you are my pet and the Queen of this room. You should be setting a good example by keeping everyone in line. Carmine, I told you not to run around the room, do don't do it again. Earl Grey, it's clear that Divacorn has a fear of mice, please don't run on the floor. Sandella we don't eat friends, Gala don't worry about your fur. When I clean up this mess I'll brush it for you." he said. He snapped his fingers, throwing a small violet wave of magic at the broken chandelier. It was easily put back together, every single piece flowing back in time thanks to his magic.

Once everything had been fixed, he grabbed Gala's brush and took a hold of the fox, brushing her fur. His stomach grumbled a bit, but he figured he would make himself something to eat after everyone else had been taken care of.

After he finished with Gala's fur, he did the same for Grizz who had gotten some soda spilled onto his fur. He had given the bear cub a bath and made sure his fur was free of knots and tangles. He also drew a bath for Pirouette who happily jumped into the tub after he left the bathroom. He set out bowls of water and food for everyone, making sure to give them to each respective pet. Once he had made sure everyone was fed, brushed, cleaned and had used the bathroom, he sat down on his bed, a tired look on his face as he started sifting through his laptop for something to watch. He clicked on Panty and Stocking with Garterbelt, keen on rewatching the series.

"Hey, I'm back...whoa what the hell? Where'd all these animals come from?" Cerise cried, grabbing the boy's attention. He noticed she was holding pizza in her hands, and rapidly stood up, taking a hold of it. He gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"I love you babe, thanks for the food."

"Um...you're welcome? You didn't answer my question."

"People, these pets all came from people." he said with a shrug, hungrily tearing into his pizza. Cerise sat down beside him, glancing at the anime he had started watching.

"Oh my godmother, this isn't that really dirty anime is it? Kitty wouldn't stop talking about it."

"It is, me, Liz and Kitty watched it during winter break. I've never seen those two laugh so hard at something, especially the dildo jokes." he said, holding back a laugh.

"Yes, I figured...I guess I'm down to watching it. Sorry about dumping Carmine on you, me and Ramona got into an argument earlier that almost lead me to reveal my secret, so dad was giving us the third degree."

"Is everything alright?" he asked, concern written on his voice. She gave him a nod, taking one of the pizza slices for herself.

"It's fine, but it was a close call. You know how important this secret is too me, and if someone exposes it...I don't know what would happen." she said.

"You said you were gonna do it on graduation day right? Why not do it now? If you let it overcome you, then it will just nab at you until you burst. If you do it now, it would be like ripping off a band-aid, it's quick and painful but you get over it fast." Blake said.

"It isn't that easy babe, my whole life could come crashing down. I'm not supposed to exist remember? Neither is my sister...now mom is pregnant again and...I'm scared my little brother or sister will have to face this shit like me."

"They won't...they'll be born into a nice loving family. They'll have two awesome older sisters, a kind mother, an awesome grandmother and an overprotective father. They'll have family, and that's something not even some silly secret can take away from you." he said happily. She smiled, giving the boy a kiss, no caring that her lips were smeared with grease.

"Thanks for cheering me up, you always know what to say."

"Every good boyfriend does. You see, it's all here in this pamphlet." he said, reaching under his pillow for a piece of paper folded three ways. She took a hold of it, brow raised as she read the title.

"Sweet words to say to your girlfriend. A guide to make your love life simpler and for you to learn what to say. Tell her what she wants to hear, written by Blake Bigby...there's even a manual to download on the MirrorStore?"

"Yup, I haven't written it yet, so right now it's just a GIF of Pikachu Hula Dancing." he said. She shook her head, handing the pamphlet back to the boy.

"You know, I think you should help Cupid with her love show, these funny pamphlets are actually really helpful. I still have that one you made about now fucking up your relationships."

"Of course you do...at least it taught you something. Hang on, I gotta brush Gala's fur again." he said, grabbing a hold of the golden hair brush, patting his lap slightly. The white fox made her way over to him and he started brushing her fur.

"Honestly can't understand how Apple pampers this little one so much. Brushing her fur every two hours? That's just nuts."

"Come on, you take care of Carmine too right? You want him to be happy, the same thing goes for Apple. Gala is really docile too, so she was raised really well." he said happily.

"Or maybe you're just good with animals." the girl replied, watching as Sandella took her perch on his shoulder. He chuckled shaking his head.

"Yeah, maybe you're right about that." he replied, giving her a wink.

 _ **xxx**_

Joey didn't know what to do. He had gone through a great many lengths to come up with an interesting plan. He had been ready to start with phase one until he realized he didn't have a good way to actually set his plan into motion. He didn't know magic, and none of the books from the Forbidden Library had given him anything to work with. He was growing rather annoyed, but until he had a better idea, he wouldn't put his plan into action. He closed the tome he had been reading, a frown on his face.

" _What the fuck...how am I suppose to set this plan in motion if I can't find a way to start? I can't go big right now, breaking Blake and Cerise up would raise too many suspicions. I gotta make him fail his classes instead, that shouldn't be easily recognizable."_ he thought to himself.

He heard a low laugh beside him, causing him to start looking around the room. It was completely empty, save for him. He wasn't exactly allowed to be there, but he had easily picked the lock, on thing he was glad to have learned from Blondie. He stood up from his seat, walking around the room, spotting a wall length mirror on the other side of the room. He walked over to it, seeing his reflection on it. He found it a little odd that there was a mirror in the room, even more odd when he saw it rippling. He wondered over to it, placing his hand on it...he felt himself being pulled inside, almost like a force was grabbing his arm. He tried to scream, but wasn't able too. He felt himself land roughly on the ground, making him groan in pain, he looked around, finding himself in a rather weird world.

"What...what is this place?"

"Welcome to my domain, Joseph Martineu." a firm voice said, causing him to look up. His eyes widened when he saw a tall woman, dressed in violet, with long crimson hair tied in a high ponytail. He grew a bit fearful of her and backed away.

"Who the heck are you?"

"I'm the Evil Queen of course...you may call me Mira, that is my name after all. I've been keeping an eye on your exploits young Joseph...you wish to get revenge on Blake Bigby don't you?" the woman asked, earning a curious look from the boy. He stood up brushing his hands off.

"I do...what of it?"

"Well...there is a reason why I brought that fool back into this world. That was because he was a natural magic sponge, his return would aid my escape. But as it turns out, he's too good of heart to actually help me." the woman said.

"Huh? I'm confused...what do you mean brought him back into this world? Blake was born on Earth." Joey said, earning a chuckle from the woman.

"Was he now? Are you sure he wasn't adopted into his family?"

"Adopted...how the hell did you know that? Who are you to him?" the brown haired boy asked, becoming a bit apprehensive.

"You'll have to find that out soon...if you ever get a hold of the Storybook of Legends, you'll get your answer. However, there is something you have yet to answer, are you going to get your revenge on Blake?"

"Of course! He made my girlfriend disappear, he is living the life that I wanted! The ungrateful prick...he thinks he so lucky, surrounded by so many cute girls, having magic and doing all this cool shit? No...he doesn't deserve to be happy! Not while I had to suffer through so much bullshit growing up!" the boy said, clenching his hand angrily. The Evil Queen smirked, tracing her finger on the orb of her staff.

"I believe you've got what it takes...but your plans are fueled by jealousy, and jealousy is an emotion destined to be trumped by conviction and love. Do you think you have what it takes to actually stand up to that boy?"

"If I wasn't, I wouldn't be here, finding a way to start my plan...and I wouldn't be here, talking to you." he said, earning a chuckle from the woman.

"Very good...my magic in this realm is limited, but I shall aid you in your endeavor. However, I need something from you...the Brothers Grimm are my enemies, who imprisoned me in this realm. I cannot break free from any mirror, it has to be the enchanted one. However I have no idea where it is kept...if I help you, you must aid in my escape...is that fair?" the woman asked.

"I suppose...but how do I know you aren't gonna stab me in the back when I least expect it?" he asked.

"There is a way to get a destiny...are you familiar with the legend of King Arthur?"

"Duh...a young boy pulls the legendary sword from the stone, becomes a king and then trains the best knights around. He becomes a legendary hero and dies on the battlefield as a hero..what of it?"

"As an insurance payment, I shall give you the location of the Legendary Sword Excalibur...once you become the next King Arthur, all you have to do to claim that destiny for yourself. You'll have fame, money, all of the women you could ever want...and a nice sword for you to stab through Blake's heart." the Evil Queen said, earning a smirk from the boy.

"That does sound nice...except only those worthy of the sword can pull it from the stone." he said, crossing his arms.

"Yes, normally...that would be the case. However, the sword isn't in Ever After, it's currently hidden in Wonderland. Since you are from another world, the rules of Wonderland do not apply to you, thus you shall be able to pull the sword. Once you sign your name in the book, that destiny will become yours, whether or not you were born for the role." She said.

"Interesting...so the reason why you stole the book originally was so you could claim everyone's destinies...that way you'd be the ruler of every world. Alright then, it will take a while to get to Wonderland, seeing as the portals are closed, but that is insurance enough. Being a king does sound nifty." he said, already imagining himself sitting on a throne.

"Then we have an accord. I cannot exactly give you magic, casting those enchantments on Blake depleted my stores, and this world cuts off all outside magic. However, the trinket I will give you will help you out with small things. I've taken note of your little plan, and breaking his mind does seem interesting." she said, giving the boy a smirk.

"Yes, that is my overall plan...making him fail his classes, get his friends to hate him, get his girlfriend to dump him and then break his mind when all of it is said and done. Then, he'll feel so much despair he'll have no choice but to go back to Earth...I'll sit back and watch as that shard kills him." Joey said happily. The Evil Queen held her staff up, a crimson ball of magic swirling above it. With a flick, the orb traveled forward, wrapping around Joey's arm, forming what looked like a silver bracelet.

"Whoa...magic jewelry?" he asked, glancing at the glowing purple gem mounted on the bracelet.

"It will allow you to cast small enchantments, the kind that will raise doubt in the minds of many. I shall assist you in anyway I can, you have my word."

"Thank you for this Mira, I promise to get you out of this realm...then when I'm King, I shall find the Storybook and give it to you as my eternal thanks." he said, passing through the Mirror back into Ever After. The woman smirked, shaking her head.

"What a fool...Earthlings are so easy to manipulate...you better be ready for this Blake. The magic I have given you needs to grow stronger, and for that to happen, you must be broken. And when your mind breaks, and you finally turn to the darkness, I'll finally have my Pawn become a Queen." the woman said, chuckling darkly to herself.


	37. Heart Stuck

**A/N:**

 **Hello everyone...I know I said last chapter that 36 would be the last chapter of the year, but I decided to give you all one more for the road. It's actually a double post, but I won't post 38 until after midnight, so look forward to that. I wanted to give you all this one right now, as a sort of parting gift to 2017. It's been a long crazy, scary and exciting year. I've written over a million words between all my stories, did some amazing things, got to see one of my closest friends get married, and had some awesome laughs. What way to say goodbye to this year than to send it off with one final chapter?**

 **Ever After High was one of the more recent series I got into this year, and though I struggled at the beginning, I am happy to say that I got pretty far in a short period of time. I've already started working on chapter 44 of the story, which is insane. I've still got a long way to go, but I already told myself that I would see this story through to the end. I have no idea when I'll continue any of my other works, but I want to finish this story in its entirety before I start or continue anything. Right now, I'm at the first chapter of Spring Unsprung, I still got the Blue Moon Forest Fest, Way Too Wonderland, Dragon Games and Epic Winter to cover, not to mention all of the filler in between each of these arcs. I'm going to try and make this story as exciting, fresh and awesome as I can. I might add some anime references here and there, and if I can I'll sneak some cool fights into this story.**

 **You all have been so kind to stick with it, so I want to make sure you all have something you'd want to read over and over after it's done. I'm not claiming this is going to be the best of the best, I'm sure there are other stories like this far better than mine. But I'll try my hardest to give you all good quality content. So stick around, cuz this story is long from over. These next chapters will be filler, but starting at Chapter 41, you'll all get three Spring Unsprung Preludes centered mostly around Joey, so look forward to it, because some messed up stuff will occur in them. I would also like to apologize for when you do read those chapters, I know you'll be unhappy at what I have done, but I had to do it, so don't kill me.**

 **Well, now for real...I hope you all have a wonderful New Year. It's gonna be interesting, that's for sure...a lot of good games are coming out next year, some cool new animes, and of course the bullshit ass end of the Walking Dead will be back in February...so that'll be cool I guess...I hope you enjoy this chapter, and I hope you look forward to the one I'll be posting past midnight! Have a good one you guys!**

Ever After High

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 37

Heart Stuck

It was finally midterm week for the students of Ever After. Much like in his old high school, the entire week was split into two periods. It was Monday, so he would be taking his Wonderland History and Riddlish midterms. Blake was confident in his abilities in passing these two classes. He had studied everything with Lizzie and Kitty as they were also taking the same classes as him. The White Queen stood at the front of the classroom, glancing at all of her students, he had already taken his Crownculous midterm, so this was the last test for the day.

"Alright students, this test will contain everything we have learned from the beginning of the year to just before Christmas break. You are allowed to use your notes, but no text books. It goes without saying, but cheating will not be tolerated. Once the tests are passed out, there shall be no talking, you got an hour and a half. I don't need to remind you that if you fail this midterm, you fail the term correct?" the woman said firmly.

"Yo Blake, are you ready for this test?" Joey asked, earning a nod from the boy.

"I spent all of last week cramming for it. Kitty and Lizzie quizzed me four times with three different tests. I got this...what about you?" he asked.

"Eh, I got a little lazy with studying, but I do remember a lot of stuff I found interesting. If I pass with a C that'll be good enough for me. Hey, good luck." he said, holding his fist out.

"Same to you." Blake said happily, bumping fists with his friend, not noticing the smirk on his face.

The White Queen finally passed out all of the tests and the room became quiet. Blake grabbed his quill and signed his name at the top of the paper, adding the date to it. He glanced at all of the questions, seeing a grand total of one hundred and thirty-two questions, all based around various things they had learned in class. The last page was filled with composition questions, which he normally didn't like but was looking forward to answering. Wishing himself good luck, and patting his pocket watch, he started the long road of answering the questions.

It had been rather easy for him to answer the questions. It was all mostly revolving around the Queen of Hearts and her rule, along with the various places and villages within Wonderland. He had been breezing through it, just like the other Wonderland students in the room. It only took him about half an hour to complete the test, just because to him it was rather easy. He finished writing his answer for the last composition question and turned his exam over, checking all of his answers to see if they were right.

"Dude...are you already finished?" Joey whispered, earning a nod from Blake.

"It was really easy for me."

"I'm still on the second page...give me the answers." he said.

"Hell no, that's cheating, I could get in trouble." Blake replied, turning his eyes back to his paper. He continued checking his test answers, ignoring Joey's almost incessant pleas for help. Once he had double and triple checked his answers, he gathered his things, stuffing his notes and other worksheets into his bag.

" _The bastard, he doesn't even let me cop the answers...I'll fix that."_ Joey thought to himself.

He waited for Blake to be focused on his bag before waving his finger, shooting a small violet light at his test. It was a switching spell. All of Blake's answers would be replaced with the ones on Joey's test, which were all completely wrong. The only thing that didn't change was Blake's name, to make it look genuine. He was honestly glad he had met the Evil Queen a few days back...it had given him time to learn some simple spells that his magic could handle. They were also unnoticeable, so no one would be able to see them. He watched as Blake, along with Lizzie, Kitty and Maddie walked to the White Queen's desk, handing their tests in. Just like that, phase one of his plan had started.

"Hmm, are you four sure you'd like to turn these in now? You still have an hour to take a look at these answers." the White Queen said.

"I already triple checked mine. Lizzie, Kitty and I spent a couple days cramming this stuff in, so I know my answers are good." Blake said happily.

"You haven't failed an exam or a project yet, you pass this test with an A and you'll have passed this class, you'll be able to take the advanced course next semester. Let's hope you did well, though if you say you studied then I'm sure you did." the woman said, placing the four tests aside with her Crownculous tests.

"Madam Your Highness the White Queen, when will we get our test scores back?" Lizzie asked.

"All of the tests will be graded and put up for display in the foyer like last year. The tests themselves won't be handed back until February 2nd. So you won't know how you did until then. I'll see you all on the 29th, before you go, I'd like to wish you a Happy Birthday, Miss Hearts." the woman said, earning a smile from Lizzie.

"Thank you, Madam Your Highness the White Queen. I look forward to seeing you again when classes start. Have a nice day." she said.

"Ugh...I felt so choked in there...but I know I did well...how did you three do?" Blake asked, glancing at the girls, who all just shared a look and laughed.

"Must you really ask that Blake? Come on, Wonderland History isn't a hard subject for any of us. I wish we could go to Wonderland High though...it would be more fun." Kitty said.

"If you think you crammed a lot of history for that test, wait until you go to Wonderland High, you haven't seen the true meaning of the word cram!" Maddie said, wrapping her arm around Blake's shoulder.

"You girls never told me what it was like...is Wonderland High like Ever After High?"

"Pfft, no. For one, school in Wonderland happens only once a year...and everyone has to pass all of their classes if they want to graduate. If you don't pass, then you fail and have to retake all of your courses the following year. You can postpone graduation if you can get your hands on a pass." Lizzie said.

"Yup yup, the reason why the White Queen is so strict in her classes is because she used to be the Principle of Wonderland High. It was actually her who opened the portals to Ever After, and got us through before the curse was placed over the kingdom." Kitty added, earning a frown from Blake.

"It must have been horrible...for you all to have no choice but to run." he said sadly.

"It wasn't fun...having to leave mother and father behind. I did my best to pack what I could, but I didn't have time. I was more focused on getting Alistair and Bunny, but I wasn't able to find them and they didn't make it through the portal." the daughter of the Queen of Hearts said, placing a hand over her heart.

"My biggest regret ever...was to leave my friends behind. I would have been fine sticking around our home, staying with my mom...Alistair and Bunny would have been safer here...we've lost all contact, even my mom doesn't know where they are." Kitty added, a hurt look on her face.

"Aw come on! Turn those frowns upside down! I know it's test week and junk, but we still gotta smile! Come on, let's head to the Tea Shop, my dad is making a whole lotta tea just for all of us!" Maddie cried, taking a hold of Blake's hand.

"Ah...okay don't pull, sheesh!" the boy cried, moving his legs as fast as he could. The last thing he needed was to be dragged around by Madeline Hatter.

 _ **xxx**_

Joey felt extremely comfortable, now that he had submitted his test. He was sure he passed his mathematics exam easily, but Wonderland History was definitely going to be an Ace, after all he had copied the answers from the best student in the class. He couldn't wait to see Blake's face when he was presented with the fattest F of his life. For now, he would have to do the same with Riddlish and he would easily get rid of his best grades. He wasn't sure what the Muse-ic Midterm was going to be, but he was sure it was going to be music related. At least he had some semblance of music in his system so he wasn't going to fail. Getting Blake to fail that class was going to be a little harder. For now, he needed to get more information to use against Blake, but he didn't exactly know what to do about that.

He was currently taking a walk through the school courtyard, taking a look at the Archery midterms. He had been quite impressed with some of the students and how they handled their weapons. He was honestly thinking of joining that class, since he was good with a bow himself. He just wished he had his old compound bow with him, the one his father had gotten for him as a gift before he had passed away. He shook his head, a frown on his face. As he turned the corner however, he saw something sticking out of some bushes. Growing curious, he walked over to it, seeing it was a brown leather quiver, filled to the brim with arrows, all of them having pink fletchlings made of feathers. He took a hold of the quiver, seeing the bow attached to it.

"Wonder who dropped this." he muttered, pulling an arrow from the quiver, seeing a pink heart at the end of it, instead of an arrow head. His eyes widened a bit, a smirk forming on his lips.

" _So, these are Cupid's arrows. And if they work the way I think they do, these will induce love on whoever they hit. If I can hit Blake with one of these, he'll start going gaga over another girl, and that will be the proof I need to break him and Cerise apart. Yes, this will be interesting."_ he thought to himself. He glanced around, slinging the quiver over his shoulder, quickly disappearing behind some trees. He glanced at his bracelet, tapping the crystal on it.

"I can't have people seeing me, that would raise too many suspicions...but that doesn't mean I won't wear a disguise. After all, I'm just as good with parkour as that loser." he said, snapping his fingers. A mask appeared over his eyes and head, hiding all of his facial features, minus his mouth and chin. His entire outfit turned completely dark, shielding his clothes from view.

"Hehe, now to find that loser." he said, quickly opening a side door, walking back into the school.

He started looking around, keeping himself as hidden as possible. One of the benefits of this outfit, was that he wouldn't be spotted by anyone until someone actually noticed him. He pressed himself against a wall, peeking around the corner. To his surprise, Blake was walking with Kitty and Lizzie heading back toward the Student Lounge. He reached behind his back for an arrow, a smirk on his face as he set it on the bow, drawing the string back. He took aim at Blake, licking his lips.

"Kiss your relationship good bye Blake." he said softly, releasing his arrow.

"I didn't know you could sing that well Kitty, we should do karaoke more often." Blake said, giving the girl a smile. She giggled, hiding the flush on her cheeks.

"It's one of my many hidden talents. Does that mean you'll let me into your band?" she asked, giving him a pleading look.

"Kitty, you know they've already got a wonderful singer...it'll be hard to find a spot where you fit in." Lizzie said, glancing up from her hand as she had been filing her nails.

"That's not true...we haven't exactly rejected features. Besides we're putting together our first album, called Shatter Me. Our cover of that song will be the first track, and we're giving out signed copies of the video as well. So if I can write some good lyrics, I can definitely get her on the CD." Blake said. Kitty smiled brightly.

"I won't disappoint you! Maybe we can do a cover of Beat it, since we did so well singing it."

"Hehe, sure why not?" he asked. He saw something out of the corner of his eye, flying straight toward them. Lizzie saw it as well, grabbing a hold of his hand.

"Move, it's an arrow!" she cried out, pulling him out of the way. Kitty moved back as well, expecting the arrow to stab into the wall behind her. The arrow however curved back as if by magic, and struck her right leg, causing her to scream in pain.

"Kitty! Oh my god are you alright?" Blake cried, grabbing a hold of the girl. He shook her a bit, trying to reach for the arrow, only for it to turn into a weird dust that flowed into her body.

"What the hell kind of arrow was that?" he asked, glancing at Lizzie, who just shrugged her shoulders.

"I think it might be one of Cupid's arrows...but she wouldn't be using them irresponsibly like that. I'm sure Kitty will be fine if that's the case." she said. Kitty blinked a few times, shaking her head. She opened her eyes, glancing up at Blake, almost in a trance.

"Oh my...what a handsome boy, I hope you don't mind if I help myself." she said, a grin on her face as she grabbed a hold of his face.

"Kitty, no stop!" he cried, pushing the girl back.

"Don't be shy Blake, I'm sure you'll like my kisses too! I haven't ever kissed a boy, so you'll be my first." she said, licking her lips. Blake noticed her normally blue eyes had pink hearts in them, an effect of the arrows. She tried grabbing him again, only for Lizzie to take a hold of her friend.

"Blake, go find Cupid, I'll handle Kitty." she said.

"Got it, I'll be right back." he said, moving toward the other hall. Kitty whoever just giggled, disappearing right in front of Lizzie's eyes. She hissed, slapping her forehead.

"Damn, I forgot about her teleportation...this isn't going to bode well." she said, a frown on her face. She had no idea where her friend was, but it was likely that she had gone after Blake. So with nothing to do, she went after her friend, hoping Kitty didn't beat her to the punch.

Meanwhile, Joey was stunned at what happened. He glanced at the bow in his hand, seeing it glowing slightly pink. He figured instead of going straight to someone, it found the nearest source of love and went for it instead. If Kitty had gone after Blake, that meant she had an attraction to him. He smirked, a grin forming over his face.

" _So, I don't have to hit Blake, not necessarily. All I have to do are tag his groupies and let the magic do them in. Hmm...who's the nearest person I can hit?"_ he wondered to himself, glancing around. He noticed Apple White walking down the hall, glancing at her tablet. He smirked, reaching for a new arrow.

"Hey Apple!" he cried, grabbing her attention. Before she even realized what had happened, an arrow stabbed into her chest, the pink mist flowing over her face. He walked over to the girl, showing her a picture of Blake on his phone.

"You're going to tell Blake you like him right? I saw him heading toward the castleteria, don't miss out or else he'll break your heart!" he said.

"Blake would never do that! He's sweet and kind, and he has an amazing chest...he's mine!" she cried, breaking into a sprint, toward the castleteria.

" _So I was right, the school's heartthrob Apple White is also in love with that bitch made loser. Heh...Wonder if Raven also likes him?"_ he thought to himself. He started moving through the nearly empty halls, in search of the daughter of the Evil Queen, he spotted her speaking with Maddie not far away from them. He hid behind some lockers, reaching for another arrow, taking aim at the purplette.

"Don't know how I'll get her to chase Blake but, if she likes him I'm sure she'll act on it." he muttered to himself.

He waited for Raven to turn slightly away from him, revealing part of her leg to him. He released the arrow, watching it flying straight toward the girl, only for it to curve to the left, striking Melody right on the side. He cringed when he saw her drop her tablet to the ground, the screen shattering a second later.

"Melody, are you alright?" Raven asked, quickly going to her aid. The girl blinked a few times, giving the goth a smile.

"Hi Raven, have I ever told you how cute your eyes are?"

"Uh...huh?" she sputtered, clearly confused. Melody wrapped her arms around Raven's neck, giving her another smile.

"This is the first time I've ever done this, it's so weird isn't it? But you only live once upon a time, and I'm not letting this song go sour." Melody said, planting a kiss on Raven's lips, making her go wide eyed.

"No freaking way!" Maddie shouted, grabbing the attention of everyone in the hall. They all started snapping pictures of the two girls, muttering things under their breath. Raven forced the daughter of the Pied Piper back, watching as she hungrily licked her lips.

"What the hell Melody? I don't like girls, don't just kiss me out of nowhere!"

"I don't like girls either, but there's something about you that just makes my heart beat like a drum. Come on, let's play a song together, a song of love." she said, making Raven back away from her.

"Get Cupid, I think her arrows are involved." She said, earning a nod from Maddie.

"I'll get her lickety split! Right after tea time of course." she said, pulling a tea set from inside her shirt.

"Now Maddie!" her friend shouted, trying to hold Melody back. Maddie sighed, shaking her head as she grabbed a foam cup from inside the kettle.

"Guess I'll make this one to go. Come on Earl Grey, let's solve this love conundrum!"

"Heh, this is turning out far better than I had thought." Joey said, a grin on his face. He quickly disappeared, hoping to cause more chaos as he went, but also so he could get Blake to break up with Cerise.

 _ **xxx**_

Getting to the castleteria was a lot harder than Blake had expected. Kitty had somehow found him, and had been chasing him ever since. Somehow he had ended up on the third floor and was currently inside a locker, watching through the slits as Kitty searched the hallway, like a hungry lioness searching for prey. The hunger in her eyes was fierce, and he was on the menu. He glanced at his pocket watch, seeing it was one thirty in the afternoon. He was supposed to meet Cerise and Ruby at three for a picnic, but at this rate, he wasn't sure if he could even make it to his dorm. He scratched his head, trying to make as minimal noise as possible.

"Come out, come out where ever you are. Come on Blake, it's just a kiss or four...it doesn't matter if you and Cerise are a thing. Cat's are more loving than wolves!" Kitty cried, her eyes scanning every single inch of the empty hallway. Blake gulped when she came to a stop in front of the locker he was hiding in. She stood there for a few seconds while he held his breath. Finally, she walked off, her footsteps quickly fading away.

"Fucking hell." he muttered. He grabbed his phone and sifted through his contacts, finding Cupid's smiling face among them. He clicked the green button and held the device to his ear, making sure the ringing wasn't loud.

" _You've reached C.A. Cupid, I can't come to the phone right now, but please leave me a message and I'll get back to you. Kisses!"_

"Ugh...dammit. Guess I'm on my own." he whispered to himself. He fiddled with the locking mechanism and slowly opened the locker door, riding his hood over his head as he started walking. He heard a giggle behind him and froze, glancing up at the fourth floor balcony.

"Oh you silly goose. You thought you would be clever, hiding from me inside that locker...but I knew you were there the whole time."

"You did?"

"I'm part cat, that means I can smell you...you're scent is amazing...it's peppery and delicious...I want to smell you right now." Kitty said firmly, disappearing from the banister. He broke into a sprint, running down the hallway, grabbing onto the corner of the wall to force himself to turn.

"Jesus Christ, lend me your strength! There's nothing worse than a catgirl in heat, I'm not getting out of this one alive!" he said.

He slid to a stop when he saw a figure dressed in black standing at the end of the hall. They had a mask covering everything but their chin and mouth. The outfit was entirely black, so he couldn't tell who they were from a single glance. All he saw was the raised bow and the arrow pointed at him. Blake's instincts kicked into high gear, and he shot to the right just as his assailant fired his arrow. He shot straight into the Charmitorium, slamming the doors closed right after. He let out a sigh, shaking his head as he grabbed one of the felt ropes nest to him, tying it around the door handles.

"This is insane...that person must have been the one that shot Kitty, and now she's going all love crazy. I gotta find Cupid, fast." he muttered, heading toward the stairs, only to notice the doors were locked.

He hissed angrily, walking toward the end of the row, seeing the Dance class on the stage, among them was Duchess. They were still holding their exams, so he had to make sure he was quiet. He peeked over the edge, looking for a way to the second floor. It wasn't that far from where he was, he could easily climb down, but without a safety line, he wasn't really comfortable climbing down. Glancing around, he noticed a bundle of rope near one of the doors, and grinned walking over to it. He quickly pulled the rope apart, making a makeshift harness out of it.

"I'm so glad I brought this knife with me. Thank you Bear Grylls for teaching me how to make a harness." he muttered, glad that he had decided to binge Man vs Wild with Cerise the other night.

Once he had made his harness, he tied the rope to the handrail at the edge of the balcony. He slipped the excess rope through his makeshift harness and tossed the rest over the edge, thankfully coming short of hitting the ground. Somehow, the dance class still hadn't noticed his presence inside the Charmitorium. The dance teacher was still giving commands to each of the girls, and the few boys taking the class, so even she hadn't heard anything. He swung his leg over the railing and started lowering himself down, keeping his grip on the rope tight enough not to fall but loose enough to lower himself down.

" _I can't believe this shit. Who the hell dares steal Cupid's bow like that? She must be going crazy looking for it...that's probably why she didn't answer my call. Who the hell would want to do this?"_ he thought to himself.

"Oh Blakey." the familiar voice of Kitty said, causing him to look up. The girl was leaning over the third floor balcony, a grin on her face. She grabbed a hold of the rope, and started pulling him up. He was surprised the girl had enough strength to actually pull that off. Then again, Wonderland Magic was hard to understand. He continued lowering himself to the ground, despite the rope's end closing in. He was still a few feet from the ground when he reached the end of the rope, he grit his teeth and let go of the rope, slamming on the ground a bit harder than he wanted.

"Ow." he muttered.

"Blake, what the hell are you doing here?" Duchess called out. He noticed he had landed in an open row of seats, giving everyone on stage a clear look to where he was. He stood up, clutching his backside.

"Um...just...you know...stuff." he said. The monochrome ballerina jumped from the stage, concern written on her face.

"Stuff? Then why is there a rope tied around your waist, and why is Kitty up on the third floor?" she asked, glancing up at the grinning girl, who's grin turned into an angry scowl.

"You stay away from my man Swan, or I'll claw your fucking eyes out!" she shouted.

"Uh oh...I gotta go Duchess...I'll explain later."

"No, you'll explain now. I got a message from Sparrow earlier of Melody kissing Raven, and Apple was running around screaming your name for some reason. Tell me what's going on?" she asked, crossing her arms in annoyance. He was about to say something when the stairwell door slammed open. Blake was half expecting it to be Kitty, but when he saw his armed assailant, he let out a gasp of shock. They released the arrow, which was sailing right to his chest, only for Duchess to push him out of the way, taking it instead. His jaw dropped when he saw the girl collapse to the floor.

"Duchess!" he cried, scrambling toward the girl. She was groaning in pain, the arrow disappearing before he could grab it. He growled, glancing up only to see the mysterious bowman had left.

"What's going on here Mr. Bigby?" the dance teacher asked, causing him to look up.

"There's someone out there shooting people with love arrows. They stole Cupid's bow and have been infecting people for awhile now. I'm afraid Duchess took one of those arrows just now." he said.

"This is serious...we can't postpone these tests, just make sure she's doing fine, she'll have to finish them on her off time. Back to the stage everyone." the teacher said, leading her students back toward the stage. Duchess's eyes slowly opened, glancing up at Blake who had a concerned look on his face.

"Duchy, are you alright?"

"Oh...I'm more than alright...I've got my handsome prince here with me."

"Fuck." Blake muttered, pushing the girl back. He backed away as the ballerina slowly stood up.

"Uh...yeah, I just remembered...my uh...bacon is in the oven, so...see ya." the boy cried, breaking into a sprint out of the Charmitorium. He ran up the hallway, trying to put some distance between him and Duchess. Just as he turned the corner, he was tackled to the floor by someone, who quickly pinned him to the ground. His eyes were staring right into the charmed eyes of Apple White, who was panting angrily, a grin on her face.

"Finally! I've found you my sweet, I can truly express my love for you. Struggle all you want, but I'm using my body to pin you down. There is no way you can move!" she cried.

"Oh my god! Apple stop this! You're hypnotized right now, this isn't you!" he cried, trying to pull his arms free from her grasp. He saw a bright flash out of the corner of his eye, seeing the black bowman smirking at him before disappearing into another hallway. He growled angrily.

"What are you talking about Blake? I just want to show you my love, I can love you more than Cerise can. I'm a princess after all, and if you and I get married, you'll be my king. We'll have lots and lots of sex and have babies and they'll all be wonderful like you!"

" _Holy shit, Apple White speaking about sex, that is like the most taboo thing ever."_ he thought to himself, trying to wrestle his hands away from the girl. She grinned, licking her glossy crimson lips. He looked around, seeing some of the other students recording everything on their phones.

"Would you motherfuckers help me instead of recording this? Shit!" he shouted angrily, that only seemed to make everyone laugh more.

"Now, I'll finally show you my love." she said, slowly lowering herself. He closed his eyes, shaking his head slowly.

" _I'm sorry for this Apple."_ he thought to himself, hocking back as hard as he could, spitting right in her face. The girl shocked from the action, loosen her hands just enough for him to knock her back. He quickly stood up, breaking into a sprint out of the hallway, just as Duchess arrived in the hallway.

"Where is he?" she cried, glancing at Apple, who had a smile on her face.

"He spit in my face, he loves me!" she said.

"No, he loves me! You better stay away from him you bitch, or I will go Black Swan all over your princess ass!" Duchess cried, running down the hall in the direction Blake had taken. Apple wiped her face clean with a napkin, stuffing it into her bra.

"I'll have this spit close to my heart, but soon I'll have more of it in my mouth."

 _ **xxx**_

Blake ducked into the Boys bathroom, making sure the door was locked a second later. He let out a sigh, sliding down to the floor. He had been running so hard that he didn't know how much time had passed. He was starting to get hungry from all the energy he had spent. He had decided not to have lunch so he could eat with Ruby and Cerise, but now he was starting to regret it. It was 2:10 now, fifty minutes before his meeting with Cerise. He growled, slamming his fist against the door, grabbing a handful of his hair.

"Fucking shit...I cannot believe this. Who the fuck just thinks it's a good idea to steal a bow and shoot people with it? Come on Cupid, pick up!" Blake cried, pressing his phone against his ear.

"Blake, is that you?" a voice said, causing him to look toward the stalls.

"Raven? What the hell are you doing in the boys bathroom?" he asked, eyes growing wide when he saw his surrogate sister walking out of one of the stalls. She had scratch marks and kisses all over her face and neck.

"Melody was shot with a love arrow and wouldn't stop kissing me. I managed to get away from her and have been hiding here for the last half hour. She wouldn't come in here anyway. The boys bathroom is surprisingly clean." she said, glancing around.

"What? You think that just because we're men we're gonna whip it out and piss everywhere?" he asked.

"Well no...it's just...I was expecting it to be at least a little messy. Since boys always throw paper balls all over, trying to look cool when they toss it. A-anyway...what's up with you? You got scratch marks all over your neck."

"I got pinned to the floor by Apple who wanted to profess her undying love for me. She started talking about sex and babies and stuff, I had to spit in her face to get away. Duchess and Kitty are also after me." he said, dialing Cupid's number again, only to receive the same message.

"Well that sucks...at least for you it looks right. People are saying I'm a lesbian now since Melody kissed me. I tried telling them that it was a mistake but pictures of me and her are all over the place."

"At least yours was a kiss, someone took pictures of me and Apple on the ground. If Cerise sees it, she's gonna tear me a new one...she wouldn't stop grinding her hips into mine either." he said, his face turning crimson.

"You might wanna keep that one to yourself. Last thing you want is Cerise finding out you got a boner from Apple humping you. Ugh...what a mess." she said, running a hand through her hair.

"Tell me about it, I've been trying to reach Cupid for the last few minutes but she hasn't answered."

"That's probably because she lost her phone. She was looking for it earlier, but some of the flowers started blooming early. She told me she had to get a refill on her inhaler and wouldn't be back for awhile. I totally forgot about it and sent Maddie out to get her, I don't know if she found her or not." Raven said, earning a growl from Blake.

"Fuck me. It's like everything is stacking up against me today...so, the only person who can fix this is gone. I got some random ass person trying to shoot me, and three of my friends want to tear me apart. Sounds like an anime to me." he said, earning a giggle from Raven.

"It could be worse right? Cupid told me that her arrows only work on those that have feelings of love. If Kitty, Duchess and Apple all like you in that way, then the arrows will amplify that." she said.

"Hmm, makes sense...does that mean Melody likes you? That's weird, she never gave me that vibe. Not that there's anything wrong, I'm okay with her liking girls...she just never mentioned it."

"I don't think that's it. Sometimes there are feelings of admiration in a person, and that admiration could have been turned into love. I can't get her cherry chapstick off my lips now." she said, walking over to the sink, turning the tap on. She started washing her lips, dark violet streaks flowing into the sink.

"We gotta do something Rae...we gotta...stop the bowman before he poisons more people. If we can get the bow away from him, then he won't be able to do anything. Before we think of anything, do you have feelings for me?"

"Aside from a brother/sister relationship, not really. That's all I see you as, why...do you like me?"

"No, you remind me of Susan too much. That would be like kissing my sister, than again she isn't my blood sister so it wouldn't be bad...anyway, I ask so that we aren't shot and turned against each other. I think I got an idea on what to do. But we need to get to my dorm, without getting spotted." he said. Raven pulled a tube of lipstick from her bra, looking at herself in the mirror as she started putting it on.

"That's easier said than done. If we had Kitty's teleportation magic, then it would be a cinch. How are we supposed to get from the first floor hallway to the dorms without being spotted by those four? Or the bowman?" she asked. Blake sighed, glancing around the room for a second, spotting an airvent above the sink. He smirked, glancing at Raven.

"How heavy are you?"

"Excuse me? Did you seriously ask me that question?" she asked, a rather angry look on her face.

"Yes I did, if you want to leave this place without getting spotted, then you have to weight less than one twenty. We're gonna crawl out of here." he said, pointing to the vent.

"You have got to be kidding me." she said, a tone of disdain on her voice. Blake climbed up to the counter, grabbing a hold of the vent, pulling the cover as hard as he could until it popped off. He jumped up, almost falling as he snagged the edge of the vent, pulling himself up.

"Wow, it's pretty roomy up here." he said, glancing around the shaft. He managed to turn himself around, holding his arm out for his sister.

"Well, I guess I can cross this off the bucket list." she replied, putting away her lipstick as she reached up, snagging his hand. He pulled her up, struggling a bit. He managed to grab a hold of her waist, pulling her up the rest of the way, making the shaft groan a bit.

"Okay...we gotta give each other some space, about five feet or so. That way this shit won't fall from the ceiling. Any idea how we can make it to the dorms?"

"No...if the vents follow the same path as the hallway, then all we have to do is follow the path." she said, shrugging her shoulders a bit. He sighed, crawling forward.

They continued in silence for awhile, focusing on not sneezing from all of the dust in the ventilation system. They had been able to use some of the vents as vantage points, watching their four pursuers running around in search for them. Apple looked a bit dishevaled as she looked around the hall, hugging a napkin close to herself. Kitty was flashing all over the place, sniffing the air like a dog, and Duchess was grabbing people by their shirts, pinning them to the wall and shouting obscenities at them if they didn't tell her what she wanted to hear. Raven giggled quietly, earning a glare from the boy.

"Can't believe this shit...I had an awesome day, finally got through the days tests. Went to karaoke with friends, only for it to turn into shit by this asshole. Now I gotta crawl my ass through some vents to avoid three horny girls from tearing me apart."

"Hey, it could be worse. It could be Cerise, chasing after you...wanting to screw her boyfriend until he couldn't move. She would probably bite the living shit out of you."

"Not helping sis, that just turned into a real thing. That shit is real now." he said, giving her a pout.

"Come on, one day you'll look back on this day and laugh."

"I highly doubt that. I doubt I'll be sitting around the fire with my kids, telling them about how me and their aunt crawled through a ventilation system to avoid love sick people. Fuck that, I'd rather deep fry my own leg than to tell anyone about this." he said.

"Over dramatic as always...if you weren't from a different world, I'd say we were related." Raven said, earning a frown from the boy. He came to a stop when he reached a dead end. In front of him was a vent, that overlooked the student lounge. From it, the dorms weren't that far. He saw that only a couple people were inside. He glanced back to Raven, turning himself around to face her.

"Alright, this vent leads into the Student Lounge, the boys dorms are only a few feet down the hallway, and my dorm is the third door from there. We can make it."

"We're just gonna drop into the Student Lounge, no holds barred...just cuz?" she asked.

"Do you have any other ideas sis?" he asked, glaring at her. She sighed, shaking her head, brushing some hair behind her head.

"Fine, you first."

"Um...are you sure you don't want to go first?" he asked.

"I'm fine...I'll stay up here, if they find you then I'll wait until you get chased off and leave for my dorm right after."

"Gee, that's so kind of you sis." he said, pulling on the grate. He managed to get it lose and pulled it into the vent, glancing around the room. The only people inside were Lily and her friend Dutch, both were reading a book of some sort. He climbed down from the shaft, softly landing on a wooden table.

"Alright Raven, you can come down." he said. Raven started climbing down her hands slipping a second later. She let out a small scream, only to land in Blake's arms a second later. Neither of them noticed the flash of a camera coming from the other side of the room.

"You are lucky I was underneath you." he said.

"Yes, I am. Thanks Blake, I'm sure I would have cracked my head open on that table." she said, happy to be back on her feet. He smirked, turning toward the door.

"Cute panties by the way, lacy black is sure to get Dexter's attention." he said, causing her to go wide eyed.

"You little shit!"

"I told you to go before me, but you didn't want too." he said with a shrug. He stopped a second later, glancing at Lily and Dutch who were looking at the two curiously.

"We were never here, tell no one what you saw." he said.

"Um...alright." Lily said, glancing back at her friend who gave the two a thumbs up. Blake nodded, glancing around the empty hall before moving toward the dorms. Luckily for them, they managed to make it to his dorm without being spotted. Cadence let out a happy yip, jumping into his arms.

"Oh...jeez. Cadence, you're getting heavy." he said, lowering the medium sized dragon to the ground.

"She's grown a lot since she first came here...she'll be the same size as Nightmare soon enough. Anyway, what are we here for?" she asked. The boy walked over to his bed, grabbing something from underneath it. It was a plastic blue box, with two silver locks on either side of it. He took his bracelet off, slipping a small key into each lock, flicking the case open.

"Crystal got me this sweet gift for Christmas. It's a water gun, but it can turn water into snowballs and into ice. If I can get a shot at that guy, maybe I can freeze their legs to the ground and get that bow away from them." he said.

From the box, he pulled out a pistol, with a white handle emblazoned with a snowflake symbol on the side. It had a small trigger on it, above it was a cylindrical shaped water container which was purple in color. There was a bit of magic ice on the sides of it, with some violet sparkles on it. The ice was cold to the touch, but it wasn't dangerous at all. It was enchanted ice that was what allowed the water in the tank to be frozen so quickly. There was an ice blue spike sticking out from the front of it, right below the barrel. From the back of it was what looked like a stopper, in the shape of a snowflake.

"Ashlynn told me about those. Apparently those are the same kinds of weapons the Royal Guard use in Crystal's castle. Why would she give you something like this?"

"Hell if I know, but I'm happy she got it for me. The letter attached to it said that the tank was magic. It can apparently hold two bottles worth of water inside, that should be enough to deal with this guy." he said, pulling the tank from the pistol frame. He walked into the bathroom, filling it to the brim. Once it was, he placed the gun back together, pulling the pump back, making the ice glow slightly.

"At least we've got someway to defend ourselves now. I can deal with magic, but now we have to find the bowman." she said, earning a smirk from the boy.

"Or, I can go to him." he said, tucking the ice gun behind his back, hiding it behind his cloak.

"But the girls?"

"I'll be fine...take care of Kitty, she's the most challenging of them all. I can handle Duchess and Apple." he said.

"If you say so...try not to hurt yourself idiot."

"Wouldn't dream of it. Good luck." he said, giving his sister a wink as he dashed out of the room.

 _ **xxx**_

He found it odd how Apple and Duchess hadn't even seen him. He had passed the two girls twice, but they had been so self absorbed into their search for him that they didn't even spot him. Kitty was nowhere to be found, and she was the one that worried him the most. He decided it would be easier to face his attacker head on in the most open space he could find, the castleteria. Sure, it wasn't ideal, but there was a lot of cover for him, and he would be near water. He had two bottles with him just in case he ran out, but he doubted he would. He took a deep breath as he walked into the large dining hall, his eyes scanning the area. The first floor wasn't that full of people, in fact only a few were there.

The area in front of him lead to the mezzanines for the royal students, a long stairwell lead to each one, before ending a set of double doors that lead to the second floor of the school. He looked around, looking for areas of cover, ideally, the first floor would do, but if he had to, he could hide on the upper areas, while also having good vantage. He stopped in the middle of the castleteria, glancing toward the Royal balcony, seeing a figured clad in black, aiming at him. He jumped back, hiding behind a post.

"So, we finally meet. Don't bother releasing that arrow, you and I both know they work on love!" Blake said, reaching for his ice pistol.

"Sit still, all I gotta do is shoot you once!" they cried, voice sounding distorted. The black haired boy hissed, knowing he couldn't use the voice to track down who had been behind the attack. Blake switched his safety off, turning it to Snowball mode. He left the safety of cover, firing three medium sized snowballs as the black clad teenager.

They're eyes widened in surprise, jumping out of the way. They took aim at him with the bow, releasing the arrow, only it shot in another direction, striking someone in the back. The bowman growled, reaching into the quiver, slinging the bow across their shoulder.

"Alright then, these stupid arrows aren't working, so that means I gotta switch it up!" they said, pulling out what looked like a pink pistol from inside the quiver. They shot at Blake, sending crystal hearts at the boy, who ducked behind the post again. The hearts burst into dust, filling the area around him.

" _I can't breathe it in...if that is the same stuff the arrows are made from, I'll turn into a lovesick idiot."_ Blake thought to himself, holding his hand over his nose and mouth.

He rolled toward a nearby table, getting underneath it, several more gunshots rung out, the hearts striking the table. Blake reached for one of the trays on top of it, and brought it under the table. He moved toward the next one, hiding behind the post. Flicking his gun into ice mode, he placed his arm on the tray, using the gun to freeze his shirt sleeve onto the tray. He grabbed a nearby fork and bent it in half, freezing it onto the tray. Once his makeshift shield was created, he left the safety of the post, aiming his gun at the balcony, shooting more snowballs at the bowman.

"That won't work on me!" they cried, dashing toward the stairs, firing more crystal hearts at him. Blake rose his shield up, using it to block each heart. He pulled the pump of his gun back, firing more snowballs at his assailant.

The black clad teen slipped on a bit of snow, causing him to fall to the ground. Blake seized his chance, dropping to the ground, quickly grabbing the bow and arrows from the teen. They rapidly stood up, punching Blake in the face, making him stumble back. He threw the weapon and quiver behind him, tucking his pistol away as he got into his Aikido stance.

"Tch...you think I'm scared of you?"

"I don't expect you too, but I am a black belt in Mixed Martial Arts, so you can believe that. If you know what's good for you, then you'll walk away." he said.

"Fuck you." they spat, breaking into a sprint, dashing out of the castleteria as fast as they could. Blake sighed, grabbing Cupid's pistol from the floor, putting the safety on as he tucked it behind his back.

He grabbed the boy and quiver from the ground, breaking the ice from the makeshift shield off his arm.

"Man, what a fucking day this has been." he said, glancing at his watch. His eyes widened when he saw it was 2:50. He let out a hiss, running toward the door that lead to the castleteria's outdoor patio.

"Alright, I'm gonna have to haul ass if I want to make that date with Cerise." he muttered, running as fast as he could away from Ever After High. Thankfully, he already knew where they were meeting so that wouldn't be an issue. As luck would have it, Cupid was making her way to the school. He slid to a stop in front of her, panting a bit.

"Hi Blake, why are you in such a hurry?"

"Date...Cerise, woods." he replied.

"Oh...well I hope you have fun...wait, is that my bow? And my quiver? Where did you get that?" she asked curiously. The boy handed her the items, glancing back to the school.

"Someone took them, and fired a shit load of them at people. I managed to stop them, but they got away." he said.

"Did they use the gun? Tell me they didn't use the gun." she said, a worried look on her face. He reached behind his back, handing her the pistol he had taken from the assailent.

"He fired it at me, but I didn't breathe in any of the dust...what the hell even is this?" he asked.

"It's a magic pistol. The ammunition in this gun is supposed to stop people from having suicidal thoughts after a break up. You know how some people suffer from heart break and often times think killing themselves is the option? This dust stops them from doing that, it staunches their love, so that they can move on and heal after their relationship ends." she said, checking the weapon over. She drew the magazine from it, seeing it was completely empty.

"That's some magic gun then...they only fired it at me, and I managed to defend myself against it. I'm not sure what to do now, but I can't stick around...Cerise is gonna grow worried if I don't show up."

"It's fine, I'll just take a look and see what I can do. This is usually easy to solve, it isn't the first time someone stole my bow." she said.

"I don't wanna know...I'll check in with you later Cupid, sorry about all of this."

"No, it's fine. I should be thanking you, for actually putting a stop to this before it got out of hand." Cupid said, earning a chuckle from the boy.

"Wait until you see the pictures on MirrorBook, you'll be thinking otherwise...see ya Cupid." he said, breaking into a sprint right after. Cupid swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat, glancing back at the castle.


	38. Blakemail

**A/N:**

 **Happy 2018 Guys! Just like I promised, I'm going to post this chapter of Through the Looking Glass Right now...I've already edited it, but as for the authors note, there may be some mistakes...I'm a little drunk right now, but I am doing my best not to mess it up right now. A bit hard to do when you see two of everything...lol jk...I'm not that drunk.**

 **Man, it is cold in New England today...if you are in New York City, or anywhere else, bundle up, because it is bitter and horrible. I want to wish you all a happy new year you guys. It's going to be another excellent year for us writers. I do hope all of you try new things, write new things, watch new things, anything. I myself am going to look for new series to dive into. For now, I will try to finishing this story all the way to the end. But I will continue some of my other stories, and even rewrite some when I get the chance. I want to thank you all for an awesome 2017, it's thanks to you that I got so many views, so many awesome reviews and so many new friends on this sight. Let's make the best of 2018, we have to spread hope and love and everything we can around the world! So let's do it ya'll! Let's go!**

 **Songs used in this chapter:**

 **Lucy by Skillet: Sung by Joey that piece of shit**

 **It has Begun, by Starset: Sung by Blake.**

Ever After High

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 38

Blakemail

The Dark Forest was still as foreboding as it normally was. Though it was still winter in Ever After, the Dark Forest hadn't changed a single bit. The trees were still mattered, dark and haunting, the smell of rotting trees permeated the area, and the canopy blocked most of the light. This wasn't enough of course to drive those few willing to walk inside away. People like Cerise Hood, her mother Ruby Hood and of course her pet wolf Carmine, who was currently asleep not far from where they had set up their picnic. It was a bit cold, but not blistering cold like it was in the Enchanted Forest, they guessed it was the Dark Forest's natural magic that kept the place warm during the cold of winter. Cerise let out a sigh, pulling on her shirt sleeve.

"He's late." Cerise muttered, annoyed that her boyfriend hadn't shown up.

She glanced at her wrist watch, seeing it was three fifteen, and her boyfriend still hadn't shown up. She and her mother had already set up their little picnic in a secluded spot in the woods. It was the spot where they normally shared family outings, near the school so her father could join them if he was free from school work. Ramona wasn't able to attend, having been busy with her own exams. Ruby giggled at her daughter, shaking her head slightly, placing a hand over her belly. She was three months pregnant, and even though she couldn't feel her baby yet, she knew it was there. She smiled, glancing down.

"You're sister is a bit impatient little one, wait until you meet her in person. She's probably going to be even more impatient, wanting to hold you all the time."

"Oh jeez mom, don't talk like that. I bet they can't even hear you yet." Cerise said, flushing a bit, making her mother giggle.

"You'd be surprised. I talked to you and Ramona a lot while you were in the womb, and both of you became good listeners. I won't if they'll be half wolf like you two? The doctor said there was a chance they would be fully human like me."

"I want them to be half wolf. That way I would have someone to use against Ramona when she says she can beat me in a race."

"Of course, you'd want a sibling just so you can pit them against your older sister. I'm gonna tell Momo about that."

"Blake, I was wondering when you'd show up." Ruby happily said, standing up to hug the boy.

"Sorry, I got a little side tracked. Before anything, Cerise, if you see any pictures of Apple pinning me to the ground, just know that it wasn't my fault. Cupid had to step out to get a refill on her inhaler, someone stole her bow and arrows and started shooting people with them." he said.

"Are you serious?" she asked, earning a nod from her boyfriend.

"As a heart attack, I'm afraid. They got Kitty, Duchess and Apple and all three went after me. Melody started making out with Raven. A few others got caught in the crossfire, it was a huge mess. So, I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologizing? It was out of your hands right?" Ruby said, earning a small smile from the boy.

"I care too much about Cerise. I don't want to lose her over something stupid like this, so I felt the need to explain myself beforehand. Apple, Duchess and Kitty were just hypnotized. I'm sure they feel no attraction to me whatsoever. But that didn't stop them from chasing me, pinning me down to the floor and outright scaring the crap out of me." he said.

"It's fine...as long as you weren't making out with any of them, I'm okay. I know you wouldn't cheat on me or betray me like that...have you eaten anything?" the hooded girl asked. He was about to reply when his stomach did it for him. He flushed, lowering his head.

"Oh my, I didn't think you brought Cadence with you." Ruby said, placing a hand over her lips.

"I didn't eat anything Ruby, you promised you'd bring a lot of food and you know I love your cooking. How's the baby coming along? Are you getting a bump yet?" he asked.

"Not yet, but the baby is growing nice and strong. I can tell because I've been craving lamb a lot." she replied. Cerise handed the boy a sandwich which he quickly tore into.

"So, we've got our Science and Sorcery midterm tomorrow morning, do you have any other tests?"

"I got Riddlish, after that I got Muse-ic and then my Sword Training exam. We're supposedly getting tested one by one with different scenarios, Daring already took his and aced it." Blake said,

"Of course...he's Daring Charming." Cerise said, a frown on her face.

"I'm sure you'll do fine Blake, I haven't seen your skills with a sword, but if you are as good as Cerise says, then I'm sure you'll be fine."

"Thanks Ruby, I know I'll pass that test with flying colors. Hey, I've got a question. It's about the Evil Queen, I heard she was your roommate in high school, what was she like?" Blake asked, earning a frown from the woman.

"The Evil Queen...Mira, was a bit...quiet. She mostly kept to herself, but she had fully embraced her role as the next Evil Queen. She always boasted about all of the evil she would do when she had her powers. According to her, her mother, the Evil Queen before her, abandoned her at the age of ten and had her live alone so she would grow up a bitter shrew. That would have apparently made her resent everyone, driving her toward embracing her role."

"That's fucked up...sorry, I didn't mean to cuss." the boy said, earning a giggle from the woman.

"It's alright dear...in all honesty, it really was. Mira was excited on Legacy year...she wouldn't stop talking about signing her name in the book. Snow White stayed away from her, fearful of what she could do once her magic was granted to her. Upon graduation, all of us got ready for our stories. She had been acting weird before graduation however, she kept staring around our dorm a lot, mostly at the rug."

"The rug...Briar and Ashlynn have your old dorm room now...I didn't see anything out of the ordinary." Cerise said, earning a hum from the boy.

"If I was to hazard a guess, that's where she hid the Storybook of Legends. I'm sure it isn't there anymore."

"We didn't know the book had been stolen until just this year...it's hard to believe, thirty years after all of us graduated, it turns out the Storybook of Legends was stolen, and all of us were looking at a fake. Mira did an amazing job fooling us all."

"She did...I saw the book up close, I didn't notice a single thing wrong with it myself." Cerise added, taking a small sip from her juice.

"Makes you wonder how she did it. Getting past Grimm, taking the book, hiding it...for what? Was she seriously planning on using it against the other realms? She didn't even get far, she was stopped before she destroyed Wonderland." Blake said.

"I think she had another motive. At the end of the day, Mira is still a human, and a mother. Perhaps she didn't want Raven to follow in her footsteps, it would explain why Raven wasn't abandoned in the middle of the woods like she was. Perhaps in her aim to rule Ever After, she wanted to rid herself of the book, so that her daughter didn't have to face what she did." Ruby said.

"An interesting theory...still, I'd like to meet the Evil Queen myself. I want to ask her why she chose me out of the seven billion people in my planet. Why go as far as stabbing a mirror shard in my chest." he said, tracing the spot where the shard had impaled him. He had noticed recently, that he had a scar over that area, a rather thin one, consistent with a shard of glass. Cerise placed her hand over his, giving it a small squeeze.

"Hey, it'll all be alright. One day we'll find a way to get rid of that pesky shard, and you'll be free of it. You'll be able to go home to your family."

"Yeah...but I don't want to leave you all behind either...I love it here, it's as if...I was meant to be here...isn't that weird?" he asked.

"I'm not sure, I don't think I could ever get used to being away from my home. But if this place feels like home to you, then that's because it is...in some way." Ruby said, refilling his glass with juice.

"I suppose you're right...hey, did Grandma send cookies? You know how much I love them." the boy said, giving the two a smile. They shared a look, shaking their heads.

 _ **xxx**_

"Well, that was a failure." Joey muttered, as he fell into his bed. After an entire day running around, shooting people with love arrows, he was tired.

He still couldn't believe his idea had turned sour. Cupid had come back with some magic roses, and everyone had been cured, save for Apple, Duchess and Kitty because apparently they needed him present for their magic to work. So they had all been locked in their dorms until the boy returned from his date. However, his plan did bring him some fuel, two new pictures were added to his collection, one of Apple mounting Blake, and one of Raven in Blake's arms. How he was going to use these against him and Cerise was a new one, but he was sure he'd figure it out.

He had to admit, the magic bracelet the Evil Queen had given him did have its perks. That suit that he had created increased his stamina and strength, giving his already good parkour skills an interesting boost. He just hadn't been expecting Blake to crack out an ice gun like he had. He didn't even know where he got that, but he wanted one. He grabbed his notebook, glancing at his plan again, as he often did, tweaking things as he went. He frowned, glancing at the last phase, the separation.

"How the hell am I going to split those two up? It isn't like there's magic out there that can help me do that." he muttered, a frown on his face.

The world of Ever After had magic on many things. Magic on cooking, magic on dancing, singing, speaking with animals, but nothing on breaking relationships apart. He had even taken a look at General Villainy and Advanced Villainy textbooks, but he hadn't found anything of the sort. History of Evil Spells didn't give him much to work with, aside from a few general spells that would aid him in the future. He was grounded with this, phase one was already in motion, come January 29th, half of Blake's classes would be failures and he would have to redo all of them if he wanted to pass. He sighed, stuffing the book into his jacket pocket, grabbing his keys, maybe a walk would clear his mind.

He started walking toward the Charmitorium, heading toward the double doors. A lot of students liked hanging out there for the peace and quiet, and he was no different, sometimes he came here to think of ways to ruin Blake's life. Watching Duchess dance was an added bonus, he was still smitten with her, and seeing her lithe and sweaty body on a wooden stage was enough to make him smile. He didn't want to seem like a pervert, but he couldn't help it. The Swan Princess was beautiful, and there was no way he was going to give his affections for her up. He frowned, shaking his head as he walked up the stairs toward the fourth floor, where he usually went.

" _I should have shot myself with an arrow after shooting Duchess. The two of us could have fallen in love, and maybe even gotten dirty. Man, I would love to see that beauty riding me, it would be awesome...bet she's better than Lucy was too."_ he said, a smirk on his face. He had no repercussions thinking something like that. He and Lucy had been intimate a few times, but she wasn't that good, and being a teenager wasn't an excuse. He had seen enough porn to know what it looked like.

He sat down in his usual seat, frowning when he saw the stage was empty, thanks to him, Duchess wouldn't be practicing her routine. He wouldn't have a need for binoculars, chips and drinks like he normally brought. He leaned up against the back, glancing up at the balcony above him, the Royals balcony. He had never been up there, but he had heard from others that it was the best and most comfortable area. The Royals had everything while the normal students had shit. Even in this world, that didn't change. He closed his eyes in thought, a frown on his face.

" _What am I gonna do? I already put this shit in motion, so I can't stop at the end. I gotta extend this shit until March 21_ _st_ _, but what can I use against Blake that would make Cerise want to leave him? They're getting close to their three month anniversary...it would be ideal to break them up before their fourth."_ he thought to himself. He heard a door open, and glanced behind him, thinking someone had walked into this floor. However, the sound had come from the area below him. He quickly stood up, silently making his way toward the railing.

"Alright Briar, what's so important that it couldn't wait? It has to be serious if you pulled me away from Hunter."

" _Ashlynn and Briar, this aught to be good...maybe I can use this for blackmail...or Blakemail if the information is good enough."_ he thought with a sneer. He pulled out his phone, unrolling his headphones, quickly going to his record feature, lowering his headphones down, in front of the crimson banner. He couldn't get video, but he could at least get sound.

"I promised myself that I wouldn't say anything but...Ash, can you keep a secret? You're my best friend, I would do anything for you, even if it killed me. This is serious so you have to keep it, alright?" Briar said.

"I promise, with all of my heart. This will stay between us, forever after...so what's so serious? Please don't tell me it's what I think it is."

"What...what do you think it is?"

"That you were at a party with friends and got pregnant."

"Don't make me hit you bitch, I'm not that type of person." Briar snapped, earning a giggle from Ashlynn.

"I know, I just wanted to loosen you up a bit. So spill the beans, what's up?"

"Okay...you know during Thronecoming, when I left the dance and I told you and Hunter I was going to the bathroom?" she asked.

"Yes, you were gone for quite awhile. I thought you had fallen in, Hunter thought you were puking your guts out, and Blondie thought...you know what, I'll keep that last one to myself. I take it you weren't in the bathroom?" Ashlynn said.

"Mhmm...I went back to our dorm. When I saw the picture of the Evil Queen and Cerise's mom, I noticed something about the rug. As it turns out, the Evil Queen had shared our dorm with Red Riding Hood when they were students here."

"No way...that's really interesting Briar...but what does that have to do with anything?"

"Well Ash...I ended up finding something in our dorm. It was...the Storybook of Legends."

A gasp filled the air for a few seconds. Joey smirked as he pumped his fist, a gold mine had just stumbled into him. He could definitely used this information to his benefit. But he kept on listening, the two girls still unaware that he had been listening in.

"Okay...are you sure it was the real book?"

"Yes...I opened it, and all of our names and pictures were in it. Every story was split, and everyone had a page. There was a blank one at the end, but I don't know what it was for." Briar said.

" _A blank page...it must belong to the King Arthur Legend. When the sword is pulled, whoever pulls it will go into the book."_ Joey thought, eyes widening in shock.

"Well, did you tell the Headmaster? He needs to know this right away!"

"No I haven't...and I'm not going too. I did something with the book, I needed time to think. I decided I don't want to be the next Sleeping Beauty, I'm going to stay the course of my story and reject my destiny. In order to give myself time, I decided to get rid of the book." Briar said, earning another gasp from Ashlynn.

"Get rid of the book? You just tossed it? Briar do you know the implications of this? Anyone can get access to that book, they could do a lot of harm. You should have given it back to the headmaster!" Ashlynn said, in a scolding tone.

"I know, I know! But I couldn't...I knew that we would be forced to sign it. I knew that I would fall asleep as soon as I graduated, you and Hunter wouldn't be able to have a relationship...Raven would have to become evil. I just felt so sick, I wanted to throw up, my heart was beating a mile a minute...I didn't think, I just had to get rid of it. So we threw it in the Well of Wonder." Briar said.

"In the what? You did what?"

"We threw the book in the Well of Wonder Ashlynn, it's gone! Poof! Never to be seen again."

"Whoa...what do you mean we? Who's we?" Ashlynn asked, clearly distressed. Briar took a deep breath, glancing up at her friend.

"When I was going there, I was planning on keeping this to myself. But Kitty and Blake were at the well. He had found a Wishing Coin and wanted a wish granted. He easily saw what I was trying to do...so after he checked it, he tossed it into the well. We are all involved...and I worry about this...I don't want anything to happen to Blake and Kitty because of me."

"Okay...alright...this is some...serious stuff. But hey, it doesn't have to be all bad. The Storybook of Legends most likely fell into Wonderland...and no one can get to it since the portals are closed. No one will ever find it, so when we all graduate, we can all just...follow our way."

"You're right Ash...I just needed to tell someone. It was eating me alive, I barely got any sleep, when I wanted to sleep anyway. I had to prick finger so I could fall asleep. It was horrible...it's a massive weight off my shoulders. Please Ash, don't tell anyone. I'm gonna talk to Blake and Kitty and let them know I told you...I just couldn't approach them, it was so awkward you know?" Briar said.

"It's fine...if you want to talk to them, I can go with you. But Kitty is still suffering from the effects of those love arrows...I think we should wait a few days until that all settles down. We'll keep this between us, but we need to keep this away from the Headmaster and from Apple, you know how she is." Ashlynn said, earning a smirk from Briar.

"That's true, but with all of those pictures of her pinning Blake to the floor, and videos of her screaming his name, I doubt she'll focus on the Storybook. Thanks Ashlynn, you're my best friend...I love you okay? I want you and Hunter to live Happily Ever After."

"I love you too Briar, I want you to find your own Happily Ever After. I know you can't be with Blake now, but maybe you'll find someone else right? Maybe someone like Joey?" Ashlynn replied.

"Pfft, don't twist my nipple Ashlynn. Joey is a total creepazoid dirt bag, I mean, have you seen the way he stares at Duchess? I bet you he has a tiny dick too."

"Well, there's only one way to find that out."

"Yup, and no one wants to go that far...hey speaking of, have you seen Hunter's hunter yet? Is it big? I bet you've already sucked on it you little slut."

"I have not! And I haven't seen it either...I tease him a lot, but he's hard set on us getting engaged before we even think of sex. He's such a sweet person." the daughter of Cinderella said, earning a chuckle from her friend.

"You are so full of shit girl...I heard about these strawberry flavored condoms, maybe you can blow him with a little flavor. He'd definitely like that, and you wouldn't have to worry about dick breath."

"Okay, now I'm sure you have definitely sealed the deal with someone...spill the beans, who is it?"

"No one! I haven't done the deed yet, there's only one person I would ever mess around with and he's taken. Come on, we need to meet up with Lizzie for our Kingdom Management study session."

The charmitorium became quiet a second later, and Joey ended the recording. He frowned as he looked at it, growling angrily. His teeth were grit in anger as he sat down, clutching the arm rest of his seat.

"That stupid whore...saying my dick is small. Ha, my dick is so big, it would have her screaming for more! I can't believe that bitch wants a piece of Blake...what the fuck does he have that I don't? It doesn't matter, I got a juicy bit of information. Now if I can get a recording of Blake and Kitty admitting it, I got my Blakemail material for Spring Fairest. Hahaha, man you bastards sure are stupid. Well, it's time to break out those bugs I created yesterday, gotta find a time to plant one on Blake though...hmm..."

 _ **xxx**_

Thanks to Cupid, everyone had been returned to normal, with no recollection of what had happened. Dexter and Humphrey had been able to clear the MirrorNet of all the pictures and videos that had come from the event, and everything had been deleted, save for those who wanted a personal souvenir. Blake had given each of the girls a rose that Cupid had grown. She had told him that it would help cure them of the curse and would change color with the type of love that the person had for the one they were after. She hadn't explained what the colors were, due to him being in a hurry. He had given the three girls, Duchess, Apple and Kitty their flowers, none of them wanting to show him what color they had turned. He shrugged it off and asked them if they remembered anything, but all of them said everything was a blur, once they had confirmed they knew nothing, he took off not wanting to stick around.

The next day, Blake had taken his Riddlish exam. Some were still speaking about what had happened, especially Hunter who kept teasing Blake about what Apple had done. He just gave him a glare, telling him that if he didn't shut up, they would have words. The Riddlish exam had been a cinch for him, and since only a few people were taking that class, they had been able to talk after everyone had finished their exams, mostly about the Spring Fairest since Blake still didn't know what the festival was even about. Joey had remained silent most of the time, asking questions when it was appropriate. Blake tried being friendly with him, but Lizzie and Kitty were a bit wary of the boy.

All of them were now in the Muse-ic Hall, about to take their Muse-ic Midterm. Joey had been smiling inwardly, waiting for his shot to spoil Blake's test, as he had done in Riddlish when he wasn't looking. Mr. Piper however entered the large music hall, looking at all of his students with a smile.

"Alright students, all of you are most likely expecting a typical written exam covering what we learned. But I want to keep it fresh and exciting, who wants to spend the next hour and a half writing their answers on paper? Nope, this year's midterm is going to be practical. All of you will sing a song, play an instrument, anything you want, but it has to be musical. I'll grade you depending on performance and what the audience thinks." he said.

"Excuse me dad, will bands be able to perform? Or does it all have to be one at a time?" Melody asked, earning a smile from her father.

"No, if you have a band you can perform. All of you will be graded at the same time, so depending on how you do, that will be your grade. I'm sure Purple Rhapsody has something for all of us." he said.

"Hehe, of course we do. I wrote a song last week, it'll be perfect for this exam." Blake reaching into his messenger bag for his music book. He started looking around, a frown on his face.

"Something wrong?" Cerise asked earning a nod from her boyfriend.

"My music notebook isn't here, it's in my locker. Is it alright if I go get it Professor?" Blake asked, earning a nod from man.

"Sure thing, you've got ten minutes...anyone who wants to perform now, go ahead and give us your best shot."

Joey let out a smirk, watching his friend walking out of the room. What Blake didn't know was that late last night, he had broken into his locker and taken his newest song from inside the book. It was a cover of a Skillet song, titled Lucy. Of course, he had tweaked the lyrics and the melody for it to sound a little different, but the message was of course in the memory of their missing friend, even though he still thought Lucy was alive, when she was clearly dead. Blake had taken a bit of the song and changed it, and Joey had changed it back to its original lyrics. He passed the melody sheets to Jack, Frost and Pierre, giving them a smirk.

"I wrote a song last night, took me awhile to get it all right, but we got this. We'll go as a band, and it will be the perfect shot for us to debut." he said.

"Not a bad idea, I like this tune...alright, we can go after Sparrow finishes." he said, watching as Sparrow and the Merry Men took the stage.

"Alright, this one is for all the ladies. I call it, Lady Love...yeow!" Sparrow screamed, strumming his guitar like a madman, while his friends joined in. Raven cringed a bit at the sound, using her hands to cover her ears, Apple followed her example, along with a few other girls. Melody was the only one who seemed to be enjoying the loud song, paired with horrible lyrics. After a few grueling minutes, the song ended.

"Sparrow and the Merry Men, give them a round of applause." Mr. Piper said, clapping his hands, aside from him, Melody was the only one that clapped.

"Aw come on, that song was awesome!" Sparrow cried. The teacher shook his head, giving the band a D- for their effort.

"Alright, who's next?"

"Us over here!" Joey said, raising his hand. Everyone looked at him, Jack, Frost and Pierre as they walked down to the stage, taking their place behind their respective instruments.

"Uh...well guys, we took some time to reform our band. Henry was leading us as a Kingdom, and none of us were having any real fun. Joey joined us, and we came up with a new idea. We are, Yuletide Bliss Re-invented. Our first song will be performed by our bassist Joey." Jack said, giving Joey the go ahead.

"As you all know, I'm not from this world. A lot of you probably look at me like a douche, because I had the choice to go home, while my best friend Blake didn't. But most don't know about my home life, and how hard I have it back on Earth. My father died young, he was an alcoholic, and drunk himself to death. My mother is never home, and my sister left to pursue her dreams of being a professional Ice Skater with her boyfriend. I was utterly alone, which is why I chose to stay here. It's close to Lucy's birthday, my best friend and girlfriend on Earth. She disappeared two years ago, and though it wasn't confirmed, we all know she's dead." he said, frowning a bit as he paused.

He smirked inwardly, he was definitely selling it. He had even gotten a few sympathetic looks from people, save for a few obvious faces. Cedar seemed a bit annoyed, since he was clearly lying, but didn't say anything. Cerise also seemed annoyed, judging by the way she was looking at him. Lizzie and Kitty were also among that group, both having their arms crossed with a blank bored look on their faces. He kept the frown on his face for a few more seconds, picking his head up slightly.

"I loved Lucy, I truly did...and I miss her every day, so I wrote this song in her honor. I hope you all like it." he said, giving his friends a nod. They started playing, a sweet tune filling the room.

" _Hey Lucy, I remember your name_

 _I left a dozen roses, on your grave today._

 _I'm in the grass on my knees, wipe the leaves away_

 _I just came to talk for awhile, got some things, I need to say_

 _Now that it's over, I just wanna hold her_

 _I'd give up all the world to see_

 _That little piece of heaven looking back at me_

 _Now that it's over, I just wanna hold her_

 _I've gotta live with the choices I made_

 _And I can't live with myself today._

 _Hey Lucy, I remembered your birthday_

 _They said it'd bring some closure to say your name_

 _I know I'd do it all different if I had the chance_

 _But all I got are these roses to give_

 _And they can't help me make amends_

 _Now that it's over_

 _I just want to hold her_

 _I'd give up all the world, to see_

 _That little piece of heaven looking back at me_

 _Now that it's over, I just wanna hold her_

 _I've gotta live with the choices I made,_

 _And I can't live with myself today_

 _Here we are_

 _Now you're in my arms_

 _I never wanted anything so bad_

 _Here we are_

 _For a brand new start!_

 _Living the life that we could've had_

 _Me and Lucy walking hand in hand_

 _Me and Lucy never wanna end_

 _Just another moment in your eyes_

 _I'll see you, in another life_

 _In heaven, where we never say goodbye_

 _Now that it's over, I just wanna hold her_

 _I'd give up all the world to see_

 _That little piece of heaven looking back at me_

 _Now that it's over, I wanna hold her_

 _I've gotta live with the choice I made_

 _And I can't live with myself today_

 _Me and Lucy walking hand in hand_

 _Me and Lucy never wanna end_

 _Got to live with the choices I've made_

 _And I can't live with myself...today_

 _Hey Lucy, I remember your name..."_

Joey bowed his head as the crowed broke into applause, surprised with his singing ability. Even his bandmates were surprised that he had written such a beautiful song. Professor Piper nodded to himself, giving top marks to Yuletide Bliss for the amazing song they had sung. Joey looked around the room, his eyes landing on Blake who was standing by the doors, arms crossed with a pissed look on his face. He just gave him a smirk, bowing his head a bit.

"I gotta admit, that was an excellent song. Where did you get the inspiration for that song?" Blake asked, his voice flowing through the room.

"You should know man, Lucy was my girlfriend...she meant everything to me. When she was gone, I just couldn't deal with her not being there. I made some fucked up choices, I'll admit. I made her cry more times than I made her feel loved...and to this day, I regret everything bad I ever did to her. I miss her, and I love her...just like you love Cerise." he said.

"Fair enough...good job, you have a good singing voice." he said, walking back toward his seat, sitting down rather hard.

"Are you alright Blake? You look annoyed." Apple asked, earning a smile from the boy.

"Oh no...I'm fine...I'm totally fine. Just thinking of this really awesome song we're about to perform, but we wanna go last. Don't wanna toot my own horn, but it's best if we save it for last, because it'll be the best song of the day." he said.

"Boastful aren't we? That means it's gonna be a good one, better not disappoint me then Blake, or I'll beat you up." Ramona said, earning a from the boy.

"Trust me Momo, it'll be good." he said.

So they waited, watching as the other students went ahead of them. Apple sung a beautiful song, with the help of some woodland critters. Ashlynn and Hunter did a duet, and Raven did the guitar riff from Deep Purple's Child in Time. One by one, all of the other students performed, until it was finally Purple Rhapsody's performance. Once Duchess sat down, panting a bit from her dance, the five members of the band, walked onto the stage. Blake cleared his throat, tapping the microphone a bit to make sure it was still working.

"Alright then...this song is for the Rebels, felt the need to advocate since I haven't in awhile. I apologize to all the Royals in the room, but the song still has a good meaning. In life, you can't be afraid to do things, you can't be afraid of anything...because if you are scared then you won't ever do what you want. Holly and Poppy taught me this a couple months back, and I decided to write this original song. That's right, an original song, not stolen from anyone, or a cover of one either." he said, glaring at Joey who just gave him a blank stare.

"What's the name of the song, for reference?" Mr. Piper asked.

"It's called It had has begun...alright Melody, start us off." Blake said, pulling the microphone from the stand.

" _Even a well lit place, can hide salvation_

 _A map to a one man maze, that never sees the sun_

 _Where the lost, are the heroes_

 _And the thieves are left to drown_

 _But everyone knows right now_

 _Fairytales, are not found_

 _They're written in the walls_

 _As we walk...in a straight line_

 _Down in the dirt with the landslide approaching_

 _But nothing could ever stop us_

 _From stealing our own place in the sun_

 _We will face the odds against us_

 _And run into the fear we run from_

 _It has begun_

 _Into the dark below_

 _Evading shadows_

 _Blind in a rabbits hole_

 _We fell beneath the earth_

 _And watch the shell come unraveled_

 _As the seed begins to rise_

 _Embracing its starlit fate as we wait in the night_

 _It's written in the walls_

 _As we walk...in a straight line_

 _Down in the dirt with a landslide approaching_

 _But nothing could ever stop us_

 _From stealing our place in the sun_

 _We will face the odds against us_

 _And run into the fear we run from_

 _It has begun_

 _It has begun_

 _It has begun_

 _It has begun_

 _It has begun!"_

The applause was tremendous, much louder than the one Joey and his band had received. Everyone was cheering and calling out their names, even the Royals were clapping loudly. Mr. Piper gave Purple Rhapsody an A+ for their song, giving them a smile.

"You all pass with flying colors! That song was amazing, so good job on this performance! I think this is the highest grade of the year!" he said.

"Hehe, thank you Professor...I wrote this song from the bottom of my heart, and I'm glad to have shared it with everyone. It'll be part of our new Album Shatter Me, it'll be out sometime next month, so look forward to it!" he said happily. He glanced back at Joey, giving him a shit eating grin.

 _ **xxx**_

"So Joey, you mind telling me how the fuck you got into my locker?" Blake snapped, glaring at his friend as he was about to enter his dorm. He had been waiting for him for awhile now, wanting a clear cut answer.

"Oh that...I didn't get into your locker...I wouldn't do that to you man. That song I did was a cover of a song by Skillet, so I just did a cover of it. It wasn't illegal was it?" Joey asked, crossing his arms.

"No...I've done it all the time, but where we differentiate is that I say it's a cover. You blatantly told everyone that it came from your heart, that you wrote it for Lucy. That was bullshit! Do you think anyone believes you wrote that from your heart?"

"What's it to you? It doesn't matter, and we are in a new world. People's songs over there, aren't copyrighted over here. So that means it's easy pickings, people did the work for us, so we can abuse that work for our own gain." Joey said, earning a sigh from Blake.

"That isn't the issue...I don't take credit for songs like that. I tell everyone that they are covers of other songs, and I change them. Whether it's the lyrics or the melody, I change something. You didn't change this, you just copied what I had."

"That isn't true...I'm many things but not a thief." the brunette said, opening his room door.

"Oh? Then what happened to my sheet music? Did it magically disappear from my notebook? It was in my locker, of which I only know the combination. So you must have broken into it...I don't even care alright? But don't you ever do that again, or we'll have fists instead of words, got that?" Blake asked, earning a sigh from the boy.

"Fine, I'm sorry. I just needed a cool song to pass the class alright? That was it. Nothing else like this will ever happen, you've been here for long and I just didn't want to fail." he said, placing a hand on his friend's shoulder. Blake sighed shaking his head.

"You could have asked for help, and I could have written something for you. It's fine, just don't do it again." Blake said, walking away.

"It won't happen again, I promise!" he said, entering his dorm. He growled, slamming his fist against it.

" _Asshole, fuck you! You've got balls giving me shit for singing a song and claiming it as my own. You do the same shit, so I wouldn't be talking. Heh, at least I passed...the last rounds of tests will begin tomorrow, and he only has another class I can help him fail, Geografairy...you're lucky I can't help you fail Sword Training...we'll see how this turns out. Dumbass didn't even notice the bug, excellent."_

 _ **xxx**_

"Are you alright Blake? You seem annoyed." Cedar asked, causing the boy to look up from his laptop. He leaned back in his chair, giving the girl a nod.

"That's because I am. Joey outright stole a song from me, and then lied when he said he wrote it. I'm sure you know this already, you can't tell a lie, and you can easily see through them."

"I knew from the beginning that he was lying about that song. But I didn't do anything, because I figured you would do something about it. It just didn't feel like a song that he would write. Why didn't you say anything?" she asked, leaning against the table beside him.

"Because, I would rather not do anything. The song he sung is a real one back in our world, nothing is stopping him from claiming it as his own here. I was going to perform it, and I tweaked the melody a bit, because I was just covering it. He however didn't say it was a cover, but nothing is stopping him so it's fine. I've got plenty of original songs that he will never have." he said, reaching for his song book. He pressed his finger on it and opened it, showing the pages to the girl.

"Whoa...the words are glittering, is that invisible ink?"

"Mhmm, I asked Jessica for a magic notebook that only I could open and some invisible ink. My songs are protected from prying eyes, and unless you are me or have some Revealer Rays, you won't be able to see shit." he said, a grin on his face.

"Well, you are definitely on top of it. This is an ingenious security system, maybe I should do that with my diary, so that the prying eyes of Blondie don't go through it like last time." she said, earning a laugh from Blake, who ruffled her hair.

"I'm finished with my quota. We only got a few months to finish this book and it's already going to be big. We've been through a lot of crazy things these past few months." he said.

"Yes we have, and I'm happy to be a part of it with you and all of my friends. Speaking of that, do you think you could give this to Ginger? We need to start preparing for the Spring Fairest, it might be a little early, but it's best to get all of the orders in early." she said, handing the boy a white envelope that he tucked into his vest pocket.

"I'll get it to her...she's already getting ready for Valentine's day, she made me clean all of the heart shaped cooking utensils. I think I'm sick of the holiday, and it hasn't even happened yet."

"That's because she isn't gonna make your favorite snowflake cookies for the season. I cannot tell a lie, you are definitely addicted."

"I am not Cedar. Besides you are always eating those pecan brownies because they're your favorite, so I wouldn't say anything." he said, earning a giggle from the girl.

"Hey you two, working hard or hardly working?" Apple asked, entering the council room.

"Working hard, we've both finished our quota. I'll leave all of the editing and stuff to you and Rae, I gotta go, late for work." he said, glancing at his pocket watch.

"Okay, Blake do you think we could talk later? It's about what happened...during my hypnotized state." she said, a flush on her face. He blinked a few times, glancing back at his watch.

"Promise you won't pin me to the floor?"

"Only if you promise not to spit in my face."

"Deal, I'll bring pie...apple pie." he said. The blonde nodded, most likely already picturing that pie. She couldn't resist sweets, especially apple treats.

Blake had arrived at work with a few minutes to spare. He had given Ginger the letter from Cedar, and she had jotted everything down. After talking with him, Gus and Helga about how they would be tackling the Spring Fairest, they broke off for their shifts. Gus had already worked so he clocked out, and Helga would be in the back handling the baking with Ginger, so he took the floor like normal. The bakery had gotten quite popular since it's grand opening, and had gotten even more popular after Jack Horner had filmed his show there. They had started serving hot chocolate and coffee as well, but they obviously wouldn't be able to outsell a place like Hocus Latte. Still, they did their best. Today however was a bit quieter, due to it being exam week. People were tired and spent from their exams, so all they wanted to do was go back to their dorms and rest or hang out with their friends. So it was a surprise to him when Briar walked into the bakery, looking a bit down.

"Hey Briar...something wrong?" he asked. The girl gave him a smile, walking up to the counter.

"Hey Blake, think we can talk for a few minutes? It's really important." she said.

"Uh...think you could wait like...ten minutes? I'll be going on break then. I'll give you something on the house." he said, giving her a wink.

"Sure, I don't mind waiting...I guess I'll take some of those sugar cookies, and that slice of marble cake." she said, staring at the sweets hungrily, it was only then that she realized how hungry she truly was. He rolled his eyes, grabbing her requested items.

"There you go, I'll be over in a flash." he said.

True to his word, after ten minutes, he had gotten Helga to replace him at the register, and he walked toward the other end of the store. He slid into the booth across from the girl who was still munching on her cookies, glancing at her phone every so often. Once he had sat down, she set it aside, looking up at him.

"I want to apologize...I ended up telling someone...about the book." she said.

"Oh...who did you tell?"

"Ashlynn...I just couldn't take it. Ever since that day, I was thinking about it, wondering if it was the right choice or not. Part of me still wants to tell the Headmaster, but I'll definitely get the heat, after what we did with it."

"What I did with it, you mean." Blake said, taking a sip from his tea.

"Blake, you know that you, me and Kitty are all responsible for the book being missing. I found it, I should have given it back...but I couldn't...I couldn't lose my friends. It was eating at me, and was always coming back to me...I didn't want to bother you or Kitty so I held it in. Finally that bottle exploded and I had to tell, thankfully Ashlynn is a good person, and she isn't going to tell. She's got her own reasons." Briar said, earning a nod from the boy.

"It's fine...I don't blame you for telling. It doesn't bother me much, not like it would for someone from here. But it's better than the alternative...you sleeping for a hundred years, Ashlynn losing Hunter and her mother the second she graduates, my sister signing the book and becoming evil...it's just...good for it to be gone. Sure, it's somewhere in Wonderland, but better there than here right?" he asked, a smile on his face.

"Until someone breaks into Wonderland and finds it. No one but us and Ash know it's there...but what if someone from Wonderland finds it? Alistair Wonderland, Bunny Blanc and Meriwether Knave are still over there. What if one of them finds it and tries to bring it back?" she asked.

"Briar, calm down. As far as they know, all of the portals to Ever After are closed after the quarantine. So I doubt they would try to get back here, and if they do find the book, they can't really do anything. Unless they sign their names in the book and claim their destinies. The most likely case is someone will find it, and either hide it or hand it over to the Queen and...oh that would be bad." he said, cringing a bit.

"See? If they turn it over to the Queen of Hearts, the proverbial shit hits the fan. I don't want to offend Lizzie or anything, but her mother batshit crazy. Imagine that woman with the Storybook of Legends...it wouldn't bode well for anyone."

"Well...what do you want to do? You wanna take a journey to Wonderland and retrieve it? I've got no issue taking a swim down the rainbow river." he said, jabbing his finger in the direction of Wonderland Grove.

"If only it were that easy. We can't, the Well of Wonder moves around remember? It's enchanted with the insanity that is Wonderland Magic, so finding it is impossible unless we run into it by chance. Let's say we make it to Wonderland, what do we do then? Where would we go? What would we do?" Briar said, poking her sugar cookie with her finger. Blake sighed, finishing his tea.

"You're right...going to Wonderland right now wouldn't be ideal. It's testing week, people would start questioning where we are...the flies would be all over the ointment and inside the damn tube. But...there is one time we could sneak away...the Spring Fairest."

"Huh? The Spring Fairest?"

"Mhmm...think about it, for an entire week Ever After High will celebrate the coming of Spring. So that means no one will be paying attention to who shows up and who doesn't. We can go to Wonderland, find the book, come back before the Fairest ends, and there, problem solved."

"Easier said than done...who the hell would we take as our map?"

"Kitty, she knows her way around, it's her home...we just gotta wait for the opportune moment. During battle of the bands, it happens on the first day, so after Purple Rhapsody's performance, we leave." he said.

"Hmm...alright, I guess that'll do. This is all so scary though, I've never left Ever After." Briar said, a worried look on her face.

"You'll be fine, you've got a master of the sword right in front of you. I might pick up Cerise too, just so she doesn't suspect something. She will definitely be a big help...Briar, we'll be fine okay? Everything will work out just fine." he said, a reassuring smile on his face.

"Blake...why do you always do this? Why are you so selfless?"

"Selfless? Is that what you call helping your friends? I dunno...I just want to see people smile and be happy. I'll do whatever it takes...I spent too long making people disappointed and sad, so I want to make up for that and make people smile. So don't worry, we'll be fine."

"Okay...I'll trust those words Blake." Briar said happily.

"I gotta get back to work, if you want more cookies than stick around. Ginger usually gives me the broken ones for free. Would you like a refill on your chocolate?"

"Sure, thanks Blake." the brown haired princess said, a smile on her face.

 _ **xxx**_

"Interesting...a plan to head to Wonderland...this is all falling onto my plate rather easily. Now I've got proof of Blake's involvement and both of them mentioned Kitty. Now that I've got this information, I can definitely use it against Blake. That conversation with Apple is what I am looking forward to the most...this is definitely going to be a wonderful year, I can already tell." Joey said, dropping onto his bed, a grin on his face.


	39. The Prank

**A/N:**

 **Huzzah! Late Night Post! Welcome to Chapter 39 of Through the Looking Glass. Can you believe it? 39 chapters and still the name fails to elude me. Anyway, it is cold as titties up here in New England, and even though I have plastic on all my windows, the cold air manages to seep in. It's like the cold hands of Father Frost are working their way into my house, choking me with their cold, wrinkly fingers, running its nails across my back, sending chills down my spine...sorry about that, it's just fucking cold.**

 **In the last two chapters, you got to see Joey start his plan...ultimately this will end with various things happening in the coming chapters. In this chapter however, you all get to see Blake give him a little payback, for what he did in the previous one. After all, Blake doesn't like cheaters, and he doesn't like thieves, so obviously he was going to get back at him for performing that very beautiful song about Lucy. I'm not sure if you listened to it, but yeah, it's a powerful song, that made me cry the first time I heard it...Skillet is truly a beautiful band. In this chapter, Blake will do something very very mean, but oh so very deserving, and I'm sure you'll love the little payback Joey gets at the end of this chapter.**

 **Of course, this payback will only add fuel to the fire that Blake doesn't even know was lit. This will ultimately make Joey even more angry as he goes full steam on his conquest to destroy Blake's life. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on this chapter, it makes me happy to hear your comments.**

 **Man, day 2 of 2018...and already it's looking grand...and cold...oh so very cold...my nipples are so hard they can cut diamond...yes, it is that cold. But, it isn't cold enough to prevent me from posting! This one is all yours! I hope you like this chapter and I hope you look forward to reading more from this filler arc, as all of this will culminate in Spring Unsprung...so open your hearts, and get ready, because starting Chapter 40, It's about to go down! It's gonna go down, and a lot of stuff will happen...I know I maybe over hyping it, but you all will get to see just how far Joey goes to get what he wants. It will be an excellent set up for the Blue Moon Forest Fest and Way Too Wonderland, where the truth behind everything shall be revealed.**

 **What truth you may ask? Aha! That is a truth that shall be revealed in Way Too Wonderland...heh...look forward to it. Remember to review, favorite and follow the story, help this story reach fifteen thousand views by the end of the month, that will be awesome...we're already at 11,000 so I know we can reach it!**

Ever After High

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 39

The Prank

Blake hadn't felt so awkward in his life. As soon as he told Ginger he needed an apple pie, she already knew who it was for. She was a sweet girl, one of the sweetest he had ever met, but she was also a bit of a gossiper. Of course her gossip came from her enemy turned best friend Helga who helped her out with most of the baking. He was convinced she was just helping her so she could eat the messed up or rejected sweets that came out of the oven. Ginger hadn't held back on the questions, especially those revolving around Apple White and how she had pinned him to the ground. Apparently, she had been one of the students present when it happened and she had seen the entire scene, even the part where he spit in her face. It wasn't the best moment of his life, but he had watched Titanic plenty of times to know that was a good way to get free from someone's grasp.

She hadn't just given him an apple pie, she had given him apple fritters, caramel apples, and an apple cobbler, all for the princess. She just said it was a late Christmas bonus, even though she had already given him one before they closed for the season. Helga just gave him a smile and a pat on the back, wishing him luck. She also asked him for the left overs, to which he vehemently refused. So now he was back in his dorm, with various pastries and sweets on his desk, all apple themed, holding back a hungry Cadence as he waited for the blonde princess.

He honestly didn't know what he was going to say or do. He had asked Cerise for help, and all she gave him was a small pep talk. She had told him to own up for spitting in her face, and if he had gotten a boner from Apple's grinding that he as a man had to deal with it. He often wondered why his girlfriend was so open to him and the situations he found himself in. He often wondered if Ever After was just throwing those situations at him just to test him. As if living in a world filled with Fairytale children wasn't enough of a test. He was living his own anime, and sometimes it was a cruel world to be in. Other times, it was peachy...and sometimes blonde princesses got shot with love arrows and thought it best to hump you in public. A knock on his door jolted him from his thoughts, and he jumped to his feet.

" _God, if you are out there in this world...please help me. This is gonna be an awkward ass conversation, and I need all the help I can get. Amen."_ he thought, clapping his hands together. He took a deep breath, opening the door.

"Hi Apple." he said softly, earning a smile from the blonde princess.

"Hello Blake, may I come in?"

"Sure, come on in." he said, allowing the girl into his room. He closed the door, closing his eyes for a second to regain his thoughts before heading back to his desk.

"Ginger gave me a lot of stuff so...you can help yourself. I'm gonna...put an anime on or something." he said, grabbing his laptop. Anime truly did make him calm when he needed to be. Thanks to Jessica and her constant trips to Earth, she always got something new to watch.

"Thank you Blake...I actually haven't tried Ginger's apple fritters yet. I want to see if they're better than my mom's." she said, taking one from the container. As she sat down on the bed, Cadence jumped up to it, placing her head on Apple's lap, giving her a pleading look. Blake sighed, shaking his head.

"Alright Cadence, you can have one candy apple, just one. Too many sweets will rot your teeth. You can go ahead and give her one Apple." he said, earning a nod from the blonde.

"Well Blake, let's talk about the elephant in the room. I would like to apologize for what I did to you yesterday. I don't remember much of it, all I remember is someone calling my name and then it's all a blur. Blondie showed me a video and some pictures and...I just felt so embarrassed."

"It's alright Apple, you were hypnotized by those love arrows. They make you do some crazy shit, just like an ounce of Chronic. What I'm getting at is, it's alright...I don't blame you. In fact, I should apologize to you. After all, I was the one who spit in your face." he said, earning a giggle from the girl.

"That's true...the shocked look I had really startled me. Especially that weird look afterwards, and the fact that I stuffed that napkin in my shirt as a keepsake. Does love really drive people insane?"

"I'm not sure, love is a drug...and it'll make you do some dumb crazy shit. Oh...I've been meaning to watch Re:Zero...looks like the perfect time to start." he said, loading up the first episode.

"I actually came here not just to talk, but to make a formal request. Could you not talk to anyone about what happened? The Headmaster already addressed the matter and all of those videos and pictures have been pulled from the School Server, though I doubt they're off the MirrorNet for good. I just...don't want my mother seeing that stuff." she said.

"It's alright...if your mother is like you, then she wouldn't be okay with seeing something like that. Her daughter tackling a handsome young man, talking about sex and children while humping him, yeah...no parent wants to see their daughter do that." he said, making the blonde blush crimson.

"Don't remind me, jeez! It's so embarrassing! Especially when people ask me if I felt anything...I don't want to even think about sex until I'm married!" she cried, glancing away from the boy.

"I'm just teasing. It'll stay between us, I've already deleted all of the pictures that were taken, from Lizzie's phone, the messages she sent to Kitty. I sifted through Maddie's phone, went through Ginger's and the only one I didn't get to was Blondie, but I'm sure you made her delete them."

"Mhmm, from her phone, tablet, computer, flash drive, back up computer, laptop, second tablet and from Just Right's servers."

"Jesus...that one covered her bases...I'm impressed. Still, it'll be fine...everyone will just remember that day and laugh. I won't, but people will...you'll see." Blake said, taking a bite from one of the candy apples, quickly going in for a second one.

"There's something else I have to address. Cupid explained to me how the arrows work, they take admiration and turn it into love, on most cases. If you are given a rose cultivated by a cherub, then the love poison fades, and the rose changes colors based on that emotion. Most of them turn yellow, some turn pink and some turn red. Red is romance, pink is meant to be together, and yellow and orange are admiration, friendship and trust. This is my rose." she said, pulling the rose from inside her purse, holding out to the boy.

"It's pink...oh...oh." the boy said, bowing his head slightly.

"Yeah...I feel...conflicted right now. Here I am, the fairest of them all, and I'm having doubts. Ever since Raven refused to sign the Storybook of Legends, I've been wanting to...no I needed my destiny. After Thronecoming, I started thinking about something else...what would it be like, to be someone else? I love my destiny, I want nothing more than to follow it...but after the Winter Formal, I have started doubting my destiny."

"Huh? You're joking right now...aren't you Apple?" he asked. She shook her head, petting Cadence's snout.

"I'm not...I started thinking about it from another perspective. Raven called me selfish during Thronecoming, because I wanted her to do the right thing and sign the book. But I started thinking, what would it be like if I was the daughter of the Evil Queen? What would it be like if I was in her position, knowing that I wasn't evil, but I was being forced to be, because of destiny. It made me sick, it made me wonder...if everything I've known is wrong. I don't want my story to disappear, I don't want to lose my friends, but I can't help but think about what it would be like...without the Storybook of Legends." She said, earning a nod from the boy, who was slowly nibbling on his apple. He wiped the caramel from his mouth with a napkin, glancing at the ceiling.

"It's alright to have doubts. We're all teenagers, how old you? Seventeen right?" he asked, earning a nod from her.

"I'll be turning eighteen in May, then it's two more years until graduation." she said, not at all excited.

"Then what I say is this, make the most of those two years. Don't focus on destiny, don't focus on the future. Because if you do, then you won't enjoy the little things, the here and now. Once you graduate, you can decide what to do, whether you follow Snow White's footsteps and become the next Queen of Ever After, or decide to be something else. That will be up to you, but don't let destiny take the present from you, because you'll definitely regret it in the future." he said firmly, giving her a smile.

"I...think I get why my flower turned pink now. This right here proves it...you're giving us all hope...even the Royals that are hardset on being Royals, and the Rebels who want to write their destinies. Before you arrived, this school was split in half, right down the middle...but thanks to you, and Raven and everyone, the school is finally back together. Royals and Rebels are friends, no one is worried about destiny anymore. It's because you are giving so many people hope...and I guess my heart turned that hope into love."

"Oh...oh god, this isn't a confession is it? I've seen this moment before, once one girl confesses, several more will take their place. I don't want a harem, those are too hard to handle." Blake said, a worried look on his face.

"What...what are you talking about? This isn't a confession! Yes, I'm in love with you, no I'm not going to confess it like some cheesy anime character."

"You just did though."

"Blake Bigby, I will slap you with my ring hand if you don't let me speak!" the blonde snapped, causing the boy to shut up. She gave a firm nod, taking a deep breath.

"It's out in the open, so I guess we'll discuss it. Yes, I do have feelings for you...it's hard not to. You are so kind and caring, and you help anyone that needs help. Those are all good qualities, that make you shine...so I couldn't help myself. But I know that we aren't destined to be together, despite what the roses say, you aren't my prince charming, so I can't act on these feelings. You being my friend is more than enough." she said.

"Oh...Apple I'm so sorry...this must be hard for you but...I'll always be there for you alright? You were my first friend here in Ever After, and I can't turn you away. Hey, I got an idea on how we can become better friends."

"You do?" she asked curiously, earning a nod from the boy. He stood up from his seat, smirking as he tugged on his cloak a bit.

"I'm gonna turn you into an anime geek. I've wanted to start a MirrorCast for awhile now, to bring the joys of anime into the world of Ever After. What better way to do that than to have the Fairest of the Halls to watch anime and get her genuine reactions on them?" he said.

"That sounds like fun...I am rather interested in learning more about your world and its entertainment. Lizzie and Kitty have told me about a few series that they've watched, so I'm at least intrigued...I guess I could take some time and play a few of your worlds games too."

"Awesome...we can start right now, all I have to do is get on the MirrorCast, create our channel and get everything set up. You'll be watching an anime called Madoka Magica." he said.

"Madoka Magica, what's it about?" she asked curiously. He chuckled under his breath, his focus on his desk top.

"Well, it's an anime about magical girls fighting evil and stuff. That's all I'm gonna say because the anime will be ruined. Have you finished all of your tests yet?"

"I've got a few left."

"Alright, then we can watch the first three episodes and get your reactions for them, that'll give us three videos for now. You are either gonna love me or hate me for the anime I'm starting you off with." he said.

"Oh boy...when you say something like that, it usually means it's gonna be bad." she said, earning a chuckle from the boy. Hearing that didn't really make her calm down.

 _ **xxx**_

"So, Apple told me you started an anime channel. What did you start her with?" Lizzie asked, earning a smirk from Blake who looked up from his breakfast.

"Madoka Magica...she got really into it, until episode three at least. Mami's decapitation hit her hard." he said, earning a smile from the Princess of Hearts.

"It's true...it hit me rather hard too. So, what exam do you have today?"

"Sword Training, it's finally my time to shine. Mr. Knight told me to meet him at the Legacy Plaza, that my test would begin right after...but I've got no idea what I'm up against." he said.

"Well, I wish you luck. Me and the Princesses are going to take our Princessology exams right now, and that isn't a fun class after awhile. All that smiling really hurts...I'll talk to you later."

"Bye Liz...hey, is Kitty in her dorm? I need to talk to her, about what happened with the love poison incident." he said.

"She should be free right now, she doesn't have any exams until ten, so she's probably sleeping in...good luck waking her up if that's the issue. Be seeing you." she said, giving him a wave as she left the castleteria. Blake quickly finished his breakfast, grabbing an apple for the road as he headed toward the dorms.

He had until eight thirty to show up for his exam, and it was currently 7:55, so he had thirty-five minutes to waste until it was his time. After speaking with Apple, he felt the need to check in on Kitty and Duchess. He had to make sure they were doing fine after that mishap. Now that he knew what the colors of each flower represented, he had to make sure they hadn't turned pink, the last thing he needed was two more girls liking him, knowing he couldn't be with them. He was raised to have good morals, and that meant sticking by one person. He wasn't going to turn into Ever After's Issei Hyoudo. He respected his friends, which is why he needed to speak with Kitty and Duchess. He had tried speaking with the Swan Princess but she took off, saying she had to finish her Dance midterm, so he decided to check on Kitty instead.

He reached her and Maddie's shared dorm and knocked on the door, hoping she was at least awake. He had seen Maddie and Raven heading off into Bookend before their test so he knew her roommate was gone. The door swung open a second later, Kitty Cheshire's grin greeted him. He didn't even get a word in before he was pulled into the room.

"You made it just in time, I need you to brush my hair."

"Huh? Seriously?" Blake asked, getting a black hair brush shoved into his hands. She nodded, walking over to her vanity mirror.

"I'm gonna be talking to my mom so I can't have my hands full. I've already washed it, all you need to do is brush it...just like you do with Cerise." she said, sitting down in front of her mirror.

"Kitty, you need to stop snooping on our love life. How the hell did you find out I brush Cerise's hair?" he asked, a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"I was making my way down town, walking fast, faces past when I spotted Cerise and Ramona. So I decided to follow them, you know...to make sure they're secrets were safe with each other and myself. That's a free service I offer you know." she said with a giggle. He flicked her nose, her grin growing wider.

"Whatever, you know I've never seen you with your hair down. It's weird, but...it looks nice." he said, starting the process of brushing her hair, making sure it was free of knots and tangles.

"Thank you. Consider brushing it a reward then...before I call my mom, I'd like to talk to you about the love poison thing. I'm sorry alright? I saw a few videos of me and I'm really embarrassed. I told everyone that someone just pranked me and that it was a joke on my expense but...it wasn't a joke." she said, her grin turning into a frown.

"Hey, it's alright. Sure, being chased by a teleporting cat hellbent on catching me isn't fun. But hey, it's alright...you're my friend so I forgive you. Now, where's that rose so I can check the color?" he asked.

"It's right here, don't worry, it turned orange." she said, pulling open one of her drawers, pulling the rose from inside, handing it to the boy who looked it over. She closed the drawer just in time for him not to see the can of orange paint she was hiding.

"Hmm...Apple told me orange meant friendship and trust...is that honestly what you feel for me?"

"Duh, you're like...my best friend forever after. You're...important to me, just like Lizzie is...you're one of the few people who actually talks to me. Who don't ignore me or gets mad at me for my pranks, you understand what I'm going through, being unable to head home. That's why that rose turned orange." she said. The boy held the flower to his nose, raising a brow.

"That's interesting...I didn't think roses here in Ever After smelled like fresh paint."

"Ehehe...will you brush my hair already? I gotta test to go to." she said, pulling the rose from his hand. He shook his head, once again going back to his previous task.

"So, am I gonna get to meet Momma Cheshire?" he asked.

"Mhmm, I've told her about you. We need to get some pranks going Blake, it's been stale and dry. We need to bring cheer to these dreary halls during this awful testing period. Then I can show my mom how awesome we are." she said, tracing her glowing finger in the air, forming what looked like a cat's face. Blake looked up, in time to see what looked like a sewer system with flowing rainbow water falling in all directions.

He also saw a person, who looked to be sleeping. The Cheshire Cat was a middle aged woman, with long violet hair tied into a long ponytail. She wore a light periwinkle and blue top with a black mini skirt and black leggings. She wore a gray fur vest, matching the fur on the skirt. She also wore a pair of sharp violet heels on her feet. Atop her head she wore a cat ear accessory, black in color with glittering sequins in it. She cracked open a single eye, glancing in Kitty's direction.

"Kitty honey, what's the occasion for this call?" the woman asked, her voice oozed sarcasm and mischief. Kitty smiled waving at her mother.

"Hi mom, I just wanted to tell you I'm going to the last of my tests here. I'll show you the report card when I get it back. I wanted to let you know that we're going to pull some pranks later today, me and Blake here."

"Wait huh? I never agreed to pranking anyone today! I got Sword Training in like, twenty minutes." he said, looking at one of the clocks in the room. Due to his closeness with the Wonderland students, he had learned how to read Wonderland time, it was a rather useful thing to know, especially when you were in Riddlish.

"Is that the boy you've been talking to me about? The one from the other world?" the Cheshire Cat asked, earning a nod from Kitty. Blake finished putting the girl's hair up in its normal twin tails, setting the brush down.

"Um, Hello Mrs. Cheshire, I'm Blake Bigby, it's a pleasure to finally meet you...and an honor...huge fan by the way." he said. The woman rose a brow, smirking a bit.

"Are you know? I've never met a fan before...call me Cheshire dear, no need to add that dreadful Mrs. to the beginning. Have you been taking care of my Kitten while I've been here?"

"Definitely...we're the best of friends, and it's great to have someone who gets what I'm going through. Well...the being stuck in another world without having a way to get back bit. Not the Evil Queen stabbing a mirror into your chest bit." he said.

"Oh...so Mira truly did stab you in the chest...I'm surprised. I didn't think she would do that to someone that meant to much to her." the woman said, earning a confused look from both Blake and Kitty.

"What do you mean by that Mom?"

"Nothing...nothing at all, just ignore the ramblings of this old cat. I hear the Spring Fairest is happening soon...I might just pop in for a visit. The Well of Wonder is a bit hard to find, but I think I can manage. Maybe you can show me some good pranks while I'm there...seeing as Kitty only focuses on slapstick." the Cheshire Cat said, earning a frown from her daughter.

"Come on mom, you know throwing ice cream at people is funny, especially if they fall into some mud right after. It's just so funny seeing them shouting angrily, and if they're wearing white it's even better."

"I'll admit, that is fun to watch...but you have to prepare yourself. Remember, one day you'll have my job and you can't have that Alistair boy solve all of your riddles and pranks."

"I know...I need to go mom, I'm gonna be late for my test." Kitty said.

"It was nice meeting you Cheshire, hopefully we'll meet in Ever After for real." Blake said happily.

"I look forward to it boy, take care of my kitten while I'm gone." she said, giving him a wink before the line ended. Kitty sighed, shaking her head.

"Sorry about that Blake, my mom likes to remind me how much better she is at being the Cheshire Cat. I try hard, but I don't think I'll be able to best her work." she said, deflating a bit.

"Come on Kitty, that isn't true...sure your pranks are mean spirited, but come on, that kid was asking for it. It wasn't his fault that mud puddle was in front of him, and it wasn't your fault that you _tripped_ and threw your ice cream at him harder than a baseball. It's just bad luck." he said with a shrug, earning a giggle from her.

"You're right, it was just bad luck...I'll have to come up with something good. You already promised me you'd come up with a good prank for April Fools, so we need to work hard for the Spring Fairest. That way I can finally show my mom that I can handle her role and then some." she said, jumping to her feet.

"Awesome, I'll start the battle plan...we haven't given a few people a warm welcome. Darling hasn't been pranked yet, and neither has Joey or Jack...so we can definitely get them." he said.

"Yes, that would be awesome...hey, where's your cloak? You usually wear it all the time since getting it. You look a bit odd without it." she said.

"Cadence fell asleep on it and ended up getting some drool on it. So I gave it to Cerise to wash, she'll have it back to me by lunch time. I feel naked without it." he said, glancing toward Maddie's side of the room, seeing just how insane the girl was.

"It's true...I've got a few ideas on how to get Joey back...especially since he stole your song. I knew he was bullshitting from the second he got behind that mic, the bastard. We'll get him first, but before we go...Blake, would you like to stroke my pussy?" the girl asked sweetly, causing the boy to sputter.

"What...why the fuck would you ask me that?" he cried, a flush on his face. The girl turned around, a grin on her face. In her arms was a small black cat, purring contently.

"What? I just wanted you to stroke my pussy, it isn't that bad. Unless you have a perverted mind." she said innocently, earning a sigh from the boy. He started petting the cat, a small smile on his face.

"I had a cat growing up, he was a total asshole, but he was an awesome cat. This one is so fluffy." he said, taking the cat from her arms, hugging it slightly.

"Her name is Mittens, I've had her for a couple weeks. Her mom didn't make it through birth, after raising the kittens I gave them away to some good families, and kept her for myself. Anyway, I've got an idea on how we can get Joey back."

"Tell me more." he said, a grin on his face.

 _ **xxx**_

After the Sword Training exam, which had been rather interesting, Blake started heading toward Joey's dorm. Kitty's idea consisted of taking the unsuspecting brunette to a supposedly haunted place in the school, have him supposedly upset some spirit and then have him do a ritual. Of course he wasn't sure if he was going to buy it, but he did know that Joey did believe in the Spiritual and Paranormal stuff, so it would definitely pique his interest. Kitty had sent him a message, telling him to bring him to Ever After High's basement, which had been sealed off several years beforehand when the new cellar was made. To make it more believable, she was going to bring Raven with them, since she was a goth and she did have a genuine interest in the occult. Blake smirked as he fixed his cloak, knocking on Joey's door. He heard shuffling on the other end, and the slam of a drawer. A second later, Joey opened the door, looking the boy over before adopting a small smirk on his face.

"I thought after me taking your song, you wouldn't want to hang out with me for a bit."

"Well you thought wrong, I already got over that. Listen, I know you wanted to learn more about Ever After High, and every legend behind it. I heard there was this place that was forbidden for the students, some basement or some shit. I figured you'd wanna take a look." Blake said, an excited look on his face.

"A forbidden place? The hell are you telling me this shit for?" Joey asked, sounding a bit untrusting.

"Well, I remembered that you like paranormal shit so...I figured you'd want to explore a forbidden basement. I heard rumors from some of my other friends saying someone died there like forty years ago. Maybe they're still haunting the place...I dunno." the black haired boy said with a shrug. Joey narrowed his eyes, glancing to the side.

" _An abandoned basement, and someone could have died...I highly doubt that. But if it's forbidden then that means there is something in there that they're hiding. I could definitely use that to my advantage, seeing as I lost my bug on this idiot."_

"Eh...I'm not doing anything so sure, I'll bite." he said, grabbing his keys from the nearby hook. He closed his door following his friend down the hall.

"So, how was your last exam?" Blake asked, trying to make conversation.

"It was fine...I'm sure that I'll be passing. I know for a fact that I bombed Wonderland History and Riddlish though, I studied like a mother, but I know I failed horribly."

"I doubt it. If you gave it your all, then I'm sure you at least got a C...besides in this school it doesn't matter if you get credits or not. As long as you pass a class, you pass the year. Well, you have to pass all your classes of course."

"Well, at least that's better than schools in Toronto. Have you thought about what you'll do after graduation?" Joey asked curiously, earning a shrug from Blake.

"Maybe sneak into some stories, make sure my friends are doing alright. Giles Grimm said I could pass for a background character if I really wanted to make sure my friends were fine. I'll most likely help my sister with her music career." he said.

"You're sister? Raven right?"

"Yup."

"So...you've all but forgotten Sue and Mary then?" Joey asked, causing Blake to glare at him.

"I would never dare forget Sue and Mary. They may not be my blood sisters, but they are my family. Raven has been there for me as a sister when I've needed her the most, it's thanks to her that I have control over my magic, so I'll help her with anything." he said.

"Anything, even taking the over the world? I mean she is Raven Queen, and her destiny is to kill Apple White. Would you allow your sister to kill your friend?"

"Joey, just shut up. I invited you out here to hang out, let's not start." Blake said, shoving his hands in his jean pockets. Joey smirked inwardly, glancing at his watch, which was tucked into his pocket.

"That's a nice watch...what is it, gold?"

"White gold, gold, silver and platinum. Cerise spent a lot of money on it, and I love her for it. I didn't think she'd get me something so expensive though. Well, I did get her a charm bracelet which cost me quite a lot." he said.

"Mhmm, and you got Lizzie and Kitty necklaces, and you got Raven some custom headphones. You got some of your other friends some stuff too, but you didn't get me anything."

"I gave you a second chance at my friendship. That's enough of a gift, especially after all the things that have happened between us. We started a blank slate, yet you still bullshit." Blake said, earning a growl from Joey. Of course the boy was saying that to rile him up, and had gotten the desired effect.

"Fair enough...let's just focus on this basement." Joey said, earning a nod from the black haired boy.

" _Fuckin prick, you'll get yours Blake, I assure you...especially with the information on the Storybook of Legends."_ he thought to himself.

They reached a back area of the first floor and opened a wooden door, leading downstairs. Once they reached the bottom, they reached another hallway, which lead into another area. There were some empty classrooms in this place, all of them being tightly locked. Blake was a bit unnerved by the low lighting, the massive amounts of dust and cobwebs, but he didn't hide it. The last thing he needed was Joey getting pictures of him being scared. They reached an area where the lights weren't working, but some firelight could be seen ahead. Blake pulled out his MirrorPhone and turned on his flashlight app, shining it down the hall.

"This is...pretty interesting. I didn't know Ever After had a lower school." Joey said.

"This was apparently the original area before they built up. This place used to be a humble school before one of the Snow White's commissioned a castle. Snow White has been very influential in Ever After, so every generation has donated something to the school. The current Snow White remodeled the castleteria."

"How generous of her." Joey said sarcastically. Blake decided to ignore that last comment. He thought the current Snow White's contribution had been amazing, especially with all of the improvements that was done to it.

"Hey you guys, about time you showed up!" Kitty cried, happily greeting the two. Raven glanced up from her MirrorPhone, lowering her violet headphones from her head.

"Hey Kitty, Hi sis...have you been here for long?" Blake asked, briefly hugging Raven.

"Not really, we've been here for fifteen minutes. Kitty told me you wanted to check out the forbidden basement so I hurried down here."

"I don't trust you. I bet you this is all some sort of plan you three have on me so that Raven can steal my soul." Joey cried, earning a glare from Blake.

"First off shit head, Raven isn't like that. She's the nicest person I've ever met, second you can't steal someone's soul. Just because she's the daughter of the Evil Queen doesn't mean she's evil." he snapped.

"It's fine Blake, let him think what he wants, it doesn't bother me in the slightest." the violet haired girl said, a firm look on her face. He could tell she was hurt, but she didn't want to discuss it. Kitty grabbed a crowbar, jabbing it into one of the boards. She pulled back as hard as she could, unable to break it off.

"Wow, these nails must be really long. Blake mind helping me?" she asked.

"Sure thing, we'll pull together. Don't worry Joey, I got this." he said, earning a scoff from the brunette. He and Kitty pulled the crowbar back, snapping the wooden board off. They did the same with the other two, finally getting access to the door. Blake tested it, only for it to be locked.

"Aw...I thought it would be unlocked...guess we'll have to find the key." Kitty said.

"That's gonna be hard. Do you actually think the Headmaster will just leave it out in the open? This looks like an old lock too." Raven said. Blake smirked, pulling his enchanted pin from his watch chain.

"Don't worry, I got one of Blondie's enchanted bobby pins, I'll have us in lickety split." he said, placing the golden pin in the lock.

"How the hell did you manage to get one of her pins? It's nearly impossible." Joey asked.

"What do you need one of Blondie's pins for? Trying to snoop through our stuff?" the daughter of the Evil Queen asked, earning a smirk from the brunette.

"Ha, don't flatter yourself honey, I'm not gonna snoop through your shit. But maybe I want a pair of Apple's panties for myself...hypothetically speaking." the brunette said.

"Really close to jabbing him in the throat." Blake said softly, earning a giggle from Kitty.

"You know Joey, I'm surprised you have friends. You have such a dirt bag personality, your selfish, self absorbed and so disgusting. I catch you talking about Apple like that, or call me honey again, I'll turn you into a bone rat." Raven said firmly, her hands glowing a brilliant purple. Joey nodded, fearful of the girl's magic power. A soft click filled the room, and Blake threw the doors open, a cold blast of wind hitting the two.

"This part of the school must not be heated. I'm surprised this basement still is." Blake said, shivering a bit.

"Well, let's go." Kitty said cheerfully, taking the first step. Blake followed after her, still holding onto the crowbar. Joey and Raven followed after, each of them holding their MirrorPhones as flashlights.

"What do you think is down here?" Blake asked curiously, a bit of mist leaving his lips.

"According to some old school records, this place used to be a storage area. Back during the sixth generation of stories, this place was a working functioning school area. It was closed down for some reason, and everyone moved up while the fourth and fifth floor additions were being built." Raven said.

"Do you know the reason?" Joey asked curiously.

"Not really...someone said a background character was murdered down here. As you know, all of us belong in a respective story. We are classed into Major characters, minor characters, and background characters. There are a lot of students here in Ever After who fit into the background character role, so they're all taking background character classes."

"So basically, they're taught a basic education so they can get by in life. And then when they graduate they're expected to become a baker or a florist?" Joey said, earning a sigh from Blake.

"That's just how things work in Ever After. You and I my friend, are in that category...we got no fate of our own. But at least we're the main characters of our own stories." Blake said, a smile on his face.

"And if Blake marries Cerise, he'll become a main character too. He'll be the loving husband waiting for Little Red to come home." Kitty said, earning a blush from the boy. Joey glared at Blake, but said nothing.

"Hey Rae, I got a question for you. If your mom is the Evil Queen, and she's Snow White's step mom, does that mean your Snow White's step sister?"

"Yes it does...family gatherings are weird, if you're wondering. Especially when Apple White is your step-niece. Before coming to Ever After High, we didn't really talk to each other, but we were at least on good terms." she replied. Joey chuckled, shaking his head.

"How was Christmas?" he asked, glancing at the goth.

"I didn't speak with my step-sister if you were curious. Me and my dad spent time together, but he is a king. Apple and I did have a bit of a sleepover in her room, it was awkward."

"How though? Aren't you roommates? It's basically the same thing." Kitty said.

"Yeah, no. Not when you are forced to share a bed with her and she giggles in her sleep. She's also the hugging kind, so imagine waking up with her face in your boobs at three in the morning, and you gotta piss like a race horse."

"I've never heard a woman speak like this in my life. Holy shit, I'm impressed." Joey said, earning a chuckle from Blake.

"Come on, Lucy was the same. We had a burping contest in the school cafeteria and she beat the two of us, and the head cheerleader. Don't even get me started on the spitting contest." he said, remembering the fond memories of his best friend.

They stopped in front of another set of double doors. Blake slipped the pin into the lock, and with a few twists managed to open the lock. The four students walked into the room, glancing around. The room was rather large, and filled with various pieces of furniture all covered in dark white sheets covered in dust. There were some old wooden desks stacked near the very back of the room, along with some mobile blackboards. A chandelier hung from the center of the room, covered with copious amounts of dust and cobwebs. Since the basement was underground, there were no windows in the room, so the only light coming in was from their flashlights.

"It's fucking cold as shit in here." Blake muttered, walking into the room.

"Tell me about it, if my nipples get any harder they'll poke through my shirt."

"TMI Joey, TMI." Raven said, a tone of distaste in her tone. Kitty giggled, her lips splitting into a grin. She disappeared, flashing in front of Blake making him scream.

"Jesus, don't fucking do that!"

"I couldn't help myself. This place is really cool isn't it? It's all old and junk." she said, earning a nod from the boy, who gave her a knowing smirk. She walked past him, tripping one of the wires she had set up. They all let out a surprised scream as one of the desks fell to the ground, a loud bang echoing through the room.

"What was that?" Raven asked, earning a sigh from Joey.

"One of the desks, bet it was already about to fall...bad luck on our part." the boy said, checking it over with his flashlight.

"Maybe this place really is haunted. I heard rumors saying that someone was murdered here...right where you are standing Joey." Kitty said, causing the boy to look up, seeing he was underneath the chandelier. He glanced down at the floor, running his finger on the cracked tiles.

"There's a lot of dust, but I don't see any blood."

"This happened generations ago, do you actually think there would be any blood remains? I seriously doubt it." Blake said. He grabbed a hold of another string, pulling it slightly, making one of the cloths flutter until it fell, revealing several musical instruments underneath.

"Whoa...what the hell?" Joey muttered.

"I don't like this you guys...this is really scary." Raven said, genuinely afraid. Blake walked over to Kitty, leaning closer when Joey examined the instruments.

"Did you tell Rae about this?" he whispered.

"Hehe, nope...what...it wouldn't be genuine if Joey was the only one scared." she said, giving him a grin. He shook his head, walking over to the brown haired boy.

" _Sorry Rae, guess you're a victim of circumstance in this little prank of ours."_ he thought, feeling really bad. He examined the instruments, recognizing several of them.

"Two double basses, a tuba, a harp, several violins...looks like these are backups for the orchestra. But, Mr. Piper's room has several of these instruments already."

"Well...maybe the Pied Pipers from before stored these down here just in case...weird that this cloth came off though." Joey said, glancing at the cloth. His eyes widened a bit when he turned it over and he saw a dark red stain on it.

"What the fuck is that?" Kitty snapped, her hand shaking a bit as she pointed her light at the cloth. Raven traced her finger over it, her finger tip glowing with magic. Her eyes widened a bit when she looked up at them.

"I used an identification spell, and it's telling me this is blood."

"Oh...okay, so someone totally died here...nope, I gotta get out." Blake said, walking toward the door. Joey scoffed, shaking his head.

"You pussy. This blood is dried and old, obviously this happened years ago." he said. They heard another loud slam behind them and turned around, seeing one of the blackboards had turned to face them.

"Hehe...that's weird huh?" Raven said.

"Yes it is...maybe we should get out of here, in case this place is haunted...what do you say Kitty? Kitty...Kitty where are you?" Blake asked, aiming his light around the room. He noticed the girl was gone.

"Yo Cheshire! This isn't fuckin funny!" Joey shouted, his voice echoing through the room. Another bang filled the room, and that's when the three noticed the doors had been forcefully shut. Blake moved toward them, twisting the knobs as hard as he could, rattling the doors.

"They're locked! I can't open them!"

"What about the pin, did you try the pin?" Raven asked, genuine fear written in her voice. He reached down for his watch, patting the chain, slipping the pin into his shirt sleeve.

"No...it's gone! I must have dropped it somewhere...quick use your lights to look around." he said, using his phone to look around the floor.

"I swear to Christ, if this is a joke I'm going to wring out your necks." Joey said.

"This isn't a fucking joke asshole...why would I joke about this?"

"Well I dunno, maybe it's because Cheshire can teleport and she's not here right now." the brown haired boy said.

"I'm right here, sorry...I was looking inside this trunk." Kitty said, shining her light at a large trunk which was tucked in the back of the room. The three moved toward it, seeing nothing but a skeleton inside. Joey tapped it with his knuckles, sighing with relief.

"It's fake...one of those anatomic models." he said. He saw something else behind it, and pushed the trunk away, seeing a bookshelf filled with books. Blake gave a subtle nod to Kitty who took a couple steps back, using her invisibility to once again disappear. A second later, the sound of nails being run on a chalkboard filled the room, causing them all to turn around.

"Okay, we need to get out of here...now...I'm seriously starting to get scared!" Raven said.

"Aw come on, the Evil Queen's daughter is scared of a haunted room? I thought you lived this shit." Joey said, walking toward the board, he stopped when he saw a piece of chalk start floating in front of it.

"What the fuck?" Blake asked, eyes widened in shock. They all watched as the chalk started moving toward the board.

"Joseph Martineu, Blake Bigby, Raven Queen, Katherine Cheshire, you have broken a sacred spell cast on this room. My soul has been locked in here for hundreds of years, searching for a body. You have finally given me a suitable host."

"Don't read it out loud!" Blake said, slapping Joey's head.

"Ah...what? Are we just gonna sit by and not read it? This is some stupid shit...alright then magical chalk, who's soul are you?"

"I'm the soul of Brutta Sister, I was murdered by my older sister who was cursed with ugliness. She ran before signing the book, so my soul haunts this room...now I have finally found a suitable soul to take, that of Raven Queen!" Joey read, in an ominous voice.

"Brutta Sister...one of the Bella Sisters...they're story supposedly disappeared back during the sixth generation. Oh my godmother, this is what happened to them?"

"The Bella sisters? You mean from that story that was supposedly ripped from the Storybook of Legends?" Blake asked. Kitty flashed behind him, dropping her invisibility without letting anyone know.

"That's right, apparently the Bella Sisters didn't want to follow their fate, because they loved each other very much. So the eldest sister planned to run away before Legacy Day. They say that they both disappeared from not signing the book." she said.

"That's obviously bullshit. None of you have signed the real book right? So why are you still here if that's the case?" Joey asked, glaring at Kitty.

"That's because Brutta Bella was fucking murdered! They didn't sign the book, and if her older sister killed her before signing it, no one was there to become the next Bella Sister. Holy shit, I gotta get out of here before that soul takes me over!" Raven cried, running toward the doors, pulling them hard.

"Raven calm down...it's just a soul, what's the worst it can do?" Joey said. A loud choking sound filled the air as the boy was starting to be choked by an invisible force. He tried to grab in front of him, but no one was there, he dropped his phone to the floor, eyes widened in fear.

"No stop! Let him go Brutta! You don't have to do this! Take my soul, leave him alone!" Blake cried, causing the boy to be slammed into the ground. Joey let out a choked sigh, panting for breath as he felt around his neck, seeing nothing was there. Blake let out a scream, his body becoming still right after. Kitty who used the darkness to reappear beside the boy, started poking his face.

"Blake...are you alright? Hey talk to me! Cerise is gonna kill me if you aren't alive!" she cried. His eyes snapped open, causing her to scream in shock, falling back into some drums. The boy rose to his feet, unleashing a bit of his darkness magic, eyes glowing bright purple. He floated off the ground, voice sounding distorted.

" _Finally, I am once again among the living. Now that I have overtaken this mortal fool, I can use his magic to take over this school. Ever After High destroyed my family and my sister...now, its students will have to pay."_

"Oh my god, Jesus...fuck...I gotta get out of here!" Joey cried, running toward the doors.

" _You're attempts to escape are futile! I shall get my revenge by taking your souls first! Come, open your heart!"_ the overtaken boy said, raising his hand up, palm glowing violet. Joey kicked the door as hard as he could, breaking the lock, throwing it open. He broke into a sprint, running out of the hallway. Once he was out of ear shot, Blake and Kitty started laughing, with the boy falling to the ground.

"Oh my god, did you see his face? He was genuinely scared!" he said.

"I know, I gotta go...I need to get this on video!" Kitty said, grabbing her phone from the ground, flashing away just as fast. Raven who was still on the ground confused, forced herself to her feet.

"Blake, what are you doing?"

"Oh...I'm so sorry sis...me and Kitty set this up to prank him. Sorry Rae, I thought Kitty let you know, but we needed a genuine fearful reaction from you." he said. Raven pulled her fist back, punching the boy in the jaw as hard as she could, knocking him into some drums. She placed her hands on her hips, eyes glowing violet.

"You scared the shit out of me! I thought Brutta Bella was fucking overtaking your soul asshole! Shit."

"Okay...I deserve that...I'm sorry sis, really." the boy said, standing back up. He wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tightly. She sighed, closing her eyes as she settled into the embrace.

"No...sorry for hitting you little brother. You just...scared me alright? I thought you had been taken over by some ghost."

"Hehe, yeah...I really sold that shit didn't I?" he said. He grabbed his phone from the ground, taking a hold of his sister's hand.

"Come on, let's see Joe turn into a blubbering mess." he said, leading the girl back toward the main hall.

Meanwhile, Joey made out of the basement and into the foyer, panting for breath with tears in his eyes. He leaned up against some lockers, visibly shaken. His clothes were covered in dust and cobwebs. He was shaken slightly, a fearful look on his face.

"Joey my man, are you alright? You look like you saw a ghost!" Daring said.

"That's because I did man. Don't go into the basement, the ghost of Brutta Bella just possessed Blake! She's going to kill us all!" he cried, grabbing a hold of the boy's varsity jacket.

"What...huh? Brutta Sister? That girl that disappeared generations ago?"

"Yes, she was locked up in the back room of the old school. She took over Blake's body and is using his magic, she's gonna kill all of us!" Joey cried, his tone hysterical as he let go of the boy, backing into the lockers. He heard a giggle next to him and saw Kitty next to him, holding her phone up. It wasn't long before Blake and Raven appeared next to him, holding up their phones.

"Hey Joe, it was a prank bro." Blake said. Joey blinked a few times, realization hitting him in the face like a ton of bricks. He noticed everyone else was also filming him, including Blondie who was broadcasting live to the entire school.

"You fucking son of a bitch!" Joey shouted, earning a laugh from Blake who just flicked his nose.

"Next time you want to steal one of my songs and pass it off as one of your own, do better. We're even Steven now buddy, have fun with the mental trauma." he said, high fiving Kitty as the two walked away.

"Huh...what the fuck? How did you do it huh? I was fucking choked by something!" he said, earning a grin from Kitty.

"I can turn invisible, so I just blocked your mouth with my hand. I have no idea how you didn't feel me pressed up against you. Welcome to Ever After High, Joey...I hope you enjoy your time here." she said, giving the boy the biggest grin she could muster. Joey growled, punching the nearby locker hard enough to dent the door.

"I'm gonna get you two back, mark my words I will!"

"There's nothing with just a taste of what you paid for, calm down!" Blake said, giving the boy his own Cheshire grin. He and Kitty continued walking away. Joey bowed his head, hair covering his eyes.

" _I'm gonna get the two of you back...don't you worry. Blake, you're suffering is going to be twofold now, and that Cheshire Bitch, she's gonna want to disappear once I'm through with her."_ Joey said, smirking inwardly.


	40. The Aftermath

**A/N:**

 **Hey guys, and welcome to the 40th Chapter of Through the Looking Glass...man, it has been a wild ride, and it's about to get wilder. This is the final chapter in the small filler arc. The following three are going to be Prelude Chapters before Spring Unsprung, detailing everything that Joey is planning. Let's just say, it's about to go down. A lot of stuff is going to happen during those three chapters and I know for a fact that you are all going to hate me for what I am going to do...but I promise, it had to be done for the sake of the story. I will say nothing, but you shall look forward to it, for alas I have grabbed your attention.**

 **This chapter explores the aftermath of the Prank Blake and Kitty have pulled on Joey. I don't know where that prank came from, but I knew I had to do something to piss Joey off. So I decided to develop Blake and Kitty's relationship a bit since I've sort of left her out of more recent chapters, aside from the Heart Stuck chapter, as she was one of the focal characters. This chapter is the beginning of Joey's plot, so I do hope you enjoy it.**

 **Um...I'm not sure how many chapters Spring Unsprung will be, if you count the three prelude chapters, plus the usual five to six arc chapters I normally write, that's a nine chapter arc. That would actually make this the longest arc to date. After Spring Unsprung we are going into a short original three or four chapter arc, so it isn't going to be filler...well I suppose you can call it filler, but important filler. One of you has asked me if I'm going to explore and or expand on Blake's darkness magic, as he hasn't used it much, and I am happy to announce that I will be. The reason why Blake hasn't used his magic is because he has no need for it. He's a good person at heart, so he isn't going to make use of Darkness magic unless it's for self defense. I will most likely channel my inner Fairy Tail here and come up with a move set for this magic. Since he isn't originally from the Fairytale world, that means his magic can be crafted into anything he wants, at least that's my inclination.**

 **Well, I hope you like this chapter, review, follow and favorite my profile as always, of course that's for those that haven't. Um...if you have questions PM me, I'll do my best to answer your questions in a timely manner...and as always, have a good one!**

 **The song used in this chapter is called New World, by Charice. It's from the Final Fantasy XIII-2 soundtrack. Honestly, this series gets a lot of shit, but it is my favorite series in Final Fantasy. I don't care what people say about Seven, Nine or Ten. Final Fantasy XIII was my favorite, and yes I have played those other games, and they are good, but nothing beats the story for me. I hate how people say it isn't a true final fantasy game, when it clearly is.**

Ever After High

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 40

The Aftermath

Blake and Kitty were still laughing by the time they reached his dorm room. They had been looking at the videos from the hidden cameras Kitty had set up, having posted it straight to the _Just Right_ MirrorSite. Blondie was already discussing everything and congratulating the two on an amazing and well thought out prank. Now they were just laying back on his bed, riding the last of their mirth sharing their memories of the event. He had gotten a few texts from Cerise telling him that she would be by in a few minutes with some food so for now they would just wait. He let out a sigh, placing his foot up on the edge of his bed frame, hands under his head as he glanced up at the ceiling.

"You know Kitty, you just made it onto my BFFA list. I wasn't considering making one, but I wanted to update my MirrorBook profile with my closest friends so, congrats. You're getting moved up."

"Aw, that means a lot to me. That means I can consider you my BFFA too! Lizzie is gonna be so jealous, but after seeing those videos, I highly doubt it. Did you see that fear face? Oh my gosh, that's gonna be on the forefront of my mind for weeks!" she said cheerfully, kicking her legs up a bit.

"Hey, that shit for brains deserves it for taking the song I was gonna sing. He can have it, I don't care...I got plenty of other shit to perform. Now, would Kitty Cheshire like an awesome treat from my world?" he asked, jumping to his feet, making the girl sit up, a curious look on her face.

"An awesome treat? It isn't catnip is it? I tend to act all trippy when I eat it."

"No...it isn't catnip...it's actually a milkshake. A little princess told me you love ice cream, and I was thinking of giving you some but...I really want a milkshake instead." he said, walking toward the other side of the room.

He pressed a button, and an electronic counter top appeared from the wall. As if by magic, several appliances appeared on it, including a coffee maker, a stove top, a blender, a juicer and even a toaster oven. Kitty watched in awe and surprise as the boy grabbed a hold of the blender, pulling it over to the sink, which was also attached to the counter top. He looked at her, a smirk on his face.

"If you must know, this is all magical. Jessica hangs out here sometimes and she said she hates wasting magic flashing to and from the castleteria. So she installed this counter top here, and at the push of a button, any ingredient I need, will appear in the cupboards." he said, reaching up to the keypad. He typed in the ingredients for the shake, vanilla ice cream, green food coloring, milk, whipped cream, green sugar sprinkles and fresh cherries.

"That's so cool...this room is becoming more and more like an apartment. You really do know how to economize on the space." she said, walking over to the counter.

"Yeah, my mom is a home decorator, so I arranged everything so it was aesthetically pleasing, functional, had a little bit of Feng Shui, and was of course magical. In the spring I plan to get some orchids in here, they're my favorite flowers." he said. He grabbed the ice cream scoop from the nearby drawer and placed two scoops of it into the blender.

"Well, you've done an amazing job making this room fit your needs. You're lucky you don't share it with anyone...well, I guess Jessica is your roommate. Even though she lives above you." Kitty said, leaning back against the wall.

"Yeah, did you know Joey wanted to be my roommate? It was obvious he just wanted to share my stuff...the asshole." he said, earning a giggle from the girl.

"He's just a jealous selfish person. I can tell, by the way he looks at you he just oozes jealousy. He wants what he can't have, and what he can't have is your life, that's what he wants the most. I would be wary of him, he probably wants to take it from you."

"Pfft, he wouldn't dare try...he has no control over his light magic, and I can easily counter anything he throws at me. He sucks with a sword, and everyone in Ever After High knows I'm a good person, so he can't make up bullshit rumors or lies about me. He's shit out of luck, there's no way he could do anything against me." he said, setting down his ice scream scoop. He put some mint extract into the blender, along with eight drops of green food coloring. He put the lid on and turned the blender on, starting the process of blending. Kitty looked at the blender hungrily, her eyes focusing on the green color.

"You never no...just know that me and Liz have your back in case he tries something. Anyway, what are you making? It looks green and odd." she said excitedly.

"This my feline friend, is what we on Earth call a Shamrock shake. It is coined by the biggest fast food chain on the planet, McDonald's. It only comes around once a year, between March 17th and April 1st. It's to celebrate a holiday known as St. Patrick's Day...where if you don't wear green, you can pinch the shit out of people. They say that if you get a kiss from an Irish person, it's good luck." he said, turning the blender off, reaching the counter for some shake glasses.

"Really? What's the holiday about?"

"Well, it's to celebrate the patron saint of Ireland, Saint Patrick. Traditionally, you'd go to church and stuff, but the holiday has been changing for generations. The day is now seen as a day to not only celebrate the patron saint, but also to spread the luck of the Irish with everyone. That's why the Shamrock, or the four leaf clover as it's more widely known, is the symbol of this holiday...it's like Valentine's Day, kinda." he said. Once he had poured the shake into the glass, he put some whipped cream at the top, dropping the cherry in the center. He handed it to Kitty who eagerly took the straw into her mouth.

"This is amazing! It's like drinking peppermint gum!" she said cheerfully. He chuckled, shaking his head as he prepared one for himself. He held the glass out, a grin on his face.

"To Joey's misery."

"To Joey's misery!" she cried cheerfully, clinking glasses with the boy.

"Uh...what's going on here?" Cerise called out, clearly confused as she walked into the room, holding some paper bags in her hand.

"Oh, we're celebrating the awesome prank we just pulled on Joey. Here, take a sip of this, you'll love it." Kitty said, handing the girl her shake. She took a sip of it, eyes widening a bit.

"It's like drinking peppermint gum, what is this?" she asked, looking at her boyfriend, the obvious creator.

"It's called a Shamrock shake, there's still some left if you want some." he said, pointing to the blender. She handed the food to Kitty, grabbing a hold of the blender cup, pouring the last of the shake into a glass.

"Nice, you brought oriental food! I haven't had Lo Mein in such a long time!" Kitty said, earning a growl from Cerise.

"That's mine, don't you dare touch it!" she said, earning a giggle from Kitty.

"It's fine Kitty, you can have some of mine...I never it eat all anyway." Blake said, contently drinking his shake.

"So, now that testing week is over, how do you think you all did?" Cerise asked curiously, once she had taken her food away from Kitty. Once Blake grabbed his, he gave the rest to Kitty who didn't waste a second in tearing into it.

"I'm pretty sure I did great. Me, Kitty and Lizzie studied for Wonderland History and Riddlish, so I know we all passed that test. Crownculous was easy, I was naturally good at math as a kid, and you already know we passed Muse-ic. No idea how did on Science and Sorcery, I'm sure I passed, I hope I passed." he said, shuddering at the thought of failing.

"I'm sure I passed my classes easily, especially Grimmnastics. I'm one of the most physically fit people in this school."

"Yet you can down three pizzas and two turkey legs and still be hungry for grandma's peach cobbler." Kitty said, earning a growl from Cerise, eyes glowing gold.

"Kitty, don't antagonize my girlfriend. If she goes full wolf, I can't stop her." he said, a smirk on his face. Kitty giggled, taking a gulp from her shake.

"I know, I'll just use my own devilish techniques to stop her. You know, you can put your hood down around me, I'm not gonna tell anyone about your secret. Blake made me promise I wouldn't way back before Thronecoming." the purplette said. Cerise narrowed her eyes slightly, lowering her hood. She went as far as taking it off entirely, folding it and placing it on Cadence who was sleeping contently.

"It don't believe you...but if you really did make that promise...thank you. It'll take awhile for me to fully trust you with it, but if Blake trusts you, then I'll have to trust you too..I guess." she said, grabbing a hold of her chopsticks.

"Anyway, the new semester starts the 29th, after that all we got are the spring events. Ginger is already starting to get the Spring Fairest orders, we're gonna start on them March 5th. It's gonna be fuckin great." he said, a dejected tone in his voice.

"You don't sound sure, is Ginger turning you into a slave? Is she finally revealing her true colors as the Candy Witch?" Kitty asked, earning a laugh from Blake.

"Ha, Ginger turning evil is as likely to happen as Raven signing the book, it's never gonna happen. We're just understaffed...I can help Ginger easily, it isn't hard following a recipe, and Helga is there to lend another hand. But the Spring Fairest is the second biggest event in Ever After. It's a week long festival, imagine having to make enough stuff for a festival, not a dance, not a formal, a festival." Blake said.

"That's true...I never really thought about it that way. Ginger's got her work cut out for her...but maybe I can take some time from my busy schedule and help out."

"Busy schedule? What the hell do you do during the day?" Kitty asked, a curious look on her face.

"More than you do you damn cat. You got four classes during the whole day, you spend the rest of the day fucking around, causing havoc and sleeping." the daughter of Red Riding Hood said, making Kitty giggle.

"It's true that I love my cat naps...but if it's to help my best friend forever after, I'll join Ginger's payroll. Seasonal only, I love my naps too much, especially in the warm spring sun." she replied.

"I can agree with you there...finding a nice grassy field, watching the clouds for a few hours, enjoying the breeze. Oh my god, I am so looking forward to spring. Sad I won't be able to see the blooming Sakura trees though." Blake said, a frown on his face.

"Sakura? What are those?"

"That's the Japanese word for Cherries. My parents and I take a trip to Washington D.C. every year to see them in bloom. Interesting factoid, Cerise's name is actually French for Cherry. If you must know, French is a language spoken in France, another country in my world. It's known as the country of love." he said.

"Interesting, but we do have cherry trees here...I do agree that they are beautiful when they bloom. Maybe that's why my mom gave me the name Cerise."

"Maybe...or maybe it's because her name is Ruby, and she's Red Riding Hood, and she needed something to match the color scheme." Kitty said, earning a sigh from Cerise.

"Yeah...maybe you're right about that one Kitty...but at least my name is cuter than Katherine." she countered, earning a giggle from Kitty.

"Now now girls, no fighting. Let's just enjoy the shit out of this food and watch a movie. Oh, how about Project X? You girls wanna see three guys get fucked up on drugs and throw an epic birthday party?" he asked, glancing at the two girls.

"Sure, it sounds interesting." Kitty said, earning a similar nod from Cerise. He nodded, opening his laptop, quickly searching for the movie.

 _ **xxx**_

January 30th had rolled around Ever After, and the students had officially begun their second semester. The results of the exams had been posted in the foyer of the school, revealing the top students. Blake had seen some very familiar names in the top ten list, among them being Apple White, C.A. Cupid, and Dexter Charming, to name a few. He had found his own name in the top twenty-five, a rather good spot, but he had been expecting to be placed a bit higher on the list. He had been studying hard, so he had expected to at least be in the top fifteen students, but to his surprise he wasn't. He shrugged it off and headed to class like normal. As the bell rung however, the White Queen called him over to her desk, giving him a look of disappointment.

"Blake, I'd like to speak with you about your test results." she said.

"Oh good, I was actually curious about them as well. You passed them out earlier, but I didn't get mine back and I was a bit worried." he said. The woman pulled his test out of the pile of graded exams, handing it to him. His eyes widened when he saw the crimson F on the first page.

"You told me you studied with Lizzie and Kitty, and I believed you. They passed this exam with high scores, it had nothing to do with being from Wonderland either. I had hoped you would have passed too, but the answers on this test were...appalling, to say the least." she replied. He leaned back against the board, looking over all of his tests.

"What the hell? None of these are my answers...I would never write stuff like this. Everyone knows the ruler of Wonderland is the Queen of Hearts, not the Fairy Queen, that was an obvious one. I wrote a detailed paragraph on the Jabberwocky and how to slay it...this isn't even my handwriting." he said, glancing back at the woman.

"Are you certain?"

"Of course, let me borrow that quill and a clean sheet of paper." he said, earning a nod from the White Queen. He took one of the bogus answers and wrote it out on the paper, holding it next to the test.

"See, my Q's are different than this one. Also, my cursive is cleaner than this horrible attempt. Someone switched my test answers, probably with magic." he said firmly.

"That is a very serious accusation Blake, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt but without proof, I can't do anything. You'll have to retake this exam if you wish to pass this class. Since you are one of my best students, I'll give you that option, but the highest grade you'll get on the retake is a C." she said, earning a sigh from the boy.

"Alright, I have the next period off so I'll retake it now. I'll let Cerise know so she doesn't wait for me." he said, pulling out his phone, walking back toward one of the empty desks.

For the next half an hour, Blake retook his exam. He found it a bit odd that his original exam had been so bad. Every single question was bogus, as if the one who had written it had been drunk or severely stupid. It didn't fit with him at all, especially since he had studied for it. The White Queen kept an eye on him, just in case. After he was done, the two of them reviewed the answers twice, to make sure they were still the same. She compared it to the first test, seeing the handwriting was different than the one he had just taken. She gave him a smile, writing a crimson B on the front page, instead of the C she had said she'd given him.

"Just this once...sadly your final grade will take a dive, you'll probably lose your straight A's...I was hoping you'd move on to Advanced Wonderland History, we were going to cover some very interesting things, revolving around the creation of the Vorpal Blade." she said.

"I know, and I was looking forward to it too...I'll me sure to work hard, so that next year I can take it. Thanks for this second chance Madam Your Majesty the White Queen, I appreciate it."

"It's no trouble at all. Also, if you'd like you may call me Madam White Queen, it's a privilege only for Wonderland students and those who have high marks in my class. Study hard, this new semester will be very tough." she said happily.

"Thank you. I'll see you tomorrow then, Madam White Queen." he said, giving the woman a polite bow before exiting the room. He started heading down toward the foyer, clutching his Wonderland History retake in his hand, seeing the B on it.

" _I can't believe this...I studied so hard for this test and yet...all of my answers got switched. Does that mean this happened before? Is that the reason why I'm so low on the list?"_ he thought to himself. He glanced at his pocket watch, seeing he had twenty minutes before his next class.

He decided to head to Mr. Hatter's class next. He knew the man current had a free period, and Maddie usually spent time with him then. So he would take the time to check his Riddlish test, to see if his answers had also been switched. Walking into the classroom, his eyes widened a bit when he saw several floating tea kettles. The room had been dimmed a bit, and there was a long table in the center of the room, stuffed with various tea kettles, cups, sugar bowls, snacks and cakes. He saw the Mad Hatter at the head of the table, laughing madly while pouring some tea for his equally mad daughter. He cleared his throat, grabbing their attention.

"Blake, hello! What brings you here my boy? Want some tea?" the Mad Hatter asked.

"Oh, yes please...I'd love some." he said. Maddie took a hold of his hand, sitting him down next to her.

"This is so awesome. You get to be part of a real Mad Hatter Tea Party...sadly the March Hare can't be here, but Earl Grey is here with us!" she cried happily, reaching for the sugar container where he pet mouse was sleeping. The Mad Hatter handed him a tea cup, a thin stream of tea flowing from his wrist.

"So what brings you here? You have a troubled look on your face. Maybe you should try the cake?" the man asked, gesturing to one of the cakes. Maddie grabbed a knife and cut into it, making the cake scream in agony. He shuddered a bit, shaking his head.

"I'm good...Mr. Hatter, I'm here to see my test results. Madam White Queen pulled me aside and showed me my exam, someone switched my test answers, and she ended up failing me. I just came from the retake, so I'd like to check those answers too." he said.

"Someone changed your answers? That is so mean! You studied super duper hard, Lizzie and Kitty told me you did! Daddy, can we take a look at his test please?" Maddie asked, giving him a pleading look. The man chuckled, reaching into his top hat.

"Of course honey bunch, we'll take a quick look. Just hold onto this cutting board for me, and this onion, and this violin." he said, handing his daughter all of the items he pulled. Blake chuckled, a smile on his face. Even though he was a bit sad, he couldn't help but laugh at the Mad Hatter's antics. Eventually, the man found the exams, and he pulled out Blake's, a crimson marking on it.

"Aha! Here it is, I graded you an L, that's a pretty good mark if I do say so myself."

"Um, Mr. Hatter, that's an F, you have the test upside down." Blake pointed out. The man, turned his head upside down, humming to himself.

"Oh, you're right! That isn't right, you're one of my best students, your fluent in Riddlish, this isn't possible. How can it be that you've done the improbable?" he cried, eyes widened in surprise. Blake took a hold of the exam, holding his Wonderland History retake next to it.

"I was right...this isn't my handwriting either. Someone must have used a transfer spell to switch answers with me. Sadly, this handwriting is too bad for me to recognize." he said.

"Aw, it's alright...my daddy will give you the retake right?" Maddie said, earning a frown from the man.

"Language classes don't offer retakes on midterms, I'm afraid. Seeing how the handwriting is different however, I'll change the grade to a D...I know Blake, and I know he's a good student. This will affect your final grade however." the man said, crossing out the F and replacing it with a D.

"Damn it...this isn't fair, why would someone do this to me? It feels like something Henry would do...though I doubt he'd stoop that low. Then again he did try to kill me." he said, rubbing his chin.

"It'll be alright Blake, even if you get low grades on your midterms, at least you'll pass right?" Maddie asked, giving him a smile. He gave her a nod, and a smile of his own.

"You're right Maddie...I have to go check on my other tests just in case. Sword Training is a physical exam, so I know Mr. Knight gave me the appropriate grade...Mr. Piper had us perform, and I was already given my Crownculous exam back and I passed it...so that means the last class I have to check is...Science and Sorcery." he said, shuddering in fear.

"I wish you luck. Rumpelstiltskin is quite...hard on his students, if you need some gold spinning gloves, just come back here and I'll give you some." the Mad Hatter said, reaching into his hat, pulling out a French Horn. He shook his head, continuing to pull various things from his hat.

 _ **xxx**_

Blake was sad, and confused. He was sitting in his usual table on the first floor of the castleteria, his lunch barely touched. He was looking through all of his exams, eyes narrowed. Sword Training, Science and Sorcery, Muse-ic Class and Crownculous all had solid A's. But his other classes, Wonderland History, Riddlish, Geografairy and Grimmnastics had an assortment of grades. His original Wonderland History test had an F, his retake had a B. Riddlish had a D, Geografairy had a D- and Grimmnastics had a C+. This combination of grades had made him score poorly, despite him having straight A's for the entire semester. It was unheard of someone as studious as he was, to just bomb his exams. It just wasn't like him, and he wanted to get to the bottom of it.

"Hey Blake, Maddie told me you went to talk to Mr. Hatter earlier, are you alright?"

"I'm fine Raven, it's just...someone switched my test answers with bogus one. I failed half of my classes, and had to retake two tests just to pass the semester. I couldn't retake my Riddlish exam because it isn't allowed, but Mr. Hatter passed me with a D. I don't understand how someone could have done that without me noticing." he replied, glancing at all of the tests before him. Raven sat down across from him, taking a hold of his Riddlish test, hands glowing slightly.

"You're right...there are traces of darkness magic on this exam, a transfer spell form the looks of it. It's a tiny enchantment, not that easy to pick up, and untraceable too." she said, a frown on her face.

"I fucking knew it...it could have been anyone though. Someone inside the classroom or hell even someone outside of it, passing by could have done it. Makes it that much harder to figure out. Whatever the case, I passed my classes, but now this will look bad on my permanent record. And I was looking forward to my advanced classes too." he said, poking his vegetables with his fork.

"There's always next year right? I do agree, it sucks that you spent all that time studying with Lizzie and Kitty just to fail your classes. I was so proud of you for showing me that progress report, I hadn't seen so many A's in my life."

"Yeah, I was proud of that too. All my life, I was greeted with D's and F's in school...finally I decide to actually apply myself, finally got straight A's, am looking at a spot at as an honor student, only to get fucked." Blake muttered dryly. He grabbed all of his exams and placed them in his messenger bag, shaking his head.

"It'll be fine. At least you won't have to deal with exams anymore, at least until the finals at the end of the year. Don't worry, I'll talk to the teachers and charm your tests so no one can swap answers with you."

"That would be great sis, thanks. Hey, think I could visit your dad during summer break? I've been dying to meet the Good King." he said.

"Sure, you can come over for a visit. I'm sure Apple would be delighted to introduce you to Snow White...if she's actually home."

"You never told me what your sister did, isn't she a company manager or something?" Blake asked, finally deciding to finish his cold lunch.

"She's an entrepreneur and uses her wealth and image to help those in need. She's not the happy-go-lucky girl you probably imagine her to be. Apple hates to admit it, but her mother is as cold and callous as my own mother. They're alike, both ambitious and willing to do anything and everything to ensure they get what they want." Raven said, surprising the boy a bit.

"Snow White, isn't like in the story? That's...shocking to say the least. I didn't think she and your mom had anything in common, you know...since she poisoned her."

"Weird isn't it? Snow White resents me for what my mom did, but she at least respects my decision not to follow in her footsteps." she replied.

"That's good I guess...but she probably secretly resents that. After all, she most likely wants Apple to follow her destiny to the letter, and that means you signing the Storybook. Thankfully, that issue has been dealt with, as long as the book isn't found, no one needs to sign it." he said, finishing the last of his juice.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well you know...the Evil Queen stole the book right? Cerise's mom told me that she may have done it to prevent you from following your destiny...because deep down, she still cares about you." he replied, earning a dry laugh from Raven.

"I highly doubt it. My mother took me to war meetings when I was young, she taught me how to mix potions and enchantments. She conditioned me to follow in her footsteps...her stealing the book to prevent me from being like her? That's totally asinine...no, she stole the book to steal our destinies, simple as that...if I could find the book, I would be able to protect it. Those who want to sign should be allowed to sign." she replied.

"You're a good person Rae, you really are. That heart in your chest was meant for good, not evil...whatever happens, I will never let you become evil. It's the least I can do for everything you've done for me." he said happily, earning a smile from the girl.

"Now, it should be the older sister who protects the little brother, not the other way around."

"Eh, if you say so...but I am a man. You are also a princess, so that means I as a potential prince should be able to protect you." he said, giving her a wink.

"Hey Blake, mind if we sit here?" Dexter asked, approaching their table, with him were Cerise, Cupid and Kitty, oddly enough. The boy gave him a nod.

"Sure, I actually wanted to talk to you three. Kitty and I have been discussing some feature songs, and we're gonna do a duet of Beat It by Micheal Jackson. We wanted to know if you and Humphrey could film it."

"Sure no problem, Kitty already told me about it. You've even gotten Lizzie on board to help with the costumes." the boy replied.

"This is insane, can you believe that after only a few weeks were the most popular band in school? It's spelltacular!" Cupid said happily. Cerise giggled, giving Blake a kiss on the cheek.

"It's all thanks to Blake, he got us all together. Shame that Raven can't be a part of it, come on...you're supposed to be our frontman. You gotta give us one song." she said.

"Sorry Cerise, I'm wicked busy. Besides, I made Cupid the frontman, maybe when I have some time, I can help you guys out."

"That would be awesome, after all. How are you supposed to enter the music industry if you don't practice hard? That's what you want to do right? Make music?" Blake asked.

"Yes, I was always taught that Music was for good princesses, but since I'm a Rebel, I'm at least allowed to take Muse-ic class. I want to show the world that even someone from an evil background can be a good musician. How about this, the yearbook needs to be finished three days before the end of the school year, how about we do an end of the year concert? That would be awesome."

"I like that idea Raven, give everyone a farewell for the summer. Then when we all come back for the next term, we'll do a welcome back bash!" Cupid said, a grin on her face. Dexter was smiling a bit, trying to hide his flushed cheeks.

"Aw, even Dexter agrees! He's totally flushed." Kitty said, giving the boy a grin, looking between him and Raven. The violet haired girl glanced at the table, feeling very embarrassed.

"Kitty, stop teasing them...it's not nice." Cerise said, a small smirk on her face. Cupid was trying her hardest not to show any negative emotions, but Blake could tell she was annoyed. He cleared his throat, placing his music book on the table.

"Alright, I got some new lyrics I wanted to run by you. I was thinking we could add some Rap, or Electro into our music. Just imagine Cupid grabbing the mic and slamming like no tomorrow. It would be the best." he said.

"Definitely, no one would expect someone as cute as Cupid to start rapping." Raven said. Kitty, who had taken a hold of Blake's Music book was humming to herself, flipping through the lyrics, until she found one for a song called New World.

"This sounds like a good song...I think I can sing it." she said.

"You, sing a song? This will be good." Cerise said, earning a smirk from Blake.

"That's because you haven't heard her sing, she's actually very good. Go ahead Kitty, surprise us." he said, earning a grin from the girl. She cleared her throat, picking up the notebook, her eyes firmly on the paper.

" _Staring the stars, feeling the winds every time_

 _I cannot stop thinking of you, since you've been_

 _Gone from here._

 _Shedding the tears, crying out loud for once_

 _Cause you are such a precious part of me_

 _And there's no one who'll fill my broken heart_

 _Oh but now, I have realized_

 _The reason why we lived in this world,_

 _Even you have left me here alone._

 _I found the way where I can get hope for the future_

 _Baby, I'm gonna see the New World_

 _With nothing but the love you gave me_

 _Only thing I can do, is to trust the time we shared_

 _Baby, I'm gonna go to the New World,_

 _With nothing but the strength you gave me_

 _There's nothing to be afraid of,_

 _I know your love will lead me where I should be_

 _Even if it is a dark and hard time for me,_

 _I don't wanna give up my hope."_

Kitty gave her friends a wink as they started applauding, even a few of the others who had heard her started clapping. Blake was honestly impressed that she had gotten all of the high notes, Cupid and Dexter were both in the same state of shock, and Cerise just had a look of disbelief on her face. Raven smiled, patting the girl on the shoulder.

"You keep surprising all of us Kitty. Even though you live and breathe chaos, you can still have other awesome talents. I'm proud of you."

"Thanks Raven, me and Lizzie had nothing to do sometimes, we always sung and played music. Trust me, becoming a famous singer in Wonderland is harder than making tea out of bog water." she said, a cringe from the others.

"So...this is clearly a love song, what's the meaning behind it?" Dexter asked curiously. Blake took a hold of the notebook, glancing at the lyrics.

"It's a translation of another song from a video game...or rather, my own version of those lyrics. It's a song filled with hope for the future, no one knows what the future is going to be like. The singer of this song is sad, because her love decided to leave them. But instead of falling into depression, they accepted it. They would use those memories, that love and strength and use it to go to the New World. A bright new world filled with love and hope, of course the new world in this case is the future. They can create that new world, their future by using the strength and love from friends and family. That's my interpretation anyway." he replied.

"I like it, it's such a sweet song and it has a beautiful meaning. Kitty would be perfect for this song. Have you gotten the melody figured out? I'd like to help you if you haven't." Cupid said excitedly.

"Me too, I'm thinking a bit of a light bass line, maybe throw in some stringed instruments." Dexter added, earning a nod from Blake who jotted it down.

"Nice, a classical love song with a light to heavy bass line, moderate drum lines, accented stringed instruments, maybe throw some woodwind instruments in there...eh, maybe not." he said, his hand flying across the paper as he jotted everything down.

"Yo Blake, I heard you bombed your tests, that true?" Joey asked, startling the teen a bit. He hadn't even seen him approach the table. Blake closed his music book, placing it in his messenger bag, along with his quill.

"It's true, I suppose. I didn't fail all of them, I passed every class, but some piece of shit used magic to switch my answers around. How about you, I saw you made it to the top 14...thought you didn't study?"

"I did, I didn't do that good on most of my classes, but I did pass Mathematics, Grimmnastics, Wonderland History and Riddlish with an A, I was surprised to be honest. Than again, if you read a text book cover to cover, something is bound to stay in your brain. Anyway, I came here to give Kitty this, Lizzie told me to pass it on to you." he said, handing her a ring. It was violet in color, and had a small mirror on it.

"Lizzie sent this with you? What is it?" Kitty asked, looking the ring over. Joey shrugged.

"It's some sort of ring...she said she didn't know where you were and her phone was dead. Even though she doesn't like me, she knew that I would eventually run into you and asked me to deliver this too you. Well, I gotta go...I got class in a few minutes...see you." he said, walking away. Once out of earshot, Blake stood up, a frown on his face.

"You should get rid of that. I don't know what it is, but seeing as we did prank him, he might be getting back at you. I know for a fact Lizzie knows you'd be here, and her phone doesn't randomly die." he said.

"I know, I didn't buy into his bullshit. I'm just gonna toss it." she said, taking a hold of the ring, walking toward the nearby trash can, as she was about to drop it in, the booming voice of Headmaster Grimm cut through the chatter.

"Katherine Cheshire, what are you doing with that ring?" he cried, quickly closing the distance.

"Huh? I was just tossing it. Joey gave it to me, and I don't trust him, so I'm getting rid of it." she said firmly. The man swiped the ring from her hands, slipping it onto his finger.

"Likely story, do you know what this ring is? It's a very special mirror ring. I left my office for a few minutes and when I came back, it was gone. No one but you could have gone into the office without anyone seeing it, you are coming with me." he said.

"What? But I didn't do it! I was here the whole time. You've got to believe me!" Kitty cried, trying to pull her arm from the man's grasp. By now, everyone in the castleteria was looking at the commotion.

"It was Joey that gave her the ring, he was just here!" Raven said.

"Yeah, he walked up to our table and dropped it in her hand. He said Lizzie had given it to her, when it's clearly bullcrap." Dexter added.

"You do not have to cover for her, I believe Raven being able to cover for her, but you Mr. Charming? I am disappointed in you. Joseph is currently in class, I witnessed him in class on my way here. Realistically speaking, the only one capable of entering my office without the keys is Miss Cheshire, prove me wrong and I'll let her go." Milton said, a smirk on his face. Blake growled angrily, clutching his messenger bag tightly.

"You're wrong, there is one person who can get into that office without the keys. That person is me." he said, earning gasps from people. Milton rose a brow, crossing his arms.

"You? I'm sorry son but you cannot get in unless you have the keys." he said, a knowing smirk on his face. Blake reached for his pocket watch, pulling out the enchanted hairpin Blondie had given him, holding it up for the man to see.

"I picked the lock, it's easy if you have a bobby pin like this one. The lock in your office has two tumblers, and no bolt lock, it's easy to open. I was the one that stole that ring, and I was the one that gave it to Kitty. It was a joke that went to far, so I'll take the blame for it." he said firmly. The man tried to come up with something to say, but couldn't. He ended up taking the pin from the boy, gesturing for him to follow.

"You and I are going to have a long conversation Mr. Bigby. I would have hoped you didn't do something like this." he said. Blake just walked forward, not saying or doing anything. Kitty tried to follow along, but Raven held her back, shaking her head.

 _ **xxx**_

"I don't know what compelled you to do what you did, but it is a grievous offense. This ring is very important, it's what keeps the Evil Queen in the Mirror Realm. Should this ring break, it could spell the end for Ever After." Milton said, earning a frown from Blake.

"Like I said before, I'm sorry. I didn't think it was that important, it looked like some silly ring to me. I didn't know it held the Evil Queen in the Mirror Realm." Blake said, not looking the man in the eye. Giles sighed, shaking his head, placing a hand on his brother's shoulder.

"Brother, I believe Blake is sorry. He didn't know your ring was important, and I'm sure he was going to return it, weren't you Blake?"

"I was Giles, honest. I gave it to Kitty to hang onto, but I didn't think she'd actually toss it. I was going to give it back to Headmaster Grimm in front of everyone in the Foyer. It was a dare, I was supposed to jokingly propose to him." he said, earning a chuckle from Giles. Milton glared at him, causing him to stop.

"Young man, I don't know what kind of prank you were going for, but it was definitely in bad taste. However, this offense cannot be overlooked, I'm afraid I'll have to give you two weeks of Extracurricular suspension. Since you don't have any extracurricular activities and no events are coming up, you'll have to give me your school press pass."

"My press pass? But I need that to work on the yearbook...I got a quota due on Friday, Apple and Raven are expecting me to finish it!" he said.

"I'm sorry son, you should have thought of that before breaking into my office. It's only for two weeks, so you'll have it back. However, if you do anything of the sort again, I will take it away permanently, and I will prevent you from partaking in the Spring Fairest." Milton said firmly. He sighed, reaching into his messenger bag, pulling out his Yearbook Press Identification card, which was attached to a Pokemon Lanyard. He looked away from the man as he handed it over to him.

"Milton, perhaps we could give the boy detention instead. The Yearbook is a rather special thing for students, he deserves to be a part of it." Giles said.

"My decision is final Giles. He will be able to get this back in two weeks...you can continue working on the yearbook, but you cannot be present in the Student Council room, and you cannot get out of class for the yearbook either. Those are the consequences of your actions, I could suspend you, you know."

"Yes I know...just, don't do anything to Kitty alright? It was all me, she has nothing to do with this." he said firmly.

"I give you my word, Miss Cheshire is innocent of this crime. After all, you already told us how you did it, she was adamant about Joey being the culprit, but he was in class when I passed his classroom. You are free to go Blake, don't let this happen again." Milton said firmly. Blake nodded and stood up, walking toward the door, he didn't look back, just kept walking forward.

He walked down the stairs out of the forth floor. He didn't feel like going to his afternoon classes, so he decided to just go back to his dorm. As he walked through the third floor, to clear his mind, he spotted Joey leaning up against the lockers, a smug look on his face. He growled angrily as he past him, hearing the boy's taunting voice.

"You covered for Cheshire? You're an idiot you know...the bitch had it coming, but it was worth it seeing you get in trouble." he said. Blake took a hold of his jacket, slamming him into the locker.

"It isn't funny asshole. Because of you, I got my press pass taken away, my chance to work for the yearbook is gone for two fucking weeks!"

"More time for you I guess...hey that means you've got time to fail more tests, and make all of the food for the Spring Fairest. That's nice isn't it?" he asked, earning a growl from the boy.

"I swear to god, if you do something like this again, I will make you drink your own piss. Don't you dare mess with my friends, got it?"

"I'm not scared of you Blake, it isn't my fault you are too kind hearted. There's nothing wrong with just a taste of what you've paid for...right?" he asked, causing Blake to let him go, eyes narrowed.

"Oh...so this is a revenge for that prank we did during testing week eh? That's fine...you should have taken it out on me, not Kitty. I was the one who scared the shit out of you, but you already got back at me for that prank right? Switching my test answers around, trying to make me fail. I've got no proof sure, but I have a hunch that it was you."

"How? I have no control of my magic, and my magic is light magic. I have no collection of using evil spells or anything...plus switching your answers around? Come on, I would never do something that messed up. You failed on your own, so stop blaming me for it. I gotta go, Ashlynn's got a shipment and I gotta be there to help her. Later." Joey said, chuckling a bit as he walked toward the nearby stairwell. Blake smirked, pulling out his phone dialing Ashlynn's number, pressing the phone to his ear.

" _Hello, what's up Blake? Something wrong?"_ the sweet voice of Ashlynn Ella replied, making the boy smirk.

"Not really, but Joey ended up getting Kitty in trouble and I took the heat for her. So I want you to do me a solid and fire his ass."

" _What? You want me to fire him? But he's the one helping me out, I still haven't gotten an employee yet."_

"I'll take over for him, I got my press pass taken away, so I'll have some extra time for two weeks. I'll even get someone to help you out after that period is up. Please Ashlynn, do me this favor. He doesn't deserve to work for such a beautiful, awesome, amazing and wonderful girl like you."

" _Ahem, Blake you are on speaker phone."_ Hunter said, causing the boy to gasp in shock. Hunter's laughter filled the receiver for a few seconds, causing Blake to pout.

"Goddamn you Hunter! You know what, I was totally flirting with your girl, take it."

" _Pfft, I know you were flirting with her...you get a freebie. Consider your favor done, he spilled soda on one of my exams last week, so I'm getting back at him this way."_

"You two are an awesome pair. When I have kids in the future, I want you two to be the god parents!" Blake said happily.

 _"Aw, that would be an amazing honor, you can be the godfather of our kids if you'd like."_ Ashlynn said, clearly gushing.

"Hehe, definitely. And don't worry Ash, I'll definitely cover for that dickhole...you don't even have to pay me...I gotta go, I got some things to do."

" _See ya later then, keep an eye open. Hunter might flirt with Cerise."_

"He gets a freebie, but that's it. Later guys!" he said, ending the call, he broke into a sprint toward the stairs, a smirk on his face.

" _Let's see who gets the last laugh now that you won't have a job assface."_


	41. Spring Unsprung Prelude I: Phase 2

**A/N:**

 **Hello everyone, welcome to Chapter 41 of Through the Looking Glass. As I said in last night's post, this is the first of three prelude chapters for the Spring Unsprung arc of the story. Man, I've been really excited to write this, and currently I'm writing the 4th part, which is Chapter 46 I believe. I'm having a blast, especially with all of the stuff I am having Joey do. As you all know, he's the necessary evil of this story, Joey is Blake's Negan in this series, the guy who's sort of suave, cunning and smart, and will stop at nothing to shit on Blake.**

 **This prelude arc is going to be a bit hard for everyone, it's for me to even talk about let alone reread. You are all gonna hate me so fucking much, but as I said before, I am just the writer. Whatever the muse gives me is what I ultimately write, do not kill me. Just enjoy the story for what it is...after all there are worse things that can happen, I think.**

 **The title of this chapter will remain the same for this little prelude arc. Phase 2 is the name I have given it, because Joey's plan has entered phase two. he has already made Blake fail his tests and bomb his grades, so now he will focus on getting Duchess to hate him, something that is impossible since she is in love with him. But Joey has his ways, and since he is working with the Evil Queen, technically, he will be very well prepared for this task. Dark magic in the wrong hands is a very dangerous thing. This is only the beginning.**

 **I apologize for this authors note being so short, I don't have anything to say, because if I do say anything I'll spoil the chapter. So please just read the story and let me know what you think. PM me with your questions, review, favorite and follow...and as always, have a good one!**

 **Also, just as a small after thought...this chapter has quite a lot of stuff in it, I would like to read what you thought about it, not just about what Joey does, but about other things. I mean, he isn't the only character after all and a lot is going to be happening in the next few chapters. This entire arc is going to be cutting between two realms back and forth, so I apologize for those cut-ins. It makes it look a bit clunky but eh...whatever, it's the exposition that matters.**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 41

Spring Unsprung Prelude I:

Phase 2

To say Joey was mad was an understatement. It had been a few days since he had tried to go to work, only to be given a pink slip. Ashlynn had told him that she didn't need any help for the season and that she couldn't afford to pay him his usual rate. Especially after he had asked for a raise, she did tell him that if he got another job she would put in a good word for him so that he could get hired. She had given him his last check along with a bonus for all of his help and had sent him on his way. He didn't complain, he had made three hundred and sixty gold, plus a hundred and fifty extra as a bonus. But he was still mad that he had lost his job. With nothing to do, he just took a walk through the Enchanted Forest, trying to avoid the dry mud patches that had appeared in areas where snowbanks had once been. It was February now, so it was starting to snow less and grow a bit warm. Spring was approaching fast, and so was the next phase of his plan.

He hadn't found a way to make Duchess hate Blake. There was nothing he could do, except just break apart their friendship. But he had no information or influence over the two, so he couldn't do anything. They had been hanging out a lot, and whenever she had something to do, she would leave Pirouette in his care. He had started thinking of ways to steal the swan, so that Blake could mess up and disappoint her. After all, nothing hurt a friend more than doing something to their pet, but he wasn't that cruel of a person. He hadn't been expecting Blake to take the heat Kitty, he was still impressed.

The leaves on the trees in the Enchanted Forest were slowly starting to grow. Some trees had buds, while others were still barren from the Winter season. It wouldn't be long until March set in, and the Spring Fairest came around, the final set for his awesome plan. He heard some twigs snap beside him, causing him to look in that direction. He walked through the treeline, following the broken twigs in front of him. After seeing a dark basement, he had grown a bit fearless. His eyes widened a bit when he saw a glowing well in the middle of a clearing.

His eyes widened a bit in realization at what it was. It was the Well of Wonder, the only portal left into Wonderland. It was a well enchanted to move about, running on the same insane magic as the Wonderlandians. It was also the source of magic for all of Ever After. He hummed to himself, glancing around at the trees, a smirk on his face.

"Wonder what would happen if I plugged this thing." he said, walking up to the well. He tried placing his hand on the water, only for it to sink in. He pulled his hand back, the water rising back to the surface. He tried touching it again, only for the same thing to happen.

"Tch...why do I bother, stupid thing. I'm lucky to have found this...maybe I can go search for the Storybook of Legends." he said, leaning down into the well, hanging onto the edge of it. He felt his leather notebook move from his pocket, falling out of it. He let out a scream, trying to grab it, only for the book to fall from his grasp.

"NO! FUCK!" he shouted, jumping back from the well. It started glowing brightly, slowly disappearing, block by block until it was completely gone. Joey walked over to the spot where it had been, clawing at the ground.

"Damn it...my plan was written in there...I had so many ideas...shit." he said, slamming his fists against the grass.

He felt like an idiot now. Leaning down into the Well of Wonder, with his loose Pocketbook hanging from his pocket. Now that book would land somewhere in Wonderland. He shook his head, his worry disappearing.

"Alright, nothing to worry about. It lands in Wonderland, big whoop? Not like anyone can just come back here...no one is gonna be able to find the Well of Wonder, so no one is going to find it. I'm still safe...it's a good thing my plan is in my head! Ha! Take that Ever After, your attempts to stop me are futile! But this gives me an idea...what better way to get back at Blake? Ruin his chances to go to the Fairest!" he said, a grin on his face.

If he could stop Blake and Ginger from making the food for the Spring Fairest, then the boy would definitely be punished. He had already lost his Press ID, so there was nothing left to lose but the Spring Fairest...but that also interfered with his plan of breaking him and Cerise up in that event. He frowned, shaking his head.

"So, I can't stop him from attending that...but I can act like I feel sorry. They do need extra hands, so I'll just help them out with the food. Gain their trust, earn their forgiveness...then when they least expect, fwap! I take it all away...oh Joey you are definitely a bad motherfucker! Haha!" he said, grinning as he walked back towards Ever After.

 _ **xxx(Rainbow River, Wonderland)xxx**_

The dark yellow green skies of Wonderland had been the norm for the past few years. All of the creatures had grown used to it, and in fact added to the weirdness of this magical land. In the distance, the palace of the Queen of Hearts could be seen, just past Tulgey Wood. Running across the entire country was a beautiful rainbow river, filled with wonder and magic. There was a rainforest, where the rain came from the ground rather than the sky, and all of the clouds were in the shape of animals and various other things, instead of normal puffy clouds. Yes, Wonderland was indeed, a very weird place. But not for one young woman, who had been exploring this land for nearly two years of her life.

She was wearing a rather peculiar dress, completely sleeveless and strapless. The area around the bust had a maroon colored hem, flowing down the sides and behind her back. There was a red stripe flowing from the center of it moving downward before curving up. The bodice of the dress was a bright green color, with brown leaves attached to the area around the hips. Two white lines moved down from the center of the dress to the sides of the pointed skirt. She wore a bright green inner skirt that reached to her mid thigh, and was accented with golden thread. She wore see through panty hose with bright green markings on them. She was wearing long green boots, with black belts coiling around her leg, brown leaves attached to it. She wore matching long gloves, which reached up to her biceps and were brown in color. Around her eyes, she wore a leafy brown mask, which shielded her eyes, giving her a bit of a bug eyed look. She was wearing dark maroon lipstick, her long auburn hair flowed downward toward her waist, and she wore a crown of daisies around her head. Around her shoulder was a long satchel, which was also brown in color.

She was walking through the forest, looking around for a very special building. In her hands, was a rolled up WonderMap, a map of Wonderland that showed every single area of the mythical country. The only problem was that things in Wonderland were always changing, while the Queen of Heart's castle never changed, various other areas did move around. She was currently trying to make it to Marmoreal, the White Queen's castle, the reason for that was for the Legendary Holy Sword, Excalibur. She would be needing it soon enough. She came to a stop by the riverbed, unrolling the map. The blinking white dot marking Marmoreal was rather close, she was also near the Wonderland Sewer system, which was connected to the underside of Wonderland. She had been trying to avoid going in there at all costs. She heard a small yelp beside her, and glanced toward the doors, eyes narrowing under her mask.

"Mavis, have you been following me?" the girl asked, placing her hands at her hips.

"Um...no?" a dainty voice said, earning a sigh from the girl. From a nearby bush, a brown hare jumped out, nose wiggling a bit. It glowed gold for a second, before it turned into a human.

It was a beautiful young woman, around sixteen years of age. She had long bronze colored hair, which reached past her shoulders down to her waist. She had a pair of brown ears atop her head, with white fur inside. She had lightly tanned skin, bright golden eyes a small nose and full lips. For a girl her age, she had quite the house glass figure, with a medium sized bust. The girl was wearing a white dress, with no straps, bearing golden and brown sequins around the bust. It had a ruffled blue skirt with small hares on it, the skirt reaching to her knees. She wore a pair of black leggings with tea cups on it, along with sugar cubes and a clock face on it. She wore a pair of black high heels, lined with gold around the sides of them. She finished her look with a crimson bolero jacket, which she wore over her shoulders, and had on a small top hat atop her head. She also wore a loosened blue tie around her neck.

This young woman was Mavis Hare, the daughter of the March Hare. She had been following her friend for awhile now, wondering just where she was going. The auburn haired girl narrowed her eyes behind her mask, crossing her arms as she tapped her foot on the soft soil, a pout on her lips.

"Oh come on Gloriosa, you can't expect me to ignore this. You going to Marmoreal? Trying to get the sword? Are you mad?" she said, earning a giggle from the girl, who was named Gloriosa.

"You are asking me if I'm mad? You're the daughter of the March Hare, you should ask yourself that question, after all, it was you who followed me. You didn't do a very good job either, especially when you transformed back to your human form...I can hear it." she said, rolling her eyes. Mavis sighed, walking up to her friend.

"I know, but you can't be walking around here alone. It won't be long until the Crimson Knight starts working again...it's almost time for School after all." she said, sounding a bit worried.

"Mavis, it's alright...I'll be to Marmoreal and back before School starts. I have to get that sword, you and I both know the Queen of Hearts is in danger right now." Gloriosa said, walking up the side of the river, glancing at the map in her hands.

"I know, I know...and while we still don't know who it is, we have to stay on the safe side. Remember, at any moment, that thing could come down and kill us all." she said, pointing up to the swirling green clouds in the sky above. Gloriosa frowned, glaring at the giant vortex.

"Goddamn you Evil Queen, how dare you ruin Wonderland like this?" she hissed, clutching the map. Mavis sighed, placing a hand on her friend's shoulder.

"I know it's tough, but you have to stay calm. You're the daughter of the White Queen, you have to stay calm and lead your people."

"Pfft, easy for you to say seeing as I haven't even been to the castle yet. I've been trying to find it ever since I landed here. If I could go to Ever After and sign the Storybook of Legends, I might be able to reverse that curse!" Gloriosa said firmly. Yes, she was the daughter of the White Queen, her name being Gloriosa White. She had been trying to find Marmoreal for two years, and she was finally getting close.

"I doubt you'd be able to do something. Wonderland's magic is being poisoned by that thing, the Queen of Hearts is slowly becoming mad...madder...and without Lizzie here to back her up, I'm not sure the kingdom will last any longer." Mavis said, earning a nod from her friend.

"Which is why I need to get the sword...I'm sure someone is using that curse to their advantage, and I gotta pretty good idea of who it is. I might just have to break into Wonderland High to prove that theory though." she said, a grin on her face. She took a step forward, slipping on a rock, slamming down on the ground.

"Oh my, are you alright?" Mavis asked, kneeling down next to her friend.

"No...my boobs slammed into the rocks and they hurt like hell!" the girl cried, tears in her eyes.

"See, this is why we wear a bra Gloria, come on." the copper haired girl said, holding her hand out for her friend who rapidly stood up. She brushed the small pebbles from her dress, glancing at the ground. She noticed what she had tripped on was in fact a leather pocketbook. She bent down and grabbed it, looking it over.

"It's a pocketbook...do you know who it belongs too?" Mavis asked.

"No, wonder if there's any money in it...I'm in need of fourteen Heart Dollars." she said, undoing the leather strap, opening the book. Her eyes widened a bit when she saw the name written on the first page.

"What...what happened? Gloria? Are you alright? Gloriosa?"

"Huh...I'm fine...it's just...nevermind. There's no money, here hang on to this for me." she said, handing Mavis the book. She turned towards the nearby path, looking at her map. Mavis started flipping through the pages, reading some of the stuff written on the book.

"Whoever this Joey guy is...he really hates this other boy named Blake. I mean look at this, the plan to ruin Blake's life, by yours truly, the awesome Joey Martineu...he wants to make this boy fail his classes, make one of his friends hate him, and even break him and his girlfriend up. Wonderland History, and Riddlish...wait, these are Ever After High classes...this guy goes to Ever After High!" the girl said happily, causing Gloriosa to turn around.

"He does? That's interesting...wonder how they got there?" she said, muttering the last part.

"If this boy goes to Ever After High, and this pocketbook is here...that means there's an open portal. Gloria, we can go to Ever After...we can find someone who can help us lift this curse, to save the Queen of Hearts!" Mavis said excitedly.

"Mavis, get real. That pocketbook floated down the rainbow river all the way here, the only portal that would be open is the obvious one. Wonderland's magic is what makes Ever After work, so which portal do you think is still open?" Gloriosa asked, earning a frown from the girl.

"The Well of Wonder...we would have to find the well and jump in...we would probably land in the Wonderland Sewer system. We have a better shot of going there instead."

"Sorry Mavis, but I can't waste time going to Ever After...right now, I gotta find my castle. I need to find Excalibur, that's my priority...if you'd like to go, feel free too."

"But Gloria, I can't go alone...the worlds were quarantined, I would get chewed out to no end." Mavis said, earning a sigh from Gloriosa.

"I know, but I've got my focus elsewhere right now...I've got two days before Marmoreal moves again. I've never been this close, so I have to go...please Mavis, just...be careful alright?" Gloriosa said, earning a nod from her friend.

"I will, but you and I are going to Ever After together, after we find this sword. We can always get help from the Ever Afterlings and come back to Wonderland." she said happily, placing the pocketbook inside her own purse.

"Mhmm...come on then." her friend said with a small smile. She looked forward, narrowing her eyes.

" _I wasn't expecting to see those two names again...how long has it been since I've seen them? Has it really been two years? I wonder how Blake is doing...I didn't mean to disappear on him before giving him my answer. I wasn't expecting to be the daughter of the White Queen either."_ she thought to herself, her eyes firmly on the map in front of her. She would think of those things another time, for now, she needed to focus.

 _ **xxx(Ever After High)xxx**_

"Hey honey, what are you doing?" Cerise asked, standing behind Blake who glanced over his shoulder.

"I'm writing today's events in my journal. I do this all the time, it gives me a bit of closure, and a sort of day count since I've been here. I just want to have something to remember what I've done here." he said, looking back at his leather bound book. He finished jotting a few things down in it, before handing it to Cerise, who just looked at it oddly.

"Why are you giving me this? Isn't this private?"

"Well yeah, but you're my girl so I'll let you read it. There's nothing in there that I need to hide, except maybe some wet dreams." he said, flushing slightly. Cerise snorted, sitting down on the bed beside them.

"Wet dreams? This is gonna be interesting, mind finding one for me?" she asked. He sighed, glancing away from her.

"This happened before we were together, page thirty-five." he said. The girl flipped to it, eyes scanning the page.

"Dear Journal, today is October 16th 2017, Ever After Calender. It is currently 6:37AM. The reason why I am writing in you this early in the morning is because I just woke up with a hard on. Yes this is normal, but it hasn't happened for awhile, and the reason for that is because I just had a dream about Apple White, daughter of Snow White. It's just...she's so damn cute. The way she speaks is firm, adorable and a bit nasally. I just couldn't help but get a crush on her, even if I keep that shit hidden. So it seems my hormonal adolescent brain thought it would be a good idea to induce a dream in where I drill Apple in the Enchanted Forest while the critters watch. This dream was so vivid that I could smell the apple scented shampoo in her hair. Her soft voice crying my name in pure ecstasy...it's so embarrassing. On a side note, Briar is an excellent kisser...maybe I have shot with her? Probably not...will update after lunch. Yours truly, Blake Bigby...that is so embarrassing." Cerise said, trying her hardest not to laugh.

"Oh shut up! It isn't like you haven't had a wet dream either, bet you had dreams about me too. Dreams that got those cute red panties dripping wet." he said, making her break into laughter. She fell back on the bed, clutching her sides.

"Oh that's a good one...yeah, I'll admit it. I had a couple wet dreams where you were involved, but I'm sure I'm not the only one. It isn't hard to see the loving caring side of you. But this is a gold mine of information, let's see if I can find another one...oh look at this, Blondie Lockes and the Three Cumshots, what the fuck?"

"Okay, so I had this one dream where Blondie and I were looking around the three bears's house and we ended up having sex on Mama bears bed. I came in her three times." he said.

"You should keep that one to yourself...oh there's even one about me, this should be interesting." she said, a grin tugging her lips as she started reading the entree.

"No no, don't read that one. It's three pages long and very detailed, and I don't want you to get any weird ideas...and you're already reading it, great." he said, flushing as he turned away from his girlfriend. Cerise's cheeks gradually became redder and redder, eyes widening as she continued reading. She bit her lip, snapping the book closed.

"Let's not tell anyone about this, okay? We'll keep it to ourselves." she said, handing him the notebook which he placed in his safe drawer.

"Agreed, we won't talk about it." he said.

"You...really wanna see me naked huh? Drill me like a dog and howl at the moon, really?" she asked, crossing her arms.

"What? You're the one that wanted to watch New Moon that night, I had wolves on the mind." he said, cracking open a soda, downing half of it in one go. She rolled her eyes, taking a hold of the can in his hands, finishing the rest of it.

"Maybe if you behave yourself, we can take that step a little earlier. Just be sure to keep that hot mouth of yours shut." she said, pressing her lips against his. He grabbed a hold of her hips, pulling her closer to himself as he started kissing her a bit harder. Neither of them noticed the small ladybug shaped bot flying out of the room through the keyhole.

Outside of the door, Joey smirked as he allowed the bug to land on his MirrorPad. Having used the Evil Queen's magic, he had been able to make a swarm of Ladybugs that also doubled as spy gear. They were highly advanced bugs that captured sound as clear as possible. They didn't capture video, but voice was enough for now. He downloaded the sound clip, a smirk on his face. He could easily cut out the last part, but now he had a juicy secret that he could expose to everyone in Ever After, and that would put a strain on Blake and Cerise. If he could get their love to turn into anger, and have them split up, everything would be great. He would just cut out the part about Blondie and have the conversation about Apple White. Of course he couldn't put the sound file online, because they would obviously think someone was listening in. But if someone shared that with the people, a certain Radio Rebel, then that would be entirely different. Only two people knew about that secret, so obviously they would have to speak about it.

" _How the hell do I get on Radio Rebel? Sure I can call the hotline like the others do, and request a voice change. But that wouldn't be ideal...I need free reign to expose this secret, and the others that I'll have to get. But in order to do that...I have to find their studio...wait...studio...Purple Rhapsody's records in Melody's room, she has the equipment...oh Melody, you naughty naughty girl."_ he thought with a smirk.

"There you are Joey, we're about to start the next MirrorCast, and Dexter can't help us today. Don't tell me you can't make it either." Blondie cried out, snapping him from his thoughts. He shook his head, frowning a bit.

"Sorry Blondie, I'm just...not all there right now." he said, glancing at the floor.

"Is something wrong? You look really down?"

"Yes, it's just...today is the anniversary of my father's passing. I would normally visit his grave and leave some flowers but...I can't do that anymore. I didn't get along with him well, sure...but he was still my dad. You know how it is right?" he asked.

"I do...you know very well that I lost my father young. Oh come here, let me give you a hug!" she said happily, giving the boy a bone crushing hug. He let out a small yelp of pain, a smirk working its way onto his face, as he wrapped his arms around the girl, he managed to swipe one of her pins, tucking it into his sleeve.

"Thank you Blondie, I needed this." he said, voice sounding a bit muffled.

"Sure thing, come on let's get this MirrorCast over and done with!" she said happily, pulling the boy along. If she had noticed his sneer, she would have said it was bigger than even that of Kitty Cheshire.

 _ **xxx**_

"Ugh...finally got away from that one. She's sweet, but she's annoying too...sorry dad, but you had to take one for the team." Joey muttered, making his way toward the Girl's Dormitories.

He looked around for a few minutes, hiding behind one of the pillars. He kept his eyes trained on Lizzie and Duchess's dorm. He knew Lizzie was hanging out with Kitty, so Duchess was the only one inside. His eyes widened a bit when he saw Blake walk out of the girl's dorm, with the ballerina right behind him, she paused to lock her door, turning to the boy who was carrying several boxes in his arms.

"Thanks for doing this again Blake, you're a dear."

"Yeah...this is really heavy, are you sure you needed to borrow all of these shoes from the Dance Hall though?" he asked, voice quite strained.

"You know me, I go through shoes like Apple eats apples. These were just backups that I never used, and Lizzie won't stop breathing down my neck about it. Come on, I'll buy you some cupcakes as thanks." she said, urging the boy forward. Joey looked around for a few seconds, closing the distance to Duchess's dorm.

He pulled out the golden pin and placed it in the lock. He jimmied it around for a few seconds, a small click filling his ears. He smirked as he pushed the door open. Duchess's dorm was as odd as he was expecting it to be. Lizzie's half of the room was rather weird, having various Wonderland artifacts placed about. He paid them no interest as he walked toward Duchess's nightstand. He opened the top drawer, finding several make up bags inside, along with a crimson rose. He picked it up and looked at it, brow raised.

"Who the hell gave her this? She's all black and white, red doesn't suit her." he said, placing the flower back. He tried opening the bottom drawer, but it was locked. He looked closer and found a small keyhole. He smirked, sticking the pin into it. He didn't break a sweat in opening it. Inside was a book, quite thick in fact. It had a black and white checked cover, and had golden markings on it. He also noticed a lock on the side of it. He took the book and looked at the cover.

"Duchess Swan's diary...hehe, jackpot." he muttered. He placed the book in his messenger bag, and closed the drawer.

He turned around, about to leave when he heard Lizzie's voice out in the hall. He grit his teeth, looking at the balcony. He ran toward it, vaulting over the railing, just as the Princess of Hearts walked into the room. He spotted a gutter pipe beside him and reached toward it, using it to slide all the way down to the ground. Once he was safely on the ground, her broke into a sprint, dashing out of the area. He let out a sigh, leaning up against the wall.

"One down, two to go. Apple White should have the juiciest diary, after all, the Fairest of them All has to have something inside. Hehe." he muttered, walking toward the front entrance. He knew Apple would be in the Student Council Chambers talking with Raven about the book, so he had plenty of time.

He greeted some of his acquaintances and some teachers as he headed back toward the dorms. Thankfully, Apple and Raven's shared dorm was at the end of the hall, right next to the hallway entrance so he didn't have to be sneaky. Once he waited for some people to walk by, he made his way toward the door, testing it a bit. To his surprise, the door was open. He shook his head and walked into the room, the scent of apples and licorice entering his nose. He walked to the middle of the room, seeing the visual interpretation of Polar Opposites. Apple's side was filled with light, and Raven's side was filled with darkness. He rolled his eyes and walked toward the left side of the room, spotting a rather beautiful dresser, lined with gold and made from the finest wood from the Enchanted Forest. He opened the first drawer, chuckling a bit when he saw it was an underwear drawer. He also noticed a red book in the middle of it, which had a bright red apple in the center. He took the book and shoved it in his messenger bag, closing the door.

"This is too easy...are all of these girls too trusting? The last thing I need is Cerise's diary, but that one is going to be hard...Cerise is most likely in her dorm now. Great." he muttered, quickly exiting Raven and Apple's dorm. He shook his head, bowing his head a bit as he headed back down to his own dorm.

" _I've got plenty of information with Duchess and Apple's diaries. Reading some passages from those two books should be enough for now. Of course, I need to make it look like Blake took the book...he was in Duchess's dorm, but now I gotta get him in Apple's dorm, make it seem like he took it."_

"Hey Joey, what are you doing wondering around?" the excited voice of Maddie asked, causing him to stop in his tracks.

"Uh...just clearing my thoughts...what are you doing here?"

"Nothing, just this and that...I never truly welcomed you to Ever After Huh? I normally give people tea, but I got mine steeping right now so I can't give you some." she said.

"That's fine...I'm not a tea person, no offense."

"None taken, don't worry...I'll convert you into Teanism soon enough...aha, I have something just for you. A Zap Apple!" she said, sticking her hand in her purse, pulling out a softball sized apple, glowing with all the colors of the rainbow. The stem was in the shape of a lightning bolt, it just looked unnatural.

"What the fuck is that? I've never seen an apple like that!" Joey asked, clearly taken aback. Maddie snorted, putting the fruit in his hand.

"This is a Zap Apple silly, it's an apple that only grows in Wonderland. It's an apple that sparks your taste buds, and makes you taste a different fruit with every bite. They only grow once a year here in Ever After, but in Wonderland there's an entire orchard. That's my last one, so you can have it."

"Oh...thanks Maddie...this is...weird but...well you are Wonderlandian...how come we didn't learn about this in Wonderland History?"

"Oh, that's because you have to take Wonderland Cooking Class-ic to learn about it. There's only three students in the class, so it's almost never taught. See you later, don't scream when you eat that, it wouldn't be fun." she said, giving the boy a wave as she walked away. Joey glanced at the apple, seeing it glowing slightly.

"Hmm...a zap apple...this is definitely the thing I need to get Apple and Blake together. I gotta take a trip to the Foyer." he said, a smirk on his face.

 _ **xxx**_

"Ugh...Duchess really knows how to run me ragged." Blake muttered, frowning a bit as he reached his locker. He input his combination, which he had changed after Joey had broken into it. He opened the locker door, grabbing his messenger bag. He saw something glowing inside it, and opened it, eyes widening a bit.

"What the fuck is this?" he muttered, pulling out the odd looking apple from inside the bag.

He had never seen anything like this in his entire life. All of the apples he had seen were either red, yellow or green...never rainbow colored. It was even sparking a bit at the top. He shoved the fruit in his bag, zipping it closed as he locked his locker. He looked around for a few seconds before heading toward the dorms, to the one person that knew anything and everything about apples, Apple White. Once he reached the Girl's Dorms, he knocked three times on the door, hoping the girl was inside. To his relief, it was Apple who opened the door.

"Hello Blake, is there something I could do for you?" she asked.

"Yeah you can...since when do you wear glasses?" he asked. The girl gasped, pulling the red glasses from her face, quickly placing them in her shirt.

"Don't tell anyone, I don't want people to know that I wear them." she said, pulling him inside.

"But why? You look really good with glasses, kinda like a sexy librarian." he said. She glared at him, making him laugh dryly.

"I can't have people knowing about that alright? I'm the Fairest of them All, and I can't hold that title if I have glasses, it would mess up my image. I'm just doing some last minute homework, and some checks on the yearbook. It's a shame that you can't help us directly, but I'm sure looking forward to reading what you've got." she said.

"Gotta wait two weeks sweetheart, but I'll give you something good to read. Anyway, I'm here because well...check this out." he said, reaching into his bag, pulling out the glowing rainbow apple. The blonde girl gasped, eyes widening.

"No way...where did you find this?"

"It was in my bag, it just...appeared there, I think. Do you know what it is? Because I don't." he said. She took the fruit from his hand, pulling out her glasses. Once she had them on, she looked at the fruit closely, seeing all of the vibrant colors.

"This is a Zap Apple. Maddie told me there was a tree here in Ever After, but it only gives out a few fruits once a year. In Wonderland, there's a large orchard with trees filled to the brim with them. Few people on this side have ever even tried one." she said.

"So...this is an extremely rare fruit...imagine what people would say if they saw it? Oh my godmother! I can give it to Headmaster Grimm as an apology, then he can give me back my press pass. This is going to be so..." he paused when he heard a loud sound behind him. He turned around, seeing Apple had taken a bite from the fruit.

"What the fuck Apple? That was my ticket to get my press pass back!" he cried.

"What? I couldn't help myself." she said, a sheepish smile on her face as she swallowed the fruit. She looked at it, licking her lips.

"It tasted like cherries...it was like a small bolt of lightning was swimming in my mouth. You've got to try this." she said, handing him the fruit. He shook his head, muttering some swears as he took a bite from it. He felt a small zap in his mouth as he chewed the fruit, a light taste of grapes filling his mouth.

"You're right, it tastes like grapes to me." he said.

"This is amazing, it's everything I ever dreamed of." Apple said, a far off look on her face. Blake glanced at the fruit, handing it back to Apple, who just looked at him oddly.

"You can have the rest of it. I can tell you've wanted to try one for awhile...so yeah, take it." he said.

"I can't, this is your apple...you should have it."

"Hmm...how about we share it then?" he asked, reaching into his bag for a pocket knife. He took the fruit and cut it in half, taking the side they had bitten from.

"Thank you Blake, you're such a kind person, you know that?" she asked.

"I've been told. Let's see what it tastes like now." he said, taking another bite from it, this time it tasted like oranges to him.

"It tastes like candy now." Apple said.

"Mine tastes like oranges...this really is a weird fruit, it's befitting of Wonderland's madness, for sure." he said, taking another bite from the fruit. Neither of them noticed the small bug flying through the keyhole.

"Well, now that I got Blake in the room, it makes more sense for him to have taken the diary. Now then, to get the necessary tools to hack into the PA system...tomorrow is going to be a very interesting day." Joey muttered, a grin on his face.

 _ **xxx**_

The look on Melody's face was a serious one, that was certain. When she had called a meeting in Blake's room, and had brought Kitty and Duchess along, he instantly knew what it was about. He was just glad he had a free period to work with, in fact, during the next hour, he, Kitty and Duchess were set to start their next Radio cast. He had already gotten the day's playlist, and was ready to address some of the newest rumors Duchess and Kitty had gotten for them, getting ready to bust them down before they harmed someone, but something was up, and he didn't know what it was. Melody opened her mouth to say something, but quickly closed it, possibly because she didn't know what to say. She remained silent for another minute, before finally deciding to speak.

"Something happened in the studio...it seems while I was gone last night, someone broke in. I have no idea how they did it, but they managed to get an entire copy of our software. The only reason I even noticed it, was because they left the software open." she said.

"Are you serious?" Blake asked, completely stunned at this revelation.

"This is bad...we've been doing this for months now. If we get busted now, we could be facing suspension."

"More like expulsion Kitty. Hijacking the airwaves and setting up a pirate radio station, come on. We've talked about everyone, teachers, students, even the headmaster. They've been after Radio Rebel's head for the longest time." Duchess said, calmly filing her nails.

"Well, we can't just take this sitting down. If someone copied our software, that means they plan on jacking the waves from us. That means we'll need to bustle security, and come up with a way to prevent this from happening. How they got past Melody's firewall is beyond me." Blake said, rapidly typing on his laptop. Thankfully, he had hyper encrypted it long before in case something like this happened.

"Who do you think it is, any leads?" Kitty asked curiously. Melody shook her head, glancing at her phone.

"I've got no leads whatsoever. At first I thought it was someone from the A/V club...you know, someone who got cheeky, and managed to trace the signal. But our antenna is so well hidden that no one would be able to easily find it, unless they feel like climbing three stories. This was definitely an inside job, someone must have gotten careless and let something slip."

"Seriously? Have you no faith in us? We don't have loose lips, and I wouldn't dare spill the beans on this. Who the hell would I tell?" Duchess asked, arms crossed in annoyance.

"It wasn't me...I love bringing chaos to the school, and busting rumors before they spread is enough. Besides why would I bring down the thing that I genuinely enjoy?" the daughter of the Cheshire Cat said.

"It wasn't me either, and I'm sure it wasn't Melody. But it isn't hard for someone to put two and two together. The four of us having spontaneous study sessions at different times every day, that's suspicious. Not only that, Kitty is capable of turning invisible, a good way to get some information. Duchess has an annoyed outwardly expression, no one would think she's actually listening into conversations. Melody is the daughter of the Pied Piper, she has the equipment for this job. I'm surprised Headmaster Grimm hasn't kicked our door down mid session." Blake said, not looking away from his laptop.

"You're right, sorry for assuming things...it's just...I feel so violated. My diary went missing, and I find my computer got hacked on the same night? It's definitely being done by the same person...I know it." she said. The familiar dinging of the PA system caused them all to stop what they were doing, their eyes moving toward Blake's television, which automatically turned on.

" _Good Morning People of Ever After, it is I, you're one and only Radio Rebel, coming to you the students of Ever After! I've got some very interesting rumors to bust, so stay tuned because it's going to be a very productive day."_

"Quick, we need to get to the studio, maybe we can track this signal down!" Melody said.

"Take my hand, I'll get us there in a snap." Kitty said, holding her hands out. Blake took a hold of hers and Duchess's hand while Melody took the other one. They all disappeared for a second, the feeling being a bit weird. When they opened their eyes, they were standing in the center of Melody's dorm. She moved toward her module, swiping her finger across it. Her eyes widened when she heard a low laughter.

"No way, they locked me out of my system...I can't do anything!" she cried. Blake took over, rapidly typing some passwords. All he saw was a violet Skull and Crossbones, the laughter filling through their speakers.

"Shit, looks like they did this so that we couldn't access it while they were online. Check the feed to the PA system." he said. Duchess quickly moved toward the wall, seeing the old phone was gone, along with the encryption device Dexter had created.

"It's gone! They took the phone and the device too!"

"This is bad, this is bad!" Kitty said, clutching her hair tightly in her hands.

"No...it isn't...they need a landline in order to get access to the PA, there's only a few spots in school where that can happen. The Headmaster's office, the castleteria, the library, the abandoned library, and the charmitorium." Blake said.

"The Headmaster's office and the castleteria aren't it, they wouldn't do it in a public place...that leaves the library, the abandoned library and the charmitorium. The Evil Step Librarians wouldn't allow anyone to just use their PA so easily, that leaves two spots!" Melody said.

"Let's split up then, Duchess and Melody, you two take the charmitorium, me and Kitty will take the old library. Be quick, but be careful, text us if something out of the ordinary happens." Blake said, taking a hold of Kitty's hand, the two of them disappeared into thin air.

"Come on then, let's go." Duchess said, earning a nod from Melody.

 _ **xxx**_

"I do hope you like that song, by the name of Boom Boom Pow, it's an amazing classic. Now then, I know you are all eager to start making calls, but our system is currently getting fixed, so for now there will be no calls. Instead we will move on to the best part of the show, busting your rumors. But I decided to take it up a notch, we're going to expose some juicy secrets to all of you, Ever After High. After all, keeping secrets from each other is so very mean. I've gotten some credible sources, so I will begin by telling everyone this very juicy one. It'll make you want to sink your teeth into your arm." Joey said, his distorted voice flowing through the PA system. He was currently in the old basement, in one of the abandoned classrooms. He hadn't been expecting to find a working land line down there, but he got extremely lucky.

Hacking Melody had been no simple task. Luckily, he had been able to teach himself programming back on Earth to kill some time. He didn't think it would be useful, but now he was glad he did. With the magic the Evil Queen had granted him, he hadn't only created those bugs, but also his own program, capable of stealing information and locking people out of their systems for twenty-five hours. The real Radio Rebel wouldn't be able to do jack. He had a feeling it had been Melody, it made sense after all. Doing this would get the heat on Radio Rebel, so when he exposed her and Blake for being involved in it, the students of Ever After, wouldn't be too pleased about it. He took a hold of Apple's diary, a smirk on his face as he licked his lips.

"Here's a juicy secret for all of you. Dearest Diary, it's me again, Apple White. Of course you already knew that, after all you are my diary. Today, I finally came to terms with my feelings about destiny. For the longest time, I wanted nothing more than to follow it, but Raven taught me that sometimes it's okay to break away from tradition. I had only then realized how choked I felt about being the next Snow White. I love my destiny, and I still wish to follow it...but for now I shall focus on my friends, the here and now, and of course making memories. Raven is very brave for doing what she is doing, so go for it Auntie! I love you!

P.S. I think Raven is cute when she sleeps.

P.S.S. I want to confess my feelings to Blake, but I don't know how to do it...I know he's dating Cerise now, but it's just so...ugh...why can't love be simple? At least I can tell you, my dearest diary...is it weird that I imagine myself being his wife?"

Joey remained silent for a few seconds, trying his hardest not to break into laughter. The way it had been written in the diary was so dainty and cute. It had been written by the hand of a young girl who was struggling to hold in her feelings, a girl who was probably blushing madly or crying right now. He couldn't help but relish in that potential despair. He grabbed Duchess's diary next, flipping to a good passage.

"Well...I'm going to give you another one before our next break...this one is very very personal. Dear Diary, it's been a few days since the Winter Formal, and I had an amazing time being the star...but I felt like so much more. That performance took everything I had, just to make it perfect...seeing Blake's smile, and receiving his praise...it melted my heart a bit. It's so difficult being in love with someone unattainable, it reminds of me of my mother, and how she will forever have that unattainable love in her heart. It makes me want to burst. I love him so much, but I can't tell him...it would tear him and Cerise apart...and I care more about his happiness than anything in the world, even my Happily Ever After...but I can dream. I can have those wonderful dreams where he holds me in his arms, kisses me goodnight, we watch the stars together...even have a round or two of hot sex...it's just so infuriating! Damn you Cerise, why did you admit your feelings first?! Ugh...I'm going to bed, yours truly, Duchess Swan."

He put on a song from his playlist and sat back against the desk he was using, his laughter echoing through the empty room. He couldn't believe someone could be so in love with someone like Blake. He wasn't laughing because it was funny, he was laughing because it was unbelievable. He had finally found a way to get Duchess to hate Blake, and that was by exposing her diary entrees. She would be so embarrassed to even see him, that she wouldn't want to be near him. Yes, it would hurt the one he was in love with, but he would be there to sweep her off her feet, like the prince she deserved, instead of a foreign loser with no redeeming qualities...yes, this would be excellent for him.


	42. Spring Unsprung Prelude II: Phase 2

**A/N:**

 **Guess who's getting his ass pounded by the fiercest snowstorm of the year? This guy! Oh New Hampshire, it never changes, it's the same every year around this time, then again Mass and Maine are getting pounded by the same storm so I'm not the only one suffering. All of you that live down south, lucky you!**

 **Welcome to Chapter 42 of Through the Looking Glass, before I say anything else, I would like to apologize for this chapter. Some very sad things occur in this chapter. It will invoke rage, fury, sadness, agony, despair, despair some more despair. Actually a lot of despair near the ending...let's just say, it has been quite a ride...42 chapters and we're still going strong. But yes, this will be chapter that changes it all and it is just the beginning. As you all saw last chapter, Joey is getting much more creative with his plan, even though his dumb ass lost his plan in the Well of Wonder. We also got to meet the Gloriosa White, daughter of the White Queen, and Mavis Hare, daughter of the March Hare. These two will be significant characters in Way Too Wonderland, but for now they are going to get some exposition during this arc.**

 **So, only one of you seemed to be on the right track about who Gloriosa was, so I commend you...all of you will get to know a bit more of Gloriosa and her past and who she is during this arc. Of course most of you must already know who she is, so for now you'll get to know more about her. We'll also get to see the effects of Joey's heinous plot. Just so you know, Joey is going to get a leather jacket sometime soon, so he will truly embrace his Negan, but he isn't going to carry around a bat named Lucille. Although that would be a motherfucker of a reference if I do say so myself. If anything, Joey is a combination of Shane and Negan from walking dead. Shane's decent into madness due to Jealousy is what we're currently seeing, but the confident boisterous and cunning half will be from the Negan side of Joey. They will combine to make NeShane...or Shangan? You know what, let's just call him Negan Joey and we will move on. Also, apologies to ChimaTigon, just found out his name is Joey, so please accept my apology. You must be enjoying the hell out of this...**

 **Anyway, before I go, I will say that I am once again very very sorry. For the sake of this story, it had to happen. So please don't hate me for it...you can breathe, you can blink, you can cry...hell, all of you will be doing that...**

 **Review, favorite and follow my story...wish me luck during this snowstorm...I am about to make an excursion to the store across the street from my house and I may break my leg. I only have tuna fish and bread, and ramen...and I need some coke to drink...If you don't hear from me soon, assume the worst.**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 42

Spring Unsprung Prelude 2:

Phase 2

Blake was honestly stunned at what he was hearing. He and Kitty had been looking around the abandoned library and had found nothing. They had decided to head back to the charmitorium, checking some other spots where the person could have been hiding, but had found nothing. It was during this hunt that they heard the two very intimate diary readings being broadcast over the PA system. It was something so callous and disgusting, that he didn't know what to think. It went against everything Radio Rebel did, and that's why he wanted to find the one responsible, so he could teach them a lesson for doing something so horrible. He could already imagine the expressions on Apple and Duchess as they had to stand there and listen to their personal lives being spoken through a speaker. He balled his fist, punching a nearby locker, his fist glowing violet. It was enough for him to dent it from the sheer force.

"Um...Blake, would you calm down?" Kitty asked, feeling a bit frightened.

"Calm down? How do you expect me to calm down when my friends have their dirty laundry on the air? Come on Kitty, be real." he spat, his voice sounding two toned. He took a deep breath, shaking his head a bit.

"I'm sorry okay? I just didn't want you to freak out like Raven does, it usually ends up bad." she said.

"I know, I know...but it just boils my blood to hear this go down...and I have nothing I can do about it!" he said.

"Well, we know this...the person doing this managed to get the program, and he needs a land line for this to work. It's also someone skilled enough to open doors and be enough of a dick to steal diaries. There's only one person who fits the bill, Blondie." Kitty said.

"Yeah, but she isn't that big of a bitch. She's a reporter, but she wouldn't steal someone's diary, she's not that much of an ass. It's someone else, we're on the right track though. Someone who would want to steal diaries...I haven't told anyone else about what we do...but somehow they found out." he said.

"Do you think it's Joey?" the daughter of the Cheshire Cat asked, earning a brow raise from the boy. He shook his head, rubbing his chin.

"Definitely not...that kid never had a computer growing up. He wouldn't be able to hack anything worth a damn. He isn't smart enough to steal diaries, at least not without any help...besides, you would need technical knowledge to even run our program...it's not him." he said, earning a sigh from Kitty, who glanced at her wrist watch, the hands were spinning around wildly, pausing on the correct time for a second before they continued spinning.

"It's 11:56, almost the end of our first free period...I gotta go to class in a few minutes." She said.

"If you need to go, it's fine...I can handle it on my own. It won't be easy without your teleportation, but I can manage." he replied, earning a smile from the girl.

"I know, but I can help you out for a little longer. Besides, I have the perfect attendance record in the school. I always flash into class right on time!" she said, giving him a wink.

" _Alright then, our next secret is a juicy one...and it comes straight from the wolves mouth. Dear Journal, today is October 16_ _th_ _2017, Ever After Calender. It is currently 6:37AM. The reason why I am writing in you this early in the morning is because I just woke up with a hard on. Yes this is normal, but it hasn't happened for awhile, and the reason for that is because I just had a dream about Apple White, daughter of Snow White. It's just...she's so beautiful and cute. The way she speaks is firm, adorable and a bit nasally. I just couldn't help but get a crush on her, even if I keep that shit hidden. So it seems my hormonal adolescent brain thought it would be a good idea to induce a dream in where I drill Apple in the Enchanted Forest while the critters watch. This dream was so vivid that I could smell the apple scented shampoo in her hair. Her soft voice crying my name in pure ecstasy...it's so embarrassing. On a side note, Briar is an excellent kisser...maybe I have shot with her? Probably not...will update after lunch. Yours truly, Blake Bigby._

 _Seems to me like there's unrequited love here...Apple White, daughter of Snow White, Blake Bigby, the foreigner from another world...both of them having loving feelings toward each other...I would almost expect this to be the truth...there you have it ladies and gents, Apple White and Blake Bigby are a secret couple...ain't that about a bitch...I'm so happy I was able to bring the truth to you. This concludes today's broadcast, have a wonderful day!"_

"Oh my, I didn't think you'd have that sort of fantasy." Kitty said, a little smirk on her face.

Blake just stood there, his face going through several different emotions. Shock, anger, fear, embarrassment, and finally rage. He didn't know who had just spilled that, but there was only one person who knew about that secret...no one else had even seen let alone read that diary entree. He turned around, walking toward the castleteria with a brisk pace in his step. Kitty didn't know what to do so she just followed along, not exactly knowing what was about to happen. Judging by the look on his face, she knew Blake was about to do something. His finger tips were covered in violet wisps and his eyes were glowing purple with his magic.

"Um Blake, please think rationally about what you are about to do...please please, don't do anything dumb." Kitty said, trying to stop her friend from doing anything wrong. He didn't say or do anything, he reached the castleteria and took a deep breath, calming down slightly but his eyes were still purple instead of their normal blue.

Everyone was silent when he walked into the castleteria...it had been expected after having heard such a personal secret being spilled to the public like that. He didn't say anything as he approached Cerise's table, she had been sitting with Cedar, focusing on her lunch when the boy had approached them. Cedar didn't say anything, but by the expression on his face, she could tell he was mad. She didn't say anything, just stood up and left, saying she'd be back after she got seconds. Blake took her spot and sat down, folding his hands on the table top, glancing at his girlfriend.

"I don't want to jump to conclusions or anything but...it just seems so weird to me that whoever is doing this, knew something that personal about me, a day after you had read it. So...mind telling me why you did it?"

"Why I did what? You actually think I would do something like that to you?" Cerise asked, visibly hurt that he would say something like that.

"The only person who knew about that was you and me. Come on, who else would have known? My journal is under a protected lock that requires my finger print, no one could have stolen it." he said softly, earning a growl from the girl.

"So you think that I told whoever this is, your secret wet dream about Apple, so that they could then share it over the PA? Did it ever occur to you that maybe someone listened in? You can't be that stupid Blake." she said, earning a few gasps from the people nearby.

"No, I'm not being that stupid, I'm being realistic. There is no possible way someone heard you reading that all the way at my computer desk. It is too far from the door, and the windows were locked, no one could have heard it from there. Don't even bring into question the air vents, because they're sound proofed so no one can hear what goes on inside the dorms, I checked." he said, matter-of-factly.

"Makes sense too me, but again it wasn't me that did it. How about we talk about something more interesting, your apparent secret relationship with Apple. So how long has it been happening?" she asked curiously.

"The fuck are you talking about? Me and Apple don't have a secret relationship!"

"Oh...well then how did the Rebel get a hold of Apple's diary? She said it had gone missing last night. I saw you coming out of Apple and Raven's dorm, and she said you were the last person in that room. You aren't gonna tell me it was Raven that did it, are you?" she asked.

"I would never do something like that to one of my friends Cerise! Are you serious? How long have we known each other?"

"Long enough, but apparently we haven't been honest enough with each other. Especially if we're already pointing fingers, how about this. Melody told me her diary had been stolen too, not just that, Duchess's went missing as well. Guess who was with Melody and Duchess yesterday? That's right...it was you. So before you start pointing fingers at the person you love, point them at yourself!" she cried, grabbing her lunch tray, tossing the entire thing into the trash.

"Hey hey, it wasn't Blake who stole Melody's diary! I was with the two of them yesterday, and I would have seen him do that! So don't blame him for that!" Kitty cried, causing the hooded girl to glare at her.

"Stay out of this Kitty, it doesn't concern you!"

"Don't talk to her like that Cerise...alright...alright...how about we all just cool down okay? What we all do know is that someone took all three diaries and somehow got a hold of my entree, and it was read over the PA. We just have to figure out who it was!" Blake said.

"It was the Radio Rebel, duh...after helping us for so long, I can't believe they'd do something so disgusting!" Cerise said, crossing her arms.

"It wasn't the Radio Rebel, it was someone else. They wouldn't do something like that, they're not that mean spirited!" Kitty added, a firm look on her face.

"How would you know what the Radio Rebel would and wouldn't do though? Unless you were the Rebel?" the familiar voice of Joey said, they all looked at him. The boy was leaning back against a post, a Gala Apple in his hand.

"Don't be an idiot Joe, do you actually think Kitty is smart enough to be the Radio Rebel? They're a pirate radio station...you would need a massive set up, not to mention the right equipment to broadcast through the school, hack the MirrorVisions and the PA system. Do you think she's capable of working all of that by herself?" Blake asked.

"Hey, don't be mean about it!" Kitty said, an annoyed flush on her cheeks. Joey took a bite from his apple, shrugging his shoulder.

"No...she wouldn't be able to do that on her own...but maybe she had help. Help from someone who would know her way around that kind of technology...someone like Melody Piper?" he said. Several murmurs would be heard among the other students. Blake swallowed the lump in his throat, his face remaining neutral.

"Hehe, yeah right. Do you actually think she'd be capable of that? She's a music producer, not a radio station host. You would need an antenna to broadcast, a pretty big one might I add. So, where do you suggest she has it? On her head?" Blake asked, crossing his arms.

"No...but you wouldn't necessarily need an antenna. After all, Ever After High does allow it's students to get cable television in the dorms. A plain old satellite dish would suffice...my cousin works for Direct Tv Blake, he knows this shit inside and out." Joey said, taking another bite from his apple.

"I think you've lost your marbles. Why would I want to even do something as stupid as Radio Rebel? It would be so much work, not to mention it cuts into my cat naps...I would prefer snuggling on my favorite tree branch than to sit in a room exposing secrets."

"Ah, normally you would. But the thrill of being caught, causing harm to those who would start rumors, cracking down on those who dare bully others...that's a form of chaos in itself...and it's a type of mischievous chaos that you wouldn't turn away from." he said.

"Alright, let's just all stop playing the blame game. None of us know who the Rebel is, all we know is that he's a student...so what? It could be any one of us." Blake said.

"Well this wouldn't be happening if you didn't assume I was the one that did it. I can't believe you would even say that to me Blake, don't you love me?" Cerise asked. A few girls looked at the black haired boy with angry looks on their faces.

"It has nothing to do with that. Cerise of course Blake loves you, but look at it from his point of view, if someone exposed your secret, and only one person knew about it, wouldn't you automatically assume that it was them that did it? No matter how much it would hurt?" Kitty asked. Cerise glared at her, but she bowed her head.

"Hey, as long as we're being honest, Apple and Duchess have it harder than you do Blake. I'm ashamed that you would care about yourself and your secret and not make sure they're fine." Joey said, earning a growl from Blake. He turned to face him, eyes glowing purple...he said nothing, turning around on his heel.

"I'm sorry Cerise, I jumped to conclusions...I'll figure it out." he said.

"We're not done talking, I don't want to see you again for the rest of the day...we'll talk tomorrow. You can forget about our date later tonight too." she replied. He gave her a nod, hurriedly leaving the castleteria.

"Okay, I know he messed up...but I think it's harsh that you broke off one date. That would have been the perfect time to discuss this wouldn't it?"

"Kitty shut up, when you are in a relationship, then you feel free to make the calls. Stop micromanaging theirs."

"Why don't you shut the fuck up Joey? I'm trying to help my best friend out, because he is visibly hurt...what the hell have you done? You almost got me in trouble, you got his press pass taken away for two weeks. You haven't been a good friend since you came here, you know what you are? A fucking selfish prick...a selfish prick who would do anything in his power to fuck with his friends. If it were up to me, I would have given up our friendship a long time ago, I honestly don't see why Blake trusted you so much. Charm you later." she spat, disappearing a second later.

 _ **xxx**_

Apple was locked in her room when Blake found her. It wasn't hard for him to find her. He had asked Raven, but she had told him Apple didn't want to see anyone. Of course with some gentle coaxing, his sister managed to be convinced into letting him in. The girl was a mess, clutching her pillows tightly, mascara running down her smooth skin. Her heels had been discarded, and her hair was dishevaled, completely unlike her normal style. He didn't really know what to do, how to approach her, or what to even say. He was walking on glass with this one, and after what was said, he wasn't sure he should do anything. He was already having issues with Cerise, and was dealing with his accusation. Now he had to figure out who had stolen those journals and had done such a heinous act, but first he needed to make sure Apple and Duchess were alright. After just standing there, he got the courage to approach her. He knelt down, taking a hold of one of her hands.

"I know what's going on hurts, and it sucks Apple...I know what you are going through...but just know that I'm here for you, okay?" he said softly.

"You don't understand...now people will look down on me. I'm supposed to be a Royal, people look to me for guidance...now they all know I'm having conflicting emotions...they'll all think I want to rebel. Not to mention the other things."

"Hey, it could be worse. Now everyone thinks I've been cheating on Cerise behind her back with you...god I shouldn't have even written that...I'm sorry alright? You probably think of me as some horny teenager now." he said, glancing away from her. The girl sat up, grabbing a tissue from the box beside her.

"I don't...it's normal to think that stuff...and this was before you were dating Cerise. I'm sure many of us have had those types of dreams, and I'm not sitting here saying I'm a saint. I've had them too, in vivid detail just like you did...there's nothing to be embarrassed about." she said. He took the napkin from her hand, using it to wipe all of the black streaks from her face and chin.

"It isn't embarrassing...what's embarrassing is that now everyone in Ever After High knows it...but at least it isn't as bad as you or Duchess. I haven't talked to her yet, but I heard from Melody that she locked herself in her room and won't let anyone in, even Lizzie. I just want to find out who stole those diaries and snap their neck." he said angrily.

"People are saying it was you...they're following something Cerise said in the castleteria. Apparently since you were with me, and Duchess yesterday, you are likely suspect. But I know it wasn't you, because you never got close to my dresser...and it wasn't Raven either, she wouldn't do that. Someone broke in here and took it, it was gone before you showed up." she said firmly.

"Then that proves it wasn't me...even then, nothing proves that I didn't take it, same with Duchess. Then we have what happened to Melody and..." he paused, glancing away from the girl.

"And what? Did something else happen to Melody?" she asked curiously. He sighed, looking back at the blonde, right into her eyes.

"I'm gonna tell you a secret, but you have to swear you'll keep it. Melody, Duchess, Kitty and I...we're all the Radio Rebel." he said. She blinked a few times, flicking some golden hair behind her shoulder.

"Oh, I know...I think everyone in Ever After knows...I mean the music is enough to tell, the compassion the Rebel shows when speaking. The fact that you have a glass pony collection, and the Rebel also has one...with a horse that has a broken back hoof. Honestly, we all turned a blind eye to it, because what you are doing is wonderful. But it seems someone is using it for evil." she said. Blake sighed, falling back to the ground.

"I can't believe it...months of hiding the Rebel, and you and several others knew about it." he said.

"Duh, who do you think got Headmaster Grimm off your backs? Didn't you even notice he had stopped hunting you down? He's probably started up again, seeing as today's broadcast was disgusting and personal. I just can't believe something like this happened." she said, glancing down at her feet, a frown on her face.

"I know...but I haven't found where it was happening. In order for the broadcast to go out, Melody set up a special antenna...but to hack the PA, we needed a phone and a special encyption device. Melody's dorm has a land line, which is how we did it. However, there are several other areas with landlines, we ruled out the Headmaster's office and castleteria because they were public. The library is watched by Ashlynn's aunts, the old library was empty and the charmitorium was in use. It had to have come from somewhere." he said.

"Did you check the old basement? Sometimes people like to hang out down there, it still has power running to it. Maybe there's a landline down there." she said.

"A viable option, but the doors were locked tightly. No one could have been able to get down there...Kitty checked when we passed it, and nothing down there had been moved, all of the classrooms were locked to." he replied, earning a frown from the blonde.

"I'm sure someone knows something...maybe Blondie is involved...not in the way that you think. But she does have enchanted pins, maybe she lost one and someone got it."

"That does make sense...I agree with you Apple...but that doesn't limit us down none. It has to be someone capable of picking locks, has no qualms with stealing diaries, and can hack a virtually unhackable program. It all has to be done in a place with a landline too." he said, sighing angrily as he glanced at the ceiling.

"You're right...I don't think anyone comes to mind...shit."

"Whoa...did I hear you correctly? Did Apple White, daughter of Snow White, the fairest of them all just taint her lips, crimson as blood, with a foul word like shit?" he asked.

"What? Princesses can't swear?" she asked, a smug look on her face. He chuckled, shaking his head.

"I think I'm a bad influence on you...anyway, I need to check on Duchess. She was affected too, if you get any information, please let me know. I'm gonna get to the bottom of this Apple, I promise!" he said firmly, jumping to his feet. The girl stood up, giving him a hug.

"I know you will, thank you."

"Hmm...you know, you're really short without your heels." he said, taking notice of the girl's actual height. She wasn't taller than five foot five, it was a bit odd to see her like that.

"Don't tell anyone, but the reason I wear heels all the time is because they make me taller." she said, earning a laugh from the boy, who ruffled her hair.

"You look cute like this, but your heels suit you too. I hope you feel better Apple, I really do." he said, leaving the dorm right after. The girl smiled, falling back into her bed.

"Hehe, he called me cute." she giggled, a grin on her face.

It didn't take him long to reach Duchess's dorm. It was down the hall from Apple's after all. He didn't really know what to say to the girl, but he figured he would have to say something. He knocked on the door a couple times, but she didn't say anything. He leaned back against the door, a frown on his face.

"Duchess, I know you're in there...let me in, I need to talk to you." he said.

" _No go away! Just let me wallow in my shame!"_

"Don't be so melodramatic you damn swan! I'll pick this lock, just you wait and see...and if I fail I'll kick the door down. I'm not scared of doing it!" he said. He heard shuffling on the other side along with a soft click. He smirked, walking into the room.

Duchess had already made her way back to her bed, having huddled into a ball on top of it. She didn't say anything, just kept looking at the far wall. He noticed she had taken her make up off, most likely because it had gotten messed up from her own tears. He walked over to her bed, sitting down at the edge of it, placing a hand on her should, giving it a small squeeze. He let out a soft laugh, glancing at the floor.

"Guess I don't have to ask you what the color of your rose was anymore." he said, earning a quiet giggle from the girl.

"I'm sorry...I should have told you a long time ago. But you're my best friend, I didn't want to mess up your relationship with Cerise." she said softly.

"Yes, I figured...it's alright Duchess, I don't blame you for being in love. Honestly, I can't figure out why so many girls like me that way. I'm not that interesting of a person." he said, glancing away from her. She sat up, a firm look on her face.

"Don't make me hit you! How can you not see what makes you amazing? You're kind, selfless, a good listener...handsome, and you have a nicely toned body too. You aren't a hunk, but you aren't ugly either. It isn't even about your looks, it's about your actions, that's why you got so many girls dripping over you." she said.

"Including you?" he asked, earning a loud honk from the girl, who kicked him off her bed.

"Shut up!" she cried, earning a groan from the boy, who just laid on the ground.

"I deserved that...but still, I find it weird. Back in my world, I never got so much attention, here I got so many girls pinning after me, it's weird. I wouldn't know what to do in this situation...I guess if I was someone like Issei Hyoudou, I'd be having a fucking field day."

"I accepted all of my feelings...I also accepted that my feelings weren't gonna be returned. I still accept it, I decided that I would rather have you as a friend, than risk it and lose you all together. I love you Blake, I do. But I'll swallow those feelings if it means we can be friends." she said, holding back tears. Blake stood up, wrapping his arms around the girl in a tight hug.

"I'm sorry...I'm sorry that I'm breaking your heart. I'm sorry that I can't return your feelings, I'm..just...sorry...if there's anything I can do to make you feel better, please let me know." he said.

"There's only one thing I want, and you can't give it to me. I wouldn't want to hurt Cerise more than she most likely already is. You being here for me, being my friend is enough. But you should leave, I'm a big swan, I can handle myself. I have to find the bastard who stole my diary and tear his ass in two!" she said.

"Alright...we need to figure out who stole our program...we need to figure out who's doing this!" he said, a firm look on his face.

"Let's find them then, and when we do...I get the first hit."

"Only if you let me hold them while you beat the fuck out of them." he said, holding his hand out. She grinned, shaking his hand.

"We've got an accord."

 _ **xxx(Wonderland)xxx**_

Gloriosa wiped the sweat from her brow, panting a bit. She hadn't expected to have to cross the Wonderlandian Badlands in order to reach Marmoreal. The blinking dot on her map was growing closer, but she was also getting tired. Mavis was walking beside her, still reading the pocketbook she had found. She didn't know why she found it so interesting, but at least it kept her distracted. It had been quite awhile since she had heard the names of those written inside it. She glanced back at her map, a frown on her face.

She remembered, the day she had been wondering through the woods, and felt something pulling her forward. The day she had found the odd well in the middle of the woods, glowing with rainbow water. She had thought it was an illusion, but for some reason it felt real. She walked to it, and placed her hand on the water, her eyes growing wide as light flowed through her. She let out a scream, various memories being pulled to the front of her mind. It was then that she remembered her childhood, memories that had been suppressed that she didn't even know she had. She remembered running across the large courtyard in Marmoreal, playing with her mother the White Queen. She had remembered playing with some of the other Wonderland children, meeting Alice and the Cheshire Cat. It all made sense to her, her fascination with Wonderland, why she just needed to get back to it...everything made sense. She wasn't from Earth, she never was. She had been in danger, someone had tried to kill her when she was young.

She remembered the day her mother left her life vividly. It wasn't like she thought, her mother hadn't abandoned her...it was more like she had woken up to her mother missing. That's what had happened, she had opened her eyes, finding herself in a house on Earth, with who she believed was her father, because her mother's magic had made it so.

That horrible man wasn't her father, that world wasn't her own. Her heart lied with Wonderland, her blood was Wonderlandian. She had been acting odd, because getting used to those memories, becoming the person you had forgotten messed with your mind. Having lived as Lucille Bijoux for such a long time messed with her sense of reality. Even now, Lucy messed with Gloriosa, fighting for control. It was as if another persona wanted to overtake her. She was Lucy, and she was Gloriosa, but often times the lines blurred too much for her to distinguish the two. Now, here she was...two years after leaving Earth through the Well of Wonder, trying to make her way back to her palace, finding out that her boyfriend was trying to destroy her best friends life, and there was nothing she could stop it.

"Gloriosa are you alright? You've been silent since we entered the desert." Mavis asked, earning a sigh from the girl.

"I am alright it just...I know the owner of that pocket book." she said, earning a wide eyed look the copper haired girl.

"You do? Who is it then?"

"He's my ex-boyfriend." she said. Mavis remained silent as she walked, feeling a bit bad that she had asked the question.

"I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked that."

"It's alright...I know both of them. Joey is a selfish person, always was...I have no idea how he got to Ever After. Blake on the other hand is sweet, caring, kind. He mustn't have taken my disappearance too well." she replied.

"Well, if you know them...then why don't we go back to Ever After? We gotta warn him, tell him that this Joey guy is going to do something."

"Even if I could, I can't...I'm busy trying to reach my castle. We need the holy sword to save the Queen of Hearts. I'm sure Blake will be fine, he's going to be fine." Gloriosa said firmly.

They left the desert shortly after that, the sandy dunes being replaced by rolling hills. The scent of fresh grass was carried on the light and airy breeze, along with flower petals. There were some odd bugs flowing around, including Spring Butterflies, which she still wasn't used to. She had recalled one memory growing up of her trying to catch one, only for its head to spring forward like a Jack-in-the-box. It scared her, and her mother had told her not to try to catch any more of them. The lone marble path extended outwards, and would lead them to the front gates of the palace.

"We're almost there...can't believe four months of searching has put me this close. I can finally get the sword and have a means to defend the Queen."

"How do you know you can pull the sword though? I get that it was hidden here to prevent someone from claiming it, but you are the next White Queen." Mavis said, earning an eye roll from her friend.

"Long ago, when the Holy Sword was forged, in it was inscribed an enchantment. Whoever shall hold this sword, shall be recognized as King. However, in dire circumstances, the sword can be pulled from the stone, by an act of powerful magic. That magic shall sustain its power until the sword has served its purpose. Being the next White Queen, makes me magically capable of pulling the sword. It helps that we're in Wonderland as well, as it's rules don't apply to the weapon itself." Gloriosa said, earning a firm look from the girl.

"I'm so confused...so wait, if it's something from Ever After, won't the rules of that world apply in this scenario?"

"If we were in Ever After, yes. But since we're in Wonderland, then no...we can just turn the rules upside down anyway. Look, I can see the gates!" she cried, pointing to the distance. In her excitement, she started running forward.

"Gah...wait for me! You're running too fast!"

"No I'm not. Come on Mavis, time to lose those extra calories you chubby bunny!" Gloriosa cried, earning a glare from her friend.

"I'm not a bunny, I am a hare. A Hare! If you want to call someone a bunny, then speak with Bunny Blanc, not me!" she cried.

"Oh, it's a joke, don't have a tea kettle over it!" the auburn haired girl cried. As she took another step forward, approaching the castle, she felt something open underneath her. It was only then when she realized a rabbit hole had opened up, and she and Mavis fell into it.

"Ahh...what's going on?" the girl cried, earning a growl from the future White Queen.

"A rabbit hole opened up! My mom must have asked Bunny's dad to put one here as a safeguard...great!" she cried. The hole snapped open, dumping them in the Rainbow River basin. The two girls cried from the cold water.

Gloriosa sat up, feeling a massive amount of pain on her backside. She spat a bit of rainbow water out, shaking her head to get some out of her ears. She sighed, not doing anything to get out of the water unlike her friend Mavis who had already stood up. She just sat there, letting the rainbow water flow around her.

"What...where are we?" Mavis asked, glancing around the area, seeing the nearby castle belonging to the Queen of Hearts.

"We're back at the foot of the Rainbow River, near Rainbow Falls, if I were to ascertain a guess." Gloriosa said, causing Mavis to grab her discarded WonderMap. She pulled it open, and it showed three blinking dots, the one where Marmoreal was, a green one representing Gloriosa, and a copper one representing herself.

"You're right...Marmoreal is all the way across the map. It would take us months just to walk that distance."

"Great...guess I'll have to wait until it moves again, and plan accordingly until I get lucky. This is total horse shit!" Gloriosa snapped, slapping the water around her.

"Hmm...wait, that means we can go help your friend. We can use this map to track down the Well of Wonder. We'll make it there before the kettle whistles!"

"Mavis, I'm not going to Ever After...I am far too busy trying to save the Queen's life. Did you forget someone is trying to kill her? Do you know what would happen if they succeeded? Anything from taking over the kingdom to that coming down and killing us!" the girl said, pointing to the swirling vortex above them.

"Yeah but...remember, the Evil Queen has a daughter...so wouldn't it be ideal to get here here? Maybe she can break the curse."

"Sure, that would be ideal...except all of the portals are closed. The Headmaster would chew us up and spit us out if we crossed the realms. Plus what would you say, hey I'm here to stop Joey from ruining Blake's relationship. Get real." Gloriosa said, looking away from her friend.

"You forget, I have the pocketbook. If we show Blake this, then we'll be able too...wait...it's gone!" she cried, shoving her hand in her pocket. She looked through every single pocket she had, all forty-eight of them, until she found a torn one, her hand slipping through. Gloriosa snorted, shaking her head.

"So, that pocketbook is most likely floating in a rabbit hole right now. Unless we can get the White Rabbit to open one up, we won't ever find it. Plus they're unpredictable...honestly, we should just go to the nearest village. We're tired, wet, hungry, and something is poking my ass really hard." she said, reaching under her skirt.

"It's probably a rock, or a needle fish...please don't let it be a needle fish."

"It's a book...not just any book, holy shit...this is, the Storybook of Legends." Gloriosa said, causing Mavis to gasp in awe. She took a hold of it, looking it over for any details.

"What is this doing here? I thought this was being kept in Ever After High?!"

"Someone must have taken it and tossed it in. Open it, check to see if it's the real deal!" Gloriosa said, rapidly jumping to her feet. Mavis opened it, and it magically turned to her page, showing a picture of her, along with her name and role in the story.

"Mavis Hare, daughter of the March Hare, role in the story, March Hare, parent story, Alice's Adventure's in Wonderland. No way, this is the real book." she said, handing it over to her friend, who easily found her own page on it. It was surreal to actually see it before her. She flipped through the pages, seeing all of the future Fairytales and their roles, until she got to the final page.

"Huh? What is this? The Book Keeper, it's a page that doesn't have anything on it, just a line to sign and that one sentence." she said, turning it to Mavis.

"Hmm...maybe whoever signs this, gets to keep the book, to oversee all of the stories as they happen. Maybe he could even make changes to each story, like for names and such. I mean, Alistair is the next Alice, so the story would be Alistair's Adventure's in Wonderland. Maybe the book keeper uses magic to edit these things for the next Generation."

"A plausible theory...we won't know until we find that person I guess. Still, finding the Storybook here of all places...what do you think drove someone to do it? To just toss it in here?" she asked.

"Not sure, but I heard Miss Cheshire speaking with the Mock Turtle a few weeks back, saying something about a Royal and Rebel conflict. I guess people are rebelling against destiny. And if a Rebel got a hold of this book, maybe they got rid of it to buy themselves some time." Mavis said, glancing at the book.

"It makes sense...but if this falls in the wrong hands, it could spell the end of all of our stories. We need to return it...but we can't just pop in either...I can't leave...I need to find the Holy sword, I'm not letting the Queen die while I'm gone."

"Well we can't just leave it lying around either...if anyone sees it, they'd do anything to get it. We need to do something with it...oh, I know...maybe Alistair can take care of it. He wouldn't let anyone get their hands on this book!" Mavis said, hugging it tightly to her chest.

"You're right, Alistair is the hero of our story...the future slayer of the Jabberwocky, savior of Wonderland, and all that shit. Fine then, WonderMap, show me Alistair Wonderland!" Gloriosa said. The map glowed a brilliant gold, showing the two a blinking dot on the center of the map. She pressed her finger on it, and when it opened up, it showed an image of the Queen of Hearts' castle.

"Oh...that isn't good...hopefully he didn't meet the guillotine...that wouldn't be good for anyone." Mavis said.

"The Queen of Hearts knows that she can't kill Alistair. He's the next Alice and if his role isn't fulfilled, then Wonderland could very well disappear...according to those bullshit legends and lies that have been told for the last six generations. Let's just hope he and Bunny are unhurt." she said, taking the book from Mavis and placing it in her bag for safe keeping. She couldn't help but grow worried for her friend, and whatever it was that Joey was planning.

 _ **xxx(Ever After High)xxx**_

A few days had passed since the fake Rebel had hijacked the waves. Blake and his friends had done everything they could, searched every spot repeatedly, but hadn't been able to find them. It had been quite difficult, seeing as the day and broadcasting location changed daily, so they were never in the same place for long, and by the time they checked all of the areas, they were gone. They had gotten close once, but still they managed to get away. It took everything that he knew and loved about the Radio Rebel, and twisted it into something dark and ugly. Headmaster Grimm had approached the boy, apparently he already knew about his involvement. He had been expecting to get in more trouble, but instead the man said that his show motivated everyone and had cut down on bullying significantly. He had turned a blind eye, because he felt that rumors turned people into monsters, and messed with the order of things. Of course he was disappointed that there were more Rebels because of his show, but there were more Royals as well. Blake had told him he had no involvement in the current Rebel, but had promised to find him and stop him.

He could feel his dark magic ebbing at him. The stinging in his chest from the Mirror Shard persisted. It was as if the Evil Queen wanted him to let his magic feed on his dark powers. His rage and his anger, if left unchecked could be dangerous. So he had asked Raven for advice, and she taught him ways to deal with the stress, but sometimes the magic had to be expelled. She had taken him to her special clearing, in the Dark Woods, where she often times came to expel excess magic. The area was singed and some of the trees were dead, but she assured that they always somehow grew back. He had been rather thankful to at least have that extra help on his side. Raven truly was becoming like a real sister to him.

So now he waited, and watched. He had been leaning back against the wall, near Legacy Plaza, his hood over his head blocking his eyes. They were glowing purple with a tracking spell Raven had taught him. With a sample of someone's DNA...he would be able to see items belonging to that person. There was no way someone could completely eliminate DNA from an object, especially in handwriting, as their hand would have to be making contact with the paper. He had been standing there for awhile, but hadn't been able to find anything at all.

"So, is this what you are up to? Just standing here, stalking your prey? It doesn't suit you, you know." the voice of Ramona said, causing the boy to look up at her, his eyes returning to their normal bright green.

"Eh...sorry. Raven taught me this tracking spell, if I have some DNA, I can find the stolen items...I've been standing here for three hours now, and no one has the missing diaries." he said, a frown on his face.

"Have you talked to Cerise at all? She's been really mad, hasn't talked to anyone for the last few days."

"No...she doesn't want to talk to me either. She believes what the Rebel is saying, because god only knows they're a credible source. It just pisses me off that fucker managed to get a hold of something so personal." he said.

"It isn't hard for her to believe that stuff. Especially when two girls have been writing about wanting to date you, expressing their feelings toward you. She's just confused, but luckily for her I managed to get her to talk to you...just tell me, have you been cheating on her?"

"How can you ask me that question Momo? Are you serious? I would never cheat on someone I love. Cerise is my everything, the girl I needed in my life back then, the one that I didn't have. If I didn't love her, I wouldn't be talking about babies with her...oh shit, I shouldn't have said that." he said, backing away from the girl.

"So, you're having the baby talk...you haven't popped her cherry yet have you? Because I'll pop yours if you did." she said firmly.

"No I haven't...Jesus, try not to say that out loud yeah?"

"Hehe, I'm just breaking your balls Bigby. No big deal...ho ho...here she comes now...oh she looks mad...brace yourself." she said. Blake turned around rather fast, his hood falling from his head. Before he could say anything, Cerise slapped him across the face, rather hard. The slap was loud enough to echo around the hall, making everyone around cringe.

"Ow...what the hell?" he muttered, disbelief written on his face.

"Mind telling me what the fuck this is?" she asked, pulling a picture from her shirt. She held it out to him, his eyes glossing over it. It was a picture of him and Duchess, which had been photo-shopped to make it look like they were kissing. He looked at her, a blank look on his face.

"That is a crock-of-shit...it's a poorly edited picture of me and Duchess kissing. That of course never happened, in fact I remember the day this was probably taken. It happened before the Winter Formal, the day Joey tried to kiss her. She was wearing that exact same tee shirt." he said.

"Oh really, then how about this one? Look familiar?" she asked, showing him another picture, this time of him and Apple, smiling at each other. It looked as if they were holding something, that had clearly been edited out, though there was still something partially in Apple's hand, which had a rainbow on it.

"This was taken a couple days ago...who the hell took this? Me and Apple were sharing a Zap Apple. I found it in my bag, and since she's the resident apple connoisseur, I decided to take it to her. See, you can still see a bit of the apple in her hand, whoever did this was horrible at it." he said.

"I'm not sure I believe you, these pictures were put inside my locker, in an envelope. Do you actually think someone would waste time taking these and photo-shopping them? The Duchess one doesn't even make sense, who the hell would just take a picture all the way back during Winter Formal, and save it until now?"

"Someone hellbent on fucking me over, that's who. Honey, these are fakes...come on, you can't obviously believe this crock-of-shit...because that is what this is...a crock pot filled with the finest of shit. How about we get a second opinion. Hey Cedar, come here real quick." he said, calling the girl over. She glanced up from her tablet, closing the distance between them.

"Hey, what's up?" she replied in her nasally voice. He held the first picture up to her.

"What do you see here?"

"A poorly photo-shopped picture of you and Duchess kissing. And this second one you have is also poorly photo-shopped...whoever did this needs to learn how to use that program. No lie." she said firmly. Blake turned to Cerise, a smirk on his face.

"You owe me for that slap." he said.

"Alright, so I was wrong about the pictures, but what about everything else? How do I know you aren't cheating on me behind my back?"

"Because I'm not! I love you Cerise...you mean the world to me so why would I hurt you in that sick way? You...you don't actually believe the Rebel right? You'd believe a faceless person over me?" Blake asked firmly.

"Well, you believed what that faceless person said over the air, and you assumed it was me that told him that. I respect your privacy, and I love you...but you seriously thought I would do that?"

"I get it...I fucked up. So I'm sorry, for thinking that you had actually said that to the Rebel. But you can't tell me you wouldn't have done the same in my shoes."

"No...I wouldn't have...I would have asked you privately, not in a busy castleteria. You've broken my trust Blake, and I don't know if I can trust you again. The sole fact that you'd believe some faceless person over me, it hurts." Cerise said, turning around.

"I know it does, and I understand. But you have to also realize that this person is lying...they keep saying things about me that aren't true. Do you actually think that I would do that stuff with Duchess or Apple? I love you not them, they're my friends." he said.

"I don't know if I can believe that." she said, walking away from him. He growled angrily.

"Goddamn it." he said, following after the girl. He took a hold of her hand just as they reached the Foyer.

"Cerise please...I've apologized like a zillion times now...what do I have to do to regain your trust?" he asked.

"There's nothing you can do...I'm just...confused and conflicted. Did you even love me? Like I love you?" she asked, looking back at the boy. He looked visibly hurt at that question. He let go of her hand, swallowed the lump in his throat.

"I do, I still love you. Have these past few weeks meant nothing? What about those promises, those secrets? Everything? Do you think that was a fake? Are you gonna believe what that fake Rebel is saying over what I'm saying?"

"I just...I can't alright...I can't think straight. I think it would be better if we just...took a break." she said, earning several gasps from those around them.

"A break...so that's it? You want to just...end it here? Over what some fucker said over the intercom. That cuts deep Cerise, it really does...I climbed under a cliff for you, I killed a goblin for you, I proved myself to you, kept your promise and your secret, and I forever will...but this is where it ends? Three months and nine days, just because of the fake rebel." he said, crossing his arms, a sad look on his face.

"I'm sorry, this is hurting me too...but I just can't do this okay? I trusted you so much, I fell too hard in love, and now I gotta pay the consequences. You are a nice person, with a beautiful personality, but right now I need to find these answers for myself." she said, walking away from him.

"Cerise...please wait! You don't have to believe what that fake Rebel is saying...he isn't the real Radio Rebel. I am...I've always been the Rebel...ever since October I've been doing this, busting rumors, ending fights before they start, cutting down on bullying! I did this all to make Ever After more united! But I got hacked, they hacked my sister...Cerise you have to believe me!" the boy said, causing the girl to turn around. She shook her head, glancing away from him.

"I don't...I'm not...I can't...I was the one that started this relationship, and I'm the one to end it. I'm sorry, I love you too much...I need to find these answers out, I can't just come back and then find out you truly did cheat on me. I'm sorry." she said, running out of the school.

"Goddamn it! That fucker is lying don't you get it? This is what they want! They want to cause despair among the students...they want to ruin Apple's reputation because she's popular, they want to ruin Duchess's reputation because she's a good dancer! We're not the only ones to have been attacked, Cerise you have to believe that! Cerise!" the boy cried out, but she didn't stop. He balled his fist, turning around pulling his hood over his head. He felt his magic begging for release, he knew he had to leave immediately.

"Blake, don't worry...I'll try to talk some sense into her. She's just confused alright? I'll fix this." Ramona said firmly.

"She's not gonna change her mind...I saw the hurt in her eyes...she truly does think I cheated on her. I never did, and I never would...I love her too much for that, doesn't she understand that? I just...I need some time alone, don't come after me." he said, walking toward the castleteria.

From a nearby bathroom, Joey watched, a smirk on his face. He couldn't believe what had just happened. He had been hoping the fake Rebel would start stirring the pot among the students and got Duchess to hate Blake, but it had the opposite effect. He was completely ecstatic at the end result, but it did ruin his plan quite a bit, especially because he skipped right over Phase 3 of his plan. He frowned, glancing at the ceiling.

" _I wasn't planning for those two to break up this early. Perhaps I jumped the gun too early. I wanted this to happen before or during the Spring Fairest...oh well, Cerise is confused, and Blake is hurt. As long as I can make him believe she left him because he was a horrible person, and a liar...I should be golden. But now I have to replace Phase 4 with something else...but what?"_ he thought to himself. He glanced at his bracelet, seeing it glowing a bit. His eyes widened a smirk appearing on his face.

" _The Spring Fairest is a festival where all of Ever After High is present, not just that, celebrity chefs, and famous people from around the Fairytale world will be here too. It will be the perfect venue, to announce Blake, Briar and Kitty's involvement with the disappearance of the real Storybook of Legends. The juiciest of all steaks needs to be eaten when cooked to perfection, and this one is just plain raw...but it should be well done by Spring Fairest, until then...I'll continue to marinate it."_ he thought, a grin on his face. His malicious plain would continue, and sadly, Blake was going to be his main victim.


	43. Spring Unsprung Prelude III: Phase 2

**A/N:**

 **Hello everyone and welcome to Chapter 43 of Through the Looking Glass. I would like to apologize for not uploading last night, I kept getting a Type 1 error preventing me from uploading. So today I am going to do a double post, posting yesterday and today's chapters for you. This is the last chapter in the Prelude, so you all get to see what happens after Blake and Cerise broke up.**

 **I would like to apologize to you all. I know you all liked Blake and Cerise as a pairing, but I admit that they never were the official pairing. Originally, Blake wasn't going to be with anyone, but I knew that I could come up with a lot of ideas for him being in a relationship. It was originally supposed to be him and Holly, as after Henry started the rumors, she was going to give him a job at the Hair Salon and they would have gotten closer, but that was an idea that I ended up scrapping.**

 **So I instead made it Cerise because she got closer to him, not just the band but she saw the good in him, and I know you people must be wondering, but Celestial, if she's so in love with him then why did she break up with him? Without him explaining? Well, everyone...women are hard to understand. But the major reason, is because of all the things that happened. She doesn't truly know if he cheated on her, and if he wasn't able to tell her the secret of him being the Radio Rebel, then how many other secrets hasn't he told her? And sure, at three months you would think there would still be secrets among the two, but she only has one secret, about being half wolf and she confided that with him early on in the story. It was the only thing she had to offer while he had a similar one and kept it. So he made a mistake sure, but he was sure going to tell her eventually. But it is okay, even though they dated, they will remain the best of friends.**

 **The next chapter, chapter 44 will be the first official chapter of the Spring Unsprung arc, and I shall be posting it in about three hours so I can edit it and all that fun bullshit. So I do hope you look forward to it. I do hope you like this chapter as well, let me know what you all think. As always, review, favorite and follow the story. Uh...if you have any questions feel free to PM me with your questions and I will answer them in a timely fashion. See you in chapter 44.**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 43

Spring Unsprung Prelude 3:

Phase 2

Blake didn't remember much, when his eyes snapped open. All he was looking at was the glow of the afternoon sky, as the sun was slowly dipping below the horizon. He felt a bit lighter, and the air around him smelled like magical smoke. He couldn't feel his arms a bit, but as soon as he started moving them, the normal pins and needles started to pop up. He groaned in pain, forcing himself to sit up. He saw the Vorpal Blade, stabbed into the ground several feet away from him. Glancing around the clearing, he noticed that several trees has been cut down. All of them seemed to have gotten sliced right in half, instead of cut at an angle with an axe. It was clear that he had done it with the aid of that blade, as it was the sharpest weapon ever created. He noticed the around around him was singed, and completely gone in some areas. He didn't hear any critters, bugs or anything...it was just dead silent. He forced himself to his feet, brushing off his clothes as he tried keeping balance. He felt like vomiting, his head was swimming around and he didn't know what was going on. His hand wrapped around the hilt of the sword, and it retracted, quickly disappearing. He attached it to his belt, glancing around the clearing.

Images flashed into his mind, and he remembered what had happened. After Cerise had broken up with him, he had walked all the way to Raven's clearing in the Dark Forest, and he had just started unleashing his rage on the nearby trees. He remembered hitting them with his full magic power, disintegrating several on impact. Once he had lost most of his magic from how much he had expelled, he had just started chopping trees with his sword, his eyes blurred with tears. He had continued doing that until he had literally passed out. He didn't know what time it was, nor what day it was.

He reached into his pocket, pulling out his watch. He flicked it open, seeing the picture of him and Cerise. He quickly snapped it closed, unhooking the watch from his belt, shoving it in his pocket. He reached into his pants pocket for his MirrorPhone, only to realize it was completely dead. He blinked a few times, brushing some hair out of his eyes as he looked at the sky, his eyes hurting slightly.

"How long have I been gone?" he muttered, his voice sounding a bit raspy.

It was only then that he realized just how thirsty he was. His throat hurt, from all the screaming he had done. Luckily, the clearing was far away from Ever After High and Bookend, so no one would hear him, unless they lived in the woods. He shook his head, and started making his way back to the village of Bookend. He clutched the side of his head, his migraine lessening a bit. He frowned, remembering everything that had happened.

Cerise had broken up with him, that was his new reality. The girl he had fallen in love with, had spent most of his time with, had lost trust in him. It was all because of the hijacker, the fake Radio Rebel...the one who had stolen those diaries, had somehow managed to spill his secret. He hated himself for putting Cerise through that...he hated himself for jumping to conclusions. She was probably crying and screaming because of him. It just destroyed him even more, he felt tears brimming his eyes, and he didn't bother hold them back. He fell to his knees, shoulders shaking.

" _Dammit...it hurts...it hurts so goddamn much. Why did this have to happen? Who's doing this to us?"_ he cried, slamming his fists against the dirt. His fingers were sparking with magic, long since exhausted.

"Blake? Oh my gosh, there you are!" a familiar voice called out. He glanced up, his eyes blurred with tears. He wiped them away, eyes widening a bit when he saw it had been Kitty. She knelt down next to him, looking him over for injuries.

"Kitty?" he asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

"You've been gone for three days...what the hell were you doing out here?" she asked.

"Three days? Wow...I'm sorry...I just...wanted to be alone." he replied, glancing away from her.

"Yeah, well next time, remember there are people back home that care about you. Do you know how agonizing it was searching for you? Cerise didn't want to talk to anyone, and Ramona said she was depressed over everything. You two need to talk this out like adults, alone."

"She doesn't want to talk...you probably already heard this all. She believes that fake Rebel...she said I broke her trust...it was my fault." he said softly, eyes tightly closed as more tears spilled from them. Kitty sighed, wrapping her arms around the boy.

"Blake please, you're my best friend...I don't like seeing you like this...you guys need to talk. If you can't get back together, at least end it in good terms...don't let her get away from you. She loves you and you love her." she said. He wrapped his arms around the girl, crying into her shoulder.

"I'm sorry...it's all my fault. I shouldn't have said that too her...this damn fake, I hate him so much." he said, coughing a bit from his raspy voice.

"I should have stopped you...it's my fault too...I'm not a very good friend." she said sadly. He let go of the girl, taking a hold of her face, wiping away her own tears.

"You aren't...you are an amazing friend...you came out here this far for someone like me. I don't deserve your friendship, I don't deserve to be in Ever After, surrounded by so many people."

"That isn't true...you deserve to be here, more than that douche bag Joey. He seemed really pleased with what had happened...the asshole. You have to talk to her Blake, promise me you'll at least do that. Even if it doesn't work, please just end it on good terms. It'll hurt you even worse if you don't." she said, a pleading tone in her voice.

"Okay...I'll talk to her...can we walk back? I want time to think." he whispered, rubbing his throat a bit. She nodded, reaching into her purse for a bottle of water and an apple.

"Here, you must be hungry." she said.

"Thank you, you have no idea how fucking thirsty I am." he replied, opening the bottle. Kitty smiled brightly, her smile wasn't one of mischievousness, it wasn't a sneer of pride. It was a genuine, smile. A smile of pure love."

 _ **xxx(Queen of Hearts' Castle Outer Grounds, Wonderland)xxx**_

Hiding from the Card Soldiers wasn't an easy feat. Somehow, they managed to find you no matter how well hidden you were. But thankfully, Gloriosa and Mavis hadn't been found. They had been hiding in the outer grounds of the castle, waiting to see what was going on. The castle was always patrolled by guards, ever since the curse had been put over Wonderland. It was once a place that anyone could come visit, and as long as one didn't anger the Queen, you could explore the grounds, even play her in a game of croquet, as long as you were prepared to lose. But recently, the Queen of Hearts was growing paranoid, weakened by the poisoned magic, scared by the curse. It was why the two girls always came back to check on the castle, to make sure everyone and everything was in working order. Thankfully, this time was one of those times.

It didn't take long for several card soldiers to come out from inside, pushing along a pair of teenagers, the first being a tall blond young man with side swept hair. He wore a blue jacket over a white shirt, with dark brown pants and boots, around his shoulder was a satchel, filled with various things. This young man was Alistair Wonderland, son of Alice from Wonderland. The girl beside him was a young woman with light pink skin and white hair cut just above the shoulder. She had a pair of fluffy white ears atop her head. She was wearing a white dress with short silver sleeves, a bell shaped skirt with black and white buttons, and matching heeled boots. This young woman was Bunny Blanc, daughter of the White Rabbit. It was obvious the two had gotten caught for the very reason they were hiding.

It had happened to Gloriosa many times, but she always used the Diplomatic Immunity card to get away scot free. Alistair and Bunny didn't have that choice, so they had to sit there and listen to the ramblings of a mad woman. They reached the entrance of the castle, were unchained and unceremoniously throne out.

"Hey, be more careful with her!" Alistair snapped, glaring at the soldier as he went to check on Bunny.

"You've been given a final warning boy. If we catch you around here, it'll be back to the trial room for you...good day." the soldier said, swiftly turning around. Alistair helped Bunny to her feet, looking her over for injuries. She hissed a bit, seeing the new scratch marks on her arms.

"Ow, it stings." she said softly, looking at the injury.

"It's nothing, probably from the rocks. I've got some things back at the house that we can use, come on." Alistair said, taking a hold of her hand. Gloriosa moved behind the two, following them at a distance, making sure she stayed close.

Mavis was following suit in her Hare form, jumping around and dashing across the trees. Often times Gloriosa was a bit jealous of her shape shifting friends, but she had more control over her Wonderland magic than some others, so she at least had that over them. She briefly wondered how Madeline was doing, seeing as she was the most insane of them all. She also remembered only having met her a couple times before she was taken to Earth, so she was sure the girl didn't even remember her. Once they had left the outer areas of the Queen's castle, Gloriosa dashed out of the brush, running up the path after her friends.

"Alistair, Bunny!" she called out. The two teenagers came to a stop, eyes widening in surprise.

"Gloriosa!" the boy cried, catching the girl in a hug, laughing a bit.

"It's been such a long time! How have you been?" Bunny asked, briefly hugging the girl, who had taken both of their hands.

"It's been rough...I got really close to Marmoreal, but Bunny's dad put a rabbit hole in front of it, we ended up in the River basin not far from here." the auburn haired girl said, a frown on her face.

"I'm sorry, if I had known I would have closed it up for you. Maybe we can take one back to the palace and help you out?"

"Don't bother...it's already...in the process of...moving." Mavis said falling to her knees next to her friends. She was panting a bit, clearly tired from the run.

"Mavis, you can't be this tired. We didn't run that far, you seriously need to stop eating so much sugar." Gloriosa said, earning a glare from the girl.

"It's nice to see you too Mavis, it's been awhile. We should catch up, Bunny got hurt so I was going to take her home." Alistair said, earning nods from the two girls.

"We've got something important to share with you anyway, it's rather serious."

Seeing the look on Gloriosa's face was enough for Alistair to grow worried. They remained mostly silent on the walk back to Bunny's house. It was the nearest place to the castle, her father was almost always with the Queen, so she spent most of her time with Alistair exploring Wonderland, looking for a way to Ever After. They had spent a lot of time catching up, though the topic had mostly been Gloriosa's search for Marmoreal, and how Mavis had tagged along for most of it. They had gotten close this time, but were still off quite aways due to the rabbit hole. It didn't take long for them to make it to Bunny's house, which was near the Tulgey wood. She pulled out a doorknob from her pocket and placed it on the door, giving it a twist.

"Maybe my dad is home this time." she said hopefully, as they entered the house. Just by looking around, Gloriosa could tell that he hadn't been there in awhile. Bunny still felt the need to check, but her hope was quickly dashed. They moved to the kitchen, where Alistair started tending to Bunny's scratches.

"Sorry about your dad not being here Bunny...I haven't seen my dad in a long time either." Mavis said, giving the girl a smile.

"It's alright, I'm sure he'll be home sometime soon. So, what was it that you needed to talk to us about?"

"Well...we found a portal that's still open." Gloriosa said, earning a chuckle from Alistair, who set down the wet rag. He pulled out some ointment from his bag, blowing all of the flies from it.

"That's impossible Gloria, all of the portals were closed when the worlds were quarantined. We went to every area the portals had once been, the one behind the Woods that lead to Nottingham, the one in the desert that lead to Neverland, let's not forget all of the ones that lead to Ever After. There's no possible way a portal is still open." he said. Gloriosa smirked, reaching into her bag.

"Oh? If there are no closed portals than how did we find this?" she asked, slamming the Storybook of Legends on the table top. His eyes widened in shock, Bunny similarly letting out a gasp.

"Is that what I think it is?" she asked.

"Yup, in it's leather bound magical glory. Bask upon the might that is the Storybook of Legends!"

"How did you get this?" Alistair said, walking toward the table, once he had put a bandage on Bunny's scratch. He grabbed the book from the table, the mirror in the center glowing brightly.

"Well, we fell down a rabbit hole into the river basin. Gloriosa landed right on it, and once it had started jabbing her in the butt, she reached under her skirt and bam. Storybook of Legends." Mavis explained, earning a huff from her friend.

"When you put it that way, it sounds perverted."

"Well, it was poking you in the butt, so yeah it sort of was." the copper hair girl added cheekily. Alistair opened the book, looking through all of the pages, eyes scanning the words on each one.

"It's the real deal alright...but how did it even get here? There's really an open portal?" he asked.

"Maybe it was one that was forgotten...the Well of Wonder?" Bunny asked, Gloriosa stood up, unrolling her map.

"That is the most likely case. We didn't just find the Storybook, we found a pocketbook belonging to someone from Ever After. So there's definitely a portal and the Well is it. So if you want to reach the other world, you'll have to start there." she said, placing the map on the table.

"What do you mean you? Aren't you the one returning it?"

"Sorry Al, Gloria and I can't leave Ever After. We need to get the Holy sword so we can protect the Queen of Hearts. You know she's in danger, and we can't risk leaving her unguarded." Mavis said firmly.

"I was hoping you and Bunny could go smooth things over with the Headmaster of Ever After High. Besides, I'm not exactly looking forward to seeing my mother after so long." she said, glancing away from the table.

"It would be ideal for us to go Alistair...we could talk to our friends there. They must be worried about everything that's going on, especially Lizzie." Bunny said, giving the boy a pleading look. He sighed, giving her a nod.

"This is a riddle that only we can solve...so I'll...no, we'll do it. We'll keep the Book safe until we locate the well. Since it moves around, we'll need to time it so we can find it closer to us." the boy said, glancing at the map.

"WonderMap, show me the Well of Wonder." Gloriosa chanted, causing the map to glow. A blinking gold dot appeared half way across the map, the current location of the well. She tapped the dot, zooming in on the location.

"The Wonderlandian Deadlands...they say nothing ever goes in there, and everything that goes in never comes out." Mavis said, an ominous tone in her voice.

"Pfft, that's bullshit. Where do all the stories come from then?" the auburn haired girl said, a smirk on her face.

"We won't know exactly where the well is going to appear next. So planning some sort of route wouldn't be ideal...I think we should wait it out." Alistair said, earning a nod from the girls.

"Well, the Spring Fairest is happening soon I think...maybe we can wait until then to go to Ever After? It would be easier than just randomly popping up. Then we can just hand the book over, speak with Lizzie and be back before we're missed."

"Bunny has a point, the Headmaster would probably be more lenient too. I'm not sure what's been happening over there since the last time I visited, but hopefully nothing bad has happened. I can only hope my friends are alright." Gloriosa said, placing a hand over her heart.

"Friends? You have friends over there?" Alistair asked curiously, earning a smile from the girl.

"I do, but that's a story for another time."

 _ **xxx(Ever After High)xxx**_

It had been rather awkward for Blake when he arrived back in Ever After. He didn't want to face anyone, so he had Kitty flash him to his room. She gave him a smile and told him to text her later before leaving. He then went to his bed and fell on it, falling asleep again. When he woke up, he didn't know what time it had been, closer to morning than before. He decided it was time to take a shower. His cloak was dirty and needed to be washed, so he decided to hand wash it in his sink to kill some time. Once it had been washed and set to dry, he grabbed a fresh change of clothes and jumped into the shower. He didn't know how long he had been in there, but by the time the hot water had run out, it was around six in the morning. He got dressed and brushed his teeth, glancing up at the mirror.

He looked terrible, like he hadn't slept in days. He had a bit of stubble on his chin, which he quickly took care of. He brushed his hair a bit, which had gotten a bit longer, though he hadn't noticed. He opened his cabinet and grabbed the foundation he had hidden inside. He hadn't used it in awhile, but it was time to break it out again. He shook the small bottle, grabbing a small sponge and started applying the make up around his eyes, until the dark rings were gone. His brilliant green eyes were filled with sadness, but he wasn't going to let that deter him. He took a deep breath, squeezing the bottle in his hand.

" _I'm not just gonna let this end...I'll at least talk to Cerise, see if I can change her mind. If she doesn't then I'll respect her wishes. But that fake Rebel is going down, I'll make sure he pays for what he's doing."_ he said, his eyes flashing violet for a second. He took a drink of water, his aching throat making him cringe.

He didn't remember much, but he figured he had been screamed in rage while in the woods. Because of that, he could barely speak due to his sore throat. Every time he tried talking for more than a few seconds, he started coughing, and Kitty had told him not to talk until his voice was better. Until then, he had to have some cough drops for when his throat started hurting. He grabbed his pocket watch from his pocket, looking at hit closely, wrapping the chain around his hand. He closed his eyes, sighing as he placed it back in his pocket. He walked back into his room, sitting down on his bed, it was still dark outside.

Cadence had noticed her friend had been a little sad, and had flown out of her bed toward him. She jumped up and nestled next to him, placing her head on his lap, giving him an upward look. He smiled a bit, placing a hand on her snout.

"I'm fine Cadence, honest." he said in a whisper, as to not strain his voice. He felt his phone start vibrating, and he reached into his pocket for it, looking at the screen. It was a message from Kitty, he was honestly surprised the girl was up at six fifteen in the morning, seeing as she loved sleeping. He sent her a message back, telling him he was up, and a second later she flashed into his room, standing right before him.

"You look better, did you sleep alright?" she asked.

"I'm fine." he said softly, glancing down at Cadence. Kitty sat beside him, giving him an apple, a smile on her face.

"They're your favorite and you need to eat. I wanted to make sure you were fine last night, but I could tell you wanted to be alone."

"It's okay Kitty, I appreciate it. How are things in school?" he asked, taking a bite from the fruit. The girl stood up from the bed, patting her skirt a bit as she moved.

"Um well...you sort of revealed yourself as the Radio Rebel, and that was both a good thing and a bad thing. It was a good thing because the Fake Rebel stopped announcing things over the PA. I guess they felt threatened when you did, we even recovered Melody's diary, but it had no finger prints or DNA strands of the one who took it." she said.

"That's good I guess, what's the bad part?" he asked, cringing a bit from the scratchiness of his throat.

"Well, there are some people who aren't too happy with our work. Melody, Duchess and I haven't said anything, but people think that the operation was done by you alone. Remember, we've been busting rumors since October, getting people in trouble, hell some of the teacher's even dislike what we do, since some of the rumors centered around them. The Headmaster has already said that you had been punished for it, though he turned a blind eye to it in the first place. That hasn't eased some of the tensions. There are some Rebels annoyed with you, some Royals are proud of you, and the mix that just doesn't care." she said.

"Excellent...so, that means people dislike me more than when they did during those rumors." he said, taking another bite from his rapidly disappearing fruit.

"They don't dislike you...well, most don't. They're focus is more on the fake Rebel and finding him, after all he's hurt three girls. Most agree that what we were doing was a good thing, we played good music, answered personal questions and helped people out...so they aren't that annoyed." she said, giving him a small smile.

"Yeah, but that means that there are people that will have a problem. On top of that, my relationship sunk faster than the Titanic, and that fucker is still at large." he replied, a frown on his face.

"Fine then, since you exposed your identity as the Rebel, then I'll just expose myself as your informant." Kitty said, earning a curious look from the boy. He shook his head, tossing his apple core in the trash.

"Don't Kitty...I don't want you to get in trouble." he said firmly, coughing a bit from the strain on his voice. She put a hand on his shoulder, giving him a smirk.

"Chaos is my middle name...besides, you took the heat for me when Grimm's ring was taken, so I'm not letting you fall alone. I'm your friend right? So friends stick together." she replied. He gave her a hug, making her freeze in place from the sudden action. She closed her eyes, wrapping her arms around the boy.

" _He's so fragile, like he's going to break. No, he's already broken, and is trying to keep himself together. Hopefully Cerise can see that too...if she doesn't than she's an idiot."_ she thought to herself.

"Thank you Kitty...I guess I'll just wait until class and just show up. It's gonna be fun, especially after being gone for three days." he said, a chuckle escaping his lips.

"It'll be fine...all of our friends will be there. I'd talk to Raven first, she was really worried." she suggested, earning a nod from the boy. It would still be some time before class, so for now he would just wait.

 _ **xxx**_

"Three days gone eh? Did the break up hurt you that much?" Joey muttered to himself, as he glanced up from his breakfast. It had been rather awkward when Blake walked into the castleteria.

Almost everyone stopped talking when he walked into the large dining hall, accompanied by Kitty Cheshire. He just bowed his head, putting on his hood as he walked toward the breakfast line. Joey couldn't help but smirk, relishing in the boy's misery. He glanced over to Cerise who had stopped eating her breakfast, having rapidly lost interest. Cedar said something to her, but he didn't know what. She grabbed her half eaten breakfast and tossed it, rapidly leaving the castleteria. He had noticed Blake had been watching her from afar, a disappointed look on his face.

" _This is so perfect. Those two aren't going to talk any time soon, so now I'll do my best to keep it that way. Then when the time comes, bam...I'll let every one of these losers know he, Briar and Kitty dumped the book in the well."_

"Yo, Joey...aren't you going to say something to him?" Jack asked, causing the boy to look up from his food. He hadn't even noticed him sit down, nor did he notice Pierre and Frost sit down either.

"Say something to who?"

"To Blake of course. Aren't the two of you friends? You should talk to him, see how he's doing...you've known him longer than anyone here." Frost said firmly.

"I doubt he'd want to speak with me of all people. We haven't been seeing eye to eye recently, so I'd just make things worse."

"While that is true, he needs the support of his friends now. Cerise is clearly confused, and that fake Rebel isn't helping. Just be there to reassure him, at least." Pierre said, taking a drink from his milk. Joey sighed, standing up from his seat.

"Alright, just stop breathing down my neck about it." he said, walking over to the breakfast line, a bit hunched down in annoyance.

" _Can't believe this shit...at least I can take this chance to aggravate him. That should be fun."_ he thought, smirking inwardly. As he approached them, he noticed Kitty look at him with annoyance in her eye. She quickly flashed in front of him, arms crossed as she stood between him and Blake.

"What do you want?"

"To speak with my friend, the fuck else would I come here for?"

"Who said Blake even wants to talk to you? You know, I'm still pissed off at what you tried to do to me. I can claw out your eyes, I'm not scared of doing it you know." she said, holding her hand out. He had to admit, her nails almost looked like claws, and would no doubt hurt like hell if he was scratched by them.

"Yeah well, I was his friend before you, so I get privileges. So step aside kitten, I'm just trying to make sure he's alright." he said firmly.

"I don't want to talk to you. What gave you the idea that I did?" Blake asked, his voice strained as he glared at Joey. He adopted a hurt look on his face.

"Seriously? Come on man, I just wanted to make sure you were fine. I know what you are going through. My girlfriend disappeared too, sure my circumstance was a bit different, but it still hurts the same. I'm honestly glad Lucy didn't just break up with me, it would suck to see her every day and have to remember what had happened." he said firmly.

"Are you trying to make him feel better or make him depressed?" Kitty asked, her eyes narrowed in anger.

"Obviously I want to make him feel better."

"I fail to see how you are doing that...Lucy left you without saying a word, his break up happened in public. People all around him were watching as his heart was breaking, and now people are still most likely talking. How do you think he feels?"

"Kitty, it's fine...I just want to be left alone alright?" Blake said. He hadn't grabbed anything other than a few apples, which he stuffed into his pockets. He grabbed another Red Delicious from the top of the basket before turning to leave the castleteria.

"You can't act depressed all the time Blake. Sometimes you gotta put on your big boy pants and deal with the problem." Joey called out, causing the boy to stop. He clenched his hand so tightly the apple in his grasp literally exploded, wisps of violet magic flowing around his hand.

"You wanna do me a solid and never talk to me again? That would be amazing. You can just fuck off...fuck right off a cliff, right to your death." he said, cringing a bit. He grabbed his throat as he walked off, reaching into his pocket for some cough drops.

"Okay, see you later then!" he said cheerfully.

"You know, you are a real piece work. You see him, hurting because of his break up, and here you are acting like a douche bag. Telling him to grow up? Are you kidding me? What kind of friend tells that to someone after a break up?" Kitty hissed, her firsts were clenched so tightly her knuckles were white. He shook his head, turning to face the violet haired girl.

"Don't think I don't see what you are doing. Now that Blakey and Cerise broke up, he's all up for grabs...I can clearly see your hidden intentions. Don't worry, maybe Apple will beat you to it...or Duchess, or Briar, hell if Ashlynn wasn't dating Hunter I bet she'd go after him too. Honestly, I don't see what you all see in him." he said, pulling on his collar.

"Do you know what I see in Blake? I see kindness, compassion. He's helped so many people in this school, he's talked to people. He helped so many decide if they wanted to be Royals or Rebels. He made Ginger's dream come true, he created the Winter Concert, almost by himself. Yet there are dick heads like you, who are jealous of his accomplishments...just face it Joey, between you and Blake, you are always going to be second best." Kitty said, giving him her famous Cheshire smile before disappearing.

" _That fucking bitch, you think you are acting so cute. You're just acting like the needy bitch you are, thinking he'll replace Cerise with you. Heh, that will be the day. Now, to act like nothing happened."_ he thought, turning around. He walked back to his table, sitting back down with a frown on his face.

"Well, I tried to cheer him up, but he took what I said negatively." he said.

"You probably said the wrong thing then. I didn't hear shit from here, but Kitty looked really upset." Jack said firmly.

"Eh, I just told him that I knew what he was going through. After all, my girlfriend disappeared on me, that's worse than a break up in public." he said with a shrug.

"I think they're on par. At least she disappeared on you and when you found out, it wasn't in public. Do you know how visibly hurt Blake was during all of that? He was screaming and pleading for her to come back, and she didn't...because she lost trust in him. That hurts way more than someone just going missing." Pierre said.

"Oh what do you know? You haven't even know what love is."

"Are you serious? Of course I know what love is, I'm in love with the next Esme, the next Esmeralda. Even in my story, I'm destined to fall in love with a woman that won't love me, and I'll be killed by being thrown off a church. So don't sit there and tell me I don't know what love is."

"Calm down Pierre, I'm sure Joey didn't mean it that way, right?" Frost asked.

"Yeah...sorry man...I didn't mean it." the brunette said, bowing his head.

"It's fine...just remember, your words may seem right to you, but to someone else, they'll have a different effect. I'm sure that's what happened with Blake just now. He might not want to see you ever again, but I'd still apologize to him." Jack said, earning a nod from Joey.

" _Heh, in your dreams Jackie-boy. No way in hell I'll apologize, besides, I've done way more shit to him than you can even imagine."_

 _ **xxx**_

Blake found himself on the fourth floor outlook. It was his thinking place after all, whenever he felt upset or just wanted to be alone, he would come up here. He hadn't been to any of his classes, he hadn't felt like them. The fake Rebel had felt daring and had dropped another one of Apple's diary entrees, but he had only read one. It seemed as if they were getting closer to him, the urgency in their voice was as a clear indicator. He leaned back against the railing, the wind blowing his wind slightly as he ate the apples he had taken with him. He didn't know how many he had eaten, but all he knew was that he felt much better now that he had gotten a fill of his favorite fruit. Nothing would beat the taste of a Zap Apple of course, but Red Delicious apples were still delicious. The entire outlook was empty, save for himself. He glanced up at the clock tower belonging to the castle, it was the highest tower in the castle, bearing the face of a beautiful olden style clock.

It was the tallest structure in the entirety of the castle, he had heard that from the ground to the very top was at least nine stories. There was no way to enter the clock tower, except from a single door on the first floor. According to some students, the clock hadn't been functional for awhile. It had once played beautiful music on the hour, but that hadn't happened for awhile. It lead to the commission of the clock tower in Bookend. He wished he could hear that music now, it would definitely ease his mind a bit, but the clock tower's mechanism had been busted and no one had been able to fix it, so it had been condemned. Though he did hear from Giles that the sound disks were still around somewhere. That had piqued his interest.

He sighed, glancing away from the tower. He had been thinking about a lot of things, but mostly because of his own mistakes. If he hadn't done what he did, if he hadn't said that to Cerise, then maybe he wouldn't he have had that problem. It wouldn't have lead to his break up...but he was sure those passages from Apple and Duchess's diaries would have been enough to make her question if it was true or not. Even though he denied it, his accusation coupled with those diary entree had been a recipe for disaster. Now that he had revealed himself as the Radio Rebel, it was even worse. He had kept a huge secret for her for the longest time, so he figured that would factor into everything as well. Once he had finished thinking that, he knew there was no way she could forgive him for that. He had been prepared for it, but he didn't want to admit it. Still he would talk, see what she had to say, and if she didn't want to continue dating him, then he would accept her wishes. He took a bite from his apple, glancing back toward the doors, seeing one move slightly. He rose a brow, taking a bite from his apple.

"You know, I can see you." he said firmly, trying not to strain his voice too much. It had been getting a bit better, but it was still a bit raspy. The person behind the door stiffened a bit, finally deciding to walk out onto the observation deck.

"I didn't mean to bother you...you seemed like you wanted to be alone."

"You never bother me sis, come on. You're like, the only family I have here, it makes me happy that you came to check on me." he said, giving Raven a smile. Even though she knew they weren't related, she was happy he considered her family. She wrapped an arm around his waist, giving him a side hug.

"You know...the first time I lost my cool, I was gone for a week. My dad was so worried, he sent a regimen of soldiers to look for me. Mother was proud of course, Snow White was worried about me hurting people, and Apple was lost in her perfect little world, barely noticed I was gone. I couldn't speak for awhile either, and I didn't have the benefit of magic cough drops." she said.

"Hey, magic solves everything in this world. If you didn't get magic cough drops, then that was your loss." he replied, earning a punch to the arm from the girl.

"Don't get smart with me." she said. He chuckled, rubbing his new bruise. They remained silent after that, just enjoying each others company.

Blake honestly didn't know what to say, or rather he had too much to say and no way to say it. So he just remained silent. It reminded him of times where Susan helped him out, whether it was a school related problem or a problem with his friends. Mary would help him more often than not, but she never gave good advice...to him she was more like Ramona, the one that always made him have perverted thoughts. Remembering the older Badwolf made him remember Cerise was well, which made him frown a bit.

"You know...you'll be fine. It hurts right now, I know it does...but it'll get better. I suggest you at least talk to her, see what she says. Maybe you can get back together...but if you don't...then that's fine too. Maybe it was just...not meant to be."

"Have you ever been in this situation Raven? It's my first heart break...I sort of want someone with experience." he asked. She shook her head, glancing away from him.

"Sorry, I've never been in a relationship...I did kiss one boy back in middle school, but he just did it as a joke. I'm not sure if disappointment counts."

"Not really...but I guess I understand...a little bit. Whoever that was who kissed you, he's an idiot. Because he missed out on a wonderful girl." he said, earning a giggle from Raven.

"Wonderful huh? I'm the daughter of the Evil Queen, bad to the bone. I could turn people into rats with a single thought. Doubt anyone who wasn't evil would date me."

"Hey now, that isn't true. Dexter is totally in love with you...I can set the two of you up if you want, we're best friends after all."

"No no, I can handle that part on my own. It's embarrassing to have your little brother acting as your wingman." she said, earning a laugh from the boy, who broke into a coughing fit a second later. She looked at him with concern, but he brushed it off.

"You know it's weird...have you ever gotten this feeling in your heart like, your meant to be somewhere? I've been having it for the last few months now. It's as if I was meant to be here in Ever After...I even feel as if you were my real sister...it's odd, but comforting too." he said. Raven gave him a weird look, clearly confused.

"I don't really know what you are talking about. I guess if I was on Earth, after I awhile I'd feel like that...a place where I can be whatever I want without consequence? Sounds like a good place to be to me."

"Well Earth has it's fair share of problems...I guess every world does. You can truly do what you want, not without someone having an issue with it. Ever After is different...at least you can rebel against destiny here, you got no destiny on Earth, just the one you make yourself. I've seen destiny lead people to do some horrible things." he said, glancing into the distance. Raven sighed, patting her knees a bit as she stood up, turning to face the boy, who just looked at her oddly.

"Well, let's just talk about the important things. Right now, you need to talk with Cerise...I've tried talking to her, but all she's done is turn me away. She's confused, and I've done my best to let her know that everything that's happening isn't true. After all, I've been spending more time with Apple than I care to admit."

"I don't think it'll make a difference...she was hard set on it. I broke her trust by assuming she had said something about that entree. I mean, do you know how embarrassing it is to have someone say that over the PA? Now everyone thinks I'm a pervert." he said.

"Yes, but this happened before you even started dating Cerise. That's another thing I want to point out, did you seriously have a vivid wet dream about Apple?" she asked, earning a nod from the boy, who was trying not to flush.

"How could I not? She's Apple White, and she's the nicest person I've ever met. It isn't hard to like her. I already told myself not to let myself start crushing on her, but my scumbag brain thought it was a good idea to give me that vivid dream. I don't want to disgust you or anything, but the morning after was the worst. That was the hardest boner I have ever had." he said.

"That's too much information...I really didn't need to know how hard your dick was after a wet dream. But I'm not gonna deny that I haven't had my fair share of steamy dreams. It's harder when you have a roommate who's been watching you for awhile because you woke her up. At least I have that one over Apple, I did the same to her when she was dreaming about you."

"Yeah well, it's not the only one. I've had a few, even with...I'd rather not say." he said, glancing away from her. She rose a brow, a smirk on her lips.

"Oh come on, since we're being so open you should tell me. Was it Briar? Ashlynn? It was Melody wasn't it?"

"No...it wasn't any of them...plus it would just be weird with Ashlynn since she's taken and Melody is like a sister to me. It was someone else...someone you should know really well." he said, giving her a small smirk. She narrowed her eyes a bit in thought, before they snapped open and she backed away from him.

"You had a dream...about me?"

"Perhaps? Can you blame me? I like goth girls...but that's before I started seeing you as a sister...and no I haven't written it down either." he said.

"That's so embarrassing! I'm glad you didn't write it down, the last thing I need is that being on the air." she said, flushing slightly making the boy smile.

"See, this just proves one thing...Earth and Ever After are similar when it comes to horny teenagers. Wouldn't surprise me if some people are shagging like bunnies already. But still, Cerise isn't going to talk to me...not after what happened." he said.

"Don't give up on yourself, one of my friends is in deep. She's gonna get Cerise here against her will if she has too." Raven said, a smirk on her face.

"One of your friends...oh god, it's Kitty isn't it? Cerise is gonna be really mad." he said. As if on cue, Kitty flashed onto the plaza, with Cerise in tow. The hooded girl growled at the daughter of the Cheshire Cat, who took Raven's hand. She waved at Blake before leaving, the boy earned a wink from Raven before they left.

"That damn cat isn't safe from me! I'm gonna tear her apart when I find her next!" Cerise hissed angrily.

"Yeah, there are times I want to do the same...but you know she means well." Blake said, startling the girl a bit. She turned around to face him, a look of surprise on her face. They just stood there, looking at each other for a few seconds, before she turned to leave. Blake however wasn't going to let her leave, so he took a hold of her hand, pulling her to a stop.

"Wait Cerise, we need to talk...please." he said, his raspy voice filled her ears, causing her to turn around.

"What...happened to your voice?"

"Not sure...I guess I just blacked out after I entered the Dark Forest." he said, glancing away from her. He held onto her hand, scared that she would leave.

"Oh...could you let go?"

"No...I'm scared you'll leave." he said, earning a sigh from the girl.

"I won't...I promise." she said. He felt the firmness of her voice, and that look in her eyes that he had fallen in love with. He let go of her hand, which came to rest at her side.

"Listen I...a lot...has happened, in a short period of time. I know, I broke your trust, I know that I fucked up...and I know that you probably want to punch me right now. But at least wait until I'm done to punch me, I don't want to be unconscious again, it isn't fun."

"Blake, I understand what you are trying to say...it really hurt me. Saying that I was the one that gave the fake Rebel that information. But I know I would have done the same if they had gotten a hold of my diary. Then there's the fact that you kept being the Radio Rebel from me for so long that...I just...didn't want any secrets. I told you all of the important ones, but you didn't trust me enough with something like that." she replied, earning a frown from the boy.

"I know...I'm a piece of shit for not telling you. These damn diary entrees don't help, I broke your trust and all of this is just...adding fuel to the fire and I don't know what to do...I don't know what to say." he said.

"I don't know what to say either...I guess this was bound to happen, it happens to everyone at one point. Some are lucky, I don't think my parents have ever argued. We're in high school, it's natural."

"Is there a way we can move on from this? Is there a chance Cerise? If there is then I'll work hard to regain your trust. But if there isn't, please don't grow distant, don't just leave my life like you weren't a part of it. I can't let you become another face in the yearbook. I'd hate myself forever." he said, a hopeful look in his eyes.

"I...don't...I'm not...I'm just confused. I don't want to get hurt again like this, I know you wouldn't let this happen. But I don't want to risk it...I know you'll keep your promises, and keep my secret. Right now, I just want to be alone, have some time to think things over." she said.

"I understand, and I respect those wishes. But don't expect me to just be that guy you once dated, I'll regain your trust. Even if I have to grovel in front of you."

"No no...no need for that. That'll just make me look bad." she said, giggling a bit. He chuckled, giving her a smile. He glanced toward the forest, seeing all of the barren trees, most covered in snow while others were starting to get their leaves.

"I promised I'd be there for when your mother gave birth. Ruby is like my second mom, I don't plan to forget the good times we all had together. Even if we aren't dating, I'll be there for you, and for Momo." Blake said, a firm look on his face.

"I figured as much, you've got a good heart Blake...and I'm happy I got the chance to date you. Maybe in the future, once everything cools down we could try it again. This isn't a free pass to go screw Apple either you perv." she said, jabbing him in the ribs.

"Ow...like I would. That's just embarrassing, Raven is like my sister, and she's her aunt, that makes me like her uncle or something. Plus I don't like Duchess that way either, I already told her I just wanted to be friends."

"Well...whoever you decide to date in the future. I hope they're a better girlfriend than I was...and I hope nothing like this happens between you two." she said. He reached into his pocket, pulling out the pocket watch she had given him, placing it in her hands.

"I don't think I should have this...it's too important, I think. You should give it to the one you truly do love." he said.

"I gave that to you for Christmas, you can't return it. Just promise me, if you do find someone else, that you'll put her picture inside it, just like you did with me." Cerise said, giving him a smile. He nodded, reattaching the watch to his belt.

"I think...I'll be okay...we'll be okay." he said.

"Mhmm, we sure will...I'm gonna go now...see ya later." she said, about to leave.

He took a hold of her arm, pulling her back toward him, before she could say anything, he gave her a kiss on the lips. Her eyes widened a bit in shock, but softly closed as she kissed him back. They continued kissing until they broke for air, looking at each other. He wiped away her tears, giving her a smile before turning back toward the outlook returning to his spot by the rail. Cerise turned around, a sigh leaving her lips, it still hurt, but at least she could start on the path to recovery. Maybe one day she would kiss the boy again, and he would kiss her lovingly like before. She just hated how something so beautiful was so easily broken, by a single mistake and by someone hellbent on breaking them apart.


	44. Spring Unsprung I

**A/N:**

 **Hey guys, just like I promised earlier, I'm bringing you the first chapter of the Spring Unsprung Arc. It's finally begun, I know I've been hyping this arc a bit, and while I do love everything I have written, I feel like I overhyped it a bit. Of course I'll let all of you tell me how I did...this chapter is just a set up but we get to meet Rosabella Beauty.**

 **I've already finished this arc and I'm working on Chapter 50 of the Story, preparing for the next story arc, the Blue Moon Forest Fest Arc. It's gonna be a bit of a wait, I'm gonna have to watch that arc again because I've honestly forgotten most of what happens, aside from Raven and Dexter hooking up and Blondie breaking and entering into the Three Bear's House. Also has anyone noticed that Baby Bear sounds like Spike from My Little Pony? If they're voiced by the same person someone let me know, I'm far too lazy to look it up.**

 **During this small filler arc, consisting of three chapters, we will see a bit of exposition, mostly about Blake training Cadence to fly, Blake practicing his magic skills, and him visiting Crystal where he will proceed to have several hours of coitus with her...lol jk, no that isn't happening...not yet anyway and not in the main story, hehehe. You know my policy, no harem fics so that shit won't fly.**

 **We will get to see a bit of Scumbag Joey during this arc, but he will be joining forces with Faybelle Thorn in the Blue Moon Forest Fest arc...do I smell a hint of Evil Love? I dunno...you tell me, if you'd like listen to the song Evil Love from the show Phineas and Ferb and you'll have your answer. So suck it Rooney, even Joey gets some evil poontang.**

 **Oh god, that is just horrible, fuck me man. I have wanted to give Joey an evil girlfriend and was looking for a background character, but didn't find the perfect gal. On top of that, Briar is a girl that's interested in Blake, so him helping Faybelle ruin Briar's life preparing for their eventual meeting during her story makes sense. Let's not forget Faybelle's hatred toward Raven Queen for what her mother Mira did to Faybelle's mother. Couple that with the fact that Good ol Mister Bigby calls himself Raven's little brother, and you got a motive. So it'll be an all around interesting arc. So I do hope you like it whenever it starts. I will say that after the Blue Moon Forest Fest, we will be diving straight into Way Too Wonderland, with only one prelude before the official arc starts. So it'll be interesting, this is the arc where a lot of shit will go down, far worse than in Spring Unsprung.**

 **There I go, over hyping another arc...it's all my fault, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to do it, honest...just cuff me and lock me away, far from the light!**

 **Eh...lemme know what you think of this chapter and the previous one, and as always, have a good one.**

 **Becky, lemme smash...please.**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 44

Spring Unsprung Part I

A couple days had passed since Blake and Cerise had talked out on the outlook. They hadn't spoken to each other much, other than to do homework or do work on band stuff. It was clear that they needed time apart in order to salvage some semblance of friendship. He gave her longing looks from time to time, but didn't do anything about it. He promised to respect her wishes, and that's what he was going to do. He had been working on a few songs, trying his hardest not to make them break up songs. Melody said it would have been fine, and even Cerise herself said she wouldn't mind hearing a few. He had written two, but he hadn't shown either girl what he had come up with, it was a bit embarrassing in his opinion.

He had been hanging out a lot more with Raven, having asked her to teach him more magic. It had been his coping mechanism, and while he had more control of it, he still had outbursts when he remembered the Fake Rebel. He now knew stronger levitation magic, attack magic, several enchantments, and even a magic spell which he had dubbed Requip, it worked almost like the fictional spell. Whenever you wanted new clothes, you could just conjure new ones onto yourself, it was rather convenient when your clothes were dirty or you wanted to mend the ones you had. It had been fun to spend time with Raven though, and he had gotten to know her more than before, so that was a plus. He found himself hanging out with Lizzie and Kitty too, at first he thought they were just pitying him over what happened. But he remembered that the two girls wouldn't do that. They did a wonderful job at keeping him distracted, especially when watching anime.

Along with them, he spent a lot of time with his bandmates, improving their skills with their instruments. Since the Spring Fairest was coming up, they needed to get themselves down pat for the Battle of the Bands. They also knew Yuletide Bliss was practicing hard, so they would be in for an interesting competition. When he wasn't working on his music, or watching anime, he was helping Ginger out with the preparations. They had made hundreds of pastries and treats already, but the demand was still high since it was a week long event. Every oven in the bakery and in the Cooking room had been used to bake cakes. They had almost run out of hands until Raven had used her magic to animate some ginger bread men to help them out. Now they had a system of baking, decorating and storing. It had been a rather productive week, and Ginger was rolling in the money. Of course she didn't care about the money, as she just wanted to bake treats for everyone.

He had also been keeping a close eye on Joey over the last few days. He had been acting like his normal arrogant self whenever he had the time. He had already broken all ties with the brown haired boy, deciding he had done way too many things to remain being his friend. The more he thought about it, the more he realized Lucy was their glue. With her gone, there was nothing that kept them from being at each others throats. Joey was always a selfish person, who wanted everything he couldn't have, while Blake wanted to give away everything he had and then some. He hadn't done anything out of the ordinary, except taunt Blake whenever he had the chance, something that he was used to from back home. Joey looked up briefly from one of the notebooks he was writing in, meeting eyes with him. He just gave him a smirk before continuing what he was doing. Blake clenched his jaw, glancing at his lunch tray.

" _I regret ever making that wish. I don't regret Ramona staying in school, but that second part...god I wish I could take that back. Get him out of here for good...he doesn't deserve to be here. I guess that's what I get for being kindhearted."_ he thought to himself.

"Hey Blake, would you mind if I joined you?"

He glanced up, surprised to see Ashlynn on her own. She had usually been with Hunter, but he hadn't seen the boy at all. He figured he must have been working on something, or was busy in class. He gave her a nod, and she sat right across from him. He had been sitting by himself for a couple of days, not wanting to speak with anyone. Sure, he still interacted with friends and classmates, but after he revealed himself as the Rebel, people were wary of him. They didn't want him to reveal a secret over the PA system, even though he had stated he had canceled the show until the fake was dealt with.

"I just...wanted to make sure you were okay."

"Thanks Ash, it means a lot that you'd care about me like this. It's been hard dealing with this break up, but I'm fine." he said, a frown on his face.

"You don't have to lie you know, I know what it feels like. Before I met Hunter, there was another boy, back in my old school. I thought he was the one, but he was just awful. I had to make a choice for my happiness and I cut ties with him. Our situations are different of course, but the heart break is all the same."

"Yeah...especially when it's your first love...almost four months down the drain, all because of that fake Rebel." he said, clearly disgusted at the fake. He grabbed a hold of his apple and took a bite out of it.

"You'll find someone else, maybe in a few months you'll be able to date Cerise again. Maybe you can find someone else, this is gonna sound like horrible advice. But maybe getting into another relationship will be what you need."

"I can't do that...it'll make whoever else I date seem like a rebound. That would make me feel even worse...I think I'll just, stay single for a bit...think over my options. Anyway, do you need any help at the store? I got some time before my shift starts." he said, glancing at his pocket watch. He had taken the picture out of it, not wanting to remember his previous relationship at the moment.

"That would be great...Hunter is busy cleaning the fairgrounds and helping with the set up, so I need an extra pair of hands. It'll be like old times." she said, giving him a smile.

"As long as I don't get the urge to put on the sexiest glass heels that is. Hey, maybe we can break out the sound system for the store...we finished the album early and we're gonna debut it during the Fairest. You wanna have a listen?" he asked, pulling the CD from inside his bag.

It looked almost professional, with a plastic case and everything. The cover art of the album featured a picture of Purple Rhapsody in their Winter Formal outfits. Blake and Lizzie stood back to back, while the other members of the band were around them, with Duchess hanging above from the relays she had used during the dance. Their band name was at the bottom of the picture, with the name of the album, Shatter Me, written in golden font at the top. She looked at it with widened eyes.

"This looks amazing, it's so professional too!" she said.

"I'm not supposed to be showing these yet, we only made a hundred of them. But since you're one of my close friends, you can have it. It's already been signed." he said softly, earning a giggle from the girl.

"Thanks, you have no idea how much I love your music. Twenty-five new songs, including some full versions of songs from your EP...this is going to be great. Come on, I want to go listen to it now, the shipment will be here in half an hour. We can take this time to clear out the Winter stuff for the Spring stuff."

"Sure, let me just get rid of this stuff." Blake said, grabbing his messenger bag. He got rid of all of his trash, placing his metal tray with the others. He and Ashlynn hurried left the castleteria, lost in conversation.

"Can you believe it? Blake is already working on his next victim, an already taken woman." Joey muttered, earning an odd look from Jack.

"The fuck you talking about? Are you insinuating that Ashlynn would cheat on Hunter with Blake? Those two have been dating for a year now, I doubt she'd do that to him." the boy replied.

"I'm just joking man, it's just...after seeing him mope around for the last few days, he's finally coming around. But all he's talked too are girls, it's really annoying." he said.

"Bro, the only reason he's been talking too girls is because everyone is working hard to clean the snow away from the fair grounds. It's gonna take at least a month to set that shit up. Plus he just recently broke up, of course his female friends are gonna be worried." Frost said, his focus on his laptop. He was currently working on some beats for new songs, but was having a hard go at it.

"Maybe G.I. Joe is jealous that Blake has a throng of single girls comforting him."

"I don't call two or three girls a throng. He's been hanging out with Lizzie and Kitty a lot, and has been talking with Briar. No idea why...something tells me one of those three is going to make a move soon, that's just horrible. I mean really? The dude just broke up, at least wait a month before you offer your dripping cunts to him." Joey said, taking a long drink from his bottle.

"Seriously? I heard rumors that Lizzie was dating someone right now, so I doubt she'd go after him. Plus they went out for like three days and she broke it off...I guess it was too weird. The only other girl that showed affection for him was Crystal and she isn't here anymore." Frost added.

"I also don't appreciate you saying that stuff about the girls here man. They're all really nice, not to mention half of them are princesses, and one of them is my sister so you should respect them." Jack said firmly, getting brushed off by Joey.

"Eh, it's fine...I'll hold my tongue next time. But you can't tell me you aren't jealous, come on Jackie-boy, you gotta have your eye on someone? Who is it? Is it Briar? Blondie? That annoying cat?"

"It isn't anyone you need to know." Jack said, ignoring his friend.

"Knowing Jack, it's someone sweet and cute." Pierre said, a smirk on his face.

"Oh, sweet and cute eh? It's Ginger isn't it? You like them tall, sexy and brown? Jack that's nice." the brunette said, earning a huff from the boy.

"It isn't Ginger, she's sweet but she's clearly interested in someone else, fucker."

"Aha! Then it's the next one on the list, unless my homeboy likes dudes, Jackie-boy is infatuated with Helga Crumb...and I gotta admit, she's pretty cute." Frost said, earning a blush from Jack.

"It isn't Helga, why would it be her?"

"You didn't deny it. Hey, she isn't a hard girl to please, give her a tower cake and she'll probably kiss you and more." Joey said, giving the boy a smirk.

"Keep your mouth shut, even if you give anyone of these girls a cupcake, you wouldn't get more than a thank you." Jack said, earning laughs from his friends. Joey let out a few laughs of his own, biting back his hatred.

 _ **xxx(3 Days before the Spring Fairest)xxx**_

Joey had noticed over the last few weeks that Blake hadn't been like his usual self. While being slightly depressed, he was less talkative than before. Some students had been quite mad at him, for being the Radio Rebel, he had been prepared to take the fall on his own...but it wasn't long before Kitty came out, saying that she had been his informant. He knew Melody was involved as well, and she had wanted to tell her part in the Radio show, but it was apparent that Kitty and Blake weren't going to let her. Just by their attitude, they were a tightly knit group after all. Purple Rhapsody was playing music a lot more frequently, and that was what annoyed him.

He had been expecting them to stop playing, due to Blake and Cerise's break up, but it didn't affect them at all. While the two were still great friends, and gave each other longing looks from time to time, they remained professional when it came to their band. They had, and apparently they would be debuting it during the Battle of the Bands. The announcement had been made by Dexter and Cupid a few days back. That meant there were several songs that they had recorded that he didn't know about. He still hadn't found Blake's lyric book, just his melody book, but it had been empty so he had just left it.

It made it a pressing matter to him, since he and his band didn't have any songs on par with Purple Rhapsody. Jack wasn't at all worried, saying their music would be fine. But Joey knew their music sucked no matter what they did, but he would never say that to them. After all, they were his "friends" so he wasn't going to risk loosing them. He couldn't care less. He just needed them to keep appearances, just like he needed Blondie in order to keep the stream of secrets flowing. Even after everything, they still didn't suspect him of being the Fake Rebel. He had already read all of the interesting things in each of the diaries, so he had ditched them days back, making sure his DNA wasn't on it so it couldn't be traced. He shook his head, glancing at his vanity mirror, a smirk on his face.

"So Mira, any ideas on what I can do to make this Spring Fairest the best one ever after?" he asked. He didn't hear anything from the mirror, but saw a couple flashes. An image appeared on the glass, of a book.

"What's that...a riddle book?" he muttered curiously, earning a single flash, his universal signal for a yes.

He didn't know how a riddle book would work, but it clearly had meaning if she had suggested it. However, the school library didn't have a riddle book, so that meant it was a book that would be found in Wonderland, and he wasn't looking forward to a trip like that. Seeing as the Evil Queen clearly wasn't going to help him, he broke out his newly written Phase 4. He looked it over, reading every single part of it, frowning a bit.

"Hmm, this isn't Phase 4 anymore, it's been rewritten...so I'll just call it Plan Beta. Yes that will do...a recap then...if you care to listen to it, my Queen." he said. A single flash appeared on the mirror, allowing him to proceed.

"My plan is simple. The Spring Fairest is the biggest event in all of Ever After, welcoming the new season, so there will be hundreds of thousands of spectators and visitors. It will be the perfect place to reveal the final secret, the one that Blake, Briar and Kitty have been keeping for the longest time...that they were the ones who tossed the Storybook of Legends into the Well of Wonder. This needs to happen before the Battle of the Bands, no one will vote for Purple Rhapsody after finding out that little tidbit.

Since Blake will be overall held responsible as he is a foreigner, I would expect punishment of some sort. I'll even suggest it, I'll make him clean up the fair grounds, and then I'll make fun of him for it. I'll make his life a living hell...but I'll keep my eye on him from afar.

After that, I'll be at whatever place he decides to go to get away from everyone and everything. He's been spending time with the Wonderland students after he broke up with Cerise, probably because they understand what it's like to be from another world. If he goes to the Hatter's tea shop, then I'll just put the last part into action. Try to be a supportive friend, and when Blake tells me to piss off, have a bit of a meltdown...tell him its his fault that Cerise left him, and that he's useless. Then I'll take away the most precious thing he's got from our world, Lucy's bracelet. I saw it on him a couple days ago, and I felt the need to take it back, after all I did buy it, so it is my own. So once he is forced to give it back, he'll be sad, broken, and blamed for getting rid of the Storybook of Legends. He'll have no choice but to leave Ever After...and I can finally call this plan finished." he said, glancing at the mirror, which flashed several times. He figured the Queen approved of it. Even if she didn't, he'd still do it. It was going to be a beautiful Spring Fairest...he would make sure of it.

" _Oh come on! Look at this! We've been watching this guy plan to ruin Blake's life for too long! We have to tell him about it right now!"_

" _Brooke, what have we told you about interfering? You cannot tell the characters of your story what is going to happen."_ Weiss said firmly.

" _Yes that's right...we have to narrate it, we cannot be characters. It hurts us deeply to have to let this go on, but we cannot do anything about it."_ Chester added, earning a groan from the teenager narrator.

" _That is total bull! Blake is the nicest person ever, yet we have to sit back and watch him suffer? That isn't fair to him or anyone else! He already broke up with Cerise, what else are we gonna let happen? Joey isn't even supposed to be here."_

" _Neither is Blake, this is what happens when fate sticks her hand in the pot I'm afraid. The original story becomes warped and changes to fit the new changes. We still do not know why this is happening, or what is making this story behave like this...but spoiling it could have dire consequences."_ Chester said firmly.

"It's not like I would let you do it anyway." Joey said, glancing up at the ceiling, stunning the narrators. He let out a chuckle, snipping his scissors on a piece of paper, a piece of paper that had Duchess's image on.

" _What...what do you mean? You've got no power over us! You can't do anything to us!"_ Brooke said firmly, an angry tone in her voice.

"Oh but I can...you see, it isn't hard to take a hold of the book and make some changes. It's all in the flick of the wrist, my dear. There isn't anything stopping me from traveling through the Mirror Realm to the Narrator Realm and killing all of you."

" _You wouldn't dare do anything against us! You have no power in the Narrator Realm."_ Weiss said firmly, earning a chuckle from the boy, who kept on snipping on the paper.

"Ah, but I do. When I was looking through the Forbidden Library, I found this book of Forbidden Arts, it includes a spell to forcefully open portals to other worlds. Not only that, it also has a very interesting spell, one that will allow the caster to recreate the world in their very image. It's a very hard spell to cast of course, so the right conditions must be met. However, if I were to...find the Holy Sword, and get some magic from it, then I'd have enough to do it." Joey said, giving the three a grin.

" _You swine...I have no respect for people who think they can do what they want. Blake will stop you, you can threaten us all you want but in the end, you are just a jealous old fool. You'll die by his hand before you cast any spell like that!"_ Weiss spat, anger in her voice.

"Ha! That idiot? Please, after the Spring Fairest he's gonna wish he was dead. I've got the Evil Queen to back me up...wait until I get my hands on her Mirror and set her free. The two of us will rule Ever After, the way it was meant to be ruled, and no one not even narrators are going to stop me. So, if any of you dare give Blake a message of any kind, whether that's pushing out a book, giving him a hint in Pig Latin, outright telling him, I will take precious little Brooke, and I'll slit her throat, right in front of you." Joey said, a confident tone in his voice.

" _You wouldn't dare! You don't have the balls to do anything like that...go ahead and try, I'm not scared of you!"_

" _Brooke that is enough! We cannot risk losing you, can't you see he's too far gone? Consumed by his own jealousy toward his friend?"_ Chester replied.

" _Alright then Joey, we'll play this by your rules. We will not tell Blake anything, and we will not tell anyone else who can hear us either. But in return, you must promise you will not do anything against our daughter...we will up hold our end of the deal."_

"Fine by me. We have an accord dear Weiss, I will not harm your daughter unless you do something that upsets the balance. Don't bother trying to tell someone when I'm not around, the Evil Queen has eyes and ears everywhere, she'll relay the information to me, and I will kill Brooke...but not before I bring her to this world. I at least want to see her choke on her own blood as the light fades from her eyes. Now begone with you!" he said firmly, brushing the narrators off.

" _I sense...a great danger coming to Ever After High."_

" _We can only hope that Blake can handle it."_ Weiss said, hugging her daughter tightly.

" _I will not let it end like this...I will beat him, just you see."_ Brooke said firmly. She wasn't going to let some character tell her what to do, she was Brooke Page, a narrator, and she would do everything in her power to defeat Joey, even if it cost her everything, including her life.

 _ **xxx**_

Blake sighed with relief as he put the finishing touches on Ginger's food stand for the Fairest. It had been a joint effort with Gus and Helga, but it had still been a difficult task. The stand was rather large, it had to be in order to keep all of the extra treats the girl had created. The stand was the size of three regular stands, with a very large counter and bar like area for people to sit down. It had been painted in a wide array of colors and decorated with various candy designs, courtesy of the Crumb Cousins. He honestly didn't think he had seen someone so obsessed with candy, but seeing the two of them work in sync had been amazing. They had just finished getting some of the refrigerators inside the area for the ice cream and other frozen things they would be selling.

He stood back, shoving his hammer in his tool belt, looking at the stand now that it had been completed. He took out his tablet and started taking pictures of it for the yearbook. He had gotten his press pass a couple weeks back, and had been working hard to add more things to the book. He glanced around the fairgrounds, seeing most of the things still being put up. There was a carousel in the center of the plaza, there was also a Ferris Wheel, which Apple insisted was named Fairest Wheel, he didn't argue with her.

There were some swings as well as a roller coaster. An area had been set up for the Cooking Contest that would be held, and on the other side of the fairgrounds was the stage for the Battle of the Bands. There were various food stands, prize counters, knick knack shops and other things scattered about. It was by far the biggest fair he had ever been at, and it hadn't even started yet. Best of all, Ever After High served as the greatest backdrop for any and every picture taken. It was definitely going to be a Fairest to remember.

"Hey Blake, stop taking pictures and help me with this cotton candy machine. It's really heavy!" Helga cried, her accented voice sounding strained as she tried moving the machine. He snapped a quick picture of the girl, before helping her set it up next to the counter.

"There we are, anything else we gotta move in here?" he asked curiously. She checked the clipboard she had brought a long with her, glancing at all of the things written on it.

"Nope, that was it. Do you think Ginger will be able to handle all of this and the contest as well?" she asked curiously, earning a shrug from the boy.

"I'm sure she can...maybe not during day one, I'll be busy working on the yearbook so I can't spare any time. That means you and your cousin will have to take up the torch until she's done with the contest. That means no eating anything either." he said sternly.

"How long have we been working together? Have you seen us eating anything that wasn't our lunch?" Gus asked, an annoyed look on his face.

"You two ask Ginger for all of the messed up or overcooked cakes and cookies, decorate them to hide the burns. Then you sit down and eat them all...it's a shame I wasn't able to set up a milkshake stand like I wanted, eh...there's always next year." Blake said, shrugging it off.

"This years Spring Fairest is going to be the best of the best. I hear Spellebrity chef Jack Horner is going to be one of the judges for the cooking contest." Ginger said, setting some utensils on the counter top.

"I heard Tailor Quick might show up for the Battle of the Bands as a guest judge. That would be cool, I'm sure Raven is going to have a field day if that's true." the black haired boy said, sifting through the pictures he had taken, getting rid of the ones he didn't like.

"So, other than working on the yearbook, what else are you going to do during the Fairest, Blake?" Ginger asked curiously, making sure she had everything she would need for the cook off.

"Hang around I guess? I had originally planned to walk through the fair with Cerise but, that isn't going to happen. I got some money saved up for prizes and shit. Hopefully you'll allow me to use my employee discount on your stuff."

"Come on Blake, as if it I would charge you, Gus and Helga for anything during the fairest. You helped build this stand, carry all of this stuff here, not to mention help me bake all this stuff. So whatever you want, you can have it for free. Just don't eat it all." the pinkette replied, glancing at her phone. Gus and Helga high fives, grins on their faces.

"This is gonna be so awesome. The dragon corn is what I'm looking forward to the most, it's so buttery and good." Gus said happily.

"Please, the cotton candy is the best. And if Ginger is going to make it, even better, that's what I'm looking forward to the most!" Helga said happily, earning an eyeroll from Blake.

"So boss, mind sharing what you'll be making with the assistant manager of Spells Kitchen?" he asked, giving the girl a smirk.

"It'll be something out of this world, literally. I've been working on this rainbow fountain cake for the show. It's supposed to be made with Wonderland Water, but I haven't been able to find any. It's not like I can pop into Wonderland either...I guess I'll have to substitute it for regular food colored water." she said with a frown.

"Wonderland Water huh? I'll see what I can do, I might be able to find something." he said, rubbing his chin.

"Oh you will? Thank you Blake, it would mean a lot to me if you were to find that water for me." Ginger cried, giving the boy a hug, burying his face in her chest. He flushed a bit, pulling himself away.

"Ahuh, no problem...I'm gonna go take a look around. Maybe Hunter needs some help or something." he said, glancing around the fairgrounds. He was eager to see it alive and filled with people.

"Okay, we'll see you later. The Fair opens at nine in the morning, so make sure to be at the shop at eight to get all of the stuff here." the pink haired baker said, earning a nod from the boy. He gave them a wave, heading off into the fairgrounds.

Several students and teachers could be seen walking around, making sure everything was being set up correctly. All of the attractions needed to be secured and safe. The tents needed to be secured to the ground in case a storm came in, which was highly improbable since sunshine had been predicted for the entire week. After taking a look around, snapping a few pictures of the people decorating the trees, he moved on to the stage for the Battle of the Bands. It was large, almost the size of the stage they had during the Winter Formal. Dexter and Daring were currently carrying some long boards to the stage to use for the floor, while Sparrow and Hunter nailed them in. Several others were helping out with the stage lighting and all of the other things. He stopped before them, a smirk on his face.

"Hey fellas, you doing alright? This thing looks a bit rickety."

"Haha, very funny." Hunter said, glancing up after he had finished nailing the board down.

"If this stage looks rickety to you, then you have some high standards bro." Sparrow added, he would have most likely strummed his guitar after his statement, but had been too busy to retrieve it.

"You guys need a hand? I'm done setting up Ginger's stand, figured I could help you out. I am gonna be using this stage after all." he said.

"Sure thing, my man. You and Dexter can take over the wood, and I'll supervise, I have this nasty thing against splinters." Daring said, earning a glare from Dexter.

"Don't even worry about it Dex, come on...I'm sure I can handle carrying a few wooden boards." he said, heading toward the pile.

"So, any plans on what we're gonna play? Anything from the album would be ideal." the brown haired prince said, kneeling down to grab one end of the board, Blake grabbed the other end, carrying it back to the stage.

"Uh...I wanted to do New World, but I feel like that's too on the nose. You know, the song writer just broke up with his girlfriend, and felt the need to sing a love song. Plus we would have to get Kitty involved." he said.

"Not necessarily a bad thing. How about you do Beat It? She was looking forward to hearing the finished song. She watched that video on your computer for hours, most likely memorizing all of the dance moves. It would be perfect."

"Hmm...you are right...unless you wanna talk to Duchess and Liz and do Shatter Me again." Blake said, a smirk on his face. Dexter shook his head, setting the boards down on the stage. They were quickly grabbed by Hunter and Sparrow, who started nailing them down.

"I think that's a one off performance. If we do it again, it'll lose it's effect, besides this is a contest. We gotta bring our best out, Beat it isn't our best, but it isn't our worse. Besides, Kitty's smile and her general attitude toward the song would go great with the judges."

"You're right Dex, alright I'll talk to her and see if she agrees. Okay guys, these are the last boards." the boy said, dropping the last three boards onto the stage. Once they were nailed in place, the stage floor was finished.

"Now to get the instruments in place, I think Melody is gonna handle that bit. She said something about checking them over." Hunter said, placing his hammer in the tool box with the other tools.

"Like it totally matters. Even with flashy guitars and instruments, the Merry Men will defeat Purple Rhapsody." Sparrow boasted, strumming his guitar like mad.

"My ass. Wait until our album drops, it'll be on top of the charts for the rest of this year, count on it." Blake said, high fiving Dexter.

"Whoa, who's that babe over there." Daring said, pulling them all out of their various conversations. The guys all looked toward the plaza at the girl that had been looking around.

She was a tall girl with wavy, dark brown hair streaked with pinkish auburn highlights. She had olive colored skin free of scars of blemishes. She was wearing a long sleeved fur collar blouse, with pink roses printed on it, the sleeves being rolled up to the elbows. She wore a yellow skirt, reaching down to her mid thigh, with a see through golden skirt over it, bearing rose patterns on them. She wore brown furred boots with rose shaped buckles on the sides of them. She was wearing a golden tiara on her head, and a pair of glasses with thick black frames. She seemed to be a bit lost, as she kept looking around for someone or something. Sparrow smirked, jabbing Blake in the ribs.

"You are a bachelor again man, go and get her."

"What the hell makes you think I want a girl in my life?" he asked.

"Oh, so it's men you are after now...that's cool I guess." Hunter said, earning chuckles from the boys.

"Now you are just putting words in my mouth, ass clown. It's been a month since me and Cerise broke up, I'm not exactly looking to get into another relationship. What makes you think I am?" he asked, glancing at his friends.

"The fact that you haven't turned away from her is one." Dexter said, slapping his back. Blake sighed, glancing away from the girl.

"Not interested...maybe Sparrow has a better chance of scoring a date with her. After all, he's failed three times with Holly." the boy said tauntingly.

"Oh...I could say so many things right now...how about I dare you then? Seeing as you were able to fulfill the last dare we all had."

"I don't want to partake in another dare alright? I'm just...not willing to risk myself after what happened. Especially with the Fake Rebel still out there." he said, glancing at the ground. All of them shared a look, frowns on their faces. Daring stepped up, clapping him on the shoulder.

"Blake my man, we don't blame you for what happened. You and Cerise had something great going, but it could have happened to anyone. You have to be more like me. Go out there, flirt with the girls, make the pain go away." he said.

"That's horrible advice Daring...really horrible." Dexter said, pushing his glasses back a bit.

"What would you tell him then? Come on, give him something good." Hunter said, crossing his arms.

"I would say this...heartbreak sucks, I haven't experienced it much...but I guess it's the same as not confessing to the girl you like. It's this horrible feeling, you get all choked up and it isn't fun. Maybe it's too early to start dating again, but that doesn't mean you can't move on. Maybe this girl will be your princess, maybe not...there are millions of girls out there, so don't let the past stop you from talking to someone. And don't let this fake Rebel do anything against you either." he said firmly, earning a nod from Blake.

"Well, that was pretty good." Sparrow said, slowly strumming his guitar, a melancholy tune filling the air.

"I agree with Dexter, it's time for you to talk to other girls...I'm sure you and Cerise promised each other you'd be fine right? So go on, talk to that girl. Maybe she needs help, or maybe she just wants the ability to know the most popular guy on campus." Hunter said, pushing him forward.

"Okay, I am not the most popular guy on campus. That is a facet of lies, I'm just a normal guy, in a not so normal world, with not so normal friends, and a not so normal band. That's it." he said.

"He's humble as well, that's a quality many girls like to see...along with shiny teeth of course." Daring said, smiling at some nearby girls, who all sighed contently, some even fainting. Blake shook his head, fixing his hood a bit. He started walking toward the brown haired girl, a bit nervous.

" _Okay, what do I even say to her? How come I let myself be convinced by my friends to do this? Am I even ready to start flirting again after everything that's happened? No! I can't let the past hold me down, I loved Cerise, but we aren't together and I doubt we never will be. So I have to grab the bull by the horns and tell it, I'm not gonna be depressed anymore! Yeah!"_ he thought to himself, a smirk on his face.

However when he stopped in front of the girl, and saw just how pretty and out of his league she was, he froze. She looked him over, curiosity on her face, while he just stood there gawking. Before she said anything, he let out a nervous laugh, glancing away from her.

"Um...you have pretty...eyebrows." he said, biting his tongue right after, face flushing in embarrassment.

"Thank...you?"

He turned around, pulling his hood firmly over his head, trying to forget what had just happened. His failed attempt at flirting had definitely the opposite effect, and now this girl was probably going to laugh at him. Perhaps since he had been dating Cerise for such a long time, his flirting skills had gotten rusty. But he wasn't going to let anything stop him from getting a date with this girl, or at least her number. He turned to face the girl again, using the techniques he had learned from Daring to put a charming smile on his face.

"My Apologies, I was just astounded by your beauty and grew nervous. My words were tied around my tongue, I couldn't very well speak. You are beautiful like a blooming rose, sweet and free of its bud." he said.

"I...oh wow, that was pretty good." she said, very impressed with what the boy had said.

"Thanks, I made that one up on the spot...you seem to like roses so I figured, why not. Hmm, you look familiar though...oh wait...is your name Bella?" he asked.

"Rosabella, actually. I'm Briar's cousin, and if her descriptions are good, than you must be Blake Bigby, the boy that traveled here from another world...I didn't think you'd be so...forward." she said, giving him a smile.

"Ah...yeah...I was sort of put up to it by my friends. I recently broke up with my girlfriend, so they told me it was time to get out there again, as they say."

"Right right, you were dating Cerise...she told me a lot about you too. How sweet and kind you were...she also told me how you broke her trust and falsely accused her of stuff." Rosabella said, making the boy cringe. He glanced away from her, a frown on his face.

"I know, that one is still biting me in the ass. One of my biggest regrets, but it wasn't just that...it was a combination of things, including Apple and Duchess's missing journals and the Fake Rebel. I'm not trying to make excuses, I deserve what I got for being an idiot."

"Cerise said as much...but I know you are a good person...I can see it in your aura. It's so blue and pure, unlike many that I've seen in the past...I know you are a strong person, and you will bounce back from this...sadly I'm not the one you should be with. While I'm excited to meet my fairytale prince, I'm sure there are some girls out there who'd like to court you. Do you know where Darling is? I ended up loosing her when we entered the fairgrounds."

"Darling? Oh duh...I'm such an idiot, I forgot she told me a new girl would be her roommate. I didn't think it was her, hang on...I'll just give her a call." he said, pulling out his MirrorPhone, dialing Darling's number into the keypad.

"You...memorized her number?"

"Mhmm. I know the numbers of all my close friends, sure I can sift through my contacts, but I want to give myself a challenge. Hang on, Hey Darling, I'm just calling to let you know I found Rosabella wondering around the fairgrounds all by herself." he said. He remained silent for a few seconds, handing the phone over to the brunette.

"She wants to talk to you, go ahead I'll just wait." he said, giving the girl a smile. She nodded, walking away from where he was standing. He heard a giggle behind him and turned around, glancing to one of the many stands around him, seeing his friend Kitty laying on top of one, licking an ice cream cone.

"That was a lovely fail Blake, but I'm impressed with your recovery."

"Why must you always laugh at my misery?" he asked, hands on his hips.

"I'm not laughing at you, I'm laughing because of you. There's a difference, want some ice cream? It's really good!" the girl said, holding out her cone, he shook his head.

"I'm not in the mood...anyway Kitty, I wanted to talk to you. Dexter wanted to do a song from the new album for the battle of the bands. You wanna do Beat It? We already know the choreography, so we might as well right?" he asked, a hopeful look on his face.

"Hmm...I suppose...the Battle of the Bands starts in the afternoon...yeah sure, I wouldn't mind. Performing for all of Ever After and beating Yuletide Bliss is enough to make this kitty purr." she said, giving him a wink. She disappeared a second later, her grin being the last to flash away.

"Here you go Blake, Darling should be here in a few minutes. Who was that you were talking too?"

"Huh? Oh, that was Kitty Cheshire, she's a really close friend. I'm sure you've heard this before but, Welcome to Ever After High...I'm sure you'll fit right in. You best get used to it fast, a lot of crazy stuff happens." he said. A loud roar filled his ears and he turned around, only to be tackled to the ground by his pet dragon Cadence. He groaned in pain, eyes widening as the creature was crushing him.

"Medic! I need a medic." he wheezed.

Rosabella couldn't help but start laughing. She glanced at the dragon, seeing just how big she was, her scales were nice and shiny too, with specks of color dotting her all over. Even her wings were nicely taken care of, all of the swirls on them were bright and shiny. She put a hand on the dragon's snout, easing her off the young teenager, who was finally able to breathe. Cadence's tail wagged back and forth happily.

"Wow, I've never seen someone do that with Cadence. The only one who can do that with her is me, Cerise, Kitty and Raven...even Apple and Ashlynn have a hard time with her sometimes." he said, as he climbed to his feet.

"Let's just say, I'm good at handling ferocious beasts. This one isn't ferocious or a beast, she's a cutie pie, that's what she is!" Rosabella said, scratching Cadence's snout, causing the dragon to exhale loudly, some glittering smoke flaring through her nostrils.

"She's a very rare breed of dragon. Ramona was the one that helped me get her, she's my very special friend. I'm looking forward to seeing her grow into a fine adult dragon." he said, petting the dragon.

"She is, crystal dragons are very hard to find in this day and age. You are lucky, she is very well taken care of." Rosabella said, taking a few pictures of Cadence.

"You hear that Cadence, you are very special. Don't you ever forget that, and don't tackle me in public, I know you miss me but I don't want broken ribs." he said, rubbing his chest.

"Oh jeez, there she is...sorry Blake, we were cleaning out the stables and she got away from us." Raven said, panting a bit as she came to a stop next to the boy. Her own dragon Nevermore came to a stop beside her. Cadence let out a soft growl of greeting, rubbing her snout against Nevermore's.

"It's fine Rae, it's bound to happen. Have you met Rosabella yet? She just arrived today."

"I'm a huge fan Raven, standing up for what you believe in is powerful. You and I are a lot alike...I want to raise awareness for all of those mistreated beasts out there! Everyone is special, and we should all be able to craft our own destiny!" she said passionately.

"Rebels are all so cheerful...we're a force to be reckoned with." Blake said, bumping fists with Raven. She took a hold of Cadence's leash, wrapping it around her hand.

"I'm gonna take her back to the stables before something else happens. Don't worry, I'll make sure she's well fed and cleaned. We have to make sure all of the dragons are taken care of, seeing as all the kids will want to see them."

"Okay, see ya later than sis. If you need help, just text me." he said, watching as his sister pulled Cadence away.

"You were right, Raven does have a handle on her...anyway, I've gotta go, I see Darling over there. I'd love to get to know you Blake, just hold back on the flirting next time?"

"Hehe, sure thing Rosabella. Sorry about that by the way." he said, rubbing his neck.

"Don't be, it was really sweet...maybe you should try your romantic skills on someone else. I hear my cousin sort of likes you, maybe you can be the prince charming that wakes her from her sleep." She said, giving him a wave as she ran off to meet Darling. Blake waved at the two girls, turning to leave the fairgrounds.

" _Speaking of Briar, I gotta talk to her about our trip to Wonderland...she has to be in her dorm right now, hopefully."_ he thought, looking through his phone. He dialed Briar's number and pressed it to his ear, hearing it ring.

" _You have reached Briar's cell, if you are hearing this, then I'm most likely asleep. Leave a message, bye!"_

"Dammit...guess I'll call Ash instead, she might know where she is." he said, quickly ending the call.

 _ **xxx(Bunny Blanc's house, Wonderland)xxx**_

"Alright, the Spring Fairest is tomorrow. It shouldn't take you long to find the well from here. I'll let you borrow my WonderMap so you don't get lost on the way...I can easily get another one." Gloriosa said, handing the rolled up map to Alistair. He had a brown backpack around his shoulders, carrying the Storybook of Legends.

"Are you sure you don't want to come along with us? I'm sure our friends would like to see you again." Bunny said. She shook her head, glancing out the window.

"I can't...Marmoreal is the closest it's been to this area and I'm not gonna waste that opportunity." she said.

"I'm gonna stick around here as well...I need to talk to my father, see if there's anyone in Wonderland High that would want to kill the Queen of Hearts." Mavis said firmly. Alistair sighed, a frown on his face.

"It's odd, we finally get to see each other after almost an entire year. Now here we are, about to split up again."

"Oh come on Alistair...you know you love me, I'm so hot that you'll have to come back for me." Gloriosa said, giving him a wink. Bunny narrowed her eyes in annoyance, earning a giggle from the auburn haired girl.

"I never get tired of that look, you two are so cute together."

"Eh? We aren't together...we're just friends!" Alistair said, face flushing crimson. Bunny looked away from the boy, fidgeting nervously in place.

"You two better get going...by the time you reach that well, it'll already be tomorrow. Now, when you reach the underside of Wonderland, you'll want to take a good look around. Follow the path to Ever After, and take four rights, six lefts, seven rights, nine left, and so on, until you get there. If you just wanna hurry, then you should just jump." Gloriosa said.

"No no, we'll just walk...we won't be gone for long alright. We'll go to Ever After, bring the book to the Headmaster and come back. The Queen is in too much danger, with this curse and the paranoia." the blond boy said. Gloriosa gave the two a firm hug, closing her eyes tightly.

"Good luck you too, and if you see Blake...I want you to give this to him." she said, handing Bunny a piece of paper, with a single phrase written on it.

"Do you Wonder?" she asked, glancing at her friend.

"Is that a code or something?"

"Not really, but Blake will figure out what it means...we're in Wonderland after all...he'll get here eventually. Go on, it isn't goodbye, just so long." she said, pushing the two teenagers out the door.

"Oh uh...we'll be back soon...feel free to stay here all you want. My daddy won't mind, see you two later!" Bunny said, folding the paper in half, placing it in her boot.

Everything was set, Alistair and Bunny would be heading to Wonderland to bring back the Storybook of Legends. Little did they know, that there was one person who was going to take advantage of their arrival, to set forth a dastardly plan, all in order to destroy the life of one who he used to call his best friend. It was going to be a very productive day, Ever After High would be the setting, and even its students weren't prepared for what was going to happen.


	45. Spring Unsprung II

**A/N:**

 **Welcome everyone to Chapter 45 of Through the Looking Glass. This will be the second chapter in the Spring Unsprung arc. I didn't receive many reviews last night on the previous two chapters...I'm not sure if it's because you are mad for breaking up the cutest couple in the story, or because of something else but it matters not. I just want to know what your thoughts are so far on this entire arc, including the preludes as this is one of the more important ones in the series. Hopefully I rectify things in these next few chapters, let's just say Joey's plans are just beginning.**

 **In this chapter we get quite a lot, including the beginning of the Spring Fairest among other things. We also get to meet the Cheshire Cat in person this time, and let's just say...something happens at the end that involves her in some way. The rest of this arc and Joey's plan hinges on this one little event, so it is an important thing that happens. As the arc continues you will get to this plan, Plan Beta as he named it, start being put into action and all of the many lengths he goes too to ensure that it in fact sticks to the plan he has created. In the end, Joey can plan all he wants, but we all know they're doomed to fail. However the effects are long lasting, and since Joey is petty, he will make sure even if his plan doesn't work, that he at least makes Blake miserable.**

 **If you haven't guessed what the OTP for this story is going to be yet, then man...you guys aren't seeing the clues sprinkled all over the place. But hopefully this chapter gives you a little hint, I mean I have been leaving them all over the place since the inception of this story. But if it doesn't, Chapter 48 of this story will reveal it, maybe. Not an official pairing yet but the stirrings of one...and I'm not sure if it is 48 or not...maybe it's 49...yeah, definitely 49. If you must know, I'm writing chapter 51 currently and will most likely be on 53 by tomorrow afternoon. It will be around four chapters of filler, and 55 may or may not be the beginning of the Blue Moon Forest Fest.**

 **So...how do y'all feel about them lemons? I was considering on doing one between Blake and Duchess, but I'm not sure if I should or not as I don't want to interfere with the original pairing. Plus Blake has already let her know that he sees her only as a friend, but Duchess is one girl that will never give up, no matter what. And now that Blake knows she likes him, she'll double her efforts. I may or may not do one, maybe one that isn't canon to this current story, Idk...I mean by the time it does happen, the story will be over 50 chapters so I think it's an appropriate time for something like that too happen. In my previous stories, The End of Hope's Peak Academy to name one, I waited until around Chapter 30 to actually have a lemon scene, and that story has three of them, the last one being a three way with two girls, the dream of many men in this world. Then there's Nekopara which has two, and The School Life of Mutual Killing which has one...hmm...I think I have a problem with lemon scenes...there are too many dammit! Eh, you guys let me know if you want one or not. I'll make a choice based on what you guys think.**

 **I've already started coming up with ideas for Way Too Wonderland. I mean, I already outlined it and stuff but I like to throw my own twists in there. For one, I'm actually having Ashlynn come along with everyone else. I feel like she should since Briar told her about the book and she was the only one that knew aside fro Blake, Kitty and Briar herself, so her not being there wouldn't make sense. Plus, I had this dream where Ashlynn punches Courtley square in the jaw and I just wanted to make that shit happen. I mean she's the sweetest person in the series, just imagine her punching the fuck right out of Courtley...it would be funny, and now you have that in your mind and you can't stop replaying it, so yup it's gonna happen. Plus I've also have to have Mavis meet up with Blake some way. I've already decided what I'm gonna do with Gloriosa, especially since this will take place in the Way Too Wonderland Prelude...so I do hope you look forward to what I write for that arc, including Ashlynn's glorious left hook to Courtley's jaw and or face area.**

 **Um...remember, put the lime in the coconut and then shake it...don't stir it, please. Review, favorite and follow, PM if you have questions or to tell me to fuck off or something, idk...um...don't let memes be dreams, Shooting Stars over burning cars, 420YOLOBLAZEIT, Shrek is love, Shrek is Life...muffins...**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 45

Spring Unsprung Part II

It was early afternoon in Ever After, the day before the Spring Fairest was set to start. Everyone was excited for the festival to start, it was going to be a week long event, celebrating the coming of spring. It was the biggest event in the year, second only to Legacy Day. The Winter Formal had nothing on it as well. While most students were eager for the festival to start, there were a few that were a bit apprehensive. Blake was currently in Briar and Ashlynn's dorm, having a small meeting with the two girls. They had been silent for a little while, not exactly knowing how to start the conversation, or where to start it. It just wasn't a topic they had gotten used to discussing. Blake set down his tea cup, glancing at the amber liquid inside. He had asked Maddie for some tea before the meeting, hoping to ease them a bit, and while he was relaxed, it was still a rather pressing topic to start. Ashlynn glanced at the two, a frown on her lips, she knew they weren't going to start, so she figured she'd do it for him.

"So...Blake, Briar...I take it you two want to discuss the book." she said.

"Yes, it's just...hard to pick a place to start." Blake said, not taking his eyes off his tea cup.

"I haven't told Ashlynn about the plan, maybe we can start with that?" Briar asked, causing the black haired boy to look up from his tea. He sighed, giving her a nod, glancing at the daughter of Cinderella.

"Ash, me and Briar have been coordinating a retrieval of the book. It's going to be a bit complicated, but it involves...going to Wonderland." he said, causing her to go wide eyed.

"You two are going to Wonderland? Are you insane? Do you know how much trouble you'd get if you even attempted it?"

"Do you know how much trouble we would get into if someone found out we threw the book in the well?" Blake countered, causing the girl to pause. She tried saying something to the two, but wasn't able to come up with anything. Satisfied, Blake took a sip of his tea, glancing at Briar.

"I've talked to Kitty, she's agreed to come with us and act as our map. She said that her house is near the entrance to the Wonderlandian Underground, a sewer system for all of Wonderland. It's likely that we'll appear there after jumping in the well." he said, earning a nod from Briar.

"This is crazy...I can't let you three go there alone...I'm gonna come along with you, just to be safe."

"No Ashlynn, we can't involve you as well. I was the one that found the book, and I was the one that made the choice to throw it in the well. I have to do this, and I won't want you to get hurt." Briar said, a look of anguish on her face.

"It wouldn't be ideal Ashlynn, if you get hurt over there it wouldn't be good. I don't know if I could face Hunter either, he's like a brother to me and seeing his girl got hurt under my watch...I can't. I've disappointed enough people as it is." he said, once again glancing at his tea.

"Oh come on Blake, so you were the Radio Rebel, big whoop! You did so much for this school, stopped so many potential bullies, shattered rumors before they affected people. Not to mention all of those heartfelt stories, it was real and it was you. No one is mad at you, and if they are, it's because they're chances to spread rumors got stopped."

"Briar has a point, you did an amazing job as the Rebel. In fact, a lot of people are starting to miss your daily shows, and all of the music you played. Honestly, I had an inkling it was you from the beginning, I mean...someone shows up from another world, and magically this person takes over the PA system and plays music no one knows?" Ashlynn asked, earning a sigh from Blake.

"Alright, so I wasn't that careful...but no one found out it was me until I blabbed it. Then again, even the Headmaster was happy that no one was being bullied while the show was on. Maybe it's time to rid myself of the mask, and continue the show as a legitimate radio show." he said, a small smile on his face.

"Back to the topic at hand...we need to figure out the correct time to leave. We can't just go after the well, it's gonna take us time to find it." Briar said, placing a hand on her cheek.

"Shit that's right...the Well of Wonder is mad, so it's always changing places. I never accounted for this...maybe Kitty knows a way to find it..she is from Wonderland after all." Blake replied, leaning back against his chair.

"Have you guys ever wondered this? If the well moves around, doesn't that mean it'll drop you in a different location on the other side?" Ashlynn asked, causing Blake and Briar to share a look. He pinched his eyes, being careful not to smudge his foundation.

"Well, that throws any semblance of a plan right down the toilet. If what Ashlynn said is true, then it doesn't matter where we land in Wonderland. On top of that, we don't even know where the book could be...maybe this is just a lost cause."

"It isn't Briar...it's never a lost cause. You feel guilty for finding the book, and you feel like if you don't return it, you and your friends will get in trouble for it. If I'm being honest, I could care less if I get in trouble. Getting rid of that book would set you all free, but if you want to free yourself of this guilt, then I'll tear the earth apart to find it." Blake said firmly, earning a smile from Briar.

"It means a lot that you'd do that for me Blake...I'm sorry I got you and Kitty involved in this."

"It's not an issue...if I found the book, I would have likely gotten rid of it like you planned. There's just too many variables right now, finding the well, locating the book after we land in Wonderland, the time limit we got. We can't do it all in a week, much less day." he said, sighing in annoyance.

"Perhaps it would be best to put this all aside for now...wait for the right moment to search for the book. After all, Wonderland is still cursed...maybe we should focus on lifting that curse so we can search with more time. If we can do that, then the portals will reopen and we'd have all summer to look for it."

"That's not a bad idea Ash...it would be much better to open a portal than to hunt down the fountain. I'm sure there are some books in the Forbidden Library about this, I mean how did the portals get opened in the first place?" Blake asked, an excited look on his face.

"That's true, judging by that smile on your face, you really wanna find this book." the daughter of Sleeping Beauty said, earning a nod from the boy.

"Of course! Do you know how long I've wanted to visit Wonderland? Practically since I landed here, it's the last connection I have to Lucy, that and her bracelet. When I miss her, I hold it close to my heart...it makes me feel like she's here with me." he said, glancing at the charm bracelet that sat around his wrist. It had various charms on it, mostly of stars, dogs and hearts, the biggest heart shaped charm was the locket he had given her.

"Oh, that's so sweet...is that why you got Cerise a charm bracelet too?" Ashlynn asked, earning a nod from the boy.

"I did, that and I wanted her to collect charms of all of the things she liked. She's done a decent job since Christmas...just because we broke up doesn't mean I won't get her any more charms either."

"It's sweet that you still care for her...I'm still mad at the fake Rebel for what he's doing. By the way, I heard from my cousin that you tried flirting with her. Something about her having pretty eyebrows?" Briar said, causing the boy to blush.

"Oh my godmother, please tell me you actually didn't say that?" Ashlynn asked, stifling her laughter. He sighed, glancing at the two princesses, a look of annoyance on his face.

"I gave myself this inner pep talk and everything, and then when I saw how cute she was, I just froze up. But I did have a swift recovery."

"He said, and I quote. I was just astounded by your beauty and grew nervous. My words were tied around my tongue, I had couldn't very well speak. You are beautiful like a blooming rose, sweet and free of its bud. Gotta admit, that was a good one." Briar said, eyes scanning the various texts she had gotten from her cousin. Blake's blush increased as he looked away from the girl.

" _Jeez, why do girls always feel the need to tease people's failed love attempts?"_ he asked himself.

"Well, I'm sure there's another girl I know who would have loved to hear that. There are plenty of girls who'd like to have a go at dating you, would you like a list? I've been keeping track." Ashlynn said, reaching into her bra for a rolled up piece of paper.

"Eh...no, I'm not gonna look at that. I remember Cerise telling me that Crystal wanted to date me too. She said as soon as we broke up, if we did that I was hers."

"She likes competition. Don't worry, you're safe from Crystal, for now at least." Briar added, making the boy shiver. He just hoped the daughter of the Snow Queen wasn't going to show up any time soon. The last thing he needed is her bringing Winter to Summer at finding out he had been single for a short period of time before getting into another relationship.

Once he had recovered from his bout of embarrassment, Blake glanced up at Briar, about to say something to her. However, he noticed something on her neck that he hadn't seen before. He at first thought it was a beauty mark of some sort, but he noticed it didn't look like normal. He stood up from his seat, grabbing her attention. She was about to say something, but he put a finger to her lips before she could. He looked at the spot on her neck, taking a hold of it. He looked at it closely eyes widening, he walked over to his tea cup and dropped the dot in, watching as it fizzled out.

"What was that?" Ashlynn as curiously. Blake grabbed his teaspoon and pulled the device out of the cup, looking it over.

"It was a bug...our entire conversation was being monitored. Quick, check yourselves over for more." he said, setting side his cup. He looked himself over, making sure to check inside and outside of his clothes. Ashlynn and Briar did the same, but didn't find anything. One quick sweep of the room also yielded no results.

"Who do you think could have been recording that? Are you even sure it was capable of recording?" Briar asked.

"Yes, it was small and barely visible. If it wasn't because I looked at your neck, I wouldn't have seen it. That means whoever planted it, heard our entire conversation, that means they also know that we threw the book in the well. Fuck, that's just what I needed." Blake snapped angrily.

"Wait...if someone went this far, do you think it could be the Fake Rebel? Maybe he's planning on exposing the three of you, to get you in trouble!" Ashlynn said, a firm look on her face.

"Okay, I am officially pissed off. We need to find this piece of crap and make them realize that this shit isn't funny. That was a violation of our privacy, who knows how long I've had that on me?" the girl snapped, an angry look on her face.

"The bigger question is, who would have the technical know how to make something like this? I know for a fact Dexter, Humphrey or Hopper would do something like this. If it is the Fake Rebel, then he's got some assistance...no way they can do this on their own." Blake said, eyes narrowed as he looked at the violet bug. Even though it didn't work anymore, he felt a bit of a magical presence inside it.

"I'm nervous now, who knows how long that thing was on me. I mean, I haven't done anything questionable, but now someone knows about this." Briar said. Blake placed a hand on her shoulder, giving the girl a smile.

"I told you during Thronecoming, that if this came back to bite us, I'd take the heat for you. You aren't gonna get in trouble, if it's brought up, I got you. You're my friend, and I'm not scared to take the fall for you." he said firmly.

"I don't understand how you can be so selfless Blake...anyone else would have let Briar take the heat easily." Ashlynn said, earning a shrug from the boy, who just stood back, a plain look on his face.

"Well, technically speaking, I was the one who dumped the book, so I'm partially taking credit for it. As to what you said...well, you guys are my friends, I'd to anything to make sure you guys are safe. I'll take can arrow for you if I have too, after all you guys have people here that love you. I don't have anyone here, so it's fine." he said.

"Don't you dare say that Blake. You have people here that care for you, a lot more than you think...I don't think any one of us would know what to do if you disappeared on us. You're our friend, and dare I say the best thing that's happened to Ever After. You've taught us all a lot of things, how to be selfless and kind to even the worst of us. You're...never mind...don't even worry about it, I doubt anyone would do anything right now." Briar said, earning a sigh from the boy.

"You're right...it isn't opportune for someone to release that information. They would have to wait until the right moment, a moment in where everyone is present, so they can abuse it for their own gain...but who is it? Who is willing to steal Apple and Duchess's diaries? Who's willing to hijack our show? Who's that intelligent to do something like that?" he asked, glancing at the ground with narrowed eyes.

"Only time will tell, I'm afraid. I'll talk to the critters around Ever After High, they'll be our eyes and ears around the school. It's almost dinner time, perhaps we should end this conversation here...I don't think they have more bugs, and if they do, now they know that we know...we can abuse that as well. Ashlynn, Briar...it's been real, I'll talk to you girls later." he said, giving the two girls a hug before leaving the room. Briar sighed, glancing at the spot where the boy had been sitting at.

"You know, it isn't healthy to keep those feelings bottled up. I think you should tell him, before he starts dating someone else. I know he says he isn't ready, but love acts in different ways. Tell him how you feel."

"I can't Ashlynn, it's so embarrassing. Besides he just got out of a relationship, so it isn't the right time." she said, brushing the girl off.

"You should at least tell him, I mean...what if he actually says yes?"

"What if he says no? Then my feelings are out there, and it'll be weird...I know it's better to have him as a friend than risk it all and let him know that I feel...but I just can't take the risk. One day I'll let him know, maybe when Hunter proposes to you." she said, giving her friend a wink. Ashlynn of course had no rebuttal and just remained silent.

 _ **xxx**_

" _Welcome everyone, to the land of Ever After...where it is finally time for the greatest event of the year, the Spring Fairest!"_ Chester said happily, as they panned over the beautiful land of Ever After.

" _Yes, it is a week long festival, celebrating the coming of Spring. All of the students of Ever After High have been looking forward to this day. Some, more than others."_ Weiss said, an annoyed tone in her voice. Joey smirked up at the sky as he walked past, saying absolutely nothing.

" _That's right...a lot of people have been looking forward to it... I was too, until various things happened. I suppose all I can do is look forward to the festival."_ Brooke said.

" _Worry not Brooke, there is still a lot to see...like look over there, it's the daughter of the Queen of Hearts, Lizzie Hearts. She seems to be going to the Enchanted Forest."_ Chester said.

" _Indeed, it seems as if she is heading to the Well of Wonder. The magical source of inspiration in all of Ever After."_ Weiss said, earning a happy gasp from her daughter.

" _Oh oh, is that the same well that Blake, Briar and Kitty threw the Storybook of Legends in?"_

" _Now Brooke, what have we told you about spoiling the story?"_ Weiss said in a scolding tone.

" _I wasn't spoiling, it was a recap."_

" _Ah, she's correct. During Thronecoming Week, Briar Beauty managed to find the missing Storybook of Legends. While Blake and Kitty were out at the well, she ran into them after he made his wish. Blake decided to throw the book into the well, not knowing that it had landed in Wonderland."_ Chester replied.

" _Hey look, she put her hand on the water! Is this where Lizzie gets inspiration for her dresses?"_ Brooke asked excitedly.

" _Sweetheart, that's another spoiler. We haven't even gone through the well yet."_ Weiss said, earning a gasp from Brooke as they traveled through the well.

" _No way...is this seriously Wonderland? Look at all of the cool stuff here!"_

" _Brooke, remember that his isn't a field trip. We are doing this to show everyone what has happened...oh look at that, two very important youngsters are walking through the woods. One of them is Alistair Wonderland, son of Alice from Wonderland, and the other is Bunny Blanc, daughter of the White Rabbit, let us see what they are up too."_

"Hey Alistair, have you ever gotten that feeling, like someone is watching you?" Bunny asked, glancing at her best friend. He looked away from the WonderMap, giving her an odd look.

"What are you talking about? I've never felt that way before." he said.

"Oh...it's just...I felt this chill down my spine...maybe this is just getting to me." the girl said, shaking her head as she walked. Alistair glanced at her, concern written on his face. He glanced back to the map, seeing the dot was getting much closer than before.

"Do you remember what Gloriosa said about getting to Ever After? I remember it was five lefts, four rights, six lefts, nine rights and then we're there."

"Um no...it was five rights, four lefts, six rights, nine lefts, and then we're there." Bunny said, he blinked a few times, stopping to look at the sickly yellow sky.

"No...I'm pretty sure I was right." Alistair said, earning a huff from Bunny.

"I'm right, I have a good memory after all."

"Well, we're about to find out." the blond boy said, pushing aside some of the brush, revealing the Well of Wonder.

The two of them ran up to it, looking at the rainbow water within. Alistair jumped up to the edge of it, holding his hand out to Bunny, who swallowed the lump in her throat. She had a fearful look on her face, after all this was the first time she would even be attempting something like this. While she was a little scared, she couldn't deny that she wasn't excited...after all she was most likely going to see her friends, which she hadn't seen for a long time. She looked up at Alistair who gave her a smile.

"Come on Bunny, this is a riddle I think we can solve."

"You say that about everything...are you ready?" she asked, earning a nod from the boy. He held tightly onto her as the two jumped into the well, taking a breath as they hit the water.

They had been expecting it to be cold, but it was actually rather warm. They held on tightly to each other as they moved through the water, as if by an unknown force. They ended up falling down into another drainage system, slamming onto the cold hard ground. The rainbow water flowed around them and continued to flow down into a large pond underneath. The two carefully walked to the edge, glancing down at the water.

"I've never been under Wonderland before...it's really far down." she said.

"Come away from the edge, there's a bit of a sidewalk over here." Alistair said, stepping out of the water. The two were drenched, but that wouldn't matter as long as they stayed away from the edge and watched their step.

"So, five lefts, four rights, six lefts, nine rights." Bunny said, earning a sigh from Alistair.

"I already told you Bunny, it's five rights, four lefts, six rights, nine lefts." he said firmly. He felt a bit of a shudder, a soft mewl filling the air. He glanced up, seeing a shadow in the shape of a cat, a mischievous voice filling their ears.

"The stories you seek that aren't your own, lest be found here all alone."

The two jumped slightly when the Cheshire Cat appeared before them, on a ledge across from them. Alistair knew from experience, and from the stories his mother had told him that this woman meant trouble. He had a hard time trusting her, but he was friend's with her daughter, so he always gave the woman the benefit of the doubt. Bunny bit her lip, not expecting her to appear before them.

"Oh...hey Kitty's mom...sup?" she asked nervously.

"The question isn't what's up? It's what you two are doing down here?" she asked, a curious glint in her eye.

"We found the missing Storybook of Legends. We're trying to reach Ever After to return it." the blond boy said firmly. The woman smirked inwardly, flashing behind the two, arms wrapped around their shoulders.

"Curiouser and Curiouser. To get to Ever After, you must follow the flow of Wonder, three lefts, four rights, five lefts, six rights until you are there."

"Huh? But that's not what Gloriosa said." Bunny said, earning a frown from the woman.

"But what I am saying is the truth...would you doubt me? You're friends with my little kitten after all." she said, earning a sigh from Alistair.

"Maybe Gloria got confused, she's been gone from Wonderland for seven years after all. Let's just go, the faster we get to Ever After, the faster we can return this book...thanks Miss Cheshire, we appreciate the help." Alistair said, taking a hold of Bunny's hand.

"Ta-ta, if you see my kitten, tell her that I miss her." the woman said, giving the two a small wave. A grin split her face as she disappeared, a plan already on the forefront of her mind.

" _Meanwhile in Ever After, the students are starting to enjoy the festivities, let's see how everything is going so far."_ Chester said, the scene changed to Ever After High, the students happily partaking in the Spring Fairest.

Blake was happily walking around the Fairgrounds, snapping pictures for the yearbook. He was wearing something that fit the season, tailored by his friend Lizzie Hearts. He was wearing a long sleeved black shirt, tucked into some skinny jeans, which were black in color. Around his waist he wore a studded belt, that kept his pants secured around his waist. He was wearing a brown leather vest over his shirt, his pocket watch chain attached to his belt loop, and fastened to the pocket.

Over it, he was wearing a long overcoat, which looked almost like a trench coat. It reached down just past his waist, and he left it open, as it was a bit tight around the front. The coat had a black and white checkerboard pattern, with small cherry prints on various areas of the coat. The inside of the coat was a crimson color, and it even had a hood attached to it, though he decided to keep it down. Attached to his waist was his press pass, the Yearbook Committee Identification which was given to anyone working for the Yearbook.

Blake had even gone through the trouble of buying himself an SLR camera. He wanted to have good quality pictures for the Yearbook, and even though Apple and Raven told him his MirrorPad would do, he insisted on getting the best quality pictures. After all, their future children would most likely be reading it, so he wanted them to see every single detail of every single person in the book. He was even having fun, having forgotten about all of the things that had happened to him in the last month, though the subject of the Fake Rebel was still on his mind. Especially after he found that bug, he didn't know who had planted it on Briar, but he would be sure to find out soon enough.

"Hey Blondie, how about a quick picture of you and Dex for the yearbook?" the boy called out, grabbing the attention of the blonde reporter, who gasped when she saw him.

"Oh my, you look absolutely spelltacular Blake...actually, you seem to be matching someone else I just interviewed." she said, glancing over at Cerise who was currently talking to Cedar. He had seen the girls on the Jumbo Mirror minutes before, sporting the beautifully made designs of Lizzie Hearts. He frowned, glancing away from the girl.

"Lizzie made these to match, way before we broke up. I promised I'd wear it, I mean, she had already made it. I couldn't really say no." he said, bringing the camera up to his eye. He snapped the picture, glancing at the screen.

"Well you look killer, that's definitely going to be something the judges for the contest are going to notice." Dexter said, earning a smile from the boy.

"Speaking of that, would you mind doing an interview? You owe me for that picture just now." Blondie said, earning a chuckle from the boy, who gave her a nod. Dexter started rolling, pointing the tablet at Blondie and Blake.

"I'm here with one of the members of Purple Rhapsody, and our resident Radio Rebel, Blake Bigby. You guys are going to be entering the Battle of the Bands, any hints on what you'll be performing?" she asked, holding her microphone to the boy.

"Leave it to you to ask that sort of question. Um...I can't spoil much, but all I will say, is that this song is going to be a classic. We've been practicing the choreography for awhile now, so you'll be bound to enjoy it."

"What will you do if you win the prize? I mean, it's a pretty big reward, if you split it five ways, you still get twenty-five thousand gold, all to yourself. What would you buy? Maybe a hot rod?" she asked, earning a chuckle from the boy.

"A hot rod? I don't even have my drivers permit...well I did back in Canada, but that's besides the point. If I'm being honest...I would take ten thousand of that and donate it to charity. There are a lot of people out there that don't have basic necessities, clothes or even food. It would make me immensely happy to know that money is going to help those in need. As for the last five thousand, I would save it for a rainy day. You never know when you need to drop a G on something." he said.

"Selfless as always, you should know this is being shown on the Jumbo Mirror, so now all of Ever After knows just how kind you are." Blondie said, causing the boy to go wide eyed. He glanced over his shoulder at one of the giant mirrors, his face flushing.

"Oh my god, why didn't you tell me this was going on the JM? I would have at least fixed my hair." he said, patting his hair down a bit.

"You look fine, are you enjoying the fairest? It's your first one after all."

"I'm having a blast! We didn't have festivals like this back home, well...at least this active. All I can say is, have fun, enjoy the festivities, head over to the booth run by my boss Ginger, she's got the best treats in all of Ever After...oh, and stay tuned for the Battle of the Bands, show all of your love for all of the bands competing." he said, giving a wink to the camera.

"One final question, I heard rumors that Purple Rhapsody's album was already finished. Can we get a release date and a name? Please?" she asked, fluttering her eyes a bit. He sighed, shaking his head.

"You suck, you know I have a weakness for blue eyed girls...fine. The new album is called Shatter Me. It has twenty-five tracks, including full versions of Ignite, a cover performed by Cupid, a duet of Beat It, performed by yours truly and Kitty Cheshire, and of course the signature track, Shatter Me, a studio version of the song we played during the Winter Formal. We also made a music video of it..we'll be holding a raffle on our MirrorPage, all you have to do to enter is leave your name, comment and share your favorite song. We will select 99 lucky winners to receive our signed CD, so look forward to it."

"99? I thought we made 100 of those...what happened to the 100th CD?" Dexter asked, earning a grin from the boy.

"Uh...you know...stuff...and thangs." he said, using a bit of a southern drawl on the second word. Dexter narrowed his eyes, but decided not to say anything.

"Thank you for this Blake, remember everyone...Purple Rhapsody will performing this afternoon along with several other bands. Will they stand a chance of winning? Will they win it all? You'll have to wait and see. This has been Blondie Lockes, we will continue our week long coverage after the short break!" she said, giving the camera smile. Dexter ended the feed, giving the girl a thumbs up.

"Wanna get some dragon corn? I haven't tried it yet." Blake said, earning a vigorous nod from the girl.

"You are gonna love it, it's one of the best things about Spring Fairest. Come on, before the stand runs out." she said, taking a hold of his hand, pulling him along.

Joey had been watching from afar, leaning against one of the posts. He had also dressed for the occasion. It wasn't much different than his normal wear. He was wearing a light gray plaid shirt, with thick black lines on it. It was a flannel shirt, which he left untucked from his dark blue jeans. He was wearing brown leather boots, that went up to his calves, he finished his look with a light jacket, which he had half zipped. In his shirt pocket, was his "Plan" which he had folded to make it look unnoticeable. He smirked inwardly, taking a bite from his cotton candy.

" _The last month has been interesting. Cerise and Blake broke up, ahead of schedule, but still favorable. I have also made his reputation, a bit muddled, especially with the diaries. Duchess hasn't spoken to him much, but she's still pretty close to him, and Apple, while embarrassed, still hangs out with him. I just can't believe he found that damn bug on Briar, it was a hard one to get on."_ he thought. He took a drink from his soda, glancing around the Fairgrounds.

He had been seeing quite a bit of action moving throughout the grounds. The Headmasters were walking around, partaking in the games, with Milton winning every single unicorn prize around. The Fairest Five, Cedar, Lizzie, Cerise, Briar and Holly were showing off their new outfits, and getting a lot of attention. They weren't the only ones, Kitty Cheshire had also changed for the occasion, but he hadn't seen her as much. The last time he had seen her was getting into an argument with Duchess for throwing ice cream at her. Melody had dunked Sparrow earlier and won herself a very nifty prize, before heading back toward the stage to check on the instruments. Anyone else of interest was drifting around, not exactly knowing what to do.

It was honestly the perfect day for something to go wrong. The skies were blue, the weather was nice and warm, not a single breeze could be felt. There was good food, the sounds of cheer, and good entertainment. But Joey was bored...the only entertainment he was looking forward too, was ruining Blake's day. He was almost ready for him to put his plan into motion, but he just had to wait for the opportune moment. While he normally made his own luck, he had a feeling that Lady Luck was going to grace him today, so for now, he would wait...and watch, for the moment to present itself. But even while he waited, that didn't mean he couldn't make Blake's life hell...he smirked, pushing himself away from the post.

 _ **xxx(Wonderland Sewer System)xxx**_

"I think she lied to us." Bunny said, glancing over at Alistair, who was looking at his WonderMap.

While it didn't show him the exact path, it would at least prevent him from taking a wrong turn. The entire map of the underground had been present on it, however it was like an endless maze...as soon as you entered into one area, and left if right after it, the map would change. It had happened to them several times in the last few minutes, and it was starting to aggravate him.

"She doesn't have a reason to lie to us Bunny, why would she?"

"She's the Cheshire Cat, of course she doesn't need a reason. We've been walking around here for hours now, and still haven't found our way...all we have found is nothing. Nothing but rainbow water and ever changing dungeon maps." the white haired girl said. Alistair came to a stop, humming to himself as he looked at his map.

Neither of them noticed the Cheshire Cat had flashed behind him. She smirked as she slowly opened his backpack, pulling out the Storybook of Legends, and replacing it with another one, an identical copy. She smirked and disappeared, making sure not to be seen. Once she had stashed it, she appeared beside the two, startling them from their task.

"Are you two still lost?" she asked, an innocent look on her face.

"Not really, we're just struggling a little bit with this riddle...that's all." Alistair said, a smile on his face. Bunny remained silent, not at all too trusting of the woman. She smirked, stepping away from the wall.

"Then allow me to give you a hand." she said, pressing the button behind her.

The two teenagers let out a surprised yelp, as the stairs disappeared, turning into a slide. Due to their wet shoes, the two of them slipped and started sliding down. Bunny struggled to stop, unable too in time. Alistair took her hand as she fell over the railing, grabbing onto her tightly.

"Alistair!"

"Bunny, don't worry I got you! I'm not gonna let go!" he cried, grabbing a hold of her wrist. He tried pulling her up, but the girl ended up slipping from his grasp. She let out a scream of fear, Alistair growled and jumped over the railing, grabbing a hold of the girl as they slammed into the water.

 _ **xxx(Fairgrounds, Ever After High)xxx**_

Having taken a break from taking pictures, Blake found himself near the middle of the grounds, currently finishing his cotton candy. He had gotten some from Ginger who insisted he have some. He was trying not to abuse his free pass for the week like Helga and Gus were. While they weren't outright pigging out, they did eat quite a bit of the stuff they created. Thankfully, duplication magic was a thing, and Ginger had more than enough for the week. He was sitting at a table with Maddie, Raven and Apple, the three of them were currently finishing their own snacks. He was glancing at his phone, looking through some of his messages from Melody and Cupid, who were a bit annoyed with him for dropping information about the album.

"I didn't think Ellie and Cupi we're gonna be this mad at me...kinda glad they're not here right now." he said, shoving some cotton candy in his mouth.

"I told you dropping that information wasn't a good idea. You said you weren't gonna do it either." Raven said, earning a chuckle from the boy.

"Yeah well, my dumb ass says something and then my scumbag brain does another. Kinda makes you wonder how the hell we're supposed to live for the next ninety years or so." he replied, setting his phone down.

"You've got a very interesting outlook on life...I bet you've even planned your children's names." Apple said.

"Yeah yeah, what are they? Are you gonna name your daughter after me? You better Mister, or I'll be annoyed." Maddie added, earning a raised brow from the bow.

"Why would I name my daughter after you? There's only one Madeline and it wouldn't be right to name my daughter after you. If you'd like, I'll make her middle name Madeline, how about that?"

"Aw...alright that's fine. Her unbirthdays are going to be the best of the best, that's for sure." the girl said happily.

"And here I was, looking forward to getting her gifts one day a year...I'm gonna have to get four jobs to sustain all of those presents." he said dejectedly.

"Oh come on Blake, it isn't like I'm gonna be absent from your kids life. I'll be their aunt after all, I'll take some of that financial burden off your shoulders. Once I get on the charts of course." Raven added.

"I'm looking forward to hearing your music then Raven...it's still hard to get over you not signing the book. But you have shown great talent in music, and I'll support you any way I can." Apple replied, earning a genuine smile from the girl.

"Oh how cute! It's nice to see the family bonding together...well except for Blake who has no family here." the voice of Joey said, earning groans from the four. Blake looked up from his phone, leaning back in his chair a bit as he glanced up at his former friend.

"The fuck are you supposed to be? Gray doesn't suit you my dude, you should have gone with light blue or white."

"You of all people are giving me fashion advice? Come on man...I'm not the one who's matching with a girl who isn't even dating you anymore." he replied, a chuckle escaping his lips.

"So, did you come here just to piss us off? Because if you did then you can take a hike."

"Oh dear Raven, I'm not here to taunt or anything...I just want to interact with my friend. Is that not allowed?" Joey asked, running his finger under her chin. Raven growled at him, brushing his hand away from her face.

"What part of don't ever talk to me don't you understand? You got my ID taken away from me for two weeks, and outright said I should put my big boy pants on when me and Cerise broke up. You can fuck yourself with a ten foot pole." Blake said, finishing his soda.

"Bruh, that was just joke...of course you were hurting, it was obvious. I just didn't want to fall into depression...don't you remember what happened to Lucy on her thirteenth birthday? When she started cutting?"

"Joseph, all you are doing is annoying us. So please take your leave or you will be forcefully removed from here." Apple said, firmly but politely.

"Pfft, forcefully removed? What does that mean?"

"It means if you don't get the fuck out of here, I'm gonna break your face. Not only that, I taught Apple how to fight, you want her to beat the fuck you of you?" Blake asked, glaring at the boy who held his hands up.

"Alright, okay...I was just checking in. No need to come out all hard on me, prick." Joey said, swiftly turning around, chuckling under his breath.

"What an unbearable dickhead." Maddie said, in the most disgusted tone she could muster. Apple, Blake and Raven were honestly surprised that she had even said that. She took a sip from her soda, a smile on her face.

"Oh hey guys, just the people I wanted to see."

"Hi Ginger, something the matter?" Blake asked. The girl shook her head, sitting down on the free chair.

"I need some help, as you know I'm planning on entering the Chef Showdown, but I haven't found my missing ingredient." she said.

"Come on Ginger, everyone knows you're the best cook in Ever After. You are gonna win even if you are missing that ingredient." Apple noted, earning a sigh from the girl.

"It isn't about winning...I just want to bring something different to the table, you know what I mean?"

"Well, what's this missing ingredient? Maybe we can do something about it?" Raven asked curiously.

"It's Wonderland Water, I totally forgot. Maddie, you know where to get some right?" Blake asked, a hopeful look on his face.

"Ahuh ahuh! You can get some from the Well of Wonder...it's a little finicky, but I'm sure you'll be able to get the amount that you need." she said.

"The Well of Wonder? Where would I even find it?" Ginger asked, earning a snort from the daughter of the Mad Hatter.

"I know, follow me! I'll get you all the water you need!"

"Gah...don't pull so hard, see ya later guys!" the pink haired girl said, waving at her friends. Raven glanced back at Blake who had finished his cotton candy, and was licking the stick to get the sugar off. He glanced at her, wiggling his brows as he swirled his tongue around the stick.

"What the fuck are you doing?"

"Getting the hard sugar off, duh." he said, giving her a wink.

"Anyway, do you wanna take a walk around the fair? It's still about an hour before the Chef Showdown starts...can you believe it's still only 10AM? It's gonna be an awesome week." Apple said cheerfully.

"I was gonna take a look at some of the prizes...maybe I can charm someone with a cute stuffed toy." he said, tossing his trash into the trashcan beside them.

"If you say so, come on Apple, let's go to the dunk tank, I think Sparrow got dunked earlier today...I wanna see if I can get him." Raven said, leading the blonde away from the food court. Blake started looking around, glancing away from his phone for a second. He saw an ice cream stand nearby, and bit his lip.

"Well...I haven't had ice cream in like a month...maybe they have strawberry cheesecake here." he said, walking toward the stand. Even though he had just eaten some candy, he was hungry for some ice cream. He was bound to gain several pounds by the end of the day.

However as he stood in line, he noticed glittering blue and gray granules falling onto the ice cream cones of unsuspecting customers. They didn't even notice until they had walked away, most likely thinking they were sprinkles. He glanced up, only to see his friend Kitty kneeling on the roof of the stand, sprinkling what looked like cat litter over the ice cream.

She was wearing a rather nice outfit, that definitely fit with the new season. It was a dress with white, purple and black zig-zagging markings over it. She had purple furry wraps around her arms with white, lavender and violet roses on them, and two spiraling bracelets around her wrists. She was wearing gray cat ears on her head, with golden designs on them. The inside of her layered skirt was violet in color, with floral pattern. She wore purple tights with violet zig-zags on them. She was wearing her hair in two loose pigtails, and had a crown of roses around her head, being white, lavender and violet in color. Violet and white slippers adorned her feet, with small straps that tied into a bow over her feet. She had a grin plastered on her face as she sprinkled the litter into the ice cream.

"Kitty, what are you doing?" he asked, arms crossed in disdain. She looked up at him, giving him a grin.

"I'm not doing anything...I'm just adding some sprinkles." she replied with a wink.

"Is that at least clean litter?"

"Sure, I wouldn't put used litter in ice cream, who do you think I am?" she replied, earning a firm look from the boy, a single brow raised. She sighed, shaking her head.

"Don't kill my fun Blake, besides, this is the best prank yet!" she said, shoving the shovel inside the bag. Blake opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by a sparkling flash. A second later, the Cheshire Cat, Kitty's mom had appeared beside her, looking rather disappointed at her.

"Really Kitty, slapstick? Is this all you could come up with?" she asked. She licked her thumb rubbing it over a bit of dirt the girl had on her cheek, much to her embarrassment.

"Huh? Mom, what are you doing here?"

"That's a good question, weren't the portals closed?" Blake asked, grabbing the woman's attention. She gave him a grin.

"Not all of them, it's nice to see you in the flesh. You look taller in person...anyway darling, don't you think this is a little...under your talents? Come on, go big!" the woman said, earning a frown from Kitty. She glanced around for a few seconds, noticing a pepper shaker on a nearby table. She glanced up at the Fairest wheel, a smirk on her face. She disappeared a second later, earning a sigh from Blake.

"This isn't gonna end well." he said, glancing over his shoulder. He didn't see much from where he was standing, but he did see the troll operating the Fairest wheel look a bit uncomfortable. His loud sneezes accidentally caused him to crank the wheel a little harder than he wanted, causing it to start spinning almost like a giant wheel. Blake cringed, the screams of many of his friends filling his ears.

"Don't you think encouraging her to do stuff like that is dangerous? What if someone gets hurt?" Blake asked, earning a smirk from the Cheshire Cat. She flashed out of existence, appearing before the boy.

"I honestly doubt anyone could get hurt from that little prank, sometimes you've got to go big right? Besides, this is training for her...she is going to be the next Cheshire Cat after all." the woman replied.

"What if she doesn't sign the book? I mean, it is currently missing...so she can decide what to do with her life."

"You seem to be defending my kitten a lot...why is that? Are you perhaps attracted to her? She is rather beautiful, if I do say so myself." she said, earning an aggravated sigh from the boy.

"Cheshire, it isn't about that at all. She's my best friend, and she's been there for me in the bad times. I just...want her to choose what she wants to do in life, I feel like she's being pressured into it." Blake said firmly, a slight tone of disappointment in his voice.

"Hmm...couriouser and couriouser, I'm sure you wouldn't trust your own words. But by the tone of your voice, I can tell there's more...you aren't the best choice...but you'll do."

"Eh? What are you talking about?" the raven haired boy asked, confusion written on his face. Kitty flashed next to him, a grin as wide as her mother's plastered on her face.

"Did you see that mommy? The Fairest Wheel was going so fast, I'm surprised no one puked!"

"I'm proud of you dear, that was a good one...but you can still do better. Maybe more along the lines of what you did to that boy last month?" she asked. Blake looked at Kitty, a look of curiosity on his face.

"Oh, I told her about that ghost prank we pulled on Joey, it made her laugh. Maybe we can do something like that again this week?" she asked, giving him an almost pleading look.

"Um...sure, if I have the time I guess. I have a lot of things for the yearbook, not to mention our performance for Battle of the Bands...are you going to stick around Cheshire? Me and Kitty are doing a duet."

"Hmm...she's been going on and on about your band for awhile now. I suppose I'll stick around to see what the hubbub is about. It's been quite a long time since I've been in Ever After...maybe I'll...take a look around...perhaps you'd like some pointers Kitten?"

"Sure mom, I'd love some...see you Blake, I'm gonna hang out with my mom for a bit."

"Okay, see you Kitty...I'll be around." he said, turning to leave, a perplexed look on his face. He really wasn't looking forward to those two being together. Cheshire narrowed her eyes as she watched him go, a small smile on her face.

"Kitty dear, would you mind getting your mommy a cupcake? It's been quite some time since I've had one."

"Sure Mom, I'll be right back." she said, giving her a smile as she flashed away. The Cheshire Cat was going to go after Blake, but a young brown haired man stood in front of her, giving her a bright smile.

"Hello madam...I couldn't help but notice your appearance and resemblance to Kitty. Are you perhaps her mother?" he asked, a curious tone in his voice.

"I am...Cheshire Cat, pleasure to meet you...now I've got something to do, so you must excuse me." the woman said.

"Wait...I require your assistance...you see, my friend just broke up with his girlfriend, and I want to cheer him up. You know, happiness through a good old prank? Since you are the Cheshire Cat, I figured you'd lend a hand?" he asked. She narrowed her eyes, recognizing him from the video Kitty had sent her. She grinned, giving him a nod.

"Of course, I love pulling a good prank...who's your victim?"

"Blake Bigby, he's my friend. He got me with this ghost prank last month, and I've been coming up with a really good one. I got a lot of people in on it, but he's the only one who doesn't know about it. My goal, is to make him think everyone hates him, and then pull the reveal...what do you say?" he asked.

"Hmm...it has grandeur, but lacks finesse...what way do you plan for this to work?"

"You see, he's hiding a little secret...he threw the Storybook of Legends into Wonderland...I have a friend who's going to expose that secret in public. People are already in on the prank, so it'll be a genuine reaction from the others who aren't aware of it."

"Funny you should mention the Storybook...you see, I've got my own little plan in the works. I want to teach my Kitty how a good prank is played, so I've set her little friends to bring something with them from Wonderland. That something may aid your own prank, however, if you get caught, that information didn't come from me." she said, giving him a wink.

"Something that will help me...hmm, it isn't a Wonderlandian Riddle book is it? I'm in need of one of those."

"Then you're in luck...it won't be long now, before those two get her...play your cards right, and this prank of yours will be very interesting. You'll prank your friend, I get to teach my Kitten how pranks are done, we'll both win...by the way, you haven't shared your name with me...might I have it?"

"Oh right, where are my manners? My name is Joseph Martineu, but you may call me Joey." he said, holding his hand out. The Cheshire Cat shook it, a grin on her face.

"You may call me Cheshire, I'm pleased to be working with you...I hope our pranks work the way we want them too." she said, giving him a wink.

"I hope so too, thanks for your help, it is much appreciated...I'll see you around." Joey replied, finally taking his leave. In the end, the Cheshire Cat lost Blake, but she had at least gained an interest in this new prank.

"Mom, here's your cupcake...what's got you smiling?" Kitty asked, holding the small treat out to the woman.

"Oh, nothing Kitten, nothing at all. So...care showing me your favorite napping trees here in Ever After High? I marked a few back in the day, and want to see them again."

"Sure, I've actually found a lot of them, they're my favorite ones to sleep on too. The Enchanted Forest is this way, but we can't be too long, the Chef Showdown starts soon." she said, earning a nod from her mother, the two disappearing from sight.

" _Oh no, the Cheshire Cat is helping Joey, what do we do?"_ Brooke asked, not at all looking forward to what was going to happen.

" _There's nothing we can do sweetheart, you know why. We must narrate this new tale to the best of our ability."_ Weiss said, a sad tone in her voice.

" _I know the situation is dire, but even I'm a little excited...it's too bad we can't get dragon corn."_ Chester said, earning a sigh from his wife and daughter.

" _Leave it to you to be eating right now dad...I guess we have nothing to do but let this story unfold. I wonder when Alistair and Bunny will arrive...oh can I skip ahead, pretty please?"_

" _Brooke!"_ the two narrators said firmly, earning a sigh from the girl. She knew she wasn't going to be allowed to skip ahead.


	46. Spring Unsprung III

**A/N:**

 **Hey guys, I hope you are all having a magnificent day. It is still a bit cold here in the New England, fucking sucks sometimes, but hey it's Winter and it has come, hard. Today is a happy day for me, I finally got my Christmas presents in the mail, a copy of the SAO Movie and the Fairy Tail movie, of which I shall be watching the shit out of later on tonight. I've been waiting for them since last month as they were coming in from Singapore. Shout outs to my readers from Singapore, you guys are awesome.**

 **Anyway, this is Chapter 46 of Through the Looking Glass, and the third part of Spring Unsprung. You all get to see Joey's plan in action, the first part of it anyway, now that he has made a deal with the Cheshire Cat...all of the pieces are together and he will use them to his advantage. So it is going to be a rather interesting turn of events. Ginger is also currently in Wonderland, so that's a thing...there's gonna be a bit of exposition between Ginger and the White Knight, so look forward to that.**

 **Can you believe in four chapters we'll be at 50 chapters? That's insane. I still can't believe this story has so many chapters in such a short period of time...it's the road to one hundred I guess, depending on how much I can extend the next few arcs of the story and prepare the finale. I of course have already planned out the ending to this story, and I'm not sure if there's going to be an after story or anything, I haven't really thought about it. After finishing Through the Looking Glass, I will most likely go back to work on my previous stories and build them up a bit more. Honestly, I think I should have called this story Blake's Adventure's in Ever After, and then the sequel if I wrote it, Through the Looking Glass and what Blake found there. It would have made a lot more sense when I think about it, and would be an obvious reference to Alice's Adventure's in Wonderland, which inspired me to actually start writing for this story and gave me the idea of Blake going to Ever After through a mirror.**

 **As for the lemon chapter...uh...I decided against it for now, as it would most likely interfere with the narrative a bit. To be honest, I had three girls I was gonna have a potential lemon with, Duchess, Crystal and Holly but I haven't decided with who and I am making the next story arc centered mostly around Holly, so she was taken out rather quick, and Crystal is getting some time to shine in Chapter 51 and the beginning of 52 so it kinda limits my options...but I also haven't included Duchess a lot in many of the more recent chapters...eh...maybe I'll have him screw Apple and be done with it. It should be interesting I suppose and I guess you guys will like it. Well you've got not say in it, in this story I am king...hehehe...no but seriously, I might hold back on the lemons for now, until I have a definitive answer on who I will have him bone. I shall update periodically on my thoughts I suppose.**

 **So here we are at the part where I beg you to review...please it's been stale...just two or three words saying you liked it suffices and prevents authors like myself from crying themselves to sleep. Just one review could save one author from staring angrily at his phone refreshing the page every 20 minutes to see if he got anything other than PMs. Please, do your part to stop this epidemic, only you have the power...it would do us authors a great service...thank you for your time...**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 46

Spring Unsprung Part III

Having gotten directions from Lizzie and Maddie, Ginger made her way through the Enchanted Forest. She still couldn't believe there was a book that could be used to track down the Well of Wonder. She had always thought the Well couldn't be tracked by any means, since it always moved places. She was glad in this instance that her friend had given her a direct route to the Well. She could already imagine the look on the judges faces when she prepared her Wonderland Fountain Cake. She had been working hard on the recipe from one of the cookbooks in the library, and had finally gotten everything right. All she needed for the batter was an ounce of the magic water, and she would be A-okay.

She didn't walk through the woods often, not having a need to. She often went home to visit her mother the Candy Witch, her gingerbread house was located in the Dark Woods, but recently she had been on vacation in a faraway land. She didn't exactly know why her mother had decided to leave Ever After, but she would find out soon enough. She loved the woman dearly, she had even made a change, choosing to forgo her evil ways to give her only daughter everything she ever wanted. It was one of the reasons why she had chosen to become a Rebel. She wanted to teach the world all about her baking, and all of the delicious things she could make. Hopefully, this competition would be the start of that dream, Blake had already given her the perfect bakery. She needed to pull her own weight, and use that as a stepping stone for greater things. Pushing aside some shrubs, she walked into a clearing surrounded by trees. She looked at her phone, which was beeping loudly.

"This is the place but...where's the well?" she muttered to herself, glancing away from her phone. Brilliant sparkles filled her line of sight, making her block her eyes from the light. Once the flash had died down, she laid eyes on the Well of Wonder. She gasped, quickly running toward it.

"The map was right, I can't believe it. This is the first time I've actually seen the well up close...well, all I need is an ounce, then I'll be gone." she said, reaching into her purse for a glass measuring cup. She put it down into the well, only for the water to sink.

"Huh? Really?" she asked, watching the water rise once she removed the measuring cup. She narrowed her eyes, trying to dunk the cup into the water again, only for the water to drop.

She tried a few more times, growling in annoyance. She glanced at her watch, seeing it had already been two minutes. The well on average stayed in place for five minutes, so she didn't have time to waste. She pushed her glasses back, tightening her grasp on her cup as she got ready to acquire her water. She grabbed the edge of the well and reached into it, only for her to slip into it. She let out a surprised scream, falling several feet until she hit the water below. She felt an invisible force pulling her down, no matter how much she fought against it. She clenched her jaw tightly trying not to let go of the breath she was holding, the last thing she needed was to drown. If she had been paying attention, she would have noticed two figures shooing past her in the opposite direction, in an opposite route.

Alistair and Bunny shot out of the well flying several feet into the air. Bunny being the lighter of the two shot past him, grabbing onto his bag. He screamed out her name as they fell, and she rapidly shifted into her bunny form. Alistair landed in a tree, shaking his head a bit as he stuck his head out through the foliage. He held his arms out, catching Bunny in his arms. He let out a sigh, hugging the girl turned bunny tightly. Glancing at the distance, his eyes widened, he could see the Ever After Castle in the distance. His face broke into a grin.

"We did it Bunny! We made it to Ever After!"

"Oh Alistair, I'm so happy...I was so scared when I slipped from your hand. Thank you for saving me." the girl said sweetly, earning a blush from the boy.

"It was nothing Bunny, I would never let you get hurt. Come on, we need to make our way to Ever After, it's been awhile so I doubt I remember my way around." he said, jumping down from the tree, landing firmly on his feet.

"I remember the way, we're in the Enchanted Forest...just walk straight and I'll let you know if we need to make a turn." she said, earning a nod from the boy.

She was a bit tired, and didn't feel like assuming her human form at the moment. Alistair however was worried, he now had quite a lot of time to make up a reason as to why he broke the quarantine rule. He just hoped people wouldn't be mad with him, though he did have the book. He doubted anyone would be mad at him once they handed over the Storybook of Legends.

 _ **xxx**_

Blake let out a small grunt as the baseball left his hand. It sailed through the air, slamming into the stack of glass bottles on the other side of the booth. The man running it glanced at the teenager, impressed with the force behind the throw. He gave him a smile, pointing to the top row of prizes.

"Alright young man, you get your pick...before you ask, there aren't any unicorns, we were cleaned out a few minutes ago." he said.

"It's fine, I didn't want a unicorn anyway. I'll just take that panda, it looks fluffy enough." he replied. The man reached for the stuffed panda, handing it to the young man.

"There you are, there are more prizes if you are up for it...though I have to set the bottles back up."

"Nah, I don't want to steal all of your prizes...thanks again." Blake said happily, walking away from the stand. The man gave him a wave, before calling forth the next bunch of people who wanted their go at the game.

Blake had seen quite a few prize booths in the last few minutes. He had taken a crack at a few of them, but didn't win anything other than minor prizes. The bottle toss was actually the first one he had won. It wasn't hard for him, seeing as he did have a good throwing arm. Judging distance and trajectory wasn't so hard for him. He saw one that caught his interesting, a goldfish stand. It was a rather simple concept, you were given a paper net and you had to get the goldfish out of the water without it tearing. If you succeeded, then the goldfish was yours. Since Cadence had grown to big for his dorm, he felt a bit lonely, so maybe a goldfish was what he needed. He walked over to the stand, reaching for his wallet.

"Excuse me, how much is it to play?" he asked, the woman tending the stand smiled.

"Just two gold, do you think you have what it takes?" she asked, a smug tone in her voice. He smirked, handing her the two bills, grabbing a paper net from the cup.

"I think I do." he said, kneeling down before the tank. He saw a few other kids trying and failing to get their goldfish, a disappointed look on their face. One little girl standing next to him tore her net, and she looked at her mother expectantly.

"Sorry sweetheart, we can't keep trying."

"Aw...please mommy, just one more." she said, giving her a pleading tone. The woman sighed, pulling out two more gold from her purse.

"Here, but this is the last one, then we have to try some of the other games." the woman said, earning an eager nod from the little girl, who handed the money over to the stand owner. She took her net, and placed it in the water, trying to get a rather fat goldfish, only for it to tear through the paper. She frowned, looking up at her mother. She shook her head and started walking away, the little girl following behind.

Blake turned his attention back to the fish, spotting the one the little girl had been trying to get. He dipped the edge of the net into the water, waiting patiently for the fish to swim by. When it had gotten close, he flicked his wrist, sending it into the other tank. He did the same with a smaller fish, this time his net tearing.

"Well, you are actually good...you have no idea how many people have torn their paper nets." the woman said, handing him two bags containing the fish he had gotten out.

"I've seen this game quite a lot back home. The object of the game is patience, if you dip the net entirely into the water, the paper tears, and you won't be able to get the fish out. That's the reason why I was only able to get two, the first fish got the paper wet. Thanks miss, I'm sure you'll have enough money at the end of the day to buy a million of these little gold fish." he said, earning a chuckle from the woman.

"We'll see." she said giving him a wave.

Blake grabbed his panda and tucked it under his arm, looking around for the little girl from before. He spotted her at one of the tables with her mother, who had gotten her some ice cream. He started walking over to them, a small smile on his face. The little girl looked up, seeing the two goldfish in his hand.

"That's not fair! You got two and I didn't get any!" she said.

"Susan, don't talk to him like that...I'm sorry, she isn't normally like that." the woman said. Blake swallowed hard at the name, shaking his head.

"So, you're name is Susan? My older sister is named Susan too, I haven't seen her in a long time." he said.

"My friends call me Susie! Where's your sister? Is she dead?" the girl asked, earning a laugh from the boy.

"No...she's not here with me. She's...in a very far away land, so I never get to see her. I miss her a lot...tell me Susie, do you have any pets at home?" he asked curiously.

"No, mommy won't let me have a puppy, or a kitten...I wanted a fish because they don't move around much. They don't break anything either." Susan replied, shoving her spoon in her ice cream. The boy smiled, holding out one of the fish to her, the one she had tried to get.

"Well, I got two of them and I only want one. Promise me you'll take care of this little guy okay? Don't over feed him, or he'll get really sick." he said. The girl gasped, taking the bag into her hands.

"I can have it, really?"

"Yup, he's all yours little one. I won it just for you." he said, giving her a smile.

"Thank you, you don't know how happy this has made her. You're such a sweet young man." her mother said, earning a blush from the boy.

"It was nothing, I saw how disappointed she was. Nothing is as disappointing growing up as losing a game at a fair."

"Excuse me Mister, what's your name? I want to name my fishy after you." the girl said, earning a grin from the boy.

"My name is Blake, it's nice to meet you Susan...I have to go now, there are a lot of other things I want to do." he said.

"Aw, alright. Goodbye Blake, I hope we can see each other again!" the little girl said, earning a wave from the boy.

He was quite content with his action, seeing a little girl smile always made his day. He glanced at his watch, seeing it was almost time for the Chef Showdown. He started making his way toward the middle of the fairgrounds where the cooking arena had been set up. He heard a laugh behind him and he swiftly turned around, seeing Joey was clapping his hands behind him, a smirk on his face.

"So, you really do have a good heart...it was so nice of you to give a little fish away." he said.

"What's it to you what I do with my prizes? Even if she hadn't asked for it, or had won it...I would have still given her the fish. I can't bare to see children sad, especially during a fair." he said, making his way up the stairs.

"Still, that good heart is going to become your enemy...you know, if the Evil Queen's mirror shard doesn't break it first." he said, once the two made it to the top floor.

"Did you follow me here, just to piss me off. Because you are succeeding in that, and it won't be long before I bust you in your fuckin lips." Blake snapped, glaring at the boy.

"Pfft, you are a pacifist...you have a black belt in MMA but you are probably to scared to even try anything."

"Just cuz I'm a pacifist doesn't mean I'm scared to pass a fist right through your face." the black haired boy said, a smirk on his face.

"That was a good one! Come up with that one on your own? Or maybe did you take it from someone, and call it a cover?" the brunette asked, earning a chuckle from Blake.

"The humming bird, it flies...the river, it flows...on the mountain it snows. Your stench of loser, the rose, it wilts" Blake said, a smirk on his face. Joey blinked in confusion, not bothering to hide it.

"What? What the fuck did you just say?"

"You tell me, after all you Aced your Riddlish exam...kinda weird isn't it? A person who doesn't know a lick of Riddlish, being able to ace his test?"

"Blake, Joey...this isn't the time to be arguing alright? We're all here to enjoy this Chef Showdown, so please don't start fighting." Raven said, causing the two boys to look away from each other. Blake shook his head, walking toward the stands, setting his bear down along with his goldfish.

"Whatever, where the heck is everyone? The show starts in line ten minutes?" Blake said, glancing around the empty area. As if on cue, several people stumbled into the Cooking Stage, looking slightly green in the face. Joey let out a laugh, glancing at them all.

"What the hell happened to all of you?"

"We just spend...the last five minutes...hurling into a trash can." Holly replied, not looking to good.

"Someone thought it would be funny to throw the Fairest Wheel out of whack." Cedar added, with Cerise glaring at Kitty who was busy eating her cotton candy. She gave them a grin, pulling the treat away from her mouth.

"Oh come on you guys, it was just a prank. What's the Hatter with that?" she asked.

"Kitty, that kind of prank was dangerous. Didn't you stop to think what would happen if someone was flung from the Fairest Wheel? At that fast of a speed, someone could have easily gotten hurt or worse." Blake said, arms crossed in annoyance. Kitty looked visibly hurt at his scolding. She flashed in front of him, giving him a pleading look.

"Come on Blake, you know I only did that to show my mom that I can handle a serious prank."

"Yes, I am aware of that...but even I wouldn't put my friends in danger. A prank is good when everyone is laughing, not when people's lives are at risk...just apologize to them alright?" he asked.

"Wow, I thought you of all people would understand me...I'm frankly quite annoyed with you." she said, glancing away from the boy.

"Kitty, just watch the level of pranks you pull next time around. Blake is right, they could have gotten hurt, they're your friends too you know." Raven said, glancing at the sickly looking girls, who were at least feeling better now.

"Wow, lighten up guys. It was just a little joke, and if you can't take a joke then...whoa."

Blake watched with rapt attention, wondering what had made Kitty stop mid sentence. He followed her gaze down to the bottom of the stairs, seeing a blond haired young man looking around like he was lost. He didn't know why, but he looked familiar to him, and he didn't know why. Kitty disappeared a second later, reappearing at the bottom of the stairs. Maddie started cheering for some reason, running after the girl with Lizzie following suit. Blake just looked at the others clearly confused, while Joey just looked around with a sneer on his face.

" _This must be what the Cheshire Cat was talking about...that boy must be the son of Alice. If he's the one with the Riddle Book, then that means my final piece is finally within my grasp. Time to put my plan into action."_ he thought, reaching for his MirrorPhone, just as the others started walking down the stairs.

Blake stood next to the stairs, leaning back against the railing as he glanced at the blond boy. Lizzie, Maddie and Kitty obviously knew him, and he knew them. He was curious as to why he was carrying a bunny in his hand. If his guess was correct, then this was their friend Alistair, the son of Alice. He reached behind his back, feeling the handle of the Vorpal Blade he always carried around with him. He felt a bit nervous now that he was looking at the boy. Briar must have noticed his nervousness, and tapped his shoulder, causing him to jump a bit.

"Whoa, a bit jumpy aren't we?" she asked, earning a sigh from the boy.

"I'm just thinking...if that's Alistair, then I have to give him his sword back. I haven't actually thought of what to say to him." he said.

"Well...I think you should just tell him...no use in keeping it bottled up right?" she asked, giving him a smile.

"You're right Bri, thanks. You look really nice by the way, the purple streaks in your hair fit you. Then again that is a biased comment, because of my own violet streak." he said, earning a giggle from the girl.

"Thanks Blake, I'm glad that you like this outfit, I like it a lot too." she said with a grin. Maddie appeared next to the two, and before he could say anything, she pulled him along.

"Come on Blake, you have something for our friend that you have to give back." she said, a firm tone in her voice. He swallowed hard as he was pushed in front of Alistair, the blond looked him over, giving him a smile.

"You're Blake right? Kitty and Lizzie mentioned you just now. I'm Alistair Wonderland, pleasure to make your acquaintance." he said, holding his hand out for the boy to shake.

"Blake Bigby, you know...it's weird seeing someone that's just as tall as you. I've grown so used to all of the short people in this school that seeing a tall person feels odd to me." he replied, earning a laugh from the boy.

"I get what you mean. Maddie said you had something for me, we in fact have something for you." he said, holding the white bunny out.

"A bunny? Listen man, I already have a dragon and a goldfish, I don't think I can take care of a bunny." Blake said. The bunny let out a little giggle, jumping into the air. In a flash of light and pink dust, it shifted into a young woman, surprising the nearby onlookers, Blake included.

"My name is Bunny Blanc, I'm the daughter of the White Rabbit, it's nice to meet you too." she said.

"Well...I've seen a boy turn into a frog, and now I've seen bunnies turn into girls. This world keeps surprising me...anyway Alistair, this is what I wanted to give to you. A while back, one of the students here broke into your gift box and stole this from inside it. Your mother Alice left it behind for you." the black haired boy said, placing the Vorpal Blade in Alistair's hand, he looked at it with widened eyes.

"The Vorpal Blade...mom told me a lot of stories about this sword. I never thought I'd be able to hold it for myself. Thanks for keeping it for such a long time Blake, it looks well taken care of." Alistair said, earning a flush from the boy.

"Eh...it was nothing. It's been a very useful weapon to have on me, it's gonna feel weird not having it with me now. But I'll be fine, I've got magic if I need it."

"Alistair, I do have a question for you. How were you able to get to Ever After? All of the portals were sealed off after the quarantine." Lizzie asked, a look of curiosity on her face.

"Yes, that is actually a question I'd like an answer to young man. You are not allowed to be here." Headmaster Grimm snapped angrily, cutting through the crowd. Alistair smirked, grabbing a hold of his backpack.

"We came here through an open portal...it took us awhile, but we finally made it. Besides, I'm sure you are going to be a little kinder to me after I give you this back." he said, reaching into his pack.

"It doesn't matter what you have brought. You have broken a rule, how did you even find a portal when all of them were closed down?" Milton asked.

"Actually, not all of them were closed. One of them was left open, to let just a little bit of wonder flow into Ever After." Giles said, earning a surprised look from his older brother. He sighed, fixing his tie a bit.

"Yes, I had forgotten about that one. Just because it is open doesn't mean it is to be used as a portal. A great number of things could have happened to both of you, and you could have brought poisoned magic with you." He snapped.

"We could have brought cursed magic with us, but we didn't. Instead we brought this, the Storybook of Legends!" Alistair said, holding the tome above his head, causing everyone around them to gasp.

"Oh shit." Blake, Briar and Kitty muttered in unison, worried looks on their faces.

"How did the Storybook of Legends even end up in Wonderland? It had been lost for such a long time." Raven asked.

"I don't think it matters, now everyone can sign. Alistair I'm so glad that you were able to find it!" Apple said, giving the boy a hug. Bunny looked at her, a look of jealousy on her face. Joey cleared his throat, hands behind his back.

"Actually, I would like to know how the Storybook of Legends ended up in Wonderland. I'm not from this world either, but I was lead to believe the Evil Queen had hidden it here in Ever After. Are you telling me that the book was in Wonderland this entire time?" He asked.

"Well, one of our friends, Gloriosa White, the daughter of the White Queen, ended up finding it in the Rainbow River. She gave it to us to bring back to Ever After." Alistair said.

"Gloriosa? You aren't joking right now are you Alistair? Gloriosa has been missing for seven years. You mean to tell me she actually came back to Wonderland?" Lizzie asked.

"Um, who's this Gloriosa girl? Is she really that important?" Holly asked, earning glares from the Wonderland kids.

"Of course she is! She is as important as Lizzie is. Lizzie is the next Queen of Hearts, and Gloriosa is the next White Queen, the two of them shall co-rule Wonderland. She had been missing for seven years, everyone thought she had died, even the White Queen refused to tell us her whereabouts, she's going to be ecstatic when she hears the news." Maddie said, a grin on her face.

"See, I knew bringing the Storybook back was a good idea. Gloria hasn't steered us wrong yet." Alistair said happily.

"Yes yes, that would be all well and good, except this isn't the Storybook of Legends! It's just a tired old book of Riddles!" Milton snapped, slamming the book shut.

"What? That's hat-tastic!" Maddie cried cheerfully, earning glares from everyone. She sighed, shaking her head.

"I mean come on people, how can you not heart a good riddle?!"

"It can't be a riddle book. We held this thing in our hands, it was the Storybook of Legends, the real book. Gloriosa wouldn't lie to us, she, Mavis, Bunny and I looked at this thing for hours! We even saw the Blank page at the very back, a long with the Book Keeper's Page!" Alistair said, earning a wide eyed look from the brothers Grimm.

"Brother, I believe he is telling the truth...but how did the books get switched then?" Giles said.

"It matters not, but now we do know that the real book is somewhere in Wonderland." Milton said.

"I think we should discuss possible theories of how it got there...I mean, this is a serious matter. No one can claim their destiny if the book isn't signed. I mean...what if someone found the book and just...tossed it into the Well?" Joey asked, glancing at Briar, Kitty and Blake, a smirk on his face.

"That's impossible. No one would dare throw the book into the well, it is far too important for someone to get rid of. Alistair, I am very disappointed in you, everyone just go back to enjoying the fair." the Headmaster said.

"Come on, that was the real book. You have to believe us!" Alistair said, a firm look on his face.

"I believe Alistair too, someone threw the book in the well...and I think I know the person that did it. I mean, it's just a rumor so I can't confirm it...what do you say about it Briar? Do you think it's a rumor?"

"Joey, I don't know what you are attempting here, but I think you should keep your mouth shut." Blake said firmly, standing in front of Briar, an annoyed look on his face.

"Why? I just want to know the truth. After all, I have friends here that depend on the Storybook of Legends. So when someone from Wonderland claims that he saw and held the real book, that means someone from this side tossed it in. The fact that you defended Briar just now proves it." he said. Everyone was looking at the black haired boy now, waiting for a rebuttal. He shook his head, eyes narrowed.

"The only reason I'm defending Briar is because you are pointing the finger randomly. Out of all the people in this school, how the hell would she find the real book? She's the daughter of Sleeping Beauty, do you actually think she'd toss the book into the well? Come on man, think with your brain." Blake said, jabbing his forefinger against his temple.

"Hmm...that is true...or maybe you know more than you let on. You know what'll happen if you two are lying. That Fake Rebel is still running loose on campus, and if he figured out your secret, then he'll expose it." he said, giving the boy a smile.

"What secret? We don't have a secret...come on, this guy is just being an ass. Let's just go enjoy the Chef Showdown and the rest of the Fair." Briar said, walking with everyone else up the stairs toward the Chef Arena. However as they did, the familiar dinging of the PA system filled the entire Fairgrounds, causing everyone to stop. Blake started looking around, finding a nearby speaker.

" _Good Morning Ever After High! It is a beautiful spring day and the Spring Fairest is in full swing. But just because it is doesn't mean I've taken a break from what really matters, bringing the cold hard facts to you, the listeners. You guys may call me fake, you may hate what I do...but you can't deny that you aren't entertained. So let's get too it, the first and only round of information you'll be getting this entire week._

 _I have stumbled onto quite the secret here in Ever After High. As you all know, the Evil Queen has stolen the Storybook of Legends and hidden it somewhere in Ever After. But it seems three students are responsible for locating the book...but instead of turning it over like good little students, they have decided to throw it into the Well of Wonder. Why you ask? Well, maybe you should ask them...I'll be giving you five minutes, just five minutes to own up to the the crime. If not, I will be exposing the names of those three students, so that Ever After High's students can tear them apart. Tick tock, time's a wastin!"_

"Tch...leave it to this guy to start making weird claims. I doubt anyone can trust him after all of the stuff he's done this part month." Kitty said matter-of-factly, a smirk on her face.

" _Ah yes, you might be wondering if this is all true...and it is, I have a video recording of two students discussing this topic in the Charmitorium. It seems one of them couldn't bare with their guilty conscience and had to tell someone. There's also a retrieval plan in action, these three students were going to use the Spring Fairest as cover to go to Wonderland and get the book back, as if that changed anything. You've got four minutes..."_

Blake growled angrily, glaring at Joey. He was looking around trying to find the students responsible, much like everyone else was. Even the Headmasters were looking around. Joey had been asking too many questions about the book, as if he was trying to expose something, for a second Blake thought that the Fake Rebel was Joey, but he was looking at the young man. There was no way for him to be the Fake Rebel in public. He glanced back at the school, the hiding place for this person. He wouldn't make it in time to sweep the building. He glanced back at Briar and Kitty, who had worried looks on their faces. He sighed, shaking his head in anger.

" _Alright Rebel, I'll play your game."_ he thought, clenching his hand tightly.

" _Three minutes left guys...come on, aren't you guilty? I'm sure one of you is...they look ready to explode."_ the Fake Rebel said, a cheerful tone in their disguised voice.

"Alright Rebel, there's no need to drag this out more than it needs to." Blake said firmly, causing everyone to look at him.

"Blake, what are you doing? You aren't seriously thinking of doing it are you?" Briar asked, earning a smile from the boy.

"Doing what? I made you a promise and I intend to keep it." he said, giving her a wink. He walked toward the stairs, standing on the second step high enough for everyone to see him.

"I'm not sure how the Fake Rebel got this information, but since he's gonna expose it anyway, it doesn't matter. They're lying about it being three students, the truth is only one student is involved in this. And that was me...I was the one who found the Storybook of Legends, and threw it in the Well of Wonder." he said firmly.

"Mr. Bigby, this is a very serious offense. If you are doing this to protect those three students then down, punishment shall be swift." Milton said firmly. Blake shook his head.

"I'm not protecting anyone. Like Alistair said, the last page of the Storybook of Legends is blank. When I held it in my hands, it felt weird, and I wondered why it was blank in the first place. There's also a spot near the center of the book where several pages were torn out." he said.

"He's right...when we were looking at it, we noticed four pages near the Pinocchio story were torn out. Gloriosa said that was the pages belonging to the story of the Bella Sisters." Alistair said.

"Oh my...so he really did throw the Storybook in the Well?" Lizzie asked, earning a frown from the boy.

"I'm sorry Lizzie, I did...I have my reasons. This all happened during Thronecoming, I was curious to see where the Evil Queen had hidden the book, so I searched the school for it and found it hidden in one of the empty dorms. From there, I took it to the Well of Wonder, because I had found a Wishing Coin and wanted my wish, to see my family one last time. I decided that it wasn't fair that everyone was bound to destiny, I didn't want to see my friends suffer. I didn't want to see Ashlynn and Hunter split up, or see Cinderella die an early death because of Ashlynn's story. I didn't want Raven to be evil, I didn't want Briar to sleep for 100 years and lose all of her friends. She doesn't deserve to speak to our tomb stones when she wakes up. So I did it, I got rid of the book, but I did it for my friends." he said firmly.

"Though your intentions are pure, what you have done is a very serious offense. Do you not know how dangerous it is for everyone, if that book isn't recovered? All of your friends lives are in danger, their destinies can be taken from them by someone else. Their stories could disappear if the pages are torn from the book...but I'm sure you didn't think of the consequences did you, Mr. Bigby?" Milton said. Blake shook his head, a firm look on his face.

"I didn't...I figured since I came from a world where one makes their destiny, that this world could work the same way. I'm sorry, I truly am...and I will take any and every punishment you deem fit. Just know that I am the one who threw the book in the well, nobody else is involved. Just me." he said, holding his arms out.

"I see...well in that case, your punishment will be yours alone. I am not going to ban you from enjoying the Spring Fairest, you have worked hard enough to put it together. However, I will once again take away your Press Pass, this time for the remainder of the year. You are also barred from competing in the Battle of the Bands."

"What? But you can't do that! Purple Rhapsody has been working too hard, you can't prevent all of them from participating too. Like I said, this is my mistake, I'll pay for it, but you let the rest of my band play. I'll do anything, please!" he said, a pleading look on his face.

"I have a suggestion, why don't you have him pick up the trash from around the fairgrounds? It's only fair right? After getting rid of the book as if it was common trash." Joey said, a small sneer on his face. Milton nodded, not noticing the look on the young man's face.

"Very well, you'll be on trash duty for the rest of the week then. As one final punishment, you shall be suspended from classes for two weeks after the festival is over. You are lucky you caught me on a good day, or else I would have expelled you. I hope you take this time to reflect on the choices you've made, not just this one, but the ones you have been making since testing week. Run along everyone, there's lots to do and not a lot of time to do it." the man said. Giles gave the boy a sad smile, he wasn't at all disappointed in him, but he was sad at what happened. Blake shrugged it off, glancing away from him.

Several murmurs filled the area as the students all walked past Blake, toward their seats in the Cooking area. Most of them were obvious disappointment toward Blake. He took it all in stride, knowing he had at least protected two of his friends from what he was currently experiencing. Joey walked past him, a smirk on his face as he shoved several pieces of trash into his arms.

"Go on Trash Boy, pick up after us." he said, a quiet laugh escaping his lips. Blake growled angrily, his eyes flashing violet as his magic turned the trash into ash.

"Blake, why did you do that? You know I would have gladly taken the blame with you. I was the one that found the book in the first place." Briar said, earning a sigh from the boy. He had noticed among them, the Wonderland kids had also stuck around. He shrugged, glancing away from the girl.

"Briar, I already told you why. I made you a promise that night, you found the book, but I was the one that tossed it in. So it's my burden to bare alone, remember I did this because I didn't want you to lose your friends. I just wanna know who the hell switched the real book with the fake one...did you run into anyone Alistair?" he asked, glancing at the blond.

"Not really, we we're more focused on getting here than anything else." he replied. Blake sighed, shaking his head.

"Well, I might as well start picking up trash...I got reason to believe Joey has something to do with this. But I don't have enough proof." he said, walking to a nearby trash can, pulling the bag from it. It was filled to the brim, and a bit heavy too.

"Would you like some help with that?"

"No thanks Liz, you enjoy the Fairest...show Alistair and Bunny around, I'm sure it's been awhile since they've been here." he said, giving her a smile.

"Before you go, one of our friends back home asked us to give you this. We placed it in an envelope to keep it safe." Bunny said, reaching into her boot for the white envelope. She handed it to Blake, who just looked at it oddly. He was about to open it, shaking his head.

"I'll look at it later...thanks Bunny, I'm not sure what this message is but hey, maybe it'll help me find a way to break into Wonderland. I'll see you around." he said, grabbing the trash bag beside him, a smile on his face.

"Oh, that idiot! I can't believe he took the blame for something like that." Kitty said, an annoyed look on her face.

"Yeah...it just shows how selfless he truly is...it annoys the hell out of me too. This Fake Rebel needs to be brought down, I gotta go...maybe I can find this bastard hiding in the school." Briar said, walking toward the castle.

"I take it a lot of things have happened here haven't they?" Alistair asked, earning a smile from Lizzie.

"Yes they have, and we can begin by telling you what an exciting Legacy Year it has been for all of us."

 _ **xxx(The Mad Hatter's Tea Shop)xxx**_

Ginger's eyes flew open, seeing the sickly green clouds above her. She noticed her vision was slightly blurry, so she moved around looking for her glasses. Once she had them secured onto her face, she looked around, seeing she was in some sort of container. Moving toward the edge of it, she looked around, eyes widening. There was a building below her, made entirely out of wood, and had a giant hat on top of it. Said building was on top of a large cliff, a single path cut down it, toward a very large forest. Her eyes widened in realization when she figured out where she was. She put a hand over her mouth, a fearful look on her face.

"No way...I'm in Wonderland!"

Her voice startled her a bit. Once she had regained her nerves, she reached for the edge of the tea cup she was inside. She grabbed onto the chain and started climbing it, making sure her shoes actually snagged the chain. Once she had, she started climbing her way down the large arm, using the chain to finally reach the ground. She fixed her glasses as she looked around the area, finding it to be completely void of life, aside from a few strange creatures. She grabbed a hold of the door knob, opening the door. She walked into the building, seeing it was completely empty, in fact it looked like it hadn't been lived in for quite some time. She walked over to the counter, seeing a large top hat on it. Taking a hold of it, she brushed some of the dust that had gathered on it, letting out a surprised yelp when it flew out of her hands.

"A flying hat...wait a minute, this is the Mad Hatter's tea shop. How am I going to get home?" she muttered, a worried look on her face. As she walked across the shop, she noticed something appear in the middle of the shop, a violet door, which swung open.

She saw an armored knight walk right out of the floor, standing several inches taller than her. She let out a scream, running away from the knight, jumping over the counter. They didn't look at all bothered, and continued moving forward toward the counter. Ginger took a hold of a rolling pin, holding it above her head ready to strike if need be.

"Stay back, or I'll hit you with...gah...butterflies?" she cried, watching as her rolling pin turned into a small flock of butterflies.

"Do not be afraid, I mean you no harm. I am the White Knight, protector of all that is good. I fear something grave has happened."

"What do you mean? My name is Ginger by the way, sorry about wanting to attack you." she said, a sheepish smile on her face.

"It is alright...while I was under Wonderland, when I saw the Cheshire Cat, swap the Storybook of Legends for cursed one." the knight said, with a very serious tone.

"A cursed book?" the pink haired girl asked, earning a nod from the knight.

"Yes, I fear a big risk is heading toward Ever After High."

"Oh no! How do I warn my friends?" Ginger asked, clearly worried about her friends.

"Fear not, in Wonderland, anything can be solved with the right riddle. We've just got to find it." the armored knight said, looking around the tea shop. He opened a bread container only for a plume of flame to strike his armor. Ginger started looking around, humming to herself as she walked to the stove, pulling away one of the towels. Her eyes widened when she saw some runes etched into the stove.

"I think I found something!" the girl cried, flagging the knight over. The hulking armored person moved toward the stove, kneeling slightly to look at the runes.

"Treat this portal to discover, a bridge of one into another!" she said excitedly. Her excitement was quickly replaced with confusion as she looked toward the knight.

"What does that even mean?"

"I am not sure." the knight said, that answer really didn't ease Ginger's mind. She just hoped her friends back in Ever After were doing better than she was.

 _ **xxx(Fairgrounds, Ever After High)xxx**_

Blake finally tossed the last trash bag into the large dumpster behind the school. He still couldn't believe what had happened merely half an hour ago. While most of the Rebels seemed in different, there were several Royals who were very angry with what he had done. He hadn't spoken with his bandmates, for fear of their reactions. Melody, Cerise and Cupid were Rebels, so he doubted they'd care, but Dexter was a Royal, he couldn't face his friend after that. He had noticed Daring seemed to be disappointed in him, Hopper hadn't spoken a single word to him either. Some of his other friends had also started growing distant from him. So far, only Blondie had spoken to him, asking him why he did it. She just wanted an explanation and he had given it to her. He didn't want Ashlynn to lose her mom or Hunter, and he didn't want Briar to sleep for 100 years. She had asked him if anyone else was involved, but he vehemently denied it.

So now he sat at a bit of a distance from everyone else. He just didn't want to speak to anyone...he had lost his Press Pass for a second time, this time for the rest of the year, so he had no use for his camera. He had gone back to his dorm to give his new gold fish Swimmy a home. He had gotten a fishbowl, some gravel and some food at the local pet store. The fish seemed quite content with his new bowl. He had also left his stuffed panda in his room, as he didn't want to carry it around anymore.

He had been trying to figure out how the Rebel had been able to get that information. Joey clearly seemed like the scapegoat, a person that was too easy to blame. But he was setting it up, he was asking all of the questions, and then the Fake Rebel swooped in and finished it. That meant that the Rebel and Joey could be working together, but to what end? He didn't know. He remembered the bug that he had found on Briar's neck, it was possible that the Fake Rebel set those free in the school, and was using that to monitor conversations. Joey was the set up, and the Rebel swooped in to finish it. But had exposing their secret been their endgame? He didn't know why, but he felt that exposing Briar wasn't what he was going for.

Blake had been trying to find a reason behind it...it was too perfectly timed. Alistair showing up with the Storybook of Legends, the book being a fake, and then Joey asking those questions to draw out what happened. It just seemed too convenient for his liking. He didn't like how the book was a riddle book too. Lizzie had told him that Wonderland Riddle books were dangerous, because of their connotation. The riddles could seem innocent, but something could go wrong. While in Wonderland, almost nothing happened, but in Ever After, the magic was different. He needed to speak with Apple to get that book away from her, but he didn't know how to approach her. She was currently at the Chef Showdown with Raven and the other competitors. He just didn't want anyone else to look down toward him.

He sighed, leaning back in his chair. He had been thinking about everything that had happened since New Chapter Day. January had been fine, save for testing week. His test answers got swapped around, and while he had assumed it was Joey, that's all it was, an assumption. The Fake Rebel appeared out of nowhere, got a hold of Duchess, Apple and Melody's diaries, and exposed those entrees. However, it was entrees mostly involving Blake, and the girls affections toward him, minus Melody's diary. He felt like he read that one just to mix it up a bit. The three diaries had been found, but there was no trace evidence on who had taken it, even with magic tracking spells. Because of those diaries, and his own entree which had somehow been recorded, it ended with him and Cerise breaking up.

The depression had been bad, he couldn't help but feel those choking feelings again. His dark magic had been ebbing at him, trying to warp his mind, but he didn't let it. He would forever be in control of that magic, and he wasn't going to let it turn him into a dark person. He was thankful to Kitty and Lizzie for always hanging out with him, and spending time whenever he felt depressed. He was thankful to Raven for being a loving older sister, even though they weren't even blood related. He was thankful to Ashlynn, for always cheering him up, and for all of his other friends, Dexter, Hopper, Daring and Hunter. They had kept his mind off of those feelings, and even now, while he still gave Cerise longing looks, he knew he was fine without her. He was glad that they had a lovely time together, but sometimes if it isn't meant to be, it isn't meant to be. He glanced at his pocket watch, seeing it was five past noon. The Chef Showdown was still happening, but he hadn't seen Ginger at all.

"Hopefully nothing bad happened to her. The last thing I need is to find out Ginger fell in the well...maybe I should check on her." he said, standing up from his chair.

"Hey Trashboy, you taking a break?"

"Joey, I swear to Christ, if you don't fuck off, I will beat the shit out of you." Blake said, brushing past the boy, who spun on his heel, a smirk on his face.

"I'm not doing anything bad. You did a good job at keeping the fairgrounds clean but...well, I hate to be the barer of bad news. Some kids spilled some trash near the Battle of the Bands stage. Someone needs to clean it up, and since you are the designated cleaner."

"I'll get right on it." the black haired boy hissed, walking toward the stage. Joey followed after him, a grin on his face.

"You know, it's a shame that you can't participate in the Battle...I was looking forward to the contest. But since Purple Rhapsody lost an integral member, I guess we'll just have to Beat It ourselves." he said.

"Eh...what the hell did you just say?" Blake asked, turning to face the boy, who had an innocent look on his face.

"Me? I didn't say anything. All I said was that me and my band were going to Beat It, the competition I mean. Come on, the only other band that is a challenge is Sparrow and the Merry Men. So we'll have to beat them too...anyway, I gotta meet up with my bandmates. See ya around, maybe you'll give us your vote and we'll become the new Purple Rhapsody. See ya later." Joey said, walking away from the boy.

"You fucker...you must be enjoying this eh? You always were one to enjoy the suffering of others. If only Lucy was here, she'd definitely beat the shit out of you for being a fucking ass clown." he said angrily. He turned to leave, heading toward the Band Stage.

He stopped a second later, something was telling him to read that note Bunny had given him. It was an odd feeling, as if someone's hand was guiding him toward it. He pulled it out of his back pocket, opening the top flap of the envelope. He reached into it and drew the note from it, a single sheet of folded parchment. He looked it over, not seeing anything on the outside of it. He opened the note up, finding a single phrase written on it, in a rather familiar handwriting. His lip quivered a bit as he read it, disbelief written on his face.

"Do you wonder? There's only one person who always said that...Lucy?" he muttered, glancing at the sky. He kept looking at it for a few minutes, wondering if it had the answers he was seeking, even though he knew it didn't.


	47. Spring Unsprung IV

**A/N:**

 **Well guys, this is the chapter where a lot of shit goes down. The official introduction of Evil Apple along with some of her cohorts. How will Blake deal with this new threat? Well read on to find out!**

 **Yes, a lot of sad, depressing and angering shit happen in this chapter. We get to see just how far some people go to succeed in their dastardly schemes. Jealousy is a very powerful emotion, and it will eventually erode one's mind until nothing but insanity is left behind. We have witnessed Joey slowly sicking into his jealous desires, going as far as threatening the narrators just for the sake of his plan, let's not mention his sick obsession with Duchess. By the way, a few chapters back he was clipping a picture of her, that picture was for his shrine dedicated to her, yeah he's that sick. He took a dick to the brain, yeah fucked in the head. Hehe, a little Eminem quote for all of you...**

 **But yes, in this chapter we get to see the sad reality that this mother fucker is fucked up and will do anything and everything he can to mentally torture Blake. I want you all to memorize some of the stuff in this chapter as in later chapters it will play out, including most of the stuff that takes place in this arc. I've been getting positive feedback, so I at least know I am doing good with this chapter. As always let me know what you think in the review section, and express to me in more than two words what you think so far, it keeps me motivated!**

 **The Next chapter will feature a lot more evildoing by our favorite blonde apple loving princess. You will all get to see the fate of everyone else in Ever After High along with various other cut ins to Wonderland and Ginger, who is a lot smarter than she lets on. I would also like to apologize...I was supposed to include Ramona in this arc but when I wrote it, I was so focused on the plot Joey was devising that I forgot to add her into the story. I was going to edit one of the chapters and have her make an appearance but I wasn't able too. The same goes with Rosabella, she was also supposed to have an appearance in this chapter but I forgot to add her completely. We all know where Darling is as well...she'll be making an appearance during the next arc, let's just say...the set up for Way Too Wonderland is already beginning.**

 **Um...remember to review, favorite and follow the story for the latest updates...uh...if you have questions, as always leave me a PM and I will get back to you in a timely fashion. Be sure to check out the other stuff I have on my profile, it'll be awhile before I update anything as this is my current story, but hey that doesn't stop you from reading that stuff right? Don't let memes be dreams!**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 47

Spring Unsprung Part IV

After what had happened a few minutes prior, no one knew how exactly to react. They just couldn't believe that Blake had thrown the book into the Well of Wonder. It was as if he had betrayed them and gotten rid of something so sacred. Some people weren't surprised, since he was a foreigner, it made sense for him to get rid of the Storybook. Others were defending him, saying he had done it for the correct reasons. He was doing it so that his friends didn't have to worry, because he didn't want to see them suffer. Others were angry, because their happily ever afters had been put in jeopardy over his selfish act. There were those that reminded people of all of the good things Blake had done in Ever After, and there were those that didn't really care either way. Apple White was one of those people.

Yes, she was shocked and surprised that Blake had gotten rid of the book. But she felt touched that he had done it for Ashlynn and for Briar. She knew that their fate was a rather hard one. Ashlynn would lose her mother the second she graduated and begun her story, and Briar would fall asleep as well. Compared to them, Apple had it easy. She fell asleep and was woken up in a matter of days. Ashlynn had to live for years under torture and mental abuse, while Briar literally slept her life away. It wasn't fair that some had to suffer the consequences of destiny while some got off easy. She shook her head, finally realizing the thing that had slowly started changing her mind.

She wasn't a Royal anymore...she was a Rebel now. She didn't want her friends to suffer the fate of their stories. She didn't care that the book was gone, and she wasn't as much of an advocate for the Royal side anymore. She had grown used to these things, she had accepted them. She had fallen in love with a man that wasn't destined to be her prince, and she was okay with it. Most of all, she had accepted Raven Queen for who she truly was. A young woman who had been dealt a bad hand in life, and was trying to win the game with that hand. Outwardly, she would remain a Royal, but she would follow in her new Rebel side, and help everyone follow their destiny. Whether that meant signing the book, or having them rewrite it. She was going to help them out, after all she was the Fairest of them All, and she had to live for that title.

She set down her apple tarts, having finished baking them a few minutes before. Raven had been sharing a station with her, and had baked a very beautiful cake, decorated with Watermelon pops. It had been a rather ingenious idea, one that she wished she had had. Raven was too busy putting the finishing touches on her cake, so she didn't want to disturb her. She glanced around at the other competitors, seeing what they had created. Holly had made a tower of teacakes, various colors had caught her attention. She couldn't exactly see what Duchess had made, but it looked appetizing at least.

She had noticed Ginger hadn't been at the Showdown. She had gotten worried about the daughter of the Candy Witch, and had sent her a few messages. But for some reason or another, her phone couldn't be reached. She figured Ginger was out of the range of the MirrorPhone tower, so she couldn't get any calls or messages through. It made her worry, especially if she had gotten lost in the Enchanted Forest. Even though it had Enchanted at the beginning, it was still a very dangerous place. And while the critters wouldn't harm you, they weren't the only dangerous out there.

"Are you alright Apple? You look a little nervous." Raven said, glancing up from her work. Apple gave her a smile, shaking her head.

"I'm not nervous about the competition. I worked hard on these tarts and I know they're good. It's just...I noticed Ginger isn't here, and she was the most excited one of us to enter this." she replied, earning a worried look from the girl.

"You're right...you don't think she got lost in the woods did she?"

"No...I don't think that's it. I mean, if she gets far enough from Ever After High, I'm sure one of my mother's servants would find her and bring her back. You don't think...she fell in the well right?"

"Why would she fall in the well Apple? That doesn't seem like a plausible thing to happen." Raven said, arms crossed. Apple looked around, seeing the timer still had a few minutes before the judging time started.

"Yes I know...but it is the Well of Wonder. It has a mind of its own, so maybe it taunted Ginger and she accidentally fell in. If that's the case she could be in danger, or worse...in Wonderland." Apple replied, earning a dry laugh from Raven.

"Honestly, I doubt that's the case. Alistair and Bunny came out through that well, if she had fallen in, I'm sure they would have noticed. Not just that, they would have likely brought her back. They didn't say anything, so maybe she walked past them and didn't even see them."

"Yeah, you're right. If Alistair and Bunny came out of that well and they didn't see her, than she's still here. I am worried though, maybe I'll get one of my humming bird friends to do a search of the forest." she said, returning her attention to her tarts. Raven did the same, continuing the task of frosting her cake.

Apple glanced beside her at the Riddle book the Headmaster had shoved in her hands. When he had told everyone it had been nothing more than a riddle book, he had practically thrown it at her, and she had grown curious of it. She had a bit of time left, and she was sure no one would mind her using the last few minutes of her time to read the book. She took it into her hands and opened it to a random page, looking at the words written on it. They were odd, and written in ways that didn't make sense. Since it was a book from Wonderland, she figured it had been written in Riddlish, and that's why the words didn't make sense. She focused on a riddle, narrowing her eyes a bit.

"The link it breaks, the darkness creeps. But what will grin, where all shall weep?" she muttered, confusion in her voice. She let out a gasp, feeling a shock flowing through her body, as if she had gotten struck by lightning. She blinked a few times, glancing at the book in her hands, quickly closing it. She had a smirk on her face as she glanced at her tarts.

"Hey Apple, I just wanted to wish you luck." Ashlynn said, grabbing her attention. She tossed the book into her hands, looking away smugly.

"I don't need luck." she replied. Ashlynn gave her an odd look, but said nothing as the timer rang out, ending the baking time. She decided to take her seat at the stands.

"Hey, is that the riddle book Alistair brought with him?" Hunter asked curiously, glancing at the book in Ashlynn's hands.

"I think so. Apple had it and she just handed it to me...well, I do like a good riddle." she said, opening the book to a random page. She started reading one of the riddles, eyes narrowed in confusion. She let out a gasp, a look of boredom on her face. She closed the book, passing it over to Daring.

"Hey, read this book...it's awesome." she said, earning a weird look from the handsome prince.

"Reading rhymes, marking time, to the Topsy-turvy mountain you climb." he read, gasping a second later. He slammed the book closed, a fearful look on his face as he passed it over to Cedar, who just looked at him in confusion.

Raven looked over to Holly who was currently in the middle of having her treats tasted by Jack Horner. Several other judges were going around, trying all of the other treats as well. She had an excited look on her face, seeing that she would be next.

"I think I'm next...I hope he likes it. I've worked too hard on this for it to fail." she said, a grin on her face. She saw a white cloth sail over her shoulder, landing on the ground before her.

"Whoops, would you be a doll and get that for me Raven? I'm such a butterfingers." Apple said, an innocent look on her face. Raven shrugged it off, kneeling down to grab the cloth. Apple smirked, sprinkling some red pepper flakes over her watermelon pops.

"Here you go, it's weird how you are over there and this landed over here." she said.

"I know, I'm just a bit of a klutz today. Good luck." she said, walking back toward her station. Raven looked at her weird, she didn't know why, but Apple seemed a little off. Jack Horner made his way over to her station, a grin on his face.

"Wicked watermelon pops, just the refreshing treat I need after trying out all of these deserts!" he said happily, taking one of the pops. Raven watched with baited breath, hoping the man liked it.

"This is delicious, sweet...and juicy and...hot, oh that's hot!" he cried, panting a bit from the heat in his mouth. He let out a yelp of pain, running toward the nearest source of water.

"Wait! There wasn't anything spicy in there!" Raven cried, disbelief written on her face. She looked at Apple, who was leaning back against the counter top, doing nothing to hide the pepper flakes beside her.

"Oh...that's a shame. Better luck next time Raven." she said smugly, walking past her. Raven's jaw dropped watching the blonde girl walk away. Holly made her way over to her station, curious as to what had happened.

"What's wrong Raven? Why did she just run off like that?" she asked.

"You aren't gonna believe this Holly, but I think Apple just cheated."

"Huh? Are you serious? Apple White the fairest of them all, cheating? I don't think that's possible."

"But she did. I didn't have anything spicy on my dish, she threw this towel over my shoulder, and while I was picking it up, she must have sprinkled those on. It's hard to believe, but she definitely cheated." Raven said, a hurt look on her face.

"She's been acting weird since her diary went missing but...for her to actually stoop to cheating. That's unheard of, I think I'll go check on her." Holly replied, running in the direction the blonde girl went off to. Raven didn't know what had happened, but she definitely wanted answers.

 _ **xxx(Mad Hatter's Tea Shop, Wonderland)xxx**_

Ginger paced back and forth, a finger on her chin as she tried solving the riddle. She had been thinking of it every which was possible, but she hadn't gotten an answer. The White Knight stood idly by, most likely trying to think of a way to solve the riddle. The pink haired girl couldn't help but wonder who was beneath that suit of armor. She didn't know why, but she felt a sense of familiarity with the knight, as if they had met before. It was totally insane, since she would have remembered someone wearing a suit of armor back home. She shook her head, glancing toward the windows of the shop, placing her fist in her hand.

"Treat this portal to discover, a bridge of one into another. I think this stove is the bridge to Ever After. But...how to we use it?" she asked, earning a shrug from the knight.

"Perhaps they mean it as a literal bridge. In which case, it would be impossible to cross over, all the portals were sealed off."

"That's true...well except the well. That's how I got here...have you been in Wonderland before? I feel like I've seen you in Ever After." Ginger said. The Knight shook his head.

"I have always been in Wonderland, but I do know of ways to get back to Ever After. It has been...quite a long time since I have traveled there." he said, sounding a bit melancholic. Ginger looked back at the stove, narrowing her eyes a bit.

"Treat this portal...treat...oh, maybe they mean treat, as in a sweet treat. Maybe the only way for me to send a message to my friends is to bake it in a treat!" she said, walking toward the kitchen area.

"You do know that baking in Wonderland, is different from the baking you are used to." the knight said, catching the apron she had tossed him.

"Yes, I know. But I am a good baker, I'm sure I can handle it. Now, let's see here...aha, here it is." the pink haired girl said excitedly, pulling the book from the shelf. She opened the book, looking at the first recipe that caught her eye.

"So, what are we baking? Apple tarts, chocolate cake? Brownies, muffins? I got everything you need and more!" the book cried out, surprising the girl a bit, who just shook her head.

"I don't think I'll ever get used to the rules in Wonderland."

 _ **xxx(Observatory, Ever After High)xxx**_

Having gathered on the observation deck on the fourth floor of the castle, Alistair along with his friends from Wonderland, had decided to speak about the book. It was early afternoon now, and the fair was still going undisturbed. Seeing everyone down below served to ease his mind. The last time he had been in Ever After was when he was fairly young. He had come with his mother Alice, who had told him about everything he needed to know, for when his time came to sign the book. He had been excited to follow in the footsteps of his mother, and she had always taught him the importance of that book. He felt ashamed to have lost it while in his care. It felt like an insult toward the school that had taught his mother everything she needed to know about being Alice. Bunny put a hand on his shoulder, giving him a smile.

"No one blames you Alistair. It could have happened to anyone."

"I know that Bunny...it just makes me feel bad. I had the Storybook of Legends in my hands, and I lost it. After my mother taught me the importance of it." he said, slamming his fist against the railing.

"We believe you two alright? But just to make sure, were you absolutely certain it was the real book?" Lizzie asked, earning a glare from Alistair.

"It was. Like I said before, Gloriosa found it in the river that flowed away from the underside of Wonderland. She brought it to us, and we had it for an entire month, planning on when we would come here. We decided to wait until the Spring Fairest to bring it back. It was the real book, we read it, we saw each and every page in that book." he said.

"Including that weird one...the Book Keeper...it had a single line on it for someone to sign. It didn't have anyone's picture on it, or a story...and then there was that blank page as well...it's a little odd." Bunny said, placing a hand on her chin.

"We've established you two having the real book...could it have gotten switched on the way here?" Maddie asked curiously, earning a shrug from the boy.

"I don't think so. No one knew we had the book, except Gloria and Mavis, but they didn't come with us, they had another mission to handle." Alistair replied.

"So no one else knew about you having the book then?"

"Actually, we did run into someone Lizzie. It was Kitty's mom, she gave us directions on how to get here." Bunny said, glancing up at the violet haired girl.

"So, you think my mom switched the Storybook of Legends with the Riddle book? That's just spelltacular!"

Her friends all shared a look, unable to believe what they were hearing. Kitty had a genuine smile on her face. Alistair pushed himself away from the railing, standing in front of his friends, arms crossed in disappointment.

"Kitty, I know we've been friends forever after. But sometimes you have to realize when things go too far." he said firmly, causing the girl to frown.

"All we wanted to do was bring the Storybook of Legends back to you. Because of your mom, everyone here hates us. Not to mention that really sweet boy took the fall for you. You should at least apologize to him." Bunny added, a stern look on her face.

"Wow...I thought my Wonderland friends would at least understand me. But...I guess I was wrong, charm you later." she said, a disappointed tone in her voice. She disappeared a second later, earning a sigh from Lizzie.

"Honestly, I have no idea why she is acting like this now of all times. She wasn't like this a few days ago."

"I think it's the influence her mom has on her. Maybe she feels pressured to do better because that's what her mom expects from her. Judging by her attitude, the Cheshire Cat must have said something to her." Alistair said firmly.

"It is a little odd, I did see the Cheshire Cat in town today, so you two weren't the only ones that came by. Maybe she said something to her during the fair." Maddie said.

"An excellent point, still...there is nothing we can do to settle family issues. All we can do is hope she doesn't do anything harmful to anyone else." Lizzie said, a worried look on her face. She was concerned for her best friend, but for now she couldn't do anything.

"Anyway, I think it would be best to search for the real book. I have a hunch that it's still in Wonderland. But in order to go back, we need to find the Well of Wonder."

"That's right Alistair...but it moves around all the time. How are we going to find it?" Bunny asked, a disappointed look on her face. Lizzie giggled, giving the pair a wink.

"It isn't hard to find the Well of Wonder, when you've got a map."

Meanwhile on the Fairgrounds, Blake was walking around picking up all of the trash he could. His fun day at the fair had turned into a nightmare, especially when people decided to just throw their trash on the ground. He had seen some of his friends around the fair, and while some still showed disappointment toward him, others were acting weird. He had tried greeting Apple earlier and she just hissed at him walking away with a flick of her hair. He had tried to speak to Daring, and he had run off in a cowardly manner. He had been a bit confused, but figured they were just pulling a prank on him or something.

He tied a knot on another bag, tossing it into his wheel barrow. He didn't know how many bags of trash he had removed from the fairgrounds, but it kept piling up like nobody's business. He at least got some magical practice in, since all he did was incinerate it and get rid of it that way. He walked toward a nearby trash can, pulling out the bag from inside, replacing it with a new bag. He glanced up at the table, eyes widening when he saw Ashlynn eating junk food. Not just that, she had three cheeseburgers on her plate, along with french fries and hot dogs. He rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand, approaching her table.

"Ashlynn what the hell are you doing? I thought you were a vegetarian? Why would you start eating meat all of a sudden?" he asked, the shocked look still etched on his face.

"Pfft, who the hell are you to ask me questions? I'm a grown woman I can eat what I want. I heard a rumor that these hotdogs were made out of dolphin meat. I've always wanted to try some tasty bottle nose." she said, taking a bite from her hotdog.

" _Ugh...Jesus Christ, she's making me want to go vegan...this isn't happening, it's all a dream."_ he thought to himself, shaking his head.

"Ashlynn, sweetheart I don't know what's going on here...but you can't eat this stuff. My aunt is a vegetarian, she told me eating meat after years of being on a strict diet can be unhealthy. I don't want anything bad to happen to you." he said. She let out a loud burp, tossing her half eaten hot dog to the ground.

"I don't care, that's a problem for future me to handle. Say, I heard you were still looking for a girlfriend. If you want I can make your wildest dreams come true...you do like my story the most out of all the other ones. Come on, what do you say to a hot date? You, me, these cheeseburgers?" she asked.

"Absolutely not! Ashlynn Ella you are one of my closest friends. I don't know what is going on with you, but you and Hunter are in love. Stop acting like this and tell me what's wrong with you!" he said, shaking the girl a bit. She gave him a grin, wrapping her arms around his neck in a rather tight hold.

"I've always had a thing for you, even while I was dating Hunter. I think I deserve a little taste." she replied, pressing her lips against his. His eyes widened in shock as he tried pushing the girl back. She tightened her hold on the boy, using his struggling to stick her tongue in his mouth.

" _Oh my god, what do I do? She's not letting me go!"_ he cried in his mind, almost crying. He finally pushed the girl away, clearly shocked and appalled at what had happened. She licked her lips, grabbing one of her cheeseburgers, taking a huge bite from it.

"Ashlynn what is wrong with you? You and Hunter are in a relationship, you can't just do that!" Blake said, worry clear in his voice.

"Chillax bro, I've got nothing against it." Hunter said, startling Blake who backed into the table, clearly scared of his friend.

"H-Hunter! I uh...I'm sorry man, she kissed me. You know I respect you, you're like a brother to me man. This is all a misunderstanding!" he said.

"Dude, it's not an issue. Can't you see how attractive my girl is? Why wouldn't I want to share her with others? Tell ya what, since you've had such a shitty time after your break up...I'll let you borrow Ash for the night. You can do whatever you want with her, even make your wildest dreams come true...that's my best offer man. I'm only doing that because your my bro."

"Hell no! What the fuck is wrong with you two?! Ashlynn drop that fucking burger right now, or so help me I will turn it to ash!" Blake cried, his eyes flashing purple. The girl smirked, taking another bite from the burger.

"I think he just doesn't understand our relationship bae. I'm gonna go beat up some goats, you wanna join me?"

"Absolutely, see you later Blake. Maybe once you cool off, you and I can have some fun." Ashlynn said, giving him a wink as she walked off, another loud burp escaping her lips. His jaw dropped as he watched the princess walk away, swaying her hips as she went. He blinked a few times, sitting down in a nearby chair.

"What the fuck is going on here today? Jesus Christ, I have seen some shit." he said, glancing at the uneaten burgers. He felt sick just looking at them, so he grabbed the tray and shoved it in the garbage bag beside him. He let out a startled yelp when Kitty flashed in front of him, taking a sip of a soda.

"Wow, you're a bit jumpy today."

"Yeah...no kidding. I told you not to flash in front of me without warning." he said, earning a giggle from her.

"Sorry, I couldn't help myself...you've got some ketchup around your mouth...like a lot of it. What happened? Decide to make out with your burger?" she asked. He grabbed some napkins from the nearby dispenser, using the side as a mirror.

"Hell no, something's wrong with Ashlynn. She was sitting here, eating hamburgers. Hamburgers Kitty! She's a vegetarian, I've never seen her eat that stuff. Hunter wants to beat up animals, Daring is running away, scared like a pussy, and Apple is hissing at people like a snake. Something weird is going on here." he said, cleaning the crimson condiment from his face.

"Maybe they ate something funny. I'm sure people hiss when they eat bad food, or maybe Apple was just hacking a hairball." she replied, taking a drink from her soda.

"Yeah well, I hope that was the fucking case. Anyway, I gotta go back to trash duty, I'm already getting looked down upon. I don't want the Headmaster to give me shit for not doing my job." he said, grabbing the sealed bag, tossing it into the wheel barrow. Kitty flashed next to him, giving him an apologetic look.

"Blake, I wanted to apologize to you. I've been acting a bit bitchy today, it's just...I'm stressed okay. Can I...tell you something?"

"Sure, what is it?" he asked, concern on his face. She sighed, glancing away from him.

"I feel weird, well...not weird perse...my mom is my idol. She does everything so beautifully. She's poised, mischievous and regal, everything a Cheshire should be. Her pranks are top notch, I mean switching the Storybook for a Riddle Book? That's amazing."

"Not a lot of people think that Kitty. In fact, Alistair and Bunny are being looked down upon for bringing that Riddle Book here. Not just that, thanks to the Fake Rebel, all of Ever After knows I got rid of the real one. While I'm not mad or disappointed, I am annoyed with all of these pranks. There's a difference between pranking someone as a joke, and pranking someone to get back at them or teach them a lesson. There's no fun in that kind if prank...there's no fun in a prank that goes so far, that someone becomes injured or traumatized." he said firmly.

"I know I...I just want to be like my mom okay? I want to make her proud of me...I want people to say, look it's Kitty Cheshire. She's the spitting image of her mother." Kitty replied, glancing away from the boy.

"Yes...I think all children want to be like their parents in a way. I mean, I never gave it much thought, but I thought about being a home decorator like my mom. It was fun, getting to mess around with so many things, getting to see the smile on a young couple's face when we present their home to them. It was amazing to see those smiles...so I get you, you want to be like your mother so you can bring smiles and chaos to everyone you meet. But you have to draw the line somewhere, and the pranks she's been doing, aren't funny." he said, stopping next to another trash can, grabbing the bag from inside.

"But Blake I...I just...I thought you would see things my way." the girl said, visibly hurt.

"Sweetheart, you've got to listen to me. You are my best friend forever after, you have been there for me when I needed you the most. You are stubborn, and goddamn annoying when you want to be. But you've also made me smile, you've made me forget my depression, all of those thoughts after I broke up with Cerise. I care about you a lot, but you have to decide, if you want to be like your mom? Or lose all of your friends because of those messed up pranks. Think about it okay? Think about how Alistair and Bunny feel right now? They found the real book, and were happy to bring it back, but they got pranked by her. How do you think they feel now that Ever After High thinks they're liars? Doesn't it hurt?" he asked, placing a hand on her cheek. She looked away from him, placing her hand over his.

"You're right...but that doesn't change anything...I still want my mother to be proud of me. And I'll do whatever it takes to get her approval...I had hope that you'd understand me. But I guess you and I are a lot more different than I first thought." she said, flashing out of existence. Blake clenched his hand tightly, hitting his forehead a couple of times.

"Damn it Kitty...what can I do to make you see this? You don't need your mother's approval for anything!" he cried. He glanced up, seeing Cedar not far from where he stood, eating an entire cake all by herself. He blinked a few times, walking over to the girl.

"Cedar, what are you doing eating that cake? Isn't that the cake Cerise made for the Showdown?" he asked. She looked at the cake in her hand, shaking her head.

"What cake? I'm not eating any cake." she said.

"Huh? But I can clearly...holy shit, you just lied!" he cried, pointing at the girl. She snorted, leaning back in her chair.

"No I didn't...and I'm not eating any cake either. I'm not talking to Blake, I'm talking to Dexter...so if you have anything to share with me Dexter, I am not all ears." she said. He turned around on his heel, walking back toward his trash bag, which he just dragged on the ground.

" _Some fucked up shit is happening here, and I have got to get to the bottom of it."_ he thought to himself.

In another part of the campus, Apple and Daring were walking around earning curious looks from various people. Apple had a smug look on her face while Daring acted a bit cowardly and unlike himself. They came to a stop underneath a window. Turning around Apple faced the boy, a firm look on her face.

"Alright Daring, all you have to do is stand right here."

"Um...alright, what do I have to stand here for again?"

"Ugh...you have to stand here to catch me. If I get caught, then I'm gonna jump out of the window. So you wait here, and don't move an inch." she said, running away from the blond prince.

She took a deep breath, acting normally as she walked into the foyer of the school. She greeted a few people as she normally would, ignoring all attempts at courting that the disgusting boys tried to give her. She walked toward the dorms, glancing around to see if anyone was in the hall. Once it had cleared out, the blonde princess headed toward Lizzie Hearts' room. She easily opened the door with a hairpin, closing the door behind herself. She moved around, walking toward the sowing machine.

"Where's that book? I know I've seen it before." she hissed in annoyance, glancing around the room. She paused for a second as she glanced at Duchess's bed, a smirk on her face. She pulled out a small bottle of itching powder she had swiped from the prank shop in town. She sprinkled the entire bottle onto her bed, tossing it into the trash.

"Take that you two-toned bitch...trying to steal my love from me. That'll show you." she said, a grin on her face. She glanced over her shoulder, eyes widening when she noticed the slightly opened wardrobe. She quickly ran to it, pulling it open. Her eyes landed on the red, white and black book, which she took from inside. She opened it, seeing the current location of the Well of Wonder.

"Perfect." she whispered, a smug look on her face. She let out a gasp when she heard voice. Closing the book and the wardrobe, Apple broke into a sprint, jumping over the railing. She let out a scream, glancing down at the ground.

"Daring! Catch me!" she cried.

"Oh, no I can't!" the boy cried, jumping out of the way. The girl fell into the shrubs, glaring at Daring. She threw the book at him, hitting him in the face with it.

"You were supposed to catch me asshole. I could have died!"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to avoid you!" he said, earning a sigh from the girl.

"Whatever, we've got what we came here for. It's time to put our plan into action." she said, grabbing the book from the ground, a grin on her face.

"Um...what exactly is our plan?" Daring asked, earning a glare from the blonde.

"Just shut up and follow my lead, and don't be a pussy or I will hit you." she said, shaking her fist at him. The boy swallowed the lump in his throat, following Apple into the woods.

"So, your mother gave you an enchanted book before you left Wonderland?" Alistair asked, looking around his friend's room. Bunny was also taking a look around, stopping only to play with Shuffle, who she hadn't seen in years.

"That's right. My mother wanted me to have a way back home in case things got hairy here. The Evil Queen was free by that point, but the brothers Grimm managed to seal her away. It was around that time that all of the portals were forcefully closed." Lizzie replied, opening her wardrobe.

"It's been hard, but me and daddy were able to open up an even bigger shop here. It's become one of the most popular places in Ever After! We've been rated 5 stars by Blondie Lockes, and that's a high honor!" Maddie said, a grin on her face.

"That's wonderful. Perhaps we should visit the Mad Hatter while we are here, my father has been asking about him recently. I would love to tell him and Mr. Hare that his best friend is alright." Bunny said, taking Shuffle into her hands.

"Oh no...no no no...this can't be happening!"

"What's wrong Liz?" Alistair asked, a worried look on his face. The girl started tossing things out of the wardrobe, not caring where they landed. She stepped away from it, a hand on her chest.

"It's gone...the book is gone!"

"What? But it was here when we last used it. Remember, Ginger asked to use it and then you put it back." Maddie said.

"Great, just what we needed...can nothing go right for us today?" Bunny asked sadly.

"It'll be alright...perhaps we can find another way to find the Well."

"I'm sorry Alistair...without the book, I'm afraid there's no other way to track the well. It moves around too much." Lizzie replied, glancing at the floor.

"I know this is bad but...maybe a cup of tea will help us relax a bit?"

"That's probably a good idea Maddie. It's been awhile since we've had good tea, well...tea that we didn't have to force down." Bunny said, shuddering a bit.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well Liz, your mom caught us near the castle grounds a few weeks back. She said something that we didn't understand and then forced us to have tea with her. Then she just threw us out like nothing...I fear the curse is driving her insane...well...more insane than she already was." the blond boy said, earning a frown from the girl.

"Perhaps we can take this time to catch up...what has been happening in Wonderland since we left?"

"Quite a lot, let's start with what happened in Wonderland High, after the White Queen left for Ever After." the white haired girl said firmly.

 _ **xxx(The Mad Hatter's Tea Shop, Wonderland)xxx**_

It had been quite the struggle, but Ginger had finally managed to prepare the perfect pie. It was rather amazing is she said so herself, finding fresh ingredients had been hard, but with the right Riddle she had been able to conjure some. Thankfully, the White Knight had been able to lend a hand with it's creation, so she was finally glad to have finished it. It was befitting of Wonderland, with a crust made entirely out of little stars, the filling being of Zap Apples, a rather weird fruit that only grew in Wonderland. She gave the Knight a nod, picking the pie up from the counter.

"Well, I've finally been able to come up with this. Thanks for the help Mr. Knight, I couldn't have done this without you." she said, giving the armored person a smile.

"It was nothing Ginger...however, do we know this will work?" he asked, earning a frown from the girl, who opened the oven, placing the pie inside.

"Hopefully it does...this is all a hunch, but if it works, then we can warn my friends. I just hope nothing bad has happened over there." she said, closing the oven door. It flashed a second later, making the two back away from it. The knight reached for the oven door, pulling it open.

"It's gone...did it travel to Ever After, I wonder?"

"Looks like we've got to wait and see. So...what's it like to wear that armor?" she asked, giving the knight a smile.

"It's...heavy."

"Just heavy? Isn't it a little hot in there? I think I'd like to see the face of the man that's been helping me." Ginger said, giving the knight a smirk.

"Ah...I see what you are trying to do. You are trying to make me remove my helm, I apologize...I feel like my identity isn't needed. The White Knight serves those on the side of good, it matters not who dons the suit." the man replied.

"You are totally a woman aren't you?"

"I am not at liberty to answer that question."

"Because you are! Ha, I knew it!" the pinkette said, a smirk on her face. The knight let out a sigh, shaking his head.

"I believe we should focus on the pie, at any moment it can be found, and if it's eaten, our effort shall be for naught."

"Aw...alright, let's do it your way...Mrs. Knight." she replied, giving the knight a wink.

 _ **xxx(Fairgrounds, Ever After High)xxx**_

The effects of the cursed book were rather interesting, if Joey cared to admit. It wasn't hard for him to figure out what it was doing to people. It had been turning people into their polar opposites. Daring became a coward instead of brave, Ashlynn became an uncaring meat eater, Hunter became an animal abuser and Cedar had turned into a liar. He was looking forward to see what Apple was doing, as he had seen her leading Daring into the woods. Since she wanted to protect Ever After and she had turned into her polar opposite, then that meant she wanted to destroy Ever After. He had gotten the book away from Cedar, but hadn't read a single passage from it, in order to protect himself. He didn't know if the riddles inside would affect him, but he wasn't going to take the risk. He noticed Blake picking up trash nearby and decided to move on with the next phase of his plan. He placed the book on a nearby table, and quickly hid, looking on from a distance.

He could see the boy was having a hard time, the frown on his face was apparent. He had been picking up trash all day and hadn't enjoyed a single thing at the fair. His misery was honestly entertaining for the brown haired boy to watch. He was sure if Lucy was in Ever After, that she would be giving him shit for doing it. But since she was dead and wasn't there with them, she wasn't going to say or do anything. He smirked when Blake took notice of the book, looking at it with confusion.

"What the hell? This damn riddle book?" Blake muttered under his breath, glancing at it. The fact that it looked like the Storybook of Legends was uncanny. He opened the book to the middle pages, glancing at the words.

"Dark is Light, Bad and Good, topsy-turvy, the man's hand will land." he said, glancing at the book in confusion. He felt something weird flowing to him, the mirror shard in his chest felt a little hot. He shook his head, snapping the book closed, throwing it into a trash back.

"Damn riddle book, what a waste of fuckin time." he said, tossing the trash into a nearby dumpster. He glanced at his pocket-watch, seeing it was three in the afternoon. He glanced at all of the trash and shrugged, deciding to leave it for later.

He noticed the Wonderland Haberdashery and Tea Shop, was nearby, so he decided it was time to take a break. He pocketed his watch and started walking toward it. Joey moved behind the boy, making sure he wasn't spotted by him. He had seen his eyes flash violet, but nothing had happened to him. Perhaps the book's magic had no effect on people that weren't from Ever After. Blake walked into the shop, with Joey walking in a few minutes after, finding a table near the entrance. He looked around, seeing several people in the shop, including the Wonderland kids and even Duchess who seemed to be looking at her phone. He smirked, leaning back against the wall.

" _Phase two of Plan Beta is a go."_ he thought to himself. He pulled out a small case from his pocket, a pair of purple contacts he had gotten for himself and silently put them on.

"Welcome Blake, you look bushed! Would you like some tea? Maybe a tree? Of course this tree is made of cakes!" the Mad Hatter said, handing the boy all of the things he mentioned. Blake let out a laugh, giving the man a smile.

"Thanks Mr. Hatter. You have no idea what a crappy day I've had." he said, taking a seat at a nearby table.

"We've all had a crappy day Blake, but you've had it worse than us." Alistair said, grabbing his attention.

"Oh? What's happened to all of you?" he asked, pouring a cup of tea for himself. Maddie took a deep breath, causing her friends to back away from her.

"Well, after we all split up when you told us about the book, we all went to have a chat. We found out Kitty's mom switched books, so when we decided to go find the well to go get the book in Wonderland, we went to Lizzie's dorm. But as it turns out, the Well of Wonder map that the Queen of Hearts had given to her went missing, so we came here because we had nothing better to do." she said, gasping for air a second later. He blinked a few times, shoving one of the teacakes in his mouth.

"You're right, you've had it shittier than I have. At least we have one thing in common, everyone in Ever After look down on us for our involvement with the book. But it isn't your fault that Kitty's mom switched the books out...and it isn't my fault that Fake Rebel decided to fuck with all of us." he said, clenching his fist in anger.

"Blake, before you say anything else on the matter, I'd like for you to know that I don't look down on you. You have your reasons for doing what you did. You got rid of the book, because your friends lives would have been drastically changed if they signed. It matters not if I sign the book, regardless I'll be the next Queen of Hearts, and no book is going to make that choice for me." Lizzie said.

"It's the same for me, I'll be the next Mad Hatter even if I don't sign the book. That's why I'm with Raven, she's my bestie!" Maddie added.

"We've never given it much thought. We were separated from Ever After for so long, that it wasn't a priority...I would like to sign the book. But it doesn't matter if I can't sign it, just as long as we can break the curse on Wonderland, I'll be more than happy." Bunny added.

"Thank you guys, it means a lot that you'd say that. What are your thoughts on the matter Duchess, don't be quiet. Step up, pull up a chair, join us." Blake said, leaning back in his seat as he glanced at his friend. She sighed, shaking her head.

"I don't care if the book is missing. While I am shocked that you tossed the book in, I am much more surprised that you kept it for so long. But I'm more surprised that Briar had her hand in it, let me guess, she found the book and you tossed it in?" she asked, earning a smirk from the boy.

"Nothing escapes you, does it Duchess? You are a rather intelligent young woman, and I'm surprised you were able to arrive at that answer. Yes, that's the way of it, but please keep it to yourself. I don't want Briar to get in trouble." he said, taking a sip of his tea.

"Aw, how cute! You know Blake, you need to stop taking the fall for so many women, especially women that aren't ideal for you." Joey said, startling the boy a bit. He pulled up a chair next to the boy, leaning back in it.

"Joey, don't you understand the meaning of the term fuck off? Seriously, do you want me to say it to you in Spanish? Because I can, I'm half Puerto-Rican after all." Blake snapped.

"Hey, I'm not here for any trouble. I'm here to hang out with friends, after all it is the Spring Fairest. It's meant to be enjoyed, and today is the first day of spring. Didn't you forget what today is?" he asked, a firm look on his face.

"Yes, I do. It's the anniversary of Lucy's disappearance...I was trying not to remind myself of it." he replied, crossing his arms.

"Mhmm, you are correct. You know, for someone so avid in the belief that she is in fact alive, you don't show it. I mean, I know for a fact that she's dead, but if that's what you believe...then go ahead and believe it." the brunette replied.

"Shows how much you actually cared about her. I mean, you dated her for an entire year and you gave up the search after two weeks? I searched for her, for six months. I didn't give up, I put forth my own money, to hire Private Investigators, Christ I even got in touch with the FBI, what the fuck did you do? You bitched and moaned, and said you missed her, but you didn't. I think you were secretly glad she was gone." he said smugly. Joey smirked inwardly, noticing the boy's eyes glowing violet.

" _So,the book has a different effect on him. He still acts nice, but his anger is easily amplified...well, let's see what happens when we break the camel's back."_

"Well, at least I didn't use the depression card and actually remained active in my life. Sure, her father screamed in your face that she was dead and gone, he did the same shit to me. But I moved on, I lived for her...I didn't just sit inside wallowing in my misery."

"Joey seriously, I think you should just drop this matter all together. You're gonna piss him off and he's going to break your face." Duchess said firmly, only to be brushed off by the boy. Blake shook his head, a smirk on his face.

"Wallowing in my misery, that's a petty term for you to use. You wanna know why I was _"wallowing in my misery"_ as you so eloquently put? That's because I was in love with Lucy. I actually gave a shit about her, I didn't just act like I loved her, treated her like shit, stabbed her in the back, apologize and then repeat the cycle. She's my best friend, the only person in my life that made me see the light. I'm not gonna lie, you know that I'm adopted, you have no idea how much that fucks with your mind. The abandonment you feel, knowing that there's a couple out there that didn't want you in their life, that you were a mistake? That you didn't matter to them. They didn't spare you a single fucking second of their goddamn time. They just pushed your ass out and then the doctor handed you to some woman with a stack of papers." he snapped.

"Oh please, it isn't so bad. At least you found someone who gave a shit about you, a family that you didn't appreciate. A family that I wish I could have had, instead of a drunkard father, and a mother who gave no shits about me." Joey snapped, an angry look on his face. Blake stood up from his seat, reaching for his wallet, placing his payment on the table.

"I got shit to do, Mr. Hatter thanks for the tea and the cakes. Alistair, everyone...I hope you find a way to fix this issue. I'll lend a hand in anything you need." he said, giving his friends a smile.

"It's no problem Blake, I know you'll help us out. I'm sorry to hear about your missing friend, hopefully one day you'll find her." Alistair said, a hopeful look on his face. Joey chuckled, shaking his head.

"Good luck with that buddy, she's dead. Even if there wasn't a body, she's bound to pop up somewhere...shame that all she'll be is a pile of bones."

"You know something Joey, you are a real piece of shit...you really fucking are. You act like you loved her, but I bet you didn't even care for her. Hell, I bet you didn't even know her most well guarded secret, or what the name of her imaginary friend was. All you cared about was the obvious, the fact that Lucy was beautiful." Blake said, firmly. Joey stood up, glaring at the boy who stood several inches taller than him. Alistair stood up as well, standing between the two.

"Alright, this has gone far enough. I don't know either of you well enough, but I can clearly see there's some animosity between you two. Let's not start a fight in the middle of a crowded store...at least do that." the blond boy said firmly.

"Don't worry Alistair, I wouldn't waste my time fighting a weak minded, dickless shit for brains." he said. Duchess's hand flew to her mouth, and she tried her hardest to stifle her laugh.

"Man, you're the dickless shit for brains...your the one who acts like the big hearted guy. Like what you are doing is for the good of human kind, but you are full of shit. You help everyone around you, but you don't help yourself. That's your big issue Blake, you are too selfless for your own good." Joey said.

"Fuck you, fuck everything about you!" the black haired boy spat.

"Charming, in 200 years, you Americans went from, I only regret, that I have but one life to lose for my country, to fuck you. That is enchanting! Why don't we put that on the ten dollar bill? Surely your face deserves to be on it, instead of Alexander Hamilton." he said, a grin on his face.

"Alright, that is enough. Joseph you are sixteen years old, just shy of being an adult, so why don't you start acting like one and stop taunting Blake like this. What do you get out of it?" Lizzie asked.

"The look on his face is my reward, it's also funny that you quickly come to his defense, seeing as you are absolutely in love with him. It honestly disgusts me how this skinny loser gets so much pussy from all of you."

"Hey man, why don't you show some respect? You are talking to a lady, not only that, but to a Princess and a future Queen. Show some courtesy!" Alistair snapped angrily, glaring into Joey's eyes.

"She isn't my queen...and I as a human should have the freedom to say and do what I want. But whatever, I only want one thing from Blake, that of course is Lucy's bracelet." he said. Blake looked taken aback, taking a few steps back from him, placing his left hand over his heart, clutching it with his right.

"No, I'm not giving this to you...this is the last connection I have to her. I've had this since she disappeared, it's what's kept me sane. Just seeing this bracelet, hearing its jingling charms, seeing that picture...it's the only thing I have of her that's personal. Come on man, I'll give you anything else, hell I'll give you everything in my dorm room. Just please let me keep this." he said, a pleading look on his face.

"Ah...so this is what's come down too. You know, maybe if you didn't worry so much about other women, other people's girlfriends, yours wouldn't have left you." Joey said, a grin on his face.

"Let me at him! Lizzie let me at him!" Duchess shouted, trying to claw the boy. Bunny and Lizzie were struggling to hold her back. Blake let out a low growl, eyes narrowed in anger.

"Is this really what it's come down too? Some semblance of friendship and camaraderie has all come down to a bracelet and some choice words?" Blake said.

"It has...I was the one that bought her that bracelet, so since she isn't here, it is my property. Unless you want to buy it from me that is...and your dorm isn't a good offer. I want something that can't be replicated, sadly you've got nothing." he said. Blake unhooked the bracelet from his wrist, holding it tightly in his hand, so tight that some of the charms were marked in his palm. He let it fall to the floor, not bothering to look up at Joey, he turned around walking toward the door.

"You know Blake, you were wrong. Choosing to stay in Ever After was the best thing that ever happened to me, I am immensely happy with that wish. I mean...you probably regret it but...hey, at least I got my bracelet back." Joey said, a grin on his face as he grabbed the bracelet from the floor.

"You know Joey, just because you are in a world filled with magic, doesn't mean you are safe. There are many ways for people to die and make it look like an accident. I happen to know quite a few of those ways, and now that the door has been opened, I fear there is no turning back for me. Thank you, for helping me see the light." he said, a grin on his face as he left the store. Everyone remained silent, not exactly knowing how to process what the black haired boy had said.

"Well...today has been a productive day. Maybe I'll go play some more games...I think I'll pawn this for some cash." Joey said, pocketing the bracelet. Lizzie and Bunny let go of Duchess, standing back as she closed the distance, punching Joey hard enough in the face to throw him onto the ground.

"I'm going to beat the shit out of you...and when I'm done, I'll make sure you shit in a bag for the rest of your miserable life." she said, grabbing a hold of his shirt, pulling her fist back. Alistair grabbed her arm, causing her to look at him.

"It isn't worth it...all you'll do is get yourself in trouble or worse, arrested. He's a piece of shit, so just let him go. He'll get his soon enough." he said. Duchess let him go, a smirk on her face.

"You're right Alistair, he will get his soon enough. But I'll at least get the last laugh." she said, slamming her foot right down on Joey's genitals, hard enough to earn a pained cry from the boy. She ground her heel around, a sickly sweet smile on her face. She brushed her skirt free of wrinkles, handing the Mad Hatter a hundred gold bill.

"Keep the change Mr. Hatter, don't even worry about the pie." she said, walking happily out of the store.

"Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned." the man said, pocketing the cash.

"Yeah...I'm so glad I don't have balls." Maddie said.

"Same here." Lizzie said.

"Me too."

"I'm starting to wish I was a woman now." Alistair added, cringing in pain from the writhing agony Joey had been granted. In the end, he had succeeded in getting his plan in motion, but had he truly won?


	48. Spring Unsprung V

**A/N:**

 **Hello everyone, I'm so happy to see that all of you are enjoying this arc of the story. I said shit would go down and down it has come, and it has been rather serious stuff as well. Today you all get to see the aftermath of Joey's actions along with some other stuff that I'm sure will either piss you off or sadden you a bit and then piss you off because hey, that's what Joey does, it's one or the other.**

 **One of you was wondering if Duchess is going to physically assault Joey in the future and the answer is yes...I'm not sure exactly when she will assault this poor mother fucker. I mean, he's already received genital trauma from her flat heels which she uses to dance. There will be a part where Blake teaches her how to fight but she doesn't ask why. She just wants to learn for self defense, not knowing that she's gonna break his face. He's already teaching Apple the basics behind the scenes and I will have the two talk about that. Not everyone can rely on magic, and Blake likes when a woman can defend herself. There will be more moments with Darling who I have neglected a bit, she may be a potential love interest in the future in fact though Blake will have to tread carefully since Daring and Dexter are her older brothers. They still don't know she actively practices sword fighting whenever they aren't around.**

 **As for the end of this arc, Chapter 49 will mark the end of Spring Unsprung actually, after that there will be three filler chapters before heading into the Blue Moon Forest Fest. As stated before, Way Too Wonderland will follow this arc with one prelude separating the two...though I have debated having a little time skip. Since I have no idea when this arc takes place, I have to position it before the end of the school year since it can't happen during the summer time. So, I think having it happen before Apple and Kitty's birthdays will do, since both of them share birthdays in May. Interesting factoid, Blake was born June 19th, so he shares a birthday with Holly and Poppy so I may do something special for that since I've been ignoring their birthdays. Hell, I still don't know exactly when Raven was born, but Blake will get her something eventually. Cerise has a Halloween birthday, so it's hard for him to forget, eh...enough with the birthday thing for now.**

 **Um...this chapter will contain high impact sexual violence...not really, but after last chapter I'm sure most of the guys spent their time icing their balls, because Jesus that heel grind was enough to make my testes cry out in agony. I'm sure some of the female readers even felt that pain, just imagine that shit. Did you know it takes twenty five pounds of pressure at a 45 degree angle to rupture a human testicle? Imagine how much pressure Duchess was putting on that heel grind? That was her entire body weight, which I assume is between 100 to 120 pounds since she's a dancer. Imagine that shit on your balls, not a fun time for Joey, that's for sure, he's gonna be feeling that shit for weeks, maybe even pissing blood for awhile too. Alas magic fixes this so the pain won't stay long, but the memory is ingrained in his mind for all eternity.**

 **Remember...you do it for him, and you would do it again, you do it for her, that is to say you do it for him...I haven't watched Steven Universe yet, but I have listened to some covers by Caleb Hyles and that one's my favorite so far. Especially the Garnet Rap...but regardless, review the story, it makes me happy and keeps me motivated, leave me a PM with your questions and or derogatory insults toward my person, favorite and follow my story for the latest updates, don't let dreams be memes, protect your balls at all costs or a Black Swan might just rupture them, and as always have a nice day.**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 48

Spring Unsprung Part V

Blake didn't know what was going on within his mind. He had been feeling fine one moment, and incredibly angry the next. He wasn't sure he could hold that darkness back anymore. Joey had gone too far this time, and he wasn't going to let him get away with it. He walked out of Bookend toward his clearing, with the intent of releasing some dark energy. But he wasn't sure he wanted too, he didn't know why but there was a voice in the back of his mind that told him to embrace the darkness. It was almost like a shadow, was rising up from the ground and enveloping his entire being. While normally, he felt a foreign feeling when he used his magic, it now felt warm and welcome, as light magic should. In the end, his magic was warped light...and he would be using that light to back at those who did him wrong. But, he needed to start somewhere, but where would that even be?

He heard some voices at the edge of the Dark Woods, where the Enchanted Forest was closest. And peeked through the brush, spotting Apple White and Daring Charming, walking by themselves. He smirked and passed through the bushes, whistling loudly for the two to hear. Daring let out a scared yelp, ducking behind Apple, shaking like a leaf. The blonde girl looked at him, a smirk on her face as she hid the book in her hands behind her back.

"What do you want Blake? Are you here to stop me or whatever? Because I totally won't let you do that."

"Me? Stop you? Honey please, that isn't what I'm here for. Let's just say, Joey finally pushed me too far. I came out here to blow off some steam, but what do I find? The fairest of them all, alone with a coward in the Enchanted Forest. Tell me babe, what are you doing out here all alone?" he asked, crossing his arms.

"Me? Nothing...I thought that maybe it was time to destroy Ever After. I mean, what's the point of protecting this horrid realm anyway. Maybe you'd like to help me?" she asked, a cute smile on her lips.

"I take it you're the one that stole Lizzie's book. Your plan is to steam the flow of Wonder into Ever After. Because this realm relies on it's wonder for everything. By plugging the well, that would effectively end all possibilities of prospering lives here...I like it." he said, a grin on his face. Apple looked almost surprised, a wicked grin on her face. She walked over to the boy, running her finger along his jawline, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"Would you like to join me? Sooner or later people will find out what's going on...I'd rather have some, magical back up. I'm sure you've got your own plans, maybe rob this world of its remaining wonder?" she asked.

"Eh...not really. I plan to take everything from everyone who has wronged me. Starting with Joey, I will take back my bracelet, I will take back my respect. I will make this world understand that no one messes with Blake Bigby." he said, a smirk on his lips. Apple leaned up, placing a kiss on his lips, and he eagerly returned it, placing a hand on her cheek. She pulled away, licking her lips.

"Let's go, we must stem the flow of wonder before your plans can truly start."

"Excellent, I shall help you in anyway I can...seeing as Daring is currently cowering behind us." he said, glaring at the blond boy.

"I'm sorry, it isn't my fault that I'm so cowardly." he said. Blake held his hand out, a violet chain wrapping around the boy's neck, morphing into a collar. He took a hold of Apple's hand, allowing her to lead him toward the well.

"Come along dog! You want to be a brother to me, then you'll have to prove it to me...you don't deserve to have free will, coward." Blake spat, earning a nod from Daring who did his best to keep pace with him, lest he tug on the chain.

 _ **xxx**_

Briar didn't feel comfortable. After what had happened to Blake earlier in the day, she felt like a horrible friend. She had tried to enjoy herself at the fair but couldn't stop thinking about the boy. He had willingly sacrificed his time at the fair to clean up, just so that his band could play in the Battle of the Bands. She hadn't spoken to anyone from Purple Rhapsody, all of them most likely being busy figuring out how to participate in the Battle. She needed to step away from the fair, so she took a walk through the empty streets of Bookend to clear her mind. She had been thinking on Ashlynn's advice, and wondering if she should confess her feelings to Blake. It was odd, her being in love with a boy from another world. But that hadn't stopped Cerise from trying. Of course, the matter of destiny was still in the air. She was sure her mother would be okay with her choices, even if it meant she wouldn't be the next Sleeping Beauty. She came to a stop in front of the Tower Hair Salon, seeing several girls running out of it, their hair in tatters as they ran off.

"What the hell?" she muttered under her breath. A second later came Poppy who was snapping her scissors wildly at them.

"Wait! I still haven't finished!" she cried.

"Poppy, what are you doing? Why are all of those girls running out of here with messed up hair?" Briar asked, a bit worried for her friend.

"They didn't appreciate the haircuts I gave them, so I felt the need to fix them up with one free of charge. How about it Briar? Let me style your hair! I'll be nice and snappy about it." she said, snapping her scissors at the girl, who's eyes were wide with fear.

"Um...no thanks, I just had the ends trimmed...I'll uh...be back later." she said, turning around. She ran out of the area before the girl had a chance to grab her.

" _What the heck is wrong with Poppy? She wouldn't deliberately mess up someone's hair. Come to think of it, there have been a lot of people acting weird in town. Wonder if that dragon was slain or not...that was pretty scary."_ she thought, turning a corner, slamming into Cupid who fell to the ground.

"Oh shit, sorry Cupid, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going." she said, holding her hand out to the girl helping her up.

"It's fine, have you seen Blake? I've been trying to reach him for the last two hours but his phone is off." Cupid said, a look of worry on her face.

"We've all been trying, but we get the same message." Melody said, standing next to the girl.

"Sorry I haven't. The last time that I saw him, he was picking up trash around the fairgrounds." she said.

"We just came from there, he wasn't around anywhere. Some people saw him going toward the Wonderland Tea shop, but he wasn't there either." Dexter added, a frown on his face.

"This is weird, have you guys noticed anything off? I just stopped by the Hair Salon and Poppy was chopping hair from her customers like no tomorrow." Briar said, concern written on her face.

"Daring was acting weird earlier. I told him there was a dragon attacking Bookend and he hid in a locker. I heard from Raven that Apple cheated during the Chef Showdown, and I even heard people saying Cedar was lying." Cupid said, causing the girl to gasp in shock.

"Apple cheating? Cedar lying? Do you know where Raven is? I have to speak with her, ASAP." she said.

"Last I saw her, she was looking for Ashlynn...near the fairgrounds. She was acting weird too." Dexter said.

"Thanks Dexter, I'll get back to you if I see or hear where Blake went." she said, brushing past the three friends toward the fairgrounds.

"Do you actually think something serious is going on here?" Cupid asked, earning a shrug from Melody.

"I'm not sure...but it does make sense. I mean, Alistair and Bunny show up with a Wonderland Riddle book, the fake Rebel announced Blake's involvement in getting rid of the real book. Then all of our friends acting weird, Apple cheating, Daring cowering, Cedar lying? It's just way too convenient." Melody said.

"Are you suggesting that this is all connected? How though? I don't see a connection anywhere." the brown haired prince asked.

"Well, something must have happened in the Wonderland tea shop. I mean, did you feel the air in there? It was so thick you could slice with a knife. I think we should head back there and ask someone what happened in there, it might lead to what's happening." Cupid said, earning nods from her friends.

"I'll speak with Cerise, see if she heard or saw something."

"Good, we need to get to the bottom of this fast, before something worse happens." Dexter said, swiftly moving toward the Tea shop.

 _ **xxx**_

"Are you sure they came this way Cerise? It doesn't seem like anyone came through here." Raven said, earning a nod from Cerise.

"Trust me Raven, they came through here...I can still smell their scents on the air, it was recent." the daughter of Red Riding Hood said, glancing back at her friends.

"You can smell them? Wow, must be some weird magic you are using." Holly said, a confused look on her face. The three girls were currently walking through the Enchanted Forest, following the trail of Apple and Daring, hoping to find something.

They had tried getting Ashlynn's help earlier, but she had been a dead end. Holly and Raven were shocked to see the girl consuming meat, not just that, rubbing grease all over her body. She seemed to be enjoying it too, and it made for a very pressing matter. All around Ever After High, people were acting differently from what they normally did. Holly had even seen her own sister doing things she normally wouldn't do, and she was honestly scared of what was going on. Cerise came to a stop, taking a small whiff of the air, eyes widening.

"I caught a new scent...it's a familiar one." she said.

"It is? Who is it Cerise?" Holly asked curiously. She turned to face Raven, a look of worry on her face.

"It was Blake, I can smell traces of your magic too."

"Traces of my magic? Could it be that he too had this weird change?" she asked, looking down in thought.

"Guys, not to worry you or anything, but...people are acting opposite of themselves. Ashlynn is eating meat, Apple is cheating, and Cedar is lying, what are the odds that Blake could also be acting differently?" Holly asked.

"Pretty high, I still don't know what is going on but...if Blake is acting the opposite of how he would normally act then...oh no." Raven said, eyes widened in shock. Cerise's look was the same, a choking feeling in her throat.

"He's kind and caring, and giving...he's selfless in every way. If he's acting the opposite, then he's cruel and heartless...he'll take anything he wants...he'll be selfish. Not only that, he's been keeping the dark magic away from his heart, if he's turned like the others...then that darkness magic is most likely warping his mind." she said.

"Oh my godmother...this is bad...this is bad!"

"Calm down Holly, maybe we can stop them. But we have to hurry, Cerise are they close?" Raven asked, earning a nod from the hooded girl.

"They're not far from here, if we run we can catch them!" she said, breaking into a sprint through the woods. Raven and Holly did the same, having a bit of a harder time. The two girls regretted wearing heels for a trek through the woods.

Meanwhile, Blake, Apple and Daring had finally reached a valley, deep in the Enchanted Forest. It was an area where the trees rose high into the sky, and and the stone walls rose around them. The area was green and vibrant and filled with life. But they weren't there to admire the scenery. Apple opened the red, white and black book, revealing the magical hologram they had been using for the last few minutes. The well appeared in the center of the valley, just where there standing.

"This is it, the Well of Wonder will appear right in front of us. Are you ready for this my sweet?" she asked, glancing at Blake who gave her a smile.

"Of course I am pumpkin...this is just the beginning after all. Ah look, there it is." he said, pointing ahead. The Well of Wonder appeared in front of them, in all of it's wondrous splendor. Apple smirked, raising her hand to her mouth, letting out a shrill whistle.

"Ashlynn, Hunter you're on!" she commanded.

From the ridge above them, the son of the Huntsman and the daughter of Cinderella appeared. Ashlynn was covered in various condiments and unhealthy foods. She was currently eating a cheeseburger, which she threw at Hunter, a giggle escaping her lips. The boy easily caught it, smearing it all over her head. He reached behind his back for a sharp axe, and started chopping the nearby tree as fast as he could.

"When the well is plugged, all wonder will cease to flow into Ever After. But since I am not from here, I shall have an unlimited resource. After all, I do have a mirror shard in my chest, currently sucking up all the magic around us. I am a sponge for it, after all." Blake said, earning a grin from Apple.

"Then I'll leave it all in your hands. As the next Queen of Ever After, I have in my power the will to announce my King. So you better not disappoint me, or you won't get anything from me after you succeed." the girl said, slamming her lips against his own. He wrapped his arms around her waist, kissing her back with fierce passion.

"Apple! Blake!"

The two pulled away from their liplock, glancing up at the opposite ridge, smirking at Raven, Holly and Cerise, who were just looking at them in confusion. Blake tugged on his chain, causing Daring to stand in front of them in a defensive stance, though he was still cowering.

"Oh...hello sister, I wasn't expecting you to...drop by." Blake said, giving her a smile.

"What the heck is going on here? Ashlynn, Hunter?" Holly asked, clearly confused. Apple smirked as she stood next to Blake.

"Isn't it obvious? We're here to do what's best for Ever After, sealing up this stupid well. I mean, it's because of it that the Storybook of Legends is gone, isn't it?" she asked.

"Apple, you aren't yourself right now. Don't you know what would happen if you seal that well up? It would be the end of Ever After! The Apple I know wouldn't do that!" Raven said, sliding down the side of the ridge down to the ground.

"That's exactly what I want...I don't care about Ever After, not anymore. Ashlynn, go for it." she said, earning a nod from the auburn haired princess. She let out a loud animal call, stepping away as a ram raced toward the plug Hunter had carved out.

"No, we can't let that plug the well!"

Blake rose his hand, sending an orb of darkness magic at Raven, stopping her from moving forward. He flung several more orbs, causing the three girls to back away. The daughter of the Evil Queen placed her hands together, summoning her own magic to counter the boy's attacks. He erected a shield in front of him, flinging away her darkness.

"I'm afraid you aren't going to stop me Raven. I am far more powerful than you, after all...these are the powers your mother has granted me." he said. They all watched as the sun was blocked for a few seconds, the giant log fell down hard on the well, effectively plugging it up.

"You're too late Raven, there's nothing you can do to stop us now." Apple said, a smirk on her face.

"Yes there is, we can remove that plug! You aren't going to stop me!" the girl cried, running toward the well. Blake held his hand out, a violet circle appearing in front of himself.

"Darkness Stream." he chanted, voice distorted as he fired off his spell. Hundreds of balls of dark light flew from it, causing Raven to create a shield, holding her hands outward. He tossed Apple the chain holding Daring captive, gesturing for her to make her get away.

"Blake this isn't you! You can't to this, not now!" Cerise cried, earning a laugh from the boy.

"Of course this isn't me, I'm not the Blake you once loved my dear. You see, I've been given the shaft for too long. So I'm gonna take matters into my own hands, I'm going to take everything away from the ones that wronged me...starting with the woman who broke my heart!" he said, breaking his magic seal. He flung his hand outward, sending a chain toward Cerise. Holly grabbed her hand, pulling her way.

"Run, he's not going to stop until he's caught you!" she cried. Cerise nodded, rapidly standing up. She ran out of the woods as fast as she possibly could. Blake started walking after her, only for Holly and Raven to stand before him.

"We aren't going to let you go after her. Don't you forget Blake, I have my own magic." Raven said, hands glowing violet. He smirked, glancing at the Well of Wonder, which had just started to disappear.

"Actually Raven, you forgot that without wonder, there is no magic in Ever After. But I'm not from Ever After, and even if I was...I have an endless source in my chest." he said. Holly reached behind her back for her skillet, spinning it in her hand. She glanced at the floor, seeing all of the grass starting to dry up.

"Um Raven, look at the ground." she said. Raven looked down, eyes widening as she started to step back.

"The wonder is fading, go Holly...you need to go back to Bookend and warn everyone of what's happening. You have to tell them that the well is plugged."

"But Raven, I can't leave you alone here!" she cried.

"I said go Holly, I can handle myself!" Raven said, unleashing her full power, hands glowing a fierce violet. Holly swallowed the lump in her throat, and ran off not looking back. Raven started back pedaling, making sure to stay away from the fading wonder. Blake however was standing on it, not at all bothered by the fading magic.

"You know something Raven, I don't exactly hate you. I love you like a sister, I truly do. But at times, I can't help but hate you. Look at what your mother did to me! She took everything away from me, so I'll just have to take everything away from her!" he cried, running at the girl, pulling his fist back. Raven did the same, channeling her magic into her fist. Both of them collided, the resulting explosion sending them flying back.

The daughter of the Evil Queen groaned in pain, shaking her hand as she broke into a sprint, getting some distance away from the fading wonder. Blake dashed after her, channeling magic into his legs.

"You aren't getting away from me that easily Raven Queen!" he cried, flinging a chain at her. She swiftly turned around, flinging a fire ball at the chain, breaking it before it made contact. She slid to a stop, pulling her arms back.

"Dark Shadows!" she chanted, flinging her arms forward holding a magic portal open. From it, hundreds of shadows moved out, their hands all reaching toward Blake.

"From light to darkness, shadows come forth, spikes from hell, rise now from the earth!" Blake chanted, placing his hands on the ground, sending the stream of magic at Raven. Her eyes widened as several shadow spikes came from the ground. She cut her spell short, jumping away from the spikes, ducking and weaving around them.

"Try all you want Raven, but you aren't getting away from me!" Blake cried.

"This isn't you Blake, don't let this magic control you! I know you, I know who you are, this isn't you! Please, come back to me little brother, I know you are in there!" she cried, a hopeless look on her face. Blake chuckled, shaking his head as he calmly walked toward the girl. The shadows started flowing up his leg, turning his pants violet black as they traveled up his body.

"You don't seem to get it do you Raven? The person you see before you is your dear little brother. But you weren't there when that grave injustice was brought onto me. It isn't just losing my family, but everything that has happened to me. Time and time again I have been kind and selfless, and because of the actions of an unknown individual, I am public enemy number one! But that is no longer the case...no one will look at me in disappointment, instead they'll look at me in fear!" he cried, sending more darkness at Raven, who quickly erected a shield. Her eyes widened when she saw the wonder starting to fade around them. She moved the shield away, sending his beam of dark light away from her. She turned around, running as fast as she could toward Bookend.

" _I need to find the cause of this! I need to bring my brother back!"_ she cried in her mind, tears running down the sides of her face.

 _ **xxx**_

It wasn't easy to recover from what had just happened, but Lizzie knew she had done all she could. There was nothing she and her friends could have done to stop Joey from doing what he did. She was extremely disgusted and appalled by what had happened. Blake was the kindest person in all of Ever After, and here he was taking crap from Joey. She was glad that Duchess had ground her heel in his groin. If it had been her, it would have been a hundred times more painful, for the sole fact that her heels were stilettos. Everyone had been a little quiet after what had happened. No one knew what was going on in Ever After High, especially with everyone acting so weird. They had no way of reaching Wonderland, everything was hopeless.

"I know you guys are sad but, maybe some cake will make us smile a bit." Maddie said, gesturing to the teacakes on their table.

"I'm not really in the mood Maddie. I'm trying to think of a way to find the well." Lizzie said.

"I just...can't believe the Cheshire Cat would do something like this. Kitty isn't acting like herself either...if anyone knows where she is, it's definitely her. She hasn't answered our calls at all." Alistair said, handing Lizzie her phone back.

"Let's face it, we're stuck...there's nothing we can do at this very moment to find the book. We can at least make a plan, we can always stumble on it at random. It's too bad we can't use the WonderMap here in Ever After." Bunny said, sighing in disappointment.

" _Oh my gosh, I can't keep watching this anymore, I have to help."_

" _Brooke, you can't spoil the story. Remember what can happen if we say something!"_ Weiss said.

" _I know, but I would rather risk my life and tell them than just sit by and watching everything go to hell. Maddie, if you can hear me, Ginger baked you a message in a pie. It's important that you find it!"_

"Eh? A message in a pie? That's a weird thing for Ginger to do, oh well, thanks young narrator!" the girl said, standing up from her seat, gathering up every pie in the shop.

"Uh...what's she doing?" Alistair asked.

"If I we're to guess, she's listening to the voices in her head. She claims them to be narrators, but I doubt that's the case." Lizzie said, leaning back in her chair drinking her tea. Maddie set all of the pies down on the table before her, handing her friends a fork and a knife.

"The voices in my head said Ginger baked us a message in a pie. So let's eat like we haven't eaten in our entire lives!" she cried, slamming her face into a cherry pie. Alistair glanced at Lizzie who just shrugged at him.

"Let's find this message then." she said, grabbing a pie for herself.

After twenty minutes and several pies, all four teenagers admit defeat. Alistair had done his best to eat all of his pies, but had set down his last piece, hugging his stomach a bit. Maddie wiped her face away, not at all feeling bothered by the fullness of her stomach. Lizzie dabbed at her lips, having managed to keep herself clean, unlike Bunny who had a lot of pie filling around her face, along with a sickly look.

"Dammit, we ate all of these pies Maddie...where's this message?" Lizzie asked, earning a frown from the girl. She grabbed a pie plate, wiping her finger across the bottom of it.

"Hmm...I would have hoped she etched it into the glass...I guess we must have eaten it."

"Maddie, I'm sure we would have felt paper sliding down our throats if that was the case. And I'm not keen on puking just to figure it out." Alistair said.

"I feel like puking, maybe I ate it." Bunny said, leaning back in her seat. The Mad Hatter walked over to their table, quite impressed with the teens and their abilities to clean him out of pie. He smiled, placing one last pie on the table.

"I couldn't help but notice your like of pie. I found one in the back that you missed, I think it's a Zap Apple pie. Which is weird because we don't have any Zap Apples left." he said.

"Thanks daddy. Well, back to it!" Maddie said, grabbing her knife. She placed it in the center, cutting a line to the edge of the plate. The pie sparkled a bit, as the cut she had made morphed into a mouth.

" _Um...what do I do? Do I just...speak? Oh, okay...guys, this is Ginger. Can you hear me?"_

"We can hear you loud and clear dear, what is your message?" Lizzie asked, leaning forward a bit.

" _The Storybook of Legends was switched with a Riddle Book. The thing is, that book is cursed. Anyone who reads it gets their personalities switched. You have to find that book, before it lands into the wrong hands!"_ she said.

"Oh no...do you think that's the reason why so many people are acting weird?" Bunny asked, sitting up in her seat.

"It might be...we need to find this book. Thanks for the message Ginger, by the way, where are you at right now?" Lizzie asked, glancing at the pie, only to see it had returned to normal.

"Well, if I we're to take a guess...she's probably in Wonderland. I mean, if she found out about this book here, she would have found us and told us." Alistair said.

"That's true...it doesn't matter, we must hurry and find this book." the future Queen of Hearts said, dashing out of the store.

"Thanks for the pies daddy!" Maddie cried, giving her father a kiss.

"Sure thing honey bunch...good luck finding that book!" he called out, giving the girl a wave.

 _ **xxx**_

Raven was starting to grow tired. The diminishing magic was getting to her, she had almost made it back to the edge of Bookend. Blake's power was unrelenting, and much stronger than hers. Of course, due to the sealed Well of Wonder, her magic was slowly disappearing along with the rest of the magic in Ever After. The skies were starting to turn gray, and the forest behind them were losing their color. She growled angrily, forming another magic seal, sending a stream of purple flames at the boy, who easily deflected it.

"Seriously Raven, don't even bother counter attacking. Your magic can't take me down, you're growing tired...why don't you just submit already." he said, flicking her magic away with ease. She panted for breath, her throat was dry and her sides hurt. She hadn't used this much magic since her mother had tested her power when she was young.

"Blake please, you have to stop this. Beyond this point is Bookend, Ever After High! All of your friends are here, I know things are bad...I know my mother did something horrible to you. But you can't let that cloud your judgment. Please Blake, you have to listen to me!"

The boy rolled his eyes, launching another round of darkness magic at her. She rose her hands, forming another protective barrier around herself. She growled angrily, channeling the last of her magic to her hands, keeping the barrier up. Her eyes widened a bit when she saw the approaching loss of Wonder. She felt her shield start cracking, as her magic slowly waned. Blake smirked, sending another strong blast at the shield, causing it to explode. Raven let out a scream, slamming into a tree landing in a heap at the boy's feet.

"Your magic is nearly gone...don't make me suck what's left out of you sister." he said firmly. She started moving away from the boy, getting back to her feet, clutching her back. She held her hand out, her fingers fizzling with magic, only for it to vanish. She growled angrily, eyes narrowed.

"I'm not, going to submit to you. You aren't the Blake I know and love, you are just his shadow. You are nothing more than his magic taking over his mind! I'll set you free!" she cried. He flung his wrist forward, sending a chain at the girl, it wrapped around her neck, forming a pitch black collar. He closed the distance between them, pushing the girl forward.

"Walk." he hissed, forcefully pushing her forward. She glanced over her shoulder, the loss of wonder was steadily approaching them, much faster than before. She knew there was nothing she could do at this point, she was out of magic and Blake wasn't in his right mind. She just hoped someone else could put a stop to whatever else was going on.

 _ **xxx**_

Lizzie and her friends moved around the fairgrounds, looking around for the cursed Riddle Book. The four teens hadn't been able to find it. Everyone was still enjoying the Fairest, though some people did indeed act differently than before. They reached the center of the grounds, looking around for anything that would point the book out to them. They didn't see anyone holding it, and it wasn't on any tables or on the ground anywhere. She was growing rather perplexed, her nervousness and worry becoming apparent. She smiled happily when she spotted Cedar walking aimlessly around the grounds, holding a cupcake in her hands.

"There's Cedar, perhaps she knows about the book." she said, moving toward the girl.

"Hey that's right, I did see Cedar holding it at one point. She probably still has it!" Maddie said, a smile on her face. Bunny was trying her hardest not to vomit, as she still had a lot of pie in her stomach. Alistair reached the girl first, coming to a stop before her.

"Cedar, what happened to that Riddle Book you had? We need it for something." he said. She looked at him, brow raised in curiosity.

"What book? I haven't seen a riddle book anywhere." she said.

"Yes you have, it was the book that...wait a minute, did you just lie to us?" Lizzie asked.

"No, I'm not a liar." she replied, shoving the cupcake into her mouth.

"Hmm...maybe since she's lying, it would be best to ask her a lie. She'd have to answer us with the truth!" Alistair said, a grin on his face.

"Good thinking Alistair...Cedar, where didn't you leave the book?" Lizzie asked, earning a snort from the girl.

"I didn't see Joey, place it on a table, and I didn't see Blake shove it into a garbage bag. I also didn't see some workers toss those bags into the dumpster behind the castleteria." she said, glancing away from the group of four.

"Thanks Cedar, we appreciate it!" Maddie said, turning toward the school. She shrugged, walking back toward the middle of the fairgrounds.

Once they reached the dumpster, they took a look inside, seeing all of the black bags resting inside. Alistair took a hold of one, and tore it open, dumping the trash into the dumpster. All he saw was nothing but trash. He grabbed a second one, doing the same thing to it.

"Come on, start tearing these bags apart." he said, handing one to Lizzie.

"This is so gross, but it has to be done." she said, poking the bag with her finger, peeking inside it with a grimace. Maddie jumped into the dumpster, swiftly tearing into the bags, combing through all of the trash.

"Oh look at this, a broken wand! I wonder what it does." she said, holding the pink wand up. It had a bright yellow star at the top, sparking due to the fact that it was broken. She shook it, but since nothing happened, she just tossed it.

"I found some useless beans." Lizzie added, tossing them over her shoulder. Alistair's eyes widened when he saw two thick vines growing from the ground. He was going to say something, but felt the need to keep his mouth shut.

"Look at this, why would anyone toss this? It's so cute!" Bunny said, holding up a cellphone charm, which was a fluffy white bunny, only it had it's eyes closed, its mouth open in a scream.

"Uh...I wouldn't call that thing cute, that's downright terrifying." the blond boy said. He reached into another bag, moving his hand around, disgust written on his face.

"This is hopeless, we're never going to find this book. If it's cursed, then that means anyone that reads it is in danger!" Lizzie said, a look of worry on her face.

"Is that the reason why Joey was acting the way he was? Because he came into contact with the book?"

"If that's the case then Blake was also acting oddly. The two of them were in contact with that book, and were acting differently. Since they're both from another world, that curse took a different effect on them." Bunny added, fiddling with the charm in her hands.

"You said Blake was stabbed in the chest with a mirror shard, due to his contact with the Evil Queen. Because of this he has dark magic...hypothetically speaking...what would happen if his personality changed?" Alistair asked.

"Oh...that's easy. He's kind, caring and selfless, he'd become cruel, heartless and selfish. Knowing this, his dark magic would most likely warp him into a heartless monster hellbent on destroying the lives of the people he cares about the most, all of us." Maddie said, tossing another broken wand to the ground.

"That doesn't sound good."

"We must find this book, as soon as possible. We cannot let Blake turn into an evil monster!" Lizzie cried, this time tearing through all of the bags in front of her. Alistair reached for another bag, finding it a bit heavy.

"I found it!" he cried, pulling the book from inside the bag. The three girls jumped out of the dumpster, looking the book over.

"Alright! Good work Alistair...now how do we reverse the curse?"

"Um...I don't know?" he asked.

"Fine, we need to find the one person that does know how to reverse this. We need to find Kitty right now." Lizzie said, reaching behind her back for her phone.

As she dialed her best friend's number, an explosion filled the area, along with the screams of people. The four Wonderland kids started running toward the fairgrounds, coming to a stop just shy of entering it. Alistair grabbed Bunny and Lizzie's hands, pulling them behind the sign with the school's name on it. He grabbed Maddie as well, telling her to stay quiet.

"Ah, this is much more like it. The fear, the running...all because of me! That'll teach all of you to fear my wrath!" Blake cried, his two-toned voice filling the air.

"Oh my godmother, Blake what are you doing?!" Holly cried, eyes widened in shock and fear. The boy grabbed the back of Raven's collar, holding her barely conscious form up, his hand glowing purple.

"Behold the defeated daughter of the Evil Queen. The woman who has cursed us all, the one who has robbed me of my life, my family and has cursed me to an eternity in this realm! She's the woman responsible for hiding the Storybook of Legends, for cursing Wonderland and many more atrocities! Since she is not here, then her daughter shall serve her punishment!" he cried, a grin on his face.

"Blake this isn't you! Put Raven down right now, can't you see you are hurting her?" Cerise called out, causing the boy to look at her, a smirk on his face.

"How dare you ask me that question. What does it matter to you what I do with her?" he cried, throwing the girl to the ground, he pulled his leg back, kicking Raven in the ribs, sending her flying forward, pulling the chain hard so she'd slam into the ground. She cried in pain, trying to grab the collar.

"Cerise...the well...unplug the well." the girl muttered, passing out a second later. Cerise tried to run, only to see the approaching loss of Wonder, turning everything gray. She glanced toward the stairs leading to the Showdown stage.

"Apple! Can't you see what is happening here? Give us the map, we need to stop this from happening!" she cried. Apple smirked, shaking her head.

"Sorry Cerise, but I'm not going to hand the book over...I've done my part, this show belongs to Blake now. Show them what you've got sweetheart, and I'll make every single fantasy of yours come true." she said, blowing a kiss to the boy. He smirked, flicking his wrist forward, sending a chain toward Cerise. Holly jumped in front of her, using her skillet to block the chain.

"Go Cerise, take him down now!" she called out. She cried in pain as a chain wrapped around her neck, glowing violet as it sucked every ounce of color out of her, leaving her without Wonder. She fell to her knees, feeling completely spent.

Cerise ran forward as fast as she could, saddened to see her former boyfriend fall so deep into the darkness. She threw a punch at the boy which he easily dodged. He fell into his Aikido stance, throwing several punches at the girl, who easily dodged them. She slammed her knee into his gut, driving her fist into his jaw, sending him sprawling back. She moved toward the boy, placing her foot on his chest.

"You better cut the shit right now, this isn't you Blake. The darkness has taken over your mind, look around you, all of these people are scared. The magic is leaving Ever After. You have to do what is right!"

"I am doing what is right...by amassing the magic of everyone in Ever After, I'll be able to break the curse put on me...I'll finally be able to leave! I can go home and not have to suffer through so much bullshit! My best friend turned against me, my girlfriend left me...what else do I have here? I have nothing! So I will do what I must even if I have to enslave every single one of you!" he cried, grabbing a hold of her leg.

He easily knocked her off her feet, stunning her enough to wrap a chain around her neck, sucking the magic out of her as well. He let out a laugh, attaching her chain to the loop around his waist, throwing several more chains out at all of his other friends, who looked at him in fear. Each and every chain was attached to the ring on his waist, sucking all of the magic out of them until they were as gray as the approaching magical drain. Nothing but gray overtook the fairgrounds, turning everyone into depressed people, far to weak and slow to do anything. Everyone save for Blake had lost their magic, the boy sighed contently, the chains clinking as he walked toward the stairs, climbing toward the top.

"Citizens of Ever After, welcome to the age free of Wonder. Thanks to everyone's contribution, I have the last bit of Wonder from each and everyone of you. It seems I have lied to you, I'm sorry...but my magic is actually meant for one purpose, to tear open a hole into the Mirror Realm and destroy the Evil Queen! When I do, I shall take this world and rebuild it in my image!" he said.

"No you won't! We won't let you do that Blake!" Lizzie cried out, causing the boy to glance down.

"Oh, and who are you to stop me? Actually, why the hell do you still have color?" he asked, clearly confused.

"That's because we're from Wonderland, this curse doesn't affect any of us." Maddie said matter-of-factly.

"Ah I see, I see. So, thanks for that information, I'm now gonna open a portal to Wonderland and suck out all of it's magic. You are very welcome." he said, a grin on his face.

"Why the hell would we be thankful for that?" Alistair cried.

"Well, you were looking for a way back home and I'm going to provide one, so yeah...you're welcome!" he said, raising his hand up.

"Blake stop!" another voice cried, earning a sigh from the boy. On the bottom step appeared Kitty Cheshire, a sad look on her face. He crossed his arms, leaning back slightly.

"What do you want Kitty? Came here to brag about how awesome your prank was? Because it isn't." he said.

"No...I'm here to beg you, please...you have to come back to us! The curse has affected you, it's turned you into someone your are not. You have to come back, you can't let it beat you!" she cried.

"Ugh...no matter what you try, you aren't getting me to come back, because I'm not gone. Jesus, get that through your head!" he snapped, holding his hand out. About to fling a chain at her, only for him to feel a tug on one of his chains, making him trip and fall back.

"We're...not...letting you...hurt anyone...else." Holly said, the pained look on her face replaced with an angry one. Her voice sounded distorted, her voice far and near at the same time. Raven, who had woken up, forced herself to her feet, standing as straight as she could with her injuries.

"Blake...please stop." she said, holding her hand out to him.

"Well, clearly I didn't use a strong spell on all of you." he said, forcing himself to his feet.

"Quick, grab the chains, knocking him off his feet! We have to restrain him long enough to break this curse!" Lizzie cried, grabbing a hold of Holly's chain. They all grabbed a chain, pulling back as hard as the could, pulling the black haired boy down the stairs.

Alistair quickly closed the distance, placing his knee on Blake's back, using the same chains to tie the boy up, after unhooking them from the ring. Blake started chuckling, shaking with mirth at the blond teenagers feeble attempts at restraint.

"You are a fool Alistair, I can easily break out of these chains. You will not stop me from destroying this place." he said. Alistair reached behind his back for the Vorpal Blade, resting it on his throat.

"I'm not afraid of ending your life. If I have to do it to save my friends, I will...Blake please, you have to realize the darkness has overtaken you...let us help you." he said.

"Screw you...go ahead and kill me, it would be much more welcome than the bullshit I have to deal with on a daily basis." Blake replied, closing his eyes, almost expecting him to pull the blade.

"Kitty, you have to call your mom right now! We have to end this curse!" Alistair said, earning a nod from the girl.

"Ah, I wouldn't do that if I were you." the familiar voice of Joey said, causing him to look up.

"Why wouldn't I want to do that?"

"Eh well...think about it...I mean he did just admit to want to kill everyone. Look at everything, what is happening is horrible. We can't just let these people suffer, but if we return them to normal...then Blake will take the blame. He's already suffered enough don't you think?" he asked. Alistair noticed the boy's eyes were glowing violet, an effect from the cursed book.

"We can bring him back...we'll talk to everyone, let them know what is going on. This is my fault, I'm the one that brought this book back to Ever After with me. I will take the Blame...as he has done for so many things before." Alistair said. Joey growled inwardly, his smile not leaving his face.

"Please...think about it thoroughly...imagine all of the mental trauma he will have. I know I acted unlike myself back at the store, but this change has made me see the error of my ways...please don't do this to him."

"Kitty, call your mom now!" the son of Alice cried, earning a nod from the girl.

"Mom! I need to talk to you! Mom?!"

She looked around, hoping the woman had heeded her call. Spotting a glittering grin, she focused on an area next to one of the food stands. The woman flashed into existence, laying on her side as she took a long drink from her cup, a grin on her face.

"Kitty darling, are you enjoying yourself?"

"No...I'm not, you brought a curse to my school. Look around you, look at my best friend and how he's acting, he has a sword to his throat because of you. I want you to tell me how to reverse the curse...right now." she said firmly. The woman chuckled, flashing in front of her daughter.

"Have you learned nothing about this little experiment? I thought you wanted to be just like me?"

"I do...I do want to be like you mom...but you have to admit, that this is really messed up. Blake beat up the person he considers a sister, Cedar became a liar, Poppy starting messing people's haircuts...look at what Apple did, she did all of this! It isn't funny, I love my school and I want it to go back to normal." she said, crossing her arms over her chest. The Cheshire Cat smirked to herself, giving her a nod.

"Alright then, I'll play you for it." she said, disappearing from sight.

Kitty swallowed hard, already knowing the implications of what her mother said. She flashed toward the top of the stairs. Alistair forced Blake to his feet, still holding the Vorpal Blade to his neck as he walked up the stairs toward the showdown stage. The Cheshire Cat appeared in a balcony above the stage, a smirk on her face.

"If you can get to me, I'll tell you how to break the curse. If not, then you'll have to figure it out yourself. Go on Kitty, show me what you can do." she said, throwing a bit of magic onto the ground, forming several paths, all leading in different directions.

"It's a puzzle." Maddie said softly, glancing at the board in front of her, curiosity written on her face.

"Oh heavens, I haven't played this game in quite a long time." Lizzie said.

"You aren't going to win you know...you might as well slit my throat now." Blake said with a chuckle.

"Shut up Blake, don't even say that as a joke. You have no idea how much you mean to me! And other people!" Kitty cried, her cheeks flushing pink.

"Kitty, what do we do? This is a riddle only you can solve." Alistair said, reminding the girl of how imperative the situation was. She gave him a nod, glancing at Bunny.

"Um Bunny, try that one in front of you." she said, pointing to the blue square. Bunny closed her eyes as she hopped onto the square, which glowed bright green.

"Okay, Lizzie, try the one in front of you." the girl continued, earning a nod from her best friend. She hopped onto the square, which glowed a brilliant red. She let out a gasp, turning into glass a second later.

"Oh...tough break...she was my favorite of the bunch. She has cute shoulders." Blake said, earning a knee to the back from Alistair.

"Bunny, try the one across from you, to the left." Kitty said, undeterred from the previous fail. The girl nodded, placing a single foot on the square, turning into glass a second later.

"Tough break Kitten, you're losing your friends...the last of them anyway. Are you sure you don't want to give up?" Cheshire asked, giving the girl a smile. Narrowing her eyes, Kitty kept her eyes trained on her mother. Realization washed over her face, her smirk growing wide. She flashed out of existence, appearing behind her mother's back, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"You never said I couldn't go across the board, just get to you." she said, her smile twinkling a bit as she finally bested her mother. She narrowed her eyes, giving her daughter a once over, a small purr leaving her lips.

"Oh Kitty, you did it. I'm so proud of you sweetheart...you have finally bested your mommy at her own game." she said, pinching the girl's cheek.

"Ow, mom...not in front of my friends." she cried, her cheeks flushing red.

"It's alright, they'll understand. The way to reverse the curse is by reading the last riddle backward. See you all on parent day, ah...before I go, a parting riddle for the boy." she said, glancing at Blake.

"Pfft, go for it. Even if you leave I'll find you and steal your magic." he said, a grin on his face.

"A friend in need, is a friend you seek, through the portal you two shall meet. Chains of gold, charms of love, the way too Wonder will come to you, from below." the woman said, giving the boy a wave as she disappeared.

"Thanks for confusing the fuck out of me lady, really appreciate it!" Blake cried.

"Can we change him back, please? I miss the old Blake." Lizzie replied, earning a nod from Kitty. Maddie took the book from Alistair's backpack, turning to the final page in the book.

"Tonight's darkness be to answer the is where delight curious lies to riddle from!" she cried, her voice echoing throughout the fairgrounds.

They all glanced at Blake who closed his eyes, shaking his head as the dark aura that had taken his body flowed right out of his chest, turning into a dark mist that vanished into thin air. The chains holding everyone to his waist shattered and he fell to his knees, coughing a bit. He grabbed the side of his head, looking around the area, eyes widening in shock.

"What the hell happened here?" he asked.

"Blake! Are you alright? Are you you?" Kitty asked, kneeling in front of the boy. He looked at her, brow raised in curiosity.

"Am I me? What kind of dumb ass question is that? Ow my head...all I remember is leaving the tea shop and then...nothing." he said. Kitty hugged him tightly, making the boy grow more confused.

"I'm sorry Blake, because of me you ended up turning evil. Not just you, but Apple too and several other people. I just sat back and watched as everything went down, I'm a horrible terrible friend. I did nothing while you beat Raven up, and you sucked the magic out of our friends...please, forgive me."

"I did what?" he asked, glancing up at the others.

"It wasn't your fault dear, it was all this cursed riddle book. The Cheshire Cat switched it with the Storybook of Legends to teach Kitty a lesson in bringing chaos to the world." Lizzie replied, earning a nod from Alistair.

"It isn't your fault, the resulting switch in personality drove the dark magic in you to take over. We've already taken care of the curse, and after were done, we're getting rid of the book. But now we have to find the Well of Wonder and return it to normal." the blond said. Blake just sat there, eyes widened in shock. He blinked a few times, a rush of memories suddenly entering his mind.

It was everything that had happened during the day, after he had blacked out. He remembered going to the Enchanted Forest after Apple, vowing to destroy Ever After and become it's king, kissing her several time in some sick twisted show of affection. He remembered chasing after Raven, throwing various spells at her, hurting her and even kicking her. He remembered chaining her, holding her up while he proclaimed punishment for the Evil Queen, attacking Holly and Cerise and draining them of their magic. It was all a surge of emotions that he couldn't handle, his hands were shaking uncontrollably as he clutched his head.

"Oh my god...I can't...I did this, I helped Apple, I beat up my sister...I hurt Holly and Cerise." he said, shaking uncontrollably.

"Hey, it's alright. Tell us, what did Apple do with the book? We can worry about everything else later!" Kitty said cheerfully. The book looked up at her, wiping his eyes.

"She still has it. Come on, I have to at least help fix this." he said, racing down the stairs onto the fairgrounds.

They looked around, spotting Apple not to far from where they were. They closed the distance toward her, the look of hurt written on her face. She was in much the same state as Blake, only she couldn't express herself due to the lack of Wonder. She looked up at the boy, cringing and looking away from him.

"I'm sorry Blake...I didn't mean too do this."

"It isn't your fault, it was that damn book. I should be apologizing to you, for doing what I did to you. But we can talk later, we need Lizzie's book." he said. She nodded, reaching behind her back, handing him the book, which he quickly opened.

"Hey look, that's Grimm's Peak...it looks like it's plugged." Kitty said.

"Hunter and Ashlynn cut down a tree and called some animals for assistance. It's a huge plug, and it's sealed tightly. It's going to take quite a lot to remove it." Blake said, sadness in his voice.

"Well, who are we gonna get to pull it out?" Bunny asked, the same looks of curiosity on everyone's faces. They heard a loud sneeze nearby and turned to look at the Fairest Wheel, where the troll was still trying to get the pepper from his nose. Kitty grinned, something that they all shared in that instance.


	49. Spring Unsprung Finale

**A/N:**

 **Hello everyone, welcome to the final chapter of the Spring Unsprung Arc of the story. Man it has been a ride, but the arc has to come to an end at some point. We have seen Joey's plan come to fruition, and we saw Blake go to the dark side. This is something will be affecting him for some time to come. Blake will realize that he can't ignore his magic powers anymore and that he has to practice with them in order for them to stay back. He will learn that he is in control of his powers and not the other way around. His relationship with Raven will get even deeper as she will be teaching him quite a lot over the next few chapters.**

 **The next few chapters are going to be filler, but they will contain some very important stuff in them I guess. I was going to go right into Way Too Wonderland after The Blue Moon Forest Fest, but I have decided to add some more filler chapters so I can develop some characters. I have mentioned characters I haven't introduced yet, like Ophelia, Duchess's half sister and the White Swan, along with Rosabella and even Tobias LeGume who I introduced back in Chapter 2 and did nothing with. Thanks to Savvyman52 for reminding me of these characters which would have probably never been talked about if they hadn't been mentioned. Because of you, they will get some stuff written around them. I want to explore Duchess and Ophelia's dynamic, especially since Duchess is still attracted to Blake, so seeing as she is the White Swan, Ophelia will try to take away the man that her half sister loves, even though Blake himself isn't attracted to Duchess, or rather isn't interested in dating her because he sees her as a best friend only.**

 **The Blue Moon Forest Fest will most likely be about four chapters long, because it is a short story arc, but it will take us to around 60 chapters. Can you believe that? This is Chapter 49 and I'm already writing chapter 56, it's fucking insane. Of course this is including the small filler between the Forest Fest and Way too Wonderland. Joey will begin his next plan soon so you will all get to see that...someone asked me if Joey is gonna die soon, the answer is no. Like all good villains, he will have time to grow as a villain but won't be dying any time soon. Why would I get rid of one antagonist right now? When I could save him and have him do some fucked up shit later on? As for the arc that comes after which will be Dragon Games...uh...I have my own original take on that arc, the main stuff will happen...but to this day I haven't watched it...yeah sue me, I've wanted to hold off on watching Dragon Games until I was at least writing Way Too Wonderland, but now that we're almost at that arc, which I have to rewatch, I will finally get on the bandwagon and check that shit out. It's gonna be...full of dragons and shit...cuz Charizard is awesome.**

 **Remember to review, favorite and follow the story to get new updates...uh...if you have any questions as always PM me...and as always have an excellent day.**

 **The Song used in this chapter is called Machines by the band Crown the Empire. There are three songs in my playlist that I can listen too forever and never get tired of them. Our Last Night's Common Ground, Yelawolf's Best Friend, and Crown the Empire Machines. I've listened to these songs at least two thousand times each, maybe...my song counter on my Itunes stopped working for some reason so I don't know the exact count. But still give this song a listen while reading the lyrics and you will understand why I chose this song. For me, this song can be applied to various anime, whenever a person has a scream of rage and if you listen to it, you'll understand why. I sincerely hope you like this song, and if you don't...well check out some other stuff by Crown the Empire, I recommend, MNSTR, Maniacal Me, and Satellites, those are my favorites. Again, I hope you have a nice day!**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 49

Spring Unsprung Finale

 **Key for the Song: Machines**

 _Italics: Blake singing_

 _ **Bold Italics: Dexter screaming**_

 _ **Underlined Bold Italics: Backup singing**_

Regular Text: Blake Screaming

 _(If you are confused, I don't blame you, I am too)_

" _After a long grueling journey, through the dark Enchanted Forest, across many rivers and streams. The Wonderland children, along with the reformed Blake Bigby, trekked to the summit of Grimm's Peak. It was a tall, rugged mountain, filled with vile peaks and sharp lose stones. The climb had been grueling, and tragically, one lost their life, trying to reach the ultimate goal."_

"Okay Brooke, seriously I know you want to narrate but no one has died, and it's been like fifteen minutes." Blake said, glancing up at the sky as they reached the summit of the mountain.

" _Seriously Brooke? We stepped away for a few minutes to use the restroom and you managed to find our place holder? You even caused a time skip, you know how I feel about those."_

" _Come on dad, I just wanted to throw a bit of drama into it. Not that there hasn't been plenty of it during this really long day."_ the young narrator said. Blake shook his head, giving the troll a nod.

"Go for it big guy, bring the Wonder back to Ever After." he said. He nodded, easily pulling the plug away from the well.

A torrent of wonder burst from the well high into the sky. The backed up magic started flowing through the land, once again painting it in it's beauty and splendor. The forest regained its life, the critters were cheerfully and full of vitality. The magic spread throughout the four corners of Ever After, once again returning it to normal. While everyone was celebrating their achievement, having bested the dark curse that had almost sealed the fate of Ever After and it's residents, Blake couldn't help but think, back to everything he had done during this very long day.

It didn't take them long to reach the castle in the distance. Everyone cheered for when they arrived, but Blake quickly separated himself from his friends. After all they had been the true heroes of the day, the ones that had returned Wonder to Ever After. He didn't exactly know how to feel right now. Everyone around him was happy, and was acting like nothing had happened, as if the largest crisis in the world hadn't even taken place. But he still felt responsible for what had happened. All he recalled after Joey said those horrible things at the tea shop was anger flowing through him, his mirror shard feeling hot, and then it just went blank. It only then occurred to him that Joey must have been under the book's influence as well...so everything he had said was probably a result of that. He hadn't even noticed he had been enchanted in the first place.

"Blake, are you alright?" Raven asked, startling the boy, who took a few steps away from.

"Stay away from me Raven, I don't want to hurt you again." he said, fear and worry on his face.

"Blake, I'm not mad at you and I'm not disappointed in you either. What happened was an accident, it was out of your hands. You can't blame yourself for what you had no control over. Besides I'm not even hurt, the flow of Wonder was enough to heal my injuries. We're all back to normal." she said.

"No, it isn't all back to normal! I beat the hell out of you, I threw you on the ground like a puppet! I almost killed Holly and Cerise when I drained their magic, not to mention everyone else that I chained up. I was going to kill you for what your mother had done...I'm sorry, but I just can't forgive myself for that!" he cried, turning away from the girl.

"Mr. Bigby...Blake, what happened here today was an accident. We were not expecting the Cheshire Cat to swap out those books. We didn't know that this curse was going to be placed on anyone here. None of us blame you for what happened here today." Milton Grimm said, causing the boy to look up to him.

"My brother is right...you have instead proven yourself a hero, for returning the Wonder to Ever After. The darkness within you is dangerous, and in the wrong circumstances, very malevolent, but your kind heart is what's kept it in your control. We do not resent you, and we aren't blaming you for what happened." Giles Grimm said, causing the boy to frown.

"You say that but...remember I was the one that threw the Storybook of Legends into the well. If I hadn't done that, this riddle book wouldn't have made its way here. This wouldn't have happened if I hadn't thrown the book away." he said.

"Well, if you hadn't thrown the book away, then me and Bunny wouldn't be here right now. We wouldn't be rekindling with our dear friends who we've missed for the last four years. We wouldn't have figured out a way to travel to Ever After if Gloriosa hadn't found the book. So thank you for that Blake, you gave us hope...hope that one day, the curse on our world will be lifted, and we can all go home, together." Alistair said.

"I also have to say something. It's true that Blake threw the book in the well, he wouldn't have done it if I hadn't found it." Briar said, earning gasps from the gathered crowd.

"Briar, it was you who found the book? I thought it had been Blake all along. That's what he lead us to believe." Apple said. Briar shook her head, glancing at the headmaster.

"I found the book, when I was looking at the pictures during Thronecoming, I noticed the book me and Ashlynn shared was once used by the Evil Queen and Red Riding Hood. So I took one of Blondie's pins and went back to my dorm. Under the rug was a secret compartment, it was there that the book was hidden. I was going to return it, honest I was. But I was scared, I don't want to follow my destiny anymore, I don't want to wake up and talk to headstones for the rest of my life. When I reached the Well of Wonder, it was there that I saw Blake, making his wish." she said.

"She wasn't the only one there either...I was with Blake too. He was my date to the dance, and he showed me his Wishing Coin. I was the one that took him to the grove and let him in. All three of us made the decision that night to throw the book in the Well of Wonder. I wanted to see what would happen if we did throw the book in, and I got my answer. It turned my best friend forever after into a dark monster...and I will forever regret that. So if you want to play the blame game, it was all me. I was the only one excited for it." Kitty said, a firm look on her face.

"Dammit, I two you two not to say anything. I made you both a promise, that if anyone found out, I would take the blame. Why would you speak now of all times?" Blake asked, a sigh escaping his lips.

"Because Blake, you're my best friend forever after too. You've been dealt the shit end of the stick for too long, ever since testing week. You've had your test answers magically switched, lost your chance at the High Honor Society, lost your girlfriend, took the blame for Kitty when the Headmaster's ring was stolen, lost your pass twice and now this. Life here hasn't been fair to you, and I am not gonna stand by and watch you take the blame for something you didn't do alone." Briar said, a firm tone in her voice.

"That's right, so if your gonna expel anyone, then expel the both of us. We don't deserve to be students of Ever After High, not after all of the trouble we have caused." Kitty said, taking a hold of Briar's hand. Giles glanced at Milton, who had a pensive look on his face.

"Hmm...you three have done something very serious, which resulted in the almost destruction of our world as we know it. But you have also admitted your guilt, stepped up for your friends, and brought peace and wonder back into Ever After. I could expel you sure, but that wouldn't solve anything. I believe this is a lesson very well learned. So, I have decided not to do anything against any of you." he said, earning wide eyed looks from the three.

"What? But we almost destroyed Ever After!" Blake said, earning a chuckle from the man.

"Yes, but it wasn't just you, Mr. Bigby, I'm sure Miss White, Miss Ella and Mr. Huntsman also had a hand in it. Losing so many star students wouldn't be good for the school, so I shall let it all go with a classic slap on the wrist. In fact, I have decided to reinstate you to the Yearbook Committee, and remove your two week suspension following the Spring Fairest. You are also free to enter the Battle of the Bands and...you don't have to clean up the trash anymore." Milton said, handing the boy his pass back.

"Thank you Headmaster, I appreciate it but...I think I should still be punished for this. I did some terrible stuff to my friends...I think I at least deserve that two week suspension. I know being suspended doesn't solve anything, but I just want to be punished, for what I did here today." he said firmly.

"Come on Blake, he's giving you a free pass, don't waste it!" Kitty said, earning a nod from Briar.

"She's right, you don't deserve to pay for something that was out of your control." she said.

"I get that, but I've made my choice...please it'll help me forget all of this stuff even happened. I know Purple Rhapsody will do fine without me, if you all excuse me...I think I'd like some time to myself." he said, walking out of the fairgrounds, his head bowed slightly. Kitty was about to go after him, but Briar took her hand.

"It's best if we leave him be...he's going through a lot right now. Compared to the rest of us, he had it the worst." she said.

"I know but...this is all my fault too and I don't want him to suffer alone." she said.

"Kitty, I know that you're worried about him...but when Blake is sad, it's best if we leave him alone. I remember back in January he was depressed because he would be missing his mother's birthday. He wouldn't talk to me for a few days, but he was fine right after. Trust me okay?" Cerise asked, putting a hand on her shoulder.

"Are you gonna take him back?" the violet haired girl asked, earning a wide eyed look from the girl.

"I...haven't decided...I don't think he trusts me as much as he did in the past. After all, he thought I sold him out to the Fake Rebel, and I did have a messy break up with him. We talked it out but...I don't think we can ever have another relationship." she replied.

"Oh...I think I'm gonna go get a milkshake." she said, walking in the opposite direction. By now, everyone had either left to enjoy the last of the fair or to get ready for the Battle of the Bands. Even though Ever After High avoided disaster, some of it's students wouldn't forget what happened during this day.

 _ **xxx**_

"Goddamn it all! I had finally gotten to the final part of my plan! The riddle book worked, Blake was deranged...he was going to end it all by leaving Ever After! But those damn Wonderlanders...they had to ruin everything!" Joey cried, slamming his fists against his dresser. The Evil Queen's laughter, barely audible, flowed through the mirror, causing him to look up at it in anger, seeing his own reflection.

"You think this is funny eh? You fucking bitch! Who's side are you even on?" he asked. She stopped laughing, saying something to him. He leaned forward, pressing his ear against the glass.

"I can't hear you...say that again?"

" _Wonderland."_ the woman said, causing the boy to back away from the mirror.

He remembered the story, the Evil Queen hadn't finished her curse. If she had, then Wonderland would have been destroyed, Ever After would have ceased to exist. That was it, he didn't have to destroy Blake's life outright, not if he ruined his new home. If Ever After stopped being the happy-go-lucky place he had grown accustomed to, then he'd have no choice but to leave. Finishing the curse, and destroying Wonderland would be the best revenge plan ever...especially on those losers who had ruined his perfect plan in the first place.

" _If I finish the curse in Wonderland, and destroy it. The wonder will stop flowing through the well, repeating what just happened to day here in Ever After. By doing that, there will be no way for Blake to save his friends...the only way to save them would be for the to go to the Real World, where their magic would most likely kill them all one by one. Blake wouldn't be able to bare it, seeing all of his friends dying from magic poisoning...yes, this plan will do."_ he thought, glancing at the Mirror.

"Mira, the curse on Wonderland...I need you to finish it for me. In return, I shall finish casting it for you. Once I find the mirror, I shall free you and leave it to you, then I shall do with Ever After what I please. Of course, this is after I sign my name on the King Arthur story. Do we have an accord?" he asked glancing at the mirror, receiving a single blink in return. He smiled, a sickly sweet smile that would put the Grinch's to shame.

"Excellent, it shall be a pleasure doing business with you again, my Queen." he said, bowing before the mirror.

 _ **xxx**_

Due to the previous day's events, the Battle of the Bands had been moved to day two, and would start at three. It had been good news for those entering, including the members of Purple Rhapsody. Blake however stayed out of the meeting, not wanting to face any of his friends. In fact, he had been avoiding the fair for most of the day, but had come around after some prodding from Raven. She had told him nearly a hundred times that she wasn't mad at him and that she forgave him, but that didn't really change his demeanor toward what happened. He had changed out of the outfit Lizzie had made for him, as he had gotten it a bit dirty after what had happened the previous day. He didn't want to stick out much either, so he just wore his normal outfit, keeping his hood raised over his head. He just remained silent through most of the time at the fair, even though Raven wanted him to at least talk to his friends.

"How about that one? Maybe you can win some prizes." Raven said, grabbing his attention. He didn't say anything, but walked over to the booth, glancing at the game. It was a classic game of ring toss. He noticed some children playing the game, but weren't able to get anything other than a disappointed look on their faces.

"How much to play?" he asked the stand owner. The man gave him a smile.

"Five gold for three rings, but after what you did for us yesterday, I'll give you the first one free of charge." he said, handing the boy the three rings. He spun them around his finger, focusing on one of the pins. With a flick of his wrist, he tossed the ring to it, hooking it around the top of the pin. He did the same with the next two rings easily getting them on the pin.

"Wow, you got talent. You can take any prize from the top row." the man said. Blake glanced at the kids, siblings he would assume. They were looking at him with curiosity, most likely for how he had won the game.

"I'll take two minor prizes, give it to the kids." he said, earning a surprised look from the man. Raven gave the boy a smile, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"You're too kind you know that? You've made them happy." she said, watching the kids pointing to the prizes they wanted. Blake gave her a nod, walking away from the booth.

"Sometimes, you have to give away what you don't have, to earn something better in return. I had no need for those stuffed toys, but they wanted them, so I gave them away. It's just who I am." he said with a shrug, placing his hands in his pockets.

"Blake...are you alright? I mean...I know you aren't because of what happened but...I dunno who to ask you this."

"You're curious, you want to know if the darkness magic flowing through me did any lasting damage. Don't worry, Madam Yaga performed some basic tests on me. She said she found something weird in my blood, something that she would have to study for awhile." he replied, glancing at his sister who gave him a weird look.

"That's interesting. Since I was the only relative related to the Evil Queen, she asked me for a sample of my blood. She wanted to know if my mother's magic was changing the constitution of your blood cells."

"She wants to see if the magic is changing my body...turning me more like her, right?" he asked, earning a nod from the girl. He shrugged, glancing toward the distant trees.

"It sounds messed up, I know...we're just...trying to figure out the reason why my mother picked you. She could have picked any one from your world, but she seemed to select you for a reason. Could it be because of your magical aptitude? You had a lot of power in you when we were fighting, almost as if you were born with it." Raven said, earning a curious look from the boy.

"Remember, a person from a world without magic becomes a sponge for it. My magic was just amplified by that...what's weird, is while I was transformed into that evil version of myself, I thought my darkness was light...I thought it was warm and comforting. Isn't darkness magic supposed to be evil?" he asked curiously, earning a giggle from the girl.

"Have you seen me use darkness magic for evil? I'm like a paragon of good. I noticed Joey was also magically gifted, I can sense his magic as well. But he's got no control over it, I've seen some teachers trying to teach him the basics but he just can't seem to grasp it. We was acting a little weird during all of this too, but Cedar did say she had seen him with the riddle book."

"Think what he said to me at the tea shop was part of the curse?" he asked, earning a shrug from her.

"I'm not sure, I wasn't there. But Liz did say both your eyes were violet at that point, so I would assume so. If that's the case, he should have given you Lucy's bracelet back."

"Eh, he isn't going too. I know Joey, he isn't going to return it, just to spite me. I don't remember anything after I left the tea shop, because my anger spiked after he said what he said. If I were to guess, he said all of that in his right mind before the curse took over, just like what happened to me. In which case, he did everything to piss me off, most likely knowing what would happen." Blake said, side stepping to allow some kids to run past him. He stopped next to a candy stand, looking at the menu for something interesting.

"Blake...are you insinuating that he planned all of this? If he did then we have to tell the headmaster. This is serious, not only did he do this to hurt you, but he separated you from Cerise. Who knows how long he's been planning this!" she exclaimed, earning a laugh from the boy. He handed her a mount of pink cotton candy, taking the blue one for himself.

"I don't have proof of what he's doing...but if there's a hypothetical plan...then I'll make sure to get back at him. I'll let him play around, do things his way. But he knows that when I make a promise...I keep it." Blake said, looking at a piece of paper in his hand, seeing a single phrase written on it. Raven looked at it, tilting her head in confusion.

"Come to Wonderland with me? What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, earning a chuckle from the boy.

"It's a riddle for someone, a close friend. If she's smart, then she'll be able to solve it, but like all good riddles, the punch line needs to be delivered at the right time. So, my question for you dear sister, would you like to accompany me to the Well of Wonder?" he asked, a firm look on his face.

"The Well of Wonder? You do know that it moves around right? How are we going to find it?"

"Oh, that shouldn't be too hard. I mean, not when you have a map." he said, giving the girl a grin as he held up Lizzie's book.

"The more time I spend with you, the more I realize that you belong here Blake. Call me crazy, but maybe your destiny was to come to Ever After High...you've made this story quite interesting already."

"Then I hope you look forward to the following chapters. I'm not gonna let this little mistype get the best of me. I hurt my friends, but I'm not going to let that stop me from doing what's right. I will make it up to them, by returning their destinies back to them. I just gotta figure out how to open the door." he said, opening the book. The map appeared before him, and he started walking toward the Enchanted Forest, taking a small bite from his cotton candy.

"Open a portal to Wonderland...that's gonna be hard, but I'm sure we'll find the answer. Maybe before this year ends?"

"Definitely." Blake said, a smile on his face.

They remained mostly silent during their trek through the woods, just following the map. They did talk mostly about their childhoods, what it was like growing up in different worlds. It was odd and almost normal for them to speak about their lives. Blake was actually glad that Raven trusted him enough to share her life story with her. It helped strengthen their sibling bond at least. He couldn't help but think back on his real sisters, and wonder what they were doing. He came to a stop when he looked at the map, noticing the well was about to pop up a few feet from where they stood.

"You know, I wonder what my family is doing sometimes. In their world, it's been about a year since I disappeared. Maybe even more...I always wonder, if Susan got her degree or Mary actually graduated high school, if my dad got some time off to come home, if my mom finally made enough money to take a break for awhile. Then I remember how distraught they would be if they remembered me." he said, closing the book and placing it in his bag.

"I don't think they would be distraught. It would hurt, I'm sure it would...but they would also cherish the moments they spent with you. Hey, you've been helping all of us out, since you arrived here...it would be messed up if we didn't help you. I'm making you a promise and I will keep it, I will get you home...or I'll find a way to bring your family here. Whatever the case, you will see them again!" Raven said firmly, taking a hold of his hand.

"I know I will, just like I'll see her again, some day." he replied, glancing at the sparkling clearing before him. It wasn't long before the Well of Wonder appeared before him, it's beautiful rainbow light shining around the clearing. He walked toward it, grabbing the note he had written, slowly folding it into a paper airplane.

"Do you think your friend will get that? How do you know if they're even in Wonderland?"

"I just do, it's a gut feeling you know. When you obsess with a place for as long as she did, you get the inclination that she somehow found her way to that place. If she doesn't get it, then I'll just have to hand deliver it, let's hope she does. I think I've had enough Wonderland stuff for awhile." he said, tossing the paper plane into the well. They watched as it flew straight down, plopping into the water.

"Well, that's done now...we should head back, the battle of the bands is starting soon." he said, earning a smile from the girl.

"That's right, are you gonna grace us with a new song? Or are you not going to enter after all?"

"I wasn't going to enter, a bit of self punishment for what happened. But Kitty convinced me, thing is...I know Joey is going to perform our song. So we're going to perform a new one...one that's more...fitting. After all, I'm sure he thinks that I don't know he's planning shit against me. But he's just a prick though thinks he knows shit but doesn't know shit. And I'm going to get him, maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow...but I will get him." he said, a firm look on his face.

"Then let's hope this song gets the message across to him...come on, it's almost three." she said, pulling him along.

"Come on sis, can't we just enjoy our nature hike through the woods without having to hurry?"

 _ **xxx**_

"Are you sure this is the song you want to perform Joey? I mean we only practiced it once." Jack said, glancing at the lyrics his friend had handed him.

"Yes I know, but Purple Rhapsody is going to go hard or go home. Especially since Blake is going to perform now." he replied, placing his hand on the table, leaning back in his seat. Frost looked up from the music sheet, noticing the bracelet around his wrist.

"Isn't that...Blake's bracelet? What are you doing with it?" he asked curiously, earning a smirk from Joey.

"This bracelet actually belonged to my deceased girlfriend. I was the one that bought it for her, for a year...I thought it was missing. I spent quite a lot of money on it, so I decided to take it back. After all, I was the closest person to Lucy, so I should get to keep her bracelet."

"I can see your point, from a monetary standpoint...but that's sentimental. Don't you care about Blake's feelings?" Pierre asked. Joey shook his head, taking a sip from his soda bottle.

"No, I don't. I cut all ties with him the second he tried killing everyone in Ever After."

"That wasn't his fault. Witnesses say it was you that put the book next to him, and it was an argument between you two that sparked his anger in the first place. So you aren't without blame...I have no idea why he didn't say anything about that." Jack said, arms crossed over his chest.

"Jack is right, he didn't mean to do that. Blake has been nice to everyone, even us and we used to be nothing more than Henry's lackeys." the son of Minister Frollo added, earning a nod from Frost.

"That's right...people tended to avoid me because of my association with him. But now I'm talking to a lot of people, and I've even been talking to a few girls. I believe everyone should be forgiven, hell I'm willing to forget that. After all, it was Apple that planned that all out, and we're not blaming her." he said.

"You're right, but Apple White didn't try to kill anyone. She just plugged up the well of Wonder."

"Which would have eventually kill us Joey. A lack of wonder would eventually start tearing the Fairytale world at the seams. It isn't just Ever After that would disappear, it would be Nottingham, Neverland, the Land of Giants, every single realm connected to us. The final stand would be Wonderland, but even then the portals are closed, we would all disappear, probably without even noticing what happened." Jack said, taking a drink from his cup.

"Whatever...I can't be friends with someone like that, so I'll just avoid him. But we are making an attempt at this thing, I don't care that they have an album coming out, or that they're the most popular band in Ever After High...we can easily best them with the right song, and this is it." the brown haired boy said. The three boys shared a look, giving him a nod.

"Fine, we'll perform this song. We've practiced it before so it's fine." Frost said, earning a smile from Joey.

"Thanks guys, we'll do great...we're up after some band from a rival school. Actually, I think our competition is up next...wanna take a look at their song?" he asked, standing up from his seat.

"Sure, it could give us a measure of whatever their singing." Pierre said, following his friend's example. They started moving closer to the Battle stage, glancing at the Jumbo Mirrors set up around the area, as there were hundreds of spectators who wanted to see the bands compete. In front of the stage were the judges, Mr. Piper, Headmaster Milton Grimm and the famous Tailor Quick. Blondie walked up to the stage, giving the camera a bright smile.

"Alright everyone, we've heard several bands perform, some were good, and some were...not so good. But now, I would like to welcome some friends of mine. Let us welcome the most popular band here in Ever After High, Purple Rhapsody!" she cried, stepping away as the members of the band all walked onto the stage, taking their position behind their respective instruments. The crowd had broken into thunderous applause, everyone was chanting their names, whistling and cheering. Blake walked up to the center microphone, a smile on his face.

"Uh well...here we are again. The last time we all performed was back during the Winter Formal...this brings back memories. Before we begin today, I would like to publicly apologize for my actions yesterday. I understand that I wasn't in my right mind due to the cursed riddle book I read. No one is at fault, but that doesn't mean our actions didn't make in impact. I will make this right, eventually." he said.

"Come on Blake, we've already forgiven you, countless times actually." Cupid said, earning laughter from the crowd. The boy shook his head, flushing a bit.

"You have, five hundred and forty-eight times in fact. I believe however, that all of this happened for a reason, maybe it was destiny, maybe it was fate...maybe life tossed a test toward us. All I know, is that someone set it up, and someone made it happen. It was too perfect...but this is all just speculation. This song, is dedicated to that person, hopefully it makes you squirm...that's what I'm going for." he said, glancing around the crowd. Joey swallowed hard, trying to make himself invisible inside the crowd. Blake locked eyes with him, giving him a smirk, before he gestured to the crowd, taking a deep breath which echoed through the speakers.

" _We hold on to the lies to feel free,_

 _So shackled by smiles, so empty_

 _We're scared of the war, so we've forgotten who we are_

 _We've traded in hope, for safety, we're raised in the smoke,_

 _Insisting that we're all to tired to light the fire,_

 _And shake the earth,_

 _But if all we are is just machines, then let's become a miracle,_

 _And break free from these chains_

 _We muuuuust, be more than just machines,_

 _So let them hear our hearts!"_

" _ **So let them hear our hearts!"**_

" _ **So let them hear our hearts!"**_

"So let them hear our hearts!"

Blake gave the camera a wink as he grabbed a hold of the microphone, holding it tightly in his hand. A few girls in the crowd started crying his name afterwards, earning several eyerolls from the other crowd members. There was a brief pause in the melody, as he took a deep breath, closing his eyes.

"YEEEEAHHH!" he screamed, his voice echoed through the speakers as he started walking back toward center stage, his cloak fluttering with every spring in his step.

" _Where will you run, when there's no place left for you to hide!_

 _When you're faced with the flood!_

 _Will you stand for the future and Swallow you're Pride?"_

Blake started moving back toward the front of the stage, giving Dexter a nod as he ran his fingers across the neck of his guitar. A smile on his face.

" _Where will you run?"_

" _ **Where will you run?"**_

" _ **Sometimes, I feel like I'm the only one who dares to dream!**_

 _ **And Scream at the top of my lungs! I hope that I'm proven wrong!"**_

" _But if all we are is just machines, then let's become the miracle_

 _And break free from these chains._

 _We must be more than just machines, so let them hear our hearts!"_

" _ **So let them hear our hearts!"**_

" _Where will you run, when there's no place left for you to hide!_

 _When you're faced with the flood? Will you stand for the future and Swallow your Pride?_

 _Where will you run, when there's no place left for you to hide!_

 _When you're faced with the flood? Will you stand for the future and Swallow your pride?"_

The melody started winding down a bit, and Blake all out of breath, started walking toward the front of the stage, placing his microphone back in its stand. He reached behind his back, pulling out a black and purple mega phone, switching it on. He gave his bandmates a nod, taking another breath as he stood in front of the microphone, tapping his hand against his leg, keeping pace with the song.

" _ **If all we are is just machines, then we must be the cogs**_

 _ **Inside the wheels of change. We must be more than just machines!**_

 _ **We can't afford to hide, we must embrace the pain.**_

 _ **If all we are is just machines, then we must be the cogs**_

 _ **Inside the wheel's of change."**_

" _We must be more than just machines! We can't afford to hide! We must Embrace. The. Pain!"_

" _Where will you run? When there's no place left for you to hide? When you're faced with the flood, Will you step for the future and Swallow your pride?"_

The megahorn in Blake's hand broke apart from how tight he was holding it. He hadn't even noticed he had been channeling magic into it, making it sound almost computerized. The final notes of the song faded, and everyone was left with nothing but silence. Feeling a bit embarrassed, he just gave the crowd a small bow, fluttering his cloak a bit. The crowds reaction was instant, all of them broke into applause and cheering, chanting their names and the name of their Band. Dexter gave Blake a pat on the shoulder, the boy panting a bit after the song. Cupid gave him a grin while Melody and Cerise just stood by his sides, bright smiles on their faces.

"Another amazing hit, you guys are just very creative aren't you? The megahorn was a nice touch!" Blondie said, earning a smile from Blake.

"Eh, that was a last minute addition...it was so last minute that I literally saved it for last. Why do you think I was moving about so much? I was nervous as hell." he admitted, his cheeks flushed pink.

"Of course you were, you always move around when you're nervous." Cerise said, earning a laugh from the boy.

"Yup, you of all people would know that. Anyway, I hope you all liked it...it's on our album as a bonus track. We'll be starting that raffle at the end of this week, look forward to it!" He said.

"The album goes online a week after the raffle ends, so look forward to it!" Melody added, giving the crowd a wave.

"Now, what do your judges say?" Blondie said, glancing at the panel of judges. All three slammed their hand on the buzzer, lighting the stage up in green lights, giving them the pass.

"Congratulations guys! You've made it to the winner's circle, only another band made it through. So you've got some stiff competition. We'll see you in the next round!" the daughter of Goldilocks said, waving at the five teenagers.

"That was awesome guys! We're definitely gonna win this thing for sure!" Cupid said.

"Hey, all of us did great, especially with that backup work...all of you did fantastic!" Blake said, a grin on his face.

"You always say the back up work is good." Melody said, earning a chuckle from the boy.

"Duh, the back up makes the song even better, and you lovely ladies always do a great job. Dexter's screaming has gotten better, and all of us can actually play our instruments, unlike some of the other bands. We've got this, and if we don't...well, it's fine. It's still pretty fun right?" he said, giving his friends a grin.

"I've got no doubt in my mind that we won't win. Come on, we've won at everything so far!" Cerise said, earning a giggle from Cupid.

"This is our first contest Cerise, there's still a high chance that we will lose. We aren't the only band representing Ever After High." she said.

"Yeah, but that other band has a bastard in it, so they're bound to lose. We work hard and write our own material. We always say when it's a cover song, that other guy...all he does is lie, steal and cheat. Cheaters never win, and winners never lie. He'll get his." Blake said, arms crossed over his chest.

"Now, for our next band...these young men also attend Ever After High and serve as the rivals to Purple Rhapsody. Let's give it up for Yuletide Bliss Re-Invented!" Blondie said, a smile on her face as she introduced the next band. They didn't say anything, just went straight into the song.

" _They told him don't you ever come around here_

 _Don't want to see your face, you better disappear!_

 _The fire's in their eyes and their words are really clear_

 _So beat it, just beat it!_

 _You better run you better do what you can_

 _Don't want to see no blood, don't be a macho man_

 _You want to be tough, better do what you can_

 _So beat it, but you wanna be bad_

 _Just beat it, beat it, beat it, beat it!_

 _No one wants to be defeated!_

 _Showin' how funky and strong is your fight_

 _It doesn't matter who's wrong or right_

 _Just beat it, beat it_

 _Just beat it, beat it_

 _Just beat it, beat it_

 _Just beat it, beat it."_

"Wow, Blake was right, he really did perform that song...fancy that." Melody said, taking a sip from her drink.

"Mhmm...I can see the smirk on his face too." Blake said.

" _He must not have gotten the message of our song...alright Joey, I'll let you play for now...but don't worry, you'll be taught one of the hardest lessons in life. Revenge is a dish best served cold...but Misery loves company. So at least you'll have company for when your plan backfires."_ he thought to himself, a devious smirk on his face.

 _ **xxx**_

Purple Rhapsody was the obvious winner of the Battle of the Bands. Yuletide Bliss Re-Invented made second and Sparrow and the Merry Men made it in third. Just like Blake had said, he had donated most of his money to charity, keeping the last five thousand tucked away in a secret place within his room. It was night time on the third night of the Spring Fairest. He was on the fourth floor observatory, his favorite place in all of the school. The fairgrounds at night looked absolutely stunning, like a lot of twinkling lights. The wind was blowing slightly, a cool breeze washing over the area, he wasn't bothered by it but he found himself shivering this time.

"Is the mighty Blake Bigby cold tonight?" the familiar voice of Kitty Cheshire asked, causing him to turn around. He hadn't seen her since the first day of the fairest. She was still in that rather cute outfit of hers, that familiar grin on her face. Her hair was blowing slightly in the wind. He noticed she was holding a bottle of some sort in her hands.

"I'm not cold, just...reminiscing I guess. It's really dark up here, makes the fairgrounds look even better." he replied, leaning against the railing.

"I figured you'd be up here...I had some time to myself yesterday...after everything that happened, I just wanted to be alone."

"Mhmm, I felt the same way. That's why I left after everything had happened...I couldn't face anyone. It was even harder afterwards...Apple came to talk to me, apologizing for everything she did. Apparently the two of us were in some twisted relationship while we were cursed. I had to apologize to Hunter for kissing his girlfriend, even though it was her that kissed me. Ashlynn was really sorry, but it was so weird, I just felt like I was being choked." he admitted, a frown on his face.

"Yup, it isn't fun when everyone looks at you like some monster. I think I learned my lesson, I'll think twice before pranking people. It doesn't mean I won't stop doing it though." she said, giving the boy a wink. She disappeared a second later, reappearing on the railing. She handed him a glass, reaching for the bottle's cap.

"What is that? Champagne?"

"Mhmm, swiped it from the kitchen. They got so many bottles I doubt they'll miss one...I just felt like we needed to unwind a bit." she replied, popping the cork off. The two of them watched it sail through the air, falling down on some unsuspecting persons head. They dropped behind the railing as they looked up, wondering who had flung it at them.

"One of these days you're gonna get in so much trouble you won't be able to talk yourself out of it." he said, sitting back against the railing.

"Yeah, but that's something future me will have to worry about." she said, filling up his glass almost to the brim. She poured some out for herself, glancing at the golden bubbling liquid.

"I've always wanted to try this...my mom said she's drank so much of this stuff that she'd rather be handed cheap beer." Blake said, glancing at his glass. Kitty held hers out, a smile on her face.

"A toast to friendship, and new beginnings."

"New beginnings? I think I like that...to friendship and new beginnings." he said, clinking his glass against hers. They both took a gulp of it, instantly regretting it.

"Oh, it went up my nose!" Kitty cried, setting her glass down as she clutched her nose.

"This sucks so bad! Why the hell do people drink this?" Blake cried, hitting his chest to clear his throat.

After their first mishap, they managed to slowly drink down their first glass, setting them aside. It was a bit weird, he didn't feel any different than before, but he felt a little warm. It must have been the alcohol in the drink, even though it didn't have as much as maybe a bottle of Whiskey, it could still get you tipsy. Kitty sat back against the railing, pulling her legs up closer to herself, wrapping her arms around them, glancing toward the doors. The cheers of the children down below and the noise of the attractions being the only sound they could hear.

"You wanna know why I asked the headmaster for that two week suspension? I needed some time to think...to get away from it all. I love this place, with all my heart. But after what happened, I just...needed to take a break."

"I don't blame you...failing most of your tests, breaking up with your girlfriend, turning into an evil maniac, all in the span of a month and a few weeks? That's enough to make anyone want to leave. I would if I could, but I'm not exactly looking forward to swan diving into the Well of Wonder." she replied, grabbing a hold of the bottle beside her. She took a drink from it, not bothering to pour it into her glass.

"Don't worry, we're gonna go to Wonderland. One day, and we will break the curse the Evil Queen put on it. I've already promised myself that I would bring back the Storybook of Legends, and I will break that curse. I want you all to at least be able to go home whenever you want, a luxury that I can't afford." he said, taking a hold of her hand. She smiled a bit, passing him the bottle. He took a long swig from it, trying not to cough from the bubbles.

"You know...I've asked for suspension too...you wanna take a trip around the Fairytale world? Get a good look at Ever After? There are plenty of places that I want to explore, and now is our chance!" she said, an excited look on her face.

"Are you serious? I was just gonna dick around town and go spend time with Ruby, see how far along she is. But that sounds like more fun to me." he replied, earning a grin from the girl.

"Okay, I suppose we can go visit Cerise's mom. I didn't know she was pregnant, why'd you keep this from me?" she asked, earning a chuckle from the boy.

"Because it isn't supposed to be public knowledge, you sneaky cat. I've got a couple places I want to visit though, Nottingham and Neverland. Think we can find a way to reach those places?" Blake asked curiously. Kitty glanced up into the air, pointing straight up to a bright and shining star.

"Right there, the second star to the right is the portal to Neverland. The only way to get there is on a dragon. Sadly there are no open portals to Nottingham, the worlds were quarantined when all the portals to Wonderland were sealed." Kitty replied, a frown on her face.

"But what about the Wonder? How do those places survive without it?"

"I'm not sure...Neverland has pixie dust, it's magic is strong enough for its world to not need wonder. As for Nottingham, it's a world supposedly stuck in time, meaning there's no magic there. Robin Hood takes place in Nottingham, which is in a country named England, but we haven't ever asked about any other place in that world...it isn't knowledge we need."

"Hmm...England is a country back in my world...in fact, Alice's Adventure's in Wonderland takes place in my world, early on. Maybe that's the real connection...all of these stories take place in subsections of parallel universes, all connected to Earth." he replied, taking another swig from the bottle. He had gotten used to it by now so it didn't affect him much. He handed it to Kitty, who also took a drink from it.

"Maybe Ever After is a parallel world created from your world. Who knows right? All I know is getting to Neverland is going to be a pain in the ass. Well...unless you can somehow train Cadence to fly." she replied.

"Hmm...that might be a good idea, thanks Kitty. If we can get Cadence to fly, we can just go there ourselves." he said.

"Uh...you do know that you need a Dragon Rider's license to fly a dragon right?" she asked, earning a wide eyed look from the boy.

"Fuck me...it's always something...well, there's one place I've been wanting to see for awhile. The Land on top of the World, the place where Crystal lives. Maybe we can head there after we visit Ruby." he said.

"Ugh...why do you wanna visit her? You do know she's going to pounce you the second she realizes you're a single man right?"

"No she won't. Crystal is a sweet girl, I mean...I know she likes me, but she wouldn't go as far as pouncing me." he said, earning a raised brow from the girl. She took another swig from the bottle, burping a second after.

"She was giving you the fuck me eyes when she was here last. In fact, I think she said something to Cerise. What was it? Uh...just because a goal has a goalie doesn't mean I can't score? Something along those lines." she said.

"Okay, I'm sure that's the champagne talking." he replied.

"It isn't...talk to Cerise...she knows." the girl slurred, a grin on her face. He shook his head, taking the almost empty bottle from her hand. He decided to kill it off, letting the bottle fall from his hand next to him.

"Whatever, we're visiting Ruby, and then we're visiting Crystal." he said sternly. She huffed, crossing her arms and looking away from him.

"Fiiine." she whined, earning a laugh from the boy. He glanced up at the sky, seeing all of the twinkling stars.

"Kitty, be honest with me...you painted that rose orange didn't you?" he asked, earning a curious look from the girl. She gave him a grin, a giggle passing her her lips.

"Yup, you caught me. I forgot to spray some rose scented perfume on it, so that was my bad."

"That is so you...so, what was the true color? Do I have to guess?"

"Mmm, maybe I'll tell you one day. The day we break the curse on Wonderland, I'll tell you the color of that rose. It's a promise." she said, holding her hand out, pinkie raised up. He wrapped his own pinkie around it, giving her a grin.

"It's a promise."

The Spring Fairest may have started off on the wrong foot, but in the end, Blake manage to make the most of it. Spring had sprung, and it had been a rather interesting way to receive it. He was introduced to an amazing festival and he had a good story to tell if someone asked. He was sure going to hate telling everyone how his darkness to over his mind, but there were good parts to the Fairest as well. Kitty rested her head against his shoulder, a content smile on her face. Maybe it wasn't the right time, but once his heart healed a bit, he would try again. Of course he'd have to figure out the color of her rose first. It wasn't ideal, but if he had to break into Wonderland to find out, then he would. After all, Kitty was his best friend, and he wasn't going to let her down, not after what happened between him and Cerise.

 _ **xxx(Rainbow River, Wonderland)xxx**_

"Looks like another scorcher, huh Gloria?" Mavis said, glancing at her friend from the boulder she was sitting on. The auburn haired girl shrugged, grabbing a smooth rock from the river bed.

"Maybe...I haven't heard from Alistair, so I take it he's staying on the other side. Marmoreal should be appearing nearby in a couple of weeks, so we should be set for now." she said, throwing the stone into the water, watching it skip a few times before plunking below its surface.

"Lucky them...I wonder what Ever After looks like now? I was only there once as a little girl. It seemed so peaceful, made me really miss the wackiness of home." the copper haired girl said.

"Sucks even more when you've been away for years on end. Back on Earth I always had this weird fascination with Wonderland. I read the story, watched the movie and pretended I was Alice. I had dreams about this place...I never once thought I was from here, and daughter of a Queen no less. I don't act every Queenly...and I don't smell like one either." the girl said, nose scrounging up a bit when she smelled her dress.

"You've seriously got to wash that thing. I have clothes at home that fit you, come on, at least let me do that." the daughter of the March Hare said, earning a sigh from Gloriosa.

"Okay fine, but we're taking a bath together, it'll save time." she said, throwing one final stone into the river. It skipped across the water, striking a nearby rock. It flew forward, a dull clang filling their ears. The two girls looked across the river, eyes widening a bit when they saw a person dressed in a suit of Crimson armor. They backed away from the bank, glaring at the figure.

"What are you doing here? We got another two months before were due back at school!" Mavis said.

"Indeed, I just felt the need to remind you two not to skip out this time. You know how Courtley gets when her students decide too...skip class." the knight said, earning a laugh from Gloriosa, who stuck her hand in her dress, pulling out a blue slip.

"I still got a hall pass, so unless Courtley wants her face beaten in, she'll stop sending her goons after me. I already beat up Meriwether in his own stupid game, don't make me do the same to you." she said, earning a dry chuckle from the night.

"As if I would allow you to lay a hand on me. You act like you are tough, but honestly Gloriosa, you and I both know that you are out of place here. Your time out of Wonderland made you soft, too soft to succeed your mother's role. Perhaps some time in Wonderland High will correct you." he said.

"Ahem, according to the charter law 672, paragraph 14, sub paragraph 6...no student of Wonderland High School shall be challenged to any sanctioned game off school grounds. In addition, school must be in session for any and all challenges to be wagered and accepted." Mavis said firmly. The knight sighed, shaking his head.

"You are correct, as always. Well played...you best be careful, at any moment Wonderland High could appear behind you, and when that happens, you two are mine." the knight said, getting onto his chess piece. It neighed loudly before hopping away.

"Courtley's influence on him must be hard. He didn't used to be like that."

"Yeah...it was all different until the Evil Queen came here. Now it's mandatory to attend school and pass every class or it's detention for you. If I could drive a sword through Courtley's guts, I would...but she's central to our story and I can't take any risks. I'll just have to beat her at her own game, hope I can build the right hand. We should go, before someone else decides to show up." Gloriosa said, spinning on her heel, heading back toward the March Hare's house. As they were walking Mavis noticed something flying through the air. She held her hand out, watching as the paper airplane landed on it. She looked at it oddly, seeing a name written on it.

"Gloriosa, your middle name is Lucille right?" she asked.

"Yup, why do you ask?" the girl replied, glancing toward her friend. Mavis turned around, passing her the paper plane.

"It's for you."

Gloriosa narrowed her eyes a bit when she saw the name on the wing. She unfolded the paper airplane, looking it over for any markings. When she turned the paper over, her eyes widened in shock

"Come to Wonderland with me? What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's a riddle, a riddle from a friend that I hold dear in my heart. It seems the door will open soon, and we must be ready for they're arrival." she said, folding the paper and tucking it into her dress. Mavis just looked at her, confusion written on her face. She didn't know what her friend was saying, but she guessed she would be getting the answer to this riddle sooner or later.


	50. Dragon Training

**A/N:**

 **Huzzah! Chapter 50 cometh! Ah...I can't believe it, this story has finally reached fifty chapters! We're on the road to a hundred it seems because this story is long from over! I would like to thank all of the readers for making this story awesome, after all you guys are a part of this just as I am. Though we just finished the Spring Unsprung arc, we are now having a small bit of filler before the Blue Moon Forest Fest. These chapters will contain some interesting stuff, I mean in my opinion it's interesting...I'll let you be the judge.**

 **Before, I was going to jump straight into Way Too Wonderland, but I have decided to write some filler before the prelude of that arc, so I can write some exposition on certain characters that I haven't touched upon yet. Can you believe that I've written 50 chapters and haven't given this story a Maddie centered chapter? Or included her for more than a few cut ins? I'm a little disappointed in that, so I will be having more of Maddie in the next few chapters, most likely after the Forest Fest. I will be centering around Rosabella as well as Ophelia, Duchess's half sister and the White Swan in the Swan Lake story. I'll also focus a bit more on Briar and her still growing concerns over the Storybook of Legends, as well as her feelings for Blake which she hasn't mentioned to anyone except Ashlynn.**

 **I also gotta work on Joey and his scumbag ass plan to head to Wonderland and fuck shit up, that's right...Plan Beta has failed, but that doesn't mean there isn't a Plan Theta on the way. You'll find out about that stuff soon enough. I also gotta think of a way to get Ashlynn into Wonderland since I'm adding her into the Way Too Wonderland arc. I feel that since she knows about the book, that she should be in this arc as well. It was either her or Ginger who had already been to Wonderland previously, but I had no idea how to get her into the arc. There are plenty of other characters too that I haven't focused on in awhile, including Ramona who went AWOL for the last arc, but that was my fault. She'll be in the next few chapters, I promise.**

 **As always, bootyslap that wonderful review bar at the bottom and let me know what you think. Favorite, follow and all that junk so that you can get all of the latest updates. If you have any questions, as always send me a PM...and as always, have a wonderful day! Hopefully it stops raining soon so I can watch some damn television...Direct Tv really pisses me off sometimes...**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 50

Dragon Training

It was Friday now, the second to last day of the Spring Fairest. Blake was currently in an open field in the Enchanted Forest, having brought his pet dragon Cadence along with him. The crystal dragon was currently exploring the new area, sniffing anything and everything that caught her interest. She had grown quite a bit from the small baby that he had hatched months ago. The purpose of him bringing her out to this field was to teach her how to fly. He had started growing interested in being a dragon rider, and since he had a pet dragon, he figured he could teach her how to fly. He had asked Raven for help, since Nightmare was already capable of flying. The first thing that she had him get was some proper clothes so he wouldn't get hurt.

He was wearing a pair of fitted leather pants, black in color, stuffed into brown armored boots. He was wearing some protective braces over his knees, attached to his boots, bearing the mark of Ever After High, a golden key with a crown at the top. He was wearing a belt around his waist, which had a leather pouch attached to it, decorated with silver markings and studs on the front and sides. He was wearing a long sleeved teal button down shirt, which fell over his pants. He was wearing a pair of silver shoulder guards which were polished to a shine. Around his forearms, he was wearing a pair of violet arm guards, along with fingerless leather gloves. He was wearing his hooded cloak over the outfit, his hood being kept down. He had also brushed his hair down, having dyed some strands red and blue to contrast with the violet strand he had in his hair.

He thought he had done a good job with his selection, since it was all custom made. He was glancing at his reflection in a nearby puddle, seeing his full outfit for the first time since he had put it on. Cadence wondered over to him, glancing at the puddle taking a little whiff of it. She started lapping the water up, spitting up a second later, hacking rather loudly, making the boy chuckle.

"That's why we don't drink water from puddles Cadence. You could end up drinking mud or worse, getting a virus. If you wanted water, you could have asked." he said, earning a snort from the dragon who just looked away from him. He rolled his eyes, shaking his head.

"Hey Blake, hope we didn't keep you waiting for too long."

The black haired boy turned around, eyes widening a bit when he saw the outfit his sister was wearing. It looked completely different from her normal attire. She was wearing a short sleeved feathered shirt, that was light teal in color. Around her shoulders she was wearing a pair of shoulder guards with black and gray feathers on it, having several belts attached to it. She was wearing a neck piece in the likeness of a bird skull with violet gems in the eyes and a black studded beak. She was wearing a pair of tight fitting black pants, around her waist she had several chained belts. She had a half cloak around her waist that fell down past her knees. She wore armored heeled boots, silver in color with dark violet belts.

She had pulled her hair up into a high ponytail, tying it up with a black ribbon. He noticed streaks of light teal and black flowing through her violet hair. She was also wearing mostly violet make up instead of usual black or dark purple, the area around her left eye had been painted to match the scales around Nightmare's eyes. She gave him a smirk, placing her hands on her hips.

"I take it you like the outfit."

"I do, I mean...damn...you look hot." he said, earning a laugh from the girl.

"That's cute coming from you...but I brought along what you asked me for." she replied.

With a flick of her wrist, she sent a wave of violet magic toward Cadence who watched with curiosity as it swirled around her body. In a fraction of a second, a violet and black saddle was attached to her back, along with the bridle, the bit appearing in her mouth. She started licking it, biting down hard on it but being unable to actually snap it.

"She isn't gonna bite through that, is she?"

"Nope, those are designed so dragons don't bite through them. Trust me, Nevermore here has had her fair share of broken reins. Now then, that's enchanted to change when she learns how to shift her size. This is an ability all dragons have while they're growing up, once they reach full adult hood, they won't be able to change back to a smaller size." she said.

"Um, okay...you're the professional here, so I'll follow your lead." Blake said, taking a hold of the reins so that Cadence wouldn't run off. Raven placed a hand on Nevermore's snout, the dragon closed her eyes, magically shifting her size to nearly that of an adult dragon. She spread her wings out, flapping them a bit. The wind generated from it almost knocked Blake off his feet.

"It isn't hard, it's an ability that she's born with. Cadence, I want you to listen closely to what Nevermore has to tell you alright? You won't be able to become a solid partner for Blake unless you can master this. Okay?" Raven said, earning a nod from Cadence, who eagerly moved toward Blake, almost dislocating his arm from how hard she pulled her reins.

"Ah...dammit." he muttered, rubbing his shoulder. Raven stood next to him, looking closely at the two dragons, who were conversing via grunts and yips.

"I've always wanted to know what dragons say to each other. I've heard stories of dragons being able to speak English like humans, but I've never actually seen one do it." she said.

"It seems the sacred teachings of Alduin haven't been spoken about in this realm. It seems we have yet to see the mighty Dovahkiin rise in the flesh of a mortal man. His shout, echoing from the mountain tops, his valiant actions, spread through the land. Dovahkiin, Dovahkiin, naal ok zin los vahriin, wah dein vokul mahfaeraak ahst vaal. Ahrk fin norok paal graan fod nust hon zindro zaan. Dovahkiin, fah hin kogaan mu draal."

Raven just looked at him with a weird look, earning a grin from the boy. Obviously she didn't get the reference, and he would take the time to explain it to her, but it would be much better to show her. For alas, Skyrim was a game that needed to be experienced rather than talked about, so for now he would just sit back and watch that look she was giving him. It reminded him a lot of the look Susan gave him when he said something from a game and she didn't get the reference.

"Look, it seems Cadence is about to shift her size. Let's see if she actually manages to do it." Raven said, bringing his attention back to the two dragons.

They watched closely as the white dragon glowed brightly, shifting her size to that of a full groan dragon. She let out a loud roar batting her wings a bit. She glanced at her wings, eyes widening a bit as she started spinning in circles, falling over a second later.

"Oh jeez Cadence, don't embarrass yourself like that. You aren't a dog." Blake said, as his pet dragon shook her head, forcing herself back to her feet.

"She's highly curious, they say dragons take after their masters. Something tells me you are highly curious as well."

"Of course I am...I mean, I am in a new world. I've just stuck around Ever After High because I was in school. But now I actually have a chance to travel around and see the world a bit more. When I get my license of course." he said, giving his sister a wink. She shook her head, walking toward Nevermore, patting her neck lovingly.

"Good job girl, you managed to teach her a new skill. Now comes the fun part, actually taking off." she said, earning a happy growl from the violet dragon. She grabbed a hold of the horn, slipping her foot into her stirrup easily climbing onto Nevermore's back.

"Damn, none of that side saddle stuff huh?" Blake asked, impressed with Raven who just looked at him oddly.

"Side saddle? Really? You think that just because I'm a girl I can't ride like a man?"

"I'm not saying anything. I just thought you would, you know...not go for it right away."

"Blake, I've been riding Nevermore for almost a year now. I got my license last summer when my dad hired a tutor. Let's just say, being a girl Dragon Master is way better than being a guy. At least I don't have balls that will get in my way." she said, giving him a smirk.

"That's the thing I love the most about you Rae, that snarky side of yours is so fun. Makes me want to push your buttons to see what reply I'll get next." he said, earning an eye roll from the girl.

"Okay, enough bullshitting. Get on Cadence's back, we're gonna start you off slowly."

He gave her a nod, walking around Cadence swallowing the lump in his throat as he reached for the horn. He had ridden horses before when he was younger, so he at least had some knowledge about mounting a steed, in this face a dragon. He pulled himself onto Cadence's back, slipping his feet into the stirrups, taking a hold of the reins.

"Okay, the first step of learning how to ride a dragon is getting the commands down. Obviously, you can give Cadence the vocal commands, but we need to get her used to you controlling her. Have you ever ridden a horse?" Raven asked, earning a nod from the boy.

"When I was little, my mother was redecorating this farm house. The farm hand taught me how to ride one of their horses. Even after my mom finished the house, she still took me to that ranch."

"Well, this is gonna be a bit easy on you. The basic commands we'll teach her are the same ones you would teach a horse. We need her to know what they mean...so, show me what you can do." she said, earning a nod from the boy. Cadence looked back at the boy, an expectant look on her face.

"Okay Cadence, this is easy. You're an intelligent girl, so be sure to memorize this...I'm gonna give you a light kick on the side. That means go, when I tug you to the left, that means turn left, and when I tug right, that means right. Do you understand so far?" he asked. She flared her nostrils a bit, some crystal shards flying out of them. He took that as a yes, so taking a deep breath, he gave her a light kick on the side. Cadence unfurled her wings, pawing at the ground.

"Uh-oh...Blake, you better hang on!"

"Wha-GAH!"

The black haired boy grabbed the reins for dear life as Cadence broke into a sprint, shooting into the air a second later. His heart was beating a mile a minute as he tried to get the dragon to slow down. It was only when he glanced below him to see how high he was that he almost fainted. He shook his head, grabbing onto the reins tightly, pulling back hard causing Cadence to come to a stop.

"Heel." he snapped, earning a surprised look from the dragon, who flapped her wings softly to keep herself aloft. He let out a sigh, shaking his head.

"Okay then, I guess I wasn't clear enough. When I kick you on the side, that doesn't mean shoot into the sky. That means start trotting, when I snap the reins, that's when you take off. Let's go back to the ground and try again." Blake said sternly. She let out a light growl, diving downward in a straight nose dive.

"Cadence, pull up! Jesus Christ pull up!" the boy cried, tugging on the reins as hard as he could, forcing the dragon to pull up just shy of slamming into the ground, he tugged the leather strap to the right, causing her to turn in that direction. She came to a stop in the clearing, rather hard too causing the boy to be sent flying forward into a tree.

"Oh my godmother! Blake are you alright?" Raven cried, running toward the boy who just laid on the ground in a heap.

"Define alright? Because if alright means broken back, then yeah I'm fuckin peachy." he said, a look of annoyance on his face.

"So clearly, we have a lot to work on." Raven said, holding her hand out to her brother. He took it, pulling himself up to his feet.

"Yes we do. I can't believe she just took off like that, it's my fault for not explaining it well enough to her." he said, brushing the twigs and leaves from his hair. He was glad he was wearing armor now, because that tree could have easily shattered his back.

"Okay, then let's start from the beginning. I'll be there to guide you, so don't be scared or anything, just hang on in case she decides to take off." she said, giving him a smile.

"Yeah yeah, you are the professional here sis." he said, following her back toward the clearing.

 _ **xxx**_

"So wait, you two are going to visit Crystal?" Briar asked, earning a nod from Kitty.

"I just needed a bit more information about the Land on top of the World, so that's why I asked you." Kitty said, earning a nod from the brunette. The two of them were at the fairgrounds, sitting at the rainbow fountain along with a few of their friends.

"Well...it's cold. So I would break out the full winter gear, even if you wear a thick coat, you might be a little cold." she said.

"Blake shouldn't have an issue then. He did just wear a light shirt and his cloak most of the winter...wonder what it's like in Canada?" Ashlynn said, taking a bite from her ice cream bar, earning a cringe from both Kitty and Briar.

"I hear it's cold...and he also told me their bacon is just ham." Dexter said, a frown on his face.

"What a rip off. I would totally maim a person if they gave me ham instead of bacon...then again ham is pretty good too. Especially honey glazed." Cerise said, licking her lips a bit at the thought of ham. Melody just cleared her throat, glancing up from her laptop.

"So...I finally finished upgrading our security system. Since Blake and Kitty decided to come out, I've decided to announce the return of Radio Rebel, as a legitimate Radio show. I already bought a studio apartment in town and will be moving all of my recording equipment there. It was super cheap too." she said.

"Wow, you actually did that? How much did it cost?" Briar asked curiously, earning a smirk from Melody.

"Not much, around six grand. My dad was able to talk to the owner and since he was one of his students a few years back, and loves Purple Rhapsody, he let it go for that low. Originally he was asking ten, but a signed Shatter Me album and a signed copy of our EP was enough to get him to lower his original offer. So, come next week, Radio Rebel will once again be on the air." she said, giving them a wink.

"That's awesome...you know I miss helping people out. The best part of our radio show was listening to everyone's problems. Stopping all of the bullying was the most fun, especially when we called them out on it. Doubt we'll be able to do that anymore." Kitty said with a frown.

"People know you're the informant, so I doubt anyone is going to do anything. Then again, you could surprise all of us...since you can turn invisible. People will think twice about doing something stupid." Ashlynn said, finally finished with her ice cream.

"People can still call in, after all we're a talk show too. If we can help even one person, then that means what we do is good. One thing I'll miss the most is hacking into the school system. But until the fake Rebel comes clean, we won't be able to do that." Melody said.

"It's weird you know...who would actually do something so callous and messed up? Stealing Apple, Duchess's and Melody's diary entrees? Saying all of that stuff on the air? It makes me think that they did that for a reason." Briar said, narrowing her eyes in thought.

"I already figured out what that reason was. Isn't it obvious? Whoever did this wanted to break Blake and Cerise apart, and they succeeded." Kitty said, glancing at the daughter of Red Riding Hood, who had a frown on her face.

"I doubt that was the only reason...there was something else in there...almost like, whoever did this wanted to see the ones affected miserable. I mean, why choose Apple, Duchess and Melody of all people?" Dexter asked, a curious look on his face.

"It's rather simple to figure out Dex, they took Melody's diary because they were already in the room. They probably did that just because they could. They took Duchess's diary, because they wanted to expose her dirty laundry and her apparent affection toward Blake, the same thing can be said for Apple. Whoever it was, wanted to expose the truth behind her, that she isn't that far from leaning toward the Rebel side." Briar said.

"That's my conclusion too...I had a few people who I thought were behind it, but none of them fit the mold. I even considered that scumbag Joey, but Blake told me that one doesn't know how to use a computer worth a damn. Whoever did it, was an expert computer programmer, because they managed to infect my system with a very powerful virus. Thankfully, Dexter and Hopper managed to fix it." the daughter of the Pied Piper added, closing her laptop.

"We probably won't figure out...they'll likely go into hiding...biding their time until they can act again. I wonder who put them up to it?" Ashlynn said, earning a smirk from Kitty.

"Obviously, it was a hit from the Mermaid mafia payed in Leprechaun gold. But who was the real puppet master? The Unicorns? No, they've been in a feud with the Mermaids for ages." she said.

"There are times I just wanna slap the shit out of you, you know that Kitty?" Briar asked, earning a giggle from the girl.

"I know you do, but you love me because I'm cute and lovable." she said, giving her a wink.

The group of six glanced toward the forest when they saw people looking in that direction, seeing two beams shooting into the sky, one of orange flames and another one that looked to be a mist of crystal shards. Briar stood up, taking a few steps forward to take a better look. She held her hand over her eyes, blocking out the sun.

"What the heck is that?" she asked.

"Looks like a flamethrower...oh right! Blake and Raven were going to break Cadence in today, that's probably what that is. You wanna go see how they're doing?" Kitty asked, a grin on her face.

"Sure, I'd love to see how they're training is coming along." Dexter said, trying to hide the fact that he was going there for Raven.

"I'll join you too. I haven't gone on a nature hike yet, well...one that didn't involve me enjoying the hike instead of eating burgers. My stomach still kinda hurts."

"You're getting a little chubby Ashy, you sure you aren't pregnant?" the daughter of the Cheshire Cat asked, earning a flush from the auburn haired girl.

"P-pregnant? I haven't even had s-sex yet!" she stuttered.

"Look at her face, it's redder than Cerise's hood." Melody said, a grin on her face. Briar wrapped her arm around her best friend's shoulder.

"Come on Ashlynn, we both know you haven't done the deed yet. You are too...you, and we would probably guess. I mean, you are normally happy, but you'd probably be glowing."

"You would know, since you've already gotten your V-card punched." Ashlynn countered, earning a laugh from Briar.

"No I haven't...you keep saying that, but isn't true...come on, let's go see those dragons."

 _ **xxx**_

"Wow, that is so cool! I didn't think Cadence would actually breathe a crystal mist! It's almost like a rainbow!" Holly cried excitedly, clapping her hands.

"Crystal dragons can not only breathe crystal mist, they can also turn things to crystal. They can even crystallize objects too." Blake said, grabbing an acorn from the ground. He threw it into the air for that Cadence could crystallize it. He caught it with ease, handing it to Holly.

"It's so cool, can I keep this?" she asked, an excited look on her face. He gave her a nod, making her grin grow wider.

"Blake, we should get back to training, before Cadence loses interest." Raven said, earning a nod from the boy.

"You're right, let's see if we can actually get her to pay attention this time." he said, frowning a bit as he turned to face his dragon, holding a sign in front of her.

"Okay then, these are the things you need to know. I taught you the basics, but we need you to know them if we want to pass the test. So we will go over them again. Right tug means go right, left tug means go left. A light tug upward means ascend, two kicks on the side means descend. Hard pull means stop, one light kick means go. Do you understand so far?" he asked. Cadence just blinked a few times, blowing a small mist at the cards, turning them to crystal.

"Obviously this isn't working." Raven said, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Have you tried a more active approach? Sometimes you have to teach them with actions rather than with words." Holly suggested, earning curious looks from the two teenagers.

"That is true...I myself didn't train Nevermore, but I was present when the teacher was there. He showed her everything through actions until she had it down...maybe we can do that with Cadence."

"Good idea Holly...it's always good to get practical when the cards don't work...let's just hope I don't go sky high this time." he said, walking toward his dragon.

"We'll take a hold of the reins, that way she won't fly off." Raven said, handing one of the reins to Holly, who wrapped it around her hand. Blake once again climbed onto Cadence's back, the dragon flaring her nostrils a bit. He took a hold of part of the rein, nodding to himself.

"Alright Cadence, let's start with a little trot." he said, softly kicking her side. Thankfully, she didn't shoot off into the air and started walking forward.

"That's good, let's take her to the right." Raven said, giving a tug on the right rein, making the dragon turn. They proceeded, teaching her how to turn left, everything going smoothly without an issue.

However, Cadence ended up getting something in her nose causing her to stop. The three teenagers shared a look, wondering what was wrong with her, when a loud sneeze filled the area, along with a crystalline mist. Blake held his arm up to block the mist from hitting his face, accidentally tugging the rein upward. Cadence unfurled her wings and shot off into the sky.

"Aw, Christ! Not again!" he cried, hanging onto the saddle horn as hard as he could.

"Blake! Help me up, please!" the voice of Holly cried, causing him to look to the left, seeing the oldest O'Hair twin was hanging on for dear life. He held his hand out, grabbing a hold of it and with a firm pull, he got her up to the saddle.

"Why didn't you let go when you were on the ground?" he asked.

"I didn't think she'd shoot into the sky like this. Please, I'm scared of heights, take me down." she cried, hugging the boy tightly. He grabbed onto the reins and gave a hard tug back, causing Cadence to stop mid flight.

"Cadence, we're going down alright? No nose dive this time, or I swear I'll take your crystals away from you." he said firmly. The dragon nodded and started on a low descent, passing over the fairgrounds. A lot of people looked up in awe at the sight of the large dragon. Blake gave a few people a wave as he steered the dragon back toward the clearing.

"Wow, this isn't so bad. Once you forget about that voice in the back of your head spelling your impending doom should you slam into the ground."

"Jeez Holly, don't make dragon riding traumatic for me, alright?" he asked, earning a giggle from the girl who loosened her grip from around him. Cadence landed in the clearing, much smoother this time, and the long haired O'Hair twin didn't waste a second in jumping off.

"Holly, are you alright? I saw you holding on when Cadence took off."

"I'm fine Raven, it was such a rush of adrenaline...oh my godmother, can I go again?" she asked, an almost insane look on her face. Raven and Blake shared a look, both shaking their heads.

"Not right now, we have to fully train Cadence before we can even think of giving people rides. This is taking a lot longer than I honestly thought." Raven replied, glancing at her phone.

"There they are, hey guys! Mind if we join you?"

Blake jumped off Cadence's back, just in time to see Briar, along with several of his friends walking into the clearing. Most of the attention was on the two dragons of course, along with the torn up ground from when Cadence had landed earlier. As for Dexter, his attention was mostly on Raven, his eyes were focused on every single inch of her. She hadn't even noticed his glances as she was still looking through her messages. She brushed her ponytail behind her shoulder, her hair falling almost perfectly. Blake had shortened the distance between the two, snapping his fingers in front of his face.

"Oi, stop looking at my sister like that. You're giving her fuck me eyes." he said, making the boy jump back.

"Ah, B-Blake...w-when did you get here?" he asked, looking at his friend nervously. He rose a single brow, glancing around the field.

"I've been here all day." Blake said, holding back his chuckles.

"Wow, I never thought I would see Cadence this big so early. You've been raising her well." Cerise said, giving the dragon a hug.

"I'm not the only one you know. You technically are her mother, and I know you've been playing with her a lot, so it's a team effort." he said, hands at his hips.

"So, how's the training coming along? Did you get anywhere?" Kitty asked curiously, noticing the dirt on Blake's leather pants.

"It's uh...it's getting there."

"We've at least got her directions down, everything else is up in the air." Holly added, giggling at her own pun. Blake didn't find it at all funny, seeing as he had been flung into the sky twice already.

"I don't think we'll get her trained enough for the trip to Crystal's place. I mean, we've got to get her used to high winds, turbulence, all that stuff...and she can't even handle a simple trot without shooting into the air like a damn rocket." he replied.

"Aw, I'm sure you'll get her trained in time." Kitty replied, a small smile on her face.

"Hopefully you're right, she's just a bit...hard to train." he said, scratching his head. He looked back, eyes widening a bit when he saw Ashlynn on Cadence's back, whispering softly into her ear. He was even more shocked when the dragon was doing everything she was asking. His jaw dropped in shock, as he rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand.

"She may be hard to train, for you at least. There's no animal that Ashlynn can't train...after all she's the next Cinderella." Briar said, earning a nod from the boy who just remained silent.

"That's so weird though...I remember when Cadence was a bit younger, she gave Ashlynn and Apple so much trouble. What do you think changed?" Raven asked curiously.

"Maybe Cadence genuinely wants to learn this stuff. She probably wants her master to rely on her, since she's relied on him for all of her life. Think about it, if she learns how to fly and gets trained properly, then he doesn't need to get a car or some other vehicle, she can be that for him." Cerise said.

"Huh...I guess I just...wasn't that in tune with my dragon. Maybe I've been taking care of her wrong this entire time." the boy said with a frown.

"You haven't, I don't understand much. But what Cadence has said about you is amazing and cute, she really does love you Blake. She wants you to give her a chance to learn this stuff." Ashlynn said, giving the dragon a pat on the head.

"Hmm...hey Ash, if you help me train Cadence, you can take her out whenever you want. Imagine how awesome it would be if you had a date with Hunter and you just show up on a dragon, that would be badass. I would kneel for you right there." he said, making the girl laugh.

"That actually sounds like fun, but we have to make sure to be nice about it. We can't force her into things, but we can't treat her like a little kid either."

"Then let's get on it." the black haired boy said, a smile on his face.

 _ **xxx**_

"Are you sure you want to do this Blake? I mean, after everything that's happened, you really want to use your magic again?" Raven asked, earning a nod from Blake.

"I'm taking Magicology now sis, I have to train my magic powers. That way I won't let them over take me...I've just been sitting around, ignoring them. In the back of my mind, there's always that voice telling me to let go, and just use them for evil. I need to learn control instead of just how to hold them back." he said, a firm look on his face.

She gave the boy a smile, he was very brave for wanting to face his powers rather than hide them back. She remembered when she was growing up, she also had trouble adjusting to her magic. Her mother was supportive, but she would always tell her to embrace the evil inside her, and use her magic for horrible things. Raven was never going to do that, she was far too kindhearted for that. She wondered if that was the reason why her mother went through many lengths to take over Ever After, and sub-sequentially, Wonderland.

"Okay well, you read that magic book I gave you awhile ago and you memorized all of those spells. I got a good taste of your attack power, but that was amplified by the curse. I'd say, you are geared more for attack magic than evil enchantments or anything else. The best way to practice control is to put it to the test...so you best come at me like you mean it." the violet haired girl said, her hands glowing purple. Her hair seemed almost aflame, her eyes glowing a fierce purple.

He felt a bit intimidated, mostly because he saw the Evil Queen in her. Raven technically was the Evil Queen, she was her daughter so the resemblance was there. He felt almost choked by the fear, but he also felt a bit of warmth in his chest, from the shard he figured. He realized then that he was in control of his magic, not the other way around. Magic was a blank mold, for the caster to mold in any way he or she wanted. Of course his inner otaku was screaming at him, and he was going to abuse his knowledge of magic animes to the best of his abilities. He smirked, running forward with great speed, throwing a punch at the girl, who easily blocked it with a forcefield.

"Come on, you'd actually think I'd let you land that?" she asked, a smug look on her face. He smirked, spinning around his heel, channeling his magic into his palms.

"Dark Void!" he cried, launching the large orb at Raven, who's eyes went wide from surprise. She flipped out of the way, in time to dodge the attack that blew a chunk of earth right out of the ground.

"I misjudged you." the girl said plainly, amazed with his power.

She quickly countered, sending a wave of dark flames at the boy, who easily blocked it with a shield of dark light. He side stepped, avoiding the flames entirely, forming a large swirling mass of magic before him. It exploded, sending medium sized spears of darkness at Raven, who did her best to dodge them all.

"Come on Raven, where did that confidence go?" he asked, a smirk on his face. She narrowed her eyes, sending several fireballs at him, which he had no choice but to dodge. He slipped, almost falling back giving Raven an opening.

As she threw a flaming punch at the boy, he smirked grabbing a hold of her arm. He used his momentum to drop to the ground, placing his foot on her chest he was able to send her flying through the air. Rapidly standing up, he threw several fire balls at her. Raven fell hard, crying in pain from the fireballs she took to the back. She pushed herself up, spitting at the ground, wiping her lip with her arm.

"I forgot you were a martial artist, you aren't gonna make this easy on me, are you?"

"Come at you like you mean it right? So I'm gonna mean it." he said, quickly closing the distance. Raven put up a forcefield, blocking all of his flaming punches. He crossed his arms, his magic flaring around him.

"Sabaku no wa ore no stando da!" he exclaimed.

He started throwing several flaming punches at the field, all of them at full power. They were moving so fast that Raven lost track of his arms, only looking like flashes of violet with each swing. She noticed the field had started cracking, and increased her magic to keep it up. He spun around on his heel, delivering one final punch with all of his strength, shattering the field around the girl, sending her back a few feet. Though the punch didn't make contact, Raven was impressed with his skill. She also noticed how tired he was, and decided to go in for the kill. She sent a wave of dark electric magic at him which made him scream in pain, falling back in a heap still shaking from the electricity.

"Word of advice, if you're gonna use all of your magic in a powerful attack, save it for when your opponent is on the ropes." the girl said, a small smile on her face.

"Yeah, I figured. Still, it's nice to know that I can actually use that move in this world without looking like a queer." he replied. Raven held her hand out to him, and he took it, jumping up to his feet.

"I honestly don't think you need training. You've got good direction, and with your martial arts training, you can become an unstoppable force. Plus you've got sword training under your belt, you have the makings of a hero or a knight."

"Eh...I don't like the flashy life. I'll be a hero sure, but I'd rather just stay an unknown person. You know, save people from the shadows and all that junk." he said, shoving his hands in his pockets.

"Not much for the famous life eh? It's hard to avoid, seeing as you are in the most popular band in Ever After. Maybe after I'm done working for the yearbook, you'd be able to take me back?" she asked, a hopeful smile on her face.

"Come on Rae, you technically still are our frontman. But I'm sure Cupid can squeeze you in, it would beneficial for us to have someone else who can play guitar." Blake said, feeling his phone vibrate. He reached into it, seeing a message from Duchess. He looked at the phone weird, opening the message.

"That is true, you'd be able to move around much more. So, who's texting you? Is it a girl?" she asked curiously, earning a smirk from the boy.

"It is...one that likes running me ragged. It seems she needs a little help in her room, so I'm gonna take a shower and head over. Thanks for coming out here with me Raven, it means a lot to me."

"It's no problem Blake, whatever it takes to make you feel better. I know you are still suffering from what happened earlier this week...so I just want you to know that we still want to be friends with you, all of us do."

"I know...see ya sis." he said, briefly giving her a hug before walking toward the school.

Raven watched him go with a proud smile on her face, though she was a bit worried. His power was very high, almost to that of her mother's strength, could it be that she had purposefully gave him dark magic to take it for herself? She felt a bit unnerved by the whole thing, especially with Blake's involvement. She just wanted to know why her mother had chosen him out of everyone on Earth, and why she felt an odd feeling in her heart when they were together. Perhaps she could speak with Headmaster Grimm and get him to agree to a visit with her mother. It had been a long time since the two had spoken.

 _ **xxx**_

After his shower, he headed toward Duchess's dorm. It had been quite some time since he had last been there, in fact the last time he had hung out with the girl was when he helped her out with the boxes. He figured that had also been the night her diary had been stolen, since he had witnessed her place it in her locked drawer. He was trying to figure out what it was that the Swan Princess wanted, but with her it could be anything.

From carrying simple boxes, to helping her clean her side of the dorm. Lizzie was still hanging out with her friends and catching up, so he knew she wouldn't be in her dorm for at least the rest of the day, so anything could happen. He was prepared, but one never knew what a love obsessed girl was capable of. So with that in mind, he gave a few knocks on the door, keeping himself alert yet relaxed. However, when he saw her open the door and saw her wearing a long sleeved shirt and long sweat pants, he had grown curious.

"Uh...what's up with the exercise stuff?" he asked. She grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him into the room, slamming the door closed a second later.

"What is up is that someone covered my bed with itching powder, and no matter how much I wash my shit, it doesn't go away." she cried, turning on the room light. She didn't look any different than normal, most likely from her make up, but when she took her shirt off, his eyes widened a bit, a cringe on his face.

Her skin was covered in scratch marks, and hives. He saw some were very irritated while areas were still normal especially the areas around her breasts. Since she had light skin, the markings were much more visible on her skin than anyone else. He took a hold of her arm, his fingers tracing some of her scratch marks.

"Shit, this is pretty bad. Have you tried calamine lotion? Maybe that'll work." he said.

"I've tried calamine, cortisone, shit I took a bath in oatmeal and nothing. I've washed my sheets three fucking times but I think it's in the mattress. I don't know what to do, I haven't slept well in almost a week." she said, putting her shirt back on.

"Um...I understand your distress, I really do. This shit isn't fun, I remember my sister doing this to me when I was ten. But what exactly can I do?" he asked curiously.

"Well, you and Kitty are going to visit Crystal for a few days right? Would you mind if me and Pirouette crashed in your room? Just until I can get a new mattress...it's gonna be here in four days, and you'll be back next week. Please? I would beg but I'm a princess and I don't want my knees to be tainted." she said. Blake tried not to laugh due to all of the sexual jokes that popped into his mind. He let out a sigh, giving her a nod.

"Fine Duchess, I'll let you crash in my room." he said. She let out a cry of joy, jumping into his arms.

"Thank you! I promise, I won't let anyone into the room, just me and Pirouette. I'll keep the key close to my heart." she said, causing the boy to roll his eyes.

"You can invite your friends if you want, I have no issue there. Just as long as that dick hole Joey doesn't get into the room. Jessica isn't back from her tests with her father, so I can't ask her to enchant the room." he said, once she had released him from her embrace.

"Ugh, don't even mention him. He's been trying to apologize for what happened at the Tea shop, saying he was influenced by the book. If he was, then he would have given you the bracelet back, but I know for a fact he meant that shit. He just makes me sick." she said, glaring at the far wall.

"Yeah, he's done a lot of stuff...don't have any proof of it, but he'll get his just desserts soon enough. I gotta go take my Dragon Master test tomorrow morning and if I pass me and Kitty will be gone by the afternoon. If you wanna stay tonight, I have no issue with it, I'll just sleep on the floor." he said.

"I'm not gonna let you do that. It's your room, so you'll just have to share the bed with me. Besides, sleeping with a woman by your side will finally make you more of a man, though you aren't lacking anything in that department." she said, giving him a devious smirk. The boy swallowed hard.

"I'm not gonna do that, I'll just take the floor, seriously...I got no issue with it." he said. She shook her head, walking toward her dresser.

"I'll take a change of clothes for the night and get some stuff tomorrow. But first another bath, this shit is starting to itch again. You wanna be a dear and wash my hair for me?"

"Nice try Duchess...but I'm sure you can wash your hair all on your own. I'll be back in twenty minutes, I gotta talk to Ashlynn and see how Cadence's training is coming along." he said, giving her a wave as he left the room.

"Dammit! Don't worry, I'll make you mine one way or another. Alls fair in love and war after all." she said, a smug look on her face. She grabbed her change of clothes, hoping the itching powder would finally lose its effects with this next bath.

 _ **xxx(Earlier)xxx**_

Joey was a man on a mission. He wanted to make sure things cooled down after everything that had happened during the Fairest. While his friends weren't the wiser, a lot of people who had been at the Tea Shop were wary of him, because of what he said. He had choked it up to him being cursed by the book like Blake was, but there were those among that crowd that didn't buy it. The Wonderland kids were a group that he didn't like to associate with, especially because of what they saw. Maddie seemed indifferent, though she date glare at him for some reason or another whenever they passed each other in the halls. The girl that was friends with everyone had finally met someone she hated, and had done her best to stay away from him.

After realizing his mistakes, and having iced his balls, Joey knew that there was no way in hell Duchess would ever go after him. So he had all but given up that pursuit. Perhaps Blake had been right, and he had been barking up the wrong tree the entire time. He was sure going to find some one to actually like him and how he acted. He had even bought himself a black leather jacket, because it made him look cool. Some of the villain girls seemed to be attracted to him, while some of the heroine girls gave him more than passing glances. Of course, anyone associated with Blake was out of the question, but he didn't stop his mind from wondering what it would be like to drill some of the Royal girls.

He arrived at Blake's dorm, glancing around the area for a few seconds before pulling Blondie's stolen pin. He jabbed it inside the lock and gave it a few twists, unlocking the door. He had seen the boy leave his dorm from afar so he knew no one was there. Once inside, he walked into the room, making sure the door was closed. He was looking for something, but he wasn't sure of where it was. Since it was most likely on his person, Blake would probably still have it on. But as luck would have it, on the bathroom counter he found what he was looking for. The Moon crystal Cerise had given him. He had once said that Moon crystals were filled with moon light and glowed at night, helping people sleep at night as they got rid of their nightmares.

By taking this crystal, he'd easily cause the boy to once again get his fear inducing nightmares. And now that he had an experience with being evil, the boy would definitely fall into night terrors. Just imagining that made the boy want to laugh, but he knew he couldn't. He took the real moon crystal and replaced it with an identical replica from a quartz crystal he had carved out in the shape of a crescent moon. Pocketing the real deal, he started making his way toward Blake's desk, to steal his journal, but was rapidly stopped when he saw the finger print scanner.

"Shit, I forgot about that." he muttered to himself. He noticed a roll of tape nearby and smirked to himself, grabbing the clear tape. He put it over the fingerprint scanner, pressing his thumb onto it. His eyes widened when it scanned it and clicked open.

" _Holy shit, I knew this worked in movies, but I didn't think it would actually work."_

He slowly pulled the drawer open, but didn't find anything inside. Aside from a picture of his family back on earth. The book itself was gone, making the boy growl in annoyance. This was the place where it was kept, he was sure of it. Why would Blake even have fingerprint scanning software on this drawer if it wasn't? The boy wasn't sure, but he quickly closed the drawer, deciding it was time to leave before he was caught in the act. He peeped through the peep hole, pulling out a small snake camera and shoving it through the bottom of the door. Once he was sure no one was around, he left the dorm and locked the door, hurriedly leaving the area. As he did however, he ended up bumping into someone, making them drop their books on the ground.

"Jesus Christ, mind watching where you are going?" he snapped, brushing past them without even paying attention.

"Why don't you watch where you are going dick head, clearly you never learned to use your eyes. Are they there for show or do they actually fucking work?" the person, a girl, snapped back, causing him to turn around.

Before him stood a girl with platinum blonde hair, styled in a high ponytail, with streaks of cyan running through it. She had pale gray eyes, the area around them being decorated with intricate designs that he didn't care to look at. She had slightly pointed ears and four crystalline wings growing out of her back. She was wearing a long sleeved black shirt, with blue glittering accents all over it. She was wearing a short ruffled skirt, with jeans underneath, stuffed into bright blue boots. The skirt was also covered in sequins and glitter, the hem being torn and black in color.

He didn't know why, but he sensed something in this girl. Just by looking into her eyes, her body language and her attitude, it screamed evil. A smile adorned his face as he crossed his arms, shifting his weight a bit on his legs, brow raised in curiosity.

"So honey, what's your name? I've never seen you around here."

"Oh...godmother, are you really trying to flirt with me? I'm gonna let you know one thing right here buddy, don't fucking talk to me like that. I don't know who you think you are, but you aren't all that. You aren't tough shit either, so stop acting like you are, and you look like an idiot with that leather jacket on." she snapped back, grabbing her books from the ground.

"This coming from the fairy reject covered in glitter? Bitch please, I'm three times hotter than you will ever be. I'm the sun to your moon, I'm so damn hot you look like a melted Popsicle by comparison." he countered, earning a smirk from her.

"No one's ever had the balls to say something to me like that. I just did a year in a correctional school, so maybe you'd like to show me around? Heard some stuff about someone taking over the PA system and spilling some secrets. Maybe you'd help me find him?"

"You don't have to go far honey, if you can keep a secret I can take you to his base of operations. The name's Joey by the way, Joey Martineu...I'm the next King Arthur."

"Are you now? Faybelle Thorn, daughter of the Dark Fairy, mortal enemy of the next Sleeping Beauty...I don't know why, but I think you and I are going to be hexellent friends." she said, a smirk on her lips.

"Yes...I think so too."


	51. The Land on Top of the World

**A/N:**

 **Well guys, welcome to the second filler chapter of this mini arc, between Spring Unsprung and the Blue Moon Forest Fest. I originally wrote this chapter as a means to get Blake to the Snow Kingdom, but then I added the beginning last night while I was doing the final editing on Open Office. No idea how it snuck in here, but it did so you are all very welcome for it. Not it is not a lemon you fucks, not yet...not yet...**

 **But we at least get some insight on Ophelia Swan and how she and Duchess behave around each other...or rather this is all from Duchess's point of view. I will be introducing Ophelia later on in the story, in chapter 57 I believe...along with reintroducing Tobias LeGume, the son of Gaston...yeah you all probably forgot about him, if you want to meet him, go back to Chapter 2 and read the part where Blake meets Lizzie and Duchess. It's been that long and for that I apologize. But thanks to Savvyman52, I have an idea of what to do to get him back into the story, so thank you good sir this chapter is dedicated to you, congratulations!**

 **I haven't decided how long the arcs will be in between, I already know Way Too Wonderland, along with it's prelude will be eight chapters long because there are a lot of things that happen. Not only will I focus on Wonderland High, but I will also be focusing on Gloriosa reaching Marmoreal and Blake dealing with Joey along the way. There will be a lot of stuff happening at the same time, so I might just split the arc into three parts each detailing what one character is doing. So Raven's arc would be the stuff that happens in Wonderland High, Gloriosa's arc would be the stuff that happens while she reaches Marmoreal in search for Excalibur to protect the Queen of Hearts, and Blake's arc would be him trying to find Wonderland High while also dealing with Joey.**

 **I still haven't figured out what to do with him in fact, I don't want to kill him off and I don't want to send him to jail either. There's a lot of stuff that I still need to do, especially with the Dragon Games arc, as that will be the reintroduction of a character you all thought had been dealt with. Maybe Joey will find a new destiny and finally set the Evil Queen free during all of this, who knows? I still haven't watched that special so I have no idea what kind of plot I'll weave from it? Isn't that fun? Hehe...it fucking isn't...Netflix pisses me off and so does YouTube.**

 **As for the arcs that follow, that being Epic Winter...I also haven't seen that arc, so no idea what'll come out of that. By this point, it will be long over a year since Blake's arrival and there is still another year until the official graduation. There's some stuff from the books that I haven't touched upon because I haven't read them, but I might include Shadow High in my story. I will also include some stuff from another fucked up story. I don't know if you've heard of Prince Blueblood, but yeah I wanted to have an arc centered around his fucked up story. There are two candidates for that destiny right now, so take a wild guess on who the next Prince Blueblood might be? I'll give you a cookie and a shoutout if you get it, although it isn't that hard to guess on who it is.**

 **So yeah, lots of stuff for the later arcs of the story, including the separate AU stories based around Blake and the girls that like him. These will be four chapter stories separate from the main story, each of them dealing with a different pairing. Of course all of this will take place after Graduation. Way Too Wonderland will be the arc where the One True Pairing will kick in, and he will finally get with the girl who he will spend the rest of the story and his life with. She was decided upon from the beginning of the story, yet only one person guessed correctly on who it was, and I've only told one other person, I think...but anyway, the first character to receive a story with Blake will be Crystal Winter. After that, it will be Ashlynn Ella and then Duchess Swan.**

 **Actually, I have an original story arc idea centered around Duchess Swan, and will most likely take place after Way Too Wonderland. No details on this arc will be made public yet, I want to keep it a surprise until I start writing it, but I will say that Duchess will finally get her happily ever after during this arc, and not the one that she is destined to have. She deserves that much at least, and I'm not giving her special treatment because she's one of my favorite characters in the series, no no no...I just think she deserves better than being stuck as a swan for her entire life...because that my friends, is cock and balls.**

 **So, I leave you with this chapter...beware of Eugene's Jizz Ghost, don't let memes be dreams...review, favorite and follow the story...if you have questions as always, PM me and I will answer them to the best of my ability. Um...diarrhea diarrhea balls farting pubes...**

 **Shout out to all my fellow Puerto-Ricans out there! It has been a hard time on the island for everyone. I know the struggle, my mother and my little sisters live there and are currently without power. But together the island will be restored and we aren't going to let a hurricane beat us down. Puerto Rick Se Leventa!**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 51

The Land on Top of the World

It was night time in Ever After High, the last day of the Spring Fairest. The following day, the cleanup would begin and then it would be back to normal, except for Blake who would be gone for two weeks. He had already set up a bit of a bed on the ground, having already packed his old backpack with spare changes of clothes for his trip. Ashlynn had surprised him when she said she had finished training Cadence, and he had been able to take his test earlier than he had expected, passing it with flying colors. So now, he like Raven was an official Dragon Master, and could legally fly on Cadence in any sanctioned sport and through the country. It was an amazing privilege, sort of like when a teenager got their license back in Canada. It was the first step toward freedom while still being a kid.

Duchess was sitting on his bed, wearing a black and white silk night gown, that reached down to her mid thigh. She was currently brushing her hair, glancing at her reflection in the mirror. She couldn't help but give the boy of her dreams passing glances as he looked things up on his laptop. He was memorizing the directions to The Land on top of the World, so he wouldn't get lost in the middle of the trip. She bit her lip when she glanced at his arms, since he was wearing a white tank top that accented his chest quite a bit, his moon crystal hanging loosely around his neck.

"Huh...getting to Crystal's place isn't really hard after all. You just head straight up once you reach High Peak." he said, a look of surprise on his face. Once he had written that down in his journal, he closed it and placed it inside his messenger bag, snapping the flap closed.

"Are you sure you want to sleep on the floor Blake? I mean, there's a lot of space here...I wouldn't mind sharing." she said, her focus back on her lengthy hair.

"I'm alright...a guy and a girl sleeping in the same bed isn't right. I mean, if we were dating it'd be okay but...you know." he said, glancing away from her.

"Have you...moved on yet? Or are you still in love with Cerise?" she asked, earning a frown from the boy.

"I still love Cerise, it's hard for me to just...quit loving someone. It's been a hard few weeks, that's for sure. But, there's someone else I'm interested in...a few girls actually." he admitted, causing the girl to lower her mirror.

"Oh? A few girls eh? Thinking about forming your own little harem, that's nice. You know, I hear the Aladdin story is missing it's Prince Ali, maybe you can take that role and become an honest to goodness prince."

"And rob the role of another person? Pass. Besides who said I wanted to be a prince in the first place? Just being me is enough." he admitted, grabbing his tablet to check on his MirrorSite.

The first three episodes of Apple Reacts as he had dubbed it, had been rather successful, and people had been wondering when he would be posting new ones. Since the Spring Fairest was taking time from him, he hadn't been able to get Apple to watch any new episodes of Madoka Magica. He was also going to start another show called Apple Plays, and have the daughter of Snow White play various games from his collection. He was going to start her with Dark Souls, but felt that was way too cruel. Although, he merely did that because he wanted to hear the blonde princess scream fuck in a relentless tirade on the MirrorNet. It was his major goal for this show.

"It isn't robbing if no one has claimed the role. Remember, not all stories happen at the same time. I'm not sure the current Aladdin and Jasmine are even gonna have a child, so that makes it an unclaimed role. There's no son of Jafar since he's trapped inside a lamp." she said with a shrug.

"I know, but it would feel really scummy if I steal that role. I mean, can you imagine if someone came to claim it? And it was already taken?"

"Yes, and I would just say, you snooze you lose. Hmm...Jasmine's destiny isn't that bad...maybe I can just take that one. Eh...I don't like the desert though." she said, a frown on her face.

"Why can't you just write a new one? I mean you are a Rebel, just taking one seems wrong. Even if it is unclaimed at the moment." Blake replied, glancing up from his tablet, having replied to a few messages.

"I'm trying, it's hard to kick old habits you know." she replied, setting her brush and mirror aside. She rested her feet on the edge of the bed frame, placing her head in her hands, glancing at the boy with a bored expression.

"True, once a Rebel always a Rebel, I always say. Even while you claimed to be a Royal, stealing a destiny does seem rebellious. You are a walking contradiction, or we're since you chose a side and stuck to it." Blake replied, setting aside his MirrorPad, having finished scouring all of his social media accounts.

"It's still wicked early, why don't you throw on a movie or something? I haven't gone to sleep at eight in the evening since I was seven." she admitted, glancing at her fingernails.

"Okay, wanna watch porn? I got a new movie called Back Door Sluts 9. Apparently it makes Crotch Capers 3 look like Naughty Nurses 2." he said, earning a surprised honk from the girl, who almost fell off the bed in surprise, cheeks tinged crimson.

"Why the fuck would I wanna watch that you perv? Jeez did you and Cerise watch that crap?"

"No, but I always joked around that way with her." he admitted, his smile turning into a frown. He grabbed his laptop, searching through its massive memory for a movie to watch.

"Um...I'm sorry for bringing her up. I didn't mean to." she said, rubbing her arm in embarrassment and disappointment. He shook his head, not taking his eyes from the computer screen.

"It's alright...she's a friend, and I'm not gonna stop talking about her or interacting with her. It sucks, a lot...but I have to move on from her. She's already starting to move on too, I saw her start talking to a few other boys around school."

"Oh...I'm so sorry...it must be really hard not to say anything right?"

"Mhmm. It's challenging as hell, I always want to go over there and tell them to back off, that she's with me. It'll be even harder when she does find someone...seeing them flirt with her like I used to, kiss her lips like I used to, hold her when she's sad or scared...god it makes me want to find that Fake Rebel and snap his neck." he said, eyes flashing a bit.

"You wanna know my honest opinion? I think you two breaking up was a good thing. Now before you kill me, let me explain myself." she said, noticing the angry look on his face. She took a deep breath, glancing at the window.

"I get it, you fucked up assuming that she was the one that talked. But we all would have, if only one person knew your secret. Yes, you kept being the Rebel from her, yes she told you she was half wolf, so what? We all have big secrets we can't willingly share."

"How did you find out she was part wolf?" he asked curiously, earning a chuckle from the girl.

"You are talking to a girl who can turn into a swan, my sense of smell is good, but my eye sight is the best. Not just that, she growls when someone tries to take her food. Her eyes turn gold sometimes and she can run faster than anyone in the school save for Ramona, her older sister. But if you must know, Ramona pulled her hood down during Grimmnastics when they thought they were alone and I caught sight of her ears." she explained.

"Ah...that says a lot. So, mind going on with your explanation? On why you are glad me and Cerise broke up?" he asked, his voice still full of annoyance and sarcasm.

"As I was saying, she broke up with you for reasonable terms. What I don't agree with is the very public break up, the fact that she believed those fake photos. Not to mention she knows everything was a lie but still decides not to give you a second chance, when you clearly apologized to her, more than enough. Sure, trust is broken, but that can easily be rebuilt." she said firmly. Blake sighed, giving the girl a nod.

"You've got a point I guess. But I can't really force her to come back to me, all I can do is hope she's happy. I promised her that much, and I respect her wishes." he replied. He found one of Kevin Hart's stand up comedy shows and decided to put that on, after all he needed a good laugh.

"You have a good heart, you'll find someone, I'm sure. Someone who's nice, beautiful...has a good body, is currently sitting on your bed." she said, tilting her head a bit giving him a grin.

"Nice try Duchess, but I already told you I see you as a friend." he replied, turning on his projector.

"A friend with benefits?" she asked, a hopeful look on her face. He glared at her, shaking his head.

"No...a normal friend. You're beautiful alright? I'll admit it, but I know I'm not the right person for you, I don't want to disappoint you like I did with Cerise. There's also the conflict of your destiny, I don't want to get into a relationship with you only for you to be betrayed. I would never do that, but destiny is bullshit in this world...and I don't want to lose you." he said, setting his computer on the coffee table, hooking the HDMI cord to it. Once the image appeared on the wall, he pressed play on the video the opening credits beginning.

"You know, it's hard writing a new destiny when the only guy I like keeps rejecting me. One day you'll fall in love with me, you'll see." she said, crossing her arms, nose held high.

"If we share a bed for the night, will you stop asking me on dates?" he asked.

"For the next month." she said, earning a sigh from the boy. He grabbed his blanket and pillow, picking it up from the floor, tossing it back onto his bed. He leaned back against the wall, turning the volume on just as Kevin Hart walked onto the stage. Duchess smiled happily, snuggling up to him, wrapping an arm around his waist.

"Hey, I never agreed to snuggling."

"Oh well, guess you'll have to deal with it." she said smugly, her eyes fluttering a bit. He knew arguing with Duchess wouldn't get him anywhere so he would just let her do what she wanted, as long as she didn't go too far in the other direction.

"You can be really annoying when you want to be, you know that?"

"Black Swan remember? I live on the other side of the spectrum. I'm at least not a goody goody like my half sister Ophelia...ugh." she replied, looking a bit disgusted at the mention of the next White Swan.

"I never got why you don't get along with her. I mean, you are a Rebel right? Maybe you can get her to Rebel too. You'd have a solid sister bond."

"Let me stop you right there. I will never, ever...be friends with that stupid swan. She is too high class, too high maintenance...and she always gets the guy. Even while I was in middle school she did that to me. There was this one cute guy, and she stole him from me. She did the same three times, do you get why I hate her?" Duchess asked, earning a nod from Blake.

"So, because of destiny, she's always bound to steal the guys you like. Have you ever talked to her about it? Maybe figure out if she actually dated them or not?"

"I did once, she said she was dating this guy I liked. This was this past summer before she left for Ballet School. She said she didn't like the guy, and then I found her getting her hole stretched to the size of a shower drain. Lost my trust in her forever." she snapped, crossing arms in annoyance.

"Christ, that's some fucking way to describe that event." he said, hitting the pause on the show. He at least wanted to speak a little more with Duchess, this was the perfect chance for him to get to know more about her after all. She frowned, her lips curled into a small pout.

"Yeah well...I'm a very vulgar woman when I want to be. I told my aunt Odile about it, but since I am Odette's daughter she tends to ignore me. My dad is spun around her little finger, following everything she says like a goddamn robot. That's why I fucking hate the two of them."

"Duchess, you don't mean that...sure, I get that your father betrayed Odette and she's currently stuck in the body of a swan. But he's still your father, you at least have him in your life. You should appreciate it that sentiment, not a lot of us have that you know." He said firmly. She sighed, grabbing a strand of hair between her fingers.

"I know...but I just can't forget what he did to my mom. I love her, even though I've never even met her, I've always wondered what she was like. My grand mother said I'm her spitting image, just as beautiful as her...that's why I want my own happily ever after. I'm the last thing of my mother, and I don't want to turn into a swan forever. That would be an insult to her, and my future daughter." she replied, glancing at the floor.

Blake frowned a bit. Over the months, he had gotten to know the daughter of the Swan Princess quite well. Often times, he got to know her too well, but now he felt like he had learned something more important. She had opened her heart to him and he felt extremely touched that she did. He wrapped his arm around her, holding her close to himself.

"Listen honey, I'm not going to let you turn into a swan forever. I'm not letting you get betrayed either...you are going to be a human for the rest of your life. Your kids are going to know their mother as the beautiful ballerina that she is. Not as a Black Swan, and not as someone that got betrayed by the person she loved. I'm never going to let that happen, you got that?" he asked. She nodded, burying her face into his chest.

"Why...why are you so nice to me? Why won't you let me love you?" she asked, voice muffled by his shirt.

"I'm not the right guy for you Duchess...it's like I said before. Destiny is bullshit, but if you said Ophelia stole the people you liked in the past...I don't want that to happen to me too. I wouldn't let it happen, I would never do something so heartless. But look at Briar, she's cursed to fall asleep if she pricks her finger. Hopper turns into a frog whenever he can't formulate words. Maybe Ophelia did it on purpose or maybe it's a side effect of her future destiny. But if that were to happen, you would be heart broken, and I couldn't bare to see you cry because of me." he said firmly. Duchess looked up at him, a loving look on her face. She grabbed a hold of his shoulders, pressing her lips against his.

He wasn't at all surprised by her action, in fact he had been expecting it. He didn't do anything to fight against it, he just kissed her back. Deciding that he could at least give her this. She was a girl that was misunderstood by everyone, a woman who wanted to change her destiny by any means because she didn't want her mother's fate. She didn't want to lose the man she loved, and yet everyone berated her for her actions. Duchess Swan didn't deserve such a cruel destiny, and he would make sure she didn't sign the book. Because she deserved better.

He pulled away from the girl, who adopted a smirk as she licked her lips. She was panting for breath, her pupils slightly dilated. She could feel her heart beating a mile a minute, her blood pumping through her veins. It was the same rush that she got when she was on stage, but this time it was different because it was with the one she loved.

"You don't want to be in a relationship with me, I get that...and you don't want to be a friend with benefits. That's fine too, but tonight I am going to show you how much you mean to me, and you will do me this honor. Because I genuinely love you, with my entire being...and even if I can't be with you, I will at least milk this feeling for everything it's worth. It will be enough to carry me through my life and my destiny, even if one day I do become the Black Swan."

"Huh? What are you talking about?" he asked, not exactly understanding the girl. She slowly moved on top of the boy, pinning him to the bed with her weight, her gown hiking up a bit to show him her black and white panties.

"Oh, you'll know what I'm talking about in a few minutes. I'm about to go Black Swan all over you, and not even Ophelia will take this away from me."

Blake swallowed hard as she started kissing him again. He snapped his fingers casting a sound proofing spell around his room. He just hoped his body was ready to handle the fucking of a life time.

 _ **xxx**_

It was around eleven in the morning in Ever After, and currently two teenagers were flying high above the land. These two were of course Blake and Kitty who had left from their school several hours ago. They had been watching the land zooming past them as Cadence flew through the air. Since the boy had passed his test, he had gotten his license during the business week, and they had rapidly left on their journey to The Land on Top of the World. Crystal obviously didn't know that they were going to visit, as it would be a surprise to the future Snow Queen. They had traveled several miles from the castle already, and were slowly approaching the tallest peak in Ever After.

"We're almost at High Peak, I was thinking of landing at the base of the mountain and have Cadence rest, are you alright with that?" Blake asked, glancing over his shoulder at Kitty who gave him a nod.

"Sure, we gotta change into our winter gear anyway." the girl replied. Blake gave Cadence a pat on the neck, a sign that he wanted to prepare for a landing.

"I gotta say, I'm impressed with Ashlynn's ability to train a dragon. Cadence is actually doing really well." Kitty said, raising her voice slightly over the wind.

"Me too, I'm really proud of her. She's doing an amazing job so far!" he said, tightening his hold on the reins a bit.

After flying for a few more minutes, they started flying down into the settlement around the base of High Peak. It was a small village, with mostly brick and stone houses. Though they did see various modernized stores, and even saw horse drawn carriages on some of the stone paths. They spotted a field just outside of the town and landed there, the two teens quickly jumped down from Cadence's back, stretching a bit. Blake immediately knelt down, his back popping as he did so.

"Fuck, saddle sores really do suck." he said, rubbing his lower back a bit.

"Yeah they do, no wonder people like going bareback sometimes." Kitty added, leaning against Cadence's side. The dragon stretched her wings a bit shrinking down to her normal size, causing the purplette to fall to the ground. Blake let out a chuckle, placing his hands at his hips.

"It's not nice to laugh at me." she said, a huff on her face. He held his hand out, helping her to her feet.

"I couldn't help myself. Come on, let's find a place to get some food, I'm hungry as shit." he said. Kitty gave him a nod, taking a hold of Cadence's reins as they headed into the village.

Most of the citizens were curious as to who the two teenagers were, but once they caught sight of Blake's varsity jacket, they realized they were from Ever After High. After all, the students of that school were among the most famous in Ever After. Kitty seemed to be fond of her spring dress as she had chosen to wear it again, she even went as far as decorating her hair with a crown of roses. When Blake asked her if she even cleaned the dress, she told him that she could change into anything she wanted with her Wonderland magic, it was a part of her teleportation magic. Any outfit she wanted would flash onto her body with a single thought. It was a rather convenient spell to have, and he was impressed with this world's version of Requip, as he liked to call it.

Reaching a nearby diner, the two teenagers and their dragon steed walked inside. The people inside looked up when they felt the heavy footfalls of the crystal dragon, the little kids gasped in awe, most likely having seen a dragon up close in a really long time. Blake really didn't know if it was allowed or not, but they kept walking toward an empty booth, tying Cadence's reins to the chair Blake would be sitting at. She sat down beside him, almost like a puppy. She wasn't curiously sniffing around and she wasn't running around like normal either. He figured Ashlynn had taught her to be calm in places like restaurants or unknown buildings. He really did have to thank the daughter of Cinderella when he saw her next.

"Excuse me sir, you can't have...pets inside the restaurant. I'm gonna have to ask you to leave your dragon outside." the waitress said. Blake reached into his jacket, pulling out Cadence's service card with Ever After High's stamp on it.

"Normally that would be true, but I'm a Dragon Master. Cadence here is a certified service dragon for Ever After High and its students, so she can come with me into buildings. She's very well trained so she won't be an issue." he said. The woman frowned, looking at his card before handing it back to him.

"As long as she's well behaved and doesn't prove a danger to anyone, it's fine. Can I start you out with anything?" she asked, glancing at the two.

"Water will be fine for now, thank you." Blake said, placing his card back in his wallet.

"I'd like some sweet tea please...be a dear and get some water for Cadence too. She's been flying almost all morning." Kitty said, giving the waitress her famous Cheshire grin. The woman nodded, leaving for the kitchen a second later.

"Kitty, would you try not to piss off the staff here. I saw the look of hatred on that woman's face when you gave her a smile."

"What can I say Blake? It's not my fault that I bring out the worst in people." she said, brushing a strand of hair behind her shoulder. She scratched Cadence's chin, making her start to purr happily, her tail moving slightly.

"Um...excuse me...are you two students of Ever After High?"

Blake glanced up from his menu, seeing a little boy standing before them, along with his parents. He gave him a smile.

"Yup, both of us are classmates. We got into a little bit of trouble and were suspended for a couple weeks. It's a really fun place though, filled with lots of amazing people." Blake said, happily.

"That sounds wicked! What story are you guys from?" the boy asked, a look of curiosity on his face. Kitty let out a little giggle, giving the boy a huge grin.

"Well, my name is Kitty Cheshire, I'm the daughter of the Cheshire Cat. So my story is Alice's Adventure's in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass and what Alice found there. I can also do this!" she said happily, disappearing from sight.

"Whoa, did she just disappear?"

"I'm right behind you actually." Kitty said. The little boy whirled around, eyes widened in surprise.

"That's so cool! What about you Mister? What story are you from?"

"Oh I don't have a story...let's just say, I haven't found my destiny yet. But when I do, I'll know what role I'll get. For now, I just do my best to learn everything I can in school. Maybe one day you'll also go to Ever After High, but you have to study hard and make sure to get good grades. Okay?"

"Sure thing! I'll do my best! If I ever see you again will you tell me what story you get into? Please?" he asked.

"Of course! I'll tell you all about that wicked awesome story, and whatever role I get." Blake said happily. Kitty pulled one of the roses from her hair, placing it in the little boy's hands.

"There you go, that rose is filled with Wonder. So as long as you are filled with curiosity and wonder, it'll never wilt. I'll let you hold onto it for now, but when you finally make it to Ever After High, I want to see it, so do your best." she said, giving the boy a grin.

"I'll definitely do my best. I'll keep this flower forever and ever after!" he said, hugging his mother tightly.

"You two are wonderful kids, we tried to get to the Spring Fairest, but we just didn't get time off work. This is the first day that we actually got off." the little boy's father said, earning a frown from the black haired boy.

"Well, we can't have that can we. Do you know who Purple Rhapsody are?"

"Of course we do, Brendan here loves all of their music. I heard their Winter Concert was spelltacular, but we weren't able to catch it on television. There was a bad snowstorm up here so we ended up loosing power." the mother said.

"That's so sad, it was such an amazing experience too. Of course I only say that because I was part of it."

"We're you really? That's so cool!" Brendan said excitedly.

"It was, but the one who planned it all was Blake here. He was the song writer, the set designer, my friend Lizzie did the costumes and the lead vocals...it all couldn't have happened without him." Kitty said, giving the boy a grin, making him flush.

"It was nothing, the song was meant to represent us all breaking away from destiny. To choose what we want to do in life instead of being grounded by the Storybook of Legends. It's actually our most liked performance. Tell ya what, since you didn't see it...how about I give you something really cool?" Blake said, reaching into his messenger bag.

"You're gonna give me something? Just meeting you two is enough!" the little boy replied, earning a smile from Blake.

"I'm sure it is, but this will be even better. We just debuted our album and are holding a raffle. I'm not supposed to be giving these away, but you deserve it. This is our first album, autographed by all of the band members, it also includes a music video of Shatter Me." he said, handing him the CD.

"Thank you so much! This is so cool, all of my friends aren't gonna believe me when I show them this!" he said excitedly.

"Well, they better. You want a picture too for proof? I got not issue with that." Blake said, earning a vigorous nod from the boy. Kitty rolled her eyes, glancing at the rather annoyed looking waitress, especially when the name Purple Rhapsody started filling the diner.

 _ **xxx**_

Having left High Village, Blake and Kitty were currently flying straight up as far as they possibly could. It had been a bit difficult to get through the cloud cover, but they had finally burst through after awhile, finding nothing but snow. The two of them were honestly amazed with everything they were seeing, the skies were bright and blue, with an aurora borealis adorning the sky. Large mounds of snow could be seen decorating the land, along with various snow dwelling animals. They could see large polar bears moving around on the snow, along with some penguins near the far edge, sliding down a slide into a large nearly frozen ocean. The winds were blowing a bird harder here, causing Cadence to have a bit of trouble, but with guidance, Blake was keeping her on course.

The boy wasn't at all bothered by the cold, he was wearing a thick winter coat, which was light blue in color and had fur around the collar. It was buttoned at the front, the area around the pockets being white, with the buttons being black. He had kept his jeans from his dragon riding outfit, but had put on some thermal pants underneath it, along with his furred winter boots. He was wearing skin tight leather gloves, so his hands wouldn't freeze. On his head, he was wearing his beanie, which was blue and white in color with a furry ball at the top.

Similarly, Kitty was still wearing her dress, only she had donned a thick coat over it, along with some long pants instead of her leggings. She had put on her violet and white winter boots, which had little balls on the laces, which she was struggling not to grab. Instead of wearing a hat, she wore a lavender colored bonnet, with dark purple lining and white fluff, which had a golden cat design sown into the back. She was also wearing a pair of purple leather gloves, as she didn't want to get frostbite. She was holding onto Blake rather tightly, not wanting to fall off of Cadence's back.

"You better hang on, the wind is going to get harder from here." the boy said, earning a nod from his friend.

"We aren't going to fall right?"

"I don't think so. Don't worry, Cadence's scales are really thick, so the cold won't bother her or slow her down. Briar said we should be seeing the castle after we pass over a large ice peak." he said, glancing around the area.

All he saw was white, they had been flying straight for about an hour after leaving High Peak. He didn't know if there were any storms reported for the area, but since the skies were clear, he didn't think one would pop up. After a few minutes, they started seeing the tip of a large mountain, made entirely out of ice. It looked like claws growing out of the ground, made out of the clearest ice around. It was reflecting the light from the sun making it glow bright blue, almost like a giant nightlight. They started flying past it, seeing a small settlement around the mountain, small little houses, all covered in snow their chimneys billowing out smoke.

"That's a cute village...wonder who lives in those houses?" Kitty said, her eyes filled with curiosity.

"Pixies I think. I remember Ashlynn saying Crystal's family employs Snow pixies to help create the snowflakes for winter. That might be where they live." Blake replied, a similar look of curiosity on his face.

As they continued flying, Cadence started feeling a little odd. They had been well past the ice mountain, in fact they had started to see the spires from the Snow Queen's castle. Blake let out a sigh, wanting to finally get out of the brutal cold. However, he started feeling Cadence slowing down, making him grow concerned. When he glanced over her shoulder, he noticed she had something near her left nostril. His eyes widened a bit as the dragon started breathing hard.

"Cadence, please don't sneeze! It isn't the time for that!" he cried.

"Huh? What do you mean sneeze? She can't sneeze up here, we'll freaking die!" Kitty cried, her grip on the boy in front of her increasing. He handed her the reins and climbed out of the saddle, carefully moving toward the dragon's snout, just as she took a breath. He grabbed the frozen feather, which he didn't know how it got there and pulled it away. Sighing with relief when the dragon stopped.

"Jeez, we just avoided that...I'm so glad that..."

"ACHOO!"

Blake lost his grip on the dragon, slipping right off the saddle. He started to fall down toward the ground making Kitty scream, her voice being carried off by the wind. She grabbed a tight hold of Cadence's reins and flicked them hard sending the dragon into a nose dive. She had never flown a dragon before but that wasn't a problem for her at the moment. She held her hand out, trying to grab Blake's extended on. He let out a sigh when she grabbed a hold of him, helping him back onto the saddle. It was only then that Cadence slammed into the ground, sending snow in all directions. Both teenagers were tossed off the saddle in different directions.

Blake pulled himself to his feet, brushing the snow away from his face and chest, thankfully not getting any inside his coat. He grabbed his hat from the ground, shaking the snow off of it as he put it on. Looking around the area, he noticed Kitty's body not far from where he was standing, the girl was half buried in the snow, her rump sticking up in the air. He made his way toward her, brushing some snow away from her body.

"Kitty keep calm, I'm gonna pull you out!" he exclaimed, wrapping his arms around her waist. With a firm pull, he was able to bring the young woman free from her snowy prison, only for the two to fall back to the ground, more snow covering them up.

"Oh Blake, thanks for pulling me out. And for warming up my round posterior with your lap." Kitty said, causing the boy to push her away from him.

"This isn't the time for jokes. Cadence, are you alright?" he asked, turning to face the white dragon, who had disappeared. He looked around in worry, only for her to burst from a snow bank in her regular form. She started shaking her head, a bit of snow still on her snout.

"Well, it looks like she ran out of power to keep her form up. That means we're walking from here." Blake said, checking to make sure their packs were still firmly tied to the saddle. Kitty stood up, brushing more snow off her clothes and hair.

"Not that making snow angels isn't fun, but we're nowhere near the Snow Castle. I mean, I can see the snowflakes on the spires but that's it...do you actually think we can make it that far?" Kitty asked, earning a nod from Blake.

"I can, it's better to just walk instead of complain. Take my hand, and one of these reins, I don't want to lose you out here." he said, holding his hand out to her. Kitty flushed slightly, wrapping her hand around his.

They started walking away from their landing site toward a large snow dune which had been blocking their vision. Once they had gotten on top of it, they let out simultaneous gasps. A beautiful palace of ice could be seen in the distance, reaching high into the sky. The tall spires looked like large icicles rising from the ground. The outer walls of the castle were made from thick blocks of ice, which would keep attackers outside, though he doubted anyone would want to attack this castle all the way up north. The castle was glowing a crystalline blue, much like all of the ice around the area, the aurora above them added even more to the beautiful scene. Blake pulled out his camera, snapping a picture of the palace for his album, a smile on his face.

"Wow, I never thought I would see something like this in my life. It's like being inside a dream." he said, shuddering a bit from a strong gust of wind.

"Heh, wait until you see the Queen of Hearts's palace back in Wonderland. That one puts this one to shame, it's made entirely out of cards, way better than one made of ice." Kitty boasted, crossing her arms in annoyance.

"A palace made of cards is wicked, sure. But this...this is cool, pun intended." he said, tugging on Cadence's rein so she would start walking.

"Hey, did you call Crystal to let her know we were coming? I mean, we wouldn't want to just show up without an invite."

"Well, I wanted to surprise her. She's been super busy since the Winter Formal, and her father finally got better from his cold...or warm...eh...anyway, I figured I would just show up unannounced as a surprise. Besides, she never told me her birthday was November 17th and she didn't say anything, so I wanted to give her a gift...you know, a late Christmas/Birthday gift." he said, patting one of the bags attached to Cadence's saddle.

"You got her a present?"

"Of course I did! She gave me a sweet ass ice gun for Christmas. Since I had to give Alistair the Vorpal Blade back, I've been carrying it around for self defense. You never know, after all." he said, reaching behind his back for his ice pistol, showing it to Kitty.

"Ooo, it looks like a water gun. Can I shoot it?"

"Hell no. You would probably freeze my ass solid." he replied, placing the gun behind his back.

As they continued their approach of the castle, Cadence started getting a bit nervous. Her eyes were darting back and forth to the nearby snow mounds, as if she could sense something. She stopped in the middle of the path, causing Blake and Kitty to stop. She started sniffing around, her wings moving a bit as she glanced toward the top of the nearby snow bank. She started growling, pawing the snow underneath her. Blake pulled Kitty behind him, resting his hand on the handle of his gun.

"Someone is out there, be on your guard." he said softly, earning a nod from Kitty.

He pumped his gun a few times, flicking the switch to snowball instead of ice shards. They took a few paces forward, and the ones watching them sprung out of their hiding place, pointing sharpened spears of ice right at the two teenagers. Blake held his gun up, finger on the trigger about to shoot, when he saw the ice armor they were wearing, stamped with the royal crest of the Snow Kingdom.

"Drop your weapon if you value your life boy." the man said, glaring into Blake's eyes. He flicked the safety onto his gun, slowly lowering it to the ground.

"You all must be the Royal Guard right? I would like to apologize to you, I'm friends with Princess Crystal. We came here for a visit, and wanted to surprise her. We didn't intend to raise an alarm." he said.

"Likely story, hands behind your back, you too miss. Someone take a hold of the dragon." the man said firmly. Several guards moved toward Cadence, frightening her a bit. Blake moved forward, putting a hand on her snout.

"It's alright Cadence, calm down. They aren't gonna hurt you okay? They're just doing their job to protect the Kingdom. Just stay calm, we'll be back together again soon." he said, successfully calming down the dragon. He handed the reins to one of the guards, placing his hands on his head, with Kitty mimicking his actions.

"How are you so calm? I mean, they're patting us down and it feels weird." Kitty said, earning a chuckle from the boy.

"When you practice parkour on your free time, you tend to get in trouble with the law quite a lot. I've had more pat downs and arrests than any other teenager. They always let me go since I didn't violate any laws, it's something you just get used too after awhile." he said.

"Keep quiet." the guard snapped, taking a hold of his wrist, placing it behind his back, a pair of shackles being attached to his wrists. They did the same with Kitty, forcing the two of them toward what looked like a sleigh, pulled by Polar Bears.

Blake and Kitty remained silent as they slowly approached the castle. They were mostly in awe of the giant ice structure. They wanted to ask questions, but knew none of the guards were going to reply to them, so they just stayed quiet. Once they had arrived at the castle, the two teenagers were taken inside through another door instead of the main entrance. They passed through the barracks of the castle, a slight warmth hitting their skin. Once they reached a stone prison, the two teenagers were uncuffed and placed inside separate cells, thankfully side by side.

"The Snow Queen shall be here to interrogate you momentarily." the man said, leaving the two alone.

"Hey, what about my dragon? She better not be harmed or I'll slap the shit out of you!" Blake cried, earning a laugh from the man. The sound of a door closing filled the area, before they were met with total silence.

"I'm loving my vacation with you Blake. These are the cleanest cells I've seen in my entire life." Kitty said, earning a glare from the boy.

"Not the time Kitty, really not the time." he snapped, earning a giggle from the girl.

"It's just a shame...those guards ended up catching a person...who...has trouble staying put." she said, disappearing from her cell. She appeared outside of Blake's cell, holding a key ring in her hands.

"When the hell did you swipe that?"

"Aw, it's one of my many talents. Do you actually think shackles will hold this kitty back? Uh-uh, that's not happening." she said, opening his cell, letting him out.

"This is a bad idea but...oh well, wanna take a look around?" he asked, earning a grin from the boy. As they were about to leave the dungeons however, the door opened, a tall woman appearing on the other side.

She was a pale skinned woman, her platinum blonde hair being kept up in a rather intricate style. She was wearing a very beautiful dress, which was a bright blue in color, the bodice was tight fitting, with black markings on it, and various glittering snowflakes sown onto the gown itself. Around the waist were two layers of white fur, the gown extending downward, being blue in color. It had two layers of fur, the hem also being made of pure white snow. She wore icy white boots with various designs on it. On her hands were matching blue gloves lined with white fur.

Blake and Kitty stood still as the woman locked eyes with both of them, a look of surprise in her icy blue eyes. The black haired boy already knew who this woman was and he really didn't want to find out how cold her ice was. He took a step back, taking a hold of Kitty's hand.

"Kitty, flash us out of here." he said, a look of urgency in his voice.

"I wouldn't bother, I've already frozen your feet to the ground." the woman said, causing the two teenagers to look down, seeing that they had indeed been frozen to the ground.

"Ah, tits." he muttered under his breath, earning a giggle from Kitty.

"This is the first time someone's gotten one over me. Magic ice that prevents me from teleporting, you've thought of everything haven't you Madam Snow Queen?" she asked, mirth clear in her voice.

"I have, though I wasn't expecting the daughter of the Cheshire Cat to be held captive here. You boy, what is your name?"

"Oh...um...it's Blake...Blake Bigby, madam." he said, a slight look of fear on his face. She narrowed her eyes, looking him over.

"Hmm...are you frightened of me? I've done nothing against you, yet you stand there shivering...why?"

"Um...Do you...wanna build a snowman? Come on, let's go outside and play." he said, his fear turning into excitement. The woman gave him a surprised look, eyes narrowing.

"How do you know about that song? My little sister sung it all the time growing up. Who are you really?"

"Mom? Are you in here? Captain Berg told me they have some prisoners down here." the voice of Crystal said, causing the woman to look over her shoulder.

"Stay away Crystal, these two could be potentially dangerous!" the woman said, clearly being protective of her daughter. Blake sighed, crossing his arms.

"Hey Crystal, could you tell your mom to unthaw our legs? We don't wanna get our toes cut off!" he called out. Upon hearing the boy's voice, Crystal squeezed her way into the room, a look of surprise on her face. Blake braced himself a bit as he caught the girl in a tight embrace, which was enough to shatter the ice from his feet.

"Oh Blake, what an amazing surprise! Why didn't you tell me you were coming for a visit? I would have made preparations and everything!" the girl cried, backing away from the boy slightly.

"We wanted to surprise you...but I guess your guards got the jump on us when we crashed outside of the castle grounds. Cadence is still getting used to flying." he said, rubbing his neck. The girl turned back to her mother, a pleading look on her face.

"Mom, could you please thaw Kitty out? She's one of my friends from Ever After High, and so is Blake here." she said. The woman sighed, removing the ice from Kitty's legs.

"You haven't answered my question yet, how did you know about that song? Not many know it you know."

"It's a long story...if you'd like I can share it with you. But I'd like to see my dragon first, and make sure all of my things are still intact. I don't trust that guard, I fear he may have stumbled upon my stash of dank memes." he said, putting his hand to his forehead, looking distraught.

"Dank memes?" the Snow Queen asked, clearly confused. Crystal just giggled, there was still quite a lot her mother had to learn about her friend.

 _ **xxx**_

"That's it really, my life story from when I arrived in Ever After, to just before I got arrested." Blake said. The looks on the faces of the Snow King and Queen and even Crystal was of amazement. Sure, Crystal already knew the story, but she hadn't heard it in detail before.

They were in the family room in the middle of the ice castle, the warmest part. The King and Queen didn't exactly need to stay warm, but they did enjoy a roaring fire from time to time. Blake felt rather comfortable now that he didn't have to wear his thick coat and could relax a bit. He and Kitty had been served one of the finest teas in the world, made from a special plant that only grows in the snow. He was sure it was going to put Maddie's Earl Grey to shame.

"I'm sorry to hear so much has happened to you young man. Crystal gave us a bit of an explanation, but never this detailed." the Snow King said firmly.

He was a tall man, standing nearly at six and a half feet in height. He had platinum blond hair, and a short white beard, his eyes being icy blue. He was wearing a thick blue coat lined with white fur around the collar and the cuffs. Matching blue pants adorned his legs, and he was wearing a pair of black leather boots with white snowflakes designed onto them. He was a very strong man, a recognized sorcerer of ice much like his wife Elsa was. But behind his icy exterior liked a kind hearted man, with a heart that was far from being made of ice.

"It's quite alright, your majesty. I've since grown to accept that life often times throws challenges your way. Sometimes they're nice, and sometimes they're downright cruel to you. But if you overcome adversity, you'll become a kinder person. I've been dealt a bad hand all my life, starting from when I was abandoned at birth, but one day I'll definitely get the upper hand. For now, I'll just sit back and watch." he replied, a smile on his face.

"I understand what you mean...from a young age, I used to fear my ice powers. I had hurt my little sister and didn't want to hurt anyone else. But once my parents died during their trip to my cousin's wedding, I just grew colder. It felt so liberating to finally let go of everything, even if it caused Arrendale to freeze over." Elsa added, glancing at her gloved hands.

"Oh but come on, the ice palace was wicked cool! I'm still having a hard time accepting this though. You're story is a bit different on my world than in Ever After. It's as if the story of the Snow Queen and its adaptation fused to create a singular story. It's rather interesting if I do say so myself." Blake said, narrowing his eyes in thought.

"So Blake, how are you and Cerise doing? You didn't mention her at all during your story. I'm sure a lot of stuff has happened aside from the things during the Spring Fairest." Crystal said, giving him a curious look. He had purposefully omit the part where he had broken up with Cerise, since he already knew Crystal had feelings for him. He was honestly scared to even tell her, but he didn't get a choice as Kitty stuck her hand in the pot before he could reply.

"Blake and Cerise broke up, actually. Remember that fake rebel we talked about? Yeah, he ended up stealing Apple and Duchess's diaries and spilling their steamy contents over the school's PA system." Kitty said, finishing the last of her tea. She glanced at Blake who had a look of pure hatred on his face. She just gave him her famous grin, not at all regretting what she had done.

"You two...broke up? Really? But you were so in love." Crystal said, earning a frown from the boy.

"Yes, we were. But I made a mistake, I ended up letting her read one of my journal entrees. The fake Rebel somehow recorded her reading it, they must have listened to it enough times to memorize it and then read those contents through the PA system. She had been the only one I shared that with, and I assumed she had let it spill and that the Rebel had gotten it from her. On top of that, I kept being the real Radio Rebel from her, it was just...a really stressful mess that I wanna forget." he replied, glancing at his tea, seeing his saddened reflection on it.

"Ahem, perhaps you would like a tour of the palace? Crystal here could show you just how we make winter. I'm sure it would be an amazing experience for the two of you." Elsa said, earning nods from the two teenagers.

"That would be so cool! I've always wanted to see how snowflakes are made, hehe!" Kitty replied with a grin.

"I agree, especially how they're never alike. Hey, if I do find two snowflakes that look the same, can I keep them?" Blake said, earning a laugh from the Snow King.

"You're welcome to try, but I assure you. You will never find two snowflakes that are alike in this kingdom."

"Alright then, you are on...I will sift through every snow bank around this palace until I find two similar snowflakes." he said, a grin on his face.

"Come on you, maybe I can give you a head start, though daddy is right. You'll never find two snowflakes that are alike, we look at them extensively so it doesn't happen." Crystal said, taking a hold of his hand. Kitty narrowed her eyes, balling her hands tightly.

"Thanks for the tea your majesties, it was awesome. Also, thanks for letting us stay here for the week, it means a lot to us." Blake said.

"It's not an issue, any friend of our daughter's is a friend of ours. You are always welcome here in the Snow Kingdom." Elsa said, giving the boy a wave before he was pulled out of the room.

"He's a charming lad...I still cannot believe the Evil Queen did that to him however." the Snow King said, earning a nod from his wife.

"Indeed, I knew she was evil, but never that evil. The poor thing...he's quite the looker too, no wonder Crystal seems so attracted to him. Perhaps we finally have a suitor for our daughter?" she asked hopefully, earning a smile from her husband.

"Quite, he looks capable...although, I hope he can certainly handle our daughter. I think there's a bit of Anna in her blood, from how excited she always is."

"Mhmm, do you think we'll have grandchildren soon? I mean, it is a little early and all, but I wouldn't mind seeing their kids running around."

"Elsa dear, you are jumping to conclusions already. I would never allow them to make babies without my little girl being married." he said sternly, earning a sigh from his wife.

"Knowing our Crystal, she'd do it anyway. Remember what it was like when we met dear, we didn't even wait a week before we were already doing it. Perhaps we can have another one? A little brother or sister for Crystal?" she asked, earning a cringe from the man.

"Oh well look at the time, I've got royal documents to look over. A lot of things to supervise...I'll get back to you on that honey, see you at dinner." the Snow King said, giving her a kiss on the cheek before taking off. Elsa sighed, crossing her arms in annoyance.

"Come on, Crystal wasn't that bad growing up! We can just bring Anna and Kristoff here to give us a hand!" she cried, her voice echoing through the empty room.


	52. A Day in the Snow

**A/N:**

 **Hey guys and welcome to Chapter 52 of Through the Looking Glass. This chapter will be the continuation of Blake and Kitty's visit to the Snow Kingdom, so I do hope you enjoy it. Actually, this chapter ended a lot differently, but one of you guys pointed out something to me that I never really addressed, the fact that Blake see's Cerise's mom Ruby like his own mother, but they're relationship, aside from one picnic was never touched upon. For that I apologize. There are a lot of things that I say and do but never touch upon and that's because I focus so much on the narrative that I forget stuff. This story is massive in scale, Christ we're 52 chapters in and we're only half way done. So I guess, expect more filler chapters in the future? Is that the right thing to say? Eh...I dunno. What I will do is touch upon these things more often, so if you guys want to see something happen, do tell me. When you are this deep in a story, the fountain starts drying up and you want to move onto the next story arc as soon as you can and that hurts the story quite a lot. So, thanks to DeMoDusty, you will get some exposition in this chapter with Ruby and Ramona who I have neglected in the previous arcs of the story.**

 **I must also thank SavvyMan52 for his suggestions which had birthed new chapters for this story in the ways of exposition. I might be adding an arc before Way Too Wonderland, but only three chapters or so, mostly centered around Duchess Swan. Since it's starting to get closer to that arc, I'm gonna be writing segway chapters. What I mean is, I will be writing chapters that will lead into separate stories IE the alternate universe stories. I will be writing chapters in a way that I can take them and write an alternate scenario in which Blake ends up with that girl. So, during this Duchess centered arc, I will write it in such a way that it is left for interpretation, so that I in the future may write Duchess's story with Blake as her lover and future husband. I will be doing the same with various other chapters and various other girls, but once Way Too Wonderland happens in the main story, the One True Pairing will be decided for the story. But to please all of you out there, there will be other stories as mentioned above. So we all get what we want in the end, especially me since I want to explore different relationships.**

 **So I do hope you like what I have written in this chapter, I have taken the time to actually explore a lot of things in this story so tell me how I did. And like I said before, I am very open to suggestions. As long as it makes sense within the story's narrative then I will more than likely include into the story, so feel free to send me those via PM. Remember to leave me your reviews, favorite and follow and as always have a good night.**

 **Also what did you guys think about that moment in the beginning of last Chapter? Where Blake prepared for the fucking of a lifetime? Let's just say Duchess won't be the only one who might end up doing that to him. He's at least getting something Joey never will, ROFL YOLO SWAG 420BLAZEIT**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 52

A day in the Snow

Blake was honestly having a great time during his tour of Crystal's home. She had shown him all of her favorite places around the palace, but the most interesting part was of course the snowflake room. It was a large room located near the back of the palace, with large machines that created ice. Through a series of crushers and other heavy machinery the Snow Princess was too lazy to mention the name of, the snowflakes for winter were created. The two teenagers stood on a catwalk above the processing room where the freshly made snowflakes were counted. He had also been introduced to some of the workers, two of them being named Jackie Frost and Northwind. They acted a bit smug, but Crystal had said that their families had been working together for many generations. However, he didn't exactly like Jackie's attitude, especially when Kitty had grown curious about the machinery.

Having moved on, she took them into another room where all of the snow flakes were being spread around. Crystal had told them that they were testing the aerodynamics of the flakes while in fall and in various weather conditions. They were also using magic to stuff them into clouds. It was also the first time he had held a cloud which was actually almost like the fluff stuffed into a pillow. Kitty had of course tried to stuff one into her shirt, but Crystal had told her to put it back. If she took it out of the Snow Kingdom too early, the snow would turn into rain and it could cause a catastrophic rainstorm. She had been rather excited to see the results until Blake's stern look made her put it back.

After awhile, Crystal had taken the two to the back of the palace, showing them the large ice courtyard. There was a balcony that rose over it with two ice stairwells leading down into the courtyard. It had hundreds of snow statures, birds, people, animals, flowers. It was quite the sight, especially with all of the snow covered greenery, the fir trees growing around the area, as well as the frozen lake that was nearby. Blake was sure he would have run out of film on his camera if it wasn't a digital one, just from all of the pictures he had taken. He had seen a lot of amazing things, but the courtyard was definitely his favorite part of the palace thus far.

"I can tell you like this place. I like coming here to look at the statues whenever I'm too antsy. Mom made all of them you know." Crystal said.

"She's very talented...the detail on some of these statues is amazing. I mean, look at this angel, the wings are carved with such precision. You can see all of the feathers too." he said, standing in front of the ice angel. It reminded him of the one in Saint's Row 2, except less scantily clad.

"Oh, look at this one! It's a giant cat playing with a yarn ball!" Kitty said, coming to a stop in front of another statue. It was in the likeness of a cat, its paw extended outward to touch the ice yarn ball in front of it.

"Ah, this one was in memory of my aunt's pet cat when she and mom were growing up. Apparently, the cat got out of the palace in Arrendale, and since they weren't allowed to leave, Aunt Anna couldn't go after it. Mom made this statute in its honor." Crystal explained, pointing to the ice placard at the base of the statue.

"Sandwiches, Anna had a cat named Sandwiches?" he asked, earning a giggle from the princess.

"My aunt really likes sandwiches, like...a lot."

They kept walking through the collection of ice statues, marveling at some of the more intricate ones. Kitty of course could be counted on making a bit of chaos. When Blake and Crystal were distracted, she walked toward a nearby bush, grabbing a bit of snow from the top. She crafted a medium sized snowball from it, making sure it was packed enough to stay round. She pulled her arm back, giggling a bit as she released the ball, hitting Blake in the back of the head. He just stood there for a second registering what had happened before turning around, glaring at the violet haired girl.

"Seriously? You couldn't wait a single second without throwing a snowball?" he asked.

"You expect less from me? I mean come on! I am the next Cheshire Cat." she said with a grin. Due to her own bragging, Kitty failed to see the incoming snowball, which hit her square in the face, knocking her to the ground.

"Hehehe, this is pretty fun." Blake said, bumping fists with Crystal.

"You just made a terrible mistake." Kitty said, a devious grin appearing on her face.

"Come on you two, you wanna have a snowball fight, then let's at least get out of the courtyard. There's an open field up ahead where me and the Pixies usually have our battles." Crystal said. The two teens nodded, holding onto their snowballs as to not be left weaponless.

The field Crystal had spoken of was quite large, and was in fact in front of a lake. The lake's surface was frozen solid, and had two goals at either end, along with a raised wall of ice blocks. It wasn't hard for Blake to figure out what that was. He had a bit of an excited look on it, seeing the bleachers around the other wide of the field, along with the raised walls of ice and glass.

"You have your own hockey rink? No wonder you got so good at the sport!"

"Come on Blake, as the future Snow Queen I had to make sure we had a rink. Ice skating is my favorite pass time, along with schooling idiots like Joey in a good old hockey game. Have you gotten better? Maybe you'd like to play against me." she said.

"Of course I've gotten better, I played almost all winter up until the ice started to melt. I'm not gonna let a girl beat me in my favorite sport." he said, moving toward the ice.

"But what about our snowball fight? I was prepared to school you in how to throw snow!" Kitty said, a look of disappointment on her face.

"We can have the fight too, come on...I'll teach you how to play hockey. Crystal is a professional at this so the two of us can challenge as a handicap." he said, a pleading look on his face. Kitty gave a reluctant nod, letting go of her snowball.

"First off, you two need skates. Can't move around on the ice without them." the Snow Princess said, waving her wand at the two. Two thin blades of ice appeared on their footwear, glowing blue like the ice around them. Blake stepped onto the ice, sighing contently.

"Ah, I missed this. Whenever I grew really bored with parkour and skating, I would always ask my sister Susan to take me to the ice rink. I was taught how to figure skate so I always wanted to keep my skills sharp. Hockey was an added bonus." he said, glancing at his reflection on the ice's surface.

"I didn't learn how to ice skate until I was in Ever After. It wasn't fun, but Lizzie and I got the hang of it really quickly." Kitty added, pushing herself toward the middle of the rink. Crystal handed the two a pair of hockey sticks made of ice, placing a puck in the middle of the rink.

"Well, who wants to face off?" she asked, a small smile on her face.

"I will, just so I can get the pleasure of wiping that smirk off your face." he said, skating toward the center of the field. Kitty didn't really know what to do so she just stood back a bit, mimicking Blake's actions.

"You know, we did beat Joey's team back when we first met. You saw how good I was then, don't think I'll go easy on you." she said, giving him a wink.

"I know how good you are, and I'll make you eat those words." he replied. The two struck sticks three times, and the fight for control of the puck begun.

 _ **xxx**_

After an hour of playing hockey, the two teenagers had finally given up. The battle was fierce but in the end neither could score into each others goal. Kitty had learned quite rapidly what to do and had become very helpful in Blake's crusade for victory. They weren't counting on Crystal's natural speed on the ice, and for her to cut them off at every single score they tried to make. They just sat at the edge of the lake, catching their breath after going back and forth for so long.

"So, how's everyone else back in Ever After? Good I hope?" Crystal asked, earning a nod from the boy.

"They're all fine...Ash and Briar are doing fine...I think Ash and Hunter are close to celebrating they're first year anniversary. The yearbook is coming along fine, we got a few more months to complete it...the Spring Fairest was fun too."

"Yeah...aside from my mom bringing that cursed book, turning my friends into evil versions of themselves. Sealing up the well of Wonder, having to see my best friend become the worst villain ever, and having the whole school find out Blake, Briar and I tossed the book into the well, the Fairest was pretty fun." Kitty added, causing Crystal to sit up, eyes wide in surprise.

"I'm sorry, what was that? You seemed to have omitted that little detail from your recount. What do you mean you tossed the book into the well?" she asked, earning a sigh from the boy, who rested his arm on his knee, glancing out into the distance.

"During Thronecoming, Briar found the Storybook of Legends that the Evil Queen had stolen. Knowing she'd have to sign it should it be returned, she decided to instead get rid of it. Me and Kitty were at the well of Wonder when she showed up with it. I knew how scared she was, knowing her friends would be long dead when she woke up from her 100 year sleep. I figured out her intentions, so I took the book and tossed it into the well. We would then keep it to ourselves." Blake said.

"Mhmm, except the Fake Radio Rebel somehow got a conversation of Briar speaking with Ashlynn about it. Not just that, the way it was presented, it made it seem like Blake was the bad person...that's what lead him to reading the curse riddle book, because he was put on trash duty as a punishment. That lead him to turning evil, causing all of the Wonder to disappear from Ever After." Kitty said, finishing up the story. Crystal remained silent, resting her head in her hands, not at all knowing what to say. She brushed a strand of hair behind her ear, glancing at the pair.

"So, the real book is in Wonderland right? And since the portals are closed, you can't get it back."

"That's right...I'm already researching ways on cracking the portal open. I want to get rid of Briar's guilt, we made a plan to go through the Well of Wonder, but it wasn't an ideal one. The well moves around, so even if we took someone like Kitty with us, it would be increasingly difficult to find the Book. It would take too long." the black haired boy said, shuddering a bit from a sudden wind gust.

"I didn't know Briar was so opposed to her destiny. She always seemed like a girl who wanted to follow in her mom's footsteps. To hear this coming from you two...I mean, we've been best friends since we were little girls. Surely she would have mentioned something."

"I'm sure she would have, but it isn't something you can say over a phone call. She confided in Ashlynn, but the fake Rebel...that fucker violated that privacy. Worse yet, he's got some bugs all around the school, they're small and almost invisible. They're meant to record sound and send it straight to them. Our plan to head to Wonderland was compromised from minute one...and that's what pisses me off the most." he said, grabbing a bunch of snow in his hand, squeezing it rather hard.

"We're not sure who they are. But this little plot, it's made to bring the worst secrets a person is hiding into the light. And all of them seemed to be centered around Blake, especially those intimate diary entrees from Duchess and Apple. It was horrible and disgusting, seeing the embarrassment and disappointment on my friend's faces...it just makes me sick." Kitty snapped, her pupils turned into thin slits from her anger. Crystal closed her eyes, glancing up to the sky, a frown on her face.

"If I wasn't so busy here, I could go to Ever After High...I would help you out, finding this guy. Freeze his balls off if they have them." she said, causing the boy beside her to cringe.

"Ow, that gives the term blue balls a whole new meaning." he replied, causing the two girls to laugh.

"Anyway, now that you're single again, have any girls caught your eye? I'm sure someone has...come on, spill the details!" Crystal cried excitedly. Kitty grew curious, her gaze drifting toward her friend.

"I'm not interested in anyone right now...my break up with Cerise is still kinda fresh." he replied, pulling his phone from his pocket, checking it for messages. He had a few from Ashlynn and one from Raven, both asking if they had made it to Crystal's palace.

"Aw, don't leave us hanging! Come on Blake, tell us! We're your friends right? Would you really want to disappoint us by keeping this to yourself?" Kitty asked, giving him a cute pout. He pursed his lips, pressing them into a thin line as he glared at the girl.

"Okay fine, I'm interested in a few girls if you must know. That's all I'm going to say." he replied, the clicking of his keyboard keys filling the air.

"Don't leave me hanging Blake, I'll freeze your butt to the ground...I mean it!" Crystal said, waving her wand at him in a threatening manner. He looked at her, brow raised in curiosity.

"Well, I mean if you wanna pull my pants down and glue my amazing ass to the ice. I'm not stopping you, just know that it'll be you having to rub it when I get frostbitten ass cheeks." he said, causing the girl to blush, a small puff of mist leaving her mouth.

"Are you sure that isn't just an excuse for you to get her to rub one out for you? I mean if you like having ice cold hands on your shaft, it's fine. You do you." Kitty said, giving the boy a grin. He threw a snowball at her face, a soft yelp leaving her lips.

"Take that shit you damn cat!" he snapped.

"No, but seriously...who are you crushing on? You gotta tell me! I promise I won't tell anyone alright? You have my word." Crystal said, placing a hand on her chest.

"Yeah, it isn't you who I'm worried about." he said, glancing at Kitty who was busy building a snow cat. She looked at him, giving him a grin.

"Best friend's honor...I won't tell anyone anything...promise!" she said, returning to her snow cat. He sighed, knowing they wouldn't stop insisting until he spilled the beans.

"Alright fine, I'll tell you the name of one girl that's interested me, even before I started dating Cerise. Holly O'Hair, there you go...do with that information what you must." he said, eyes back on the screen of his phone.

"Wow really? I mean, Holly is really cute. But she caught your eye? What about her is it that you like so much? It's her hair isn't it? The fact that you can do anything and you got an escape rope right there. That's nice, but a little cruel too." Crystal said, earning a laugh from the boy.

"It isn't her hair, Crystal. And I'm not one to use a girl just for that, sheesh. She's really sweet, likes writing which is one of my pass times whenever I have the time. She's curious, has pretty eyes...and any girl who carries around a frying pan for self defense is an amazing woman in my book. I mean, do you know how much it would hurt to get cracked in the head with a cast iron skillet?" he asked, earning a cringe from Crystal who most likely imagined it.

"Please, you like a girl for her cooking utensils? I mean, it's cool...once you're done bashing heads in, you can make an omelet where ever you go. But that's not a good enough reason to like her, I do agree...she has nice eyes." Kitty replied, taking a few steps away from her snow cat, taking a few pictures of it with her MirrorPhone.

"She's got a good attitude Kitty, and a nice personality. I think that's what's attractive to him, right Blake?"

"You're right Crystal...I don't like someone just because of their looks. They help, of course...but if you have a disgusting personality you are getting left swiped faster than a jack rabbit fucking in the middle of August. She's really sweet, so what's not to like?" he asked, shrugging his shoulders a bit.

"True...anyone else you'd like to share? You said a few girls and you've only mentioned one."

"Sorry Kitty, but that's the only one you are getting from me. So, aside from hockey, what else do you do for fun here?" Blake asked, glancing up at Crystal who gave him a grin.

"It's a good thing that you've asked...tell me Blake, have you ever ridden a snowmobile?" she asked curiously.

"Damn straight I have, the most fun I've ever had...why do you ask?"

"Well, it just so happens that we have a really fun sport here in the Snow Kingdom that might be up to your standards. Come on, we're heading to Crystal Peak, and no that mountain isn't named after me." she said, holding her hand out to him. He took her hand, not really liking the smile on her face.

 _ **xxx**_

Snowmobile racing was honestly the coolest thing that Blake had ever done in his life. He had seen people do it back on Earth, but not like Crystal did. They actually built a race track around the mountain, and had a legitimate course for people to take. She had taken them all the way to the top of the mountain, a flat area where the snowmobiles were parked, and after some talking with the owner of the lodge, a rather nice Snow Pixie, they were off. Blake had taken to the vehicle rather quickly, having already known how to operate it. Kitty however was having a hard time figuring out the controls, so she insisted on riding with Blake, so she wouldn't get left behind.

That was when the fun had begun. It was a rather steep downhill course...Crystal had changed out of her outfit into a tight fitting riding outfit made mostly of leather so she wouldn't get hurt. She had created similar outfits for them with her magic, a small smile on her face when Kitty hugged Blake tightly. It wasn't hard for her to see the real reason the daughter of the Cheshire Cat was doing that. Once they had been at the starting line, Crystal looked at the two, giving them a firm look.

"Alright, this is a downhill course, there is one checkpoint halfway down, which is the end of the first lap. Then there's another checkpoint near the base to mark the end of the second lap. The first snowmobile to make it to the castle grounds wins the race." She said.

"Excuse me? What do we get if we win?" Kitty asked curiously, earning a smirk from the girl.

"I'll make it worth your while, but if I win then I get something in return, my choice. Do we have an accord?" the girl asked holding her hand out.

"Well, I am the one driving so I suppose I have to agree right?" Blake said, shaking her hand. She grabbed her helmet from the handlebar and put it on, making sure her goggles were on her face. Blake did the same, tightening the chin strap.

They started their vehicles, glancing at the lights at the edges of the starting line. They were glowing a brilliant red, slowly dropping to the yellow. Both Blake and Crystal revved their engines, showing to each other that they meant business. As soon as the green light flashed, the two took off, shooting forward toward the incline. Blake felt Kitty tighten her hold on him when they hit the incline, seeing the trees shooting past them a mile a minute.

"This is so cool!" he cried, turning in time to dodge a tree.

"Y-yeah...c-cool!" the girl behind him said, teeth chattering mostly in fear than from the cold.

The path started shifting toward the right causing the two racers to head in that direction. Crystal cut the boy off, giving him a smirk as she drove past him easily gaining speed. Blake tightened his hold on the throttle, shifting to fourth gear, picking up speed. They went over a large mound of snow, slamming onto the ground rather hard. Blake straightened out a bit, passing the first checkpoint, marking the end of the first lap.

"Come on Blake, are you gonna let her beat you? I thought you were the best in snow related sports!" Kitty cried.

"This is the first time racing on a snowmobile, the fuck you want me to do about it?" he cried back, once again shifting gears. He managed to catch up to Crystal, who just gave him another smile.

"Watch out, the next area is part of a forest, there are a lot of nasty bumps in the path." she said, slowing her speed down. The boy dismissed her warning until he started seeing the trees. He let out a yelp of surprise, clutching the brakes and turning to stop just shy of hitting a tree.

"Jesus, that would have been bad." he muttered to himself. Crystal shot past him, earning a sigh from the boy who once again started moving at a slower speed.

"I wanna drive, can I drive?"

"Absolutely not! You told me you didn't know how to drive a snowmobile, what makes you think I would turn it over to you?" he asked, earning a grin from the girl.

"I'm a fast learning, come on please?" she asked, earning a sigh from the boy. He gave her a nod, and she grinned using her teleportation to flash in front of him. She revved the engine, making the boy hang onto the sides of the vehicle as she shot forward, ignoring the bumps in front of them.

"Kitty! Slow the fuck down!" he shouted.

"I don't know how!" she cried back, earning another cry from the boy.

Finally clearing the forest, there was nothing but down hill slopes from there. The violet haired girl giggled, shifting the snowmobile to its max speed. Shooting past Crystal who just looked at the two in shock. She grinned, picking up her speed as well easily catching up to the two teenagers.

"You're doing great, I hope you can handle the big one."

"The big one? What's the big one?" Blake asked, slight fear in his face.

"The big one is the steepest slope on Crystal Peak, only two people have managed to get down it at top speed, me and my mom. Let's hope you can beat our record." she said, passing them once more.

The next checkpoint was actually in an uphill climb, the flags marking it blowing in the wind. The two snowmobiles shot forward, passing through the checkpoint ant sailing through the air. Blake held on for dear life, ignoring the whoops of joy from Kitty as the landed hard on the snow. He let out a groan, feeling the weight of gravity on his body. His eyes widened a bit when he saw just how steep the slope actually was. It wasn't far from being a sheer drop, how they were still on the side of the mountain was beyond them. Blake wrapped his arms around Kitty, holding onto the young woman rather tightly.

"You might wanna slow down Kitty, the handle in front of the throttle is the brake, just squeeze it slowly." he said.

"No way, top speed is the most fun...I wanna wipe that smug look off of Crystal's face." she said cheerfully.

"Yeah, how the fuck will you do that if we're dead?!" he shouted. Kitty gave him a cute giggle, if she could speed up more she definitely would.

It was a grueling five minutes, but they slowly started making their way down the slope. Crystal managed to pass them again, not letting them go past her even a single inch. They hit another ramp, landing on flat snow as they left the tallest peak in the Snow Kingdom. Kitty swerved around the girl, eyes on the finish line.

"I'm not letting you beat me Crystal! This race is ours!" she cried boastfully.

"Did you go top speed the whole way down? How much fuel do you have left?" the girl asked. Kitty's eyes widened a bit as she glanced at the fuel gauge. It had been full at the top of the mountain but now that she had gone full speed most of the race, it was on E. She felt the engine start sputtering as the last of the fuel was used.

"See? This is why I told you to slow down Kitty!" Blake said.

"Come on, it isn't my fault! Use your magic to make more fuel!" she said. He sighed, shaking his head.

"I can't do that, whenever I use my magic for good, something bad happens. I have the Evil Queen's magic remember?" he asked.

Their snowmobile drifted to a stop, five hundred feet away from the finish line which Crystal easily passed, drifting to a stop just shy of the castle gates.

"Well, I had fun. I mean winning would have been better, but did you see how spelltacular that was? Maddie would definitely love this!" Kitty said, jumping from the snowmobile. Blake did the same, frowning a bit.

"Yeah, I'm sure she would like this, seeing as she is certifiably insane." he said, switching the snowmobile off. The last thing he wanted was someone to refuel it and for it to shoot off.

"Well, I won...so that means I get to choose what I want. Sorry Kitty, but I'll be borrowing Blake tomorrow morning, call it a little date." she said, giving him a wink.

"Ugh...fine, not like I'm gonna stop you. I wanna go see the penguins anyway, but the big question is...can we go again?" she asked.

 _ **xxx**_

Night time in the Snow Kingdom was very beautiful. The Snow King and Queen had prepared quite a nice dinner for their two guests. It had been really interesting to try some of the food that was prepared at the kingdom. He had been expecting a lot of cold dishes, but he was surprised to see various things from around Ever After. He was even more impressed when he saw Fillet Migon on the table, something that he never thought he would see in this world. He almost cried when he tried it, much to the surprise of everyone around him.

They had traded several stories, mostly of their youth. Of course the bigger stories came from Blake, explaining everything in Earth. The two Royals were impressed with seeing the similarities between worlds, but even more so with how different everything was, including the lack of magic and destiny. Afterwards, they had been taken to their own sleeping quarters. Blake's was rather spacious, made almost entirely out of ice. He of course couldn't walk around barefoot, but it still impressed him quite a bit. Even though the floors were marble, they were cold as ice and he didn't want to risk frostbite.

There was a small ice chandelier in the center of the room, almost like the one he had back in his dorm. It was the most amazing thing to see a real one made out of ice, just like the one from the Frozen movie. In fact, he had given the King and Queen a copy of that movie which he had burned onto a CD. He thought it would be interesting to see their expressions when they saw a movie based on Elsa and Anna growing up. He wanted to be there, but figured he'd get more questions from Elsa herself, so he said he would answer them the next morning. As of now, he was sitting at a wooden desk, writing in his journal, which he now carried with him everywhere.

" _My time here has been really interesting. I still haven't found those two snowflakes, but aside from that the race was really cool. Crystal sure knows how to have fun."_ he thought to himself as he finished the last paragraph on his entree. He glanced at the book, seeing he only had a few pages left, making him frown.

"I gotta get new journal." he muttered to himself, swiping his finger cross the cover, engaging the magic lock he had created for it. Not even Blondie's enchanted bobby pins would open that lock. He heard a knock on the door, causing him to look up. Quickly stuffing the journal into his messenger bag, he walked toward the door, slowly opening it to see Crystal and his pet dragon Cadence standing in the hall.

"Hi Blake, I brought Cadence like you asked. She was playing with the pixies in the snowbanks nearby." Crystal said giving him a smile.

"Oh...thanks for bringing her. I didn't want her to get into any trouble, though Ashlynn did an excellent job training her. She's been a really good girl over the last few days." he replied, taking a hold of her reins, leading her into the room. He waved his hand in the air, storing her saddle and bridle away, causing her to stretch her body.

"I can tell, she used to be much more excited the last time I saw her. Um...is your room fine? It's not too cold is it?" she asked, a look of worry washing over her face.

"It's fine...I actually like cold nights so this doesn't bother me. One difference between here and Canada that I like is the night sky. I've never seen it so clear before." he said, glancing out the window, seeing all of the twinkling stars.

"We have something in common...I've been raised her my entire life. The night sky is always something I looked forward too, especially the auroras. It was rather boring growing up, but when I met Ashlynn and Briar, I finally had someone to share it with. We used to play here all the time, making snow forts and having snowball fights." the girl replied, sitting down at the edge of the bed, running a hand through her hair.

"Let me guess, once you all got older the whole destiny thing started kicking in. You couldn't see each other because you all had to go to Princess School in order to prepare for your future destiny, that about right?" Blake asked, earning a nod from the girl.

"Not just Princess School, but Kingdom Management too. All three of us are future Queens after all...it made getting together to hang out much difficult. I wanted to go to Ever After High, but my parents felt the need to teach me everything before I could sign my name into the Storybook of Legends. It just turns out that someone I know got rid of it."

"I'm sorry Crystal, but I had to get rid of it. I didn't want Ashlynn and Hunter to split up, and I didn't want Briar to sleep for a hundred years. There were plenty of other things, but I just couldn't let them sign it." he replied, he grabbed a hold of the bedsheets squeezing them so hard his knuckles turned white.

"I get it...you know I had a feeling Briar was a Rebel from the beginning. She always hated talking about her destiny growing up, and wished she and Rosabella could trade places with her. But she realized that she didn't want to wish that destiny on anyone. She agreed to sign the book, but given the chance, I'm sure she would have run away." Crystal said.

"Mhmm, but thanks to Raven not signing the book...she got the chance she needed to finally discard it. I gave her the chance to hope for the future but ridding Ever After of the book. I just didn't think it would land in Wonderland and would cause future problems. Now the book is out there somewhere and there's no real way of retrieving it." he replied, releasing his grip on the sheets.

"The portals to Wonderland will open one day, you just gotta wait for that day. But until then, everyone who disagrees with destiny is thankful for what you did. But I am annoyed with you mister, because I actually want to be the Snow Queen. Bringing winter to the land is just an amazingly cool job that now will be postponed." she said giving him a pout.

"Oh come on Crystal, even if you don't sign the book as the next heiress to the throne, you would have gotten that spot by title. You don't need destiny for you to become the next Snow Queen. Better yet, you wouldn't have to suffer all that bullshit your mother suffered through...matter of fact..if you did sign the book, then history would repeat itself. Your parents would leave, die and then you'd have to take over. Come to think of it, why don't you have a sister? Shouldn't there be an Anna in your story?" he asked.

"Well...I do have a sister, a younger step sister. She's uh...eccentric if you will. She's currently in Neverland and since the portals closed we can't exactly talk to her." she said, a frown on her face.

"Oh...I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to bring it up." he said, earning a giggle from the girl.

"Please, it's alright. I've grown used to it, I miss her a lot but one day we'll be able to meet again. You are right though, me not signing the Storybook means my parents don't have to die. I never thought about it that way."

"That was one of the reasons why I threw the book in the well. There are many fairytales where people lose one or both of their parents. You loose yours at sea, Briar's die of old age, Ashlynn's mom dies and she gets mistreated. No one should lose their parents young, not be orphaned like I did, not be separated from my parents like I did. They should all be happy families, Forever After." he said, a frown on his face.

"You don't look so happy about it, what's the reason why?" she asked, earning a chuckle from the boy.

"Can you blame me for being a bit selfish? I hide it well, but come on...there are times where I wish I had my parents in my life. There are those thoughts where they scream, who cares about them? What about you? But I push them back, because I'm a good person. My real parents abandoned me, that's something I can't ever understand. But I'll make sure to become a good person, so when they do find me, they realize what they missed out on."

"We're all a little selfish you know. It takes a person like you to teach everyone how to be selfless instead. I mean, you're the only person I know who would give me the Music box from the Winter Concert." she said, earning a chuckle from the boy.

"It was obvious that you liked it. I built that thing out of scraps and some broken boxes I found in town. Out of anyone in Ever After, you deserve it the most, you brought winter to us after all."

"It's my job, well...my future job anyways. It just isn't fair, how this world is keeps kicking you down. You were so happy a few months ago, and you look so different now, I have no idea how you can do it." she said, earning a small smile from the boy.

"It isn't about can or can't. Some things in life, you just do."

Those words bounced around in her mind for a few seconds. She understood their meaning, and it made her heart skip a beat. The boy was right, sometimes you had to do things in life that you normally wouldn't do. Or else what would be the point of just thinking about them all the time? That was her thought processes at least, when she stood up from beside the boy, sitting on his lap with her arms around his neck. His eyes widened a bit as she gave him a warm smile.

"You're right, there are things in life you just have to do." she replied.

"Crystal, I don't think you are thinking with your head right now. Listen, I know that you like me...but I'm not really sure I'm ready for a relationship right now." he admitted, earning a smile from the girl.

"Who said anything about a relationship? Yes, I would totally adore having a relationship with you. But it's clear that you aren't ready for that yet, but that doesn't mean we can't relieve some stress right?" she asked, giving him a toothy grin.

"Relieve some stress, you mean...oh no...Crystal I just can't do that. That wouldn't be right, that would make me feel dirty for just using you."

"It wouldn't be...even if you don't want to have a relationship with me in the future...at least give me this. I'll never ask for something like this again, just this once? Besides, I checked on Kitty earlier, she's a heavy sleeper, I doubt she'll hear. Plus Cadence is asleep now." she said, giving him a wink.

"Uh...okay...why would Kitty even care though?"

"Really? You haven't noticed? Well okay then, not one to spoil the secret." she said, rolling her eyes. He sighed, glancing at the ceiling.

"Alright, just this once. But make sure to keep it down or I'll shove a sock in your mouth." Blake replied, earning a happy nod from the girl, who closed the distance with a chaste kiss.

 _ **xxx**_

"Blake are you sure they won't mind us dropping in like this?" Kitty asked, glancing over the boy's shoulder as they flew over Hood Hollow. He gave her a nod, a smile on his face.

"Trust me, they won't mind at all. I've been here by myself a few times, even though me and Cerise aren't dating anymore. Ruby still wants me to stick around, she's rather fond of me I guess." he said, tugging on Cadence's reins. The dragon batted her wings as she came down for an easy landing, in front of Red Riding Hood's house. He hopped down from the saddle, helping Kitty off just as the dragon transformed back to her original size. He tugged on Cadence's reins, urging her to follow along. He knocked on the door a few times, stepping back from it slightly.

"I really hope they don't get mad...I mean you did break Cerise's heart after all."

"I did not, Kitty. You know the Rebel is at fault here, just stay cool." he said, just as the door opened.

"Blake, Kitty? This is an interesting surprise." the voice of Ramona said, a look of curiosity on her face.

"Hey Momo, it's been awhile. Mind if we come in? We came to visit Ruby, see how she's doing." he said.

"Sure, you're lucky she hadn't left yet. Hey mom, you got visitors!" the girl cried, allowing the two teenagers and dragon into the house. From the kitchen area of the house came Ramona's mother. Blake was surprised to see the woman without her signature cloak, even more when he saw her swollen belly.

"Oh my, Blake it's been such a long time!" the woman cried, giving the boy a tight hug.

"It's so good to see you Ruby! I see this little one has been growing fine." he said, placing a hand on her stomach after the hug.

"Oh yeah, the baby is gonna be a strong runner I can already tell. He won't stop kicking." she said happily.

"Um, how do you know if it's a boy or not?" Kitty asked curiously. She was standing next to Cadence, keeping a hand on her snout so she wouldn't wonder into the house.

"I can just tell sweetheart...it's something you get used to when your pregnant. I don't believe we've met, you look like Cheshire...you must be her daughter correct?"

"Yup, my name is Kitty. It's so nice to meet you Miss Hood." she said happily.

"So, what's happened since I've been gone from school? I heard the Spring Fairest was quite the party." Ramona said, causing Blake to frown, glancing away from her.

"Yeah...the fairest was something alright...I don't exactly want to talk about it." he said firmly.

"Why? What happened couldn't have been that bad. Dad said it was the greatest fairest yet, little sis didn't really explain much either."

"Ramona, the Spring Fairest is a bit of a touchy subject for Blake right now, a lot of stuff happened. The both of us are actually serving a two week suspension, or were since we're coming back to school." Kitty replied, grabbing the curiosity of both Ramona and Ruby.

"You got suspended? But you're such a good student, I remember seeing your report card and all of those A's in every class. You haven't been getting into trouble have you?" Ruby asked firmly, causing the boy to cringe.

"No...well...you know me and Cerise broke up right? Well, as it turns out that was all set to happen by a fake Radio Rebel. That person ended up getting a hold of some very secret information and they revealed it during the Fairest." he said.

"Back during Thronecoming, Briar Beauty found the Storybook of Legends in your old dorm room. She didn't want to sign the book so she decided to get rid of it. She ran into me and Blake at the well of Wonder and all three of us threw it into the well. We all promised not to tell anyone for as long as we lived. But Briar's guilt got to her and she told Ashlynn, the fake Rebel recorded this conversation and used it against us."

"I ended up taking the heat for Briar and Kitty. I didn't want my friends to get expelled from Ever After High, and since I don't belong in this world, I didn't exactly care what happened. I ended up having to pick up the trash during the entire fair. But what we didn't know, was that two of Kitty's friends would find the book in Wonderland and bring it back. As it turns out, Kitty's mom decided to pull a prank on everyone and switched the Storybook of Legends for a cursed book." Blake continued, rubbing his arm as he told the story.

"Hmm...is this the reason why Ever After lost it's wonder for a few hours?" Ramona asked, earning a nod from the two teens.

"It is...you see, that Riddle book was a Topsy-Turvy curse. Whoever read the book, turned into the opposite of who they were. Apple read it and became Evil. The same thing happened to Blake when Joey put the book next to him...he ended up helping Apple plug the Well of Wonder, not only that...his darkness ended up taking over and he...did some nasty stuff to a few of our friends."

"But...it wasn't your fault right? It was just a curse so you shouldn't feel down about it. What's done is done, and at least no one got hurt in the end. Right?"

"It isn't like that Ruby...I used my magic to hurt so many people. I even hurt Cerise, I wrapped a chain around her neck and sucked the wonder right out of her. I did the same to Holly, and I beat the shit out of Raven...I just can't get over the fact that I did so many horrible things." he replied, shifting his gaze to the floor. Ruby placed a hand under his chin, making him look up at her. She gave him a smile, giving the boy a tight hug.

"It's alright, no one blames you for anything. It was just a curse, and it got reversed and everything is normal. Cerise most likely forgave you for it, and I do too. You've been through so many things while in Ever After, and I only wish I could break this curse put on you. But I can't do that...what I can do is give you comfort. I can give you a mother's love, you know you are welcome here whenever you want to come by."

"I agree with Mom, I'm gonna be honest and say that I'm pissed that Cerise broke up with you. Honestly, I have no idea what the fuck is going through that pup's head. But just because you two aren't dating anymore, doesn't mean you aren't part of the family, even if dad still wants to strangle you for breaking his little girl's heart. I'm sure he understands though, right dad?" she asked, glancing toward the bedroom, causing the boy's eyes to grow wide.

"Wait, he's here?" he asked.

"Of course I am boy, this is my house after all." the gruff voice of the Bad Wolf said, causing him to back away from Ruby, a fearful look on his face. He was currently in his human form, something that he almost never saw.

"Whoa, this is what Mr. Bad Wolf looks like without all that fur on his face?" Kitty asked, earning a growl from the man.

"Miss Cheshire, I...somehow knew you'd found out our secret. I'm sure the boy let it slip, but I must ask that you keep this to yourself."

"Hey now, if you must know Kitty knew Cerise was half wolf before even I did." Blake snapped, causing the man to look at him. His burst of confidence melted away, being replaced with fear once more. Ramona let out a laugh, clapping his shoulder.

"You don't have to be afraid of dad, he isn't gonna hurt you. He was in school when the Rebel said all of that stuff. So he knows that you wanna drill Apple White in the Enchanted Forest."

"Oh...goddamn it." the black haired boy muttered, face palming all while Kitty was laughing at his misery.

"No one is going to let that one down, I mean it's Apple White after all."

"Can we please stop talking about this? It's embarrassing to talk about my wet dreams in front of other people." he said, glaring at Kitty who just laughed even harder.

"You wanting to screw Miss White aside, I do agree that this fake Rebel is becoming a nuisance. My daughter was quite happy when she was with you, so when he or she is located, they will be receiving my beating. You have no reason to fear me Blake...you're a...a good kid." Mr. Bad Wolf said.

"Thank you Mr. Bad Wolf, it...means a lot for you to say that. I loved your daughter, I still do. But I respect her wishes...so I've gotta move on, but that doesn't mean we still won't be friends. I made her a promise, to be here when your baby is born, and I'll keep it. Even if I have to drag my ass here." he said, giving the man a grin.

"Yeah you better, we'll need all the help we can get. Now that you are here, mind accompanying Ruby to the store? I have to get back to school to grade some tests. You won't believe some of the retards we have in our school."

"Samuel Badwolf, don't speak like that about your students!" Ruby snapped, causing the man to cringe. Blake couldn't help but chuckle, nothing made a man fear for his life more than a pissed off woman.

"Don't worry Mr. Bad Wolf, I'll help Ruby out whenever she needs it. Especially now that the baby bump is more noticeable. I got no problem with carrying heavy stuff either." he said.

"It ain't like you'll be alone, I'm here too you know." Ramona said firmly, almost hurt that she was being ignored.

"I've got to head out now, thanks for stopping by Blake, Kitty...I'll see you both at school." Mr. Bad Wolf said, briefly sharing a kiss with his wife before leaving the house, dashing toward the Dark Forest.

"So...what exactly do we have to do?" Kitty asked

"Well, as it turns out we were going to get some stuff for when the baby comes, including a new crib. Guess who's gonna carry it now?" Ramona said.

"Yay." Blake uttered, not at all looking forward to his next activity.


	53. The Blue Moon Forest Fest I

**A/N:**

 **Hello everyone, welcome to a long ass chapter 53 of Through the Looking Glass. Originally, this chapter was going to be 31 pages in length, but I ended up cutting out the middle part of Chapter 52 to write the interaction with Ruby and Ramona, so I put the part I cut out at the beginning of Chapter 53. So, if it looks weird or sounds like part of 52, that's because it is. But in context, it makes more sense for it to be in Chapter 53 due to the content in it. So, I hope that makes some sense, if you have any questions about it, I can answer them but this beginning part is a basic reply.**

 **This is going to be the first chapter of the Blue Moon Forest Fest. This is going to be a short story arc, about four chapters actually since the arc itself was rather short. Honestly, this story arc was kicking my ass the entire way through...I just didn't know how to go about it since it was mostly in Blake's point of view, so I scraped up some meager semblance of a plot and came up with it. It's more apparent in Part 3 and the Finale that I was struggling to make it through. I also noticed after an initial read through the entire arc that I didn't include Faybelle during the forest parts, so I have to write her in during the editing process, which is gonna be fucking wonderful.**

 **After this arc, I'm just gonna write some filler chapters, working with various characters that I neglected, as well as planting the seeds for Way Too Wonderland, while also making segway chapters for the alternate endings to this main story. I am currently working on a story arc mostly centered around Duchess. I've also got a Maddie chapter in the works, no idea how that'll turn out. There's gonna be some Joey being a dick parts because it's Joey and he's a dick. I've got to work on Rosabella's chapter as well as another one with Darling...jeez I have a lot of shit to do in this story before Way Too Wonderland. I might as well make this Filler arc official by calling it The road to Wonderland pre-arc bullshit that adds character to the story. Eh, that's not a bad title...**

 **So, I have received a guest review saying Blake is a Gary-Stu, because he apparently does well in school, is very friendly and nice, and knows a couple of languages. I have no idea how this stuff makes him a Gary-Stu, seeing as there are people in this world who do all of this and more...I would reply to his comment and ask him or her in more detail so I could give them a reply, but they are in fact a guest reviewer so I can't answer their question. So I will once again ask you all, please make an account so I can get back to you and answer your questions personally. It is much better for me to discuss stuff one on one so I can explain things to you in detail. It annoys me that I can't reply to your comments and I have to do it in this format. If you do read this reply and do have an account or made one, please leave me a message so we can talk about your thoughts. It's a major driving force after all, your reviews are important because your thoughts can and will help me change what I need to and improve the overall narrative. So don't take this as an insult or in the wrong way, I'm not calling you out on it, I just would like to know more of what you think and what I need to fix in the future.**

 **Once again, I do hope you enjoy this 13,000 odd word chapter and let me know what you all think. Especially during some of the more middle parts of the story, I really want to know what your thoughts are, so leave your reviews. As always if you have questions PM me and I'll answer them. Have a nice day/evening/night/morning...whatever Tickles your Boat...**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 53

The Blue Moon Forest Fest I

After a week long stay in the Snow Kingdom and a short stop in Hood Hollow, Blake and Kitty finally arrived home. The Snow King and Queen had been adamant that they returned for a visit, and Blake promised he would come back during the summer break. He and Crystal had a very interesting goodbye too, especially since she wouldn't stop kissing him. At least Kitty hadn't seen any of it, or else she would have been teasing the boy. It was rather hard for him to keep his one night stand a secret from his best friend, so she would probably figure it out at some point, but he was going to keep it a secret for as long as he could. What had impressed Crystal the most was the fact that he had prior experience, but he wasn't going to say with who.

So after having fun in the snow, the two teenagers were back in Ever After High. Kitty had shot off Cadence the moment she had landed, wanting to share her pictures and videos with Lizzie, leaving him with carrying all of the souvenirs they had brought, which had been enchanted never to melt due to the heat. He had brought his pet dragon back to the stables and given her a bath, which mostly resulted with him being cleaner than the dragon. He had gotten laughed at by his friends when he walked into the school, but he didn't exactly care. He just wanted to go back to his room, shower and take a nap.

Once he had done that, he had practically crashed into his bed, Duchess's perfume lingered on his bed spread but at that moment he didn't even care. But the second he had fallen asleep, he knew something was wrong, especially because he opened his eyes in the middle of the castleteria.

It was rather dark in the castleteria, when he started looking around. It had been quite awhile since he felt this feeling. He reached for his neck, noticing his necklace wasn't around it. It was only then that he realized he was in a dream, and that he had no choice but to figure a way to wake himself up, something that was much harder to do than one thought. As he walked however, he felt a chill going down his spine, making him shiver. He glanced at his hands, eyes widening a bit when he saw the familiar sleeves of his Spring outfit, the one that Lizzie had made him. He swiftly turned around, finding himself in the fairgrounds, which was devoid of color, much like it had been when the wonder had been robbed from it.

"Hello? Anyone out there?" he cried, walking toward the center of the fairgrounds. He kept his hands balled in case something came at him. He glanced at the floor as he walked, seeing an inky blackness pooling around them. He quickly turned around, glancing at his shadow, only to see a crimson smile appear on it.

" _Hello Blake, it seems we finally meet in this realm. How are you?"_

"What the fuck? Who the hell are you?" he cried, jumping back a few feet. The shadow finally took form, the wisps of darkness fading from around its body. Blake's eyes widened when he saw it was the spitting image of himself.

" _Why, I'm you of course...unhinged and free. You see all of this, Ever After's Wonder was robbed, all because of me. Well, I didn't do it alone."_ he said, holding his hand.

Soft footsteps filled his ears as he glanced toward his left, the twisted face of Apple White greeted him. Her eyes were glowing violet, a sneer on her face as she took a hold of the shadow's hand. She wrapped her arm around his neck, giving him a kiss on the lips, taking the boy aback. He growled, his fists bursting into flames with his darkness magic. The two pulled away, with his doppelganger smirking.

" _Oh Blake, poor sweet little Blake. You think you have what it takes to defeat your shadow? I highly doubt it. This is your darkness, a darkness that you accepted."_

"Shut up! You aren't the sweet and kind Apple that I know. You're just her shadow, a disgusting cursed being who knows nothing but darkness!" he cried.

" _She's not the only one you know."_ the voice of Ashlynn said, causing him to turn around. He backed away slightly, as Ashlynn and Hunter approached him, the same glow in their eyes.

He tried backing away from them as they slowly approached, all of them having evil smiles on their faces. He felt something tugging on his pant leg and glanced down, seeing several pitch black chains attached to his belt loops. When he followed the chains, his eyes grew wide. He could see Raven lying on the ground in the distance, her face and arms covered in bruises. He saw Cerise and Holly on the ground beside her, chains wrapped around their necks.

"What...what did you do to them?" he shouted, glaring at his shadow.

" _Me? I didn't do this...this was all you. You were the one who accepted these powers, it's up to you to decide what you do with them. But for those three it's too late...you drained them of their magic...you killed them Blake, you did that to them, not me."_

"I didn't kill them, it wasn't me! It was you, everything was you!" Blake shouted, throwing a fireball at the shadow, causing him to dodge it, landing a few feet back. Blake heard someone laughing behind him and swiftly turned around, backing away when he saw it was Joey.

" _Look at what you did to your friends. If you hadn't tossed the Storybook of Legends into the Well, that cursed book wouldn't have been brought here. Holly, Cerise and Raven wouldn't be dead. Same with your best friend, she wouldn't be dead either."_ he said, tossing Kitty's lifeless body onto the floor. He fell down to his knees, reaching for the girl, tears blurring his vision.

" _It's all your fault Blake, you're the reason we're like this!"_

" _You're the reason we're like this!"_

" _You're the reason we're like this!"_

" _You're the reason we're like this!"_

"AAAAHHH, JUST STOP!"

 _ **xxx**_

Blake shot into a sitting position, causing Duchess to fall from his bed onto the ground. His eyes widened a bit when he saw the monochrome ballerina laying on the floor. He held his hand to his heart, feeling it beating wildly. Duchess sat up, a look of worry on her face.

"Blake, are you alright? You looked like you were having a nightmare." she said, concern written on her face.

"That's because I was...oh my god Duchess it was horrible. Apple was evil...Raven was dead, I killed her...I killed Holly and Cerise and Kitty too...it's all my fault." he said, sweeping his hair behind his head.

"Hey, listen to me! None of what happened is your fault, it was just a dream alright? Don't let what those people said to you affect you, because none of it is real! Look at me Blake." she cried, causing the boy to look at her. She gave him a heartwarming smile, kissing his cheek lovingly.

"I'm here for you alright? I'm not gonna let these dreams affect you. What happened to your moon crystal? Didn't that keep these dreams away?" she asked. The boy reached into his shirt, pulling out the necklace, looking at the moon shaped crystal.

"I have it with me...it's supposed to work, it's been working for me ever since Cerise gave it to me." he replied. She looked at it closely, frowning a bit.

"Moon crystals are supposed to glow brightly when nightmares attack someone. They contain moonlight in them known to dispel nightmares, I don't sense any magic in this. It's just a normal crystal." she said.

"That can't be...this is the real deal, I keep it with me at all times!" he said. She sighed, letting go of the trinket, placing a hand on her cheek.

"I guess it ran out of magic. If I hadn't come back to grab my purse, you probably would have kept suffering in that nightmare. Maybe talking about it in detail will make it go away."

"No, I did that once and it didn't help. I guess I'll just have to go find another moon crystal if this one doesn't work anymore." he said, taking the trinket from around his neck. He looked it over, brows furrowing a bit.

"Huh...I remember some beads being attached to this thing, both of them were crescent shaped. This one doesn't have any beads...someone stole my moon crystal!" he exclaimed, causing the girl to back away from him slightly.

"How the hell could it have gotten stolen?! You have it on your neck at all times, and I'm sure you would have felt someone taking it, no?" she asked.

"Normally that's true...but I take it off when I shower, like I did with my bracelet. Since I don't have my bracelet anymore and it usually brought my attention to the sink, I must have left it behind. Grr...it must have been the Rebel, he's the only one capable of entering people's dorms like that." he said.

"So...that means this guy either knows how to pick locks, or managed to steal one of Blondie's pins. The latter is way too hard, Blondie has them on her at all times, there's no way someone pulled one without her noticing. So that means this guy can pick locks, ugh...I feel so damn violated." Duchess snapped, turning away from the boy, hand on her hip.

"I have a better chance of finding the stolen one than finding another crystal. That's for sure...shit if only I had an idea of who the hell this person was? What's his method, his motivation? Why is he doing this? For fun? Or for something else?" he asked, brushing some sweat from his forehead.

"Well, I do know that it's a student here. It has to be someone with the capability of hacking Melody's system...and they have to have a land line. Thing is, they move around too much, and they bugged the school too. Moving around is too hard and tracing them is out of the question. How Headmaster Grimm hasn't done a witch hunt for this bastard yet is beyond me."

"If they bugged the school then that means they heard us getting jiggy with it last week." he said, earning a flush from the girl.

"Hey, that was private! I just gotta love all of that bullshit you spouted at me earlier that night, but did nothing when I pinned you down. I gotta admit, for your first time you did really well." she said, a smirk on her face.

"What can I say? I'm just naturally good at everything...but all jokes aside. We seriously need to do something about this Rebel...and these nightmares aren't going to help me none...ugh...life is bullshit sometimes...I just wanna go back to sleep." he said, dropping back into his bed, curling up into a ball.

"You can sleep if you want, I'll...keep watch over you. Make sure you don't have any more nightmares." she said.

"Alright, but no funny business. That was a one time thing only, I'm serious this time." he said, earning an eye roll from the girl.

"I know, I know...I'm not gonna try anything alright? Just go back to sleep, I'll let Faybelle know I won't be back for awhile." she said, reaching into her purse for her phone.

"Thanks Duchess, I'm sorry about all this, I'm sure you had something to do this afternoon."

"Eh, not really...I was gonna hang out with my other best friend forever after. But I'd rather stay here and help you, maybe that way you'll consider going on a date with me."

"We agreed you'd stop doing that remember?" he asked.

"I didn't ask did I? I said that maybe you'd consider it, that isn't asking." she replied with a smug look. He was far too tired to argue with her, so he just closed his eyes, hoping to hell that he wouldn't have dark dreams anymore.

 _ **xxx**_

It had been a rather horrible week for Blake. While on the outside he looked completely fine, on the inside he was suffering. Ever since his moon crystal had been stolen, he had been suffering from crippling nightmares. He had barely gotten any sleep on his week off from school, so the normal school day crept up on him rather fast. He was currently in class, trying his hardest to stay awake. Of course every time he was asleep he would either have a nightmare or have a restless sleep. He was perhaps working on six hours of sleep a day which wasn't enough for most of his brain to actually function normally. He had been using quite a lot of foundation to hide his dark circles, the last thing he wanted was to concern his friends with his well being. It had taken quite a lot to convince Duchess to remain silent about the whole thing.

He was currently in Science and Sorcery, a rather boring class for him. It made it that much harder for him to actually stay awake, but he could always count on people like Joey to annoy the hell out of him. Blake was sitting in the front row next to Raven who was trying to take notes as best she could. He had given up the second he had settled into his chair. It was really hard for someone to sleep with their eyes open, but he had at least trained himself to do it, no matter how creepy it was. He had almost fallen fully asleep when he felt something wet slap the back of his neck. He slammed his fist against the desk causing Raven to jolt flicking ink onto Apple's notebook. The two girls looked at him and he let out a sigh, rubbing his eyes slightly.

"Are you alright Blake? You don't look so good." Raven asked slightly concerned for her surrogate brother.

"Yeah, you look ready to pass out." Apple added. Blake gave the two girls a lopsided smile.

"I'm fine, I just...stayed up last night, watching some anime. I completely forgot it was the last day of my suspension, so I'm a little tired. It doesn't help that captain fuck ass keeps flicking spitballs at me." he said, jabbing his thumb to the fourth row where Joey was sitting, pretending to be taking notes.

"He's been so rude since you and Kitty left. Guess who he ended up becoming best friends with? I'll give you a hint, she's the daughter of the woman my mom stole her destiny from." Raven said. The boy blinked slowly, focusing on his sister's face.

"Is it...that Faybelle girl I've been hearing about? Duchy was hanging out with her the other day...or something." he said.

"Wow, you are really out of it. Here, maybe one of these will perk you up a bit." Apple said, handing him a Red Delicious apple from her purse. He looked at it hungrily, taking a bite from it.

"Thank you Apple, you are awesome." he said, rapidly tearing into his fruit. Apple smiled happily, earning a little smirk from Raven. The girl looked away from her, hiding her blush.

"Excuse me, Mr. Rumpelstiltskin...are people allowed to eat in class?" Faybelle asked, causing the teacher to look back.

"Wha? No one eat in class, too dangerous. Who eating in class?" the man asked in his thick Russian accent, glancing around the room. Blake swallowed the fruit in his mouth, hiding the half eaten apple under his desk.

"Nobody is eating in class Mr. Rumpelstiltskin...may we go on with the lesson?" Apple asked politely, trying to defend her friend.

"Oh really? Then what is Blake hiding under his desk?" Faybelle asked, causing the boy to look back at her, a glare on his face. Rumpelstiltskin jumped up onto the boy's desk, confiscating his half eaten apple.

"Mr. Bigby, you know the rules. No eating in class, I give warning this time, but next time it's detention for you! Now, back to the lesson!" he explained, tossing the apple in his mouth, eating it entirely. Blake bowed his head, a dull sound echoing in the room from his head making contact with the desk. Faybelle and Joey high fived, sneers on their faces.

The rest of class proved to be quite the struggle. With Joey constantly bothering Blake, to Faybelle annoying the hell out of everyone else. It was hard for the boy to even get a wink of sleep, even with his eyes open. The bell rung and he finally stood up, grabbing all of his things and shoving them unceremoniously into his messenger bag. He blinked a few times, making his way into the hall a bored expression on his face.

"Whoa there Blake, you look like shit. What's wrong? Stay up late fucking your pillow?" Joey asked, laughing afterwards. Blake smirked, brushing his hair out of his eyes, standing up straight.

"Fucking my pillow is better than fucking my hand. At least I can pretend it's someone hot. You can't really pretend your hand is anyone else other than your hand, and that's a sad excuse of a masturbation session." he replied.

"Well, clearly you are still your snarky self...even while looking like shit. What happened? Have so much fun in the Snow Kingdom that you forgot about the hell you caused two weeks ago?"

"Joey you aren't much to talk. You're the reason behind him raising hell in the first place, Cedar saw you putting the book next to him. So if anyone is to blame for him turning evil, it's you. After all you still haven't given him his bracelet back. So why don't you back the fuck off?" Raven snapped, causing the boy to look at her.

"Oh hello bodyguard, I wasn't expecting to see you defending this...thing. Now, I see that you are indeed correct, but I wasn't in my right mind. I don't think anyone who read that book truly was, so what happened wasn't my fault. Also, I bought Lucy's bracelet so it belongs to me by right, as she is in fact deceased...so tough titty."

"Lucy isn't dead...she's alive and well...one of these days, she's gonna come back...and she's gonna beat the shit out of you. Trust me." Blake said in a tired tone, turning to walk away from the boy.

"You think you can keep her memory alive by claiming she's alive? Dude give it up, she's dead and gone! She must be spinning in her grave every time you mention her, the poor thing." Joey said, shaking his head in disappointment.

"If anyone is a piece of shit here, it's definitely you. All you do is taunt people, so why don't you make like a tree and fuck off already?" Blake snapped back, a yawn leaving his lips. He was a few seconds from passing out, but somehow managed to remain upright.

"Eh...I've had my dose today, you have fun staying awake. You're clearly going to fail at that, just like you failed your midterms." he said, giving the boy a wave as he turned to leave, a smile on his face.

"I hate to agree with that dill hole, but Blake he's right. You don't look good, have you been sleeping alright? You aren't having nightmares again are you?" Raven asked. The boy shook his head, quickly dismissing it.

"No no...no nightmares here, hehe. I'm gonna head to class alright sis? See you later." he said, giving her a kiss on the cheek before leaving. Apple came to a stop next to her friend, a worried look on her face.

"What's this about nightmares? He never mentioned those before."

"He told me once, that he had nightmares caused by the trauma my mom gave him. At first he saw her killing all of his closest friends, he said that he tried waking you up after eating the poisoned apple, and when you woke up she stabbed you through the heart. She did the same to me when he tried to save me. Cerise gave him a moon crystal, but I don't think even that's helping him now." She said, earning a frown from the blonde girl.

"I guess what happened at the fairest is still affecting him. I mean, I still get flashbacks to what I was doing, and I know how it feels. But if he gets nightmares from it, then it must be amplified to a terrifying level."

"Which would explain why he's not sleeping. He's probably figured, if he stays awake longer, then he won't have to suffer from those nightmares. I really need to talk to him, but I doubt he'll say anything...we're late for class, come on Apple." Raven said, hooking her arm through her friend's.

"Yeah, I hope he's alright." she said, worried for her friend.

Blake managed to stumble into his Creative Writing class without much incident. This was the only class that he didn't share with Joey or Faybelle so he knew he could at least have peace of mind in this class. Jack B. Nimble happily greeted his class as they entered the room, and thankfully he had given him a passing glance and accepted his greeting. Holly sat down next to him, giving him a once over, a frown on her face.

"Blake you look like you haven't slept in three days. Are you okay?" she asked.

"Hmm? Oh, hey Holly...I'm perfectly fine. I just stayed up late watching Clannad and crying like a little bitch...I forgot I had class today, that's all." he said.

"You know, I've been meaning to hang out sometime. Lizzie was telling me about this really good one about magic and guilds and I want to see it too!" she said, an excited look on her face.

"Mhmm, sure...my door's always open." he said, resting his head on the desk.

"You poor thing, you really shouldn't stay up late...it's bad for your skin." she said, earning a chuckle from the boy.

"Somehow, I think I'll be fine."

"Alright class, today we are going to start our first project. All you have to do is pair up with someone, it doesn't matter who, and write a short story, about three or four chapters long. You may pick anything you'd like, but you and your partner will draw a plot from my trusty hat here. It is your task to weave a story together with this plot, this will be due on Friday...you have all of this class period to come up with ideas and select your plot...I look forward to reading what you come up with!" the man said excitedly.

"Hey Holly, you wanna work together? I've got plenty of ideas in this tired old brain of mine." Blake said, leaning back up in his seat, feeling slightly better than before.

"I'd love to work together with you...I already have an idea. I wanted to take Blondie's story and rewrite it. It's called, Blondie Lockes: Zombie Slayer." she said, making the boy blink a few times.

"That actually sounds really cool...her catch phrase can be, I'm gonna kill these zombies, just right! But obviously not in a deep man voice." he replied.

"I'm gonna go get the plot, think you can start on the rough draft?" she asked, earning a nod from the boy, who pulled out an empty notebook.

"Alright...how the hell do I start this? Come on, I've watched High School of the Dead like seven times...hmm...that'll work." he muttered to himself, a smirk on his face.

 _ **xxx(Blake's Story)xxx**_

The sounds of sirens filled the city, blaring nonstop as emergency services tried to contain what was happening. The situation was rather dire, everyone who was out on the streets knew that. But one young woman knew she had to get home to her family and make sure they were alright. She stirred from unconsciousness, her soft blue eyes opening, seeing nothing but a shattered windshield in front of her. She felt a slight pain on her forehead and reached up for it, eyes widening a bit when she saw the crimson liquid that was running down the side of her face. She reached to her purse, finding it on the floor of the passenger seat, and pulled out a pocket mirror from within.

It was then that young Blondie Lockes saw the extent of her injuries. She had a small cut across her forehead, her blonde curly locks crimson with blood. She had another cut on her lip, most likely from the impact against the steering wheel, thankfully the airbag deployed in time to save her life. She reached for her seatbelt, finding it was jammed into the locking mechanism and it wasn't letting go. She tugged on it rather hard, growing concerned.

"Oh...this is so not Just Right!" she exclaimed, the sound of her voice gave her a bit of peace. She was alone in the car, memories filling the forefront of her mind.

She remembered, having finished school a few hours early. She was on her way to Hocus Latte to get herself some coffee when the unthinkable happened. She had seen a man walking down the street, acting a little oddly. She decided to roll her window up, to give herself a bit of space between the outside world and herself. Another young woman walked out of a house, and this man...thing...it just latched onto her body, biting into her neck. She remembered screaming in fear, watching as the man tore her throat out. She got a few honks from the person behind her and she quickly floored it, wanting to get away from the area. But the further she drove, the more people she saw doing the same.

She had turned the radio on, only to get some weird emergency broadcast, telling everyone to stay off of all major roads. The emergency services were flooded with callers and wouldn't be able to assist anyone. They had told people to stay indoors, to board their windows and remain inside. She had groan more and more panicked as the seconds ticked by. She turned into a nearby street, only to slam into an oncoming car, that was the last thing she remembered. Shaking her pained head, the young seventeen year old pulled hard on the seatbelt keeping her prisoner in her own vehicle, finally getting it to snap.

She wasted no time in grabbing her purse, pushing the door open. She fell to the ground, coughing a bit from the smoke of her destroyed car's engine. She glanced around, a scream leaving her lips when she saw a disemboweled body laying beside her. The contents of her stomach came rushing out of mouth, coating the pavement with undigested food and bile. She heaved a few times, shutting her eyes tightly.

"This isn't happening, this isn't happening." she said softly, backing away from the body. She heard a groan beside her, and saw an arm sticking out of the windshield of the car she had slammed into. It was a police car, the police officers were deceased, the one with his arm through the glass missing a few fingers, a bite mark being the cause of it.

She pulled herself to her feet, wiping her mouth with her sleeve, walking toward the car, as if the officers would be able to help. Her shoe ended up striking something, causing her to look down at the ground. One of the officers had dropped their gun on the floor. A Smith and Wesson .38 Revolver. She didn't know why but she felt compelled to grab it. She didn't know how it worked, but if people were running around tearing their throats out, ripping people's insides out, then it was better to have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.

She felt her phone start to ring, and dug her hand inside her bag, pulling it out from within. The decorative blue case was slightly scratched, but the screen was at least intact. She slid her finger across the screen and held the phone to her ear, a single gunshot filling the speaker.

"Hello? Mom?"

" _Sweetheart, it's so good to hear your voice! Where are you?"_

"Mom...I dunno, I was coming home from school...I veered off into an alleyway and crashed into a car I...I'm not sure. What's going on? I saw people biting each other!" Blondie cried, a scared tone in her voice.

" _I'm not sure, but it seems there's some sort of infection going around. No one knows why, but the recently deceased are coming back to life. Sweetheart, you have to get home...these things are going to try and kill you. You can't let them bite or scratch you...or you'll turn into one of them."_

"How do you know that mom? Please tell me someone in front of you didn't turn into one of those things, please?" Blondie asked, earning a sigh from her mother Goldilocks.

" _One of our neighbors got bit...we had to put him down, I'm sorry. Blondie, sweetheart please hurry home. Do anything you have too to get here. If you have a gun or managed to get one, don't be scared to use it, on the living or dead. You have to survive."_

"Um...okay mom...I'll do what I must...I'll be home soon." she said, ending the call. She glanced at the gun in her hand, swallowing hard.

She had seen movies before, so she at least had some knowledge of how guns worked. She flicked the small switched near the cylinder and it popped out. Five bronze rounds sat inside, all unused. She ejected all of the bullets just to make sure before slipping each one back into the cylinder, flicking it back into place.

" _Well, it feels slightly heavier than I thought it would. I have to get home, no matter what...I'll make sure I make it, and then everything will be Just Right!"_

 _ **xxx(End of the story)xxx**_

"Hey, how are we doing so far?" Holly asked, pulling Blake from his writing. He looked at her, glancing at his notebook. His eyes widened a bit when he saw how many pages he had written.

"Uh...decent I guess? What's the plot?" he asked, passing her the notebook. She gave him the slip of paper as she turned to the first page in his notebook.

"The main plot of the story is taking a freshly baked batch of cookies home. Wow, this is really good."

"Oh...thanks Holly, I was honestly just writing the first thing that came to mind. Though I have no idea how we'll be able to squeeze this plot point into the story." he said, glancing tiredly at the slip of paper before him.

"I can do it, here let me see that quill. This is gonna be so much fun!" the girl said, accepting the quill from the boy, who was a bit curious as to what the long haired girl was going to add.

 _ **xxx(Holly's story, picks up where Blake left off.)xxx  
**_

Moving down the street, the injured Blondie Lockes started her long journey home. She held her gun tightly in her hands, hoping she didn't have to use it. After all, five rounds wasn't enough to do much especially for someone who had no knowledge of how to use it. She came to a stop at an open street, eyes widening when she saw several undead walking around the street. Some were still eating the recently deceased, or going after a few others who were struggling to get away. She walked to a nearby store and walked inside, locking the door after her. She rose her gun up when she saw blood spilled on the floor, along with the body of a man who had a knife sticking out of his temple.

"Oh godmother...this is so horrible." she muttered, holding her hand over her mouth. She heard something fall in the kitchen, and started making her way to the backroom.

"Hello? Is anyone there? I'm Blondie Lockes, I'm not here to hurt any of you!" she cried out, her hands shaking as she held her gun up. As soon as she entered the kitchen, she heard the groan of an undead, who was standing next to a stove. She let out a gasp of shock, grabbing its attention.

The woman's eyes were rolled to the back of her head, any semblance of humanity clearly gone. She stumbled forward, limping due to her horribly mutilated leg, which had a bite taken from it. She reached a hand at the blonde girl, trying to grab her and turn her into her next snack. Blondie shook slightly as she held her gun up, closing her eyes as she pulled the trigger. The gun jerked up due to the kickback, a bit of blood spattering all over the place. The woman was unrelenting, having taken a bullet right through the heart, making the blonde girl go wide eyed.

"No way...I just shot you through the heart!" she cried, backing away from the woman. She let out a screech causing Blondie to scream, only for a loud slam to fill the room. Blonde felt something warm splatter her face, and slowly opened her eyes, seeing nothing but a bloodied baseball bat in her line of sight.

"Are you unharmed, my lady?" the smooth voice of a young man said, causing Blondie to look up at him.

He was a tall young man, nearly six feet in height, with long black hair falling gracefully to his shoulders, a single stripe of violet running through it. He was wearing a varsity jacket, red and white in color, the bold letters EAH sown onto the left breast. He was wearing a pair of jeans stained red with blood, along with some dark black boots. The young blonde gave him a nod, eyes willed with admiration for the boy that had saved her life.

"That's good...I was in the bathroom when I heard your voice. I can't believe this shit, this was my favorite diner in the entire city." he said, grabbing a dish towel from beside him, handing it to Blondie.

"Do you...know what's going on? What's happening here?" she asked. He shook his head, glancing at his bloodied bat.

"Nah...I was on my way back to school after ditching baseball practice when this shit started up. I mean...people were disappearing sure, and this virus thing was spreading fast. But you'd think the damned government would fucking do something. I'm sorry, I haven't told you my name...it's Blake Bigby, it's a pleasure to meet you miss."

"Blondie Lockes, but you may call me Blondie." the girl said happily, eyes fluttering a bit.

 _ **xxx(End of story)xxx**_

"You seriously put me into this story? Why?" Blake asked, looking up from the notebook at Holly's grinning face.

"Why not? Every strong female lead needs a handsome loving male lead...besides you said you liked girls with blue eyes." she said, giving him a smile. He sighed, rubbing his tired eyes.

"That's true...eh, I got no issue with it...but I'll continue the next part, just in case you wanna try something weird." he said, taking his quill back.

 _ **xxx(Blake's story, picks up where Holly left off)xxx**_

Blake swept his hair back, glancing around the kitchen. He had been taking a break at this diner when someone ran in. He was already in the bathroom when the screaming started. By the time he had grabbed his baseball bat, it had been too late, the owners had been bit and had to be killed. He didn't think anyone else would walk into the diner, but here he was, standing in front of a rather attractive girl with a Smith and Wesson in her hands. He was going to say something, when a loud ding filled their ears. He glanced toward a nearby oven, seeing it was still on. Walking toward it, he pulled the door open, seeing four baking sheets each having a batch of twelve cookies.

"Oh those smell lovely...do you think we could take them with us?" Blondie asked, earning a curious look from the boy.

"Take them with us? I'm sorry miss but I'm traveling on my own. I have to get home to my sister Raven, I haven't been able to contact her at all. At this rate I'll probably never even see her again." he said, a frown on his face.

"Hey don't say that! It is so not just right! You have to have faith in your family members, if you sister is like you then she's already fighting like you! Where do you live anyway?" Blondie asked, earning a sigh from the boy.

"East 3rd street, on the other side of town."

"What a coincidence! I live on that street as well, so if we're going home then we should go together and we should take those cookies too. I mean, are we seriously letting them go to waste in this place?" she asked, earning a shrug from the boy.

"You've got a point there. We should grab some food too, a walk to the other side of town would take me twenty-five to thirty-five minutes. But with all of those undead fucks outside, it might take us even longer. You should also grab a knife, since you don't know how to use that gun." the boy said, earning a nod from the girl who handed the gun over to him.

"You can have it...I don't really like guns. I feel like you'd be able to use it better than me." she said.

"Keep it, I'll find my own at some point. Alright, there are some bags around here, I have my backpack outside so you bag those cookies along with some food and water and I'll grab my bag." he said.

"You got it!" the girl said, giving him a salute.

The boy grabbed his baseball bat and moved back to the dining room. He slowly walked toward the booth he had been sitting at when everything happened, seeing his black backpack laying on the table. He opened it and tipped it over, tossing all of his school books onto the floor, seeing as they were now useless. He walked back toward the kitchen, seeing the now empty sheets on the nearby counter, along with four paper bags filled with cookies.

"There's a lot of canned stuff...is that alright?" Blondie asked, earning a nod from the boy.

"Yes, that'll do. Grab a can opener as well." Blake said, opening all of the drawers until he found one filled with knives. He found a butcher knife in a drawer and grabbed it, walking to a nearby supply closet.

"What are you doing with that knife?" the blonde girl asked. The boy came back with a broom handle and a roll of duct tape.

"Making you a spear. A single stab to the head will take them down, it's much better than using a gun. Noise attracts them, the reason why that woman killed the owner was because she dropped a pot in the kitchen." he said, grabbing the handle of the knife with lots of tape, making sure it was attached to the broom handle well enough that it wouldn't snap.

"I'm...still having a hard time with all of this...maybe it's good to have a spear. I wouldn't want to be next to them anyway." she replied, setting the last of the cans onto the counter top. Blake handed her the spear, and started placing all of the food and water into his backpack, placing the cookies on the top so they wouldn't break.

"Well, are you ready to go?"

"Ready as I'll ever be...get them in the head right?"

"Yup, jab it through their eye. It's a direct way to the brain, keep your eyes open and don't attract attention. They sense by sound so they should pass by us if we get surrounded." Blake said, earning a nod from Blondie, who's hands were shaking. She steeled her nerves getting ready to go. She wasn't going to get killed by the undead, that wouldn't be Just Right in her book.

 _ **xxx(End of the story)xxx**_

"Nice, with this we finished chapter one. How long do you wanna make it?" Holly asked, earning a shrug from the boy.

"I'll let you decide. We only need four chapters for this project right? And we got until next week. We can work on chapter two later if you want." he said, glancing at his watch seeing it was almost time for class to end.

"Sure thing, but be sure to actually get some sleep. Even though you are doing a good job, you'll be able to write more if you're well rested." the girl said in a scolding tone.

"Alright, alright I'll get some sleep...trust me, I'll be rested well enough to handle anything." he said, giving her a tired smile. The bell started to ring, signaling the end of class.

"Remember students, this project is due next Friday. I wish all of you good luck, I look forward to whatever you come up with!" Mr. Nimble said happily, waving his students off.

Even though he wanted to go to class, Blake was honestly too tired to actually go. He decided to head toward the dorms for a quick nap, he had Wonderland History next. Even though he loved the class, he knew Joey was going to make it hell for him, and he would rather deal with a nightmare rather than deal with him. As he turned the corner however he ended up bumping into someone. His tired mind barely had time to register what had happened before he sputtered an apology, continuing toward his room. He slipped his key into his lock and walked into the room locking the door right after. He left his messenger bag on his desk and dropped into his bed, not caring at all about anything in the world. He just grabbed his pillow, muttering something into it before he fell into unconsciousness.

 _ **xxx(Dreamscape)xxx**_

" _Ah, lookie here...you've returned. How was the world of the living? Was it fun Blake? Was it?"_ Shadow Blake asked, shaking the dreaming boy awake. He blinked a few times, finding himself in the colorless world, staring at all of his friends, eyes glowing violet.

"Why are you doing this to me? Honestly I'm too damn tired to care anymore." Blake said, earning a curious look from his shadow.

" _Too tired? Ha, that's a good one...I'll teach you what happens when you are too tired to do anything!"_ the shadow said, reaching behind his back for a knife. Blake's eyes widened a bit as he sat up on the bench, focusing on the weapon.

"Dude, what are you going to do? Don't make me get off this bench or I swear I will kill you!" he growled angrily, hands glowing purple. The shadow merely smirked, grabbing a hold of Holly who like everyone else lacked color. He held her up by her lengthy auburn hair, making her cry in pain.

" _It's good to see that you aren't that tired after all...that's a shame though. I actually like this one, she's really cute, fits my standards too. Oh well."_ the shadow said, plunging the knife into her chest. Blake let out a scream, shooting to his legs.

The shadow withdrew the knife, the blade drenched in crimson as he plunged it into her chest once more, this time stabbing it through her heart. Holly let out a gasp, reaching for Blake's hand, only for it to fall limply at her side as the boy reached her. Her blood started pooling around him, making him shiver in anger and sadness. He glanced back at the shadow, tears running down his face. He let out a shout, running toward the shadow, only for it to grab his arm, flipping him onto his back.

 _"Wow, a black belt in Mixed Martial Arts and you just run straight at me. Didn't you forget that I'm you? I know how to fight!"_ the shadow said, kicking him in the chest, sending him back a few feet. He groaned in pain, clutching his chest as he tried to breathe.

"You...bastard." he spat, glaring at the shadow who just grinned at him.

" _I love that, that resistance and rebellion...it's nice to watch. Who should I kill next? I mean, Kitty is already dead and it wouldn't be ideal to kill Raven yet...I know, Ashlynn come here."_ he said, glancing over at Ashlynn who wordlessly walked over to the boy.

"No please, don't kill her. She's one of my closest friends!"

" _Please, I never cared for you Blake...I know the reason why you befriended me. Because I'm the daughter of Cinderella and that's your favorite tale isn't it? You didn't take my offer...you'll never be able to have anything with me. You deserve to suffer for what you did to us Blake."_ Ashlynn replied, giving the boy a grin. She came to a stop before the shadow who grabbed her by the neck.

" _This is what you missed out on Blake, having the daughter of your favorite story princess as your own."_ Shadow Blake said, forcefully kissing Ashlynn. The girl moaned into his mouth, wrapping one of her legs around his waist.

"Ash come on! What about Hunter? Don't you love him?" Blake cried out, causing the girl to break her kiss, looking at the boy.

 _"Who's Hunter? I don't think I've ever loved anyone by that name."_ she replied.

"Oh my god...please just make this stop!" the boy cried, turning away from the two kissing teenagers.

" _Would you like to make this stop? To bring all of these terrors to an end?"_ a sharp voice said, cutting through the silence. It was one Blake knew rather well.

"Mira, what do you want? Don't you get enough enjoyment from my suffering? Didn't you get enough enjoyment from stabbing me with a mirror?" he shouted, hands glowing violet.

" _Your suffering is an added bonus. However, if you want these nightmares to end...all you have to do is give into the dark. Let it warp you and change you. Only then will these nightmares end...or you can fight, and suffer...that is also an option."_ the Evil Queen said, earning a growl from the boy.

"I will never fall to the likes of you. I will fight for as long as it takes, through these nightmares and anything else you throw at me. I won't let you kill my friends, and I won't let you hurt anyone else! This is all a dream, and I am the one who controls it!" he shouted, releasing his magic into the ground, bringing back a bit of color to the land.

" _You're efforts are futile. There is too much darkness here you fool, you will not be able to defeat us!"_ Shadow Blake cried, hugging Ashlynn close to him.

"But I will, I will defeat you...so let go of Ashlynn, or I swear I will destroy you!" Blake said, walking toward the boy. Shadow Blake pushed the girl to the ground, turning to face the boy.

" _Alright then, let's play your game."_

The two ran toward each other, about to get into a battle. When their attacks clashed a brilliant flash spread through the land.

 _ **xxx(End of Dream)xxx**_

Blake groaned a bit as he woke up, seeing only a couple hours had passed. He felt much more rested than before, even with the nightmare he had just had. He got out of bed, brushing his hair down a bit as he walked into the bathroom to wash his face. Once it was dry, he grabbed his foundation and started applying it around his eyes, to hide his dark circles, as he had been doing for the last few days. He reached for the necklace around his neck, seeing it hadn't been doing its job. He pulled it hard tossing it into the trash. Even though he knew it was a fake, he thought it would still work for him. Once he was done, he walked back into the main room, heading toward the fridge for some water, glancing at his fish bowl. He smiled a bit seeing his gold fish happily swimming around.

"Well little fella, looks like you are more well rested than I am. I've always wondered how it is fish sleep." he said softly, sprinkling some food flakes into the water. The gold fish happily went to the surface, eating all of the flakes rather quickly.

He saw something on the desk beside the fish bowl, bringing his attention to it. He set the fish food down next to the bowl, grabbing the envelope which had his name written on it in rather beautiful hand writing. He turned it over, seeing a wax seal on the back, which had an F on it, making him wonder who the seal belonged too. He remembered, back in the old days people would seal envelopes with wax and stamp them with special rings, which bore the mark of a king or queen. Aside from the Evil Queen and the White Queen, he didn't think any other person had a royal seal, except for maybe King Charming. He slid his finger under the flap, breaking the seal, eyes widening a bit.

Inside was a violet card, covered in glittering pixie dust. It was actually making the note glow rather brightly, and he took a hold of it, sliding it out of the envelope. He blinked a few times as he opened the card, seeing the small fairies printed on the sides of the card, along with golden lettering, but what grabbed his attention the most was the two golden tickets included with the post card. He rubbed his eyes with the back of his hand, trying not to get pixie dust on his face.

"Blake Bigby, you and one guest have been cordially invited to the Blue Moon Forest Fest. It starts tomorrow night, in the Enchanted Forest. The tickets will show you the way, I hope to see you there, sign the Fairy Queen." he read, confusion written on his face. He reread the note, shrugging as he slipped it into the envelope, placing it inside his messenger bag. He glanced at his watch, seeing it was early afternoon, fifteen minutes left of his lunch period in fact.

He was in the castleteria in five minutes, not wanting to waste precious time from his lunch. He went over to the lunch line, not finding anything that appealed to him. He just wanted a bit of energy in his system, and even though he disliked them, he decided to get an energy drink for himself. He wasn't too fond of hamburgers after seeing Ashlynn eating them during the Fairest, and he really didn't want a hotdog after that experience either. He ended up grabbing a couple apples and just going to his usual table, where Raven was sitting, reading one of her text books.

"Hey sis, doing homework?" he asked curiously, taking a bite from his fruit.

"Yep, I'm being taught the scientific property of fruits and how I can abuse them and make them poisonous." she replied, not looking up from her book.

"The hell do you need to know that for?" he asked, making her look up.

"Really? I'm the next Evil Queen, I was forced into Poison Fruit Theory so I can make the perfect poisoned apple. I have to give it my all or Baba Yaga will give me hell for it."

"Wow, I'm sorry sis. I didn't think you had to learn such useless subjects."

"Eh...it isn't exactly useless. I won't ever use it, but that doesn't mean it won't ever become necessary. I'm not a bad person, but if someone annoys me...well I'll just leave a bushel of apples at their doorstep and watch from afar." she said, giving him a wink.

"That's so bad...my dear sister is going to poison people just for fun? How dare you?! I guess I'll have to become a knight to protect those who'd dare piss you off." he said, earning a giggle from the girl.

"If you say so. You're looking a lot better, finally get some sleep?" Raven asked, glancing at the boy who gave her a nod.

"It wasn't the best sleep I've had, but it was better than I hoped it would be." he said, cracking open his energy drink, taking a sip from it.

"Be honest with me, are you having nightmares?" she asked. He blinked a few times, giving her a nod.

"I am...I didn't want to say anything. I didn't want to worry anyone, so far only Duchess knows, she's been buying foundation for me so I can hide my dark circles. I think I'm doing a good job of it." he said, finishing his first apple.

"You should have told me Blake...I'm your sister so you can trust me with anything. They say talking about nightmares make them go away, so if you ever want to talk about them, I'll be there to listen." she said, putting her hand on top of his. He smiled, giving her a nod.

"I know...I've been having them for a week, since I returned from the Snow Kingdom, actually. Every time it happens, I wake up in the fairgrounds after the well had been sealed. My dark self always taunts me...he killed Kitty, and everyone is chained up to my waist like I had them before. Today, he ended up killing Holly." he said, making the girl go wide eyed.

"This is serious...I think you should get some help...maybe from one of the guidance councilors. I think the Fairy Queen is the councilor for Royals and good people, you might wanna talk to her."

"I've never been good with councilors...at least not Earth ones...hey, that name sounds familiar actually. I saw it recently, but I've never met this woman, is she a teacher here?" Blake asked, earning a nod from Raven who returned to her text book.

"Yes she is. She teachers some of the goodie goodie classes, Home Elfonomics being one of them, and she also teaches some Fairy classes. She's the queen of the fairies here in Ever After, some people say she's from Neverland though she's never said anything. She's a really kind person, a lot of people who have talked to her have confided a lot in her." she replied. The boy took a sip from his drink, feeling rather awake now that he had finished it.

"Hmm...I guess I'll go talk to her...oh yeah now I remember where I saw her name. I found this next to Swimmy's bowl when I woke up. I have no idea what the hell it's for though." he said, handing the girl the white envelope. She pulled the card from inside, eyes widening a bit when she saw it.

"Oh my godmother, Blake are these real?"

"Uh...I guess? What are they for?" he countered, confusion on his face.

"These are tickets to the Blue Moon Forest Fest! They say only a select few actually get the chance to attend this party. It's like the biggest bash of the year, and you got invited. Not just that but you have a plus one ticket, this is an amazing honor." she happily replied, handing the card back to the boy.

"Oh...so it's some giant party then...eh, I'm not really into it. I mean if I wasn't debilitated and fatigued I would be all for it. But honestly the only thing I'm looking forward to is sleeping. You can have those if you want."

"Absolutely not! Blake not everyone gets the chance of going to this party, it happens once a year and only those hand picked by the Fairy Queen can go. You can't just give these tickets away, you have to go." Raven said, handing him the tickets back.

"Okay I guess...you wanna come with me then? So I don't go there all alone." he said.

"Um...I would love too but...I have some homework I need to catch up on. You should give that ticket to someone else, maybe a girl you like?" she asked, wiggling her brows a bit.

"Pfft...okay...I'll take your advice and find myself a woman for this fest thing." he said, glancing at the tickets.

"Hey guys, mind if I sit down real quick?"

"Oh...sure Holly, what's with the spontaneous entrance?" Raven asked, glancing at the girl who reached into her bag, placing a notebook on the table.

"I finished the story, I just wanted Blake to read it and see what he thinks." she said, earning a surprised look from the boy.

"You finished the story? I thought we were gonna each write two chapters...did you fill this entire notebook?" he asked, earning a nod from the girl.

"Ahuh, I just picked up my quill and I couldn't stop. I'm sure you'll love what I did with it." she said, watching as he flipped onto chapter two of the story. He had to admit, Holly's hand writing was very good, and put his to shame.

As he started reading, his eyes glossed over the words as the scene was placed in his mind. It was completely different and even better than what he had written in the previous chapter. He turned to the next page, eyes widening a bit at what he was reading.

"Blondie grabbed the black haired boy's discarded baseball bat, bashing the brains of his attacker. A red mist flew through the air, bathing the two in blood, but neither cared. The young boy was thankful to his savior, the blue eyed blonde goddess he had always dreamed of. He rapidly stood up, pressing his lips against hers in a chaste but loving kiss, the groans of the undead falling onto undead ears." he read, glancing at Holly who was bouncing her seat.

"So, what do you think?"

"Uh...well it's...unique. But...what happened to the cookies? And getting to Goldilocks's house?" he asked curiously.

"Oh that, that's the basis for chapter three. I've actually already started on chapter six, I'm gonna pick this up as an original novel!" Holly replied, pulling out another notebook from her bag.

"What is this exactly?" Raven asked, taking the notebook from her little brother.

"Our Creative Writing project...we were supposed to write a short story, but Holly wrote more than half of it. I feel really bad now since you did all the work."

"It was nothing Blake, you wrote most of chapter one anyway. Don't worry, there's a lot of zombie killing action in chapter three. Blondie gets her cupcake gun in that chapter." she said happily.

"Hmm...hey Blake, if you feel bad about Holly doing all the work in your project. Maybe you should repay her with something, like that you know what you got?" Raven asked, looking at the boy who just gave her a deadpanned look. His eyes widened a bit as he reached into his bag.

"What is she talking about Blake? Did you get something special?" Holly asked curiously.

"I did, actually. I got invited to this forest fest thing and I have a plus one ticket, do you wanna maybe...go with me?" he asked, handing her the ticket. She looked at it with widened eyes.

"The Blue Moon Forest Fest...you want me to go with you? As your date?"

"I was thinking more on the lines of friends, I mean...if you wanna make it a date I guess I have no issue with that." he said. The girl blushed brightly, giving him a nod.

"I'd love to go as your date. I have the perfect dress for the occasion, oh...maybe you'd better come by early. It takes me about two hours to get my hair ready." she said.

"Okay, I have no issue with that. I was thinking if leaving for the Enchanted Forest around six maybe, just as the sun is starting to go down. I know my way around the forest so it shouldn't be a problem. We can watch some anime while we wait, that should get your imagination flowing." he said.

"I have no doubt in my mind it won't. Anyway, you can keep that notebook for now, I proofread it several times but I think typing it out would be a lot better than the hand written version. Tell me what you think when you read the whole thing okay?" she asked.

"Alright, I'll text you later with my verdict, though with how chapter two started, I think I'm in for quite the ride." Blake said, glancing back at the notebook in Raven's hands. Holly giggled, giving the boy a kiss on the cheek.

"Thanks for the ticket, I'm sure the two of us will have a lot of fun. See you two later." the auburn haired girl said, exciting the castleteria shortly after. The boy blushed a bit as he rubbed his cheek, feeling a bit of Holly's lipgloss on his cheek.

"Nice going slugger, looks like you got yourself a new girlfriend."

"Shut up Raven, she isn't my girlfriend. We're just going as friends, I doubt anything will happen between us." he snapped back, his face still flushed.

"You know...I'm happy to see you aren't afraid to put yourself out there again. Especially after what happened, Cerise looks really happy, at least from here." Raven said, causing the boy to glance over at his ex-girlfriend, who was chatting with Cedar. She looked up briefly at him, giving him a smile and a wave.

"She does...I'm surprised she hasn't found anyone yet...maybe she's not ready yet." he said, waving back.

"Yep, or maybe she's just getting over what happened. Maybe she's considering taking you back, she was madly in love with you after all." Raven said, earning a sigh from the boy.

"That'll never happen, she said as much. Anyway, I better head to class, I gotta talk to my other teachers and tell them why I skipped class today." he said.

"Okay, here don't forget this. It was an...interesting read...Blake, seriously talk to the Fairy Queen. You can't keep dealing these nightmares."

"Don't worry, I'll talk to her later...see ya sis. I'm gonna go abuse the rest of my newfound energy and pound my studies with vigor."

"Don't say pound, it sounds sexual." Raven said, earning a smirk from the boy.

"How about plow? Pillage? Plunder? Oh that's a nice one, I'm gonna go plunder my school work...see ya." he said, walking toward the exit.

"Plunder means steal you idiot! Read the dictionary!" Raven called out, knowing her cries fell onto deaf ears. She returned to her homework, wondering why her surrogate brother was such a weird person.


	54. The Blue Moon Forest Fest II

**A/N:**

 **Hello everyone and welcome to Chapter 54 of Through the Looking Glass, I hope you all liked that lengthy chapter from yesterday, a lot of stuff went down during it. This will be the second chapter in the Blue Moon Forest Fest arc of the story. There are only two more chapters for this arc before we move onto the filler chapter before Way Too Wonderland. I am going to be doing a lot of stuff for this arc, as you all know I am going to be focusing on various characters that I've neglected in the past. So it should be interesting.**

 **I'm also going to be writing the first segway chapter soon, which will set up for the alternate ending with Melody Piper. I was actually considering on making Melody the second girl Blake would be dating aside from the main girl that he will get together with after Way Too Wonderland. I will be giving her a bit more screen time. Aside from being in Purple Rhapsody and being the hostess for Radio Rebel, I haven't actually included her in many chapters dedicated to herself. So I might writer a chapter mostly centered around her and Blake. I've also been working on the Duchess segway chapter along with Briar's segway chapter. There are a lot of ideas floating inside this noggin of mine.**

 **I apologize for this short authors note. I just got back from grocery shopping, and I didn't get to bed until 8AM since I spent most of the night writing this story as well as watching Highschool DxD so I didn't get a lot of sleep in. I actually decided to take the day off from writing, and I might take tomorrow off as well to figure out the plot of some of these chapters. If you got any suggestions or want to see something happen, drop me a PM and I'll do my best! As always, review, favorite, follow all of that jazz...if you have any questions PM me. I'll see you all tomorrow with Chapter 55! See ya!**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 54

The Blue Moon Forest Fest II

Blake honestly thought that a cup of coffee would perk him up, so during his break from work, he had told Ginger he would be heading to Hocus Latte. It had been a very difficult school day for him, especially with Joey's antics and whatever else Faybelle did to piss him off. He had seen the girl working at the Beanstalk Bakery, but it was just in passing. He still had trouble going back there despite everyone knowing the rumors about him abusing animals were fake. He just didn't want to deal with that cashier anymore so he stayed away from that place unless he specifically had to go there. Often times it was with Lizzie, who always made her orders to go for his sake and he was thankful for that. But there were times where they sat down because it was one of her favorite places in Ever After to unwind and do homework.

So, stumbling his way into the cafe still wearing his bright pink work apron, Blake stood in line. He had come here so much during the previous week that he had gotten himself a frequent visitor card, so it gave him discounts on certain items. Since Spells Kitchen also baked pastries for Hocus Latte, he also got a bit of a discount making his coffee very cheap, and it made it easier for him to stay awake during the day. The cafe was rather full today, mostly with students from Ever After who came to work on projects or just hang out with friends, it was always a very relaxing place to do homework.

He blinked a few times trying to get the tired look off his face as he made his way to the front counter. He didn't bother looking at the menu as he already had his order in mind. The cashier gave him a once over, brow raised at his appearance but said nothing as she waited for his order.

"I'm gonna take a wild guess and say you stayed up late for a project or something, right?" she asked.

"Ahuh...something like that. Could I get a mocha latte with extra foam and two shots of espresso? I'll pay you extra if you draw a heart out of caramel." he said, pulling out his wallet.

"I would have done that for free, but if you wanna fill my wallet, then that's fine too." she said, ringing him out. As promised he handed her a tip and stood aside, waiting for his order to be filled.

His thoughts drifted back to his date with Holly. It was a bit awkward, especially when Sparrow found out about it. He had told him to lay off his woman, but of course Blake in his tired state of mind reminded him that Holly had already rejected him twice and that she had a right to chose who she went out with. The orange haired boy drooped his head dejectedly, a frown on his face. Blake was honestly sad that his friend had gotten rejected by his crush, it had happened to him already and he knew what it was like. He had made plans with Hunter to go see a scary movie, but since he was going to the Forest Fest he wouldn't be going, so as an apology, he gave Sparrow his ticket. He hadn't seen him be so happy in such a long time.

He was of course broken out of his thoughts by something impacting his shins at a high velocity. Thankfully his leather boots were armored and absorbed some of the impact, but the pain was all the same. His leg gave out as he dropped to a knee, tears in his eyes. Even though he was in pain now, he was at least more alert than he was before. He brushed the tears out of his eyes as he rubbed his shin, glancing at the ground at the object that had struck his leg. It was a laptop, a rather familiar looking laptop, with hearts decals all over the top of it. He grabbed it from the floor and opened it, seeing a picture of Daring and Dexter, only the older Charming's face was crossed out and the younger Charming was surrounded by a heart with an arrow going through it. He sighed, closing the device a second later.

"Blake, your coffee is ready." the cashier called out, handing him the cup.

"Thanks, I'll probably be back later with a shipment from Ginger...are you in need of anything so I can let her know?" he asked, taking a sip from his coffee, perking up a bit.

"Actually yes, we're in need of strawberry muffins. Those have been really popular this month...if she could also make us some coffee cakes, I think we'll be all set." she replied, glancing at her checklist.

"I'll let her know, now I'm gonna go address someone for hurling her laptop into my tibia. See ya." he said, taking another sip from his coffee.

He started moving through the cafe, spotting his friend Cupid sitting at a table, along with Ashlynn both having an excited look on their faces. He noticed the daughter of Cinderella was wearing a pair of glass hiking boots for some reason or another. By now he had downed half of his coffee and was feeling much more alert than before. So he walked over to the two girls, placing the computer on the table top, dragging a nearby chair to their table, sitting down on it.

"So, let's all have a conversation about not throwing a goddamn computer at terminal speed, across the store into my fucking shins. I mean, I needed a pick me up...but this was not what I had in mind." he said, glaring at the pink haired girl who was blushing brightly.

"I'm sorry Blake, I didn't mean to hit you. It just...slipped from my hand."

"Christ, if a computer almost snapping my shin was it slipping from your hand, I really want to see how much damage it would do when you throw it." he replied, finishing his coffee, eating some of the left over whipped cream.

"I'm sure she didn't mean it Blake...you look a little better. Have you been sleeping alright?" Ashlynn asked, concerned for her friend.

"Eh...better than before at least. Before you ask, no I am not having nightmares...I just have insomnia sometimes. Anyway, what's the occasion for those glass hiking boots?" he asked, glancing at the girl's chosen footwear.

"Oh, I'm just breaking this in...you won't believe this...but I got invited to the Blue Moon Forest Fest! It's a once in a lifetime party that only certain people can go too...I'm bringing Cupid as my plus one." she said.

"That's nice...guess I'm not the only one then...I got invited to this thing too, I'm bringing Holly as my date." Blake said, earning a gasp from Cupid.

"Blake, you're dating again? And you picked Holly? That's so cute!"

"I didn't ask her out or anything, I merely handed her my plus one and she decided it was a date. I just wanted to go as friends, guess she has other plans...I don't blame her, I mean I am the hottest thing on this planet." he said, causing Ashlynn to laugh rather loudly.

"Oh godmother, that was funny. Seriously though, I'm happy you put yourself out there again. It means you're finally healing from what happened, plus you need a good woman by your side. Holly isn't a bad choice, plus when she's done beating the hell out of people with her skillet, she has a place to cook for you."

"That's honestly what scares me. I mean, using a skillet for self defense? Imagine the skull fractures?" he said, cringing a bit.

"Hmm...that is cause for concern I suppose...just don't get her angry. Although I've never seen Holly get genuinely pissed off...I don't think I want to see it either." Ashlynn said with a shudder, most likely imagining people with their heads caved in. Blake glanced at his watch, eyes widening a bit.

"Shit, my break is almost over...um...what time are you girls heading out tomorrow? Maybe we can meet up or something."

"We were planning on heading out after school ends. We don't exactly know where the Fest takes place, but we hope it isn't that far in the forest." Ashlynn replied, earning a nod from the boy.

"We're gonna be leaving a bit later than that. Holly takes awhile to get her hair done, so we'll probably be behind you guys. I'll see you two later, and Cupid seriously, don't throw your laptop like that at people, shit sucks." he said, ruffling the girl's hair as he left.

 _ **xxx**_

"Ugh...can you believe this Joey? That Ashlynn girl got a plus one ticket and didn't even invite me to that stupid forest fest!" Faybelle said, causing the boy to look up from his tablet, a bored expression on his face.

"What the hell do you want me to do about it? Go and kiss her ass until she relents and passes me the ticket?" he countered, causing the head cheerleader to glare back at him.

"I even joined the commoners in their work stations to get information. And for what? Then there's Raven who just annoys me with her presence. I heard rumors of her not wanting to sign the book, but seriously? How could she just reject the best destiny ever? Right after her mother stole my mom's role! I'll get her back."

"Faybelle, you can't act on emotions all the time...I mean, you have to think before you act. If you let your emotions control everything, then it might mess up your plan. That's what happened to me last time, and Blake was able to recover...I mean he's not sleeping now, but still...that's besides the point." Joey said, pushing himself away from the wall he had been leaning on. Faybelle looked at him, arms crossed as her wings fluttered a bit.

"I still don't get that, what's the reason behind you wanting to ruin Blake's life? I mean sure he's a goody two shoes, I can tell just by his attitude that he's the kind and caring type, ugh..."

"Oh, I have my reasons for that. You see, he was the direct cause of my girlfriend's disappearance and death. So I'm getting back at him for what he did, and for being an unappreciative little fuck who always had what he wanted. The bastard, even while being adopted he has the best fucking luck. All I got was an alcoholic father and a mother who gave no shits about me! It should have been about me, I should have gotten all that cool stuff, not him!" he snapped, growling slightly as he spoke. Faybelle blinked a few times, a smile working its way onto her pink lips.

"So, you tell me not to let my emotions get the better of me and yet, you let jealousy control you. That's why your plans are destined to fail my friend, that and your lack of dark magic." the dark fairy replied, earning a smirk from the boy.

"If you say so, I happen to have the biggest set up here. Nothing moves in Ever After without me knowing. I happen to have made an excellent deal with the Evil Queen, and she's helping me break Blake's fragile little mind." he said, holding his tablet out to her. She looked at it, eyes widening a bit.

"Is that...the curse that she put on Wonderland? How the hell did you get your hands on that?"

"I got ways...let's just say, the Headmasters aren't the only ones with access to an enchanted mirror. I found this one in the old school building below us, it's my direct connection to the Evil Queen." he said, reaching behind his back. Faybelle's eyes widened when she saw the decorative hand mirror, which was black and purple in color, and had a reflective green glass on it.

"I've seen this mirror before...it belongs to the Beast, it's what he gives Belle so that she has a way to remember him. How did you get your hands on this? It's thought to have been lost after the Beauty and the Beast's story ended!" Faybelle said, looking the mirror over.

"I have my ways, as I've said before. I've been trying to find some books in the Forbidden Library, but I haven't found any thing to continue this curse." Joey replied, glancing back at his tablet, a frown on his face.

"Why do you even want to continue it? What do you get from destroying Wonderland?"

"Who said I wanted to destroy it? If I finish this curse, it would eliminate the Queen of Hearts. What I want is to set the Evil Queen free, she'll take over Wonderland and I'll take over Ever After as the next King Arthur. But for me to claim that destiny, I gotta find Excalibur, sadly it isn't in this realm. So before I focus on finding that sword, I gotta find a way to open a portal between worlds." he said.

"You're insane...the Evil Queen can't be trusted...how do you know she won't stab you in the back when you do free her?" Faybelle asked, earning a smirk from the boy.

"Because I'll have her daughter as a hostage when I do release her. Not just that, when I do release her, I'll already have Excalibur in my possession...and if she doesn't comply, then I'll run it through Raven's chest, simple as that...watching Blake cry her name in utter despair will be an added bonus." he said, a grin on his face. Faybelle inwardly grimaced, glancing away from the boy.

" _This guy is insane...I want to be evil sure, but I would never consider killing anyone. My mother never killed anyone, she just put Queen Aurora to sleep for a hundred years...this is way worse."_

"Anyway, if you can't get a ticket to the Forest Fest, then why don't you just ruin the fest for everyone else? You know, if I can't go no one else can? And all that bullshit." the brown haired boy suggested, tapping on his screen.

"Not a bad idea...I mean, it isn't my fault that no one ever invites me to shit. But I can definitely ruin it for everyone else...even better, I heard one of the twins talking about being invited by Blake. I'll make sure to ruin his date for you, as a sign of friendship." she replied, earning a smirk from the boy.

"That would be lovely Fay, thanks. I'm gonna go do some research on portals and shit, you have fun ruining that party. Stay evil." he said, giving her a wink as he left the empty hallway, leaving the daughter of the Dark Fairy standing by herself.

" _That one is crazy...is Jealousy really driving him that far? Destroying Wonderland, taking over Ever After? He's certainly got his plate full."_ she said, heading out of the hallway. She had some evil plans to come up with.

 _ **xxx**_

It hadn't been a good night for Blake, as he had another nightmare. This time, it was mostly his darkness taunting him, trying to get him to accept his dark powers. He of course rebelled, leading his shadow to try and kill another of his friends. But by fighting back, he had been able to save one of his friends, returning them to his side and getting a bit more color into his dream scape. It was a slow progress, but he was sure one day he would be able to overcome what happened during the Spring Fairest.

Thinking back on it, he was scared...scared that those powers would overtake his mind and drive him to do horrible things. He didn't want to hurt his friends, but he didn't want to run away and seclude himself either. He trusted what Raven told him, he was in control of his powers, not the other way around. If only he could break the curse that had been put on him, he could finally rest easy if that was the case.

He reached his locker, lazily putting his combination into the lock, opening his locker door. Standing beside him was Dexter Charming, who seemed to be very nervous about something. Judging by his attitude, he could tell it was something important. He looked stressed, his hair was slightly out of place, and he was muttering a lot under his breath. Blake stuck his Wonderland History book in his locker, replacing it with his Crownculous book which he put in his messenger bag.

"Yo Dex, something wrong buddy? You look more anxious than a Chihuahua. What's up?" he asked, causing the boy to look at him, relaxing a bit.

"Hey Blake...nothing's wrong it's just...I got a date with this girl I've been crushing on. It was a bit difficult at first but I finally got the courage and I asked her out and she said yes...I'm just...I'm not sure what to do man." he said. As Blake was about to reply, the locker next to them slammed closed, the smiling face of Daring Charming greeting the two.

"Having girl troubles little bro? You should have come to me for advice, I happen to be the best when it comes to dealing with the ladies." he said, giving his brother a smile.

"I wouldn't say you are the best Daring. You are charming, I'll admit but you just smile and they fall in love. That isn't really a good trait, you'll never get to meet them and get to know them if they fall in love with your smile." Blake said, leaning back against his locker.

"Haha, having a killer smile is only the first step. It's what gets you droves filled with girls Blake...my advice is simple. You gotta be confident in yourself, but also cool, and charming. What's this girl like little bro?" the blond asked, earning a sigh from the boy.

"Well...she's sweet, and kind. She likes darkness a lot and she's sort of a badgirl, oh and she loves music."

"That sounds a lot like my sister." Blake said, crossing his arms as Dexter chuckled dryly.

"About that...I uh..."

"Forget about that little bro, first I have to teach you how to swoon her. As a Charming, you were born with killer skills...you have to use them to your advantage. Stand up tall, relax a bit and just hit her with your killer smile." Daring said, glancing at a nearby group of girl, giving them a grin. All of them swooned on instinct, blushing brightly.

"Oh uh...okay, let me try." Dexter said, giving the girls a toothy smile, though it looked more like a cringe and forced than relaxed and suave. It wasn't what the girls were looking for, all of them looked away in disgust.

"Dexter, the smile only works if you've perfected it. Daring is a natural when it comes to it, isn't there anything else you have that can work? I mean, your sister has that hair flipping thing. You have to have something right?" Blake asked curiously, reaching for his pocket for an apple, which he instantly bit into.

"I don't have anything like that I'm afraid. I wasn't born with anything, that I know of."

"Well then little bro, you'll just have to find something to impress her. Of course, I don't need help in that regard. Just remember, be tall, be proud, smile at them, basically, be me!" the older Charming said, sliding over to the girls who instantly crowded around him. Dexter sighed, glancing at the ground.

"That's horrible advice, don't listen to him. If you want good advice then you have to talk to a girl...one that isn't Cupid. You can't go to her for advice all the time, you need a different perspective." Blake said, glancing around the hallway, spotting Darling not that far from where they stood.

"Yeah, but what girl would give me advice?"

"How about your sister? Hey Darling, could you come here for a sec?" he called out, causing the girl to turn around. She closed her locker, walking over toward the two boys.

"Hi Blake, hello big brother. Is something the matter? You look nervous." she said, noting her brother's nervousness.

"I uh...I have a date later tonight and I don't know how to go about it. This is my first date and I don't want to ruin it, I really like this girl...you got any advice that you could give me? One that doesn't involve me turning into Daring?" he asked, a hopeful look on his face. Darling narrowed her eyes a bit, as she started thinking.

"Um...what does this girl like?"

"I'm just gonna cut right into this, he likes Raven. Head over heels for her, let's move on." Blake said, earning a glare from his friend. Darling gave him a wide eyed look, giggling softly.

"So, big brother likes rebellious girls? That's a new one...well, if it's Raven then all you have to do is be yourself. She already knows you right? So there's no need to come up with some lies to impress her. I'm sure she likes you for who you are."

"That's some solid advice Darling. See Dexter, sometimes you gotta talk to the right woman to get the best advice...though I'm sure if my scumbag brain wasn't running on caffeine and sugar I would have told you that earlier."

"Well, I guess I'll have to be myself...oh but how do I do that when I'm so nervous? Is there anything else I can do? Do you think singing a song is a good idea? I mean I am a bassist." Dexter said, causing Blake and Darling to share a look.

"Uh...that depends...Raven does like music so she might like a serenade. She likes flowers too but her magic is prone to killing them, so make sure they're wrapped in plastic, or hell just give her a vase. As for the song...I don't really think you should bother. You'd have to bring a guitar, and an amp, unless you go acoustic." Blake said.

"Do you have a song? Just as an example?"

"Oh do you Blake? I'd love to hear one, please?" Darling asked, giving him a cute smile. He sighed, cursing his weakness for blue eyed girls. He snapped his fingers, a violet acoustic-electric guitar flashing onto his shoulder. He rubbed his eyes a bit as he grabbed the pick from the top, placing his hands on the strings.

"Let it be known, this song is a cover of one song from Earth. It is in no way, shape or form related to my break up with Cerise." he said, earning a nod from the siblings. He let out the breath he had been holding as he started plucking at the strings, a soft somber melody started filling the hallway, grabbing the attention of passersby who were on their way to class.

" _I'm still trying to figure out how to tell you I was wrong_

 _I can't fill in the emptiness inside since you've been gone_

 _So it is you, or is it me?_

 _I know I said some things that I didn't mean_

 _But you should have known me by know_

 _You should have known me_

 _If you believed!_

 _When I said, I'd be better off without you,_

 _Then you never really knew me at all!_

 _If you believed!_

 _When I said, that I wouldn't be thinking about you_

 _You thought you knew the truth but you're wrong!_

 _You're all that I need, just tell me that you still believe!_

 _I can't undo the things that led us to this place_

 _But I know there's something more to us_

 _Than our mistakes!_

 _So is it you, or is it me?_

 _I know so blind when we don't agree_

 _But you should've known me by now!_

 _You should've known me_

 _If you believed!_

 _When I said, I'd be better off without you!_

 _Then you never really knew me at all!_

 _If you believed! When I said,_

 _That I wouldn't be thinking about you!_

 _You thought you knew the truth but you're wrong!_

 _You're all that I need, just tell me that you still believe!"_

" _Is it you, or is it me?_

 _I know I said things that I didn't mean_

 _You should've known me by now,_

 _You should've known me if you believed!_

 _When I said, that I'd be better off without you!_

 _Then you never really knew me at all!_

 _If you believed! When I said, I wouldn't be thinking about you!_

 _You thought you knew the truth but you're wrong!_

 _Cause you're all that I want!_

 _Don't you even know me at all!_

 _You're all that I need, just tell me that you still believe!"_

The song came to an end, and as expected the black haired boy got a big round of applause. He allowed his guitar to disappear, turning to face the Charming siblings who were both still reeling a bit from the song and the emotion he poured into it. He crossed his arms, tapping his foot a bit as he glanced at the two. He reached into his pocket for his half eaten apple, brushing all of the lint from it before taking a bit from the juicy fruit.

"So, what did you think?" he asked, still chewing the piece of fruit.

"Oh uh...that song was...amazing! You're voice was so passionate and filled with love and sadness. Are you sure that isn't a break up song?" Darling asked, earning a chuckle from the boy.

"Nope, well...it is, but not for my intents and purposes. Like I said, it's a cover of a song by a band from Earth. This was a song that my uncle sung to my aunt when she filed for divorce. If you must know, she still went through with it, it was a messy break up." he said, not wanting to remember that moment in time.

"Well, it's a nice song but I doubt it would work for me...I guess I'll just get her some flowers. Are you sure she likes flowers though?" Dexter asked, earning a nod from his friend.

"She likes violets and daisies. Like I said, give them to her in a vase or her magic will kill them. Knowing Raven, she's probably nervous herself, so just be yourself and keep her calm, you'll do fine." he said, clapping the boy's shoulder.

"Okay...thanks Blake, thank you too little sis. Without either of you, I'm sure I would have screwed this up."

"It's not an issue big brother. I'm sure if I was going on a date you'd help me out too, whatever I can do to ease your nerves right?" she asked, giving him a warm smile. The two shared a hug and the boy took off, still looking a bit nervous.

"He'll be fine...but you wanna do me a favor and talk to Raven for me? I would but I gotta get ready for the forest fest." Blake said, earning a wide eyed look from the youngest Charming.

"You got invited to the Blue Moon Forest Fest? Really? You are so lucky! Who are you taking as your plus one?" she asked, rather loudly. Everyone around him quickly shortened the distance, causing him to back away, hand out before him.

"Back, stay back fowl beasts! The ticket has already been claimed by a fair maiden!" he announced, causing everyone to groan. It wasn't long before the hallway had cleared, once again leaving him and Darling.

"Sorry about that, the Forest Fest is a big event here...so who are you bringing?"

"Holly, I sort of owed her. She finished our Creative Writing project all by herself, even though I told her not to. So I'm gonna take her to the fest as thanks."

"Aw, that's so sweet of you. But I am jealous of her, if only I had been a little quicker, I'm sure you would have taken me instead right?"

"Uh...maybe? I mean...I feel if I ask you out on a date Daring will break my face, and your father will stomp out the remains. Not sure how I would feel about that." he said, earning a giggle from her.

"Please, I am a princess but I am a woman first and foremost! I have the right to date who I want whenever I want, whether or not they accept it." she said firmly.

"Yeah, vagina power!" Blake cried, holding his hand out to the girl who slapped it with her own. A few students walking by just looked at them weird before continuing on.

"It feels so good to have someone who understands me, even if you are a guy. I'd better go, I got princess studies this afternoon. But we all know what I'll really be doing." she said, giving him a grin.

"Ah, that reminds me. Here's that tape you wanted, four hours of sleep sounds along with four hours of incoherent bathroom noises. Sure to fool anyone into thinking you are either sleeping or catastrophically crapping your khakis." he said, handing her the small tape along with a tape recorder.

"Thanks Blake, you're the sweetest boy ever. I think this is the first time anyone has given me a tape full of diarrhea sounds and made me super happy."

"We have a weird friendship, but I like it. It gives it spice at least...see ya Darling, have fun with your sword training." he said, finally taking his leave.

"Oh I will, I definitely will." she said, grinning as she glanced at the tape.

 _ **xxx**_

Blake had finally gotten ready for the forest fest, despite his body's outcry for sleep. He had gotten ready in a new outfit that he had bought for just the occasion. It was a midnight blue coat, with a golden hem, he left it open to reveal his sky blue tee shirt, which had some snowflakes printed on it, it had been a shirt he had gotten at a store in the Snow Kingdom, tailored to his size by Crystal since they didn't have any in his size. He was wearing tight black jeans, which fit him quite nicely. He was wearing black buckle boots, the tops having a few glowing constellations embroidered on it. He was wearing his black leather belt, with a silver buckles on it. He had brushed his hair down, brushing a small bang over his right eye, the violet streak being rather prominent. He was wearing a knitted beanie on his head, which he held in place with black bobby pins so it wouldn't come off. He grabbed his pocket watch, attaching it to his belt loop, before slipping it into his pants pocket.

"3:30 in the afternoon, I got my ticket in pocket, and some mints. I should be all set." he said, grabbing his bag making sure he had everything he would need. He slid his messenger bag over his shoulder, slipping his keys into his bag before leaving his room.

He started walking over to the girl's dorms, reading some texts he had gotten from Holly. She had apparently taken the last two periods off from class so she could style her hair. Her twin sister Poppy was apparently going to be Blondie's plus one, so she had to leave early to meet up with Blondie to style her hair. He wasn't exactly sure what to expect from the older O'Hair twin.

Over his time knowing the twins, he had easily picked out which of the two was the calm one. Poppy was always level headed while Holly was the excited one of the two. But they're personalities would switch on certain topics, so it at least kept things interesting. He glanced up from his phone in time to see Alistair pacing around in circles, standing in front of a door. He seemed to be quite troubled, especially from his muttering. Blake stood in front of him, clearing his throat to grab his attention.

"Oh uh...hi Blake...what's up?"

"I could ask you that, you seem troubled. Something wrong?" he asked.

Ever since the Spring Fairest, the blond boy seemed a bit wary of Blake. Of course he understood why, but he still tried his best to show him and Bunny that he wasn't a bad person. Being held at sword point isn't exactly a good memory for him to have. The boy sighed, leaning against the wall beside him.

"I'm having girl trouble."

"Oh, so you aren't the only one then...I take it you want to ask Bunny out on a date. But you are too nervous to ask her because you don't know if she'll say yes, and if she on the off chance does say yes, you don't know how to go about it. Am I in the ballpark?"

"Surprisingly. Have you dealt with this situation before?" the boy asked. Blake shook his head, leaning against the wall beside him.

"Dexter had some trouble earlier today...so I'll tell you the same thing me and Darling told him. Just be yourself, you like Bunny right? And I have an inkling that she likes you. Just ask her out, I'm sure she'll say yes, and if she does just act like you normally would." he replied.

"But it isn't that simple Blake! I'm just scared that I'll mess things up, I don't want to lose Bunny's friendship, but I like her too much not to act on my feelings." Alistair replied, grabbing the lapels of his jacket tightly in his grasp.

"I get it, you'd rather not risk it. Because if Bunny doesn't like you or rejects you, then it'll be awkward between you two...trust me I've been there. There's this girl that likes me, that no matter how much I tell her I want to be just friends with her, she won't stop. At least I got her off my back for a month, but she'll never quit. We're still great friends no doubt, but it's still a bit awkward. You and Bunny have been friends for a long time, and while it is awkward, there is a chance that in the future she'll say yes. You two are Royals, so I doubt destiny will get between you two." he replied.

"That is true...you know what, I'll go for it. I'd rather tell her how I feel than bottle it up and not say anything, thanks Blake. You've been a great help."

"No problem...say, I have a question for you. How is a Raven like a writing desk?" Blake asked, causing the boy to look at him oddly.

"Uh...I...what?"

"Come on, didn't Alice ask you this growing up? You have to know the answer, right riddle master?" the black haired boy teased, walking past him toward Holly and Poppy's dorm.

"You can't just leave me hanging man, at least give me a hint."

"I can't, I'm sure your mom solved this one on your own, you'll do it two. Hey, maybe you and Bunny can solve it together? That should be enough to get you two in the right direction." he replied, giving the door before him a few knocks.

"You are just awful, you know that?" Alistair asked, earning a laugh from the black haired boy.

"Sure I am, you'll solve it one day, good luck." he replied with a grin.

A second later, the door opened and Holly O'Hair stepped out of the room, looking quite stunning in her chosen outfit. She was wearing a short sleeved pink dress, with a lavender colored neckline. The front of the dress had light embroidered designs around the bust, leading to the magenta colored skirt. It had dark violet netting around the hem, which was slightly ruffled in design. She was also wearing a half apron around her waist resting on the skirt which had various colors and sweets printed on it. She wore candy pink heels, the top being brown in color with white sprinkles on it. She had her hair in a high ponytail, held up by a white ribbon. She also wore a tiara in the likeness of cupcakes, with glittering sprinkles on it. She had a pair of lavender gloves on her hands, which reached to her wrists. She looked rather nervous, her head bowed slightly, gaze straight at the floor.

"Hi Blake, sorry I took so long. You know me and my hair." she said softly, earning a laugh from the boy.

"It's fine, I already knew you'd take a bit more time than anyone else. You look really cute in that outfit, very candy themed." he said, earning a flush from the girl.

"Um...my sister left half an hour ago...maybe if we hurry we can catch up to them." she said, finally looking up at the boy.

"Yeah sure, if you want we can text her and have her meet us on the path. We're going in the same direction." he said, glancing at his MirrorPhone, seeing it was already 3:45 in the afternoon.

"It's fine, Blondie is a slow walker so I'm sure we'll catch up. You've got the tickets right? That's the only way we'll find this place." she said. He nodded, patting his bag.

"I've got them right here. Come on, we should get a move on." he said, taking a hold of her hand. She smiled a bit, allowing herself to be led away by the boy.

 _ **xxx**_

To say Faybelle was annoyed was an understatement. She was absolutely furious, not only had she not been invited to the Blue Moon Forest Fest, but the two people she had asked had already given their tickets way. It was so unfair, the burning rage running through her veins was enough to make her want to explode. Instead however, she decided to follow Joey's advice and just ruin the forest fest for everyone. However, it was next to impossible to find this fest, as it was held in secret in the Enchanted Forest.

The only way to find it was to have a ticket and since she lacked one, it would be difficult for her to do that. She reached the entrance to the Dark Forest and the Enchanted Forest, glancing at the two, the one on the left was dark and eerie and the other filled with bright shining light, it made her want to vomit. She did however catch red in her line of sight, and saw that the daughter of Red Riding Hood was close by. She smirked, quickly closing the distance.

"Hey Cerise, do you have a minute?" she called out, startling the girl, causing her to growl at her. When she realized who it was, she calmed down a bit, giving her a weird look.

"What are you doing here Faybelle? You don't look like the forest type."

"I was just taking a stroll, nothing caught my interest back in Bookend. Um...I'd like some travel advice, if you have any...what's the worst possible mistake you can make while taking a walk through the woods?" she asked. The half human girl blinked a few times, glancing at the signs nearby.

"Well, here's an obvious one. The Dark Forest, is to the left and the Enchanted Forest is to the right. The worst possible mistake anyone could ever make, is go into the Dark Forest! Well, see ya." she replied, breaking into a sprint toward the Dark Forest.

"Hey wait! Didn't you say it would...oh whatever. At least she gave me something useful. Hmm...I got an idea. How do we handle they're rejection? We send them in the wrong direction." she chanted, sending a wave of dark magic at the signs, not only flipping them over but also rewriting the names on them. She flew off into the trees, just as four girls arrived at the forest.

"Well girls, here we are. The fork in the road." Ashlynn said, glancing at the two signs.

"So, which way to the Enchanted Forest?" Poppy asked, earning a smile from Blondie.

"It's this way of course, the sign points in this direction." she said, heading toward the Dark Forest.

"Uh...I'm not an expert on forests or anything but...that doesn't exactly look enchanted to me." Cupid said, looking a little frightened by the green lightning.

"Pfft, it's alright! I've been in this area before and this is the right path! Come on, we'll make it to the Forest Fest and look Just Right!" Blondie announced, taking the lead and walking into the forest. Deciding to trust their friend, the three girls walked into the Dark Woods after her, not noticing a sneering Faybelle as they walked past.

" _Idiots, if they had half a brain they would have known the signs were switched. Oh well, I get to have my fun watching them suffer. If I can't go to the Fest, than neither will you four!"_ she thought to herself, flying deeper into the forest.

It wasn't long after that Blake and Holly arrived at the crossroads, since the black haired boy had been in the Enchanted Forest before, he started walking toward the right. Holly took notice of the two signs, noticing the direction they were heading in was into the Dark Forest. She felt slightly frightened, but trusted Blake to have made the right decision. He was holding the violet card in his hand, using it as a compass to find his way to the Forest Fest. It worked in the same principle as the book to find the Well of Wonder. The glittering tickets were still resting inside, the words Admit One shining brightly with pixie dust.

"Don't worry Holly, we'll be at the fest soon. This thing doesn't say how much farther in we have to go though." he said, closing the card a second later.

"You've been in this forest right?"

"Me and Cerise had picnics with Ruby here. We also had some in the Dark Forest which was always an interesting time. Apple told me if you keep walking through this path, you'll make it to Snow White's castle. You'll start to see dwarves in the area, all of them are her servants."

"Oh...that's a sigh of relief then. I'm glad you at least know you're way around the Dark Forest, though it's a little weird that Snow White has her castle here." Holly said, causing the boy to stop.

"What are you talking about? This is the Enchanted Forest, not the Dark Forest. I doubt Snow White has the balls to even take a walk through that side of the woods." he said.

"But...that can't be. The signs we just past said this was the Dark Forest, are you sure you aren't confused?" the girl asked, earning a wide eyed look from the boy.

"Holly sweetheart, I've been in this area a lot especially when I practice my magic. There is nothing dark about this forest, maybe someone switched the signs or something." he said calmly, continuing his walk. She stepped up beside him, hands folded in front of her. They walked in silence for a few minutes, only for Holly to stop.

She had a nagging feeling in her heart, like something was wrong and she didn't know what. She started looking around the area, it was calm and serene, beautiful even. But she still felt a bit unnerved, nervousness written on her face. Blake stopped a few seconds later, turning around to find his date standing in the middle of the path.

"Is something wrong Holly? Do you not feel well?"

"No, I feel fine it's just...I have this nagging feeling in my heart. Like something bad is going to happen, but not to me. To my sister."

"Right, I forgot twins sometimes had that connection...you think Poppy walked into the wrong forest?" He asked, earning a nod from the girl.

"I do...I know Poppy is a smart girl, if she saw the dark woods she wouldn't walk into them. However, she said Blondie was going to be leading them, and as you know Blondie is blonde. She's naive to a T and ignorant of so many things that...do you think we could take a look in the Dark Woods? Just so I can make sure my sister isn't lost in there?" she asked, worry in her eyes. The boy glanced at his pocket watch, seeing it was a quarter past 4 in the afternoon.

"Sure, the Forest Fest doesn't start until Seven so we'll have plenty of time to check and go back. Come on, I'll take you back." he said, taking a hold of her hand. She felt a bit at ease as they started walking back toward the fork in the road.

"Can we talk about something? I just wanna keep my mind at ease...I know I shouldn't worry about Poppy but, I can't help it."

"It's fine...uh...what's it like being the daughter of Rapunzel? Is she as highly curious as I assume she is?" he asked, earning a small smile from the girl.

"Mom is...very curious. Even now that she's an adult and a queen, she still acts like a kid. When she told dad that she was having twins, he ended up fainting. She said she was worried, but still ended up laughing for a few minutes. She always told me about Mother Gothel and how bad she was toward her...it doesn't really ease my mind knowing I'll have to face that for a long time."

"It must be hard knowing you'll be stuck in a tower for most of your life. How does your sister feel about it?" he asked curiously.

"Poppy is fine with it. She said she would try to visit whenever she could, as long as Mother Gothel wasn't around of course. Sometimes I wish my sister had her own destiny. It's hard for her being a Roybel, but she doesn't really have a purpose in our story, unless she wants to help me get a day off." Holly said with a giggle.

"Well that could happen, but how would you get back up to the tower? She doesn't exactly have long hair."

"That's the problem! I've been trying to get her to let it grow out but she just doesn't like it. She has to cut my hair weekly because it grows too damn long. It's the same for her, I have no idea how she manages to cut it so perfectly without any help." she replied.

"That is a good point, you never answered my question way back when. About how long it takes you to style your hair?" he asked, a hopeful tone in his voice. She rolled her eyes, grabbing one of her braids.

"If you really must know, it depends on the length. For right now, it takes me about an hour to style it, if I want to keep it straight. If I want to braid it, two hours, if I want a perm, three and if I want a bun...about four to make sure no strands are sticking out. Ugh...Swimming class is the worst, I gotta stuff it into a cap and it just sucks."

"You aren't the only one that hates Swamp Swimming. One of the classes I am not looking forward to during the spring. Christ who even wants to swim through a damn swamp in the first place? I think I'm gonna pitch a sport to the Coach and see what he thinks." Blake said, finally reaching the fork in the road.

"Oh? What sport would that be?" Holly asked, a curious look on her face.

"It's this one called Stride. It's based off one from an anime I watched. Basically, it's a relay race, each team consists of six people. Five racers and a relationer who issues the orders. The first part of the race is mostly a sprint through some open streets and tracks, once they enter the layover zone, they have to clap hands with the next racer for the relation to count. The second relay will mostly be up or down hill, the third is usually a mixture of parkour and various other obstacles. The fourth relay closes the distance and the final relay, the anchor, finishes the race...me and my friends back home tried it once it and it was pretty fun." he said.

"That does sound like fun, and it would probably be a lot better than Track and Field, I'm sure Cerise would be up for it." she said, cringing a bit a second after she mentioned the red hooded girl's name. He let out a light laugh, giving her a nod.

"She probably would...she might even get into parkour, she did seem interested in it. What about you? Are you a good runner?" he asked curiously, earning a laugh from the girl.

"With this hair and these heels? Hell no." she replied, causing them both to laugh.

They came to a stop in front of the Dark Forest, their mirth being cut short. The hooting howls and crackling bolts of lightning were enough to frighten the oldest O'Hair twin, who started shaking a bit. Blake was more confident, mostly because he had walked through these woods before so he wasn't at all scared. But for someone like Holly who had never taken a step into this place, it was a frightening experience. He stood in front of her, placing her hands on her shoulders to calm her down a bit.

"Hey, don't be scared alright sweetheart? I've walked through these woods plenty of times before. They're dangerous only if you let them become that way. If we stick to the path, we'll make it across easily. If Blondie is smart, which she is, she'll probably arrive in Hood Hollow after awhile."

"And if she doesn't?" Holly asked, a worried tone in her voice. He sighed, snapping his fingers summoning a pair of lanterns.

"I'll look for her, and Poppy. They'll be fine alright? Nothing will happen to them, I assure you. Hook your arm through mine, and be careful where you step. The last thing I need is you breaking your skull because your heel snapped in half." he said.

"Hey! I bought these at the Glass Slipper, they're highly durable and very fashionable." she said in a rather snooty tone. He rolled his eyes, shaking his head.

"Yes I know, I've worn a pair of glass slippers before. Honestly, what's up with you Princesses and wanting to wear that shit? They suck ass and hurt like hell taking off."

"Why did you even put a pair of those on? Oh oh, are you secretly a Drag Queen? Do you actually enjoy walking around in heels? I bet you'd look really cute in a skirt." Holly said excitedly, earning a sigh from the boy.

" _Just stay quiet. If she finds out you wore a dress in the past she'll definitely never let you see the end of it."_ he thought to himself as the two entered the Dark Forest.


	55. The Blue Moon Forest Fest III

**A/N:**

 **Hello people of Earth, Middle Earth and Lower Earth...which is actually the Earth's core I think...eh...who cares?**

 **I have come with gratifying news! Chapter 55 has been prepared for you to read at your leisure! I want to apologize for not posting anything yesterday, I was tasked with making dinner so I didn't have time to edit this chapter until around eleven. One of my friends had come over as well and we marathoned through Highschool DxD so I didn't have much time to write anything really. By the time I had finished the editing for this chapter it was already around two am and I wasn't gonna bother posting it then...plus I was a bit disappointed with various things. Including the lack of reception for chapter 53. I felt like I had done something wrong with that chapter, I wasn't seeing the numbers I usually saw so I wanted to figure out what was wrong with it. And of course instead of getting a review like normal all I got was a guest asking me when I was gonna continue my other story. That, coupled with the stress of writing on an Ipod and being forced to take two days off due to my life really pissed me off and depressed me a little bit.**

 **But I got around to finishing chapter 57 and 58 in fact. Chapter 58 is going to be Melody's segway chapter and will be the first chapter in her alternate universe pairing with Blake. After I finish Chapter 58, I will add the segway to it, copy and paste it into it's own story and then add a second chapter to it, most likely with a lemon. I will be writing the lemons for this story as separate chapters from the main story, just in case something happens. I'd rather have the lemons taken down then the entirety of this story. If anything, I'll just make an AO3 account and post the naughty bits on that, since that site doesn't seem to care.**

 **I'm not sure if I will include a segway with Holly, I might just do that too...I haven't decided yet. Obviously Briar and Duchess will get they're own, as well as Crystal but with her it'll either take awhile or I'll continue an alternate chapter 52 which will lead to her story segway. Obviously, until Way Too Wonderland is written I will not continue those alternate stories, as I don't want to spoil events that happen, although I may just skip to graduation and skim over the details...I haven't decided yet. This is a big undertaking after all, I wasn't expecting this story to become so popular in such a short amount of time. So I will be continuing this story to the end. So to answer the guest reviewers question, no I will not be continuing Danganronpa or any of my other stories until I finish this one.**

 **Um...this chapter will be the third part of the Blue Moon Forest Fest arc, so I do hope you like it. It will cover various webisodes, Through the Woods, Baking and Entering, Date Night, and Driving me Cuckoo. Chapter 56 is the finale of the Blue Moon Forest Fest, but Chapter 57 will contain the very last part dealing with the fest. I may use the beginning of that chapter as Holly's segway instead, it does work better now that I think about it. You'll have to wait to read it for yourselves.**

 **As always, favorite and follow to get the latest updates...leave me them juicy reviews, no flames please...be gentle with your insults please. If you have any questions do leave me a PM, I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Until tomorrow, maybe...see you then!**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 55

The Blue Moon Forest Fest III

Ashlynn was a bit worried, and with good reason. She and her friends, Blondie, Poppy and Cupid had been walking through the Enchanted Forest for quite some time. However, the woods were nothing like she thought. They were dark, ghastly and smelled of rotting trees and leaves. The animals weren't kind, and the flapping of wings could be heard coming from every single direction. A single snap of a twig caused her to jolt in fright, and she suddenly wanted nothing more than to be with Hunter. She swallowed those fears keeping a firm look on her face, knowing if she didn't Cupid would most likely start worrying. She would just remain quiet and follow Blondie's lead, after all she had been through the woods before.

Poppy however was more vocal than the daughter of Cinderella. She knew from the beginning that there was something wrong with the woods. The canopy above them was so thick she couldn't see anything, not the sky or the light of the sun. The only light came from the lanterns she and her friends held tightly onto. Blondie had a picnic basket hooked onto her arm, but the only thing it contained was her styling bag and recording equipment for her live cast at the Forest Fest. She was hoping she had brought some food in there, just in case they took too long getting to the fest itself. She tried calling her sister but it seemed she was too far in the woods to get a good signal, so she couldn't get in contact with anyone, which made her worry quite a bit.

"Hey Blondie, are you sure we're going the right way? I haven't seen anything enchanting animals or bright sparkling lights." Poppy said, earning a giggle from the girl.

"Of course I know where I'm going. I know this area like the back of my hand, just stick close. We'll make it to the forest fest sooner than you can say Antidisestablishmentarianism!" the girl said happily.

"Antidisestablishmentarianism...there, I said it." Cupid said, causing the blonde to whirl around, facing her friend.

"Spell it."

"Uh...okay, A...n..t...i..d"

"Ugh...I wish Hunter was here, he'd already found a way for us by now." Ashlynn said, earning a nod from Poppy.

"I hope Holly is alright...hopefully she didn't come in here either. This forest doesn't seem very enchanted to me."

"I'm sure Blake knows his way around, but I am a little worried...I think we took the wrong way, but Blondie is probably too proud to admit she was wrong. I don't wanna mess this up or anything, but I'm a bit frightened." she replied.

"We'll be fine...sooner or later Blondie will realize we went in the wrong direction and turn around...hopefully." Poppy said. Ashlynn didn't feel very reassured.

Several paces back, near the entrance of the Dark Forest, Blake and Holly were following the single path through the woods. He shined his lantern at the ground, seeing the distinct footprints caused by the girl's footwear. Ashlynn's footprints were easy to pick out, since her heels were emblazoned with her initials, a large AE in a very fancy font. He noticed the prints were fresh, perhaps a couple hours old. He didn't see any other prints anywhere but it was apparent the girls had passed by there quite some time ago. He straightened up, taking a hold of Holly's hand.

"They passed through here...a couple hours at most. As long as they stay on this path, they'll make it to Hood Hollow. Maybe if they're lucky they'll run into Cerise. I think she was visiting her mother today." he said, glancing at his pocket watch.

"Are they gonna be fine Blake? Please tell me they are, I don't want anything to happen to my little sister."

"Poppy will be fine, she's a smart girl and she has scissors with her. So if someone attacks her, she'll be able to stab the fucker in the eye. You have your skillet with you right?" he asked curiously. The girl nodded, reaching behind her back for her cast iron skillet.

"I never leave home without it...it actually makes me feel safe." she said, giving the boy a smile.

"Good, we'll be fine...I got my ice gun in me just in case. Let's just keep going through this path...we'll be able to reach them. Over the river and through the woods, we haven't crossed the river yet so they might be close." he said, earning a nod from Holly, who instantly calmed down.

Continuing onward through the woods, Blake tried to remain calm though his worry was apparent. He hadn't exactly planning on walking through the Dark Forest. His already fatigued mind was struggling to figure out why the signs were switched, or who had switched them. Though he did sense a faint trace of dark magic lingering in the area. He was sure Raven wouldn't do that, but there was only one other person he knew with darkness magic. He reached into his pocket for his phone, glancing at the screen seeing he had no signal coming in. He sighed, pocketing the phone.

"One thing I dislike about the Dark Forest, there's no cellular access here." he said, earning a worried look from Holly, who had her phone in her hands, glancing at the screen.

"That doesn't really calm me down...what if Poppy is trying to call me and can't reach me?"

"Well, there's no signal so I doubt she'd even try...I think there's a place nearby with MirrorNet access. So she might be able to use WiFi calling to reach us...then again I don't have MirrorNet access either so it wouldn't go through. Dammit, why would anyone switch those signs?" he said, an annoyed look on his face.

"Maybe they wanted to lead Blondie and the others in the wrong direction. If that's it, then that's a really messed up prank...you don't think Kitty did it, did you?" Holly asked. The boy looked a bit intrigued but quickly dismissed it.

"No, Kitty told me she wouldn't do anything like that ever again. On top of that, the signs were switched magically, I sensed dark magic lingering in the area. Kitty as you know, can only use Wonderland magic, which is rather random at best. So it wasn't her." he said firmly, quickly defending his friend. Holly giggled softly, not wanting to say anything.

They came to the river, a dark sloshy marsh like torrent of water was flowing under a large log used as a bridge. Blake went ahead first, holding his hand out to Holly so that she wouldn't slip off the log bridge. It was a rather tense moment as the girl kept looking at the water, but they made it safely across. The girl let out a sigh, glancing back at the log.

"Can't they build an actual bridge here? Instead of using this log as one?"

"Building a bridge would ruin the aesthetic. Believe it or not, people actually like this place, I think it's cool but I wouldn't hang out here without a reason." Blake replied, taking a look around, shining his lantern around the area.

Normally, Cerise would have been holding his hand, guiding him along so he didn't have to strain his eyesight. But now that he traversed the place alone, he had to make use of all the light he had. The orange flames within the lamp shined brightly, making crackling shadows on the nearby trees. Glowing beady eyes could be seen in the tree tops, causing Holly to grow nervous. She wrapped her arm around Blake's, hugging it tightly against her chest.

"Can we go, please?" she whispered, clearly frightened. He nodded and started walking, making sure his hold on the oldest O'Hair twin was tight.

 _ **xxx**_

Joey sighed as he finished looking through his fourteenth book. He had been reading several books for the last few days, but hadn't found a single clue on reaching Wonderland. He had his portal book, but he didn't have the magic required to tear a portal through realms. He only knew of two people who probably did have the power and he was sure neither of them would help him reach Wonderland. He rubbed his eyes, leaning back in his seat as he glanced at the tomes on top of his desk. Sneaking those books out of the Forbidden Library had been a pain in his ass, but they had at least given him plenty of knowledge on various things, including dark magic. He didn't have much, but at least with his bracelet he could now cast simple enchantments.

"If only I had a mirror shard in my chest...that would amplify my magic, turning the light into darkness. Of course I don't even have the magic to curse that mirror anyway." he muttered dryly, glancing toward his vanity. The Evil Queen had been rather silent, even after he had found the Beast's Mirror.

He thought back to the day he found it. He had been preparing for another Fake Rebel broadcast, when he stumbled into the old school. Once he had set himself up, he leaned back in his seat and fell back, knocking one of the desks to the ground. It was one of the ones that opened from the top, its old contents had spilled out. He he quickly shoved everything back in place, and he then noticed the enchanted mirror.

It had been rather odd when he saw the swirling green light in the reflective glass. But it slowly disappeared, and he saw his reflection upon the mirror. He remembered seeing the mirror before, and thanked Walt Disney for being a thing in his world. Thanks to him, it was how he came to recognize the mirror as the one that the Beast gives to Belle when she leaves his castle. He remembered one of the teacher's talking about it, and that the original mirror, normally passed down to the next beast, had been lost for generations. They had used a supplementary mirror enchanted for it to work the same way. But this was the real deal, and he could definitely make use of it.

It would at least show him what Blake was doing, and help him keep tabs on the boy. So that was one of the benefits, but for now he used it as a way to secretly converse with the Evil Queen. However, she had remained mostly silent since the end of the Spring Fairest. He had tried to ask her questions about the curse she had placed on Wonderland, but she hadn't said a single thing, aside from sharing the unfinished curse. Of course, that meant she wanted him to finish it himself instead of giving him a hand with it. After all, what would be the fun in giving him a completed curse? He had to work toward it since it was his plan, and unless he found her mirror and shattered it, she wasn't going to do jack.

He let out a sigh, slamming his fist against the nearby wall, anger flowing through his body. If his plan had worked back at the Fairest, Blake wouldn't still be a thorn in his side. Of course now he was suffering from nightmares and was doing a horrible job of hiding it. Making the boy suffer wasn't enough, he had to get rid of him entirely if his plans for take over were going to happen. But he was getting careless and sloppy. Blake most likely had an idea of what was going on, and if he did then that would be an issue. Of course, he could always use that to his advantage. Probable Deniability, or in layman's terms, if there was no proof, he wasn't guilty.

"There's too many things at risk right now, too many pieces in play. But now, I need to take my pieces and place them accordingly. Reaching Wonderland is priority, but so is finishing the curse. Perhaps I don't have to finish it to destroy it, after all if the Queen is killed, and so is her successor, someone has to take the throne." he said, a small smirk on his face.

If he could get his hands on Excalibur, sign his name in the Book to get his full power, then he would be able to kill the Queen of Hearts and Lizzie. With them out of the way, all he had to do was come back to Ever After, find the Evil Queen's mirror, set her free and they would be home free. Blake wouldn't be able to do anything against him, as he would have full control of the Holy Sword. And of course, the Holy Sword was created to vanquish darkness, so his and Raven's magic wouldn't be effective against him. Once he had taken them and anyone else who wanted to interfere out of the equation, he would be able to rule in peace. He smirked, eyes focusing on the portal book placed on his desk.

He reached toward it with his left hand, Lucy's bracelet jingling a bit. He rolled up his sleeve and looked at the trinket, seeing all of the charms the girl had collected over time. Some were gifts from him, and some were from Blake, but he didn't know which ones. He took the bracelet off and held it in his hands, eyes tracing it.

"Hmm...he seems fond of this thing...perhaps I can use it to my advantage. If I lock Blake in Wonderland, he won't be able to do anything while I ravage Ever After...hmm, that also involves plugging the well so he can't possibly come back. That takes too much planning, but it will be worth it. Maybe Faybelle wants to do something with her life, it's time to start planning. Plan Theta is going to be much better than Plan Beta was, because this is going to involve the death of Wonderland and Ever After as we know it." he said, a small chuckle escaping his lips, his eyes focused on the bracelet in his hands.

 _ **xxx**_

To say Raven was nervous was an understatement. She had been getting ready for her date with Dexter for the last hour, but had mostly been pacing around the room. Apple had been watching her walk in circles before sitting at her vanity to brush her hair, only for the cycle to repeat. She had been getting ready for her own date with Daring, something she only conceded to for the crowds. The Multi-Hex had gotten rebuilt and expanded and a lot of people were going to be there. So for the sake of destiny, she had agreed to a date with the boy. Of course there was someone else she'd rather go with, but that was something she couldn't do randomly. She glanced back at her reflection, finding it was finally perfect. She set down her make up and glanced back at her roommate who dropped a perfume bottle to the ground. Thankfully it didn't break, it was now time for Apple to intervene. She couldn't watch her friend continue acting like that.

"Raven, you need to calm down. Take a deep breath and just exhale slowly." she said. Raven just looked at her, a mixture of a cringe and a look of fear on her face.

"How is that gonna help?"

"Well for one, it'll stop you from passing out. Listen, I know this is your first date, but you have to remain calm. You aren't going to enjoy yourself if you act all...weird." Apple said. Raven glanced down at the floor, folding her hands on her lap.

"It's just...this is my first true date with someone. Not just that, it's a date with Dexter, the guy that I've liked for awhile. I thought he was dating Cupid so I backed off, so when he asked me out earlier today, I just...my mind sort of went blank. I don't know what to do." she replied. Apple placed a hand on her shoulder, giving her a confident smile.

"Raven, you are an amazing woman and Dexter knows that. You don't have to be nervous around him, you're friends already. So all you have to do is be yourself. I know first dates are nerve racking, but it's all in your mind. Trust yourself and your heart, and you'll be just fine." she replied. Raven nodded, finally calming down.

"Thank you Apple, I think I'll be fine now...hey, are you going out too?"

"Yup, the new Multi-Hex is opening tonight, so Daring asked me to go see that new romance movie with him. It's just to please the crowds, nothing more than that. Honestly, I sort of wish I had been invited to the Forest Fest, it seems so much more fun than a movie." she replied.

"That's true, Blake and Ashlynn are lucky to have been invited. I tried texting him earlier but he hasn't replied. I'm a little worried about him." Raven said, glancing at her phone.

"Well, I don't think there's a MirrorPhone tower where they're going. After all, it's supposedly some secret place in the Enchanted Forest. The web access doesn't kick in until they're on location...I think?"

"That doesn't really make me feel better...but Blake will be fine. After all, Holly has her skillet. Nobody messes with a girl when she has her skillet, maybe I should get myself one...that would be interesting." the violet haired girl added, a smirk on her face.

Her calm and confidence seemed to vanish when she heard several knocks on the door. Instantly, her nervousness had returned, and she had started shaking a bit. She rapidly jumped to her feet, stumbling toward the door.

" _Oh boy, it's like everything I told her just never happened."_ Apple thought, her gaze firmly on her roommate.

Raven took a deep breath to ease her nerves a bit, quickly opening the door. However she hadn't been expecting her date to actually continue knocking on her forehead, which made her back away slightly. Dexter looked at her in embarrassment, quickly handing her a vase which contained some very pretty flowers.

"Sorry about that, I didn't think your head was the door, I mean I brought flowers. Hope you like them." he said.

"They're really pretty, thanks Dexter." she said softly, taking a hold of the vase, thankfully they flowers didn't wilt when she grabbed a hold of it. She placed them down on her vanity, grabbing her phone a second later.

"I'm all set to go, what movie are we seeing?" she asked nervously, glancing up at the boy.

"Oh uh...some romance flick that just came out...I figured you'd want to watch something that wasn't filled with horror." he said.

"Ah...I see, sure I don't mind...should we get going?" she asked, looking a bit disappointed. She had been looking forward to seeing the new horror flick, but would ultimately be fine with whatever Dexter chose.

"Y-yeah, I'm ready...um...let's go." he said, awkwardly taking a hold of her hand. Apple watched them go, a slight cringe on her face. The two teenagers were nervous, it wasn't hard for her to notice. She just hoped it didn't turn out bad for either of them.

 _ **xxx**_

Poppy had grown rather annoyed with Cupid's failed attempts at spelling the word Blondie had given her. At least it had kept her distracted for a bit, but after awhile she had politely told her to stop. If only to preserve her sanity. It wasn't until just recently that she noticed just how far they had traveled into the forest. By now, they all knew they weren't in the right forest, but were following Blondie because she at least had a semblance of direction in this place. She placed a hand on her stomach, trying to ease her pangs of hunger. She had only brought along a single power bar which she had already consumed earlier in the trip. She had also drank most of her water, but wasn't keen on finishing it off, just in case. She glanced up at Blondie who had a grin on her face as she walked through the woods.

"Hey Blondie, you wouldn't happen to have any food in that basket would you? I'm starting to get a little hungry."

"Me too, I didn't want to say anything because I didn't want to be rude." Cupid added.

"You would have been addressing what all of us are thinking. It's alright Cupid, I'm sure all of us are hungry, so how about it Blondie? Anything at all?" Ashlynn asked, causing the girl to stop.

"I did pack some cookies in here for the road...you girls are in luck." the daughter of Goldilocks said, reaching into her pack for a bag of cookies.

The white bag with Spells Kitchen written on the front almost glowed in the fire light as the three girls looked at it hungrily. Sadly, some nearby creatures also looked at it in the same way, because one of them shot past the girl, swiping the bag from her hands.

"Hey, what the hell?" Poppy cried, glaring at the creature who had taken the cookies from them. It hissed loudly at them before dashing off into the woods.

"Well, there goes our food source...I had my heart set on those cookies. Oh, why do you have to do me like this?" Cupid cried, dramatically putting her arm on her forehead. Blondie turned to face them, a smile on her face.

"Don't worry about those cookies girls. I happen to know a place where we can get something to eat, trust me, it'll be Just Right!" she happily said, taking the lead once more, straying off the path.

Ashlynn, Poppy and Cupid had reservations about leaving the path, but it was better to stick with Blondie. They walked through the brush for what seemed like ages, only to reach a clearing in the woods. It was surprisingly lit up, several light posts had been set up around it, along with some lanterns that were hanging off some nearby trees. In the center of the clearing was a small stand, along with a couple picnic tables, something that seemed a little odd to have in the Dark Forest.

"I'm not getting good vibes from this place Ash, what do you think?" Poppy asked, earning a shrug from the girl.

"Honestly, I don't care what it is. As long as it's edible, I'll eat anything." Cupid said, answering for her friend.

"Well not anything, you never know right?"

"Guys hurry up! We can't waste much time, the Forest Fest starts soon!" Blondie called out, urging the three girls on. The woman behind the counter gave them a smile, almost excited to see them.

"Welcome to Miss Muffet's frozen yogurt stand. Pull up a tuffet and try the best frozen yogurt in Ever After!" she said happily. The three girls shared a look, not exactly knowing what to say. Ashlynn stepped up first, glancing at all of the options.

As she was about to order however, she saw something move in the shadows behind the young woman. Her eyes focused on that spot seeing some beady red eyes slowly start to descend behind the stand. As soon as the creature finally appeared in the light, the young daughter of Cinderella froze in place. If there was anything she didn't like in the world, it was spiders, and when she saw a giant spider only a few feet in front of her, she did the only reasonable thing a young woman could do. She let out a scream of fear and took off running into the woods. Upon realizing what had caused her to run off, Poppy and Cupid were left in much the same state, with Blondie following along begging for them to stop.

"Aw, I was just trying to tell them about the free web access." the spider said, a disappointed look on his face. Miss Muffet sighed, shaking her head.

"We might have to work on our marketing a bit more."

 _ **xxx**_

"That sounded like Ashlynn." Holly said, causing Blake to stop.

He looked around the forest, trying to find the direction of the voice. Holly had been exactly right, Ashlynn was nearby, but still quite far from where they were. Of course, he had one idea f where they were, but they had to stray off the path a bit to check it out. He didn't want to frighten Holly anymore than she already was. He came to a stop, turning to face the girl, a firm look on his face.

"Okay, I think I have an idea of where they might be. But this is purely speculation, and they might not be there anymore. There's a frozen yogurt stand nearby, that's probably where that scream came from." he said.

"Frozen yogurt? Who runs a frozen yogurt stand in the middle of the Dark Woods?" she asked, clearly taken aback.

"Well when you think about it, this area is really profitable. There's the nearby ogre village, and they like frozen yogurt a lot. Plus the Three Bears live here, and people from Hood Hollow travel to and from Bookend, so it makes sense to set up shop here." he replied. Holly blinked a few times in confusion, shaking her head a bit.

"Can we just go? I'm worry about Poppy and I don't want her to get hurt."

"Mhmm, but it's a bit off the path. So we need to tread carefully, you got heels on so make sure to watch where you walk." he said, once again taking a hold of her hand.

After a few minutes, they reached an area within the Dark Forest that was near some light. Walking off the path a bit, Holly and Blake followed the muddy footprints through the nearby brush into the clearing where Miss Muffet's Frozen Yogurt stand was located. The woman hadn't noticed his arrival, at least until she looked away from her phone. She immediately set it a down, a smile on her face.

"It's so nice to see you Blake. It's been quite awhile since you've been here."

"Yes it has, but why did you move all the way here? Didn't you want to open up shop near the entrance to Hood Hollow?" he asked curiously. She gave him a sigh, shaking her head.

"My business partner said this area would be better for the MirrorNet tower. We're the only place in the Dark Forest that offers free web access after all." Miss Muffet replied. Holly was about to ask her something when the giant spider came back down, causing her to scream.

"Oh come on, another one? I was just gonna tell you about the free web access, see? Web? Because I'm a spider?" the giant creature said, trying to ease Holly's fear. Blake wrapped his arm around her, holding her close to himself.

"Sorry about her Spidey, she wasn't aware of your existence. Holly, I should introduce you, this is Little Miss Muffet, and her business partner, the Spider. After they're story ended, they went into business together and started Miss Muffet's Frozen Yogurt stand. Miss Muffet, Spider, this is Holly O'Hair, the next Rapunzel." Blake said happily, calming Holly down a bit.

"Um...sorry about yelling at you. I just...have a mild fear of spiders...but you aren't that scary at all now that I can see you." she said.

"It's a pleasure to meet you too Miss O'Hair, I'm a huge fan of your mother. There's only one woman who has hair stronger than my silk webs." the Spider said, glad that the girl didn't fear him as much anymore.

"Anyway, I have a question for the two of you. Did a group of girls stop by here? One of them was Blondie Lockes, we're sort of looking for them." the black haired boy said.

"Please, one of them is my twin sister Poppy. I don't want her to get hurt out here." Holly cried in worry.

"Now that you mention it, Spider here accidentally scared off four girls not that long ago. One of them was Blondie Lockes, along with this very pretty green eyed girl, and a girl with wings."

"Ashlynn and Cupid, okay so they were here...Poppy was with them too. Did you see what way they went? They're trying to reach the Blue Moon Forest Fest, but ended up walking into the wrong forest." Blake explained earning a nod from the woman who rose her hand up in the direction the girls had gone.

"They ran off in that direction...the only place between here and Hood Hollow is the Three Bear's house, so she might be there. Actually, the Candy Witch's house is around his area too. If they're really hungry, they might stop there." Miss Muffet said, earning a nod from the couple.

"Okay, thanks Miss Muffet, we appreciate the information. Before we go, could we get some yogurt? We haven't eaten anything in awhile." the boy said, earning a giggle from the girl.

"You're usual?"

"Yup, with extra sprinkles this time." the boy answered with a smile.

 _ **xxx**_

After having found the Candy Witch's house in the middle of the woods, and seeing the Crumbs inside eating everything in sight, Ashlynn didn't exactly feel hungry. The giant spider had most likely scared her hunger away, but now she was more concerned with getting out of the woods. They had strayed so far from the path that they didn't know in what direction they were heading in. Cupid stuck close to her, not wanting to get lost in the woods, while Poppy just bit her lip trying not to voice her obvious hunger. Blondie came to a stop, a grin on her face as she saw a small cottage in the woods. She clapped her hands, a look of joy written on her face.

"You guys, I just found a place where we can get some food. The family that lives in this cottage absolutely loves me!" she cried, walking toward the front entrance.

"Uh...Blondie, are you sure we should just come here and ask strangers for food?" Cupid asked, earning a giggle from the blonde.

"It's fine, me and the family that lives here go way back. Hello? Is anyone home? It's me Blondie Lockes!" she happily cried, knocking a few times on the door. Ashlynn was glancing around the area, noticing the lights inside the house being turned off. It was obvious that the ones who lived here didn't like Blondie.

"Maybe we should go...we...shouldn't intrude." she said, earning an eye roll from the girl, who dug in her hair for a pin sticking it in the lock. With a few twists, the lock clicked open and the young blonde walked in, flicking the light switch on.

"They must not be home...I'm sure they won't mind if we just take some food." she said, walking toward the kitchen. Poppy glanced toward the living room of the house, seeing the figure of a large bear trying to hide behind a couch. She grabbed Blondie's arm, pointing to the living room.

"Oh hi you guys! Playing hide and seek I see!" she said.

"Um...hello, Blondie Lockes and friends." the tall bear said, standing up from behind the couch. It was obvious who this family was, and they didn't look too pleased with Blondie invading their house.

"Maybe we should go, it was nice meeting you all but we have to head out and find the Forest Fest. See you." Ashlynn said, taking a hold of Cupid's hand.

"Nonsense! We just got here! You guys wouldn't happen to have some porridge for me and my friends would you? We've been lost in the woods for several hours without food."

"Yes, we always have porridge. I don't think it would be an issue to prepare some for you and your friends Blondie." Mama Bear said, adopting a smile on her face.

"No! Mama, Papa you have to stop being pushed around by this girl! She already broke my chair, and she broke my bed! We aren't going to let her eat our food too! Get out! Get out, get out, GET OUT!" Baby Bear shouted, causing the four girls to run out of the house, the door slamming shortly after.

"Well...that was a bust. I have no idea what the problem is, those bears love me!"

"Blondie, we seriously need to talk about this. You aren't gonna make a lot of friends in life if you keep breaking into their houses. Those three bears seemed very annoyed that you just barged in there like you owned the place. How would you like it if someone broke into your house and ate your food?" Poppy asked, earning a shrug from the blonde.

"I wouldn't mind, what's mine is yours I always say. I have no issue sharing my things especially with my dearest friends!"

"That may be true for you, but not everyone likes having their stuff taken. Just...try to mind other people's feelings the next time you do that stuff? We don't want you to get hurt, I mean not everyone will tell you to get out. Someone might even shoot you one day and that wouldn't be ideal for anyone." Ashlynn said, earning a nod from the blonde.

They kept walking through the woods, the darkness becoming more and more apparent the farther in the went. There was no way for them to find the path due to how far they had strayed from it. The four girls were growing more and more fatigued as time went on, and their lack of food wasn't exactly helping. Thankfully, Blondie decided to stop for awhile, having found what looked like an abandoned camp. She set her lantern down, grabbing some dry branches from the nearby trees placing them in the middle of the already made firepit.

"We can take a break here. Can you believe we haven't found this forest fest yet? I mean, what's up with that? Inviting someone and then not showing them where to go? That is so not Just Right!"

"Blondie, I think the reason why we haven't found the forest fest is because we're in the wrong forest. You ever think of that?" Poppy asked, earning a blank look from the girl. The youngest O'Hair twin decided to remain silent, grabbing a nearby log and rolling it near the pit using it as a makeshift bench. It wasn't long before the area was bathed in firelight.

"Well, I can't say I'm not having fun...it has been interesting. Though, I do feel sorry, I invited you out here to forget about everything back home. I'm sorry Cupid, you must be mad at me right?" Ashlynn asked, earning a smile from the girl, who stretched her wings a bit.

"I'm having an awesome time. I mean, I'm not one to like giant spiders or creepy woods or...two teenagers binge eating a house, but it has helped me forget about school for a bit. So thanks, for inviting me out here." she replied. Ashlynn looked a bit relieved as she glanced to the fire in front of them.

"So, what should we talk about?"

"Oh oh, boys!" Blondie suggested, causing the three others to groan.

"I sort of came here to forget about boys for a bit. I think I've been focusing too much on my feelings for Dexter. It was just a bit of a choking feeling, but now that I'm here...I feel a bit free from it all."

"I heard he was going on a date with Raven tonight, sorry Cupid. You've been pinning after him for awhile, it's a shame that he didn't notice your feelings for him."

"It's fine Poppy, I at least have him in my life as a friend. I remember Blake once telling me, that it's better to have someone in your life as a friend, than risk it all telling them how you feel and losing them entirely. As long as he's there for me and I'm there for him, I'll be fine." She replied, earning a giggle from Blondie.

"Blake gives good romantic advice huh? It's a shame what happened between him and Cerise. They were so cute together!"

"Yeah, but he's doing fine. He asked Holly to the Forest Fest you know, maybe he's planning on courting her." Ashlynn said, glancing at Poppy who had a smirk on her face.

"If that's the case, I hope he can handle her. She gets excited, cries during sad movies, will hug you when she's scared, dislocate your arm when she wants to see something. But she's an amazing girl and an awesome older sister, I'm sure he'll appreciate and take care of her."

"But what about destiny? Won't that get in the way if they get serious? She is a Royal after all." Cupid said, causing Poppy to frown. She grabbed a stick and started poking the fire, causing it to grow a bit bigger.

"Well, the Storybook isn't here right now...I don't think it really matters. She's gonna be locked in a tower for years before she's rescued...I think she needs to enjoy this part of life before that happens. I'll do my best to visit her, but I'm not sure if I'll be there when she does finally get free from the tower."

"You will, you're her sister after all. There's something that beats destiny, and that's love. After all, love is powerful enough to rewrite the rules of fate and destiny, maybe it'll be strong enough to change your story a bit." Cupid replied, giving the girl a smile.

"I agree with Cupid, she's the love expert after all. You know what would make this conversation all the better? Some amazing cupcakes! Thankfully, I brought some along with me from Spells Kitchen." Blondie said, pulling a plate of cupcakes from her picnic basket. The three girls glared at the blonde who just sat there with a confused look on her face.

"What?"

"You had cupcakes the entire time? So all of that shit we went through was unnecessary?" Poppy snapped, earning a giggle from the girl.

"It was hardly unnecessary...let's just say, it made the journey better for all of us. Well go on, before the forest dwellers get to them." she said.

Ashlynn didn't know why, but she seriously wanted to maim the blonde girl. Especially after everything she had made them experience in the Dark Woods. But she did agree with her to an extent, the journey was interesting at the very least, and it was something she wouldn't be forgetting for a long time.

 _ **xxx**_

Having finished their amazing frozen yogurt, Blake and Holly continued the general direction after Blondie and the girls. It had been quite difficult to track them down, but at least the soft earth had preserved their footprints and served to mark their path. Holly had calmed down a bit, but hadn't let go of his hand during their trip from Miss Muffet's through the woods. It wasn't long before they reached a gingerbread house in the woods, and it didn't take Blake long to figure out who's house that was. He started walking toward it, seeing the footprints leading toward the front door.

"Blake, isn't this the Candy Witch's house?" Holly asked curiously, earning a nod from the boy.

"Yep, that's right. Don't worry, the Candy Witch isn't in Ever After right now, so her house has been abandoned. Ginger told me she comes here sometimes to make sure the house is still standing. Apparently, it takes a lot of effort to keep this house in tip top shape." he said, reaching for the door, only to find it locked.

"Oh...I just didn't want to run into the Candy Witch...you know, I don't want to be turned into food." she said, making the boy laugh. He pulled one of the bobby pins from his hair, sticking into the lock.

"I'm not as good as Blondie with this stuff, but I think I can manage." he said, jimming the pin around a bit. A second later the door clicked open, and they pulled it open.

The house looked in a state of disarray, with various candy wrappers and other things being littered all over the place. There were parts that were eaten, some areas were broken and others looked relatively normal. A few groans filled their ears and they took a few daring steps inside seeing Gus and Helga sitting on a gummy bear sofa, looking very sick. He sighed, shaking his head.

"So, this is the reason why you two never eat at work. Seriously, the Candy Witch's house?" he asked.

"Blake, you think we would...ignore such a treasure trove...of sweets?" Helga asked, trying to hold her food down.

"We can't...ignore this house...it's delicious." Gus added, grabbing a piece of gingerbread from the floor, shoving it in his mouth.

"You know what...I'm gonna pretend I didn't see this, I'm not gonna tell Ginger anything. However, you two are going to be working extra shifts to fix this place up, I won't take no for an answer either." he said. He received a thumbs up from Helga before she passed out, hugging a marshmallow pillow from the couch. The black haired boy pulled Holly along closing the door right after.

"I don't think I have ever seen something so amazing, and disgusting at the same time...makes me regret putting on this candy themed dress now."

"Holly come on, you look totally beautiful in that dress. Just ignore those two idiots, when they're blowing chunks because they over ate, they'll understand why people shouldn't overeat." He said, leading her toward another area of the woods, once again following the footprints.

They remained silent for a short while. Blake was starting to grow a bit more fatigued due to the fact he wasn't sleeping well. He had been snacking on power bars the entire time he had been in the woods, and relying on sugar and a thermos filled with an energy drink to stay up. But he had drank it all an hour into the trip, and was only eating his power bars. Holly hadn't complained much about the hunger, possibly too worried about her sister to even notice it. He could tell she was starting to grow tired, so he decided it would be good to stop for a bit. He glanced around the area for a good spot to set up a temporary camp. Finding a location, he lead Holly toward it, handing her his lantern while he started gathering some branches and rocks.

"What are you doing?"

"Setting up camp. We aren't staying here of course, but we can't keep walking relentlessly, I can tell you're tired." he said.

"No, I'm not. I can keep going a little further, I have to find Poppy."

"Holly, you won't be able to find your sister if you pass out. A little break isn't going to hurt us, in fact it'll prove beneficial." he said. He finished making the firepit, using some fuel from his lantern and the fire to light it. He grabbed a nearby log and rolled it toward the fire, pausing to take off his coat.

"I've never gone camping before...I guess this is sort of like that." Holly said, glancing at the surrounding area. Blake shook his coat a bit, folding it and placing it on the log.

"There, we wouldn't want your dress to get all dirty before heading to the ball right?"

"Oh, Blake you don't have to do that...I think I'll be fine."

"Nope, I've already taken it off. Come on Holly, just sit down...I know you're worried but we have to rest." he said. She nodded, taking a seat on the log. Blake sat next to the girl, leaning back against a nearby tree, eyes firmly on the fire.

"You know...this walk through the woods has been a little fun and a little scary. I can definitely use this for a story, after I finish Blondie Lockes, Zombie Slayer of course."

"I've been meaning to ask you something...why did you pair me up with Blondie of all people? I mean she's cute but she isn't my type...too nosy for my tastes." he said. Holly let out a giggle, glancing at the fire.

"Well, you said you liked blue eyed girls so I figured, hey why not right? Besides, I've done this so many times before. I rewrote Snow White and made Ashlynn and Hunter the main characters, it wasn't as popular as some of the other things I've written. It's just...really fun to see what I can do with a story."

"Eh...I see what you mean...I wrote plenty of stuff back on Earth. I had to keep my mind busy so I wouldn't remember what happened with Lucy. It was all stupid stuff though, nothing too serious...if I'm being honest, our project was the first honest attempt at writing for me." he replied. The girl took a hold of his hand, giving him a smile.

"I think you did great...and thanks to this experience, I'll have even more material to work with. This wasn't the date I had imagined, but it turned out better than I had hoped."

"I'm glad you're having fun, I do strive to give those I ask out a unique experience. To be honest, I was a bit nervous about all of this...I mean, after what happened a couple weeks ago...I didn't think I was ready to ask anyone out."

"You're doing fine...you can't live your life in fear, you have to put yourself out there. Remember, if you let fear control you, then you'll never be able to do what you want in life." she replied, giving him a smile.

"This may be sudden, but...would it be okay if I asked you out again? I mean, I know you're a Royal and all. We don't have to be anything if you don't want it, but I think getting to know you would be good for the both of us."

"I don't have a problem with that. If I can help you get over what happened, no matter how small that may be, I'll be glad. I don't think I can handle a relationship though, so if we could hang out as friends, that would be okay too." she replied.

"That's fine, but you at least gotta give me one." he said, a smirk on his face.

"One what?"

He rolled his eyes, leaning forward a bit placing a soft kiss on her lips. Her eyes widened a bit in surprise not expecting the boy to be so forward. She leaned into it a bit, closing her eyes as she let instinct take over, kissing the boy back with vigor. She was absolutely giddy on the inside, since this was her first kiss. It was sloppy and chaste, but the boy didn't seem to care. They broke apart for air a few seconds later, both of them blushing fiercely.

"That was...wow, you're a good kisser." Blake said after awhile.

"That was my first kiss, I'm...happy that I shared it with you." she said, not looking away from the fire. He glanced at his watch, seeing fifteen minutes had already passed. He still felt a bit tired but was better rested than before.

"We should get going...we aren't that far from Hood Hollow, and it's already way past sunset. It's getting close to seven thirty actually." he said.

"Oh no, the Fest already started...ugh...Blondie owes me big time for getting my sister into this mess!" the girl cried standing up from the log. The boy put out the flames, making sure there were no burning embers left. He grabbed his coat and shook it off, placing it back around his shoulders before grabbing his coat.

"She owes me too, especially because I wanted to meet the Fairy Queen."

"Why is that?" Holly asked, a curious look on her face. He frowned, glancing away from the girl.

"I've been having nightmares for awhile...since the Fairy Queen is one of Ever After High's councilors, I wanted to speak with her about them. See if she could help me get over what happened at the Fairest. It seems that is a significant event." he replied.

"Blake sweetheart, why didn't you say something before? You know you have lots of friends that can help you right? We all have nightmares from time to time. I have no issue talking to you about them."

"I know, but...they're really horrible. My shadow, that evil person that took over after I was cursed...he's been killing my friends within my dream. He's a bastard, always taunting me...I haven't slept very well in awhile. The last nightmare I had...he ended up killing you."

"Oh." she replied, glancing away from the boy. She could tell he was very hurt by these nightmares. She took a hold of his hand, giving her a smile.

"I'd like to know more, don't worry about a thing...remember you can't fear anything, especially dreams. That's all they are, none of us are dead and none of us will die because of that shadow. He doesn't exist."

"Okay...I guess I'll tell you more about them." the boy replied, steeling his nerves a bit. Hopefully talking about his dreams to someone he trusted would ease his mind a bit.


	56. The Blue Moon Forest Fest Finale

**A/N:**

 **Good Evening everyone! I would like to welcome you all to Chapter 56 of Through the Looking Glass! I am happy to announce that this is the final chapter of the Blue Moon Forest Fest. Much like the other arcs, another filler arc is in store before Way Too Wonderland. I have also written the first Segway chapter, which I will post immediately after Chapter 58. It will be the first of many Alternate Universe stories with various different pairings for Blake. I know I said Crystal was going to be the first one, but I actually ended up writing a steamy chapter between Blake and Melody. Not all of these chapters will be of this nature, as most will contain half of the original chapter. You all get lucky since this part is an alternate ending to Chapter 58. If I can squeeze a lemon into one of these, I more than likely will. I am quite a naughty individual when it comes to writing these chapters, I actually find them really fun to write. No I am not a pervert, but lemon chapters serve to boost a relationship a bit, and deepen bonds with people, not just deepening something else.**

 **Lucky for all of you, Today's chapter is quite a long one, being over 10,000 words. This story is actually my longest one, word wise as it has over 500,000 words, which is actually insane when I think about it. Even my Fairy Tail story hasn't breached this number, and in a couple days, Through the Looking Glass will become my longest fic to date. We've actually hit 15,000 views so I would like to thank you all for being awesome and reading every single chapter I've posted. You are all fuckin troopers!**

 **I don't know what the future chapters entail for this story...but after Chapter 58, I might take a break from posting to once again increase my chapter count. Right now, I only have Chapters 57 and 58 ready to be posted, since I spent all of last night finishing 58 and writing a twenty three page sex scene. So yeah, you'll definitely like what you see when you get to read that shit. As I said before, Chapter 2 of the Alternate Pairings will be worked on most likely after Way Too Wonderland, and Chapter 3 will most likely be after Dragon Games. Just so I don't spoil anything, and it works better in my favor. The way I'm going, I might have a segway ready for Duchess and Darling soon. I will also be writing some stuff about Tobias LeGume, as he does get reintroduced in Chapter 58.**

 **The only other major event I'll be hitting will be Apple's Birthday Bake Off, which is set to happen May 12th as that is her birthday, and as of the story and in chapter 58, we are around the end of April and the beginning of May. The day Blake and the girls head to Wonderland, the official beginning of the Way Too Wonderland Arc will be on Kitty's birthday, May 24th. After Way Too Wonderland, we'll be heading into the Summer Arc which will include Ever After's finest ladies in awesome swim suits, shenanigans at the beach, Blake probably opening a Milkshake stand, maybe some mishaps with magic thanks to Jessica and some more delicious filler...So look forward to it.**

 **If you have any questions about the following chapters, this chapter or suggestions on anything that you want to see happen, feel free to PM me and I'll get back to you. The broken record, it plays! As always follow the broken record's wise words and review, favorite and follow the story, Save the Tigers and make sure you eat Nutella with Rice Crispy treats, it's the bad ass combination of the century...kek...RIP in Piece Goblins!**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 56

The Blue Moon Forest Fest Finale

One of the biggest blunders a person could ever make was losing their cool in front of their crush. Thankfully, Raven had managed not to do this, but now that she was at the Multi-Hex, surrounded by her peers, most of which were wondering what she was doing there, made her extremely nervous. She was waiting near one of the theater entrances, as Dexter had misplaced his tickets and had to buy two more. She could tell he was just as nervous, but was somehow maintaining his cool far better than she was. She had been looking around for a few minutes, having spotted Apple and Daring not far from where she was standing. She could tell her step-niece wasn't having a good time with Daring. The boy was glancing at his reflection in his mirror, as always while she was left to speak with a few acquaintances. She almost felt like walking over there to see how she was doing, but knew that it was probably a bad idea.

She sighed, leaning back against the wall, reaching for her MirrorPhone. For now it was the only thing that was keeping her calm, as she could just check on her messages from Maddie and distract herself that way. However, the Mad Hatter's daughter had yet to reply to her most recent message, which meant she was either busy drinking tea, or hanging out with Lizzie and Kitty, and having tea with them. There weren't that many options for her that didn't involve tea after all. She decided to open the chat with her surrogate brother and try to message him. After all he was most likely at the Forest Fest by now and wouldn't mind sparing a few minutes to ease her mind a bit. She sent a quick greeting to the boy, watching the small loading circle patiently while the message was being sent, only for it to fail. She blinked a few times in confusion, sending the message again only to receive the same prompt. She pursed her lips, wondering if there was an issue with the connection.

"H-hey Raven...I got us the tickets." Dexter said, causing her to look up from her phone. She flushed a bit, accepting the ticket from the boy.

"Thanks Dexter...uh hey, before we go in...could I borrow your phone? I've been trying to text Blake but my messages keep failing." she said.

"You too? I was going to ask him if he left the new song with Melody before he left for the Forest Fest, but I kept getting the same message." He replied. This was enough to make the girl worry. She knew Blake and Holly could defend themselves if necessary, but she couldn't help but get a nervous feeling in her heart.

"Hey, don't worry about them. Maybe it's because they're so far out in the Enchanted Forest, that the signal won't reach them. In which case the only way they can reply to our messages is if we send them through WiFi. They'll be fine."

"You're right Dex, but I can't help but worry about Blake. He hasn't been sleeping well recently, and I don't want anything bad to happen to him. We should go see the movie, it'll ease my mind a bit." she said, walking toward the right theater.

Dexter of course couldn't help but worry, about his date and his best friend. He had noticed him acting strangely recently, but Blake never really spoke about what was bothering him. He didn't think it was a problem sleeping, he was always an active person who loved sleep the most. He figured he'd talk to him about it later, for now he had to focus on this date and not screwing it up.

Meanwhile in the Dark Forest, Blake and Holly had made it past the Three Bear's House. It had been a little awkward to approach them, especially when Baby Bear kept shouting at them to leave, but he at least got the information he needed. It wasn't hard to figure our Blondie had really pissed them off, and in order for them to calm down, none of her friends could be in the area. So he carefully lead Holly away, even though she was more curious about the bears than she let on. Papa Bear was apparently quite happy with seeing her, since she was apparently his best student, it was only then that he found out that he was the Beast Taming teacher for Ever After High.

Now the two walked silently through the woods, shining their lanterns ahead of them to light up the path. Blake hadn't ever gone down the path they had been taking, but he was following the footprints left behind by Blondie and the others. He was just hoping they hadn't run into any dangerous creatures while they were there, the last thing he wanted to do was run into the bodies of his friends, or worse a creature currently attacking them. He would be able to defend them sure, but if they were severely hurt, he wouldn't be able to do much. He didn't voice out his thoughts, he was sure Holly would have run off if he had.

He suddenly came to a stop, holding his arm out so Holly wouldn't keep walking. They had arrived at a thick bog, which spanned quite a distance. The putrid smell of rotting leaves and dank water wasn't very uplifting. He glanced around the area, seeing the footprints had come to a stop right at the edge of the bog. He tried looking around but he didn't see anyone or anything around, he did see a small mound of land in the middle of the bog but it was uninhabited, or rather what had been inhabiting it it was long gone. He licked his lips, the thick and grimy air wasn't exactly helping him stay calm, especially with the disgusting scent lingering in the area.

"The trail ends here, I'm afraid." he said, after a few minutes of looking around.

"What? But it can't end here! Blake you can't be serious!" Holly cried, causing the boy to look back at her. He placed a hand on her shoulder, keeping the look on his face firm, but comforting.

"Just because the trail ends here doesn't mean they're lost or dead. It just means something happened, like maybe they went to that small island in the middle. Maybe there was a bridge here and that's why there's no footprints left." he said.

"Okay...but where's the bridge?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out. There's a bit of magic hanging around here, it's light but I can sense it coming from the middle of that island. So whatever was there, the girls went to investigate and then the bridge disappeared. Smells like a curse to me." he said, smelling the air a bit.

"You can smell magic? That's not weird at all." the auburn haired girl said, causing the boy to chuckle.

"I've been taking my magic studies seriously now. Thanks to the mirror shard in my chest, I have a connection to the Evil Queen. That means I can use her type of magic, but I can also pick up dark magic whenever it's used. Looks to me like that's what was used to make the bridges collapse. However, that doesn't answer the main question, where are Blondie and the others right now?"

"Maybe a giant troll kidnapped them because he wasn't invited to a party. So he cursed them so they wouldn't make it to the forest fest." Holly said, earning a weird look from the boy.

"Okay...no. That just isn't plausible, I think that's the writer in you speaking right now...if there's a trail anywhere, it's on that small island. But I can't exactly walk all the way over there. This bog is thick and deep, so walking isn't an option." he said, looking down at the bubbling bog.

Holly started looking around for something to make a bridge with. She didn't spot a single thing. But she did see a large tree in the middle of the bog, which was growing rather tall and strong. One of the larger branches was hanging over the center island. She looked at the other trees, seeing another branch leading toward it. She followed that series of branches until she found a tree on the other side of the swamp which looked strong enough to climb. Her lips split into a grin as she started walking toward it, leaving Blake alone to his thoughts. He glanced up after a second, noticing his date was gone.

"What the...Holly, where are you?"

"Over here! I just got an idea!" she cried back, causing him to look to the source of the voice. She had climbed up the trunk of a tree, and was now balancing herself as she took slow steps toward the next tree. He followed the general direction she planned to take, a smile working its way onto his face.

"Very nice...I think I like the way you think Holly...we'll be there in no time." he said, quickly heading toward the tree, easily climbing his way up.

"Yep...just gotta be careful, mind holding my heels for me? I don't wanna drop them in the swamp." she said, handing her shoes over to the boy, who took a hold of them.

It took them several minutes of slow movements and shimmying to finally make it to the center of the bog. The tree they were on was at least sturdy enough to hold their combined weight. Holly sat down in the middle of the branch, reaching up for her ponytail, pulling on the ribbon until the bow was undone. Her hair fell down to almost it's full length, reaching just enough for someone to land on the edge of the island.

"Go ahead Blake, I'll be fine up here." she said, grabbing onto the branch as tightly as she could. Blake took a hold of her hair, slowly sliding down it, making sure his shoes didn't get it dirty or anything.

"Well, if you told me I was gonna go into the Dark Woods, hang over a swamp and use my date's hair to reach a tiny little spit of land. I would have laughed right in your face." he said, making Holly laugh, which caused her hair to move slightly.

"You have to admit, this is the most interesting date you've ever been on. And you kissed the girl, so that's a success."

"You're right, maybe I'll get to kiss the girl a little more after this." he said, giving her a wink. She flushed slightly, giving him a tiny nod.

He touched down on the island a second later, glancing around the area. He saw four sets of footprints near the outer edge of it, so the girls had definitely been there. He started looking around, seeing a wooden chair in the middle of the island, along with a small desk and a cassette player. Other than that, he didn't see anything that lead him to believe the girls had run off from there. He glanced around the general area, not finding anything that stood out to him.

"Dammit, I can't see anything...mind shining that light over that way a bit?" he asked. Holly took a hold of one of the lanterns next to her and shined it as much as she could on the path. Her eyes scanned the other side of the bog, not seeing anything that stood out to her.

"I can't see anything from up here Blake, what about you?"

"I think I see some footprints on the other side of the bog. They might have crossed this island on a bridge and as soon as they made it, it disappeared. That means we'll have to find some connecting branches and make it across." he said, grabbing a hold of Holly's hair, climbing back up to the tree branch.

"We're in luck, there's a branch up here that will take us across." Holly said, pointing to a branch higher up.

"This is gonna be fun." he muttered, following after his date.

 _ **xxx**_

Raven had to admit, Dexter had made an excellent choice with a romance movie. After a little talk at the beginning, the two had finally calmed down and actually had fun on their date. They had finally left the theater room, hand in hand as they met up with Apple who had been waiting for the two of them outside. The main area of the Multi-Hex was filled with people, students from Ever After and civilians as well, all ranting and raving about the latest movies, while some were still shaking from the horror movie they had seen. Raven had been a bit disappointed since she wanted to see that movie as well, but she had still enjoyed herself.

Of course, she was more worried about her brother who still hadn't answered her messages. He had most likely reached the Forest Fest by now and would be in a place with a stable signal. She couldn't help but worry for him, especially since he was still really tired. She just hoped nothing bad happened to him and Holly while on their way to the Forest Fest. Having taken notice of how she was acting, Apple decided to speak with her friend, to figure out why she was so on edge.

"You're acting a bit weird Raven, is something wrong?"

"I'm worried about Blake, I haven't heard from him in awhile...it's weird...I've never felt something like this before. I just don't want him to get hurt again, especially after what happened to him not that long ago." she replied, glancing at her phone.

"It's natural to worry about your friends...especially those you see as family. I'm a little worried about him too, he said he would message me when he got there but I haven't gotten a reply from him yet."

"That's probably because he's in the woods...I suppose if you two are so worried, I'll call Melody. She said she was going to handle the music for the fest so she'll definitely know if he's there or not." Dexter said, reaching his shirt pocket for his phone. He searched his contacts for Melody's number and clicked it, holding the device to his ear.

"Thanks Dexter, it means a lot to me." Raven said, giving him a smile. He flushed slightly, perking up when he heard Melody's voice. He quickly put it on speaker holding the device out.

" _You got me at a good time Dex, I got three minutes before I'm back on. Is something the matter?"_

"Melody, we just wanted to know if Blake and Holly are the party. We haven't heard from them since they left school."

" _Huh? I thought he bailed on the party. Are you sure he came here Raven? Because he never showed up, and Holly isn't here either."_

"You can't be serious! He left with Holly at 3:30, he should have been there by now." Apple cried, a fearful look on her face.

"She's right, I remember seeing Blake and Holly leaving school grounds earlier. Alistair had spoken with him when he went to pick her up. Are you sure he isn't there Melody?"

" _If he was here, I would have seen him. Unless he and Holly are playing hide and seek or making out under a table. They're not here, and they aren't the only ones. Blondie was supposed to be here covering the Fest for her MirrorCast, and Ashlynn and Cupid were gonna show up too. So was Poppy, all four of them aren't here either."_

"Oh my godmother...this is serious! They must be lost in the Enchanted Forest then, we have to go after them!" Raven cried, causing Apple to grab her arm before she took off.

"You can't just run off. For all we know they might not even be in the Enchanted Forest, remember our family has dwarves in the area around the castle. If they made it that far they would have been found. Furthermore, the card itself was supposed to be their map, so if they didn't make it, then they're not in the Enchanted Forest." she said.

"That makes sense, we'll let you go Melody. If Blake or Holly show up at the fest, let us know alright?"

" _You got it Dex, I'll call as soon as I see them. Peace out!"_ Melody replied, ending the call shortly after.

"What do we do now? We don't exactly know where they are, so we can't just go after them either."

"You're right Apple, maybe someone saw something...we should start by searching the area around the forest entrance. Maybe the signs were switched." Raven said, about to head toward the forest, when a crimson blur came to a stop in front of her. It was Cerise, who looked very tired and was panting hard as if she had run an entire marathon. She glanced up at the girl, a look of worry on her face.

"Blondie and the others...they're lost in the Dark Forest." she said.

"What? How do you know?" Dexter asked. Cerise stood up straight, fixing her hood so it wouldn't fall off.

"I was making my way back to school from Hood Hollow. I passed by the Three Bear's house, and Papa Bear was talking about Blondie and how she broke into their house. Not only that, when I passed by the Candy Witch's house, I saw Gus and Helga and they said Holly and Blake had stopped by as well."

"Blondie, I understand. She isn't one to follow directions, and once she has her mind set on something, she isn't going to stop. But I don't think Blake and Holly got lost in the woods." Apple said, earning a nod from Cerise.

"I showed him the path to Hood Hollow, we went to visit my mom plenty of times. It makes sense if Blondie got the others lost, and Blake went in after them to get them out. Finding them however is going to be a challenge." she replied.

"We can't stand around and do nothing then...we gotta go after them."

"Raven, I get that you are worried for your brother. But you have to remain calm, running into the woods after him is only gonna get you lost. We need to go tell someone, one of the teachers or councilors." Apple said.

"The only councilor still on campus is Baba Yaga...Mother Goose is busy and the Fairy Queen is hosting the party. So we'll have to go talk to her." Dexter said.

"Then come on, we don't want to waste anymore time right?" the daughter of the Evil Queen said, heading toward the school.

 _ **xxx**_

After running into a rather weird creature, and seeing Poppy give him a haircut, Ashlynn figured they would be on their way to the Enchanted Forest. They had allowed it to take the lead, as it was clear that Blondie wasn't getting them to the fest any time soon. She glanced at her wrist watch seeing it was almost nine o'clock at night. It had been more than three hours since they had entered the woods, and while they were indeed worried, she had to admit she was having a good time. She at least had something to tell Hunter when she got back to school, seeing as he always went on walks through the woods and talked about his exploits with his friends.

"You wanna know something Ashlynn, I am super happy that you invited me on this outing. I feel so much more relieved now, and know that I can definitely move on from Dexter. This is just what I needed to clear my head." Cupid said, earning a smile from the shoe loving girl.

"I'm glad, we all need time away to think things through. There are times where I feel so choked up that I just feel like running away from it all. Thankfully, Hunter is there to keep me calm, this whole year has been hectic but...I'm glad to be where I am. I'm happy to be friends with you too Cupid." Ashlynn replied, wrapping an arm around Cupid's waist, earning a grin from the pinkette.

"I gotta agree with you guys, this outing has been quite fun. It wasn't the best one, but it's Just Right for all of us. Sometimes it can be so stressful being in Ever After High."

"You, stressed about being in Ever After High? This is a new one." Poppy said, arms crossed as she glanced at her friend.

"We all get stressed you know. Sometimes it's hard for me to concentrate, coming up with new topics for every webcast, getting new information. On top of everything, I end up hurting a lot of my friends trying to get that information...I just want to be friends with everyone I meet, what's yours is mine right?" Blondie said, earning a groan from the girls.

"I get that, but Blondie sometimes people hate having their secrets talked about on the MirrorNet like that. Sure, most of us don't mind, but when you break into our rooms to get that information. Well we often times want to squeeze that pretty little neck of yours until you pass out." Ashlynn said. Blondie gave her a wide eyed look, reaching a hand to her throat.

"Well, you just voiced what half the school thinks on a daily basis. Just...try not to invade our bedrooms as often as you do. If you want to know something, just ask us...we'd be glad to share things with you, you are our friend after all." Poppy replied, earning a smile from their friend.

"Alright, I'll be sure to do that! As long as I can make you all happy, then everything will be Just Right!"

"Now, if only we could make it to the Forest Fest. I bet we've already missed a good chunk of it. Blake and Holly are so damn lucky, they're probably already there, making out under the tables." Cupid said, earning a laugh from Poppy.

"Holly, making out with Blake? I doubt it. I don't think those two are a good pair, they're probably gonna stay good friends. I mean, after reading that story my sister wrote, I doubt she'd get together with Blake." she replied.

"Story? What story? Do you mean the one for Creative Writing? She actually wrote a story for that class?" Ashlynn asked.

"It wasn't a story, it was a short novel. She's actually working toward create a book too. It's called Blondie Lockes: Zombie Slayer, not just that, she made Blondie the main character and Blake is her love interest. I read chapter nine and...well let's just say someone is gonna be swallowing something that isn't porridge."

"Poppy! Are you serious?" Blondie cried, a look of embarrassment on her face.

"I shit you not Blondie, you gotta take that up with my sister, I'm afraid. So big guy, are we near the Enchanted Forest yet?" the youngest O'Hair twin asked. The troll gave her a nod, a smile on his face.

"We're getting near, worry not, you'll make it to the Forest Fest soon enough! I'm so excited, I've never been to one before."

"I'm happy, I'm sure you'll enjoy yourself. All of us should have an experience like this in our life time. I'm sure I'll get the chance to go next year." she said happily.

"I'll make sure you get a ticket Poppy, you deserve it for being so kind! I'm sure the Fairy Queen will be understanding, who knows maybe she'll let you stay after all." Blondie said, giving her friend a grin.

Not much farther behind, Blake and Holly were growing closer and closer to Blondie and the others. They had stumbled into some large footprints on the ground, leading straight toward the Enchanted Forest. At first they thought it had been an ogre from the nearby village, but upon further investigation, Holly pointed it out that it was in fact a troll. So for now they had been following after the footprints, trying to reach the girls who seemed to be traveling along side this creature. They reached a small incline area, which lead toward a rugged area of the forest, seeing the path deviated a bit away from it leading further into the western half of the forest. Blake clicked his tongue, glancing around the area for any signs of life.

"Hey! Poppy are you out here? It's me, Holly! Call out if you can hear me!"

"Don't do that! You don't know what could be near us." Blake scolded, earning a blush from the girl.

"Sorry, I figured I would give it a try." she said, rubbing her arm. He sighed, shaking his head.

"It's fine hon, no harm done...you just gotta remember, there are creatures out here that could try to kill us." he said, taking a few steps forward. Holly walked beside him, taking a hold of his hand.

After a few more minutes of walking, they came to a sudden stop, having heard something breaking nearby. Blake's hand immediately went to the handle of his gun, in case someone jumped at him. His guess was correct, as he saw an armored goblin jump out of the woods right at him. He pushed Holly out of the way, backing up in time for the axe it was swinging to slam into the ground. He drew his gun, setting it to Ice before taking aim at the creature, firing three bullets into its chest. The ice was sharp enough to pierce right through the armor, killing it instantly.

"Fuck me, just what we needed." he said, pumping the gun a bit. Holly grabbed a hold of her skillet, keeping her stance a bit wide and close to the ground, her eyes scanning the forest.

"We don't have a good light source, and our enemies can see us in the dark. Uh...dammit, what was it that Mr. Knight said about this?" she asked.

"Keep your eyes peeled, and listen to your surroundings. Assume that you are surrounded and get ready to fight, it's gonna be a long one." Blake said, seeing movement to his right.

He quickly slipped his boot under the axe handle and kicked it up, just in time for a goblin to swing at him. His sword embedded itself in the handle of the axe, giving Blake an opening. A single bullet through his skull was enough to put him down. A loud metallic clang filled his ears, and he glanced back, seeing Holly had bashed her skillet over a goblin's skull, it's body was still twitching a bit, sickly orange blood having been sprayed all over the place. He took a hold of her and and started running, aiming his gun behind them, popping off a few rounds.

"Are you sure running is a good idea?"

"It's better than standing there and fighting! Shit, we forgot the lanterns!" he cried.

"Blake, there's one in front of us!" Holly cried, causing him to stop. He snapped his fingers, several violet fireballs formed around him, lighting the area with a pale light. He handed his gun to Holly and started walking forward.

"Magic doesn't affect me boy! You've no choice but to die by my sword!" the goblin said, reaching at his side drawing what looked like a katana from his waist. Blake smirked, holding his hand out before him.

"Sacred flames of darkness, heed my call! Flaming torrent!" he chanted, flicking his wrist forward, sending the fireballs at the goblin, who easily sliced them apart with his sword. He let out a war cry, aiming a slash at Blake's throat, the boy easily dodging it. He delivered a strong kick to his back, sending him flying into a nearby tree.

Blake grabbed the katana the goblin had dropped, his eyes scanning the blade a bit. He walked toward him and before he could do anything, stabbed the tip of the sword right through his eye, killing him instantly. With a twist, he pulled the blade free and took a hold of the scabbard, testing its weight.

"Not a bad sword, probably stole it from someone." he muttered.

"Blake, there are several more coming this way!" Holly cried, standing beside the boy, training the gun up the path. Blake grit his teeth, glancing at the sword in his hand.

"Guess it's time to put my sword skills to good use." he said, just as the first goblin made it over the hill. It screamed something in an unknown tongue dashing at the boy, who instantly met his sword with his own, sparks flying in all directions.

He swung his blade with practiced skill, dodging every single slash the goblin threw at him. He smirked, using a Reversal to slide behind the goblin, slicing its head clean off its shoulders. He rapidly spun around, parrying another hit, this time being pushed back. He eyed the larger bulkier goblin, seeing he was wielding a great sword in his hand.

"So, it seems my men were right. A beautiful dame was making her way through the forest, and who do we have here? I think you look familiar to me, you resemble the man who killed one of my friends."

"If you are referring to that piece of shit who lived behind Hood Hollow, then yeah, I'm the one that killed him. He deserved it for killing a dragon while she was laying her eggs. Not only that, he made threatens against my friends, I'm not one to let that shit slide." Blake replied, slipping the scabbard of his new sword through his belt loop, making sure it was snug and wouldn't slip.

"Hehe, you've got some spunk. You managed to kill some of my foot soldiers with ease, but I will personally end your life. When I do, that woman behind you shall be mine to do with as I please. She's quite a beautiful one too, with nice looking hips." the creature said, licking his lips in a sickly display. Blake snapped his fingers, conjuring several lanterns around the area, shedding a bit of light before him.

"Excellent, not that there's light...I can see my enemy. That way I know where to stab him when I throw my killing blow!" he said, his eyes glowing a fierce violet. The goblin gaped a bit, feeling a bit of fear.

"The Evil Queen? I sense her power within you...are you perhaps, the lost child?"

"Eh? I got no idea what the hell you are talking about buddy. Now put your sword up, because I am not letting you come out of this one alive!" Blake said, quickly closing the distance, swinging his sword as hard as he could.

The goblin quickly parried the attack, throwing a slash of his own. Blake easily jumped over the moving blade, and due to its weight, it gave him a bit of mobility. Unlike the goblin, he lacked armor, so any hit he took would be potentially fatal. The goblin's sword begun glowing a brilliant orange as he took a swing at Blake, who deflected the attack. He was sent back into a tree from the impact, making him cry in pain. He quickly moved out of the way as the goblin sliced the tree clean in half.

" _Dammit, I forgot sword magic was a thing in this world. We haven't even learned that in school yet!"_ he thought, clutching his side. The goblin smirked, running toward him aiming a jab at his chest. Holly ran between the two using her skillet as a shield, blocking the attack from hitting Blake. She easily pushed him back, spinning her skillet in her hand.

"Holly, are you insane?" Blake cried, earning a giggle from the girl.

"Just because I'm a princess doesn't mean I'm a damsel. Who do you think I am?" she asked, giving him a grin.

"Tch...you've made a grave mistake girl...your choice of weapon is a rather unique one. Guess I'll be able to cook this boy's flesh on that after I cut his head off." the goblin said, a smirk on his face.

"Shadow Ball!" Blake chanted, launching a medium sized ball of magic at the ground, the dark haze overtook the area, blocking the goblin's eye sight.

"I have good hearing kid, no matter what you do I'll be able to know where you are. There's nothing you can do to sneak up on me!" he cried, his ear perking up a bit. He heard a twig snap behind him and swung his sword as hard as he could.

"There!" he shouted, expecting to have hit the teen. The smoke cleared up, showing nothing but an empty field. The goblin looked around in confusion, only for him to look up seeing the glint of a sword. He felt a sharp pain in his back, a scream leaving his lips.

"You may be a good listener, but that only works if you are on the ground." Blake said, rolling away from the creature, who had fallen onto his knee. He glanced up, seeing Holly sitting in a tree, tying her hair back into a ponytail.

"I see, the daughter of Rapunzel, how adorable. You know, Mother Gothel was a good friend of our people. Perhaps taking your head back to our village will please her soul!"

"The only one who'll be losing their head here is you!" Blake cried, aiming a slash at the creature's neck, only for him to parry the attack.

The two warriors got into a fierce fight, throwing slashes and jabs at each other. With each parry, sparks flew between them. Blake was easily keeping up with the goblin, but was growing a bit tired. He wasn't swinging as fast or as hard as he normally would, due to how fatigued he already was. He was growing a bit dizzy, but held his ground knowing that if he didn't Holly would get caught in the crossfire. He growled angrily, pushing the goblin back several feet, he dashed forward, swinging his sword as hard as he could, slicing the goblin's arm clean off. He let out a scream, watching the limb fall uselessly to the ground.

"My arm! You just cut off my arm!" he shouted, clutching the remains of his mangled arm with his other hand. Blake swept the creature off its feet, spinning his katana above his head, before driving the tip of it straight into his eye socket, ending his life.

"Requiescat in pace." he said softly, wiping the blood from his blade before placing it in its scabbard. He took a few steps back, clutching his head.

"Blake are you alright? He didn't hurt you did he?"

"Nah...I'm just really tired...the fatigue of not sleeping and this walk through the woods finally got to me. I don't feel so good." he said, leaning against a tree.

"No no no, you can't pass out on me right now. We're close to the Enchanted Forest, please Blake you have to stay awake!" she cried, a look of worry on her face. He pushed himself away from the tree, giving her a grin.

"Who said...I was gonna take a nap now? I still haven't gotten my second kiss." he said, giving her a wink.

"Ugh...you boys make light of everything. Come on, before we get mobbed again." she said, allowing the boy to lean most of his weight against her. She just hoped they would find her sister soon, she didn't think she could continue walking through the woods for the rest of the night.

 _ **xxx**_

Having assembled a party, Raven and Apple lead them toward Baba Yaga's office, in search of the witch. They had been hoping she could lend her assistance in finding Blondie and the others, however when they had arrived at her office, they were surprised to find it empty. Dexter looked around with Hunter, who had joined as soon as he heard Ashlynn was lost in the woods. Cerise had decided to head back to search the area by herself, since she could move a lot faster on her own.

After awhile, they had decided to sit down and wait for the woman, but she hadn't shown up at all. It was nearing nine thirty at night now and she hadn't arrived yet. Raven was starting to get anxious, not just in worry for her brother but also because of the things that could jump at them in the Dark Forest. She grabbed a hold of her skirt, her teeth grit in anger and annoyance.

"Where's Baba Yaga? We've been waiting for half an hour and she hasn't shown up yet!" Hunter said, glancing at his phone for the time.

"We just gotta keep waiting, she'll show up soon." Dexter said reassuringly.

"I'm sick of waiting for her...we aren't gonna get anywhere if we don't fucking do something...we just gotta look for them ourselves." Raven cried, standing up from her seat.

"We wouldn't know where to look, how exactly do you suggest we search for them?"

"It isn't hard Apple, we'll just borrow Baba Yaga's moving house and search for them ourselves. Now, how does this thing move?" she asked, glancing around for a steering wheel or something else. She pulled some curtains aside, finally finding the controls she was looking for.

"Wicked."

"Raven, do you know how to drive this thing?" Dexter cried in worry, sweeping some of his hair out of his eyes. She brushed him off, a smile on her face.

"I've got my Dragon Master license...not just that, I took my dad's car out for a spin once, so this is probably the same." she said, taking a hold of the wheel before her.

"So it was you who took dad's car, I knew it! He had just gotten the paint job done and when he saw it the next day, there was a huge dent on his right door." Apple said.

"Hey, it isn't my fault that damn mailbox got in my way. We live in a castle, who's idea was it to put a fucking mailbox at the end of the road? Just give it to a guard or something...aha, I found the keys!" she said, twisting the key that had been left in the ignition. The engine roared to life, making the entire house shake a bit.

"You know, I've always wanted to know how this thing moved...I guess this is my chance now." Hunter said, watching Raven fiddling around with the controls. She grabbed a hold of a lever and pushed it forward, making the house jerk ab it.

"Okay...I think that set it to drive...or is it walk? I'm just gonna try moving it, hang on." the girl cried, taking a hold of the wheel, pushing it forward. The house started moving on its own, making them sigh in relief.

"She's a natural at this...how exactly was it that she crashed into the mailbox?" Dexter asked, earning a shrug from Apple.

"I'm not sure, I didn't find out what happened until the next day. Until now, I didn't know it had been her."

"It wasn't my fault, like I said...well...I may have hit the gas a bit too hard." Raven said, grabbing a hold of another lever, slowly pushing it forward, making the house start running.

"Holy shit, slow down! Raven slow down!" Hunter cried.

"Yes, I know hang on!" she replied, grabbing a hold of the lever, only for it to snap clean in half. Her eyes widened as she looked at the lever, turning to face her friends.

"So...I've lost control of this thing, just...hang on tightly, I'll make sure to find an area where we can all jump out safely." she said.

"That doesn't sound reassuring Raven! Just put it in park or something!" Apple shouted, reaching for one of the levers, causing the house to stop, only for it to start moving backwards.

"Don't just start grabbing things Apple, you could send this thing out of whack and that wouldn't be good!"

"Uh guys, this thing still hasn't stopped!" Hunter cried, causing the two girls to look at each other, both of them grabbing a hold of the wheel.

The sudden jerk was enough to send the moving building sprawling in another direction, making it trip over the fountain in the central square. They all let out a scream as the entire house rocked from the impact, sending the four teenagers to the ground. Raven clutched her head, glancing around to make sure her friends were fine. The sound of glass breaking brought her attention toward the shelf, where a puff of pink smoke could be seen, floating in the air. In a bright flash of light, Baba Yaga appeared, looking quite confused. They weren't the only ones either, all four teenagers were looking at the witch with utter confusion on their faces.

"Oh dear, that's so much better. A spell went a little south earlier and I've been trapped inside that bottle all day. Wait a minute...what's going on here?" she asked, glancing at the mess her house had been turned into. Her eyes fell on Raven, who was still holding the broken lever in her hands, and trying her hardest to hide it behind her back.

"Raven Queen, were you driving this house without permission?" she asked, making the girl swallow hard.

"Um, yes...but it was for a good reason! Our friends are lost in the Dark Woods, we need your help to find them." she said.

"Oh...here I thought you had a spark of evil and wanted to take the house for a joy ride. Are you certain they're in the Dark Forest?" the old witch asked, glancing at the others.

"Yes, Cerise told us they had been spotted in that area. We think they might have gotten confused and walked in the wrong direction." Apple replied.

"Well, I can easily guide you to them. Pay attention Raven, I'll show you how to properly drive this house, in case you wish to take it for a spin next time." she said, taking a hold of the lever in her hand, using her magic to fix it. Raven sighed, a frown on her face. It seemed the old witch still wanted her to embrace her evil side, even though she wasn't going to any time soon.

"Madam Yaga, I have a question for you...what exactly were you doing that got you stuck in that bottle?" Hunter asked curiously.

"Well, since you asked Mr. Huntsman I must answer. I am trying to find a spell to reverse the Evil Queen's curse on Mr. Bigby. Someone with that kind of dark magic cannot be left to roam in this land. We don't know what could happen if he loses control again." she replied.

"Excuse me Madam Yaga, but what exactly do you mean by that?" Raven asked, causing the woman to face her.

"You know I am speaking the truth Raven. Should your mother escape her mirror prison, she will go after him. He is a catalyst for dark magic, thanks to the mirror shard in his chest. Not only is he in danger of being overtaken by that darkness, but he is also in danger from the Evil Queen. If she gets free, she will take all of his magic for herself, and that will spell the end of all of us...this is also why we want you to sign the book, so she loses her powers."

"Madam Yaga, I understand that Blake is in danger in this world. But he isn't going to fall to his own darkness, he was cursed by a riddle. So was I, so were Ashlynn and Hunter. You cannot blame him alone for what all of us did, I still have thoughts about what I did while I was cursed. So if there's anyone to blame, it's me." Apple said firmly, earning a laugh from the woman.

"You are Snow White's daughter, you cannot be blamed for this...it would look bad on your image."

"I don't care! Blake doesn't deserve that kind of treatment! It wasn't his damn fault he read that book, and it wasn't his fault that I came up with a plan to plug the well. I also think it's selfish and messed up that you want to remove his curse only to send him back home. As if that will make him forget the fact his family doesn't remember him!"

"Apple, it's alright...let's just forget all of this and focus on finding him and everyone else. We'll talk about this later." Raven said, glaring at the old witch, who only smiled back at her.

 _ **xxx**_

"Ugh...how much longer? There's only an hour left before the Fest ends!" Blondie cried, glancing up at their troll friend who glanced down at her.

"Not much further, just through those thick trees. You'll be able to see the glittering lights of the Enchanted Forest." he said, pointing up ahead.

"I'm looking forward for this night to be over. I've never wanted to take off my shoes more than I do now...god I wish I could fly." Cupid said, stretching her wings a bit.

"Hey, one day when you become a full grown cherub you'll be able to fly. You'll be an angel of love!" Ashlynn said, earning a giggle from the girl.

"I got a question, how exactly does one become a cherub? Do you just get stabbed by an arrow of love or something?" Poppy asked curiously.

"No, to tell you the truth I don't know the process myself. All I know, is that my parents found me outside of their door as a baby. My step-mother felt really sad that I had been abandoned and convinced my step-father Eros to turn me into a cherub. I have siblings back on Mount Olympus, but I was actually sent to study at another high school. Before I transferred to Ever After High, I used to go to Monster High."

"Monster High? That sounds like a weird school." Blondie said.

"You don't know the half of it. It's a school for monsters, the most famous of them all! I actually met the daughter of Dracula and the daughter of Frankenstein too! I have so many dear friends over there, but it's hard to keep contact with them all."

"A school for monsters eh? Sounds sort of like Ever After High...hey do you think maybe our realms are connected? It would be interesting to see what that place is like." Poppy asked, earning a shrug from Cupid.

"There isn't really a way over to Monster High. I had to sign a lot of release forms and take a portal from Mount Olympus to Ever After High. You have no idea how hard it is being surrounded by gods and demi-gods sometimes. Mount Olympus Academy for Wayward Gods is really a hard place to be in." she replied, not at all wanting to speak about that school.

"I feel like we've learned a lot about you Cupid, I'd like to have a full interview one day, if you allow me."

"Sure, maybe we can have a crossover segment for both our shows. That would make our webcasts skyrocket! That is until Radio Rebel goes back on the air, Melody is getting ready for the first show this weekend." the pinkette said.

"You know, I'm gonna miss that disguised voice. It felt so cool not knowing who the Rebel was, even though I had an idea. Still it's gonna be great to have the Radio show back, I really miss those spontaneous days where they would randomly come on. It'll be fun!" Ashlynn replied. The troll suddenly stopped, causing the four girls to stop as well, glancing around the forest.

"I hear footsteps...someone is nearby." he said.

"Someone? Do you think it's someone dangerous?" Poppy asked, reaching her bag for some scissors.

"It might be, the goblins have been a bit on edge since one of their own was slain in Hood Hollow. We must be prepared for anything!" he said firmly.

"Poppy? Are you here? Call back if you can hear me!"

"Holly? What the heck is she doing in here?" Blondie asked curiously.

"She probably got worried about her sister." Ashlynn replied, watching Poppy walk toward the edge of the path, placing her hands around her mouth.

"Holly! We're over here! Follow my voice!" she cried back.

They saw some movement beyond the brush, waiting with baited breath as the older O'Hair twin jumped through the bushes. She broke into a sprint, hugging her sister tightly, tears streaming down her cheeks.

"Oh Poppy, I thought I would never see you again! We've been walking around for ages trying to find you!" Holly cried, tightening her arms around her sister.

"Sis, I'm fine...please I can't breathe."

"Uh...Holly, you said we right? Where's Blake?" Ashlynn asked, glancing toward the forest.

"Here...I'm right here." the boy in question said, leaning against a tree, holding a katana in his hand, which was still dripping with orange blood.

"Oh my godmother Blake! Are you alright?" Blondie cried, slowly approaching the boy.

"I'm fine. I just wasn't expecting all of those goddamn goblins to attack my ass halfway to Hood Hollow. Seriously, what the fuck? I get sending three or four, but an entire fucking platoon? You motherfuckers! You think you have the balls to challenge me to a fight? I'm the fucking main character here you twats! Next time you underestimate me, I'm gonna unscrew your heads and shit down your necks!" he shouted, glaring at the forest. He clutched his side, panting a bit.

"Whoa...I've never seen Blake get this pissed off before." Cupid said.

"Oh yeah, it tends to happen when he's cranky...he hasn't slept since yesterday afternoon so he went ape shit when we got ambushed a few minutes ago." Holly said, gesturing to his katana, which he quickly sheathed.

"What? Blake is she serious?"

"Yes she is! Alright, I admit it! I've been having crippling nightmares for an entire fucking week. I can't sleep well, not when all of the people I care about keep being murdered by my psychopathic evil self! I can't stand seeing him killing my friends over and over again! Do you know how many times I've seen all of you get stabbed to death? More than you can count on a single fucking hand. I can't take it anymore, I just want to fucking sleep already!" he shouted, slamming his flaming fist into the trunk of a tree, making it explode into splinters. The troll walked over to the boy and slammed his fist onto his head, knocking the boy out cold, grabbing him and placing him on his shoulder.

"What did you do that for?" Blondie cried.

"He wanted to sleep right? If you get knocked unconscious, you'd be asleep, so this might be beneficial for him. The Enchanted Forest has special magic that keeps darkness at bay." he explained, walking toward the nearby forest.

"Oh...I didn't know that...you should have told us before you did it though!" Poppy snapped, earning a pained frown from the troll.

"Sorry."

"Uh guys, I don't want to alarm you or anything but do you feel that?" Blondie cried, suddenly the ground started to shake, rattling the trees nearby. The group of five girls started running toward the Enchanted Forest, not wanting to be caught by whatever was after them.

"Do you think it's more goblins?"

"No, I'm pretty sure Blake killed them all." Holly said, answering Cupid's question.

The giant creature was easily gaining on them, and the Enchanted Forest was still a long ways away. Holly pulled herself to a stop, reaching for her skillet passing it to Poppy. She grabbed a hold of Blake's ice gun, giving it a few pumps before aiming at the path ahead of her.

"Go, we'll hold it off!"

"Are you insane? You two will die!" Ashlynn cried.

"Sometimes you have to be insane to outsane the sane." Holly said, giving her friend a wink before turning to face the creature.

She took a step forward, not lowering her weapon as she tried to get a good look at the monster. However, before she could even fire a single round, someone flew into the path, blocking her aim. It was a bit dark so she didn't see who it was, at least until she spoke.

"Get back, I got this thing!"

"Faybelle? What are you doing here?" she asked curiously.

"Fixing my mistake, get back you beast! I won't let you hurt them!" she cried, lifting a nearby log with her magic. She flung it forward with ease, striking the legs of the giant creature.

"No wait, what are you doing?" a familiar voice cried out. The ground shook hard, as the giant fell only for them to see that it was in fact a house. The house that belonged to their councilor Baba Yaga. They just watched in confusion while the occupants jumped out the window, clearly dazed by the fall.

"Ugh...what happened? Did we trip or something?"

"Raven? What are you doing here?"

"Holly! I'm so glad to see you, is Blake around?" the girl asked, happy to see her friend.

"Um...he's passed out at the moment, but he's otherwise fine." she replied.

"What's going on? Why are all of you here?" Ashlynn asked, trying to push her boyfriend back as he hugged and kissed her tightly.

"Weren't you all lost? We heard from Cerise that you were lost in the woods, so we came to search for you." Dexter said, helping Apple out of the house.

"Oh...well we were, but we found our way." Blondie said happily.

"Yeah uh...I'd like to say something...all of this was my fault. I switched the signs to get back at you four." Faybelle said, glancing at the blonde girl and her friends.

"Why would you do that? Don't you know we could have gotten hurt or worse?" Poppy asked.

"Can't blame a girl for following her destiny, eh? Ugh...fine. I made a mistake, I felt left out because I wasn't invited to the forest fest. But when I saw you being nice to that disgusting troll, it made me see the error of my ways." she said, bowing her head slightly.

"Hey! I got feelings too you know!" the troll said firmly.

"Christ! Why the hell are you shouting in my ear!" Blake cried right after, lifting his head tiredly. The troll set him down, only for him to be tackled into a hug by Raven.

"Oh Blake, I'm so glad you're alright! I thought you had gotten hurt!" she said.

"Uh...who are you? Again? It's weird...it feels like I'm forgetting something very important." the boy said, a stunned look on his face. Raven took a step back, genuine fear in her eyes.

"No...Blake, please don't tell me you forgot who I am." she said. The boy tried to keep a serious look on his face, breaking into chuckles shortly after.

"Oh man, the look on your face was priceless...I'm gonna regret that one later." he said.

"You asshole! Ugh! Why the fuck would you do something like that?!" the girl cried, slugging him hard on the arm, making him wail in pain.

"Yeow! Okay, it was a fucking joke sis, Christ. The fuck is going on, I blacked out for like a minute...my head feels like it got hit by a frying pain." he said, clutching his temple.

"Nevermind that, jeez...can't you see I'm trying to apologize here! It was all me alright? I sent you into the wrong forest, because I didn't get invited to the Forest Fest. So I'm sorry, there!" Faybelle cried, crossing her arms glaring into the distance. Blake rubbed his eyes, still a bit confused. He reached into his messenger bag, pulling out a golden ticket from within.

"I have no idea what the fuck makes this party the best damn one of the year. But if you seriously wanna go there so bad, here...take my ticket. I just wanna go the fuck to sleep." he said, holding the ticket out to Faybelle, who just stared at it with widened eyes.

"You...really want to give me this? Are you sure?" she asked. He grabbed a hold of her hand, placing the ticket within, closing it right after.

"Go, have fun or whatever...I've walked through these woods for too long, and I've killed too many goddamn goblins for me to just go to a party. Just do me a favor, have fun and tell Joey he's a fuck off." he said firmly, leaning against a nearby tree, almost falling asleep against it.

"I...I don't know how to thank you for this...Joey was totally wrong about you. You are a nice person, I've never been invited to a party before...oh, but it's probably already over."

"Actually, all of you made it just in time." a serene voice said, causing everyone to jump a bit.

Before them appeared a beautiful woman, dressed in a sparkling salmon pink dress. She had light brown skin, and beautiful butterfly wings on her back, keeping her aloft. Long brown hair fell down her shoulders to the middle of her back, a crown of flowers decorating her head. She had a warm smile on her face, making her glow more than the pixie dust flowing from the bottom of her dress.

"You're the Fairy Queen?" Blake asked, pushing himself away from the tree, eyes trained on the floating woman.

"I am, I know quite a lot about your Blake Bigby, along with your kindness and exploits. We bumped into each other a couple days ago, it seemed like you were out of it. I realized immediately what the problem was and invited you here to this serene location. Not only did you defend your friend, but you gave your ticket to someone else, I'm extending my invitation over to you, and everyone with you as well." she said, earning happy cheers from everyone.

"Oh...thank you, I guess. I'm sorry that I bumped into you...it's just...you look a lot like my mom." he said.

"Do I? I apologize then, it must be hard seeing someone with a close resemblance to a family member."

"Don't be sorry, you can't help what you look like right? Even though you aren't her, I'm happy that you remind me of her. I haven't been having a good time here in Ever After." he admitted, glancing nervously at the floor.

"Would you like to speak about your time here? I am a councilor for the school...I think you need a little one on one session right now." she asked, holding her hand out. The boy nodded, taking a hold of it.

"Thank you, hopefully I can sleep after this...I don't know how long I can go on like this." he admitted, a yawn escaping his lips. He turned to face his friends, in particular Dexter, a glare on his face.

"Dexter, if you are gonna dance with Raven, keep your hands away from her butt. If I find out you touched her in any weird ways, I'll break your hands...and that wouldn't be good because then we'd have to replace our bassist. Got it?" he asked.

"Loud and clear."

"Good, party harty!" he replied emotionless, following the Fairy Queen into the forest fest.

After a long and grueling journey, Blake had finally made it to the Forest Fest, but he wasn't at all excited like the others were. Honestly, he just wanted to take a nap. But at least he would finally get to speak with the Fairy Queen about his nightmares and get some peace of mind. It was the only thing he was looking forward to, after having to kill so many goblins and walk through the Dark Forest for the entirety of the night with barely any food or water. But at least it was a journey he wouldn't soon forget.


	57. Return of the Rebel

**A/N:**

 **Hey guys, welcome one and all to Chapter 57 of Through the Looking Glass. This is going to be the first chapter for the new filler arc, as I've said in my other chapters, I will be working on characters that I've neglected for awhile while introducing others. A lot of other stuff will happen behind the scenes that will lead toward the next story arc, being Way Too Wonderland, so I hope you all look forward to the things to come.**

 **I'm gonna keep this note short as I am eager to get back to the chapter I am currently writing. I am finally introducing Ophelia Swan into the story, and she will be Duchess's half sister and the next White Swan. This will be happening during Chapter 60 and will most likely lead to a three chapter arc centered mostly around Duchess. Maybe, I haven't decided yet. If I do decide to post a chapter tomorrow, Chapter 58, I will include the alternate ending which will begin Through the Looking Glass-Alternate Universe. This is where I will include all of the other pairings and endings for the story. It will be it's own story, as I don't want this one to be taken down for whatever reason. I've worked to hard for it to be taken down due to lemon chapters. I haven't had a problem before, but you never know after all.**

 **I will also be including another segway with Duchess once her story arc is done. There are other girls that I might create segways for in the future, including Briar and Holly. I just don't know exactly when I will write those chapters, or if I'll do it before Way Too Wonderland. That will most likely be the case, since the official pairing will be set after that arc. Of course there will be girls still confessing to Blake with him politely turning them down. But after Way Too Wonderland, I'll most likely make it so Blake never got together with anyone to make the alternate storylines work out. Hopefully I can still make it make sense.**

 **I do hope you like this chapter, with the lack of feedback from everyone, I have to assume you are all liking it. As always, if you have questions PM me, I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Have a good night!**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 57

The Return of the Rebel

Blake honestly felt relieved now that he had talked to someone about his nightmares. The Fairy Queen didn't ask him a single question, she just sat across from him politely listening to everything. He had shared his entire life story with him, from finding out he was adopted, to losing Lucy, to even how he got to Ever After High. He didn't know why he had decided to share everything with her, but he just felt comfortable around her. It helped that she looked a lot like his mother Melissa. Once he had finished speaking, she had asked him a few questions so she could understand his dreams more. It was then that he started speaking about his dreams, how the Spring Fairest lead to his current dilemma.

She had been quite amazed, he guessed with the level of stuff he was facing in his dreams. She had told him that it was common for a traumatic event to warp someone's sense of reality, and alter their dreams. She had been a witness at the time he was cursed and had seen quite a lot of the things he had done. He felt a bit bad when she told him, but let him know that she didn't think any little of him. She told him to write down all of his nightmares in a notebook so he could understand them better. If he could accept his dreams for what they were, dreams, then they wouldn't affect him much. Of course he had been scared about that, since he hadn't slept in almost twenty four hours. The Fairy Queen gave him a smile, reaching for her wrist to undo one of her bracelets.

"You've been through quite a lot here Blake...you aren't at fault for anything that is happening to you. One day, you will be able to see your family again, but don't ever let the darkness defeat you. You will beat it, just like your sister has. Until then, this little trinket shall give you peaceful nights, until the darkness no longer has a hold on you." she said, placing the bracelet around his wrist. It was a thin gold band, glowing brilliantly with pixie dust. There was a single charm attached to it, a glittering moon crystal.

"This is a moon crystal, just like the one that was stolen from me." he said, glancing at the woman.

"They are abundant in my kingdom, ever since the Cow jumped over the moon. Their magic have helped children, men and women deal with nightmares and darkness for generations. This one shall help you now, and worry not. It is enchanted with pixie dust, even if you lose it or it is stolen, you'll be easily able to track it down." she said.

"I...don't know what to say...thank you Miss Fairy Queen...it means so much that you'd give me something like this." he said, giving her an appreciative smile.

"We all deserve a good night sleep, I want you to come to my office once a week so we can talk more about these nightmares. I wish to help you so that you eventually can sleep without the aid of this crystal. Of course, if that isn't possible that is fine too. I just don't want any psychological aftereffects from these dreams to be left behind." she said.

"Okay...I guess I can come by for a visit. I'd like to get to know you a little better too, you know...I've always believed in fairies...even when I was growing up. I wanted to see what it would be like to fly with the help of pixie dust."

"You share the dream of many, perhaps one day I can make that come true...for now you should enjoy the fest. This happens only once a year after all, although if you are tired I understand. I've already decided to give you a ticket for next year's Forest Fest, you deserve it, after all." the Fairy Queen said, giving him a wink.

"Um...alright, once again thanks for this. I feel...lighter now, I'll hold this crystal close to me for as long as I need it." he replied, standing up from his seat.

It was a bit awkward when he rejoined his friends on the dance floor. He didn't feel as tired as before, most likely due to the enchanting magic of the forest. He noticed all of the small fairies flying around, serving drinks and food to all of the party goers. One flew over to him, handing him a cup filled with punch. He gave her a quiet thanks, taking a small sip from the cup, feeling slightly more energized than before. Raven wondered over to him, looking a little more tired than before.

"I didn't think after watching a sappy romance flick I'd be here at the Forest fest. You should get lost more often."

"I wasn't the one that did the loosing. I merely went into the Dark Forest so that Holly wouldn't worry about her sister. It was...a very interesting journey, that's for sure." he said, glancing at the table where his date was sitting. She and her sister were amiably chatting, most likely about the perils of the Dark Forest.

"So I've been told, you protected her from a regimen of goblins in the forest. You even got yourself a nice sword." she said, glancing at the sword attached to his hip. He glanced down at it, pulling it lose from his belt loop.

"This is the first time I've actually looked at it, since it was dark and all." he replied, glancing at the scabbard.

It was a deep blue color, with various rings and other golden designs carefully engraved into it. It was made out of oak, as far as he could tell, and it was a rather durable looking scabbard. The tip of it was rounded off, with a crimson tip on it. Near the top of the scabbard was a decorative golden strap, firmly wrapped around the edge of it. The hilt of the sword was slightly curved, and decorated with traditional leather lace, in a crossing diamond pattern. The tsuba of the sword was in the likeness of a dragon, coiling around the top where the hilt met the blade.

"This is a pretty cool sword, one of those goblins had it?"

"That's right, I ended up shooting him through the forehead and taking the sword from him. It's barely got a curve, and I noticed it was actually double edged." he said, drawing the blade from the scabbard.

It was made out of steel, and measured almost 48 inches in length. It reminded him of a sword back on his planet which had been created during the older periods of Japan. It had been sharpened to a razor edge on both sides, making it a very deadly weapon. There was a small golden cord attached to the pommel of the sword, mostly for decorative purposes. He held the hilt toward Raven, who took it in her hand, looking the blade over.

"You know, this is the first time I've held a sword." she admitted, her eyes tracing every detail in the blade. There had been a dragon carving near the middle of it, along with some characters she didn't understand etched into it.

"I can teach you how to use one...you know, since you've taught me magic." he said, earning a smile from the girl who gave him the sword back.

"I think I'll pass...I wouldn't be able to use a sword as well as I would with magic. Unlike you, I grew up surrounded by magic, you are more athletic so you can become a deadly force with it." she said. He chuckled, placing the sword back in its scabbard, slipping it through his belt loop, tying the lace tightly so it wouldn't slip off.

"I'm just an anime fanatic, some of the moves that I practice during sword training class are my own version of that. I'm like a kid who watches a Kung-Fu movie and starts imitating it because it's cool. I suppose it's good that I have a lot of material to work with." he said with a shrug, glancing toward the dance floor.

Faybelle was trying her best to mingle with the crowd, but it was obvious that she was having a hard time. He felt rather bad for her, seeing that she was actually trying and failing to make friends. He wanted to approach her, but he remembered she was friends with Joey. He didn't really feel like talking to her at the moment, especially because of her connecting to his former friend. Raven caught his gaze, frowning a bit when she saw who he had been looking at.

"She isn't a bad person...I can see there's a lot of good in her. Being the daughter of the Dark Fairy has driven her to do a lot of despicable things. When you have a parent that is overbearing, you sort of become rebellious. It doesn't help that my mom stole her mom's destiny mid story."

"I still can't believe the Evil Queen did that to her mother...that means she was conditioned, not only to follow her destiny. But to steal yours if she had the chance, that wouldn't be a good thing you know." Blake said, glancing back at his sister who had a frown on her face.

"I know...I want to befriend her, but she has such an abrasive exterior...I doubt I'll get through to her. She's said before that she hates me for refusing my destiny. Nothing I can do about that I'm afraid." Raven replied, shifting her eyes toward the refreshment table. She saw Dexter waving her over, making her smile as she gave him a wave back.

"So...the two of you dating now? Can I expect babies soon?"

"And ruin this body this early in life? You got another thing coming if that's what you think. I'm gonna hang out with him, and please don't break his hands, he won't be able to play music if you do."

"Hey, I just don't want him to touch you weird, but if you're okay with it then that's fine too. Have fun Raven, but not too much fun." he said, sending her off. He stifled his laughter when the girl stumbled a bit, growing more and more nervous as she approached the boy of her affections.

He decided to find himself an empty table and just take a bit of a break. Melody was playing her dubstep beats and giving the party quite a bit of life. He had wanted to see how she was doing, but when she was in her zone it was much better to leave her alone. Ashlynn and Hunter were having a grand time, dancing around like idiots, dominating most of the dance floor, while Cupid and Blondie were busy covering the Fest for their web shows. He was content with seeing his friends having a good time, and if he wasn't so tired himself he definitely would have joined them.

"Hey Blake, mind if I join you?" Holly asked, causing him to look up. He nodded gesturing to the seat across from him.

"You're my date, you don't have to ask me. So, how was Poppy doing? No mental issues due to the harrowing journey through the dark scary woods?" he asked.

"Pfft, no. She had the time of her life, had me worried for nothing. But I do admit, our trip through the dark woods was more than than I thought it would be. It's given me inspiration for a brand new story." she said, placing her hand over his, making him blush a bit.

"O-oh? Did it? What about the Zombie one?"

"Eh, I'm almost done with that one...but now I have material for a brand new one. So thanks for inviting me out here, you've definitely made my night a lot more special than I had hoped. You've definitely earned this." she said, leaning forward, resting her elbows on the table. Blake did the same, meeting her lips in a kiss.

"Whoa, look at those two? Are they the hottest new couple or what?" Hunter asked, glancing at Holly and Blake. Ashlynn rolled her eyes, grabbing a hold of his shoulders, giving the boy of her dreams a kiss of his own.

"Blondie, turn around you've got to get this!" Cupid cried, pointing toward the two kissing couples, making the blonde girl swivel around. Sadly she didn't make it in time to catch Holly and Blake's kiss, but did get Ashlynn and Hunter, and even noticed Dexter and Raven kissing in the back.

"This is Blondie Lockes, and I've just confirmed the newest couple in Ever After High! Give a warm welcome to Dexter and Raven everyone. A Royal and a Rebel, quite a fitting match if I do say so myself!" she replied.

"Aw no! We missed the first kiss, not fair!" the pinkette cried, earning a curious look from her friend.

"The first kiss? What are you talking about?"

"Nevermind, let's just keep covering the fest for now." Cupid reluctantly said, looking a bit deflated. She did spare a glance at Raven and Dexter seeing the two smiling happily at each other. While it did hurt seeing them together, she was immensely happy that Dexter finally had the courage to ask her on a date and confess his feelings to her. She was thankful to at least have him as a friend, and she would forever support him in anything he wanted or needed.

 _ **xxx**_

A few weeks had passed since the Blue Moon Forest Fest, and Blake was steadily getting better. His weekly sessions with the Fairy Queen were helping him out quite a bit. Now that he didn't have to work on the Yearbook, a punishment he inflicted on himself after the Spring Fairest, he had a lot of free time on hand. Whatever he wasn't spending at work with Ginger, he spent helping friends or doing other things around school. Thanks to his moon crystal, he hadn't suffered a single nightmare, and with Holly's help he had been able to write down every single one of his nightmares in detail for the Fairy Queen to look over.

She had been quite amazed to see all of the troubles he had been going through in his mind. She had started telling him to sleep without the moon crystal once a week, to see what would happen, and so far the dreams had been pretty tame. Whenever he had a serious nightmare, he would write it down and share it with her the next day. They didn't bother him as much as they had before. He had been make up free for several days as well, not having to hide his dark circles anymore.

Ashlynn and Hunter had been asking him constantly if he and Holly were dating, but he had let them know that they had remained friends. She didn't want to start a relationship and then potentially lose the one she loved when her story started. After all she was destined to fall in love with another prince. Other than a few kisses, they didn't really do anything, though they had gone on a few dates as friends, nothing more than that.

The boy was currently in his dorm room, finishing up some of his homework. He had been hanging out with Apple, who was currently finishing up Madoka Magica, as they had wanted to finish the series up to end their first anime. Of course he hadn't told her there were movies based around this series. As the credits started rolling, the sniffling Princess glanced at the camera, giving it a sad smile.

"That was truly...a heartbreaking series with such a beautiful story. I give it five out of five apples, I want to thank everyone who had gone on this magnificent journey with me. Tomorrow, I'll be starting a new series for all of you to watch along with me." She said, drying her tears up with a tissue.

"Yeah, we're starting her off with Akame Ga Kill, it's gonna be quite the shocking story for her. Tune in next time for more of Apple Reacts, where by the end of this year we're gonna get her to say fuck!" Blake happily announced, flashing a peace sign to the camera along with a grin.

"I highly doubt it. I am a princess first and foremost and I will not let such vulgar words taint my lips."

"You won't be saying that when we start Apple Plays. That's right folks, Apple White daughter of Snow White will start playing games from my world for all of you to watch. I'm already working on a means to infiltrate this world with awesome games from my world, but copying discs and systems and cartridges is hard. So for now you'll just have to watch Apple suffer through these games. We're starting her off with God of War on the Playstation 2. See ya next time!" he said, ending the broadcast. Apple let out a sigh, leaning back in the computer chair as she watched the boy end the stream.

"That series...it was something...thanks for giving me the opportunity to watch this Blake." she said, giving the boy a smile.

"No problem, I got hundreds of anime series to watch, thousands even. You'll be an anime nerd by the time we're through with this show. You did well for your first live stream, hardly any crying." he said, checking her make up over to make sure it hadn't been smeared.

"What are you talking about? I almost broke down during episode ten...are you sure this next one isn't going to be sad?" she asked, her eyes looking into his own.

"You're gonna get attached to the characters, it's gonna be a fun experience, trust me." Blake replied, going back to his homework, continuing where he left off.

"I'm looking forward to it, it's gonna be a rather interesting anime I assume. I've got to go, me and Raven had making some final decisions one that to include in the yearbook. She wants to make the book just about Rebels, while I want it to be filled with Royals."

"Can't you just compromise and meet in the middle? You know, half and half? I mean I wrote a good portion of that stuff and it's mostly rebel stuff." he said, glancing up from his text book.

"You aren't really helping...it's just...I want the book to look good okay? I'll get back to you later. Maybe we can start Apple Reacts this afternoon?"

"Sure, I'm not doing anything, and I'm off work for the next three days. I got plenty of time, tell sis I said hey." he said, earning a nod from the girl as she left the room.

It wasn't long before he finished all of his homework, he had quite a lot of time on his hands now. He checked his watch, seeing it was only 3:12 in the afternoon, only a half hour since the last class of the day. Since he spent most of his classes doing half of the homework he always finished early. He stretched his arms above his head, fixing his cloak a bit as he stood up, walking toward his fridge, seeing the abundance of energy drinks still inside. He had bought them all impulsively when he was suffering from nightmares, but now he didn't need them. He wasn't exactly going to toss them all, at least the drinks in Ever After weren't as harmful as the ones back on Earth. He grabbed one from the top shelf, cracking it open with his teeth.

He almost dropped the can when he heard a knock on his door. He looked toward it oddly, not expecting someone to come knocking. He shrugged and closed the fridge, making his way over to the door, downing most of the can's contents as he walked. He threw the door open, a surprised look on his face when he saw his visitor was actually Briar.

He and the daughter of Sleeping Beauty had barely talked since the Spring Fairest. He was worried their relationship was going to become strained due to what happened. He honestly missed talking to her sometimes, she always had something interesting to say. He remembered her wanting to learn how to ride a skateboard the year before, but Winter had crept up on him and they never got the chance, perhaps this was the chance that he needed to strengthen his bond with her. He gave her a smile and a greeting.

"Hi Briar, what are you doing in my neck of the woods?"

"I just thought I'd drop in. We haven't spoken much since the fairest...mind if I come in?" she asked nervously. The boy stepped aside, allowing the young woman to enter his room.

"I was just thinking, since it's Spring now, if you are still interested in learning how to skate, I'll still teach you. You got all of your gear right?" he asked.

"Yes, I at least learned how to balance myself on the board. Scuffed my knees to high hell though. We never went BMXing either, maybe we can do that too?" she asked, a hopeful look on her face.

"Sure, I wouldn't mind joining you for that. I gotta get myself a bike though, hell I haven't ridden one in years. There was this one time back on Earth when I was riding with my friends and my chain locked up. So my back tire stopped, sadly I didn't so I slammed into a fire hydrant and almost broke my arm. Have you ever experienced something so painful that you can't feel any pain? You just sort of sit there looking at the sky, wondering what you're gonna do with your life? Because I've been there." he said, earning a quiet laugh from the girl.

"I have broken my arm before, my little brother dared me to climb to the top of a pine tree. I made it all the way to the top but when I was climbing back down, I slipped and ended up falling thirty feet straight to the ground. I woke up in a hospital loopy on drugs and a bright pink cast on my arm."

"We've both been on that side of the spectrum then, broke my wrist when I was thirteen. My sweatshirt got caught on barbed wire and when it slipped, I fell back right onto my arm. That shit sucked." he replied, dropping into his computer chair, placing his can back on the table.

"Tell me about it, but my mom told me breaking a limb isn't the worst pain I'll feel in life. There's something else that tops the list, for a woman at least." she said, flushing slightly as she looked to the floor.

"Oh...yeah I guess...so uh...what's up?"

Briar remained silent, placing her hands on her lap. She didn't exactly look up at the boy, not wanting to meet his curious gaze.

"Is something wrong Briar? Do you...still feel guilty over the Storybook?" he asked, leaning forward in his seat.

"No, that isn't it...it's something else." she replied, taking a deep breath to calm herself.

" _Jeez, you've been mentally preparing yourself for this for days now. Just look up at him and tell him how you feel, the worst thing that can happen is he rejects you. You can do this Briar."_

"Blake I...wanted to tell you something. It's uh...really important."

"Sure, whatever it is I'll listen. If it's a project you need help on or someone is bothering you, just let me know and I'll help you with it." he said, grabbing his energy drink, taking a sip from it.

"It's um...I..." she paused, balling her hands tightly as she grabbed a hold of her skirt. She looked up at him, giving him a tiny smile.

"I think I have an answer to that riddle the Cheshire Cat gave you." she replied, earning a curious look from the boy. He grabbed his journal which he had left on his desk and pulled it over to him, turning to the page where he had written the riddle.

"A friend in need, is a friend you seek. Through the portal you two shall meet, chains of gold, charms of love. The way to Wonder shall come from below. You know...I've been thinking a lot about this riddle too, let's hear what you got." he said, grabbing a quill from his table.

"Well, I was mostly focusing on the second part...chains of gold and charms of love...for some reason I can't stop imagining Lucy's charm bracelet. It most likely means that it will be a direct link to Wonderland. The beginning of it, A friend in need, is a friend you seek, also makes sense with something else. You said Lucy was alive right? Do you think she found her way to Wonderland?" she asked curiously.

"Knowing Lucy, she probably did. She was already dreaming about it, mentioning this weird childhood she always wanted to have. She had dreams, of her being in this white castle, surrounded by blooming cherry trees, and chasing weird butterflies with springing heads. She always mentioned running through a swamp of chocolate milk, a lake of dirty dishes, and a giant high school that was never in the same place for too long. At first, it made no sense to me, but now that I know more about Wonderland, it jives with that theory." he said, jotting everything down.

"So...that means Lucy is alive, and in Wonderland. You two will meet, beyond the portal, her bracelet is the key. Do you remember there being a charm that looked different than the others?" Briar asked curiously, earning a frown from the boy.

"Not really...no wait...there is something. One thing that I have that belonged to Lucy that Joey never got his hands on. It was a charm that she gave me one day after me and Joey had a verbal fight." he said, reaching for his pocket watch.

He undid a single charm from it, one that he had attached to it after Cerise had given it to him for Christmas, and handed it to Briar. It was a small golden charm, in the shape of a flower. The letter G had been laser etched in the enter of it, with a styled W underneath it. He remembered it was a charm that she had always worn around her neck. Three months before she had disappeared, she had given it to him and told him to keep it safe from Joey. Of course he was confused by her statement, but he nodded and just kept the charm a secret.

"GW, those look like initials, any idea what they could stand for?"

"I have one, Gloriosa White. The White Queen's daughter, I remember Alistair mentioning her when he arrived in Ever After. Lucy really knows how to hide a damn secret, that's for sure." he said, a smirk on his face.

"So wait...you mean to tell me this girl was living on Earth, but she's from Wonderland? Wouldn't she die from the magic in her system?"

"I'm not sure Briar...there's only one person who can answer that for us right now, and that's the White Queen. I doubt she'd answer our questions, especially knowing we want to reach Wonderland. But I at least have a general idea, we're supposed to open the portal with this charm, that means it's enchanted to take us to Wonderland." he replied, taking the charm back from Briar.

"That only leaves one thing, opening the portal itself. There aren't any areas in Ever After where we can force one open. It'll take massive amounts of magic to even open one from scratch...I guess we're stuck here for now." She added, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I'll have to discuss this with Raven later...maybe she knows of a way. After all, she's expressed wanting to break Wonderland's curse many times before. If I can convince her to help me find a portal, we'll be able to go to Wonderland. We can find the book and put this matter to rest, so you don't have to worry anymore. Don't feel guilty either, you did this because you didn't want to accept your destiny, there's nothing wrong with that."

"I know...but I feel bad for all of my friends you know. We've all put the matter behind us, but it still gets to me sometimes." she replied, brushing some hair behind her ear, pausing briefly to fix her glasses.

A shimmering sound suddenly filled the room along with a brilliant light. The two teenagers glanced over to the other side of the room, where a small swirl of sparkles had appeared, finally dispersing to reveal the daughter of the wizard Merlin, Jessica. She let out a strangled sigh, dropping the bags she had in her hands on the floor, letting out a groan as she popped her back.

"Fuck me, that was a long ass trip. Yo, what's happening peeps?" the white haired girl asked, greeting the two teenagers.

"Uh...hi Jess, where have you been all this time?" Blake asked, leaning back in his seat a bit.

"Well, daddy dearest decided it was time for me to get my level two certification. I passed that shit with flying colors, boom check this baby out!" the girl said, tossing the wand in her hand to the boy who caught it with ease.

Instead of the white wand he was used to seeing, this one was a light blue color. The handle of it was black and blue in color with glittering stars. It was about thirteen inches in length, slowly thinning until it reached the top where a glass ornament was attached to it, in the shape of a star. The star was glittering with differently colored lights which were brighter than a rainbow. He let out a whistle quite impressed with the object, especially the magic that was contained within.

"This thing is nice...I take it you can cast high level magic now?"

"Damn straight I can. I got access to the elemental spells now, along with healing and enhancement magic. Not just that, I also got a lot of other things I couldn't use before. Like this!" Jessica said, holding an orb out to the two teenagers. Briar and Blake shared a look, glancing at the marble sized orb in her hands.

"Uh...you got a marble?" Briar asked, earning a sigh from the wizard.

"This isn't a marble, this is a special orb. It can show me the aura of people who hold it, not just that it also works like a mood ring. Here, try it out." she said, placing it in Briar's hand. She watched as it slowly turned pink.

"It's pink, hey doesn't that mean love?" Blake asked.

"I think so...hang on a second." she said, reaching into her dress for a folded piece of paper. She scanned the words on it, humming to herself.

"It says here that pink usually means in love, or has romantic feelings stirring in ones heart. If there is a small pink flame in the center of the orb then this love is pure and genuine." she said, glancing at the orb in Briar's hand.

"It has a flame in it, and it's pink. Whoa, who are you in love with Briar? It looks to be really strong too!" Blake said, earning a flushed look from the girl.

"I'm not in love with anyone! Sheesh, I think this thing is broken." she snapped, handing the orb back to Jessica. It turned from pink to blue, which meant the holder was happy.

"I dunno, this thing is made with magic and magic doesn't lie. Eh, it might be broken, I don't know." the girl said, shoving it in her pocket. She grabbed one of her bags, pulling out a small scepter, which was cast in bronze, the top being in the shape of a flower, with a glowing orb in the center.

"What's that?" Blake asked curiously, earning a grin from the wizard.

"This my friend is a magic scepter...my dad had it in his trophy room. He said that I couldn't touch it until I had become a level two wizard. So when I got my certification, I took that shit like a boss and brought it here. I got no idea what it does, wanna hold it?" she asked, handing it to the boy.

"Uh...are you sure about that?"

"Mhmm, you are my bestie Blake...besides I feel the need to show you the other side of magic. You know, since I sunk your favorite ship and all." Jessica replied, placing the scepter in his hands. They all watched as the orb started glowing a striking purple in color.

"Whoa...that's really cool."

"You're right Briar, I feel a bit weird though...like this thing is absorbing some of my magic power and storing it in here." the black haired boy said, earning a curious look from Jessica.

"Maybe this is a magic transfer scepter...you know, the type where you can fill it with magic and hand it to someone else when they need it. Briar, put your hand on it see if you get some of his magic."

"Huh? Are you insane? I'm not a wizard and I don't have magic flowing through me. That could probably kill me."

"She's right Jessica, here just take it." he said, handing her the scepter back. Once he let it go, he felt all of his magic slowly return to him. Jessica set it down on the table, reaching into her bag for two more trinkets.

The first looked like a simple lipstick. It was light blue in color with little stars on it. The cap was clear, showing the crimson stick hidden beneath it. The second trinket was a pair of rings, with a small heart shaped diamond on the top, bright green in color and glittering brightly. It had a silver band which was thin and had some tiny engravings on it.

"I got these before I left daddy's school. The first is a magical lipstick, when you put it on your lips and kiss another person you'll be able to transform into them. The transformation lasts for as long as the lipstick does." she said, handing the tube to Blake who looked at it oddly.

"That seems rather convenient...although I don't like that you have to get physically close with them for it to work. This could be dangerous in the wrong hands you know." he said, handing it to Briar so she could look at it.

"Yeah, but you have to be a good actor to mimic a person. The transformation isn't perfect either, say you transform into someone like Darling. It won't mimic that weird hair thing she can do, it might not even copy the cute little mole next to her eye. The transformation also breaks if someone figures out they're different." she replied.

"That's cool I guess, what about those rings in your hand? They look really expensive." Briar said, handing the lipstick to Jessica. The white haired girl took a hold of her hand and slipped one of the rings onto her ring finger, placing the other on Blake's hand.

"These rings are communication devices! You'll be able to send your thoughts directly to someone else, as long as they're holding the ring. If you are doing something secretive or are about to drop the sickest prank of 2018, you gotta have yourself a pair of these rings. Go on, try it." she said, giving them a grin. Blake glanced at the ring on his hand, glancing at Briar who just looked at him oddly.

They remained silent for about two minutes, both trying to say something to each other, but they didn't hear anything. It was just an awkward staring contest between the two. Briar finally broke eye contact, glancing back at Jessica, frowning slightly. She knew if she kept looking at the boy she'd probably start blushing and she didn't want that to happen.

"Yeah, pretty sure these things are a dud...I was trying to ask Blake if he wanted to get some coffee at Hocus Latte and it didn't go through."

"I'd love to get some coffee Briar, I'm sort of starting to crash from this energy drink anyway. I agree with her Jess, these rings don't work." he said, glancing at the ring on his finger. The two teens stood up, about to leave the room.

"Eh? But the guy I bought it from said these were the latest in communication crystals! Did that fucker gyp me? I swear I'm gonna twist his nipples if...wait a minute that's it!" she cried.

"Twisted nipples?"

"No Briar, not twisted nipples! Twist the diamond on the ring, that turns on the communication feature." she said. The two shrugged, giving the gem a light twist, watching as it started glowing brightly.

"Whoa, look at that glow."

"It feels a little weird, hey Blake can you hear my thoughts now?" Briar asked, glancing at the boy. He closed his eyes, focusing on his mind but didn't hear Briar's voice at all. He shook his head, glancing at the ring.

"I don't think this thing works as a communication device at all. Here let me see your hand so I can look at your ring." he said, taking a hold of Briar's hand. When he did, both rings started sparking the crystals breaking a second later. The two teenagers shared a look before glancing at the wizard who just stood there mouth gaping.

"Dammit! That fucker did gyp me! Alright, he's gonna be sorry when he realizes he fucked with the wrong wizard! I have to go, there's a country I have to invade." she said, grabbing a hold of the two rings, shortly before disappearing, leaving no trace of her visit behind.

"Well...that was uh...interesting." Blake said, taking a seat back at his computer chair.

"Yeah...I didn't think being a wizard was so difficult. Keeping track of all of those magical trinkets must be mentally taxing. I mean what if someone got a hold of something and ended up switching bodies with someone?" the brunette asked, making the boy cringe.

"That wouldn't be good, that's for sure. Jessica is a responsible wizard though, so I know she wouldn't do something idiotic like that." he added, grabbing his phone when he saw it light up.

"Still, just the thought of it...I don't even want to imagine it." she replied. He rolled his eyes, pressing his ear to his phone.

"Hey Melody, what's up? I'm free right now if you want me to head over there...yeah sure, be there in ten. See ya. Well Briar, I gotta go...the Rebel calls." he said, standing up from his seat, shoving his phone in his back pocket.

"Oh right, I forgot today was your first broadcast. It's gonna be weird, knowing you, Kitty and Melody are the Radio Rebel."

"Radio Rebels sweetheart, we'll still do what we do best. Bust rumors and stop bullying before it happens! Just because they know Kitty is in on it doesn't mean they'll be able to see her in time. We got surveillance all throughout this school and we got an eye in the sky too. I gotta jet, let's hang out sometime? Okay?" he asked, giving the girl a hug before they parted ways in the hallway.

"See ya Blake." Briar muttered quietly, turning to walk in the opposite direction.

" _Dammit! Briar you damn pussy, you were there on a mission and you chickened out! Ugh...but it was so nerve racking...I'll just tell him another time."_ she thought, balling her fist.

 _ **xxx**_

Jack glanced toward the foyer of Ever After High, seeing a small crowd of people that had gathered. He was glancing at his phone and taking odd sips from his milkshake, glancing at the cup every so often. The quality in shakes from the Beanstalk Bakery hadn't changed, but after awhile one got tired of getting the same thing over and over again. He didn't complain however, as Vanilla Bean was his favorite. He felt some movement next to him and glanced to his left, seeing his friend Joey leaned up against the lockers, arms crossed as he looked at the crowd.

"So, what's going on over there?"

"A student just came back...he's the son of Gaston LeGume, you know...the guy that ends up killing the Beast because he's in love with Belle?"

"I know who he is...I didn't think this world went with that version of this story though. So, the mighty Gaston has a son? What's he like?" the boy asked, earning a shrug from Jack.

"He's alright I guess. He was pretty average last time he was here, but now that he spent some time with his father, he actually became a bit more arrogant. As if we needed another Henry in this fucking place." he replied, taking a drink from his cup, frowning when his straw got clogged. Joey smirked, cracking his knuckles.

"Sounds like a good guy to have around then...I'm gonna go introduce myself to him." he said, pushing himself from the lockers.

"Good luck with that." the son of Jack replied, watching his friend walked toward the crowd.

Standing in the middle of it was a tall imposing young man with quite a muscular body. His arms were lean and muscular, and his muscle shirt was doing nothing to hide his pectoral muscles. His long hair was tied into a ponytail with a red ribbon. His features were nice and chiseled, with a strong cleft chin and cheek bones along with bright blue eyes. He was wearing a red jacket over his muscle shirt, along with a pair of black pants and brown leather boots. Joey had to admit, the guy looked a lot like his father, but he knew it was all just an act. The kid wasn't anything like Gaston, only in appearance. He let a few girls touch his flexed arms, a smirk on his face when they gave him loving looks. Joey cleared his throat, earning his attention.

"Ah, hello there! You must have heard about the son of the great Gaston and wished to meet him yourself! Well it's a pleasure, my name is Tobias, but you can call me Toby." the young man said, holding his gloved hand outward.

"Joey, it's nice to meet you Toby...you uh...got a strong following here." he said, meeting his handshake with one of his own.

"Well of course I do! The ladies absolutely love me, I mean I am an excellent hunter. Not just that, I pride myself in everything I do."

"Let me guess, daddy dearest made you eat five dozen eggs until you grew to the size of a barge?" Joey asked. Toby blinked a few times, chuckling a bit.

"How'd ya know? Eh well, it's public knowledge I mean...he does run his own gym." he replied.

" _His own Gym? Gaston has his own gym? Goddamn it, he should have been pushed off the Beast's castle during his story. The fuck is this shit?"_ Joey thought, shaking those thoughts out of his head.

"Anyway, I just felt the need to introduce myself...and bring a warning. No idea if you know someone by the name of Blake but...some shit happened during the Spring Fairest you see. He ended up enslaving various of his friends, not just that...he plugged the well of Wonder. Tried to destroy this realm, be wary of him would you? For your own safety." he said.

"Blake did that? I mean damn, I met him the day before I was pulled out of school but...never mind. I shall take your warning kindly and steer clear of him. I shall not let him harm anyone else in this realm." he said firmly. He glanced toward the lockers, seeing a familiar brunette placing something in her locker.

"Rosabella! Hey over here!" he called out, startling the girl, who turned around and fixed her glasses. Her eyes widened a bit, and she gave him a sheepish smile. Toby clapped Joey's shoulder, making him wince a bit.

"Many thanks for your warning, it was nice meeting you. Perhaps we can hang out sometime...I'll show you how to properly use antlers in all of your decorating...peace!" he said, parting the crowd as he walked toward Rosabella with big booming steps.

"Goddamn it, my fuckin shoulder." Joey muttered, rubbing his now sore shoulder. He heard a giggle behind him and turned around, seeing Faybelle standing behind him, taking a drink from her coffee.

"Making friends Joey dear? That is so unlike you."

"Shut up Faybelle...at least I'm trying, spreading bad rumors about that dill hole Blake is hard. Especially when half of the school knows him personally...eh, I'm exaggerating...but still he's got too many friends. I'm just taking the liberty to limit his options a bit." he replied, crossing his arms.

"Yeah sure, whatever...just be careful with that one. He is the son of Gaston after all, and he'd do anything to get with little Rosabella over there...too bad there isn't a Beast yet...that would be like, totally awesome if they fought and shit. Gotta run, me and Duchess are hanging out today...see ya." she said, fluttering off.

"Hmm...a beast eh? That would be interesting...fulfilling a destiny before a story even happens. Killing Toby by pushing him off the castle...too bad there isn't a beast anywhere. That would make for some interesting entertainment." he muttered under his breath.

" _ **Prepare for total domination."**_

Joey's eyes widened when he heard that jingle, and swiftly turned around, facing one of the nearby MirrorScreens. The familiar logo of the Radio Rebel appeared on the screen, before it started distorting and breaking, showing a live image of a recording studio. What really made him surprised was the fact that Melody and Blake were both on camera with proud smirks on their faces while that ridiculous song was playing in the background. He balled his fist a bit, trying his hardest to hide his hatred.

" _Good afternoon people of Ever After High and the village of Bookend! Welcome to the first broadcast of the new Radio Rebel. That's right, we're back and this time we are unmasked, uncensored and for the next two hours, live on the air! I'll be your hostess for the day, Melody Piper."_

" _And I'll be her co-host, Blake Bigby. That's right ladies and gentlemen...we're back and better than ever. The entire Rebel team has decided to use this new format to do what we do best. Just because you know who were are doesn't mean we're gonna stop doing our job. You see, there's still someone out there who wants to hurt people. Not only have they attacked my person, but they have attacked my friends. So I vow to do everything to expose the Fake Rebel for what he is, a fake."_ Blake said firmly, looking directly into the camera. Joey didn't know why, but that look really made him uncomfortable. Melody reached over and grabbed a record, spinning it on her finger tip.

" _So as always we're gonna drop right into this show with an awesome song. I hate tooting my own horn, but fuck it this is our show and we'll do it our way. So on deck we have the track that started Purple Rhapsody's awesome career. Many thanks to our front girl C.A. Cupid, this one is for you hon, it's time to Set it all Free!"_ she cried, starting the song, which started filtering through the PA system. Everyone started cheering loudly, chanting the Radio Rebel's name. Joey growled angrily bowing his head.

" _So, they managed to get their show back up...and they're proudly admitting it. But that doesn't mean I won't still have my fun. There is still a lot for me to do, and so little time to do it in. You can have your fun for now, but I will take you down Bigby."_

The brown haired young man spun on his heel, leaving the foyer, a smirk written on his face. This wasn't over, in fact it was just beginning.


	58. Amp vs Amp

**A/N:**

 **Hey guys, welcome to Chapter 58 of Through the Looking Glass. This is going to be a rather musical chapter, because I haven't had one in awhile and those are always fun to write. I don't know why, but I find these chapters the most fun whenever I write them. Whether it's Radio Rebel, the shenanigan of the week or music chapters, it's always fun to share my taste in music with everyone. So I do hope you all enjoy the songs that I have selected for this chapter. Give them a listen while reading the lyrics and tell me what you think of them.**

 **As I said last night, this chapter is going to be a Segway, in about an hour I will put the alternate ending to this chapter on Fanfiction as it's own original story, connected to this one. It will feature the pairing of Blake and Melody, which I have dubbed Black Aria Shipping. Blake of course means black in old English, and Aria is a voice solo. So it's a rather fitting name. I've also come up with a shipping name for Blake and Duchess, which isn't original when you think about it. It's called Black Swan shipping, it makes sense since Duchess technically is the Black Swan so it's a bit of a pun. If you have a better ship name for that one feel free to suggest it. Anything would be better than the name I got.**

 **This chapter in it's entirety is just Purple Rhapsody and Yuletide Bliss trying to see who's the better band...of course we all know who the better band is. Amp vs Amp is actually a competition style, in where two bands go head to head at the same time and try to out play each other. I didn't exactly know how to write something like that without it coming out like a jumbled mess. So I just came up with this little system...I kept the name because it sounded cool, don't judge!**

 **I do hope you like this chapter, let me know what you think, if you feel like it of course! If you wanna suggest a song for the story as well, as long as it's something in the Rock, Post Hardcore, Pop or J-Pop genres, I'll take it for consideration...Please no country, I don't like country music, and please no Nickelback, I hate that band with a passion. Fuck their music and their photograph!**

 **Songs In this chapter:**

 **Make It Shine: Victoria Justice**

 **Just the way you are: Bruno Mars**

 **Dark Storms: Our Last Night**

 **Common Ground: Our Last Night**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 58

Amp vs Amp

 **Key for the songs:**

 **Make it Shine:** _Italics-Cupid Singing_

 **Just the Way you Are:** _Italics- Joey Singing_

 **Dark Storms:** _Italics- Blake singing_

 _ **Bold Italics- Dexter (Backup)**_

 _ **Underlined Italics-Melody singing**_

 _ **Bold-Cerise screaming**_

 **Common Ground:** _Italics-Blake singing_

 _ **Bold**_ _:-Blake screaming_

 _ **Bold Italics:-Auto Tune**_

 _ **(Have fun figuring that shit out, even I'm confused lol :-P)**_

Ten minutes had passed since the end of of Radio Rebel's first broadcast as an official radio show. Overall, it had been an amazing success. Not only had they gotten viewers in Ever After High, but throughout Bookend, a lot of people, students and civilians alike were listening into the broadcast. Melody had done an excellent job setting up her studio, and she didn't disappoint. Blake hadn't seen it until an hour before the broadcast was set to go online. Every piece of equipment had been brought from her dormitory within the school. She had turned one of the bedrooms into the actual studio where they would broadcast the show. The middle of the room had the module where Blake and Melody had been sitting. The back wall had been covered with sound proofing foam of various colors, mostly white, violet and maroon as those were Melody's favorite colors.

The center console was where most of the magic happened, containing the transmitters, receivers and various other pieces of equipment that made everything work. There were two microphones attached to large arms that came down in front of the two. She had told him those were the best ones on the market, and were not only meant to send out their voices but also for them to sing live songs if they were requested. In front of Blake's station was his laptop, which was connected to the main terminal. The desk itself was a high tech piece of equipment, allowing him to input various things on the top of it, as it doubled as a screen. It was here that he was able to switch from camera to camera around the studio, as well as their eye in the sky, which was actually a drone that Dexter had built for them. It was built with high tech cameras that sent live feed right to the studio from a high distance so people wouldn't even notice it was hovering over them.

To the very right of the room was an entire wall filled with records. Melody's half of the studio not only had her laptop, but also a turn table, cassette player and a CD player as well. She also had a hook up for her phone as well as Blake's Ipod which was the source of most of their music. She had made it this way so that she could play anything on any format without much issue. Blake thought she had an impressive collection, but seeing the entire wall from end to end filled to the brim with records, some being from his world thanks to Jessica, it was impressive. Not only did she have a nice collection, but she had also turned all of Purple Rhapsody's songs into vinyl, hanging each record on the wall as a proud achievement of their band.

In front of them were some glass panels, made with soundproofing glass. Melody had actually requested this wall to be built, to keep the actual studio isolated from all outside interference and noise. Beyond that wall, was the station where Kitty and Duchess were, sitting in front of a multitrack mixing panel with various equalizers and voice modulators. While Kitty was out on the field searching the school for anything that caught her attention, Duchess would keep an eye on the callers and patch them into the studio. She was responsible for adding voice changers for callers who didn't want them to be on the air.

She was still learning on how to use half of the things in front of her, but Melody had told her that she only had to focus on the panel in front of her and none of the other stuff, as that would be used for sound mixing and added effects, mostly when the band was recording there. This part of the studio was slightly dimmed with black carpeting and leather seats pressed against the back wall. The walls were painted a soft maroon color, and two light fixtures had been placed onto the wall. There was also a bathroom in this room, as this was once the master bedroom and the largest bedroom of the house. There were some pictures hanging on the back wall as well, mostly ones that Melody had taken with her friends, as well as some of their album covers.

They were all hanging out in this small control station, glancing at some of the chats on Purple Rhapsody's website which was also the Radio Rebel's new website as well. Melody had decided to combine the two websites, since it wasn't a secret anymore that she was involved with the Radio Rebel. The reviews were mostly positive, but of course there were those that were annoyed with the resurgence of the real Rebel and how they were now back to exposing the secrets of Ever After High. Of course, Blake had stated many times that they didn't expose secrets, they only revealed the truth so that no one would be hurt or bullied.

They wanted to put a stop to anything before it even started, which a lot of people thought was a noble cause. Not only that, but any proceedings they did make from selling their band's merchandise and donated it to charity. The only used ten percent of that for themselves while donating everything else. No matter what people said, they couldn't deny that they weren't doing the right thing with all of that money. They weren't alone, Dexter, Cupid and Cerise were also there, having wanted to be present for the return of the Radio Show. Blake let out a small laugh as he glanced up from his screen, a smirk on his face.

"Check this out, I'm totally pissed the Radio Rebels are actually hosting their own radio show. Like, now our secrets will never be safe...screw all of them, they should get arrested for invasion of privacy." he said.

"Invasion of privacy? It isn't invasion of privacy if you're the one who's doing this shit in public." Duchess replied.

"You know people always say that stuff. There's always a naysayer when it comes to new things...but there is one thing that is totally amusing. The fact that the Fake Rebel is most likely out there shitting his pants." Kitty said, her trademark grin decorating her face.

"Ain't that the truth...especially because we cut off the old relay that worked with the School's PA system. Now, they have no way of broadcasting in the school." Dexter said, a smirk on his face.

"I've been meaning to ask about that, how were you able to actually get the PA back under control?" Cupid asked curiously, glancing up from her MirrorPad.

"Well you see, it isn't hard to create that special relay. I did it once before, but the thing with that one was that you needed a phone. In order for it to actually play they're voices through the PA, a land line needed to be used. That's what lead the Fake Rebel into taking over the PA, he got that relay and the phone. The new relay is located inside the school's server room." the brown haired prince said, a smirk on his face.

"Not bad, by putting it in the server room, it makes it impossible to find the right one. Not just that, it can remotely hack into the system not only playing the show through the PA, but also sending out a signal to block out the land line relay. That's nice Dex, didn't think you had it in you." Cerise said, a small smile on her face.

"It was Melody who gave me the idea. She didn't want anyone to lock her out of the system mid broadcast like what happened before. The system software that we use now is managed on our own system server. Purple Rhapsody's server is located in this apartment, and while it isn't as big as the one in school, the security is quite hard to breach. I'll be alerted whenever anyone even attempts it." he replied, a smirk on his face.

"Well you thought of everything then. You event built that cute drone too, with high resolution pictures. You are quite a talented nerd Dexter, you have my respect."

"You better take that as a compliment Dexter. Duchess doesn't speak highly of people that often." Blake replied, rapidly typing a message on his phone, the soft clicking sound of the keys filling the room.

"Oh, don't give me that shit...so, did you all notice who came back to school?" she asked, not taking her eyes off her phone.

"Yeah, Tobias LeGume. I forgot he had been gone for awhile." Cerise said, a rather annoyed tone in her voice. Cupid and Blake both had confused looks on their faces, not understanding who they were talking about.

"Um, would you mind telling me who Tobias is? I don't remember ever meeting him."

"I agree with Cupid, I don't remember ever meeting this guy." Blake added, earning a scoff from Duchess who looked up from her phone.

"I'm quite surprised...so the great Blake Bigby doesn't remember the little people? Don't you recall your first day in Ever After High? After you placed a kiss on Lizzie's hand, you actually met Tobias. He was playing cards with us."

"Eh? I did? I remember kissing Lizzie's hand but I don't remember this guy or what he looked like."

"Leave it to you to only remember kissing Lizzie's hand. Out of all the things you did during your first day, that was the most important thing?" Cerise asked, earning a smirk from the boy.

"Well sweetie, if I recall correctly...I also hung out with the rebels and I asked you how that turkey was treating you. You flushed and told me it was okay before tearing into that leg like a feral beast." he said. The girl flushed looking at the floor.

"I was hungry, what did you want me to do?"

"I think I remember this Tobias guy...he's supposed to be the antagonist in Beauty and the Beast. Rosabella is his love interest, the one he wants to marry. He's the one that leads the witch hunt to the Beast's castle, just as the rose is about to lose it's last few petals."

"That's right Cupid...Tobias and Rosabella are childhood friends. He was a sweet boy, always nice and well respected. But his father, Gaston, didn't think he was being a man. So he pulled him out of school to train him in how to be the next Gaston. I heard rumors of what he did, he made him eat Five dozen eggs a day, took him hunting and exercised daily to make him roughly the size of a barge." Melody said, earning a scoff from Blake.

"Do you know how big a fucking barge is? There is no way in hell this kid is that strong. But this is a pressing matter, I mean forcing your son to do all of this shit? Just so you can become a better man? Ugh...if there's a villain I hate more than the Evil Queen it is definitely Gaston." he replied.

"Whoa, sounds to me like you have a grudge on this dude. It's totally cute, are you gonna fight him? I wanna see you two fight head to head. Then when he rips you shirt off, I'll be there with a towel to wipe the sweat from your body." Duchess said, flushing slightly at the thought.

"Jeez, stop acting like such a whore you damn swan! As if Blake is gonna let himself get his ass kicked by that social reject!" Cerise spat, earning a honk from the Swan Princess.

"Oh? What's it matter to you? I think you are just jealous that there's a hotter girl out there who wants a piece of Blake's ass. After all, he has what you want and can't have because of your own dumb choices!"

"Duchess Swan, that is enough! Don't talk to Cerise that way dammit! What the fuck is wrong with you?" Blake snapped angrily, causing the girl to shy back a bit. She huffed, turning her face away from him, nose held high.

"Oooh, this is so interesting...I like seeing girls fighting over a single boy. Maybe you two could strike a deal so that you can have a Devil's threeway with Blake, that would be so hot." Kitty added, a grin on her face.

"And this is rapidly going south, I got shit to do and tracks to edit. So if you are just gonna talk about sex, then I would appreciate it if you left. I need peace and quiet for what I need to do." Melody said, slightly annoyed with that tone of the conversation.

"Aw...that's fine then...I'll see you tomorrow for our next radio cast. I'll be sure to have my eyes and ears everywhere. See ya later Melody!" Kitty replied, flashing out of the room. Everyone else stood up, grabbing their things.

"It was an awesome first show Mel, really well done. I look forward to the next few shows! If you need maintenance done on the servers, just text me and I'll run over here."

"Thanks Dexter, see you all later...oh Blake before you go, think we could talk real quick? You too Cupid." the white haired girl said, grabbing their hands so they wouldn't leave.

"Sure, what's up?" Blake replied, slightly concerned.

"I wanted to talk about our next album. I've wanted to make preparations in order to brainstorm some new lyrics but...I wanted you to see something that was recently brought to my attention." the girl said, turning the MirrorPad in her hands toward them. The two teenagers looked at it, eyes widening a bit.

On it was a picture of Joey, winking at the camera while holding a microphone in his hands. Behind him stood Pierre, holding a bass guitar in his hands, while Jack was on his knees, eyes closed as he looked to be shredding on his guitar. Behind them was Frost, with an ice piano in front of him, along with a drum set that seemed to be made of pure snow. The name Yuletide Bliss Re-Invented was written on the top of it, a rather festive looking banner behind it, along with a tiny smiling snowman on the bottom right corner of the picture. Blake took a hold of the tablet, looking closer at the picture.

"Is this what I think it is?"

"It is...it seems our competition has dropped their album. It has fewer songs than our own, but it is really popular. Despite Joey being a horrible person on the outside, people seem to ignore that in favor of his musical abilities. Not only that, one of the songs that is on it is a familiar one." she said, tapping the screen to show the song list.

"No way, it says here that Beat It is on their album. Not just that, look at the other songs, Lucy, Save the World and Break Out. Blake weren't those songs that you were working on?" Cupid asked, earning a sigh from the boy.

"Yes, I was. I was in the process of translating Break Out and rewriting the melody. But it seems he got ahead of me and decided to sing it in it's original language. That's probably why it's so popular, he's got anime songs on here in Japanese, a language not of this world. It adds diversity...but we've got something they don't. That's passion...we love what we do, unlike Joey who is doing this just to one up me." Blake replied, a frown on his face.

"I know I shouldn't be pushing you, especially after all the stuff that happened. We've been raffling Shatter Me pretty well, sales are up and we've made it to the Top 100's list this month with Strike Back. But we need to start working on a new album asap if we want to continue on our streak." Melody said.

"Nah, sweetheart you are missing the point!"

Cupid looked at Blake, who had a firm look on his face. He handed the girl her tablet back, reaching into his bag for his music book. It was rather thick, most likely filled with various songs the boy had written and translated. He looked at it, a small smile on his face.

"Music isn't about besting someone else. It isn't about dropping an album to upstage another band...when I started this band, I wanted to share my love of music with Ever After. I started it, to upshow Henry...but then I realized that I could do a lot more with music than just use it for something petty. Set it All Free was a song that opened my eyes, it lead to the song Strike Back being written."

"I wasn't done Blake, did you check out the top comment posted by Joey when the album dropped this morning?" she asked, showing him the comments list. Blake quickly found the one she was pointing at, narrowing his eyes.

" _Ever After High is going to be excited when they hear our collection of music. Not only did we add original songs, but we have also created something unique. We have made something that isn't tacky like what Purple Rhapsody plays. Shatter Me was good, but it was a rip off an original song by another artist. Every single song we have on this album is 100% original. Not stolen from an artist who doesn't exist in this world, that is our promise to you Ever After, clean genuine music with a lot of passion."_

"You ass turd monkey fucker!" he shouted, causing Cupid to scream in surprise.

"What? What?"

"He's lying to everyone in this comment! His music isn't original, it's taken from another world! Not only that, he is saying we don't write original songs, when Set It all Free, Somebody and Strike Back are 100% original! Okay, that is it...I normally don't do this sort of thing, but it is time for us to go up against them! Amp vs Amp!" he cried.

"I like the sound of that...a competition where we upshow the others by showing them our superior magic skills. But to pull that off, we need to bait them...how exactly are we gonna do that?" Melody asked, a confused look on her face.

"Hehe, simple. Cupid, what's your cup size?"

"Eh...what?"

 _ **xxx**_

"Do you think it was a wise idea to say that stuff on the comments to your album?" Faybelle asked, glancing away from the Yo-Yo in her hands. Joey was sitting at a table at the castleteria, away from everyone else who was currently having dinner.

He had various books open in front of him, and he was busy jotting down notes of some sort. Faybelle wasn't exactly sure what the notes were, since they were being written in a language she didn't know. Joey had said that it was one called French, which he had learned aside from English due to living in Canada. Some of the tomes he had on the table were all magic based, he had one on Light magic and it's simple uses, as well as Fire and Ice. If she were to hazard a guess, he wanted to learn elemental magics and increase his control of Light. It was odd, but she sensed quite a lot of light magic within him. Just like with Blake, she had sensed a lot of darkness within him. But deciding which of the two was good had been extremely difficult for her. She stuck around with Joey, merely because he was interesting. The boy chuckled as he looked up from his work.

"Of course it was. It's been a few weeks since the Fairest, where Shatter Me was dropped. We waited until a strategic point in time to drop our album. During a period of time where Purple Rhapsody was descending from it's high spike in popularity. All interest has deviated to our album, and increased our popularity by nearly 20%." he said, almost in a robotic sense. Faybelle blinked a few times, flicking her wrist so that her Yo-yo fell down its string.

"That was methodical, almost like a business strategy...I'm most certainly impressed. So, what are you doing with all of these magic tomes?"

"What does it look like my dear? Increasing my knowledge on magic, after all I have a near infinite well of it. Due to being from Earth, I've become a sponge for light magic. Meaning I can use the basic elements, Fire, Water, Ice, Earth, Wind and Lightning. I just wanted to have a little bit of magic in my arsenal, nothing more." he replied, glancing back at his notes. He smirked inwardly.

" _Learning magic is just a front...I need to increase my magic knowledge in case I get in a pickle. Excalibur works better if it's wielder has control of their magic, and since technically I'm from another world, the Sword wouldn't necessarily reject me."_ he thought.

"So, how's that curse coming along? Any headway?"

"It's getting there, I think I'd rather finish it on site. That's what the Evil Queen most likely wants out of me...to head to Wonderland so that she can tell me the end of it. But I got my own agenda, I'm afraid I can't finish the curse just yet."

"Right, you want to find Excalibur...where exactly do you think it is? I mean, Wonderland is huge. You can't exactly drop in and expect to find it." Faybelle replied, earning a chuckle from the boy.

"You forget one thing, that boy Alistair...the son of Alice...he's got a WonderMap. It apparently shows him the location of anything in Wonderland. Once I swipe that from him, I'll easily be able to find Excalibur. The sword in the stone will be mine, once I find the Storybook of Legends and sign my name in the King Arthur story, I'll unlock it's full power. Then, it's time to set the Evil Queen free, destroy Wonderland and take over Ever After. Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy!"

"Um...not that your plan doesn't sound appealing but...what about your friends? Where do they fit into this?" she asked, almost bashfully. He gave her a lopsided grin, glancing toward the lower part of the castleteria where his friends and bandmates were having dinner.

"I'll let them off easy...they've been kind to me. I'll offer them positions of power in my new Kingdom, as for you...well every good Kingdom needs a powerful Dark Mage." he said, giving her a wink. She gave him a smile, forcing it onto her face.

" _Not that taking over Ever After doesn't sound appealing but...I still have friends here. Duchess probably would fight until the very end, seeing as she dislikes this guy to high heaven. There's no way in hell Blake will let him get away with it, either...at the very least it'll be entertaining."_ she thought to herself.

Her attention was brought to the lower area of the castleteria when she heard people start talking. She caught her Yo-yo in her hand, standing up from her seat, walking toward the railing. Her eyes widened a bit in surprise when she saw Cupid walking toward the center of the castleteria, hands folded together at the center of her chest.

She was wearing a rather fancy looking gown, lacking any form of shoulder strap, with a frilled white hem at the top. It accented her curves quite a bit, around her waist she had a white sash tied into a bow behind her back. The bottom part of the gown extended downward toward the knees, with several golden hearts sown into the gown itself. It had a light pink ruffled hem, with little red hearts sown on it. She was wearing a pair of white stockings and black slippers. Her hair had been curled and left down, falling over her wings, which had been decorated with various colored flowers. Her make up was flawless, the dark and light colors accenting every feature of her face. Around her neck she was wearing a choker, with a red heart in the center, though it looked broken and splintered from where she stood.

The entire castleteria was in complete awe of this young woman, none of them knowing exactly what she was doing. People were talking and whispering about her dress, and the reason why she was even standing there. While some were saying she was going to confess her feelings to some guy, others were wondering if she had been dared to dress that way. None of them noticed her reaching into her pocket, pulling out what looked to be a microphone, which she flicked on.

" _Here I am, once again_

 _Feeling lost, but now and then_

 _I breathe it in, to let it go_

 _And you don't know where you are now_

 _Or what it would come to_

 _If only somebody could hear_

 _When you figure out how_

 _You're lost in the moment_

 _You disappear!_

 _You don't have to be afraid to put your dream in action_

 _You're never gonna face you'll be the main attraction_

 _Not a fantasy_

 _Just remember me_

 _When it turns out right!_

 _Cause you know that if you live_

 _In your imagination_

 _Tomorrow you'll be everybody's_

 _Fascination!_

 _In my victory, just remember me_

 _When I Make it Shine!"_

" _Reaching high! Feeling low_

 _I'm holding on but letting go_

 _I like to shine_

 _I'll shine for you_

 _And it's time to show the world how_

 _It's a little bit closer_

 _As long as I'm ready to go_

 _All we have is right now_

 _As long as you feel it, inside you know..._

 _You don't have to be afraid to put your dream in action_

 _You're never gonna face you'll be the main attraction_

 _Not a fantasy_

 _Just remember me_

 _When it turns out right!_

 _Cause you know that if you live_

 _In your imagination_

 _Tomorrow you'll be everybody's_

 _Fascination!_

 _In my victory, just remember me_

 _When I Make it Shine!_

 _Everyone can tell you how it's all been said and done_

 _That harder times will change your mind_

 _And make you wanna run_

 _But you want it_

 _And you need it,_

 _Like you need to breathe the air_

 _If they doubt you,_

 _Just believe it!_

 _That's enough to get you there!"_

 _You don't have to be afraid to put your dream in action_

 _You're never gonna face you'll be the main attraction_

 _Not a fantasy_

 _Just remember me_

 _When it turns out right!_

 _Cause you know that if you live_

 _In your imagination_

 _Tomorrow you'll be everybody's_

 _Fascination!_

 _In my victory, just remember me_

 _When I Make it SHINE!"_

As the song came to an end, the entirety of the castleteria exploded in a chorus of applause and cheering. Cupid's name was being called out by nearly everyone, making the girl blush. It was then that Faybelle noticed the Mezzanine across from them had the rest of Purple Rhapsody as well as they're instruments. All of them were looking down at Cupid, clapping for her hard work during the song. She had completely owned the makeshift stage. She felt someone beside her and turned her head slightly, seeing Joey had joined her, and was clutching the railing rather tightly.

"So...you thought it best to try and taunt me, because of our little comment. That's nice Blake, really nice." he said, his eyes focused on the black haired teenager who was smirking right back at him.

"Wait...this was just a taunt?" Faybelle asked, earning a nod from the boy.

"Mhmm...we just dropped our album...I knew they would be mad, but I didn't think they'd do this. They wanna take our popularity away from us, strike while the iron is hot, so to say. Well, two can play that game." he said, a smirk on his face.

Faybelle didn't really like that look, it was a look of someone who wanted payback. And Purple Rhapsody was the victim this time around, she only hoped nothing bad happened to anyone involved. She shook her head, blinking a few times as she looked at her hands.

" _Faybelle Thorn what is wrong with you? Since when the hell do you care about any of these fools? They're just your playthings until Sleeping Beauty starts, nothing more nothing less!"_

"But is that really the truth?" she muttered under her breath.

Ever since the Forest Fest, she had been rather confused on what she wanted to do. She had hoped hanging out with Joey would realign her heart on it's normal evil course, but seeing all of the good things Blake had done in the school also made her see the good in people. She clenched her hand, breaking her Yo-yo with ease. She fluttered away, leaving a confused Joey behind.

 _ **xxx**_

"Wow! I still can't believe this, not only did we get an A on this project, but Mr. Nimble actually wants to hook us up with a publisher! I didn't think it was that good."

"Are you insane Holly? This story was excellent, I mean the whole part about the amusement park, and Blondie having to sacrifice the cookies in order to save Raven's life when she was hanging off the cart. That was ingenious, a totally amazing segway. Especially the part where they had to go to the food court in the amusement park to bake more cookies." Blake said, earning a giggle from the long haired girl.

"Well, it just made sense. Searching the nearby grocery store for ingredients was honestly the best part. It was a good thing I asked for your help with firearms...I'm not good with them, but at least you have a lot of knowledge on them."

"It was nothing Holly, we started this thing together. So I'll help you out whenever you need it, plus I like being your beta reader. It makes me feel special since I get to read the book before anyone else." he said happily.

"Hmm, you wanna go on a date later? We have to celebrate our amazing A!"

"Sure, I'm not doing anything later...it would be an absolutely amazing opportunity." he replied, a grin on his face.

They arrived at the foyer a couple minutes later, stopping in their tracks when they saw a gathered crowd in front of them. It didn't take long for them to figure out why they had gathered up. Blake took a hold of Holly's hand, leading her toward the staircase, gaining a bit of height, finally seeing the cause of the gathering.

"Thank you all for gathering up, we dropped our album yesterday, but that doesn't mean we aren't above dropping a new song. We wrote this one and are dedicating it to all of our fans!" Joey said, his voice filtering through the speakers. A rather familiar song started filling the entrance hall, making Blake narrow his eyes in annoyance.

" _Oh, her eyes, her eyes make the stars look like_

 _They're not shining!_

 _Her hair, her hair, falls perfectly without her trying!_

 _She's so beautiful, and I tell her everyday!_

 _Yeah, I know, I know when I compliment her_

 _She won't believe me_

 _And it's so, it's so sad to think she_

 _Doesn't see what I see_

 _But every time she asks me do I look okay?_

 _I say_

 _When I see you're face_

 _There's not a thing that I would change_

 _Cause you're amazing! Just the way you are!_

 _And when you smile_

 _The whole world stops and stares for awhile!_

 _Cause girl you're amazing, just the way you are!_

 _Her lips, her lips I can kiss them all day if she'd let me_

 _Her laugh, her laugh, she hates but I think it's so sexy_

 _She's so beautiful, and I tell her every day_

 _Oh, you know, you know I'd never ask you to change_

 _If perfect's what you're searching for then_

 _Just stay the same!_

 _So don't even bother asking if you look okay_

 _You know I'll say!_

 _When I see you're face_

 _There's not a thing that I would change_

 _Cause you're amazing! Just the way you are!_

 _And when you smile_

 _The whole world stops and stares for awhile!_

 _Cause girl you're amazing, just the way you are!_

 _The way you are!_

 _The way you are,_

 _Girl you're amazing!_

 _Just the way you are!_

 _When I see you're face_

 _There's not a thing that I would change_

 _Cause you're amazing! Just the way you are!_

 _And when you smile_

 _The whole world stops and stares for awhile!_

 _Cause girl you're amazing, just the way you are!_

 _Yeah!"_

To Blake's surprise, the crowd started clapping after the song ended. Joey gave them all a bright smile, bowing with his arms spread out. Jack and Pierre high fived behind him, while Frost gave an approving smile from behind his computer. Since the didn't have a drummer yet, they had to use Midi data for their music which wasn't exactly a bad thing. He glanced to his right seeing Holly clapping her hands, but when she caught his gaze she immediately stopped, a sheepish smile on her face.

"It was a cute song!"

"It was a stolen song...he didn't even acknowledge the fact that he didn't write it, the bastard. Poor Bruno Mars, the poor man must be sad as all hell." he muttered dryly. He reached into his back pocket, dialing Melody's number into the keypad.

"Oh, I didn't know he didn't write that song. That's so nasty! It makes content creators, writers and everyone else look so scummy!" Holly cried, finally understanding the boy's annoyance.

"Which is why I gotta put him in his place. Melody, we're going electric, fifteen minutes in the Legacy Courtyard." he said, not bothering to wait for her reply.

"You're going electric? What does that even mean?"

Blake just gave her a wink, and a stole a kiss from her lips, walking off before she could even say anything. Her cheeks tinged crimson, not having expected that sudden action from the boy. Even though they weren't dating, Blake certainly knew how to tease her. But she did have more questions than before, especially the statement he had just made. All she knew, was that it was going to be big, especially if Purple Rhapsody was getting involved.

 _ **xxx**_

It was almost surreal for Purple Rhapsody to be back on the stage in the Legacy Courtyard. It was the same one that had been used during the Winter Formal, and had been left behind in case someone wanted to hose a concert. All of Purple Rhapsody's instruments had already been set up, and thanks to the permission they had gotten from Milton Grimm, they had been able to use it as a practice stage whenever they wanted. It was here that Blake and his bandmates were currently in the middle of setting up, with only a few people wondering what was going on, but not a lot were outside due to them being in class. Cupid finished practicing her scales, turning to face Blake who was going through a quick check of the equipment with Melody.

"Blake, are you sure we should go Electric? I mean, this song sounds find in the acoustic version. It has a softer meaning behind the lyrics."

"I know, when I originally wrote that song I didn't want it to be anything other than acoustic. But Joey stepped up his game, using a love song to get the crowds fervor. So we have to up the ante." he replied.

"Besides, I've already arranged the electric version of this song, and it sounds badass. We've practiced our respective lines, Blake knows the lyrics, we've got this." Melody added, a grin on her face.

"I don't think we should be using our bands to battle this douche bag. I mean, we already won the Battle of the Bands in the past, we're the best around. Why do we have to prove it?" Cerise asked, doing a final check on her set to make sure every drum was in place.

"It isn't about proving it Cerise...Joey thinks that just because he has a lot of songs he can use. That he can use them without giving credit, he's not respecting the work other people put into those lyrics. It makes bands like us, who write original music and make cover songs look like crap. It's total bullshit, and I just wanna set him straight." Blake said firmly.

"Oh...so it's a dick measuring contest." the daughter of Little Red said, causing the boy to go wide eyed.

"Now that I think about it, this is a dick measuring contest. Joey was the one who started it by putting that comment on his album." Dexter said.

"Mhmm, and Blake stirred the pot by having Cupid perform during dinner. He basically used Cupid as a condom to show everyone that he was protected and had the longer dick. But today's show of force totally fucked us in the ass, once again showing that Joey isn't lacking in package. But it will ultimately be us who shows Ever After that we have the length, the girth and the power to fuck everyone's ears with our amazing music." Melody said firmly.

"Melody, what the fuck is wrong with you? I didn't think you were this perverted...Jesus Christ." Blake replied, earning a smirk from the white haired girl.

"Why do I have to be the condom? Can't I be something not perverted?"

"No matter how you slice it, it's gonna be perverted...sorry Cupid, but Melody has a point." Cerise said, earning a sigh from the boy.

"Could you not agree with her honey? Please I don't want to look like a douche bag, seeing as it's my dick that's on the chopping block." he replied, arms crossed in annoyance.

"Can we please stop talking about dick?" Dexter asked, earning a similar reply from Cupid.

"Okay, we're all set...now to get the crowd in front of us!" Melody said, pressing a button on her laptop, holding a microphone up. She was about to speak, but instead held the microphone out to Blake, who took a hold of it, a smirk on his face.

"Hello Ever After High! This is your main man, and super awesome Radio Rebel, Blake Bigby with some awesome news! Every one on campus is invited for a very special concert. We're about to drop a brand new song for all of you, so come on down to the Legacy Courtyard, we'll be waiting!" he said happily, turning the microphone off, handing it to Melody.

It wasn't long before the plaza started filling with people, teachers and students alike. Even those that couldn't physically be there were opening the windows on the higher floors looking out of them, holding MirrorPhones out to record the performance. Blake's eyes scanned the crowd, quickly finding Joey, standing next to Faybelle, arms crossed with a look of boredom on his face. Once people stopped showing up, the boy walked up the microphone, a smirk on his face.

"Welcome everyone, I just wanted to thank you all for being here. We're glad that you are here, and I'm happy to announce that production on our second album, titled Hearts on Fire, will be starting soon. Cupid's single, Make it Shine, is now available for download on the MirrorStore, and will also be part of that album. Today, we're going to sing two songs for all of you, both 100% original...so I hope you like them!" he said, giving the crowd a wink.

" _Whatever you do in life, will be insignificant..._

 _But it's very important that you do it_

 _Because...nobody else will."_

A sharp cymbal crash resounded from the stage startling most of the crowd from how loud it had been. Blake grabbed a tight hold of his microphone, head banging to the beat, hair flying in all directions as he danced around the stage. He swept his hair back, giving the crowd a brilliant smile, taking an audible breath as he got ready to sing.

" _Can't take back the cards you dealt_

 _On this long and lonely road to hell_

 _The throne must be such a sad and lonely place_

 _Living breathing, flesh and blood, sweat and tears_

 _Swept under the rug_

 _I'm just a number to you, just ones and twos._

 _The power keeps you feeling high_

 _But how low!_

 _Do you sink into your bed at night?_

 _ **(Anchored down with guilt)**_

 _Do you toss and turn? From all the bridges you've burned?_

 _Or are you proud of all, the hatred you've earned?"_

Blake tossed his microphone to Melody who walked up behind him. They clapped hands as he walked behind her, allowing her to have the center stage. Her hair, which had been in a high ponytail, moved as she walked. She reached up to her scrunchy which she pulled off, letting the curtain of white fall behind her back.

" _A conscience buried deep beneath,_

 _A heart stuck in a skeleton of greed_

 _And eyes that can't see, the happiness is so far out of reach._

 _The power keeps you feeling high!_

 _But how low!_

 _Do you sink into your bed at night?_

 _ **(Anchored down with guilt!)**_

 _Do you toss and turn? From all the bridges you've burned?_

 _Or are you proud of all, the hatred you've earned?"_

" **You can only get so far**

 **With no one by your side!**

 **A Dark Storm, lies ahead! LIES AHEAD!"**

" _Can't take back the cards you dealt in this long and lonely_

 _Road to hell._

 _The throne must be such a sad and lonely place..._

 _The power keeps you feeling high! But how low_

 _Do you sink into your bed at night_

 _ **(Anchored down with guilt)**_

 _Do you toss and turn? From all the bridges you've burned?_

 _Or are you proud of all the hatred you've earned?"_

As the melody slowly started fading, Blake and Melody started to dance around on the stage. Even though the black haired boy didn't know how to Waltz he was able to pull it off, going as far as pulling the girl into a dip, both clutching the microphone in their hands, while the girl wrapped one of her legs around his waist to stay balanced. Both of them were panting a bit, glancing into each others eyes. Melody flushed slightly, looking back at the crowd only for her to blush even more. Blake quickly pulled her back up, both of them bowing at the crowd just as they started clapping.

"Ahem...that was Dark Storms...for all of those fans out there, you'll notice that this is a rock version of the song on our album. We've been planning on dropping this version for awhile, so if you liked it then you'll all be happy to know that in fifteen minutes, it'll be available for free on the MirrorStore." Blake said, earning a nod from Melody.

"That's right, after this little performance in fact. Now then, how would you all like another song? I'm sure you're all excited for it!" she said, earning loud cheers from the crowd. Blake closed his eyes, once again taking a hold of the microphone.

" _I know we both want to do the right thing_

 _But the needle in our compass is trembling_

 _Trapped in the flames as our house burns down_

 _Left for dead cause we can't find_

 _Common Ground_ _ **(Common Ground)**_

 _We can't find common ground_

 _So we agree to burn it down!_

 _We can't let it burn down so we need to find some common ground!"_

" _It's so hard to find the truth,_

 _When the other side wants to bury you_

 _To bury you_

 _And it's so hard to find the way_

 _When the other side wants to play like a game_

 _To play like a game_

 _It's not about who's wrong or who's right_

 _Don't wanna learn, we just wanna fight!_

 _If different thinkers are enemies_

 _Just think of what we could be_

 _If our thoughts were in harmony_

 _I know we both want to do the right thing_

 _But the needle in our compass is trembling_

 _Trapped in the flames as our house burns down_

 _Left for dead cause we can't find common ground!_

 _We can't find common ground so we agree to burn it down_

 _We can't let it burn down so we need to find some common ground!"_

" _ **We're stuck in a maze of conviction!**_

 _ **Every path leads back to the beginning!**_

 _ **We've built these walls between us!**_

 _It's all about who's wrong and who's right_

 _Don't wanna learn we...just wanna fight_

 _We've been burning the lines_

 _Between dreams and reality_

 _Only the truth could set us free!"_

" _I know we both want to do the right thing_

 _But the needle in our compass is trembling_

 _Trapped in the flames as our house burns down_

 _Left for dead cause we can't find common ground!"_

Blake clutched the microphone tightly in his hand, reaching up to his face to wipe away the tears that had been streaking down his cheeks. He didn't know why, but whenever he practiced this song, this part always made him involuntarily cry. He was trembling a bit as he looked back at the crowd, giving them a smile, ignoring the fact more tears had formed around his eyes.

" _Your heart's in the same place_

 _But your mind is a million miles away!_

 _Your heart's in the same place_

 _But your mind is a million miles away_

 _And it's forcing us to separate!_

 _Your heart's in the right place_

 _But your mind is a million miles away_

 _And it's forcing us to separate!_

" _ **Your heart's in the same place**_

 _ **But your mind is a million miles away**_

 _ **Your heart's in the same place**_

 _ **But your mind is a million miles away..."**_

 _ **xxx**_

"Oh man, surprise concerts are so damn tiring." Blake muttered, stretching a bit as he sat on the couch. Melody had suspended Radio Rebel for the day, but had called just Blake to meet up with her. The girl was in the nearby kitchen, searching her fridge for drinks.

"Tell me about it...three songs in two days, and an announcement of a new album? We've got Joey by the balls. It isn't hard to sway the crowd, especially when we put emotion into it." she replied, tossing him a soda can, which he easily caught. Mountain Dew Livewire, one of his favorites. He was definitely glad he made that wish.

"Common Ground is a song that's always made me cry. I wrote that song a year ago...my aunt and uncle were having a bad argument which lead to a nasty divorce. They loved each other, but for some reason it got messy, so it hits a little harder to home than most would expect." he admitted, taking a gulp from his soda.

"And that's something that our music has over Joey's. It has heart, emotion, and love...he'll never be able to beat that. No matter how many songs he claims are written by him." she said, a smile on her face.

"Indeed...oh right...I wanted to apologize. I got really into it during Dark Storms and I may have dipped you too far. I tried my best not to let your skirt ride up." he said, a light flush on his face.

"It's cool, nothing to worry about...though I have to thank you for that. I uh...don't like wearing underwear...so it would have been bad if anyone saw." she admitted.

"I...I'm so sorry...I didn't know you went commando." he said, looking away from the girl.

"Like I said, it's fine...I'm just not one for panties, I wear my bra of course. Why do you think my skirt is so tight around my hips? So it doesn't ride up. Plus I wear see through leggings, so it isn't entirely visible." Melody replied, making the boy's flush grow more crimson. She took a drink of her soda, smirking a bit at his embarrassment.

"Um...anyway...what was it that you called me here for?" he asked, trying to steer the topic in a different direction.

It was Melody's turn to blush, glancing away from the boy. She suddenly felt a lot smaller than she was, wanting to sink into the cushion of her love seat and disappear from the room. She swept some hair behind her ear, fixing her headphones a bit.

"It doesn't have to do with Radio Rebel, or our band...I...wanted to ask you a question. Are you...you know...seeing anyone?"

"Huh?" the boy asked, clearly taken aback.

For as long as he had known her, Melody had never tried to make a move. It was always a professional relationship between them. Of course, there were times where they had a lot of fun recording, or hosting their radio show. Hanging out with her was always an interesting time, especially when she showed him her collection of instruments, vinyl records and all of the cool things she could do with a mixing pad. Yet here she was, asking him that of all questions...he didn't want to answer it. He didn't want to risk loosing a friend if he told her the wrong thing. He sighed, shaking his head.

"I'm not, me and Holly have been going out but just as friends. I don't really have an interest in a relationship right now." he said firmly.

"Oh...I was hoping...never mind. Let's talk about this new album, Heart's on Fire? What exactly do you have planned for it?" she said, quickly changing the topic. Blake frowned, glancing at the floor.

"Melody, don't change the topic. You asked me a genuine question, I would like to at least know the reason behind it." he replied firmly.

"I...like you...okay? Not just you, but your voice...you have a beautiful singing voice. You put so much emotion into each song...you play with your heart on the strings. Every tune, melody, aria, cadenza, everything is in perfect sync. Not a lot of people cry when they're singing...only those that are completely in tune with their music do that. When they can feel the emotion, the passion of their words. It isn't hard for my heart to start beating like a drum when I see that happening in front of me." she admitted, her eyes sparkling a bit as she spoke. It was genuine emotion, love...something that made Blake smile. He swallowed the lump in his throat, glancing at the wall.

"I'm so sorry Melody...I'm sorry to do this to you of all people. One of my closest friends...I like someone else. Someone who was there for me through one of my darkest times. Not to say you weren't there too, you were...I appreciate everything you've done for me. Purple Rhapsody is everything I could have ever wanted in a band, and I'm loving every second of it...I just...I dunno...I wanna try with this other girl...but I'm not ready to confess yet." he said, his hands shaking a bit.

"I understand...this by all means isn't me forcing myself onto you. I'm not gonna let our friendship die because I like you. It'll be fine...so thanks for listening, I appreciate it." she said, a smile on her face.

"I'm sorry, maybe I should leave."

"Don't...I don't want to be alone right now...let's just talk about Heart's on Fire, I'm digging the title and we've got three songs on it. Let's see what else you got!" she said, pulling out her laptop from her bag.

Blake nodded, reaching for his music book. He knew Melody was trying her hardest not to break into tears. Music was her escape, and he was the guy who just broke her heart. He knew it wasn't going to be easy to go back to before she had confessed, but he at least wouldn't leave her alone. He would at least do her that kindness...no matter how much it killed him inside.


	59. Guys Night

**A/N:**

 **Hey guys, welcome to Chapter 59 of Through the Looking Glass. I wasn't gonna post anything today, but I forgot to post the alternate ending of Chapter 58 last night. So I will be posting right after I put this one up. It will be a lemon so do be aware of that. I spent three hours hand crafting that chapter to be the best it could be. I'm not trying to be perverted or anything, but it is the best lemon I have written to date, maybe even better than Nekopara.**

 **However, this chapter will have a little bit of light heartedness in it, as the guys will play an Earth card game, one that all of you should know quite well. After all it is a horrible game for horrible people. Try to keep an open mind when you read those parts, this chapter was crafted for the sake of humor, which we all need from time to time. There is also some fuckshit going on at the end of the chapter, because you can't get far in life without some fuckshit going on. We are nearing the next arc, in fact I will be starting on the preludes soon enough. Chapter 60 will be mostly about Duchess and her sister, and 61 will continue the events of chapter 60. I'm not sure what Chapter 63 will be about, but as we near Way Too Wonderland, Blake will start hanging out more with the Wonderland kids as he wants to know more about they're time in Wonderland. So I do hope you are looking forward to that.**

 **As for the alternate chapter, I will have more information on the chapter itself. As I said before, it will be it's own story separate from this one, as I don't want to risk this story getting taken down. So, if you want more info on that, I will see you all in that chapter!**

 **Have a good night guys! Remember to review, favorite and follow the story. Stay safe, stay awesome and as always, have a good day!**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 59

Guys Night

A couple days had passed since the impromptu concert Purple Rhapsody had held. They're three songs had by far become the most popular ones, and work had swiftly started on their new album. In fact, people liked the performance during dinner that some people had started asking if they could do it again. Blake and the others had no problem with it of course, but the Headmaster hadn't been convinced so they weren't going to risk getting in trouble. Moving all of those instruments was hard enough as it was, especially Cerise's drum set and all of the amps. Radio Rebel had also been getting very popular, being up next to Blondie's webshow and even Blake's own webshow with Apple White. It honestly felt good to have that back, and everyone was happy as well. Of course there were those that didn't agree with some of the rumors they busted, but then again not everyone did.

Yuletide Bliss had also removed Joey's comment from the MirrorStore. Jack had told Blake that he hadn't noticed that comment at all, since he hadn't checked the store itself. He had honestly thought the random songs had been cool. He had broached the topic of collaboration, but Blake had told him that he didn't want to work with Joey. Despite once being friends, he didn't trust a single thing he said. His actions were dirty at times, especially when he claimed songs that weren't his. Jack understood, and promised to talk to their bassist about it. The black haired boy already knew his former friend wasn't going to do anything about it. He just hoped the two bands were on more friendlier terms now, friendly competition was much better than the competition Joey clearly wanted to have, and if neither band was having fun. Then it wasn't worth it...especially if it risked them losing their fans.

Currently, Blake along with his friends Dexter and Daring were heading through the school, on their way to the Sword Training field. They had been lost in conversation, mostly about what they would be doing that night. It was Wednesday, and that usually meant they would go out on the town and hang out. Hunter and Sparrow, would be joining them as well. The last time, Blake had missed their weekly hang out, since he had invited Holly to the Forest Fest. Not just that, Dexter and Daring were both on dates, so it was only Hunter and Sparrow, along with Humphrey who had randomly asked to join them. Hopper was also a last edition, he had snuck into the theater in Hunter's pocket saving them the trouble of buying another ticket, especially since they had been sold out. It had been a rather interesting story to tell, and a funny one since Hopper got scared and jumped into a random girl's lap, sending the whole theater into a tirade of screaming.

Now, they had been discussing what they would be doing for tonight's Guys night. It had been awhile since they had all hung out, and they had to welcome Alistair into the fold. Dexter and Blake had been tossing a few things back and forth, all of them getting rejected by Daring who kept suggesting other things which the two boys found boring. The only thing they had agreed on was video games, so they had been tossing around the idea of heading to the arcade for awhile.

"Come on little bro, we've been to the arcade in Bookend already...why don't we arrange a trip to the next city over and visit their arcade?" the older Charming asked, causing Blake to look at him.

"You know, I've never been to the city. The only place I've been too is High Village on my trip to the Snow Kingdom. What's the city like?"

"Meadow Brook is the best hang out in Ever After. It happens to be the second biggest city in the Fairytale world. It's where Snow White has her company. It's also the place where most of the government things take place. Apparently, she likes keeping work and home separate...but she's almost always never home." Dexter said.

"Indeed, but we aren't talking about silly politics right now. We are talking about Meadow Brook Central. The biggest mall in the city, not just that, it has an arcade that has two floors. Definitely the perfect hang out for all of us. We can take a bus and be there in half an hour, easily." Daring added, earning an interested look from Blake.

"Not a bad idea, but do you know when the last bus is? I wouldn't want to get stuck over there. The last thing we need is to get stuck there past curfew." he said, earning a frown from the blond prince.

"I'm not sure...we can figure that part out though. You can trust me Blake, after all I am me." he said, flashing a smile. The nearby girls swooned a bit, instantly flocking over to him. Dexter rolled his eyes, shaking his head a bit.

As they reached the doors to the back courtyard, they saw Mr. Knight standing guard, right in front of the doors. Several other people were gathered around the hallway, including some of their friends from their Sword Training class. Hunter walked over to them, a look of confusion on his face as he joined his friends.

"He's been standing there since we got here. He hasn't said a single thing, even the girls are confused since he took over for Maid Marion." he said, glancing over to the Damsel-in-Distressing class, all of the girls, minus Raven seemed to be in avid conversation.

"Have you tried asking him? Maybe he'll give you an answer if you are honest about it." Blake asked, earning a shrug from the boy. Daring chuckled, fixing his jacket a bit as he walked forward.

"Allow me gentlemen, I shall attain answers for all of us." he said confidently, walking through the gathered crowd. Blake decided to follow along, he also wanted to know what was up.

"Mr. Knight, my man...a lot of us here are confused as to why you stand guard here. We would like to know why you aren't allowing us onto the field."

"Ah yes Mr. Charming...an excellent query indeed. There is a good reason as to why I haven't allowed you onto the field. It happens to be this one of course." the man said, stepping aside, he threw the doors open, just as the sky flashed with lightning.

Blake and everyone else was subjected to see the fiercest rain storm they had seen. He was surprised since he hadn't even heard the rain or thunder. It was then that he noticed the barrier that had been put up just past the doors. The entirety of Ever After High was protected under this barrier. Just beyond it, he could see thick fat raindrops assaulting the ground, thick boggy mud puddles had formed in various areas. And some of the trees had even been snapped in half. Everyone that was in the hallway just watched in awe at the intensity of the storm.

"Yes, it seems a storm dragon is in the vicinity. These rare but powerful creatures can create these very fierce storms. All of Bookend has been put under watch, and the magic barriers have been erected over every house and business for their own protection. Storm dragons don't stay in one place for long, but they can have very deadly consequences if you try to go outside. So all outdoor classes are canceled until further notice." the man said, closing the doors right after.

"Shit, I didn't think a dragon was the cause of all of this...hey wait a minute, that means Guys Night can't happen!" Hunter said, sounding very disappointed.

"That's right...and I was so looking forward to that arcade too." Dexter added, a frown on his face.

"Hey, look at it this way. Sword Training and Grimmnastics were our two final subjects for the day. That means we got two free periods in a row so we can take the afternoon off early! That means we got practically from now until curfew to do whatever we want!" Blake said.

"Hmm, you do make a good point...but what exactly will we do?" Hopper asked, adding himself to the group. Blake smirked, a grin on his face.

"To my dorm." he said, flicking his cloak as he turned around, heading toward the dormitories, he grabbed a hold of Alistair's coat as he walked, pulling him away from Bunny much to her confusion.

"What do you think those six are going to do?" Ashlynn asked, earning a shrug from Apple who stood next to her, leaning against the wall.

"Probably watch some anime or something...that reminds me, I have to talk to Blake about recording Episode 7 of Apple Reacts. Akame Ga Kill is...quite the gruesome series, but I can't help and say I'm addicted to it." she said, a small smile on her face.

"And thus, my brother succeeds in turning Apple White, daughter of Snow White, the fairest of the halls, into an anime loving nerd."

"Oh quiet Raven, you like reading manga from his collection too. You can't hide Black Butler from me." she said, pointing an accusatory finger at her.

"It isn't exactly a secret." Raven replied with a shrug. She heard a familiar cooing in her ears, uttering an annoyed sigh as a tan bird landed on her shoulder.

"I thought I got rid of you." she said, earning a giggle from Ashlynn and Apple.

 _ **xxx**_

Blake had gathered his friends, Dexter, Daring, Hopper, Hunter and Alistair in his dorm, all of them sitting around the coffee table, each having a drink and some snacks before them. Blake had set up a MirrorCamera on a tripod, and had opened up his MirrorCast, using his Apple Plays page to broadcast this game. Sure, it wasn't exactly a live cast with Apple White, but he had played a few games and streamed them on the site. After he got the image on the screen, he opened the chat and turned the camera on, taking a seat at his computer chair, a smirk on his face.

"Alright guys, since we got a lot of time on our hands, we're gonna be playing one of my favorite games from back home. It's called, Cards Against Humanity." he said, placing the black box on the table. It was a quite lengthy box, in fact it was the Bigger Blacker Box.

"Cards Against Humanity? What sort of game is this? Is it like poker?" Alistair asked, earning a genuine laugh from Blake, who flicked a tear away.

"Oh Alistair, poor naive Alistair...this game is nothing like poker. In fact, this game will probably make you sick and disgusted. Unless you are a fan of dark humor like I am...then you'll probably like this game." he replied.

"What's it about exactly?" Hopper asked, having raised his hand.

"It's quite simple really." he said, grabbing a hold of the box. He grabbed the two decks of cards from inside, placing them on the table. He grabbed a white card and a black card, showing them to his friends.

"Alright, this game is simple. Basically, you all will get some white cards, and those are your answer cards. The card czar will then pick a black card, which is normally a question card, mostly fill in the blank. The object of the came is to make the best statement out of the question card with a black card. Whoever has the best statement gets one point, we use the white cards to keep points. The first person to seven points wins. If there's a tie, there's a sudden death round where both players bet two cards, whoever gets the best statement gets the pot and wins the game." he said.

"Okay, that's simple enough...but what's a czar?" Hunter asked curiously.

"He's the card keeper, it changes every with every round. I'll start things off, everyone will get ten white cards. At the bottom of the black card, you'll get how many you get to draw for that specific question. But everyone has to have ten cards and we play until we run out of cards. This is the Bigger Blacker Box, so trust me it has a lot of cards we can use." Blake said, handing everyone ten cards. They all started looking at them, some chuckling at the answers.

"Jeez, some of these answers are quite...messed up." Alistair said.

"Indeed, I didn't think it would be this kind of game. It is interesting of course." Daring added, placing his cards on the table in front of him.

"Let us begin, now the standard question...which one of you gentlemen recently took a deuce?"

"Why would you even ask that?" Hopper asked, an incredulous look on his face.

"That's how we decide who the card czar is for the first round...so, which one of you went?"

Hunter slowly rose his hand, an embarrassed look on his face. Blake placed the deck of black cards in front of him and he took a hold of the first card, reading the question to himself before reading it out loud.

"Here's the first card. Blank, Hours of Fun, Easy to use, Perfect for Blank. I'm gonna need two cards from each of you." he said, placing the black card in front of him. Blake let out a chuckle, grabbing two cards from his hand.

"This is horrible." Dexter muttered to himself, placing his cards in front of himself. Daring, Hopper and Alistair did the same with Blake putting his cards last.

"Go for it Hunter, make sure you read all of them out loud." he said.

"Okay, I'll take Hopper's first. Powerful Thighs, Hours of Fun, Easy to use, Perfect for Teaching a Robot to Love."

"Whoa, is there something you aren't telling us Hopper old chap?"

"Shut up Daring, why don't you hand over your cards?" the boy snapped, earning a smirk from the blond prince who gave Hunter his cards.

"My collection of high-tech sex toys. Hours of Fun, Easy to use, Perfect for, Hours of Uninterrupted Anal sex." Hunter said, trying his hardest not to laugh.

"Okay, that one was a good one." Blake said, as Dexter shyly handed over his cards.

"Getting baked with super strong enchanted wizard weed. Hours of fun, Easy to use, Perfect for Wringing out a sopping wet maxi pad into Donald Trump's mouth."

"Ew fuck, that's so gross!"

"I don't even know who that is." Alistair cried, looking squeamish at the thought, while Blake was just laughing his ass off. Alistair handed over his cards, and Hunter cleared his throat trying to get Blake to stop laughing.

"Ahem, Getting your dick stuck in a Chinese finger trap with another Dick, Hours of Fun, Easy to use, and Perfect for, Making the penises kiss. Al, buddy is there something you are trying to tell us?"

"Fuck you Hunter...don't give me this shit." the boy snapped, turning away from him.

"Cut him some slack, that one was pretty good. But you have saved the best for last my friends." Blake said, confidently handing over his cards to Hunter.

"Rubbing chocolate pudding all over Bill Cosby's nipples. Hours of Fun, Easy to use, Perfect for Scoring Quaalude's."

"That was pretty good." Daring admitted. Hunter looked over each set of cards, humming to himself before grabbing the set that won, handing the black card to Daring.

"Sorry, but Daring had the best one out of the group. It was the one that made the most sense." he said.

"Naturally, it seems even I will become the best in this silly card game. Come at me men, I shall await your cards." he said proudly. Hunter gathered the white cards, placing them all in the discard pile. Hunter passed the black cards to Alistair, who grabbed a black card from the top.

"Blank + Blank = Blank." he said firmly, confusion on his face. Blake sifted through all of his cards, a smirk on his face as he grabbed three from his deck, placing them face down on the table.

"I think I got it this time, but I'll let everyone else go before me." he said. It didn't take the others long to find their correct answers. Dexter handed his over first, making Alistair cringe when he read them.

"Okay, A wire hanger + Teenage pregnancy = Problem solved."

"We are so going to hell for this." Hopper said, clenching his eyes shut. Daring handed his cards over next.

"A big black dick + Daniel Radcliffe's delicious asshole = Hours of unprotected sex."

"Who's the gay one now boys?" Blake said, leaning back in his seat as the eldest Charming flipped his friend off.

"It gets worse as we go along, Jeez I didn't think Earth had such horrible games!" Hunter replied, handing his cards over to Alistair.

"Actually, this is one of the best selling card games on Earth. Me and my friends always had a good laugh whenever we played this...you know, before Lucy went missing and Joey started being a cock meat." he said, a frown on his face.

"Um...let's continue. Your Mom + My Dad = The Primal ball-slapping sex your parents are having right now." he read, trying his hardest not to break into chuckles. Hopper handed his next, not at all happy with what he had selected.

"Crippling debt + Drowning the kids in the bathtub = Alcoholism."

"Hopper, dude." Dexter said, earning a shrug from the Frog Prince.

"It made sense to me, I don't exactly like it."

"Here's the last one, My Friend's sister + An Ether soaked rag = Doin' it in the butt." Alistair said, his lips pressed in a thin line. He handed Blake the black card, making the boy pump his fist into the air.

"This is gonna be a long and really messed up game." Dexter said, earning a sigh from Hopper.

 _ **xxx**_

Much like the guys, the girls were also having a little hang out at Apple's dorm. Raven was sitting in her computer chair with her headphones on, not wanting to hear the conversations the others were having, mostly because she wanted to focus on the Light Novel she was reading. Apple had been the one who thought about the small gathering, having invited Ashlynn and Blondie along. Briar had also shown up with Lizzie, who brought Kitty. Duchess had somehow found her way into the party, not wanting to be left out. Cerise had caught wind of it and politely asked to join, with Apple being surprised that the reclusive girl wanted to hang out. Even Cupid had shown up, admitting she had nothing better to do with her afternoon. The final person in their little ragtag party was Darling, who looked the most bored out of everyone.

She would much rather be outside practicing with her sword, or doing some hero missions in Wonderland. But she had almost been caught by her father and couldn't risk it. The Storm Dragon had yet to move, so for now she couldn't even go to her favorite places in Bookend. She seriously had nothing to do. She was currently sifting through her MirrorBook feed, not finding anything interesting on the website either.

"Darling are you alright? You haven't said anything in awhile...you aren't sick are you?" Apple asked, causing the white haired girl to look up from her phone. She gave her a small smile.

"I'm fine Apple, just a bit bored...we're just sitting here, talking about school. I mean, we got an early day off from classes so we should be doing something cool."

"Kinda hard to do when there's a dragon outside rampaging throughout Bookend." Duchess replied, not taking her eyes away from her laptop. She was sitting at Apple's desk, playing a game she had borrowed from Blake, Bejeweled Twist, and she had rapidly grown addicted to it.

"I wonder what the guys are doing...Blake seemed to have something planned out." Cupid said, glancing away from her phone.

"They're playing a card game, Cards Against Humanity. They're actually streaming it on the Apple Plays page." Cerise replied, turning her tablet over to show the others.

" _Okay, here's the last one. For my next trick I will pull out, My Genitals, out of Big Bird's brown, crusty asshole."_ Blake said, causing the other guys to cry out in disgust.

" _That's so gross, who the hell handed that one over?"_ Hunter asked, earning a laugh from Dexter who pushed his glasses further up his nose. Blake handed him the black card, passing the deck over to Daring.

"That game looks fun...what's a Big Bird?" Ashlynn asked, earning a cringe from Cerise.

"It's a character from a kid show on Earth. Blake had some classic episodes in his movie collection, but now I can't get that statement out of my fucking head." she said, shuddering a bit. Darling stood up from her seat, grabbing her heels from the floor, slipping them onto her feet. The other girls took notice, wondering what she was doing.

"Where are you going Darling?"

"I'm gonna head to Blake's dorm of course...this game looks interesting, maybe he has an extra deck we can play with." she replied. Duchess closed her laptop, shoving it into her computer bag which she slung over her shoulder.

"I'll go with you, keep you a little company." she said, earning a small grateful smile from the youngest Charming. The two girls left the room, causing Cerise to growl under her breath.

"That damn Swan is so needy and clingy."

"You are just jealous that she has a thing for Blake...if you still like him, then why don't you ask him on a date?" Kitty asked, a grin on her face.

"Because I don't deserve him. Can we talk about something else? The last thing I came here for was to talk about my previous relationship."

"Oh! This is so not Just Right! My mom just beat me in Words with Friends! I thought I had her!" Blondie cried, tossing her phone aside annoyance written on her face.

"You and that damn game...you've been addicted to it all week." Briar muttered, glancing away from her book.

"She plays it at night too, when I'm trying to sleep. I hear her tapping on her screen trying to spell all of these ludicrous words."

"Gah! That would have been a perfect word to use! Ludicrous, I need to write that down!" the blonde cried, grabbing her notebook, quickly jotting the word down.

"She's been doing that a lot too. My word is this game really that fun?" Lizzie asked, earning a grin from her friend.

"Of course it is, let me see your phone...I'm gonna teach you how to play. It'll increase your vocabulary as well, especially by using words you normally wouldn't use. It's like playing scrabble!" she said, taking the heart themed phone from the Princess of Hearts.

"I'm gonna get some snacks, any requests?" Kitty asked, standing up from Apple's bed.

"Oh oh, cookies!"

"Steak."

"Apple pie, apple fritters, apple juice!"

"Okay, okay give me a second to write it all down, sheesh." the daughter of the Cheshire Cat cried, rapidly typing every request into her phone.

 _ **xxx**_

"Okay, make a haiku. Sexual Tension, An endless stream of diarrhea, the pirates life. Point goes to Hopper." Daring said, handing the frog prince his second black card that round, adding to his count of four.

"Yes, I'm rapidly catching up Alistair, you best get ready to fail!" he said.

"If you say so." the blond boy replied.

Several rounds had passed, and so far the score had Alistair at the top with five points. Hopper had just passed Blake with four, Blake had three, Daring had two and Dexter and Hunter both had one card each. They had been laughing so hard at one point that they had to stop the game and take a short break while they used the bathroom and grabbed some more snacks from Blake's small kitchen area.

Jessica had joined them when she heard all of their laughing, and had been watching with mild amusement as she was currently reading Blake's High School of the Dead full color omnibus. She was the only one aside from Blake who understood some of the joke, and even she had been pulled into a laughing fit at one point. It was once again Hunter's turn to be the czar. He grabbed another deck of cards from the box, placing them at the table, drawing one from the middle of the deck.

"A Girl's Best Friend is?" he asked, placing the card on the table. Blake pulled a card from his hand, giving it to Hunter before almost anyone else. He grabbed five white cards adding them to his dwindling deck. Daring and Dexter handed their cards over next, with Hopper and Alistair being last.

"Alright then, here we go. A Girl's Best Friend is, Double Penetration. Seriously Dexter?"

"It was the only one I had that made sense!" the boy cried, flushing crimson.

"It's quite alright little bro, mine was quite robust!" his brother said, glancing at Hunter.

"A Girl's Best Friend is a Ten Foot Floppy Purple Dildo."

"You're damn right it is." Jessica called out from the back, earning a few chuckles from Blake. Hunter cleared his throat, grabbing Alistair's card.

"A Girl's Best Friend is Anal Beads...not bad, Hopper let's see your card. A Girl's Best Friend is A MicroPenis...that's just sad."

"It was the only one I left, sorry." the boy said, bowing his head in shame as he grabbed ten new cards. Hunter grabbed the last card, eyes widening a bit as he skimmed it.

"Okay then, here's Blake's card. A Girl's Best Friend is Taking a man's eyes, and balls out and putting the eyes where the balls go and shoving the balls in his eye holes."

"Jesus Christ, Blake what the fuck?" Jessica cried, eyes wide in shock. Blake just shrugged, grabbing the black card from Hunter's hand.

"Sorry honey, not all girls are the same I guess...now then let's shuffle this deck a bit, keep things interesting." he said, swiftly shuffling the deck. He was glad to be friends with Lizzie. He had been able to use a little bit of Wonderland magic, the same one that allowed her to shuffle playing cards. It came quite handy for games like this.

As he was about to start the next round, he heard a knock on the door, causing him to look up. He set the deck of cards down and stood up from his chair, grabbing a hold of his soda can, finishing what was left inside it. He stretched his arms above his head, popping his back a bit.

"Take five guys. And everyone outside don't you worry too, we'll be back with our gut busting game of Cards in a few. So for now, enjoy this Purple Rhapsody's latest song, Make It Shine. Don't worry, there's a cat video for all you girls who like cats." he said, playing the video he had cut together. It was a simple cat video, which he had combined with Cupid's song. It would serve for now so he wouldn't have to leave the live stream unattended for awhile.

He tossed his can in the trash as he headed toward the door, glancing at some of the chat answers on the MirrorSite. He opened the door, almost being knocked over. It wasn't long before he figured out Duchess had come for a visit. He sighed, hugging the girl back, not even bothering to give her a proper greeting.

"How's my best friend in the whole fairytale world doing today?" she asked, only to be pushed back a few feet.

"I'm doing fine...it's guys night, so me and the boys are playing Cards Against Humanity." he replied, glancing toward the door, noticing Darling was standing in the hallway. He gave her a smile, gesturing for her to walk into the room.

"Hey sis, what are you doing here?" Dexter asked, curiosity written on his face. She gave him a small wave, noticing Daring was busy looking at his reflecting in a mirror to even notice she had entered the room.

"Hi guys...I came to see if you had another set of those cards. We're having a bit of a girls night, but it's so boring. Not that I don't like hanging out with my friends, but talking about shoes and dresses all the time grows stale after awhile."

"I'm sorry, we only have the one set...I mean it isn't like I can just conjure up a new one. Actually, we were thinking of heading to the castleteria for some food. Maybe we can set up the game there and you could join us, I got no issue with that." he said.

"Aw, come on Blake! It's supposed to be guys night, not guys and girls night! Besides, this game is a bit too out of her league." Hopper said, earning a scoff from the princess, who crossed her arms in annoyance.

"Out of my league? I've been told a lot of things are out of my league. It's just a silly card game, you think I'm gonna get offended by it or something?"

"That's not what Hopper meant at all...what he means is we're so used to this being a guys only thing, that we aren't ready to have girls play with us." Hunter said, earning a snort from Jessica who was sitting near the Bookshelves on the Hanging Chair.

"I've been here since practically the beginning. Aside from Blake, I'm the only one who understands the jokes. I think Darling should play the game, you are all gentlemen so you should allow her to play."

"I don't mind having her join us, she's my little sister. If she's bored then I have no issue playing a card game with her. What do you say Daring?" Dexter asked.

"Eh? I gotta agree with Hopper...we're used to having fun, just guys. It'll be weird to have my adorable little sis cramping my style." he said, giving a wink to the camera, which had once again started streaming the game. Blake shook his head.

"Bro, you shouldn't treat your sister like that."

"It isn't fair you know. All my life I've always been the last one to do everything. Me and Dexter have to swallow the fact that dad likes you better. You're the ideal prince, so what? That doesn't mean you should treat your brother, your sister like crap because we cramp your style. All I wanted to do was play a game, but apparently your style is more important than hanging out with your sister." Darling snapped, quickly leaving the room, slamming the door as she did.

"Nice one Daring...I've told you how many times to watch what you say around her?"

"Worry not little bro, she'll come around. How about we get back to this card game? If you recall, I was winning." he said, giving his brother a charming smile.

"I was winning you dolt...I'm the one who has five cards after all."

"I'm gonna go check on Darling, she seemed really upset. Duchess take my place would you? Dexter will explain the rules to you." the black haired boy said, swiftly leaving the room.

"Uh...okay." the Swan Princess replied, walking over to the fancy computer chair in front of the coffee table.

"Don't worry about a thing Duchess, this is a rather simple game to play. Be sure to greet the crowd, after all we are live!" Dexter said, earning a wide eyed look from the girl. She leaned back into the chair a smile on her face.

"Well, if this is live then that means the world will get to see how awesome, beautiful, amazing and wonderful Duchess Swan truly is. Now then, how do we play this game?"

"Since we're gonna continue where we left off we need to decide on the new czar. Alright then, when was the last time anyone took a crap?" Hunter asked, glancing around the room.

"What the hell does that have to do with anything?" Duchess cried, not at all understanding the meaning behind the question.

"It's just how the game is played...I'm gonna take a wild guess and say it was you Duchess. If that's the case, pick a black card and read it out loud for us." the son of the Huntsman said, passing the deck of black cards to her. She drew one from the top of the deck, reading the statement.

"Blank, Kid tested, mother approved."

"Oh my godmother, this is gonna be so sick." Alistair muttered, handing the girl the card. Daring handed his over next followed by Hopper and Dexter. Hunter was the last person to pass his over, and the first one read.

"Two midgets shitting in a bucket, Kid Tested, mother approved...that's so gross!" the ballerina cried, earning a chuckle from Hunter who high fived Dexter. She placed the card down flipping Hopper's card.

"The aerodynamics of a cum crusted sock. Kid tested, mother approved, okay that one is worse than the first one."

"I do try." the frog prince replied, popping open another soda bottle. She grabbed Dexter's next, trying her hardest not to laugh.

"Warm velvety muppet sex, Kid tested, mother approved."

"Oh dude, what the fuck?" Alistair cried, causing the middle Charming to start laughing. Jessica followed right after, dropping the book in her hands as she tried not falling out of her chair.

"Oh Christ, I just imagined it. It's so horrible!"

"You people are really fucking gross...let's see what Daring handed me. Pac-man uncontrollably guzzling cum. Kid tested, mother approved." Duchess said, swallowing the lump in her throat. Jessica who had gotten over her laughing fit, fell into another one finally dropping onto the floor, slamming her fist against the hardwood. She wasn't even trying to hold back her laughter now.

"Okay, here's the last one. An erection lasting longer than four hours, Kid tested, Mother approved...okay that one wins. That's just fucked up." she said, handing Alistair the black card.

"Yes, five points. We're tied again Hopper, I'm gonna win this game, after all I am the Riddle master!"

"This isn't a riddle though, you damn blond...come on Hunter, start the next round!"

 _ **xxx**_

It wasn't hard to find Darling. Blake had expected her to go somewhere private, and the only place he could think of was the storage room for the Sword Training class. It was a large room where most of the armors and practice swords were kept. It was usually left open, so that people could train after school. It was here that he found the Princess, hacking and slashing at a practice dummy with one of the dull swords. Her focus was unparalleled, nothing around her would disturb her. Her rage was being directed toward the dummy in front of her. She took a forward jab at the unmoving assailant, her worn sword snapping in half. She tossed it aside, grabbing one from the nearby barrel, going back at it, practicing everything she had learned so far.

Blake was honestly impressed with her technique. It was much better than many other students who took Sword Training. If anyone ever saw her practicing like this, they would definitely get her into that class. But he knew that if she ever told anyone about this, that her father would disapprove. That was another thing that got under his skin. Even though she was a Rebel, she was still going to be forced into being a doll. If there was anything he hated, it was when girls were forced into gender specific roles. Just because she was a woman didn't mean she couldn't fight. In his world there were female soldiers, in anime there are female sword fighters. A woman can fight, just as hard as a man can...and yet this world still didn't understand this. He heard another loud snap, seeing another broken sword being tossed onto the ground. He shook his head, leaning against the door frame.

"You know Darling, you can't keep breaking swords like this. I know you're pissed off, but at least let that dummy breathe a bit." he said, startling the princess, who swiftly turned around, bumping into the crimson dummy, covered in slashes and gouge marks.

"Blake don't do that! One of these days I'm gonna end up stabbing you!" she cried, earning a chuckle from the boy.

"I doubt it, and if it does happen...then I'll be happy knowing I got stabbed by the cutest sword fighting princess in this world." he replied. Darling flushed slightly, looking away from the boy.

"Why did you follow me? I sort of wanted to be alone...seeing as the Storm Dragon still isn't gone, no one is going to be around here for awhile."

"I know...but I also think it isn't right to leave you alone right now. Listen, your brother didn't mean to say that to you."

"You came to defend him? I thought you wanted to say something else. Just leave if that's the case." Darling snapped, walking over to the barrel of swords, grabbing one swords sticking out.

"That is not what I am here for...I'm not gonna stand here and say I know what you feel. Because I don't...I don't know what it's like to be a princess, and I don't know what it's like to be forced into a gender role I don't want. What I am here for is to tell you not to let this beat you down." He replied, earning a sigh from the girl, who turned away from him.

"I'm not, I would never let this beat me down. I just hate how ostracized me and Dexter are sometimes...I mean I get it. Daring his handsome, charming, has a game winning smile. Has perfect blond hair, bright blue eyes, is extremely strong. Adept at fighting, can easily slay a dragon and can handle himself with a sword. He's the perfect prince, but that doesn't mean me and my twin brother aren't any less!" she replied.

"Yes I know...Dexter isn't like Daring. But he is handsome as well, kind hearted, lovable. He's smart with technology, good with numbers, a great music player...he has talents that Daring doesn't. Just like you have talents that neither of them can ever have." Blake said, moving toward the girl, leaning against the wall next to her. She looked up at him, a frown on her face.

"What do I have that they don't?"

"Do you really want me to answer that?"

"I sort of asked you dummy, yes I want an honest answer." she replied, stifling a giggle. She didn't know why but she had already felt her previous anger starting to melt away.

"Well, you are highly intelligent. Every time I see you at the library you are always reading a thick tome, boring shit that no one else would ever bother grabbing. You have a good strong heart, filled with kindness and passion. You are highly curious, have a moral sense of good and will go through many lengths to help anyone. You are probably the best person in school with a sword, even better than Daring...you have that weird hair flipping thing...lastly and not as important, you have vagina power." he said.

"I could have done without that last one, thank you. But...I suppose you are right, I do have things that my brothers never will...and I suppose vagina power is one of them too. It's just so hard and frustrating. Poor little princess, grown and nurtured with a silver spoon in her mouth. What does she know about misery? When she's surrounded by wealth, anything her heart desires? Does anyone ever ask me how I feel? Does anyone ever ask me what I want to do? No, they don't!" she snapped, jabbing at the dummy again, this time the practice sword slid so deep into the wood that she couldn't pull it out.

"Well, then I'll be the first. What do you want to do with your life Darling Charming? What is it that your heart is telling you to do?" Blake asked, standing tall in front of the platinum haired princess. She turned to face him, a firm look on her face. Her lips curled into a small smile, her eyes glittering slightly.

"I want to save people, I want to help out as many places as I can, I want to show the world that a princess can be a fighter. But most of all, I want to be a hero...I want...to be a knight." she said, clasping her hands together.

"Then you'll be a knight...I know you will...maybe I can be a knight too...I don't have a destiny after all."

"Huh? Are you serious? You wanna be a knight?" Darling asked, eyes widening in shock.

"I'm just keeping my options open...how about we make a pact, just the two of us. If you stand up to your father and your brother and tell them that you want to be a knight, then I'll join you after graduation. The two of us will join the Royal Guard and train and train. We'll train until our skin is raw if needbe, but we'll become Knights together...what do you say?" he asked, holding his hand out to her.

"I...okay...but we need to seal it somehow. Oh, I know." Darling said, walking over to a piece of a broken sword, grabbing it from the ground. Even though it was dull, the broken part was sharp and jagged. She turned to face the boy, holding the blade out.

"We can seal it in blood. There are stories of knights doing this, to signify the loyalty and trust they share in one another. If you're vowing to join the Royal Guard and become a knight for me, then I'll tell my father where to stick it."

"Well...I wasn't expecting for you to suggest this but...I guess this is fine. You cut me, I cut you?" he asked.

"Yes, I don't think I could cut myself, if I'm being honest." she replied, handing him the blade. She put out her left hand, looking away as he held the jagged blade above it.

"Begun by blood, undone by none!" he chanted, slashing the girl's hand, earning a small cry of pain from her. He handed the blade over to her, holding out his left hand.

"Why did you say that?" she asked, confusion on her face.

"I dunno, it sounded cool." Blake replied, giving her a wink. She shook her head slightly, closing her eyes.

"Begun by blood, undone by none!" Darling chanted, slicing Blake's palm open.

She was honestly impressed that the boy didn't cry in pain from the act. They interlaced their fingers, the sharp stinging in their hands bringing a few tears to their eyes. They watched as the crimson liquid started to flow down their wrists onto the floor.

"Maybe we should have used like...a napkin or something."

"Don't worry, I got it." Blake replied, reaching into his back pocket for a handkerchief, wiping the blood from his arm. He did the same with Darling, using the cloth as a bandage, tying it tightly on her palm so it would absorb the blood.

"There you go...now you're my blood sister. So expect me to call you sis from now on...in secret of course. Dexter and Daring would probably think we're doing weird shit together."

"That's true...you're still bleeding. Here, I've got something." the platinum haired girl said, grabbing the broken blade from the ground. She grabbed a hold of her skirt, tearing it a bit. With a sharp pull, she ripped off a small piece from it, which she started tying around his hand.

"Darling, are you insane? Tearing your dress like that will only raise questions."

"So will the white cloth wrapped around my hand. I've got more dresses Blake, seriously...I've got so many identical outfits that it's sickening. I wanna wear short shorts and tank tops but nope...I'm not allowed." she said.

"Well, once you tell your dad what you want in life, I'm sure you'll be able to do what you want. Darling Charming, the girl that looks great in a suit of armor and a pair of Daisy Dukes." he said, earning a giggle from the girl. She closed her eyes, standing up on the tips of her toes, placing a kiss on his cheek.

"Thank you Blake...you're the sweetest boy I've ever met. The first one who's actually cut themselves for me. Raven is right about you, you do deserve to be here in Ever After...you bring out the best in people. You give them hope and confidence that being stuck in a fairytale would never bring them. Come on, before someone starts searching for us." she said, leading the boy out of the training storage room.

"Anyway, when we get back you wanna continue playing the game? Unless you wanna nerd out and play Dungeons and Dragons instead. I'm sure Dexter would love to help us create a character."

"Sure, I'd love to play that game. He always asks me if I want to play but I never found it interesting. Oh, do you think I can be a knight in that game too?"

"Of course! You can be anything you want, but I've got my own campaign for this. It's based off this anime called Fairy Tail, it'll be awesome." he said, giving her a grin.

"Okay, I guess I have no choice but trust you. I am completely new to this kind of game, so you better teach me how to play!"

"Sure thing little sis, whatever you want."

"How come I'm the little sister? I'm always the little sister, I wanted to be older this time."

"Sorry, but I already have an older sister. Plus I've always wanted a younger sibling, come on don't be like that. Who knows when this Storm Dragon is going to leave? Might as well seize the day and play us some DnD!" he happily cried, pumping his fist into the air.

 _ **xxx**_

"So, how exactly are we going to get back on the game? Purple Rhapsody's beating us three to one. Not only do they have an album but an EP too, and now they're working on a second album as well." Pierre said, a worried look on his face. Frost looked up from his keyboard, the soft piano notes drifting through the speakers.

"You must first calm down...this isn't a competition. Sure, they have good songs, but we're just restarting after everything that happened with Henry. Because we're missing him, Jack has to take the role of guitar. We lack a drummer, a quintessential member of the band. Without one, we cannot focus on anything else." he replied.

"Hey Snowflake, you ever think of posting an ad asking for a drummer? This is a huge as castle, someone is bound to know how to play a set. I mean Christ, it's just banging some sticks around to a beat. It isn't that hard." Joey replied, not looking up from his work.

"It isn't as easy as you think. Learning to play the drums was a pain in my ass, that's why I picked up the guitar in the first place, in case I didn't have rhythm. It's a good thing I do." Jack replied, leaning against the wall, his chair tipped back a bit.

"What is it that you are working on so avidly man? I've seen you hammering that shit all week." Pierre said, glancing at Joey's papers. The boy glanced up at him, a smirk on his face.

"It's something that you wouldn't understand. Magicology homework, as you know, I've signed up for the class. So I requested to have all of the stuff I missed given to me so I can do it all. Who knew magic was the perfect subject for me."

"You, practicing magic? I thought you couldn't find a good direction for magic?" Jack said. Joey held up his hand, snapping his fingers freezing the boy's bottle, the icicles burst from the plastic causing him to yelp in surprise, his chair legs scraping the floor.

"Yo, don't do that shit to me man...you fuckin scared me!"

"See? I do have direction for magic. I can do this too!" he said, forming a brilliant ball of light in the palm of his hand. He snapped his fingers willing it to burst into flames. They swirled out of existence turning into an orb of water that froze and broke apart disappearing before it hit the ground.

"Whoa...you really do have an affinity with magic now...and it's base element is pure light. You're just like Blake!" Pierre said, earning a glare from the brunette.

"Don't you dare compare me to that reject! That bastard almost tried killing all of you, how could you even assume that he and I are the same?" he cried, causing the boy to shy back.

"Calm down man, it was just a comparison. Blake has light magic too, except it's being corrupted by the shard in his chest. For some reason, he has the Evil Queen's power, and while some think it's the mirror shard, Baba Yaga thinks there's another reason behind it." Frost said.

"Oh, does she? What do you think it is Frosty?" Joey asked, earning a shrug from the boy.

"Don't know, I have Magicology as well...I have to learn to control ice and snow for my own story. It's a shame that Crystal isn't in school right now, she'd be able to help me out quite a lot. However the fact of the matter is, we still lack a drummer. Even if we place an add I doubt anyone would answer." he said. They heard a firm knock on the door, only for it to be knocked from its hinges a second later. Standing on the other side was Tobias LeGume, a sheepish smile on his face.

"Pardon me gentlemen...I didn't mean to tear the door down. I was making my way down the hall when my manly ears picked up your voices. I heard that you were looking for a drummer correct?"

"Uh...yeah...you interested?" Jack asked, not expecting the hulking teenager to actually want to join them. He walked into the room with a few booming steps.

"I am...my father said that learning to play an instrument would increase my manly charm. So I picked the drums as they were relatively easy to learn...I would like to join you...if you allow me."

"Okay...why though?" Pierre asked.

"Well, in my honest opinion...I do not believe a band like Purple Rhapsody should hold the title of best band in Ever After High. Everything they did a few days ago was just to grab attention...the song in the Castleteria, the impromptu concert? Please, that's all it was."

"Do you not like Purple Rhapsody? Don't you think they're music is...rad?" Joey asked curiously, setting down his quill. His hand hurt quite a bit from all of the notes he had been taken.

"They're music is good yes...but I don't like the fact that Blake is in that band. After all he did during the Spring Fairest, almost destroying Ever After and doing what he did to the people here...I believe he deserves to be kicked off his high horse."

"Bro, you can't follow the stream of garbage some bad people keep spreading through the halls. Blake wasn't at fault for what happened, he was set up, just like Apple White and Daring Charming were. She was the one that planned the destruction of Ever After by sealing the Well. He has nothing to do with what happened." Jack said firmly, eyes narrowed in anger.

"Why do you defend him? He is dangerous, can you not see the Evil Queen's magic flows through his veins? All because of the Mirror Shard in his chest. He seemed like a nice person when we met back in October. Everyone likes him, ignoring the fact that he could switch sides in the blink of an eye." Tobias said, arms crossed in anger.

"You came here to talk about joining the band yes? Let's talk about that..we are not here to discuss anything about Blake. He has proven himself countless times and is a good person. No matter what people say." Frost said firmly.

"You guys go through many lengths to defend him, despite the fact he brought darkness to this world. He drained Holly O'Hair's magic, as he did with Raven Queen his supposed sister. How can you trust him so much?"

"Because Tobias, he saved my life. When Henry lost his shit and stole the Vorpal Blade from Alistair's box, he wanted to kill me. Not just that, he plotted to kill Pierre too, all because we quit his band on stage and humiliated him. He threw two knives through my legs, cut my Achilles tendon in half. If it wasn't for Blake, I wouldn't be here right now, I would be six feet under...I owe him my life. And it pisses me off when my friend talks so much shit about him. I'm going to my dorm, I'm sick of hearing this shit!" Jack said, grabbing his jacket as he left the room, ignoring the fallen door.

"Well...now you know the reason why, maybe you should find out all of the important things before making assumptions...I'll go check on him." Pierre said, following after his friend. Frost sighed, rubbing his eyes as he looked up at Tobias, giving him a scrutinizing gaze.

"We can't afford to let a drummer go. So show us what you can do, we plan to start recording some new songs soon."

"Sure thing, I'll need some sticks of course." the hulking teenager said, making his way toward the drumset. Joey smirked inwardly, glancing at the notebook before him, perfectly articulated French words greeting him.

" _Hmm...it seems Tobias has some resentment in his heart. He does have a point, Blake did almost end life here in Ever After. Not everyone agrees with him being a good person, even the teachers grow weary of him. Maybe if I get rid of him and lock him in Wonderland...I'll be hailed as a hero here. Perhaps I can use Tobias to my advantage, he is the son of Gaston after all. Leading him on won't be that hard, seeing he has a brain the size of a hardboiled egg."_

He glanced at his notebook, seeing everything he had written down. It had been a spell he was working on, based on one of the spells from the Portal Book he had taken. He had finally perfected the spell to open a portal into Wonderland. However, he didn't have the magic required to open it, nor did he have an access point for him to open it. So, there was one last thing he needed to do before the spell worked. He would have to translate it into Latin. That language was one filled with power, and according to Blake, the same power that Jessica Merlin used. He would have to make an interesting set up.

" _Yes...this is going to be extremely difficult. Not only do I have to have this spell ready...but I have to be present as well. Without Lucy's bracelet, there won't be a reason for Blake to go to Wonderland at all. It shall be the key to get him there, and it will be the key to keeping him there. And while everyone thinks that I'm here in Ever After, I'll head to Wonderland myself. But first I need to swipe that WonderMap from Alistair."_

He glanced over to Tobias who had started to play a simple beat on the drums. He had to admit, he was quite talented even with the beat he was playing. He shifted his eyes back to his notebook, closing it as he stood up.

" _For now, I'll just use this kid to make Blake's life a little harder. The Fairy Queen replaced his moon crystal, so using nightmares to cripple him won't work. But that doesn't mean I can't use hatred against him. This will be enough to tide me over, until Plan Theta's first Phase comes to fruition."_


	60. The White Swan

**A/N:**

 **Hello people of Fanfiction! Welcome to the 60th chapter of Through the Looking Glass...Jeez, I cannot believe I have already reached 60 Chapters. It's amazing, I'm sure I said this when I reached fifty, but still it's amazing to see that at 60 chapters in, this story is still long from over. I'm having a blast writing it, and I'm sure you are all enjoying the ride. It makes it even more special when eventually this reaches it's end. But it is still long from over my friends, this train is still on the rails!**

 **However, I have a dwindling supply of available chapters, so I will be pausing my posts for a week to increase my supply. I must also take some time to plan some of the stuff for Way Too Wonderland, account for the time I need to rewatch that special, come up with the plot which I have half finished, but must compare to the canon, and everything else. I'm also writing alternate endings at the same time, so sometimes I'm not even writing a chapter for the main story, so that slows me down a bit. But it is worth it, as this is all for you the readers to enjoy, as well as for myself since I love this story. Not tooting my own horn or anything, but I really like how this is turning out. To date, this is my longest story ever, it won't be long before we breach 600 thousand words, and almost 20,000 views. It's insane, but it's all thanks to you that this story is so popular! I promise to keep this as entertaining and fresh as I can. After all, stories tend to lose their luster the longer they go on, but I won't let that happen to this story, no siree. Not this author, that is my promise to you!**

 **In this chapter you all get to meet the beautiful albeit mean spirited White Swan, Ophelia Swan, someone I had mentioned in Chapter 14 and is finally making an appearance. Jesus that was a long time ago, it took me 41 chapters to actually bring her into the story. As she is an oc, I do hope you all like her. I apologize for my information on Swan Lake...I haven't actually watched the dance or any of the animated movies so I am using Sparknotes to get a general sense, but I believe the stuff revolving around Swan Lake is accurate, to my knowledge and if it isn't then well take it as my version of canon events...maybe. Chapter 61 is ready to post and one of my newest favorites in this series, but I will take some time to post it, as I do want to write a little more before I do...it'll probably be three or four days while I replenish the stock. But worry not, I will be adding Ashlynn's alternate ending onto Fanfiction so you can wet your whistle with that. I will include more information on the general aspect of that story when I post the chapter. As it takes place five years after Graduation and all of the major events in this story, there will be a lot of changes. For one, Blake and Ashlynn will be 23 and 22 respectively so this won't take place in high school, and it won't be an alternate ending to a chapter, it's a literal alternate ending to the entire story, which will hopefully not contain any spoilers until I have written the following arcs out.**

 **I actually had a dream of this mini story, which is what inspired me to go ahead and write Ashlynn's segway before Holly's. I'm also gonna write Apple's segway as an alternate ending to Chapter 63 which will be the events of Apple's Birthday Bake off. Depending on how that chapter ends, various things can happen, including Blake fulfilling his wet dream, drilling Apple in the Enchanted Forest, going at it like wild animals while being watched by wild animals. Of course that isn't certain, but if it is then you have something else to look forward too.**

 **If you didn't already know, Through the Looking Glass-Black Aria is already up, so if you haven't read it, please do and let me know what you think, if you have then, you naughty dogs...all of you are awesome for reading it! Hope you enjoyed it!**

 **And thus, I leave you Chapter 60 of Through the Looking Glass. I honestly hope you like it, let me know what you all think about it! See you all later!**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 60

The White Swan

May 1st had finally been welcomed at Ever After High. Almost two months since the change in seasons had brought out the lush greenery of Spring. The trees had grown their leaves, flowers were in bloom, and the fresh scent of grass filled the area. The birds were chirping, and the princesses, mostly Apple White, found themselves singing and attracting a horde of woodland critters. Everyone seemed just a little happier with the changing seasons, and the warm days of spring which would soon turn to summer. Especially the students of Ever After High, who were welcoming spring sports. For some, they would be happy to play things like lacrosse, soccer and various other sports. Others would be working at their day jobs, working toward a solid income to get whatever had recently caught their eye.

For Duchess Swan however, a nice sunny day of Spring meant a perfect chance to dance on her lake. It had been awhile since she had been able to put on her favorite dress and worn heels and just dance on the lake. These were rare times, when she wasn't in school or had to attend her dance club, when she could finally relieve some stress and just dance to her heart's content. It helped to clear her mind, especially with the things that had been recently plaguing it. Of course, she found herself thinking back to the object of her affections.

It had been nine and a half months since Blake Bigby had appeared in Ever After. The boy that had traveled to the Fairytale world from a mirror, had changed a lot of things in Ever After High. Not only had he grabbed the attention of various people, but had also started one of the greatest bands in school history. He had showed everyone that destiny didn't stop anyone from doing what they wanted. He had advocated for the Rebel side, and had even changed someone like her, a hard set Royal into a Rebel. People were still wary of him, for him having gotten rid of the Storybook of Legends, and for what happened during the Fairest.

The world of Ever After hadn't been kind to him either. The Evil Queen had cursed him, for if he left Ever After and headed back to Earth, the Mirror Shard in his chest would kill him. If Raven Queen tried to break the enchantment, he would also die. And lastly, if he tried to remove it himself, it would release it's magic and also kill him. He had been used to it by now, but it was the last stipulation that still messed him up. The fact that the Evil Queen had used his memories of his family against him, and had enchanted them to forget all about him. Not just that, anyone associated with him on Earth, had forgotten him like he didn't exist. Poof, just like that, he was gone.

She still didn't understand how it was that Joey had remembered the boy. But apparently Jessica Merlin had told her that the Amnesia enchantment was much less prominent on the boy. His memories were suppressed since he didn't get along with Blake most of the time. Unlike his parents and sisters who had their memories permanently erased, or so they believed.

It wasn't just what had happened to him with the Evil Queen, but what had happened more recently. He had a loving relationship with Cerise Hood, and thanks to the Fake Rebel, had broken up with her. Not just that, when he was still recovering from it, he had been turned evil by a cursed book. It had lead to the erasure of Wonder from Ever After, almost leading to the end of their world. It was hard, seeing the boy who was so kind and giving to everyone, become cruel and selfish. Still, she had fallen in love with him, and no matter how much he rejected her, she wouldn't give up.

This of course came from the fact that she had been betrayed many times in the past. Her half sister Ophelia, the White Swan had always taken the boys she liked away from her. Not just that, her step-mother the current White Swan, rejected her existence entirely. She was the daughter of Odette, so she wasn't even recognized by the family. On top of that, her father didn't want to acknowledge her as his daughter. If anyone knew how Blake felt, it was Duchess. He had been abandoned at birth, rejected by his parents. But he had something that she didn't, the bliss of not knowing the couple who had abandoned him. She didn't have that boon, she had to look at her father whenever she was in town. She saw the White Swan interacting with others and it made her sick.

They were the owners of a fancy restaurant in Bookend, the Silver Swan. It was what was currently putting Ophelia through ballet school. She had to learn every single step in her story, Swan Lake...so that she could steal Duchess's future lover. She was a Royal, and she enjoyed making her life hell. In Ophelia's mind, she wasn't her half sister she was just the girl destined to be the Black Swan. It pissed her off, knowing that she had worked hard learning everything by herself, while her half sister was going to fancy schools since the day she was born. It annoyed her, that her half sister had a loving father and mother, while she had never even met her mother. She didn't even have a single picture of Odette, just an image she had crafted from what her grandmother had told her.

Still, she came to the lake to relax, to dance away the troubles. The fresh scent of flowers and grass washed over the lake surface. The other swans in the lake were happily swimming along side her, honking happily and splashing each other with water. They batted the wings and took off, flying around the Swan Princess as she continued her dance, not even noticing the fact that she was currently being filmed. She came to a stop in the middle of the lake, standing on a single leg, arms spread out, a bright smile on her face. She let out a sigh as she lowered her leg back to the water's surface, bowing to the invisible crowd. She heard something rustle in the bushes and turned her eyes toward it, trying to see what had been hiding within. She started walking toward the edge of the lake, her focus on the leafy shrubs.

"Hey Duchess!"

She paused, her head snapping in the other direction. She glanced toward the other side of the lake, seeing Blake and Kitty standing on the other side, waving her over. She flushed a bit, completely ignoring the shrub as she moved toward her friends, her dainty steps causing the water to ripple. She came to a stop a few feet away from the waters edge.

"Hey girl! We were heading to Hood Hollow to visit Cerise's mom, wanna tag along?"

"Oh um...I would love too...but you know me and Cerise don't get along. She'd probably get really pissed if I went to her home with you two. Besides, I wanted to dance on my lake a little longer." she replied, glancing back out to the lake, where the swans were happily swimming around.

"Oh...well okay, we thought we'd ask you just in case. I know you've been bored for awhile with normal school work. Now that the school year is almost over, everyone is eager to get out. If you change your mind, just message either of us. Kitty will flash here and grab you." Blake said, earning a nod from the girl. Kitty took his hand, a grin on her face.

"Have fun on your lake, don't slip and fall."

"That only happened once, and it was because of all that disgusting muck. Whatever...hey before you go...were you watching me from some bushes?"

"Why would we do that? I have no reason to hide from you. You're an amazing dancer, and if I wanted to watch you dance, I would just sit here and watch you." Blake admitted, earning a confused look from the girl. She shrugged it off, turning away from him.

"My senses must be out of whack, this always happens after Winter ends. You two have fun, let me know how big Ruby's baby bump is! See you!" she cried cheerfully, dashing deeper into the lake.

"She's acting a little weird...what do you think was watching her?" Kitty asked curiously, earning a frown from Blake.

"I'm not sure, but she's told me about this before. Whenever she's alone in the charmitorium, or taking a bath in her dorm, she feels like someone is watching her. Since we never caught the Fake Rebel, it might be them but...I doubt they'd go that far. I'd break their face, especially if they're watching her take a bath." he said, clenching his fist.

"Aw, you really do care about Duchy. You should go ahead and marry her already, make her dreams come true!"

"Shut up Kitty, don't make me flick your nose." he said, turning back toward town, resting a hand on the hilt of his sword. Kitty giggled, taking a hold of his hand again, flashing out of existence.

 _ **xxx**_

The weird feeling of being watched didn't ease her nerves in the slightest. After a few more attempts at dancing, Duchess decided to head back to her dorm for a quick shower. She just wanted to get away from the lake as fast as possible, and since she had other things to do, she didn't have the time to take a bath. After finishing her shower, she got dressed in something different than her dress, a violet short sleeved shirt and a white and black skirt. She put on her leggings and her heels and grabbed a brush, yawning a bit as she begun brushing her hair.

"I would have liked to accompany Blake and Kitty...but I really didn't want to get yelled at by Cerise. What's the wolf's problem anyway? It's not like she claimed him...unless she imprinted on him, that would be a problem." she muttered under her breath, running her brush through her lengthy hair. She sighed, a small smile on her face.

"If only he would cave and go on a date with me. That would make me happy, what do you think Pirouette? Do you think Blake will agree to go out when he comes back from Hood Hollow?" she asked, glancing at her pet swan, who was busy preening her feathers. She let out a few loud toots, which she took as a yes.

She felt a shiver go down her spine and rapidly turned around, her brown eyes scanning the entire room. Lizzie was hanging out with Briar, Ashlynn and Apple, so she wasn't in the room. She was sure the door was locked when she came in. But that nagging feeling didn't leave her mind. She grabbed some hair ties and pulled her hair up into twin tails, something she almost never did. She grabbed her purse and tossed a few things inside, along with her keys and her phone.

" _I'll just do my make up in the girl's bathroom. I gotta get out of here."_ she thought to herself. She paused, opening the window for Pirouette, in case she wanted to fly to the lake. Giving her pet swan a kiss, she left the room, locking the door right after. She moved down the hall, heading toward the foyer where the nearest bathroom was. She ended up bumping into Cupid who almost dropped her tablet.

"Whoa, are you alright Duchess?"

"Eh? Sorry Cupid dear, I'm just in a bit of a hurry...forgive me?"

"Sure, it's alright. Oh wow, you look so good without make up, maybe you should stay like that for awhile." the pinkette said, giving her a genuine smile.

"Really? Well I look good in anything, but I suppose it's due to my amazing good looks. I'll take your suggestion for next time. See you Cupid." she replied, continuing her way to the bathroom. Cupid sighed, placing a hand on her hip. Duchess was still the arrogant ballerina even though she was striving to be a better person.

Finally entering the bathroom, she let out a sigh of relief. The nagging feeling was gone, especially because there were other girls in there. Some were background characters that she had seen walking around the school. The two were just gossiping, leaning against the back wall so deep in conversation that they didn't even notice her presence. Duchess let out a sigh, walking toward the sink as she grabbed her mascara and black eyeliner. Her hand shook a bit as she pulled the brush from the tube.

" _I seriously need a knife or something...this damn school is so hardset on turning all of us girls into damsels. I can't wait around until I'm raped or worse just because I don't know how to fight. Blake...maybe he'd help me."_ she thought to herself.

It hadn't been like this for awhile. She had the peace of mind to be safe in her own room, but recently she had been getting that feeling. Whenever she was alone, she swore she could see someone or something watching her. Of course whenever she tried to find it, it would just vanish without a trace. She blamed the Fake Rebel, and the fact that the entire school was probably bugged like Blake had said. She finished her mascara and started with the eye shadow, the faster she finished the better. She heard the two girls giggling behind her, her ear perking up a bit.

"So did you hear, Tobias joined Yuletide Bliss as their drummer. He's such a hunk, did you feel his muscles?"

"Oh I did, he said his father put him through a rough regimen to get him that big. I'd really love to see what he could so with those muscles...he'd probably be able to do quite a lot."

" _Ugh...little sluts. Muscles don't mean shit if the person that has them is a total douche bag."_ Duchess thought to herself. She flushed a bit as she grabbed her lipstick, already imagining a shirtless Blake. It made the special night they shared seem like years ago, even though it had only been a few weeks back.

"You're right, but the important thing is that challenge thing. Tobias was talking about calling out Purple Rhapsody, to settle who's going to be known as Ever After High's number one band."

"I know, I know! It's so stupid, everyone knows Purple Rhapsody would win hands down. They use their profits to help the needy, the sick and the hungry. Blake donated 10,000 Gold to charity, it doesn't matter how hot Tobias is, Blake is way more charming and humble in my opinion."

"Damn straight he is." Duchess said, her hand flying to her mouth a second after. The two girls looked in her direction, but a glare in the mirror quickly made them look away.

"A-anyway...this challenge thing...I think he was going to do it at dinner tonight. But I have no idea what it's going to be."

"Guess we're just gonna have to wait and see...no matter what, I know Purple Rhapsody will beat them! They'll always be the best band in Ever After. I mean come on, Shatter Me was amazing, and that concert a couple days back was spelltacular! Real emotion in music is what makes a band, and Yuletide Bliss is just a little bland."

Duchess smirked a bit as she finished her make up. She stuffed everything into her purse, leaving shortly after. She had heard quite a lot of juicy information, and now she had to do what Duchess Swan did best, blow the whistle. The way those two girls were speaking, it made it seem like Tobias was going to call Blake and everyone else out during dinner. If Blake and the others were prepared, then they could meet the challenge head on. She reached into her purse for her phone, quickly dialing the boy's number, holding the device to her ear. It rung for a couple seconds before the other line was picked up, making the girl quite giddy.

"Blake, I got some juicy information that you need to know."

" _Duchess, I'm not going to sit in your room to watch you model your new leotard. You've asked me twice this week, that's something I'm not interested in doing. I know better than anyone that you have the finest ass in Ever After High."_ the boy replied, causing her cheeks to tinge red.

"That isn't it dammit! It's related to the band, I just heard these two girls in the bathroom talking about Yuletide Bliss. Tobias was just made their drummer, not just that...he plans to call you out specifically at dinner tonight." she said, keeping her voice soft but firm, making sure no one else could hear. She flushed a bright crimson, trying her hardest not to squeal from his comment.

" _The fuck? I haven't done crap to that guy, why would he want to call me out?"_

"I'm not sure, but I'm certain Commandant Cockmeat put him up to it. Why else would he want to call you of all people out? By the way, the two slutty girls in the bathroom totally adore you and your band. You got groupies now, congratulations."

" _Oh...well I guess that's cool. I guess Joey is still a bit sore about the anal fisting our music gave him. So he's putting Tobias up to it...that's just like him, have others do the dirty work for him."_

" _Blake sweetheart, you need to stop being so vulgar...we're in public."_ Ruby said firmly, making Duchess smirk slightly.

" _Whoops, sorry Ruby...I totally forgot we were in the market...thanks for the information Duchess...I'll make sure to tell the others about it and call an emergency meeting. I just have to help Ruby with these groceries and I'll be back in a flash. Hey, Kitty, dammit put that Frisbee back, I'm not gonna buy it for you!"_

" _Mwehehehe! You still owe me!"_

The call abruptly ended making Duchess sigh. It seemed Kitty always found a way to make things harder for everyone, all because she was mischievous in nature. She glanced at her phone, realizing after a second that she had forgotten what she was going to do after practicing on the lake. She stopped in the middle of the hall, glancing at the ground trying to remember what she was gonna do. Faybelle was serving detention for pulling a prank on Headmaster Grimm, so she couldn't do anything. She had finished her homework, bought new shoes from Ashlynn, got her hair done for the week. She growled, almost feeling the burning honk at the back of her throat.

" _If there's anything I hate the most, it's forgetting what the hell I was gonna do. I bet my brain is gonna remember when it's too late, or when I'm taking a piss. That's always how it is!"_ she cried in her mind. A few people brushed past her, hearing her growls wondering what was wrong with the Swan Princess. She shook her head and continued walking toward the foyer, maybe a walk through town would clear her head.

She figured maybe checking her social media accounts would maybe jog her memory. After all, she liked being on MirrorBook as much as the next teenager. She always set reminders on it just in case she ever forgot anything. Her eyes never left her screen, but she did hear people talking, and muttering her name under their breath. She paused for a second, glancing at a nearby group of people brow raised in curiosity. None of them said anything, they didn't need too. Her voice had been quite enough.

"Wow, Ever After High hasn't changed a bit! It's so good to finally be back!"

Her head snapped forward so fast, she thought her neck might have snapped. Standing in the middle of the foyer was a girl she was hoping to never see again for as long as she was in high school. Sadly she wasn't going to get her way.

She was a slim young woman, standing at an impressive five feet, nine inches. She had long white hair, flowing down her back reaching her lower back. She was wearing a pearl tiara on her head, decorated with a few white feathers, a strand of her white hair had been braided and had a violet flower attached to it. Her outfit was a very sleeveless beautiful dress, a silky white color lined with lavender threading.

It had a white halter, made almost entirely of silky white feathers. It had long white detached sleeves, looking almost like the sleeves of a kimono, also lined in lavender. The dress reached to about her mid thigh, around her waist she was wearing a lavender sash tied behind her back into a large bow. She was wearing a pair of silky white stockings. On her feet, she wore a pair of white heels, flat on the bottom with a slight wedge. They were covered in feathers.

The girl had soft features, dark brown eyes, lined in black. Violet eye shadow accented her eyes making them pop quite a bit. She didn't wear a lot of blush on her cheeks, her complexion was light and sunkissed, her face free of blemishes. She was wearing bright red lipstick on her lips, which were curled into a smile. Around her neck, she was wearing a choker, below the halter of her dress. The charm was that of a white swan, the outer edges lined in bright colorless diamonds.

Duchess grit her teeth, lips in a thin line. She hadn't been expecting her to show up in school. As far as she knew, she had been in Ballet school and would be in this school for quite a long time, until graduation most likely. The fact that she was standing here, in front of her however meant that she had graduated from Ballet school a lot earlier than she had thought. That or her mother had pulled her out of school just to spite her. Odile had been saying quite a lot of things about her performance in the Winter Concert, not just that but several other performances in Ever After. If she had been called back just to upstage her, she and her step-mother would be having words, that was certain.

"Even the people look the same, it's so rustic." the girl said, a grin on her face. She glanced away from one of the MirrorScreens currently showing Blondie's MirrorCast, her eyes landing right on Duchess who had been standing in front of her, glaring quite intensely. Her smile widened a bit as she approached the girl.

"Duchess, hi! It's been such a long time! Come here, give your sister a hug!"

"Fuck you...what the hell are you doing back in Ever After High, Ophelia? Are you here to mess with me? Did Odile put you up to it?" she asked, causing the girl to jump back a bit.

"What are you talking about? Mother didn't put me up to anything...I finished my ballet courses two years early. I graduated with top honors, and I felt the need to come back to Ever After High. After all, I need to sign the Storybook of Legends so I can claim my destiny!" she said cheerfully.

"Yeah well, take a number. If you wanna claim that destiny, you'll have to go to Wonderland to search for the book yourself." Duchess replied, making the girl confused.

"What are you talking about? The Storybook of Legends is kept in the Headmaster's office under glass. I couldn't make it here on Legacy Day, so I arranged a late signing for when I came back. You are just lying to me, typical Black Swan behavior!"

"Listen you stupid White Swan! The Storybook of Legends that was kept here was a fucking sham! Flimflam, fake! The real one was stolen by the Evil Queen, and tossed into the well of Wonder by one of my friends. No one has signed the real book, so unless you wanna take a swim down the Rainbow Express, you aren't signing that book. It's for the best, after all...who wants to live their life backstabbing everyone you meet and stealing the love of someone that doesn't belong to you?" she said, brushing past the white haired girl.

"Yeah well, if you weren't so mean spirited. Maybe there would be a boy out that would fall in love with you! It isn't my fault that you are so bitchy that all of the boys come flocking to me by proxy. If you stopped be such a Black Swan, then someone would notice you more!"

"Oh yeah? Well maybe if you weren't such a fucking whore, you'd be able to hold a relationship for more than two weeks! What do you get at? Every single friend I've had of the opposite sex would run to you! You've been fucking since you were 14, with every single guy I've ever liked! I'm surprised you haven't gotten knocked up yet!" Duchess snapped back. By now a small crowd of people had gathered, interested in seeing what was going on.

"What are you talking about? I've never had sex with anyone. And it isn't my fault that I'm overall prettier and much nicer than you."

"Are you serious? Do I need to remind you of what happened last summer? I was into this cute boy named Ren. We were about to kiss when you so happened to pass by us, and happened to trip and get hurt. He went to see if you were alright, next thing I know, he's fucking you from behind on the other side of the park! You may look like the White Swan, but white doesn't suit you!" she cried, crossing her arms a smirk on her face.

"That's rich coming from you. If boys flock to me, it's because you have nothing good to offer. You put me through hell growing up, breaking all of my toys, ripping all of my clothes! It's no wonder mom banned you from ever visiting, it's no wonder dad hates talking about you. You are just like your mother, a sad useless hag who's bound to the body of a swan for the rest of her life!" Ophelia cried. A loud slap filled the hall a second later, the white haired girl reached for her throbbing cheek, eyes widened a bit. Duchess grabbed a handful of her dress, growling under her breath.

"Don't you ever talk about my mother like that again. Odette is a saint compared to that two timing bitch Odile! She lied and weaseled her way into my father's life, my mother put everything on the line and fell to a curse all because your mother couldn't stay the fuck out of it! My mother is a saint compared to yours, she's the real White Swan, not Odile!"

"How dare you hit me? That's so like you, here I am trying to be a good sister, but you just have to bring your mother into it! You are such a bitch Duchess! You don't deserve to ever be happy!"

"Okay that's enough!" a booming voice snapped, causing the girl to visibly jump. The crowd opened up a bit, all of them allowing the owner of the voice to walk through. Duchess gasped a bit in surprise when she saw that it had been Blake, who stood next to her. He took a hold of her hand, not taking his eyes away from the other girl.

"Oh my, who are you?" Ophelia said, her attitude changing when she got a good look at the boy. She gave him a grin, her eyes scanning his entire body. He felt a little unnerved by the action.

" _Sheesh, are all the Swan's obsessive when it comes to men? I feel like she's undressing me with her eyes. Hell she's probably fucking me too."_ he thought.

"My name is Blake Bigby, Duchess happens to be one of my closest friends. So, I take it you must be her half sister Ophelia, the White Swan."

"What gave you that idea?"

"The haughty attitude is one, how you are dressed, the flat heels. The fact that you are giving me the fuck me eyes as we speak. It isn't hard to figure out." he replied.

"Hmm, I have to admit...Duchess always has a knack for finding attractive boys. This one is twice the man Ren was, and I bet he's even better than him too!" Ophelia said, licking her lips a bit.

"You disgusting whore! Don't you dare touch Blake, he isn't yours!" Duchess cried, about to hit the girl when Blake held her back.

"Alright, this has clearly gone far enough. I don't know how extensive your relationship is, but what I do know is that you can't be together right now. And you, Ophelia...don't you dare badmouth Odette ever again, if there is anything I hate in this world, it's when people talk shit about things they don't know. Odette was a beautiful woman, who was fucked over by your mother. I'm not gonna let Duchess suffer the same fate."

"I hate to break it to you Blake, but the rules of destiny state that she's going to be the next Black Swan. It's out of my hands, I'm afraid. It isn't my fault that our story happens to cause every boy Duchess meets to come to me. I do try to push them away, but the heart wants what the heart wants. I'm sorry it has to be the ones that she loves, but that's just destiny." she replied, an apologetic look on her face.

"That's just destiny? Let me tell you a little thing about destiny, it isn't set in stone and it can be rewritten! I will not stop until my friends don't have to suffer due to the hands of destiny! Duchess will not be the Black Swan, because she is a Rebel! She will rewrite her destiny, no matter what it takes! And as long as the Storybook of Legend stays in Wonderland, neither you or anyone else has the authority to do a goddamn thing about it." he snapped back, earning a smirk from the girl.

"Is that so? You must be the boy I've heard rumors about...the one from the other world. I can see it in your eyes Duchess, you love him...there's one little thing you forgot though, if he's your destined prince, then he will be my destined lover. There is nothing you can do about it, I'm afraid." she replied, spinning on her heel as she started walking away.

"We'll see about that." the monochrome ballerina muttered, a look of hatred on her face.

"So...I finally met your sister...she's just as charming as I thought she'd be. Maybe she should sow a red A on her dress, of course it stands for Asshole instead of Adultery." he said, making Duchess giggle. She gave the boy a hug, as the crowd started breaking away, all of them talking about what had just taken place.

"Thank you Blake, for defending me like that. You have no idea how fucking livid I am with that whore of a White Swan." she said. He wrapped his arms around the girl, returning the hug.

"Hey, I'm your friend. It's what I am here for, and trust me when I say this, I am not attracted to that type of girl. She wouldn't stop licking her lips and staring at me, like some feral animal about to pounce."

"Yes, she's like that. She thinks it's cute, but it isn't...it just shows how much of a slut she fucking is. It's disgusting!"

"Tell me about it, here I was expecting to see something interesting, and all I get is my next punching bag. Don't worry Duchy, I'll get her for you!" Kitty said, her signature grin on her face. The girl gave her a nod as she disappeared, most likely planning her next prank.

"Hey Duchess, are you doing anything? Melody called a meeting and I'm about to head to my dorm. You're welcome to come along if you want." Blake said, giving her a smile.

"Can I hold your hand? I feel that if I let go, Ophelia will come back and insult me some more." she said, genuinely fearful. Even though she had stood up to her sister, she was still upset about what she had said to her.

"Sure...I know exactly what will make you feel better. After the meeting and dinner, how about we go for a walk through town? That'll cheer you right up!"

"You mean...as a date?" she asked, earning a nod from the boy. She grinned, hugging his arm tightly. He patted her head as he walked, glad that his friend was feeling better.

 _ **xxx**_

"Did you see what happened at the entrance hall? Ophelia Swan put Duchess on blast, even brought her mother into the picture." Pierre said, glancing at some sheet music in front of him.

"Ophelia Swan...the next White Swan right?" Joey asked curiously, earning a nod from Jack.

"That's right...rumor has it, she just came back from Ballet school. Not just that, her mother Odile told her to come to school just so Duchess could be put on edge. It seems her betrayal transcends generations...what she didn't do to Odette, she's doing to Duchess. That's really messed up if you ask me."

"Pfft, that Black Swan needs a couple days in the real world...though I suppose if I had gone out with her like I wanted...I would have left her for this Ophelia girl. After all, Swan Lake is the only story in which anyone can become the next Prince. The only story where high school relationships actually count, how adorable." Joey said, a ghost of a smile on his face.

"That's pretty messed up bro. How would you like it if your sister took away everyone you loved? How would you feel if someone you loved left you for your sibling or for your friend, and you were cursed for the rest of your life? Not very good does it?" Jack said, earning a scoff from the boy.

"I wouldn't get involved in the first place. It doesn't matter to me, if I was with the Black Swan, I'd still get to be with the White Swan by the end of it. It's destiny after all, who cares what happens to the Black Swan at the end of the story?" he replied. Jack narrowed his eyes, but said nothing as he looked back toward the far wall.

"So, how exactly is this going to work Joe? Are we gonna challenge Purple Rhapsody to another Amp vs Amp?" Tobias asked curiously.

"Eh, I'm not really into that shit. You're the one that wants to call him out...that's one thing I don't get man, what's your beef with Blake?" he asked curiously, causing Pierre and Frost to look away from their instruments.

"My father taught me a valuable lesson Joey. When you see someone that is evil, they must be vanquished post haste! I want to make the students of Ever After understand that Blake is a ticking time bomb. What if he goes to the dark side? What if the magic takes over him? What if the Evil Queen gets set free and she absorbs all of his magic? This is an imminent danger! He must be taken care of immediately!"

"I swear to the Fairy godmother." Jack muttered under his breath.

"Didn't Gaston fall off the castle in Beauty and the Beast? That's tantamount to death isn't it?" Joey asked.

"The old man was resilient, he packed a parachute and managed to survive the fall. He doesn't get along with King Adam however...it took awhile for him to let me hang out with Rosabella. Ah, what a beautiful young woman she has grown into." he said, a flush on his face.

"I honestly don't think we should put your ideals on the forefront of our band. Besides, Jack is the frontman and manager of Yuletide Bliss, so without his approval you can't really do anything." Frost said, a look of annoyance on his face.

"Guys, we're all friends here right? While I do disagree with what Tobias wants to do, I do agree that we have to put more music out there. I mean come on, we have one album with sixteen tracks. Purple Rhapsody has an eight track EP, a twenty-five track Album, two singles and now they're working on their second album. We need to get out there and become a true competition to them." he said, a smile on his face.

"Yeah, well some people are too busy trying to break into Wonderland to attempt some bullshit cock measuring contest." Joey replied, not taking his eyes off his work. He briefly looked up, seeing four sets of eyes staring at him.

"Break into Wonderland? What the hell are you attempting that for?" Jack asked curiously. He flushed, leaning back in his seat.

"No reason...I uh...want some Zap Apples. You only get them once a year here, and in Wonderland they grow abundantly. It wouldn't be a bad idea to have an open portal to get more whenever we wanted them right?" he asked, a cold sweat forming on his brow.

"Hmm...that is true...Zap Apple pie is the most amazing thing in the world. The Mad Hatter only makes it once a year and it sells out on the same day. I've only had one slice in my entire life, and I wish to have more before I die! Go for it Joey, break into Wonderland, give us more apples so that we can feast on the delicacy that is Zap Apple Pie!" Pierre said, clasping his hands together, fat tears running down his cheeks.

"I think it's wonderful that you want to give us all more Zap Apples. Personally, exploring the kooky fields of Wonderland would be enough...such a dream, so close yet so far!" Tobias added, earning a sigh from Joey.

" _You're all a bunch of fuckin morons...with me being the biggest one."_

Jack however didn't like how Joey was acting. His eyes were narrowed in thought, but he couldn't come up with anything. However, it was rather dangerous that he wanted to break into Wonderland, for something as silly as a Zap Apple. There was something else there, the way he said it sounded aggravated. He shook his head, grabbing a hold of his guitar case and his backpack.

"I'm gonna go practice my guitar in my dorm. I agree with you Pierre, we need more songs...I'll see if anything original hits me." he said.

"Hey, I got several original songs! I'll mail you some lyrics later and we can work on them together." Joey said, earning a nod from the boy, who just turned to leave, a frown on his face.

 _ **xxx**_

"So, it seems Yuletide Bliss, more specifically, Tobias, wants to call us out. Thanks to Duchess, I was able to perfect a song that I was working on. Melody, do you have track 45B?" Blake asked, earning a nod from the girl.

"I do, you want to use this song? Don't you think it's a little too gruff?" she asked curiously.

"We busted our asses practicing that track in particular. If Blake wants to use it, then it's for a reason right?" Cerise asked. She patted Cadence's head, the dragon had been brought by her as it had been her turn to take care of her for the week. She was purring slightly, her tail wagging slowly.

"Cerise is right...it was okay at first, but now they're getting more aggressive. Friendly competition is alright and all, but I think they're going too far." Dexter said.

"I don't think it's Jack who's making the calls. He's the frontman and manager, but it seems to me like someone else is pulling the strings. Remember, Commandant Cockmeat is in that band. It would make sense for him to be pushing things forward." Duchess replied, earning a nod from Blake.

"Exactly, which is why we have to push the envelope. Honestly, I could care less about how many songs they have. Jack said he didn't want competition, so we aren't going to have one. But that doesn't mean we can't put Joey in his place." he said.

"You aren't going to put me in another dress are you?" Cupid asked, earning a laugh from everyone. Melody shook her head, closing her laptop.

"No, this song is too...outlandish for your sweet voice. We all watched the Little Mermaid last week, so you know exactly what song Blake is pushing forward...but the matter is, who's going to sing it." She replied.

"Well...it's more of an active song than anything...all of us have instruments to play. I think Cerise's nasally voice would suit it best."

"My voice isn't nasally! It's husky at best." the girl cried back.

"Raspy is more like it...just like the voice of another person I know." Duchess said, giving her a wink, causing her to growl under her breath.

"Guys, let's just face the facts. None of us can sing this song, which is why I have asked for outside help this time around. Jessica!" he called out, his voice echoing through the room. He heard a sharp cry and a slam from above, making him smirk a bit. A second or two later, the girl flashed into the room, brushing her dress off, shoving her wand into her bra.

"You got a real fuckin problem with calling me like that asshat. I was in the process of cross breeding the Leopard Gecko with the Sagebrush Lizard. It is a delicate process that needs my complete and utter attention, you are lucky I didn't break any fucking eggs!" she snapped angrily.

"Sorry about disturbing your gene splicing project, but I need your help. You are a level two wizard now correct?" he asked.

"Ugh...yes...I'm not granting any wishes, I'm still suffering from that last one you made. But sure, I can cast level two enchantments and do a lot of other sick wizard stuff. You want some enchanted wizard weed? That shit is super tight!" she said, a grin on her face. He heard a knock on the door and rapidly stood up, closing the distance toward the door.

"I'll pass, I'm not one to get baked on enchanted wizard weed." he replied, opening the door. Apple and Ashlynn stood on the other side of the door, and he welcomed the two girls in, a smile on his face.

"Hey guys, what was it that you needed from the two of us?" Ashlynn asked, a curious look on her face.

"Yes, we came as soon as you messaged us Blake. We knew it had to be important if you were asking the two of us for help on such short notice." Apple replied, earning a smile from the boy. He walked the two girls toward the center of the room, causing the other members of his band to look at him questioningly.

"Well you see, it seems Tobias wants to challenge us to another Amp vs Amp, but we really aren't up for that. So we're just gonna show him that Purple Rhapsody is boss and that no matter what he wants to do or say, he won't be able to do jack. We're going to sing a new song, but it doesn't fit any of us."

"Oh, I get it...this is a rather gruff song...so it's something that's expected to be sung by a guy. But if a girl sings it, the impact and the lyrics will be much stronger if a girl sings it. All of us have to play an instrument, so we can't sing either." Cupid said.

"Indeed, I like the way you think Blake...by having someone, especially a princess sing this song, the impact will be better. It will be seared into the memories of everyone who witnesses it. But uh...who's gonna sing the song?"

"Oh, I am of course." Blake said, a smirk on his face.

"Huh? How are you going to sing it? I thought Ashlynn or Apple was going to sing it...what did you call them here for if you're gonna sing it?" Dexter asked.

"It's quite simple really...Jessica got access to some level two spells that she couldn't cast before. Including the one that I require, body switching. By switching bodies with one of them, I'll be able to sing the song without having either of them memorize the lyrics. It also allows me the freedom of movement without a rehearsed routine." he replied.

"Oh, you sick fuck! I see what you are doing here!" Duchess snapped, causing the boy to look at her.

"Something wrong there Duchess?"

"Yes there is! Why the hell did you have to pick Ashlynn and Apple? When I'm right here! I would gladly allow you to use my body for your scheme!" she cried, making him sigh.

"Listen, I'm not just using their body for sick kicks. I broached this topic because I just want this bullshit dick measuring contest to fucking end. That and the fact that Ashlynn and Apple happen to be the daughters of Cinderella and Snow White, two princesses and queens known for their beautiful singing voices. You can't sing for shit, you've told me yourself, so why would I bother hopping into your body?" he asked, crossing his arms. The girl frowned, turning away from the boy, nose held high.

"This is such a weird request...I never once considered this would be what we would be talking about." Ashlynn said, still slightly confused.

"Still, if it means putting an end to all of this I would gladly help. What exactly do you want us to do?" Apple asked, causing Blake to face them once more.

"It isn't hard, we're going to be singing a song from the Little Mermaid. Dinner is in about three hours, give or take. We're gonna sit down and watch the movie so you can see what scene were going for. After that, which ever one of your voices fits better, will be who I go with. Whether that's Ashlynn or you Apple will depend on how you guys do." he replied.

"I'm looking forward to this little blunder...it's going to be hilarious to see this shit go down. I'll even toss in some free outfits, I want this fucker to blow their minds out. Just try not to go south on my Blakey, the last thing I want is for you to hijack their body and live out your wildest sexual fantasies."

"Fuck you! I would never do that! Besides I've done my research on Body switching spells, they only last half an hour. More than enough time for what we are going for. We're gonna cast that spell right after they're in costume. For now, Melody I'll need you to set everything up...this needs to be perfect." Blake said, a smile on his face.

"Already on it, I'm mixing all of the keyboard beats as we speak. Dad got a new drum set he wanted me to try out, so Cerise will get to break the sucker in. We got enough time to restring and retune all of our instruments too."

"Awesome, I hardly ever get to play a set right out of the box...this is gonna be fun." Cerise said, a genuine smile on her face.

"It's a good thing we can restring our instruments...some of my strings are getting worn out. We've been playing a lot of music recently. Do you want me to restring yours Cupid?" Dexter asked, earning a nod from the girl.

"Please, I never get far when I string mine." she said sheepishly. The four teenagers left the room, leaving Blake behind with three princesses and a wizard. He grabbed his laptop and quickly searched for the Little Mermaid on it, hooking it up to his projector.

"Um...Blake, how did you come up with this body switching idea? I mean, this is an outlandish idea." Apple said.

"Maybe he wanted the feeling of supple princess skin on his hands. He secretly wanted to be a woman, his hands being able to explore to his heart's content, entirely free. He'd be able to satisfy his urges and dreams, of wondering what it would be like to be the opposite sex."

"Jessica Merlin, shut the fuck up." Blake cried, causing the white haired girl to burst into laughter. He was sure not going to see the end of this one.

 _ **xxx**_

Joey sighed as he entered his room, locking the door behind him. He walked directly to his desk, setting his bag down on the top. He dropped into his chair, sweeping some hair away from his eyes. He glanced at the mirror, still no response from the Evil Queen.

"Dammit, I was so close to blowing it earlier today. That Tobias is proving to me much dumber than I thought. But at least they bought that crack pot story. I'm almost close to finishing the translation." he muttered, glancing at his notebook. The spell he had written in French, was almost fully translated into Latin.

The last thing he would need to do when it was finished was to put it in a place where Raven Queen would find it. He would have to pull some major strings to get everything to work perfectly. But he had to make them all want to go to Wonderland, so badly that they needed to search for a spell. He needed to make up a reason for this all to take place. It would take a lot of planning, and a lot of subtle movements behind the scenes, but he would make it happen. He reached into his bag, pulling out a video camera, a smirk on his face as he turned it on.

"I have to admit, this one is so paranoid right now that she might have a meltdown soon." he muttered, pressing play on the video. It was one he had taken earlier that day, of Duchess Swan dancing on the lake.

Yes, while he had given up any attempt to pursue the Swan Princess, he couldn't deny she wasn't attractive. He was still very much attracted to the girl, but he knew he had no chance with her. It was especially so thanks to Blake's involvement with her. However, now that her sister Ophelia was in school, perhaps he could do something. If he got his hands on the Storybook of Legends, he could definitely mess with the hands of destiny. If Blake's name was signed in the next Siegfried's page, then his destiny would take over. No matter how it was sliced, Blake would have various endings, either Duchess would be cursed in the body of a Swan forever, he would die alone, she would die protecting him, or both of them would commit suicide. It would be the best kind of revenge for what the Swan Princess had done to him during the Fairest.

"Of course, I could mess with fate again...sign Duchess's name in place of Ophelia, make the bitch live her destiny. If I sign my name as the next Siegfried, then I would still get Duchess to myself...but that would contradict my wanted future...there is no way I would ever give up being King Arthur...that would be much too fun. So many destines, so little time to choose. I think I'd like to go with the former, seeing Blake and Duchess commit suicide in tandem would be hilarious."

" _You sick bastard! You need to die a thousand deaths!"_

"Oh shut up Brooke, you can't stop me no matter how much you scream and shout." Joey said, earning a growl from the young narrator.

" _Truly you are a nasty individual...we cannot risk our daughter's life...but eventually Blake will find out. Swine like you don't live forever."_ Weiss snapped, earning a chuckle from the boy.

"He can try and fail, after all he succumbed to his darkness...whatever, I got much too many things to do. You can try and tell him, but don't blame me when your daughter has a knife plunged into her neck."

" _Let us go, he is just taunting us now...it matters not what we do...it will be up to Blake do end him by his own hand."_ Chester said, quickly ushering his family away. Joey shook his head.

"Idiots, all of them...they don't know the grand scheme of things. Invading Wonderland is just the beginning. I've got bigger plans after the sword is in my hand." he said, stretching his limbs above his head.

" _Maybe messing with Duchess isn't appropriate right now...cursing her to live her life in the body of a swan isn't ideal. She needs to remain human and suffer, Swan Lake's alternate ending has Siegfried die as well...perhaps the ultimate revenge is the kind where she watches her lover die before her."_

He smirked, grabbing his notepad, this idea would be just another one for the books. After all, the more ideas he had available, the more he would be able to plan. That meant he would be able to craft the perfect murder and get away with it...and it all started with getting his hands on the Storybook of Legends.


	61. Killing them Softly with Music

**A/N:**

 **Hello people of Earth, Ever After and beyond! I welcome you to Chapter 61 of Through the Looking Glass. Sorry for the wait everyone, I needed to have some chapters ready to post so I could feel a bit more comfortable, I hate being backed into a corner when I do daily posts, because eventually I'll run out if I don't put out enough. Normally, I put out one chapter daily, and then finish one daily, so the amount never goes down, but I take breaks often, so that slowly wittles my supply until I run out of chapters, or I get to around two. Currently I'm writing chapter 65, the first chapter of the Way Too Wonderland arc, so I felt the need to post this chapter, to keep things fresh at least.**

 **This chapter continues the events of Chapter 60, and you finally get to see exactly how Blake gets back at Tobias. I wasn't exactly planning on making Toby a secondary antagonist, but I wanted to make him be one at first. Of course, I can't broach the, this guy is a douche bag on the outside while being a nice guy on the inside, due to his father's teachings, if I didn't broach him as a Douche Canoe. There will be a confrontation between them soon, where Blake actually talks to him and gets the honest truth out of him. After all, Tobias is attacking Blake and he hasn't even done anything yet, this is also why Joey is happy that Toby is around, because he's easy to manipulate. This chapter, he is more lax than normal, as his focus is mostly on Plan Theta which will start taking place soon enough.**

 **This chapter contains Latin! Go Figure, you all get to read in a language that many people find useless in this day and age, but I don't...not this dude, I find use in everything, even Esperanto, though I barely ever write anything with that language in it. I feel like Latin is one of the languages always used when casting spells, so I kept to that tradition as well. Because it just sounds cool when you say it.**

 **This chapter also contains a song, because no revenge chapter is complete without one. The song is Poor Unfortunate Souls, sung by Jonathan Young...I recommend you search this version up instead of the original one from the Little Mermaid, because this one just sounds cool. Keep in mind, that Blake isn't necessarily going to be singing it, you'll find out what I mean as you read this chapter.**

 **Finally if you haven't checked it out, I shall not do the obligatory pointing to the alternate universe chapters. Black Aria and Pantoufle Noir, two stories that explore Melody x Blake and Ashlynn x Blake as pairings. As of now, Black Aria has only one chapter, the second one shall be written after Way Too Wonderland. Pantoufle Noir will be getting an update tonight, so stay tuned for that. For all of those that don't know French, Pantoufle Noir means Black Slipper in French. I was gonna call it Black Glass Slipper, but it sounded a little retarded in my opinion so I went with this. I hope you guys are liking the side stories. After Chapter 63, I will be posting Black Apple, the pairing with Apple White, and let's just say, Apple is gonna be swallowing something that isn't made from apples...kek kek kek...**

 **I do hope you like this chapter and Chapter 2 of Pantoufle Noir, more information on that chapter on the chapter itself, so...see you all when I see you!**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 61

Killing them Softly with Music

Rosabella truly didn't know what to make Tobias's attitude. Ever since he had arrived in Ever After, he had been acting a lot more like his father. But it was only in public, whenever they spoke on their own, he was the humble boy she had grown up knowing. However there was another worrying thing, and that was his attitude toward Blake. It didn't take her long to figure out his growing resentment toward the black haired boy. She didn't understand why, Blake had never even done anything to him. In fact, as far as she knew they had only met once and that was it. He had been pulled out of school before he could get a good impression of him. Of course, this was all being fed to him due to the rumors and the other things that surfaced after the Spring Fairest.

Rosabella could see the kindness in people. She could read their auras, even if they were beasts, she could see how good they were. Blake was a pure sky blue, meaning he was as kind as they came. He was humble, giving, selfless and helpful. He was the kind of person who would drop whatever he was doing to help anyone. She had even seen him leading a small family of ducks toward the lake without them getting run over or hit by any cars. That was the sweetest thing she had ever seen a boy do, not many did what he did. But she still didn't understand what it was that made Tobias act that way.

She figured it had to do with the fact that he had the Evil Queen's magic within him. Of course that wasn't his fault, seeing as he had been cursed by her. He couldn't help what he had been put through, and whenever she tried telling Tobias that, he would just dismiss her. Right now, it was all about music, but she could tell there was a subtle hatred there. No doubt something his father must have told him. She didn't know Gaston to well, but she did know that he had tried to kill her father by stabbing him in the back. Somehow he had escaped the fate of death at the bottom of the moat. She had never liked the man, especially knowing that Tobias had been put through hell just to be more like him.

Still she was his friend, and she would try to fix what his father had done. For her to do that, she had to get to the bottom of his resentment, why did he hate a person he had never met. Especially one as kind as Blake, who had down various kind deeds throughout Ever After. She was also basing most of her assumptions on the fact that Joey had also filled his mind with crap. She never liked the boy, who had an aura almost as dark as pitch. That was the one she had to truly worry about, but whenever she started spouting things about aura people tended not to believe her, so she couldn't really tell anyone about it. She would have to figure out how to change Tobias's mind herself.

The boy was currently in the Student Lounge on his own, reading from a book. She noticed he had a pair of drumsticks in his hands, most likely reading a Drumming book. He had gotten into Yuletide Bliss several days ago, and was taking it quite seriously. Some of the things he had been doing were music related. Since Blake was a part of Purple Rhapsody, he wanted to outshine them, by making Yuletide Bliss the better band. She doubted that, especially with someone like Joey, who did nothing more than rob the lyrics of other composers, while Purple Rhapsody wrote they're own music, and gave credit where credit was due. That was another thing she disliked about Joey, the fact that he was a liar was a major turn off. His aura had been spiking a bit, flashing between black and purple, in an array that she didn't like. She compared it a bit to Raven's aura, which was a soft lavender. It was an aura of evil turning good. If the opposite was true, then Joey's was an aura of good going evil. She didn't know what would happen if he decided to do something, but she would definitely keep her eye on him.

She walked into the lounge, greeting a few of her friends who had been in the process of leaving. She took a seat directly across the boy, causing him to look up from the book he was reading. He immediately sat up, snapping the book closed as he put on a dopey smile on his face. She could see his aura turning slightly pink, something that happened whenever she was near. It wasn't hard for her to figure out the boy had feelings for her. Of course, she was part of Beauty and the Beast, meaning she would be his love interest. She was destined to deny his affections in favor of loving a Beast. That was something else that he didn't like speaking about.

The next Beast hadn't appeared yet, so he was pretty calm. But whenever she talked about who they might be, he would get extremely angry. He didn't want his childhood friend to be married to some disgusting monster. She hated when he talked like that, and reminded him that just because someone looked like a beast on the outside, didn't mean they were a beast on the inside. The closest person she could use to compare that would be Gaston. Someone who was handsome on the outside and a beast on the inside. Only a person as twisted as him would stab someone in the back, because if he couldn't have her, no one would. It was something that she hated about her story, and knowing that her best friend would meet that fate sooner or later really made her heart break.

"Hey Toby, what are you doing here by yourself?" she asked, placing her hands on her lap. He gave her a smile, spinning a drum stick through his fingers.

"Preparing of course. I've memorized all of the basics for playing the drums, I was good already but it never hurts to brush up on a subject. I need to learn everything I can of course."

"Why is that? I understand that you joined a band. They aren't running you ragged are you? They better not or they'll be sorry." she replied, a firm look on her face. He shook his head, grabbing a hold of his book.

"No no! My new friends are really nice, we're working on new music so we can release an album. It has been a bit hard, as we're recording several drum lines with live instruments. Frost had to use MIDI data in most of their songs, so they wanted to rerecord some stuff. It's all good practice anyway. Especially for when we challenge Purple Rhapsody." he replied, setting his book aside.

"Challenge? What's this about a challenge? I haven't heard them say anything." Rosabella said, a small frown on her face. The boy chuckled clenching his hand.

"Yes, we're planning on calling them out at dinner tonight. We want to show them that they're not the only band in Ever After High anymore. After all, they did it to our band a few days back with that new single, and that impromptu concert. We just wanna put them in their place."

"Toby, I need you to answer me this. Why are you doing this? This isn't like you, did your father tell you something that made you change your attitude?" she asked curiously. He looked at her in confusion, letting out a bellowing laugh.

"Of course not! My father didn't put me up to this, I am only doing what is right! After all, a band that allows a monster in it shouldn't be allowed to even be a band. In fact, that monster shouldn't even be in this school. He doesn't belong here."

She looked at the ground, trying to figure out what he meant by that. By his general attitude, she could tell he was mad at something...or rather someone. She thought for a few seconds, finally realizing what he meant by monster. Her hand grabbed onto her skirt rather tightly, as she finally looked back to her friend.

"You are talking about Blake right?"

"Yup! He seemed like a nice person when we met at the beginning of the school year. But that's before I realized what a monster he was...I mean come on, who just plugs a well vital to our survival? Who traps they're friends and drains them of their wonder? He's messed up...he is just like the Evil Queen, a disgusting horrible person that deserves nothing short of death."

"Toby that's not true and you know it. Blake is a sweet person, he can't help his curses or his magic! It wasn't his fault that the Evil Queen dragged him out of his home world and did that stuff to him. Besides, he was cursed by a riddle book. So were Apple, Ashlynn, Hunter and Daring...all five of them were responsible for plugging the well. So you cannot blame him alone for something he didn't truly do." She replied.

"This is what I don't like about you Rosa...you defend monsters too easily. I was told growing up, that monsters needed to be slain, those horrible beasts don't deserve to live. How long will we wait until Blake has another pang of evil? Are we gonna let him do what he wants in this school unsupervised? What of Raven Queen? He calls her his sister, but he almost killed her!"

"Okay, that's enough!" the girl snapped, causing the boy to shy back a bit. He frowned, confused on what was going on. She looked away from him, arms crossed in annoyance. He could tell he had annoyed her, and he hated when he did that.

"I'm sorry Rosa, but I was just speaking my mind."

"I understand, but also understand that Raven and Blake can't be held accountable for what the Evil Queen did to them. Raven can't help being her daughter, and Blake can't help anything. He was taken from his world and had a mirror shoved in his chest. Not just that, his family doesn't remember him, if he goes back he dies. Do you know how unfair that is? It's also unfair to judge him for something he couldn't help."

"It doesn't matter to me...yes what happened to him is tragic. It sucks that he can't go home or see his family, but he doesn't belong here. He isn't from Ever After and he shouldn't be around so many of us. He could kill us at any time and steal our destiny." he replied, earning a scoff from the girl.

"Yeah, none of us are going to sign the book. He got rid of it for that very reason, he did it for my cousin. Because she doesn't deserve to sleep for a hundred years and lose all of her friends and family." Rosabella cried, earning a wide eyed look from the boy.

"So it's true...he really did toss the book in the well. He deserves to be punished for that as well, who is he to decide what to do with something so sacred? All of our stories are on the verge of collapse because of him!"

"It wasn't just him who got rid of the book. Briar and Kitty were there as well, the three of them threw it in the well. Honestly, I don't know who you are right now. The Toby I grew up with isn't a resentful person, hellbent on following his father's orders. Whatever happened to you wanting to break away from Destiny and being the person you want to be?" she asked, earning a smirk from the boy.

"That was just my naivete getting the best of me. My father taught me about everything I needed to face the future. He said that evil needed to be vanquished, and Blake is an evil person. So long as he has the Evil Queen's magic flowing through him, Ever After isn't safe. We have to send him back to his world, from where he shouldn't have come."

"Hey guy, I don't like when people talk shit, about things that they haven't been here to see. But I especially don't like when people talk shit about my friends." a gruff voice said, causing Tobias to turn around. He shuddered a bit when he saw the glowing eyes of Ramona Badwolf staring back at him.

"Ramona, he doesn't mean it...he's just confused." Rosabella said, quickly standing up. She held her arm in front of Tobias, as the young half wolf came to a stop in front of the two.

"Really? Confused? From my point of view, what he said was one hundred percent true. He meant that shit, and he is standing by his word, isn't that right Toby?" Ramona asked. He didn't say anything, causing the girl to shake her head.

"No need to be scared, I'm not gonna bite you or anything. You meant every word of what you said right? You want to send Blake back, you want to condemn him to death."

"Sending him back isn't killing him. It would just be getting rid of the thorn in our side!"

"Did you know that the Evil Queen put a myriad of curses on the boy when he was pulled into Ever After? That Mirror shard in his chest will explode if he even sets foot into a portal to Earth. So sending him back, home will end his life. Not only that, even if it wasn't so, his family doesn't remember him. His only friend is missing, no one there remembers him. So you would be cursing him to walk the road alone...for the rest of his life." the girl said, eyes narrowed in anger.

"It would be better for him to be the only one to die...he got rid of the Storybook of Legends...you know what that means right? Your story will disappear...you will disappear." Tobias said. Ramona scoffed, a smirk on her face.

"So what, who said I wanted to be like my old man? Who ever said I wanted to be the Big Bag Wolf in the first place? Blake, Kitty and Briar did us a favor. They got rid of the thing driving all of us apart, and in return, that united the school. No longer do the notions of Royal and Rebel define us. Now, we have the right to decide our destiny. It was a blessing in disguise."

"Ramona is right...I don't care about my story as much as I care about everyone else. I want to show the world that even Beasts have kind hearts. I don't care what I have to do, but I will protect the ones that need protecting...the ones being bullied because of their looks. I thought you would want to help me too, but it seems you've changed quite a bit since our last meeting." Rosabella said, causing the boy to gasp.

"I haven't changed at all, I just had my eyes opened by my father. I also have the right to my opinion, and I stand firm by it." Tobias said, puffing his chest out.

"It's fine that you have an opinion...but when you threaten a persons life, that's when I have an issue. I'm not afraid of you Tobias, but I will say this...if you ever even think about doing anything to Blake, I will kill you myself. I am a villain after all."

"Ramona don't even say that as a joke! You can't just threaten him, he isn't gonna do anything. I won't let him do anything!"

"You have to realize something Rosabella. Gaston warped his mind, the Tobias I met last year was completely different to the one now. He was sweet, kind and wasn't judgmental at all. Now, he's the kind of man who would do anything against a beast. Blake can't help what happened to him, and he doesn't deserve anyone doing anything against him. He is my friend, and like a brother to me...so I will defend him until my dying breath. I made her a promise, and I intend to keep it. So you better watch what you say about Blake, until you get to know him like I have. You have no right to say anything against him. You've been warned Tobias." the daughter of the Bad Wolf said, spinning on her heel. He chuckled shaking his head.

"Did that year in solitary make your brain turn to shit? Did you forget what's in store for the future? Our destinies are on the line and here you are protecting the one who got rid of them. Are you truly the Ramona Badwolf that I met last year? Or have you also been changed by that foreigner?" Tobias asked, causing the girl to stop.

"I dunno...you ask me...what's it like being friends with the scum of the earth? The one that's worth less than the shit on the bottom of my shoe? Answer me that Tobias...and I might consider anything else you want to say to me." she said, giving him a wave as she left the Student Lounge.

"Tch...she really has changed. The Ramona I met last year would never have risked her life to protect someone not from this world." he muttered.

"Tobias, I'm gonna be honest with you. You know how I feel about protecting the Beasts and giving them a voice. There is good in everyone, and Blake is a good person...if you want to antagonize him, and hold this resentment toward him...blame him for something that was out of his hands...then I'm afraid I can't continue being your friend." she said.

"Huh? Come on Rosa, we've been friends since we were kids. You can't be telling me you want to side with him!" the boy cried. She narrowed her eyes, taking her glasses off looking straight into his eyes.

"I'm not siding with anyone. I'm siding with the beasts, I want you to be my friend...but you are acting just like your father. Need I remind you that he tried killing my father, even after their story was over? I can never forget that...I'm not gonna be your Belle, and you aren't going to be my Beast. So please, don't do anything foolish...I'll see you later." she said, grabbing her books. She placed her glasses back on her face, turning toward the door.

"You're just confused Rosa...you'll see soon enough. Blake doesn't belong here, he shouldn't be in this world. You'll see soon, wait until he fucks up again...when someone close to you dies, you'll see I was right...then you'll come back to me." Tobias said. Rosabella grit her teeth, biting her tongue as she left the lounge. There was a lot of things she wanted to say, but she wouldn't forgive herself if she did say them.

 _ **xxx**_

"Alright, now that you know what we are aiming for...we have to see which of you two would fit better. Both of you are excellent singers, but I'm not sure you'll be able to look the part." Blake said, arms crossed as he looked at the two princesses in front of him.

"Um...if I may interject...I'm okay with you borrowing my body for this...I feel that my voice would suit you better Blake." Apple said, causing the boy to raise a brow in curiosity. Duchess scoffed, pulling her shake glass away from her lips.

"You? The daughter of Snow White? Remember, it may be Blake singing this song on the inside...but the outside it'll be you. Are you sure it wouldn't mess with your public image? You could get in trouble for it too." she said. Apple looked at the ground, rubbing her arm nervously.

"I know, my image is everything but...I feel like I owe Blake...you know, for what happened during the Fairest?"

"Apple please, you don't owe me anything. All of us were under the influence of a book okay? If anything I'm the one that owes you...especially thanks to that sick relationship the two of us had." he said, shuddering a bit.

"I agree with Blake, all of us were turned evil by that book...and all of us were pardoned for what we did. This is just something we want to do for fun, and to put Joey in his place...especially because he keeps annoying Hunter during his exams. That's why I agreed to this too." Ashlynn replied. Jessica hummed to herself, tapping her chin with her wand.

"The song has a lot of emotion in it...both of you would fit the part but...we have to give you the right look. By default, the one who doesn't get the part has to play Ariel...are you alright with me using magic on your clothes?"

"I'm alright with it, as long as you don't make us get naked...I don't think it would be ideal with a boy in the room." Apple said, her cheeks flushed.

"I can step outside if you want, or step into the bathroom...I respect your privacy. Plus if Hunter finds out I was ogling Ashlynn's goodies he'd probably break my face." he said jokingly as he brushed past the two girls, ducking into the bathroom.

"Gee, what a pervert." Jessica muttered, flipping her wand through her fingers.

"Says the girl who likes floppy purple dildos." Duchess added, earning a grin from the wizard.

"You leave that out of this, sex and work are two separate things girlie...and sadly I can't think about cock while I'm on the clock. Now then...what to do?" she said, turning back to the princesses.

"Um Ash, I'm a little scared...I don't like the look on her face." Apple said, earning a nod from Ashlynn who took a hold of her hand.

"Me neither...let's just close our eyes."

Jessica let out a squeal a grin on her face as the tip of her wand started glowing in various colors. The air became a bit thick as magic swirled in the area. Even Duchess felt the very magic around them start to move, being channeled right into her wand. She held it up in the air, taking a deep breath.

"From rags to riches, princesses to bitches, fix their outfits at the stitches. Sea and land, darkness and light...dresses alike they shall be. Turn them into attire straight from under the sea!"

With a flick of her wrist, Jessica sent the glittering light straight at the two princesses. They all watched in awe as they were surrounded by a brilliant white light that slowly faded into a dark violet. Duchess set her shake aside, backing away slightly as she watched the girl's clothes start morphing into something new. The light burst away from them, small flitters of light slowly fading into nothingness.

The two were wearing exactly the same dress. It was a sleeveless strapless tight fitting dress. The area around the bust was a bright sea green, decorated with bright sequins. The dress slowly changed colors, turning a dark violet, around the hips. It reached down to the mid thigh, where the dress split into tentacle like strips which fell around the girls. The inner lining was light lavender in color, with little circles that acted like suction cups. The girls were wearing lavender colored tights and black heels. They were both wearing long black gloves that reached to their biceps.

They're make up was almost the same, dark in color. Apple had her eyes lined in black, with her eye shadow being a sea green in color. They wore crimson lipstick, with small little pieces of glitter. Apple's blonde hair was straightened, and had various streaks of sea green and lavender flowing through it. She was also wearing a yellow tiara with small spikes atop her head. Ashlynn's hair remained the same color, though like Apple's had dark green streaks flowing through it, accompanied by dark violet instead of lavender. She also wore a yellow tiara atop her head.

The two girls looked at each other, before looking at they're reflections in the nearby mirror. They were completely taken aback by their new looks. Apple ran her fingers through her straight hair, seeing just how long it was. Her hands traced her curves, feeling every inch of the dress she was wearing. It felt like it was made out of the finest silk in the entire world. She glanced at Jessica, who had a smirk on her face, and was spinning her wand in her hand.

"You can keep those after you are done. They're my finest work if I do say so myself...I asked myself...how can I take two princesses and make them look the part? So, I thought to some of the other girls in school and stopped at Raven Queen. This is a style that would definitely make her smile. What do you think?"

"I like it, it definitely fits what we are going for." Ashlynn said, tugging on her glove a bit.

"I like it too, but...my boobs feel a bit...heavier?"

"How the hell does that happen?" Duchess asked, earning a smirk from Jessica.

"I gave Apple a little bump in cup size, did the same for Ash too...they had to fill out the dress you know."

"Oh...will they go back after we're done? I like my boobs the way they are." Ashlynn said, earning a nod from Jessica.

"If you want them back to normal, I'll fix them...although I'm sure Hunter will appreciate them a little more. What about you Apple, same deal?"

"Um...I think I'll keep them." she said, sweeping a bit of hair behind her back, looking at herself in the mirror, chest puffed out a bit. She actually liked how she looked now, she was beautiful before...but she had always dreamed of being a cup size bigger. Blake walked out of the bathroom with his phone to his ear, eyes widening a bit.

"Whoa...you two look killer. Melody, I gotta go...let me know when the set up is finished!" he said, ending the call right after.

"Thank you Blake, it was all thanks to Jessica. She really knows the art of the dress." Apple said, causing the girl to flush.

"It's nothing, if a girl doesn't know how to dress then she may as well quit life entirely. Now then Blake, it's your pick...which of these two beautiful girls do you want your slimy pervy man soul to inhabit?"

"Goddamn it, don't make it sound like that." he snapped, causing the wizard to laugh. Duchess pushed herself away from the desk, standing in front of the two girls, glancing closely at the two of them. She hummed softly, eyes narrowed in thought. She focused on Apple, glancing into her eyes rather closely, making her back away a bit.

"Blake, go with Apple."

"Eh? Why?" he asked curiously. The Swan Princess glanced at the boy, arms crossed, a smirk decorating her lips.

"Trust me...you want to sing an evil song, then it has to be sung by the sweetest girl in the school. Not to sound weird, but Evil Apple sounds sexier than Evil Ashlynn...no offense to either of you."

"None taken I guess...even while dressed like this, I think Apple would do better." Ashlynn replied, giving Apple a smile. She smiled back, turning to face Blake.

"Duchess is right...this song is made to send a message. Who better to send that message than me?"

"You are right about that. The connotation behind the meaning, coupled by the daughter of Snow White singing it, and the overall impact of the song...yes. This will do nicely." He said, a small smile on his face.

"Okay then, I'll craft Ashlynn's new dress after this ritual. Blake, Apple stand in the center of the room please." Jessica said, a firm tone in her voice. Blake was rather impressed with the seriousness of her tone. He and Apple stood in the middle of the room, right under the chandelier.

"So, what do you want us to do?" Blake asked curiously. She reached into her shirt, pulling out two vials. She handed them to the two teenagers who looked at them oddly.

"Inside these two vials is a bit of enchanted water. This Wonderland water, has been mixed with some pixie dust and enchanted by a high wizard. All you have to do is uncork that bottle and prick yourselves with this pin." she said, handing the two of them a silver pin.

"This requires our blood?" Apple asked curiously.

"Indeed it does...in order for the body switching to work, we need to move your souls. Souls are powerful entities especially while still alive...you're blood serves as a binding agent. With this small amount of enchanted water, you'll be able to stay within each others bodies for half an hour...after which, the stomach acid will process the water and eliminate it naturally."

"Oh, so the enchantment breaks when they take a leak?" Duchess asked.

"That seems sort of redundant for a spell of that caliber don't you think?" Ashlynn asked.

"Ugh...body switching is supposed to be used as a tactical spell. It was used during times of war to infiltrate areas of interest. If one captured a princess and switched bodies with her, no one would be the wiser. It isn't easy to track souls, and unless you are an expert with watching auras, you won't be able to see jack shit. And if you must know, if you want more time, the dose has to be increased. A chalice of water and a chalice of blood will allow you to stay in another persons body for roughly two days."

"Hmm...that is rather interesting." Blake said. He grabbed the pin and jabbed his finger tip with it, flinching a bit at the pain. He squeezed his finger a bit until a drop of blood had formed. He dropped it into the vial, watching as the water turned violet. Apple did the same, both of them corking the vial right after. Jessica took a hold of the vials and shook them, handing Apple's vial to Blake, handing Blake's to Apple.

"Now then, to make the enchantment work I have to cast a spell. Blake take Apple's hand...you have to follow my instructions to the letter in order for this to work. Don't worry, there's nothing perverted, but this enchantment has to be sealed with a kiss between the two who switch bodies."

"A kiss? Why?" Apple asked, a flush on her face.

"It's just how it is...it strengthens the magic if a physical pact is made along with the magical one...now let us get started." the wizard said, holding her hand up, along with her wand. She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath.

"Let us take these two who wish to unbind their souls, and transfer them to a new vessel. The blood of the covenant shall bind them to flesh and bone that is not of their origin. _Bus animabus illis, et in vita nova testa!"_ _ **(Transfer these souls into a new life and new vessel)**_ she chanted. Apple and Blake looked at the vials in their hands, watching them start to glow a brilliant violet.

"Whoa..." he muttered.

"Now, drink the contents of each vial and repeat after me." Jessica said. The two uncorked the bottles, downing the contents, cringing a bit at the metallic and grainy taste. Jessica closed her eyes, taking a hold of each of their hands. A bright blue magic seal appeared under their feet, filled with various runes and markings, which Blake recognized as Latin scripture.

"Anima mea, dabo. _**(My soul, I shall give.)**_ "

" _ **Anima mea, dabo."**_ the two chanted, their voices sounding distorted as they spoke.

"Inter vos esse et vivire. _**(Within you, it shall live.)**_ "

" _ **Inter vos esse et vivire."**_

"Tua sanguinem, et alligant, autem simul interius!" _**(Thy Blood, Shall Bind, Together Inside)**_

" _ **Tua sanguinem, et alligant, autem simul interius!"**_

"Contactus corporalis per hoc foedus, signatus est enim!" _**(Through physical contact this pact is sealed)**_

" _ **Contactus corporalis per hoc foedus, signatus est enim!"**_

"Now Blake, kiss her." Jessica said, letting go of their hands, keeping the glowing magic flowing between them.

Blake leaned forward, eyes still closed as he pressed his lips against Apple's. The two moaned a bit as they kissed, feeling a tingling sensation flowing from their belly straight into their lips. Jessica snapped her fingers, the magic seal rose from the floor, glowing brightly as it rose. Ashlynn and Duchess rose they're hands, covering their eyes as the light grew brighter and brighter until neither could see a thing. The light died down a second or two after, returning the room to normal. Blake and Apple ended they're kiss, opening their eyes. They blinked a few times, simultaneously letting out a scream.

"No way! This shit actually works!" Apple cried, her hands rising to her face.

"Wow, I'm...actually in Blake's body...I feel something in my pants." Blake said.

"Well Apple, that would in fact be Blake's trouser snake. You got half an hour, go ahead...you can tug on it all you want." Jessica said.

"Uh no...I do not give permission to tug on my trouser snake. That is for my eyes only, and I peed so you wouldn't have a reason to see it." Apple said firmly.

"Stop squeezing my boobs then you perv!" Blake cried, pointing at Apple who had been squeezing her boobs for a few seconds. Duchess and Ashlynn shared a look, rubbing their eyes.

"Ahem, now that you two have been switched, you've got half an hour to do whatever it is you wanna do! Sadly, I don't have any more enchanted water to do another switch should time run out. Oh oh, I suggest doing a quickie right after your song. This is the perfect chance to get fucked while in another body. After all, you finally get to feel sex from the other side!"

"Was this spell truly crafted as a tactical spell? Or did some 600 year old wizard get horny one day and want to switch bodies with a young girl? Because it sounds to me like this is an excuse to go on a sexual tirade!" Duchess snapped, earning a gasp from Jessica.

"I'll have you know, I take magic seriously. In fact, since getting my level two certification, I have only switched bodies twice. And while I did enjoy fucking my own body as a man, that is not what I used it for originally."

"Can we please move on? Christ we have a performance to do!" Apple, or rather Blake said, a firm tone in his voice.

"Whoa, I just noticed your eyes are green now." Ashlynn said, looking at the body switched Blake, who glanced at his reflection on the mirror.

"You're right, and Apple has blue eyes now...so it's true what they say. The eyes are the windows to the soul." he said, rather poetically.

"Ahem, the performance?"

"Ah yes, but we don't want to confuse people...ahem, Weiss, Chester? Are you listening in?"

" _Of course we are Blake, we are narrating right now...what is it that you need?"_ Chester asked, earning a smile from the boy, turned girl.

"Would it be some trouble for you to add italics after our names so you and the readers don't get confused? I mean the whole body switching thing is a bit hard on you all. I wanna make it a bit easier."

" _I...suppose we can do that...we can change the footnotes."_ Weiss said firmly.

" _Blake, why did you want to switch bodies with Apple? Mom and dad aren't letting me skip ahead. I also can't narrate, give me a hint please?"_

"Sorry Brooke, you'll have to wait. I know you can make it, alright sweetheart? It'll be good I promise." he replied, giving the young narrator a wink. She let out an audible sigh.

" _Fiine, I'm getting some more sweet tea."_

"Okay then, time to head to the castleteria. Jessica, I'll leave Ashlynn's dress to you. Ashlynn, do you have your lyric sheet?" Apple _(Blake)_ asked, earning a nod from the girl.

"I do, you want me to do Ariel's part right? I'll definitely handle it."

"Blake, we have to head out now. Here's that trench coat you asked me to bring for you." Blake _(Apple)_ said, handing over the brown trench coat. Blake put it on, making sure to hide the entirety of the dress.

"Let's go then, this is going to be so good!" Apple _(Blake)_ said, an excited tone in her voice. The two teens left the room, leaving behind a smirking Jessica.

"Now then, I got something for you Ashlynn, something that screams sexy mermaid. If Hunter hasn't boned you yet, he's definitely gonna want to now. Even if you are abstinent, at least give him a handy from time to time."

"I'm not abstinent! It just isn't the right time!" the daughter of Cinderella said, pressing her fingers together, blushing madly. Duchess sighed, grabbing her melted milkshake, a frown on her face.

 _ **xxx**_

"Are you sure this is gonna work?" Pierre asked, glancing around the castleteria. Dinner had started ten minutes before, so almost everyone was in full attendance, except a few who had shown up.

The son of Minister Frollo looked around the castleteria, eyeing a few people of interest. One of them was of course Blake, who was sitting happily with Raven and eating his dinner. Ashlynn was sitting with them, along with Hunter and Jessica and Maddie. They had all walked into the castleteria together and hadn't left the table since. Oddly enough, Ashlynn was wearing a black trench coat, hiding her entire body, save a pair of sea green glass heels. He had also found it weird how her hair had been styled.

Similarly, Apple was sitting with some of her friends. Briar and Lizzie, along with Kitty. They had also walked into the castleteria together, and like Ashlynn, she was wearing a trench coat, brown in color. Her normally curled hair was straight and decorated with lavender and sea green streaks of dye. Holly and Poppy had been asking her rapid fire questions about her current attire, but she just gave them a smile and remained silent. Joey hadn't been paying much attention, he was honestly bored with the whole situation. He knew that calling Blake out would only lead to them retaliating with a new song. He had much better fish to fry anyway.

"Of course it will...we can't exactly do anything against him. But we can at least make his band look back right?" Tobias asked, taking a sip from his juice.

"You know, that isn't going to work right? Joey taunted Purple Rhapsody, and how did they respond? Three brand new songs and a new album...you actually think your little call out is going to affect them?" Jack asked, a smirk on his face.

"Gotta agree with Jackie on this one...I tried it, and I failed...I got a lot of shit to do anyway. I don't have the time to waste on some silly tangent." the brown haired boy replied.

"I thought you wanted nothing more than to give Blake the boot from this world. Where is this attitude coming from?" Tobias asked, earning a smirk from Joey.

"I'm sorry, you misunderstand my disposition...the both of us are stuck here. While I do not get along with Blake anymore, I am grateful for his wish. If he hadn't made it, then I wouldn't be here in this amazing world with awesome friends. I don't hold any resentment toward him, yes I am jealous of him, and I'll admit it, but that's not enough for me to do anything against him." Joey said, giving the boy a smile.

" _Ugh...that shit almost made me gag...but I can't risk exposing myself like last time. Jackie Boy almost busted me last time."_ Joey thought, inwardly grimacing.

"Whatever, we got a song prepared anyway, so we'll call him out to a final showdown. Then we'll prove that Purple Rhapsody is second best, Yuletide Bliss has been here for way longer, and we're here to stay."

"Tobias, we started this band for fun, not to cause problems with our friends. If you have something against Blake, then you go talk to him about it, but don't get our band involved." Frost said firmly.

"Frost, let him have this one...I already told Blake I didn't want competition between our bands. Tobias thinks he can do something about that, so let him have it. He mixed himself a single so he'll have to go in alone." Jack said, giving the large teenager a shit eating grin. Even Joey was impressed. Tobias stood up, a firm look on his face. He started walking toward Blake's table, causing several other students to look up at him. Apple was smirking slightly, a giggle escaping her lips. Her friends of course were confused but decided not to say anything.

"Hey Bigby, I have a bone to pick with you." the hulking teen said, when he arrived at Blake's table. He dabbed his lips with a napkin and stood up, placing his hands behind his back.

"Is something the matter Tobias? I haven't done anything wrong to you have I?" he asked.

"Actually you have...you're entire existence in this world is wrong. But there is nothing I can do about being here. I just found out what you did with the Storybook, and I have an issue with foreigners playing with destiny that isn't there's in the first place!"

"Ah yes, that...well I have already apologized for that little mishap. In fact, me, Briar and Kitty had already apologized for that. You cannot blame me alone for what we all decided to do. However, I somehow know this isn't about the book is it...this is about Purple Rhapsody." Blake _(Apple)_ said, a smirk on his lips.

"What...what are you talking about? How did you know this was band related?"

"You see, a little birdie told me what you were planning. Word in the halls is you want to call me out, challenge me to one last battle. You want to prove that Purple Rhapsody is only second best to Yuletide Bliss. I'm surprised Jack even let you do this...seeing as he's the frontman of the band, and has told me wants no competition between us." he replied.

"Tch...so, it seems you found out a little earlier...but no matter, I've already come prepared to show you and Ever After High that our band is superior! Yuletide Bliss has been here since the beginning of Freshmen year, and we aren't letting a foreigner like you mess with our destinies and our love of music!" Tobias said firmly.

"Oh, is that so? You do know that Joey is from my world correct? He's a foreigner and he's part of your band. So you can't be telling me that you approve of that. You wanna know something else, every single song that Joey has sung actually is a song from my world, a cover in fact. Our music is original, and while we do have cover songs, those lyrics are also original, especially when they are translated. Are you saying you have something better than our music?" Blake _(Apple)_ asked, a smirk on his face.

"Of course I do, I spent all of last night mixing this song! If you accompany me to the charmitorium, I'll sing it for everyone currently here."

"Hmm...that does sound like a good idea...but nah...actually...I have a little game for you." the boy said, putting two chess pieces on the table top, both of them were Queen pieces, one Black, and one White. He grabbed for cups and put them over the pieces.

"What are you doing?"

"Well, it's quite simple...you want to challenge us? That's fine...but we reserve the right to make the first move. But that doesn't sound fair, so I'll let you decide, all you have to do is find the correct piece. Maddie, if you would." he said, stepping away as Maddie took his spot. She let out a giggle, rapidly moving the cups.

"I'm not gonna make this easy on you Toby! All you have to do is pick the cup with the correct piece and you win!" she said, reiterating the previous statement, finally stopping her hand movements. The boy smirked, reaching for one of the cups on the edges. Blake grabbed the third cup from the left, which was the second from the right. They lifted the cups at the same time, both revealing the pieces.

"Ha! So it's a tie then, that means we go again." Tobias said, a smirk on his face.

"Actually, the game wasn't to find a chess piece. It was to find the correct chess piece, my piece is white, yours is black. In chess, the White Pieces go first. Not just that, mine is the queen possessing the ability to move in any direction on the board. Across, diagonally, left and right..it's also the strongest piece in chess. So, do you know what that means?" Blake _(Apple)_ asked, a grin on his face.

"What...no, you are just confusing me!" the boy cried. Blake simply snapped his fingers, causing everyone in the room to look over to him. Ashlynn and Apple both stood up at the same time, causing Tobias to back away from the table. The two girls continued walking toward the middle of the castleteria, tossing aside their coats, earning gasps from the crowd.

Ashlynn's dress was just as eye catching as Apple's. She was wearing a sea green dress, that reached almost to the floor, covered entirely with sequins. The bust was styled to look like a pair of seashells, lavender in color. The sea green streaks in her hair glowed for a second, slowly changing to a crimson red, as she stood facing Apple, who had a firm look on her face.

"What the hell...what are you doing?" Tobias asked, clearly confused.

"It's quite simple Toby dear, we came prepared for your bullshit! You wanna call Blake out in front of everyone, then go ahead, but you have to be prepared, just like we are." Melody cried, from the balcony above the castleteria. The entire castleteria started cheering loudly, and she blew a kiss to her fans.

"Today we'll be performing a song from the Little Mermaid. This song will be available for download in two days. We've already requested for the Multi-Hex to play this wonderful adaptation of a very famous Fairy Tale. So let's teach this Poor Unfortunate Soul a thing or two." Cupid said, giving Cerise a wink. She took that as her signal, that she could start when Ashlynn and Apple begun.

"The only way to get what you want is to become a human yourself. Can you do that?" Ashlynn said, earning a smirk from Apple.

"My dear sweet child, that's what I do. It's what I live for...to help unfortunate merfolk like yourself. Poor souls with no one else to turn too." Apple _(Blake)_ replied, closing the distance between herself and Apple, just as Cerise started the song. The sharp guitar line echoed through the speakers, accompanied by the sound of Dexter's base, and the soft violin music from Melody's keyboard. The look on Tobias's face was one of pure surprise, being taken aback by what was happening before him. He didn't even notice the daughter of Snow White walking toward him, a smirk on her face.

" _I admit that in the past I've been a nasty_

 _They weren't kidding when they called me,_

 _Well a witch_

 _But you'll find that nowadays_

 _I've mended all my ways_

 _Repented, seen the light, and make a switch_

 _To this, ahaha."_ she smirked, tracing her finger under his jaw.

" _And I fortunately know a little magic_

 _It's a talent that I always have possessed_

 _And dear lady, please don't laugh_

 _I use it on behalf_

 _Of the Miserable, the lonely and depressed."_ she continued, leaning forward, her lips hovering near his ear.

" _(Pathetic.)"_ she whispered, walking around him back toward Ashlynn.

" _Poor unfortunate souls!_

 _In Pain! In Need!_

 _This one longing to be thinner_

 _That one wants to get the girl_

 _And do I help them?_

 _Yes, Indeed!_

 _Poor Unfortunate Souls_

 _So sad! So true!_

 _The come flocking to my cauldron_

 _Crying, "Spells Ursula Please!"_

 _And I help them,_

 _Yes I do."_

Apple wrapped her arm around Ashlynn, pulling her rather close as she held her hand up. It was glowing with a golden shower, forming several orbs of light in her palm, which rapidly turned violet. Her smile shifted into a frown as the tone of the music changed, turning darker than before.

" _Now it's happened once or twice_

 _Someone couldn't the price_

 _I'm afraid I had to rake'em cross the coals_

 _Yes, I've had the odd complaint_

 _But on the whole I've been a saint._

 _To those poor unfortunate souls."_

"Listen here, I will use my magic to craft a potion. It will turn you into a human for three days. Nothing more, nothing less. You then have to get the prince to fall in love with you. In essence, you must get him to kiss you, by sunset on the third day. Or else you'll be turned into a mermaid once more. Have we got a deal?" Apple said, backing away from the green themed princess, the song becoming soft and somber. Ashlynn had a pensive look on her face, looking almost fearful.

"If I become human, I'll never be with my father or my sisters again."

"But you'll have your man! Life's full of choices isn't it? Ah yes, there's one more thing we haven't discussed. The subject of payment." Apple _(Blake)_ said, placing her hands behind her back. Ashlynn looked taken a back, stepping back slightly.

"But I don't have-"

"I'm not asking much, just a token really, a trifle!" the blonde said excitedly.

"Um..."

"What I want from you, is your voice." Apple _(Blake)_ said, tracing her finger under Ashlynn's chin, pointing right to her vocal chords. She swallowed hard, backing away from the blonde.

"But without my voice, how can I-"

"You'll have your looks, your pretty face! And don't underestimate the importance of body language! Ha!" the blonde cried, flicking a strand of her hair over her shoulder as the music kicked up once more. Apple turned to face Tobias, who was still standing in place, mouth opening and closing like that of a goldfish.

" _The men up there don't like a lot of blabber!_

 _They think a girl who gossips is a bore!_

 _Yet on land it's much preferred for the ladies not_

 _To say a word_

 _And after all dear, what's idle babble for?_

 _Come on, they're not all that impressed with conversation!_

 _True gentlemen avoid it when they can!_

 _But they dote and soon and fawn_

 _On a lady who's withdrawn_

 _It's she who holds her tongue who gets the man!"_ the blonde sung, snapping her fingers. A brilliant light appeared before Ashlynn, morphing into a scroll, the contract she had to sign, along with a gilded quill.

" _Come on, you poor unfortunate soul!_

 _Go ahead! Make your choice!_

 _I'm a very busy girl, and I haven't got all day_

 _It won't cost much! Just your voice!"_ she cried, walking in circles around the princess, a grin on her face as she rose her hands above her head, moving her hips to the beat. She came to a stop, pointing right at Ashlynn, a firm look on her face.

" _You poor unfortunate soul!_

 _It's sad, but true!_

 _If you want to cross the bridge you've got to pay the toll_

 _Take a gulp and take a breath_

 _And go ahead and sign the scroll!_

 _Flotsam, Jetsam now I've got her boys_

 _The Boss. Is. On. A. Roll!_

 _This Poor! Unfortunate! SOUL! Ahahahaha!"_ she cried, watching with a happy expression as Ashlynn signed her name on the contract. She snapped her fingers, the contract turning into a snail shell. She held it outward, a smirk on her face as the music hit it's peak.

"Beluga servruga

Come winds of the Caspian Sea!

Larengix glaucitis

Et max laryngitis

La voce to me!

Now, Sing!" Apple _(Blake)_ chanted, holding the shell forward.

"Aa-aa-aah, a-aa-aah!" Ashlynn sung, her throat started glowing a brilliant gold, a cloud of dark magic swirling around her body as the light started leaving her body.

"Keep singing!"

"Aa-aa-aah Aa-aa-aah!"

The song finally ended, with the glowing golden light flowing into the shell in Apple's hands. The clouds of dark magic faded away, bursting into sparkles as the song finally ended. Ashlynn and Apple took a bow, just as the crowd started cheering and clapping their hands. Tobias fell on his knees, clutching his hair tightly as Apple White knelt before him.

"Oh...that's too bad. You thought you had one over me, but you forgot one thing mate, no one upstages Blake Bigby and gets away with it." She said, causing the boy to look up at her. His eyes widened when he saw the glittering green eyes instead of the blue ones the girl was known for having. She gave him a wink and stood up, walking toward the middle of the castleteria, arms raised in the air.

"I hope you've all enjoyed this very special performance! I would like to thank Purple Rhapsody for allowing me to sing on their behalf. And now, we bid you adieu!" she cried, slamming the shell onto the ground. It exploded, the swirling magic from within spun around her and Ashlynn, along with Blake and the members of the band, warping them away, just as Milton and Giles Grimm burst through the door.

"What is going on here? I strictly forbade music from being played in the castleteria!" he cried.

"It was Tobias! He was the one who was singing and playing music!" Kitty cried, pointing to the hulking teenager who was in the process of standing up.

"What? It wasn't me!" he cried.

"You were calling Blake and his band out, and said you had a song prepared and you played it. You knew the rules yet you broke them...so now you pay the consequences." Raven said, biting into her apple.

"Mr. LeGume, in my office immediately." Milton said, turning to leave. The boy sighed, growling under his breath as he left the castleteria.

"And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why you don't mess with Purple Rhapsody. I've learned my lesson, what about all of you?" Joey announced, earning similar replies from everyone else. For once, the boy was actually happy to see someone agree with him. And he had to admit, the performance was rather entertaining.


	62. The Perfect Gift I

**A/N:**

 **Hey guys! Welcome to Chapter 62 of Through the Looking Glass. I'm happy to know that you all liked Chapter 61, I hadn't been planning on having the events of that chapter happen the way they did, but when I started listening to Jonathan Young's version of Poor Unfortunate Souls, I just couldn't stop imagining Apple singing it. A dark song sung by a beautiful princess makes the impact a lot fiercer than it would normally. It also went far in telling Tobias that no one fucks with Blake Bigby, no matter the circumstance. He's the only other person who knows Apple White wasn't actually herself, due to her eye color bring different, a subtle change from the body switching spell. Maybe I can write an alternate scene with Ashlynn singing the song instead, but I dunno how that would be like.**

 **Ah yes, you all know that Ashlynn's voice actress changed after chapter 2, her original voice actress was Laura Bailey. For the longest time, I was trying to figure out where the hell I had heard her voice before, until I was rewatching the scenes from Final Fantasy 13-2, and that's when I realized she voiced Serah Farron in that game. It actually made me kinda giddy and kinda sad when I realized someone else had started voicing her. So, for all intents and purposes, Ashlynn's voice actress is still Laura Bailey, so read it in her voice if you want, I don't care.**

 **Also, if you are ever wondering who Blake would have as a voice actor, it came down to four, Bryce Papenbrook, Todd Haberkorn, Newton Pittman (Who voices Gray in Fairy Tail) and Johnny Yong Bosch, (Who voices Hajime Hinata in Danganronpa, among others). But Sparrow Hood is already voiced by the amazing Todd Haberkorn, so he was out. It was a long time deciding, but I chose Bryce Papenbrook as his voice actor, because he voices Kirito, Chat Noir, Makoto Naegi and Nagito Komaeda, I can name a few others, but yeah, that's Blake's voice actor. Newton Pittman would voice Joey, if you were all curious.**

 **Anywho, let us move on. This chapter is going to be a two parter, 62 and 63 both have to do with Apple's birthday party, or rather Blake trying to find Apple a gift. Chapter 63 is Apple's segway, so her story, Black Apple, shall be posted right after Chapter 63 goes up tomorrow. It will be a lemon, so go ahead and ready those tissues, it won't be as long as Melody's, but still just as...perverse? Sexy? What would I call it? Eh...whatever. I'm also working on Chapter 3 of Pantoufle Noir, but I'm not sure when I will post this chapter...so keep an eye out. I am finally starting work on Way Too Wonderland, Chapter 64 is the Prelude of this arc, and it might be the longest arc to date, depending on how many things I can get into it...I might actually watch Alice in Wonderland beforehand, along with Way Too Wonderland to toss in some references and shit. There might be an appearance from Alice who Blake also wants to meet, but no promises.**

 **If you have any questions regarding this story or the spin offs, please message me, I will answer all of the questions you may have. There are a lot of things unexplained about these alternate stories, but that is because they are meant to be a bit ambiguous. Since Ashlynn's is in the future, I have a lot of liberties, so I will ask you all to be patient if you are following those. I promise to write the second chapters soon enough, especially since Lizzie, Briar and Duchess will have one most likely after Way Too Wonderland.**

 **Well, I hope you all have a magnificent Saturday, have yourselves a wonderful night! Eat Hearty, for tomorrow, you all dine in hell!**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 62

The Perfect Gift I

Having somehow escaped punishment, Blake and the rest of Purple Rhapsody had become even more popular. Everyone had been ecstatic about the performance in the castleteria. Of course it had to be kept on a down low as to not tip off Headmaster Grimm. Tobias had also escaped punishment, but had been given a warning about playing in the castleteria, even though he denied it. By now, videos had surfaced on the MirrorNet and if the headmaster hadn't done anything, they wouldn't know. They had celebrated right after by going to Ginger's bakery for some of her finest cupcakes. It had been a little awkward when Blake and Apple switched bodies after the effects of the spell wore off. They just tried being as normal as they possibly could after that, almost forgetting everything that had happened.

However, some aftereffects from the spell was a few thoughts going with the the souls back to their original body. Through this, Blake had found out that May 12th was Apple White's birthday. She was planning a big birthday bash for all of her closest friends. It was gonna be in the Enchanted Forest in one of the big beautiful clearings near the school. It was May 10th already, and preparations were already started. The girl had already put her request with Ginger to craft her the best pastries in Ever After, which the baker promised she'd deliver on time. Blake had helped her out with some of the pastries, having taken the role of decorator while Gus and Helga managed the front of the store. It had been quite the struggle, but over five hundred cupcakes had been made in a short period of time. He sighed, setting down the empty frosting bag in his hands.

"Well, I just finished frosting those fifty blue cupcakes. Do you need me to frost any others?" he asked, causing Ginger to turn around, holding a batch that had just come out of the oven.

"I do, sorry...I know you were set to leave half an hour ago." she said, a sheepish smile on her face.

"Hey it's fine, I love my job...no need to pay me overtime either. I'm doing this for both you and Apple, it is her special day after all." he said, grabbing one of the frosting bags from the fridge, setting it on the table beside him to warm up a bit.

"Now, you know I have no issue paying you overtime. You deserve it, especially for agreeing to work on your day off. Which is also why I'm giving you the next two off. The 12th is the party, so I'll be busy with the pastries there anyway." she said.

"That's sweet of you Ginger...but now that I do have tomorrow off, I have to use it wisely. I still haven't found the perfect gift for Apple." he said, grabbing one of the clean nozzles. He cut the corner of the frosting bag and placed the nozzle on it, squeezing some of the pink frosting onto his finger.

"That'll be difficult, it is Apple White after all...although if you get her something apple themed, I'm sure she'll like it. Hey, no eating the frosting!" she snapped, flicking him with a rag. He chuckled a bit, setting the bag aside.

"Sorry, your frosting is killer...but you are right...it's just difficult to find something good. Apple is one of my closest friends here, one of the first friends I made in this world. I want to give her something that shows my appreciation for everything she's done for me. There's only one girl who's slapped me hard enough to accept the world around me as reality."

"I'm sure you'll find something...something that screams originality. After all, you are you." she replied, giving him a wink. Once the cupcakes were cooled enough, he started frosting each one, setting them on a separate platter once they were done.

"So, what are you getting her?" he asked curiously.

"Apple cake of course...she loves apples more than anything. So I'm taking a pineapple upside down cake and making something unique out of it. Trust me, you are gonna fall in love with it, especially with the design I got in mind."

"Well if you say I'll fall in love with it, then I have to wait and see. But I can't very well marry a cake. If I do fall in love with it and it gets eaten, I'll have to marry the one who made it. So get ready Ginger, because if I do fall in love with that cake, I'm gonna ask you to be my wife." he said jokingly, causing the girl to flush.

"Oh, stop teasing me! You know I like Hopper anyway!" she cried back.

"Ginger, we ran out of blueberry muffins again, we need another batch." Helga called out, causing the girl to frown.

"I'll whip some up in a minute, I'm a little busy with these cupcakes. If anyone orders one, just give them a BOGO coupon would you?" the pink haired girl asked, earning a nod from her friend and employee.

"Sure thing boss, you got it!" she excitedly.

"Ugh...rush hour is always such a pain in my ass. But it is a rewarding job, you can go after you finish that batch Blake. I can't keep you for longer."

"If you say so, you know I don't mind." he replied, putting the finishing touches on the final batch of cupcakes. Five hundred in total. Ten platters of fifty cakes each. He was sure everyone was going to love them, especially Blondie. Ginger handed him a plastic container with a yellow frosted cupcake inside, a smile on her face.

"I made some extras. You don't want more money, so you can take this as your overtime payment."

"Thanks Ginger, you know sweets are a way better payment than money sometimes. I'll see you later, if you need any more help, don't hesitate to call me." he said, giving her a half hug before he left. He paused at the register, clocking out and bidding his co-workers farewell before he left Spells Kitchen.

It was still early afternoon, so he would be heading back to his dorm to get started on his homework. He didn't want to complete his Science and Sorcery homework while still in class, so he just put it off for later. He was too busy thinking about what to get for Apple. She had done a lot for him, especially recently when he performed Poor Unfortunate Souls. Not only that, she had willingly switched bodies with him when it came to recording the song with Ashlynn. He needed to get her something, not just to show his gratitude, but to also tell her that she is an irreplaceable friend to him.

But the perfect gift had yet to surface. He had thought of various things, from jewelry, to clothes, to shoes. Nothing fit the spunky, kind and beautiful princess he had come to know. He didn't want to get her anything for fear that it wouldn't be the right thing. Something had to scream Apple White to him for him to actually consider buying it. He glanced at the cupcake in his hands, a frown on his face. Some people would probably call him silly for worrying so much about a gift, but his friends meant the world to him. If he didn't get Apple the perfect gift for her birthday, then he didn't feel like an adequate friend.

"Excuse me, hey could I talk to you real quick?" a familiar voice called out, causing the boy to stop. He looked to his left, sighing audibly when he saw Duchess's sister Ophelia standing next to him. He turned to fully face her, a blank look on his face.

"Hello Ophelia, is something the matter?" he asked.

"Well no, I just wanted to get to know you a little more. My sister seems fond of you, so I want to know why her heart beats faster when you are near."

"With all due respect, every time you are near me, I feel like you are fucking me with your eyes. I've heard quite a lot about you from Duchess, and while most of it is subjective, I'm not gonna agree to hang out with you if you don't control yourself." he said.

"Aw, don't be that way! Why are you so nice to that Black Swan anyway? You do know she's the bad guy in our story right?"

"Wrong, Swan Lake actually has two villains, Sir Rothsbard and the White Swan, who team up to screw the Black Swan over. As far as I know, the one who can't be trusted is you. So prove to me that you are someone I want to get to know, and I'll hang out with you." he replied, turning to leave.

"Ugh, you are so annoying Blake Bigby! I will win you over!" she shouted, almost like a mad woman. Blake shuddered a bit as he continued walking, finally reaching the bridge to Ever After Castle.

" _Suddenly, Duchess hugging me and begging me for sex is much better than Ophelia fucking me with her eyes. Jeez, are all the Swans like this? I'm scared to meet Odile now."_ he thought to himself, finally reaching the castle entrance. He made his way through the Foyer, waving to some of his friends as he continued toward the dormitories.

He remained mostly quiet, not exactly doing much other than waving at his friends. He did exchange a few words with Hunter about the song they had recorded but nothing more than that. As he reached his dorm, he reached into his pocket for his keys, shoving the bronze key into the lock, giving it a twist. He held back a yawn as he pulled the key free from the lock.

"Hey Bigby!"

"Jesus Christ." the black haired boy muttered, turning to face the one who had called him. The hulking steps and heavy breathing let him know that it was in fact Tobias LeGume. He blinked a few times, looking up at the taller teen.

"Something you need?"

"Yeah, I just wanted to let you know that this isn't over. I will prove to Ever After High that Yuletide Bliss is the better band. You think you have us beat with your music and your witty performances, but we are the OG band, we were here first." he exclaimed, a proud smirk on his face.

"Whoop-de-fucking-doo. You want a medal? I could really care less what the fuck you think. As I recall I gave you the chance to perform before us, to show us that you were the better band. It isn't my fault that you knew nothing of chess." Blake replied, leaning against his door.

"You think you are so funny eh? No one knows that there is a monster living inside you. That shard in your chest is just a ticking time bomb, one of these days, you might just have to remove it." Tobias said, earning a growl from Blake.

"Listen man, I have no fucking idea what the hell I did to you. But please leave me the fuck alone...I already deal with Joey and Faybelle on a daily basis, I don't need someone else breathing down my neck. So you can go back to where you came and stay there." he snapped angrily.

"You don't know what you did to me? You got rid of the Storybook of Legends, you put Rosabella's life in danger. Because of your selfishness, the book is lost in Wonderland...where any one of those insane fucks could do anything with it. Do you not understand the implications of that?"

"First of all, I will not let you speak ill about the citizens of Wonderland. They are much smarter than you will ever be, second I wasn't the only one who threw the book in the Well. I had I not been there, Briar would have still done it. So if you want to blame anyone, blame the three of us. However if you so dare speak to Briar or Kitty in the manner you direct yourself at me, I will personally take care of you. Just because you are buff doesn't mean you are strong." Blake replied, earning a boisterous laugh from the boy.

"You don't know me man, I've trained for days on end to handle puny men like you. But I'm not gonna pick a fight with you here, I just want to let you know, that if you ever speak to Rosabella again I will destroy you. You are not to go near her again you foul beast of a human. You can stay here and wither with your deadly power. Heh, if I didn't know it, the one befitting the Evil Queen role is standing before me." he said, giving the boy a smile as he turned to leave.

"You can threaten me all you want, but Rosabella doesn't have your name branded on her ass. She's a free woman to speak with whoever she wants. And if she wants to speak with me, I'm not gonna turn her away. If you ask me, the real beast here is you...at least she has the common sense to see inner beauty. That's exactly what Belle saw in Adam, and not your father." he said. Tobias let out a growl and turned around, throwing a punch at Blake. He quickly spun on his heel, drawing his gun as he did so. He pressed the barrel of it to his spine, flicking the safety off.

"One advantage of being lean, is being fast. You can have all the muscles in the world, but if you can't land a hit then you can't do shit. You know, I can shoot you right here...call it self defense...an ice bullet right to your spine, it would paralyze you...so much for the great Tobias LeGume. That would be like serving Rosabella to the Beast on a platter. So make your choice Toby, you wanna keep messing with me, see what happens." Blake said firmly.

"Who's the monster now? I was right about you...Evil flows through you."

"Evil flows through me yes, but I'm the one in control. But maybe I should let the Shadow come out to play, he'd have a lot of fun tossing you around. You piece of shit, thinking you can antagonize _me._..thinking you can do whatever _you_ want. You don't know who you are messing with Tobias, but let me clue you in. I'm not the one in danger, I _**am**_ the danger. You think you can defeat me? I'm the one holding the gun, so _**don't**_ make me pull the trigger." he said, a gruff tone in this voice as he squeezed the handle of his gun.

"You're insane...I'm gonna tell the headmaster about this!"

"Go ahead, tell him all of this...but he isn't going to believe you." Blake replied. The young man moved away from Blake, who kept his gun trained on him as he turned around.

"Alright fine...I'm not gonna mess with you again...but don't you dare ever make a move on Rosabella, she is mine. Got it?"

"If she wants to hop on me, then I'm not stopping her. But sure, I'll let you try and win her over. It might be a little hard though, seeing as she's been a witness to this entire exchange." he said, a smirk on his face as he turned around, glancing at the end of the hall where Rosabella had been standing, a look of abhorrent shock on her face.

"Rosabella! How long have you been standing there?" Tobias asked, trying to approach her.

"Long enough! How dare you do that to him? Threatening him and acting as if I belonged to you? I thought there was a way to salvage our friendship, but clearly your father has warped your mind. Don't you ever talk to me again!" she cried, running away from him.

"Rosa wait! Let me at least explain myself, Rosabella!"

Blake sighed, flicking the safety on his gun, placing it behind his back. He grabbed his keys and locked his door, moving down the opposite hallway toward the office building. His frown deepened as he reached the Guidance offices, quickly searching for the Fairy Queen's office. Once he reached it, he glanced through the glass, giving the door a little knock before he opened it. The woman looked up from the papers she had been grading, a radiant smile on her face.

"Blake, your meeting wasn't scheduled until tomorrow. Is something the matter?" she asked. He nodded, stepping into the office, closing the door after himself.

"I'm having issues...it seems Tobias hates me for what I did with the Storybook. He tried hitting me just now and I pulled a gun on him in self defense." he replied, setting the yellow frosted cupcake on her desk.

"Oh dear, Blake we've talked about this...you cannot pull a gun on another student...even if it is in self defense. Could you please explain the entire story to me in detail?" the Fairy Queen asked, earning a nod from the boy.

For the next few minutes, he talked about how Tobias had approached him in the hall. He also explained everything that had happened that lead to the altercation. The woman remained silent through it all, waiting for the boy to finish his story. Finally, he finished speaking leaning back in his chair a little bit. The Fairy Queen remained silent, brow raise slightly as she gave the boy a firm look.

"So, you are stressed not only because of Ophelia's advancements, which I admit are horrid for a young woman her age. But also because you haven't found an adequate gift for Miss White?"

"That's the gist of it, yes." the boy replied. The woman let out a small giggle, a smile on her face.

"Blake, I must admit you are one of the most interesting students I have had the pleasure of getting to know. I swear, it is a different story every week. Last week, it was sheer excitement for that performance in the castleteria, this week its stress because of Miss White's birthday. It's amazing how active you are in this school."

"I suppose...I mean, in my last school I was never involved. I made a promise to Lucy that I wouldn't be like that anymore. So I made it my mission to make an impact in this school. It just so happens that fate likes to fuck me over...pardon my Old English." he said.

"It would seem so, you are excused for now...I did tell you to speak freely after all. But, I must scold you for your actions. Even if you are stressed, you cannot pull a gun on a student...even if they are being antagonistic towards you." she said, making the boy cringe a bit.

"I'm sorry, it just happened as a reflex...I mean I am trained in self defense after all. But still, he shouldn't have said that, especially about someone as sweet as Rosabella." he replied, crossing his arms over his chest.

"I've spoken with Tobias on several occasions...he's had a rough childhood. Being the son of Gaston LeGume meant he was to be conditioned to fit the part. That also meant that his father was going to put him through a rough regimen to make him more suitable for his role in Beauty and the Beast. He is just being misguided by his father...who clearly has more antlers in his brain than actual muscle mass."

"Miss Fairy Queen, your attitude changed slightly...do you not like Gaston?" he asked.

"Like him? The bastard broke my heart in high school, as you know I've been the Fairy Queen for awhile. But I only took over recently, as my sister needed to head back to Pixie Hollow. Since time doesn't flow in Neverland, I was frozen at the age of seventeen despite being much older than mostly anyone here. That meant I had to stay as a student. I was quite attracted to Gaston during my time in Ever After High as a student, we even dated. But he was just the worst!" she cried, slamming her fist against the desk, sending some golden dust in all directions.

"Whoa...I didn't think you and Gaston had history together...you wanna maybe talk about it? I mean you've helped me with my personal issues." he replied. She took a deep breath to compose herself, giving the boy an appreciative smile.

"It is alright...I have gotten over that dunderhead shit for brains already. I am here to guide my loving students as best as I can...let us move on. How are your nightmares? Are they improving?" she asked curiously.

"I haven't tried sleeping with out the bracelet. I did that one night and I couldn't sleep at all...I didn't have nightmares, but sleep paralysis is even scarier than that...I'm not ready to take this off yet." the boy said, glancing at the glittering bracelet.

"That is completely fine...I don't want you to do anything if you don't feel comfortable doing it. But if you do, just let me know so I can talk you through it. No one should suffer from those horrible night terrors."

"Mhmm, does that mean you love sleeping Miss Fairy Queen?"

"Of course, there is nothing better than laying in a grassy field, stretching your wings and just enjoying the sun on your face. There's no risk of sunburn either." she said, making him chuckle a bit.

"You are lucky in that regard, I burn easy so unless I wear sunblock I'll turn into a hotdog. Um, anyway...I need your advice for Apple's gift...what do you think a girl like her would want?" he asked curiously.

"I'm not exactly sure...Blake you do not have to worry so much about it. If Miss White is truly your friend, then she will appreciate whatever you get for her. Personally, something sentimental would do, perhaps a necklace or a bracelet?"

"Eh...I've already done that before. Lizzie and Kitty got necklaces for Christmas, and I gave Cerise a bracelet for Christmas as well. Plus, I'm trying not to dent my savings, and jewelry is a bit cliché." he said, rubbing his chin in thought.

"Hmm...well I'm afraid that is all I have to suggest. Perhaps you should ask your other friends. They might have an idea of what you can get her, just don't get her anything...perverted. I remember once, Gaston thought it would be funny to get me some lingerie. Of course I had the last laugh, I made him wear it in public...that's how we broke up in fact."

"Fascinating...that gives me a bit more fodder to work with...yes that'll do. Thank you so much for this, Miss Fairy Queen. I feel so much more relaxed now." he said happily, earning a smile from the woman.

"You are most certainly welcome. One last question, are you going to eat that cupcake? I'm a bit famished and it looks quite tasty." she said, her eyes falling on the container on her desk. He rolled his eyes, pushing it toward her.

"You can have it, it's the least I can do. I'll see you later, thanks again for everything Miss Fairy Queen."

"Hmm...call me Tinkerbell dear, all my friends do." she said, giving him a wink. His eyes widened a bit in shock.

"Tinkerbell...you mean _the_ Tinkerbell? From Peter Pan?" he asked, earning a nod and a wink from the woman.

Blake left the office a few moments later, a small grin on his face. He didn't know how he had gotten so lucky to be able to meet so many famous people in this world. He had already met Aurora, Cinderella, The White Queen, King Charming, Ruby and Queen Elsa. He was sure no one on Earth would even believe him if he told them his story. It was truly an experience that he would cherish for the rest of his life.

 _ **xxx**_

Classes hadn't come easy the following day. He had finished his Magicology exam rather early, and once he had checked all of his answers and made sure they were his own, he had handed them over to Baba Yaga, who dismissed him from class. He had been hanging out by his locker, leaning back against the metal door, arms crossed as he was lost in thought. He had been thinking a lot about what the Fairy Queen had told him. Of course, he had to get over the novelty of Tinkerbell somehow becoming Queen of the Fairies. It was certainly a story for another day. The frown on his face deepened as he watched some of the other students walking past him.

"Whoa, what's got you in a funk?" the familiar voice of Joey said, causing him to growl a bit. He glanced up at the teenager, who had a bored look on his face. Blake took notice of the notebook in his hand, something he always saw him with nowadays. Probably a music book, he assumed. He shrugged, straightening up a bit.

"Nothing's got me in a funk...of course you must be enjoying my misery, as you always do." he replied.

"Not everything is as it seems dickhole. Messing with you when you are in a funk isn't fun, it's just pathetic. Gotta hand it to ya though, that performance had Toby by the balls...very nice."

"Yes, but sweet words whispered through prison bars lose their charm. I'm afraid a compliment from you is just a backhand...but I do look forward to listening to whatever songs you come out with. Gives me more time to write something three times better." Blake replied, a smirk on his face.

"Yeah whatever...but seriously, not that I care but what has you looking like a disappointed Magikarp?"

"Apple's birthday is tomorrow and I haven't been able to find a gift for her. I just can't think of anything good to give her...god, hell must have frozen over if I'm resorting to this...what would you give a girl like her?" he asked, turning to face the brunette.

"You, asking me for advice? I need to relish in this moment...it's so delicious yes! If you truly want to get her a gift, get her something that screams beauty. Something rough and rugged...an uncut diamond would do."

"An uncut diamond...where in the fucking hell do you think I could get that?" he asked curiously.

"Not my problem...but I did find a book on precious crystals in the Forbidden library...go ahead and check it out. Later, I got people to annoy." Joey said, walking past him without another word. Blake narrowed his eyes, wondering exactly why Joey had decided to help him.

" _Hmm...perhaps that cock sneeze still has a bit of good in that shriveled heart...the Forbidden Library eh?"_ he thought, moving down the halls.

Since classes were still on, most students would be in their classrooms. That meant the halls would be mostly empty, which made for quite a lonely journey. It didn't take him long to reach the Library, with it's size and grandeur, this was definitely one of Blake's favorite places. It reminded him a lot of the library the Beast gave to Belle as a gift. Shelves upon shelves stacked with books, from ceiling to floor, on three different levels. It truly was a treasure trove of information. It didn't take him long to find one of his friends, Darling Charming, who was sitting alone by the windows, a tall stack of books beside her. She caught sight of him and gave him a small wave, returning to her reading a second after. He walked further into the spacious room, waiting for the Evil Step Librarians to look away from the opposite hall before moving to the Forbidden Library.

" _For such a forbidden place, they truly do nothing to stop people from coming in here."_ he thought to himself, as he opened the door. He looked inside, glancing around the large room filled to the brim with precious tomes.

He remembered the last time he had been in there, had been when Henry was going after him. He unconsciously reached for his arm, where the boy had swiped him with the Vorpal Blade. If it hadn't been for the Evil Queen's magic flowing through him, he would have definitely lost that limb. As it turns out, magic acted as a forcefield of sorts in the human body, almost like aura. It would protect you from basic things like sword swipes and low leveled spells. However, it didn't stop everything, and one could still die if they weren't careful. He started looking around the room, searching for a tome in particular. He noticed one that was glittering slightly in the low light, and grabbed a ladder, quickly reaching for it. He grabbed it, jumping down onto the floor as he brushed the dust from the cover.

"Precious Crystals and Stones. A guide to the most magical and beautiful minerals located in Ever After." he muttered quietly, leaning against the table. He opened the book to a random page, ironically enough landing on an Emerald, which was the birthstone for the month of May.

He kept looking for a few minutes, seeing a whole array of different stones and crystals. Sapphires didn't fit her, neither did rubies and finding uncut diamonds were less likely than growing a pearl without a clam. There were no volcanoes nearby and no coal mines were nearby. He could at least use magical pressure to turn coal into diamond, but that would take too much power. He sighed, as he was about to close the book, he spotted a folded page, and opened it, seeing the gem that was profiled inside.

"Stellanium crystals. These crystals are thought to have been created from the drops of the stars. These magical crystals absorb the light of the night sky, and glitter with millions of stars. These crystals are often called handheld galaxies due to their beauty. However, due to popular demand, these crystals have diminished in the last few centuries. Finding a Stellanium geode is next to impossible." he read, a frown on his face.

" _Goddamn it, this crystal would be perfect. What better way to show your appreciation to your friend than giving her a galaxy? That would let her know that she shines brighter than all of those stars combined. Of course it has to be something hard to find."_ he thought dryly.

"Blake, what are you doing in here?"

Blake looked up from his book, seeing his friend Darling standing at the entrance of the Forbidden Library. She had a few books in her hands, and a look of curiosity on her face. He noticed she was still wearing his white handkerchief, even though he was sure the cut on her hand had already healed. He shrugged, gesturing to the book in his hand, turning it toward her.

"I'm looking for a good gift to give to Apple. I finally found this crystal called Stellanium, but apparently its so rare that it's impossible to find. Finding an uncut diamond is more likely than stumbling into this." he said. She placed the books in her hands into their proper shelves, taking the Crystal book from his skimming the text.

"You're right, I've only seen one Stellanium crystal in my entire life. My mom's engagement ring has a 32 karat princess cut Stellanium crystal. My father said that her eyes glittered like a million stars, and he wanted to give her a million stars of her very one to cherish and love for the rest of eternity."

"Oh that is so charming, leave it to Prince Charming to say all the right things to a pretty girl." Blake said, not at all surprised with the man's actions. Darling stifled a giggle, leaning against the table beside him.

"He is my father of course...I'm not sure where he got it, and I'm sure he won't remember. But if anyone knows crystals, it's Ashlynn. She isn't just obsessed with shoes, she has a precious crystal collection back at her mother's castle. With luck, she might know something." she said.

"Ashlynn huh? Thanks for the information Darling, it means a lot. So uh...what are you doing in the Forbidden Library? Reading the stories of yore?" he asked jokingly.

"Not really, just filling my mind with useless but interesting things." the platinum haired girl replied, walking toward a nearby shelf, pulling a book from within, she failed to notice the papers that had been wedged between the two books beside it.

"The unabridged history of Wonderland, detailing how the first Queen of Hearts came to power. You know you've been reading a lot of Wonderland books recently, something you wanna tell me?"

"Huh? What's wrong with a little curiosity? After all, Wonderland is a place that all of us long to visit. Some more than others, I just thought that maybe it would be good to know some stuff for when we eventually break the curse!" she said, a firm tone in her voice. He narrowed his eyes a bit, giving her a shrug.

"Have at it, maybe you should join the Royal Student Council. That way we can establish public relations with Wonderland High once the portals are opened."

"Hmm...not a bad idea really, I am a princess. Though I think the role of knight suits me better." she replied, a grin on her face.

"Yes it does, Madam Darling...I must bid you adieu for now. I have a crystal to find." he said, shoving the book into his messenger bag.

"Good luck Sir Blake, I have confidence that you'll find this crystal post haste!" she replied, giving him a wave as he left. She grabbed a hold of the book in her hand, a frown on her face.

" _I'm not ready to tell everyone that I've been traveling to Wonderland whenever I get the chance. I still don't have enough information to burst through with some back up. The time for school is getting close too...if only I knew how to break that curse!"_

She heard something rustling beside her, and turned back to the shelf, seeing a small stack of stapled papers on the floor. She walked toward them, kneeling to pick them up. Her eyes scanned the words on them, finding them to be entirely in Latin. She looked up at the shelf, and saw the book the papers had been resting upon. She grabbed a hold of the book, reading the title.

"How to conjure a portal." she muttered, opening the to the first page. She flipped through the index finally reaching the first chapter.

" _This spell is one that will open a small portal to another realm. However, an object of power from that realm must be used. Did someone translate this entire book into Latin? That language does have magical properties. But even then, this spell needs quite a lot of magic to even be cast. Perhaps...yes, perhaps Raven can cast it."_

She closed the book right after, looking at the title again. Her eyes widened a bit when she saw the Evil Queen's signature at the bottom in bright gold letters.

 _ **xxx**_

It wasn't hard to find Ashlynn Ella. In fact she was currently in the foyer talking with Hunter. He felt rather bad since he was going to interrupt they're alone time. Hunter was his bro after all, and whenever he had to ask Ashlynn for something or borrow her for a few minutes, he felt like he was taking something important from him. Of course the son of the Huntsman didn't really mind, since they were all close friends. But it still stung a bit when he had to do it. It reminded him of past times, when he and Cerise were together in the halls and someone had to talk to Cerise. Still, for Apple's sake, he had to do it.

"Hey Hunter, would you mind if I borrowed Ashlynn for a minute? I have to ask her something." the boy said, causing the couple to look at him.

"Sure, I was about to head to Archery anyway. This isn't about putting her in another mermaid dress is it? She looked amazing, but I don't want other guys falling in love with her." he said, a smirk on his face.

"Oh you know I only have eyes for you Hunter...have fun, okay sweetheart? Don't shoot anyone in the kneecap." she replied, giving the boy a kiss on the lips. He walked off, a spring on his step, causing Blake to shake his head. He brushed his fringe out of his eyes, turning to face Ashlynn.

"So, I'm looking for a special crystal for Apple's birthday tomorrow. Darling told me you had your own collection, and I came to ask for your help."

"Of course, you know I was thinking of getting Apple a crystal too. There's this beautiful Sunset Opal that would definitely suit her, it looks like someone put a sunset inside a glass orb." she said, quickly searching her phone for the picture, showing it to the boy right after.

"Oh wow, that's pretty...it reminds me of a Fire Stone from the Pokemon series."

"She loves watching the sunset, so I thought it would be a good idea to give her this. Her own personal sunset, which she can see whenever she wants. The good thing is, there's a mine of these crystals on the far reaches of the Enchanted Forest, so I don't have to go far." she replied. The boy reached into his bag, pulling out the tome he had taken from the Forbidden Library.

"That is rather convenient, however I want to give her something special. It's rather rare, but I'm sure I can find it somewhere. Since Darling told me you knew crystals, I thought I would ask you. Aha, here it is." he said, showing the girl the book. Her eyes widened a bit in surprise as she grabbed a hold of the book.

"Blake, you do know the rarity of this crystal is very high right? You have more chances of winning the lottery three times in a row than finding a geode with these crystals inside."

"I know...but this is a special crystal. Apple was one of the first friends I made here in Ever After...I mean she let me borrow her body willingly. Plus I feel like I owe her for what happened at the Fairest. I just wanted to give her something outlandish, something that screams Apple White as soon as someone sees it." he replied, a frown on his face.

"Hmm...that is quite the reason, and it's insanely sweet. Alright fine, I'll help you find this crystal, there is a special cave near my home. Most of the crystals I collected when I was younger came from that cave. We can get there in a jiffy if we borrow Cadence."

"Definitely! Oh oh, does that mean I'll get to see Cinderella again? We can stop by for a quick visit right?" he asked, an almost excited look on his face. She rolled her eyes, giving him a small nod.

"Sure, I'm most certain my mother wouldn't mind a visit from the two of us. I'm sure my father would love to meet you too."

"Awesome sauce, I'm gonna hug the shit out of your mom...that sounded so creepy, I apologize." Blake replied, bowing his head slightly. Ashlynn giggled, shaking her head.

 _ **xxx**_

Blake decided to let Ashlynn fly Cadence during this trip. She had recently gotten her own Dragon Master license, and since she did train the dragon to obey the correct rules, she did deserve to spend time with her. Cadence had been ecstatic to go on a flight, even though it was a short one. Cinderella's castle became visible after they descended, the large almost glass like castle seemed to glow a brilliant white. The areas surrounding it consisted of beautiful rolling grassy hills and a small mountain range located behind the castle grounds. There was a large town in front of the castle, the houses mostly made of brick and mortar. Almost all of the citizens looked up at the sky at the sight of the crystal dragon flying above. Most were impressed while others had looks of worry on their faces, but when they saw Ashlynn waving at them they all seemed to calm down.

"So, this is the castle town your parents rule?"

"That's right, it's called Cendrillion. This town sprung up after the castle was built, when the original Prince Charming, or rather Prince Alto August Ferdinand commissioned it, at the behest of his father, who was only an unimportant noble. Slowly, he started garnering the interest of the settlers around the area and he was named king, thus the city was Christened." she replied.

"Interesting, that's something you don't normally learn through a Disney movie."

"Not everything makes the cut in the story I'm afraid. Disney probably cut corners, after all it is a movie. You did bring it right? I'm sure my mother would love to watch it."

"Sure did, I always make sure to bring the appropriate movie along with me. And you'll be happy to know that Cinderella actually has three different films, and yes I brought all three of them." he said, giving her a smile.

They slowly started descending once they had reached the castle courtyard. Cadence beat her wings repeatedly as she came to a stop, not wanting to tear up the lush green grass. Blake hopped down to the ground first, holding his hand out for Ashlynn helping her down. He was still impressed with the fact that she hadn't donned any special outfit, aside from putting on a pair of long jeans and a smock top. She was wearing a pair of glass riding boots, but nothing like he was. He swept some hair away from his face after the breeze kicked up a bit.

"Ashlynn, you're mom's castle is amazing." he said.

"Glad you like it, I'll give you a tour later. Let's just greet my parents, they're waiting for us in the foyer." She said, happily leading the boy toward the castle entrance.

Blake was a little nervous, he had already met Cinderella in the past. But this time he would be meeting Ashlynn's father, Prince Charming, or rather King Henri Charming now. His friend had told him not to worry, that her father was actually a really cool person, but he still had to worry. The two teenagers walked into the castle, being greeted by some maids. Standing in the center of the large entrance hall was Ashlynn's mother Cinderella. Blake had half expected to see her in a brilliant blue dress like in the movie, but he was surprised to find her in civilian clothes. Just a regular white tee shirt, blue jeans and her famous glass slippers.

King Henri stood tall and firm, with dark brown hair neatly brushed. He had soft chiseled features, bright colored eyes and thin eye brows. He was wearing a pressed navy blue suit, with a white shirt underneath, and a crimson tie around his neck. He had several commemorative pins attached to his lapel, and a golden medal attached to his pocket. He wore dark colored slacks and long black leather boots. He was wearing a brilliant golden crown atop his head, with lots of glittering jewels on them.

Ashlynn practically sprinted toward the two, hugging the both tightly. Blake felt a bit awkward watching as his friend happily greeted her parents. It had been quite awhile since they had seen each other, so they were most likely excited to see their young daughter return to the castle. It was a bit embarrassing to just be standing there not saying a word, so he pulled his phone from his vest pocket and sifted through his messages, just to keep his mind occupied for a bit.

"It's so nice to see you sweetheart, look at how tall you've gotten. You definitely inherited my height." Henri said, patting the girl on the head.

"I'm sure it's because of my heels dad. Even without them I'm still a bit taller than mom." she replied, earning a giggle from the woman.

"That is true, but you'll definitely grow a little more. Even at your age I was still growing, in more ways than one."

"Mom, please...don't say that stuff...I brought a friend with me." she said, gesturing to Blake, who just gave the two adults a shy smile and wave.

"Hello Blake, it's so wonderful to see you. Look at you, you've changed quite a bit since we last saw each other! That cloak definitely suits you!" Cinderella happily greeted, giving the boy a hug. He flushed a bit, hugging the woman back.

"Oh...um, hi Cinderella...this is so cool, I'm hugging my idol!" he whispered, making King Henri break into laughter.

"So, this is the young man who's a huge fan of my wife eh? She's told me quite a lot about you, and your world son. It's a pleasure to meet you." the man said, holding his hand out. Blake nodded, giving it a firm shake.

"Likewise, you and your wife have a lovely castle. Ashlynn has told me quite a lot about this place, and your kingdom. I've actually brought the two of you something." he said, reaching into his messenger bag for some DVD cases.

"You've brought us something? That's so kind of you!"

"Trust me mom, you'll probably feel really weird when you see what it is. It's a movie from his world, an adaptation of our story." Ashlynn said, stunning the two adults. Blake smiled as he handed Cinderella the cases.

"She's right, I had Jessica make copies of the ones I have back home. Not just that, they're formatted to work on Ever After technology. So you'll be able to see the Disney version of Cinderella. This was in fact the first cartoon movie I watched as a kid. That's why it's so significant in my life, and why I'm a huge fan of you, Cinderella." he said with a grin.

"Well...Ashlynn has told us quite a lot about Earth movies. I suppose we finally get a chance to watch one for ourselves...not just that, three of them...hmm, I don't think I like this version of me, he looks to handsome." Henri said, pointing to the movie version of his character, causing Blake to laugh.

"Trust me, he's just as charming and awesome as you are sir. I have more movies back home, so if you ever want to watch anything else, I can easily bring you some."

"Yes, I wouldn't mind coming to visit more often...I did get my Dragon Master license. Cadence does need to stretch her wings every once in awhile. Actually, we're here to search the Crystal cave behind our castle." Ashlynn said, earning a nod from Cinderella.

"Ah right, you told me you came to find a gift for your friend Apple. I'm sure you'll find something in there. Are you looking for something too Blake?"

"Yep, that's right. I'm looking for a gem called Stellanium...nothing else seemed right to give to her." he replied. Cinderella and Henri shared a look, smirking slightly.

"I wasn't aware you were planning to propose to the girl. Though, I'm not sure how Snow White would feel about that son, perhaps you'd like to think it over?"

"Eh? Propose? Sir I just want to give her a gift, that's all."

"Yes, but Blake, Stellanium is a gem rarer than diamonds. The significance of that gemstone, especially when given to a woman will definitely send a message. She'd probably think you are asking for her hand in marriage. Of course, now that things are a little different, she might even say yes." Cinderella said, giving the boy a wink. He sighed, shaking his head.

"She was my first friend here in Ever After...it hasn't been easy, but she's been there along with Ashlynn and Raven and my other friends. So I wanted to get her the most badass gift ever...what's more badass than a handheld galaxy?" he asked.

"The boy has a point...well, in the farthest reaches of the cavern, some large geodes grow abundant. Inside lie many crystals, you may find a Stellanium deposit within one. But just know that Stellanium hasn't been found in over two hundred years. If you manage to find even a small deposit, you'd be the richest man in Ever After and the Fairy Tale world."

"Really? That sounds interesting, but it isn't about the money...I just want the crystal...if anything I would just take all that money and donate it to the poor. What could I do with piles of that stuff anyway?" Blake asked curiously.

"Seriously? Blake with that amount of money you could buy your own castle, become a Marquis even. Doesn't that sound cool?" Ashlynn asked.

"Not really, being poor and with friends is better than being rich and alone. I'd rather donate it, there are others who deserve it more than me." he replied, slightly shrugging his shoulders.

"Such a sweet young man...how can you not have a cute girl by your side yet?"

"Well Cinderella, I actually did, a couple months back...it didn't end well. We're still friends but...it's a long story." he admitted, rubbing his arm in embarrassment.

"We should head out...you know how to ride a horse right Blake? We'll be heading to the cavern by horse back."

"You have a horse? I love horses! I used to ride them a lot when I was little...hey wait, do you do that side saddle crap or do you go one leg on each side?" the boy asked, following the girl through the castle, heading toward the stables.

"Of course I don't go side saddle. That's dangerous, especially if we go over a bump. You know I heard from Raven that you asked her this question, why does it even matter? You don't think a woman can't ride like a man?"

"Jesus, don't say it like that...these walls echo." the boy replied, their voices fading. This of course made the King and Queen burst into laughter. Their daughter certainly had an amazing taste in friends.


	63. The Perfect Gift II

**A/N:**

 **Good day/night to you my wonderful readers! Welcome one and all to Chapter 63 of Through the Looking Glass! This shall be the continuation of Chapter 62's story revolving around Apple White's birthday party. I've been getting a lot of positive reviews from these last few chapters, and I'm very happy to see all of that positivity. It makes me happy and inspires me to write more great chapters for this story, I have quite a lot of ideas for various arcs of this story, after all there are only two specials after Way Too Wonderland, and only a few episodes to cover from the series. I don't want this story to end prematurely but there will be some filler and original story arcs between the final two official specials and Graduation, the official end of this story, along with the alternate endings and stuff.**

 **Anyway, I will say that this chapter is a segway for Apple White's ending, and I shall be posting that as a separate story. I'm enjoying my time writing these alternate stories, I truly am. I get to explore things that I can't otherwise do in the main scenario. I really like how Apple's ending came out, and as I said before it is a lemon chapter, so do look forward to that part of the story, but also take the time to appreciate the non lemony parts. Let me know what you all think through PMs, reviews or through reviews on that story itself. It matters not.**

 **After this chapter I will be taking another short break to write more stuff. I have yet to rewatch Way Too Wonderland, so right now I am taking some time to work on its plot while also watching the episodes so I have a solid plot to tweak and work to my specifications. I've also been considering doing crossover arcs with other series, except Monster High...I really don't like that series and I doubt I'll ever have anyone travel to that world. I was thinking of perhaps crossing this story over with another one of my stories for a couple chapters...I haven't decided to be honest, it's a work in progress.**

 **If there is anything you would like to see happen, feel free to let me know, I'm open to suggestions. After all if I think it will make the story more dynamic than it already is, I'll most likely include it. To be honest, I was thinking of doing a three episode cross over with one of my favorite kid shows, Phineas and Ferb, but again no idea how that would work, unless they bring back the Interdimensional Travel device, but they forgot all about that. Of course I can pull a Twilight Sparkle and just have shit happen for reasons everyone fails to understand. In fact, I was also thinking of doing a cross over with Equestria Girls as well, just to see Blake's reaction, since in his world that series is a show that he used to watch, and seeing it as a real world would probably melt his brain. But again, no idea how that could work, it's all being poured into the melting pot.**

 **Let me know what you all think about this chapter and the bonus chapter you all get. I love hearing about your thoughts and opinions, so as always PM me with questions if you have them. Have yourselves an awesome day/night/evening/morning some time in between those four...kek.**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 63

The Perfect Gift II

The journey to the crystal mine was a lot shorter than he imagined, but it was still a fun trip. It had been quite awhile since Blake had been on horse back. He had chosen a white mare as his ride, as soon as he had seen her, he had immediately gone over to her. Ashlynn had given him a few warnings, saying that she liked bucking a lot, but was ultimately impressed when he started talking to her. Her name was Mist, and she had been in the family for five years, and not a lot of people had actually gotten to ride her. Even the keeper of the stables had given him a warning, but he saddled her up and climbed onto her back. She hadn't bucked him off or ran off like she normally did. They had been a fit, much to the surprise of everyone in the castle, including the King and Queen. They had ridden toward a small mountain range three miles away from the castle, through a wooded path. It had been quite an interesting trip, the sun was still high in the sky, as it was still very early in the day.

They reached the cavern entrance not long after leaving the castle, about an hour. Blake had been too busy racing Ashlynn to even notice the approaching mountains. They got off their horses, tying their reins to a nearby tree so the horses wouldn't run off. Ashlynn grabbed the bag she had prepared from the saddle, slinging it over her shoulder. He noticed several tools sticking out of it, including a pick axe and a shovel. She had even taken her tiara off and replaced it with a white hardhat, in case a rock fell on them. Blake pulled his katana from Mist's saddle, attaching it to his waist. One couldn't be too sure after all. He ran his hand on the horse's snout, making her flare her nostrils a bit.

"Well here we are...the Crystal cavern. I remember coming here a lot with my dad, whenever Briar and Crystal came over to play. We always found a lot of cool crystals in this cave. All of this is owned by my family, dad even owns a jewelry store that uses gems from this cave."

"Who would have thought King Henri was an expert jeweler? And women say they know jewelry more than men...I'd really like to see my mom get proved wrong." he said, placing a hand on the hilt of his sword as he looked up at the mountain.

"Well, he was taught everything by my grandfather. After all, this is a job that spans many generations. The next Prince Charming will inherit all of this, and craft the beautiful ring, for when he asks for my hand in marriage." she said, a frown on her face. Blake smiled, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"Come on, we all know who your Prince Charming is! Let's go find these crystals." he said, taking the lead. Ashlynn smiled, following her friend toward the cavern entrance.

Everything seemed like out of a movie to Blake. The cavern walls were filled with different glowing crystals, providing a natural light source. Large blue crystals could be seen growing out of the ground, glowing brightly. He could see bright blue sapphires and emeralds, rubies growing from the ceiling. He even swore he saw some crimson garnets in a nearby wall. Ashlynn pushed him forward, so he wouldn't stay frozen in place. There was so many things he wanted to say, back in his world something like this was next to impossible, but to see a cavern filled with so many precious gems and crystals all of them growing naturally. It was surreal, the array of rainbow colors and the illumination of every single gem, crystal and stone, it was too hard for him to believe. Even when he closed his eyes and tried to tell himself that it wasn't real.

"I can see you struggling to accept this as reality. Normally, gems will grow in different areas of the world following certain conditions. Sapphires only grow around volcanic areas, they're the second hardest mineral after diamonds, it's the same for rubies. The reason these gems grow here so abundantly is because of Wonderland Magic."

"Wonderland magic? That makes total sense, so there's a fountain of wonder in this cavern?" he asked.

"No, this cavern was actually the location of a natural portal to Wonderland. You see, there are portals that open naturally between the realms. It's how all of them share magic, especially wonder which is vital for survival. The Crystal caverns under my family's rule contained one such portal, a rainbow pond, that if you jumped into would take you to Wonderland. However, the portal was closed four years ago."

"When the Evil Queen cursed Wonderland." he replied, earning a nod from the girl, who frowned right after.

"I was always told not to even think of jumping in...there was always that little voice in the back of my head that told me to though. A magical barrier had been erected to prevent people from jumping in. Only those with the Royal Seal of my family can take the barrier down." Ashlynn replied, reaching into her shirt for a necklace. The charm was a royal coat of arms, two crossing swords with a glass slipper in the center.

"Interesting, if this portal hadn't been closed, it would have been a perfect way to get into Wonderland. Shit, it becomes harder and harder now that I think about it." he muttered dryly, tightening his hold on his sword.

"You are really determined to reach Wonderland aren't you? You've been researching portals a lot lately. Why is that? Do you just wanna break the curse?"

"That's a major reason...I want to take down that disgusting curse the Evil Queen put on that wondrous place. Not just that, I made a promise to one of my friends, that I would get them back into Wonderland. No one deserves to be away from home, especially for such a long time." he replied, earning a grin from the girl.

"Oh, so you made a promise to one of the girls, who was it? Was it Lizzie? Maddie? Kitty?"

"All three of them, Alistair and Bunny too. It was a personal promise, that and I want to get the book back to ease Briar's mind. I've told her not to worry about it, but she always does. I can see it on her face, whenever someone talks about it, she makes up a reason not to be there. It must be mentally taxing on her." Blake said, stopping before a fork in the path. Ashlynn lead him toward the left, reaching behind her back for the pick axe.

"She's just naturally like that, always a worrywart. I remember when we were kids, she ended up breaking one of my ceramic dolls. She thought that it was a better idea to hide it and not tell me, I almost tore the castle apart looking for it. Eventually Crystal found it inside a tree, that's when Briar started crying and apologizing like crazy. I wasn't mad at all, I had broken that same doll so many times I can't even remember."

"Did you like, glue it back together at least?" he asked curiously, causing her to shake her head.

"No, we had the toy maker fix it with his magic. I was there every month, eventually he just enchanted my toys so they wouldn't break as easily. Trust me, I always found away to break them." she replied, causing the boy to laugh.

"Kids always find a way to break toys. I can't tell you how many building models I started and abandoned. I swear there were wheels and truck parts all over my room at one time. Don't even get me started on Legos." he said, cringing a bit. There was nothing he hated more than stepping on a lego.

Reaching the end of the path, they arrived at a large chamber, encrusted with lots of colorful gems. It was glittering brightly with various colors, an entire rainbow of gems. Walking further into this chamber, Blake noticed the large lake in the center of it, filled with cool blue water. There was a ledge that over looked the lake, the path leading to it was lined with large light blue crystals which grew straight out of the ground. From the ceiling grew several glowing yellow gems, with a big crystal in the middle, hanging right above the lake.

"Don't even think about it, that crystal has been growing for the last two hundred years. Not just that, it's filled with magic that helps channel the wonder into the water, it keeps the portal stable."

"I wasn't even thinking about it, how the hell would I even get up there?" he asked curiously. She gave him a shrug, walking toward the other end of the cavern. She started feeling the wall, tapping it with her knuckles until she found a hollow spot. She swung her pick at it, stabbing it into the stone wall.

"You need a little help there Ash?"

"No, I got it. There are some geodes that grow on the other side of this chamber, if you get lucky you'll find Stellanium. But I'm letting you know now, you have more chances of finding an uncut 60 karat diamond than finding one of those." she replied, taking another swing at the wall, the stone crumbled away, revealing a deposit of glowing orange gems.

He didn't say anything as he started heading toward the other side of the cavern. He was more focused on finding the geodes than anything else. He did grab some lose crystals from the cavern walls, placing them inside his messenger bag as he walked. There were some that were giving off some magical energy. He was sure some of the teachers back at school would appreciate having magical mediums. He spotted some round rocks not far from where he was and quickly shortened the distance. He grabbed one of them from the floor, shaking it a bit. It didn't weigh much, about seven pounds actually. But he knew there was only one way to find out what was inside it until he cracked it open. So he found a sturdy wall and threw the rock as hard as he could against it. It split open, several pieces falling to the ground.

"Well, it's definitely not this one." he muttered, grabbing the discarded half from the ground, seeing some amethyst crystals growing inside.

He grabbed another one, repeating the process. He only found some green amethyst in that one, a rare color sure, but not what he was looking for. The third one resulted in some quartz crystals, a rather common color as well. For the next few minutes, he spent breaking all of the geodes he could find, setting the crystals he found aside not at all interested in them. It wasn't long before he had cracked open every geode he had seen in the chamber, all of them yielding no results. He didn't know how long it had been, but he didn't want to give up his search. He started looking around the other areas around the edge of the lake, but wasn't able to find anymore geodes.

"Dammit, curse my luck." he muttered, finding his way back to where Ashlynn was, sifting through several orange crystals.

"Did you find anything?" she asked, earning a frown from the boy.

"Other than some amethyst crystals and shitload of quartz, nothing...what about you, have you find the Fire crystal yet?"

"Not yet, I've found some fire quartz, but not the Sunset Opal I'm looking for. I just gotta keep digging through all of these." she replied, setting aside the gems she was holding. She reached into the hole she had made, her fingers wrapping around a smooth orb. With a small tug, she pulled it from the wall, eyes widening a bit.

"Whoa, look at that thing." Blake said, gasping a bit at the sight. Even though it wasn't bigger than a tennis ball, this gem was a beautiful bright orange color, with dark orange white markings around the bottom, that looked like clouds. It was a bit uneven in areas, but once it was refined, it would make an excellent stone.

"I can't believe I found it so fast...isn't it pretty?" Ashlynn asked, earning a nod from the boy.

"It is, you were totally right. It's like someone took the sunset and put it inside a crystal." he said, examining the gem closely.

"I'm certain Apple will love this...I just have to take it to town and get it refined a bit." she said, taking the gem back from Blake. He groaned, glancing at the ceiling in disappointment.

"You found an awesome gift for her, but all I found were amethyst crystals. Are there anymore geodes in this cave?"

"Not that I know of, the only grow around this area. Listen Blake, I know you want to find Stellanium for Apple, but maybe you bit off more than you could chew. It's a rare crystal, finding one will be hard. I'm sure she'd be fine with anything you got her."

"Yes, but I wanted to get her something special. She deserves it, it is her special day after all...maybe you are right. I think one of those sapphires I saw over there will do." he replied, glancing toward the far wall where some sapphires were growing. As he walked over to the other wall with Ashlynn in tow, he took a quick look inside the lake, seeing some glowing orbs at the bottom of the lake. He stopped, glancing at the water.

"Do gems grow inside water?" he asked curiously.

"They do, there are a lot of previous crystals that can only be found in water. In fact, water affects the growth rate of many crystals...do you think there's something at the lake bottom? I've never actually tried to search there. After all, that's where the portal was." she said.

"Hmm...maybe the Wonderland water that once was in this lake affected the growth of crystals here. Now that there's no more portal and no way this water can be enchanted with wonder, we'll be able to reach the natural deposits." he replied. He stuck his hand in the water, expecting it to be cold, however it was in fact very warm, almost like a hot spring.

"I suppose, you aren't going to dive in there are you?"

"Pfft, and get my hair wet? Absolute not!" he cried, snapping his fingers. Almost instantly, the water within the lake split apart, an ethereal stairwell forming at the edge of the lake.

He started walking down the stairs heading toward the lake bottom. Ashlynn was more impressed with his magic than with the lake bed itself. He had been getting more and more control now that he was taking Magicology. Having another class with Raven also helped, seeing as she always gave him pointers, despite her not having a lot of control over her own powers at times. Much like her however, he often times lost control of his spells, because his magic wasn't as stable as the others who practiced it. Baba Yaga had told him that aside from the Evil Queen's magic, he also had a bit of wonder within him, making his spells do things at random whenever he doesn't have full control.

"Impressed? I only just learned water control and conjuring not that long ago. I used to be able to conjure little things, but now I can conjure big things, like this magical stairwell." he said.

"I am, you've come quite a long way since the Fairest. You were pretty strong then, but now you are on par with Raven. Won't be long until you are as powerful as Madam Yaga."

"I suppose...Raven is leagues better than I am. We have the same raw strength sure, but her control over magic is much better than mine. After all, she was born with it, I just got it when I came into this world. The fact that I'm a natural magic sponge also increases that. Aside from water control, I have control over dark fire." he said, snapping his fingers. A small orb of blue flames appeared on the palm of his hand, causing her to gasp.

"It's blue, wasn't it purple before?"

"What I was using before was concentrated dark flames. That was mostly made from my own aura, but dark fire actually uses a different magical mechanism. Instead of producing the flames from inside your body, you produce it from the air using the oxygen around you. Even someone like you can conjure flames with practice." he said, dismissing the small fireball.

"I doubt I'd have any use for magic...I mean, my story only has the magic from the Fairy Godmother...that's why Farrah practices her magic all the time. Even though she grants the wishes of others, she hardly ever grants wishes for herself, the poor thing." she replied, a small frown on her face.

They made it to the lake bottom, where some glowing blue geodes could be seen growing from the ground. The sediment was still wet and mushy, making it a bit harder to walk in certain places. There were some crystalline areas as well, where some other crystals had been glowing, including the geodes they were after. There were only three geodes at the lake bottom, along with other glowing clear crystals. Ashlynn grabbed one from the ground, tapping it with her small hammer to break it off.

"This is a prism crystal, the ones that show the seven colors of the rainbow when held into the sun."

"The magic in the water must have created a natural deposit. That's an interesting fine...but I'm more interested in these." Blake said, having taken the three geodes from the floor. They were quite heavy too, so he had resorted to using his levitation magic on them. He and Ashlynn made their way back toward the edge of the lake, the water falling back into place a second or two after. He let out a sigh, placing the large geodes on the ground, wiping some sweat from his brow.

"That was a major strain, holding thousands of gallons back, keeping the stairs stable and using levitation on these...not bad." he replied.

"Do you wanna crack these open here, or do you wanna head back to the castle and crack them open there? It's already four and we have to be back at school by dinner time." Ashlynn said, earning a sigh from the boy.

"Will the horses take the strain? These are pretty heavy, I wouldn't want Mist to struggle with these." he said, earning a giggle from Ashlynn.

"Trust me Blake, she'll be able to handle the strain...these are thirty pounds at best, I can easily carry one in my bag." she said, shoving one of the round geodes into her backpack, lifting it up to her shoulders. He stared at the girl, unblinking as she easily carried its weight.

"Damn Ash, you do some heavy lifting or something?"

"No, I'm just naturally strong. After all, I have to handle several years of doing chores for my Evil Step Mother. This is nothing." she replied, heading toward the cavern exit.

" _I have a lot of respect for Ashlynn now. She has to deal with a lot of stuff in her story, I'm sort of happy that she's a Rebel like me. She doesn't deserve that bullshit."_ he thought, following the girl out, carrying the remaining two geodes in his magical grasp. It was much easier now that he didn't have to hold the water back. He looked at the two geodes excitedly, wondering what was held within...he was hoping one of them had Stellanium crystals inside. Even if they didn't, whatever crystal was inside would be perfect for Apple.

 _ **xxx**_

Having gotten back to the castle, Blake and Ashlynn decided to stay near the stables and enjoy the soft breeze coming from the east. Mist seemed to be quite content with Blake staying next to her. He had fed her several carrots already, and even though he had told her that he didn't have anymore, she always managed to get one out of him. Cinderella and Henri were also outside, near the back patio of the castle, having brought out some tea and various snacks. Ashlynn's father had been looking at the Opal his daughter had found, quite impressed with it. He gave her a smile, ruffling her hair a bit as he handed her the gem back.

"You did a wonderful job at finding this. One of my best jewelers will get it appraised and refined for you. And we'll deliver it before Apple's party tomorrow." he said.

"Thanks daddy, this means a lot to me." the girl said, hugging her father tightly.

"Blake dear, you've been staring at those things since you brought them. Are you going to crack them open or not?" Cinderella asked, causing the boy to look up at the woman. He gave her a frown, his eyes falling back to the geodes.

"I'm trying to decide which to go with. The middle one is the most hollow of them all, in my opinion anyway. But this one is more round than the other ones. But I also like this one, the entirety of it is made of crystal. It's like a crystal ball that holds more crystals inside." he said, glancing at the three orbs.

"You should save the best for last, the crystalline geode is the most attractive one. So even if you don't find what you get, you'll at least be happy you didn't break that one first." Henri said, earning a nod from the boy.

"Very good point...Ashlynn, you wanna crack one for me?" he asked, handing the girl one of the geodes. She set it on the ground, grabbing a hammer from her pack.

"Well, here goes nothing." she muttered, jabbing a pick into the center of the orb. With a few hard taps, she was able crack the stone a bit. It only took her around a minute to get it to fully open.

Inside were a mixture of glowing pink crystals, jutting outward in tiny little groups. Ashlynn grabbed one half of the broken stone and handed it to her father, who looked it over with a close eye, using his jewelers loupe to see the finer details. His eyes widened a bit as he pulled the small magnifier from his eye.

"Pink diamonds...I wasn't even aware that they grew in this manner. This is a very rare find you two, and you can probably get various sizes depending on how its cut too." the man said, looking very impressed.

"Hmm, I had heard that diamonds subjected to different levels of pressure, often result in different colors. But seeing them grow out of a geode...maybe Wonderland's magic affected how it grew." Blake said, theorizing a bit.

"Well, it's a beautiful gem nonetheless...I'm sure Apple will like it." Cinderella said, earning a nod from Ashlynn as well. She handed the hammer and pick over to Blake, who set the second geode down on the ground.

"Here we go, let's see what's inside door number two!" he said, cracking the outer shell of the geode. A few more light taps cracked the stone open, causing them all to gasp. Inside was a deposit of bright sapphire blue diamonds. Even Henri seemed to be floored by this discovery as he literally fell back from his chair.

"Are those what I think they are?" the man asked, taking a hold of the geode in his hands.

"Blue Diamonds? I think so...there's only one blue diamond I've seen up close. The Hope Diamond, it is the largest natural blue diamond back in my world. There's also this nasty curse on it too, whoever owned the diamond before it was put in a museum, ended up dying. It started out as a crown jewel, until the king who owned it, got his head sliced off." Blake said, backing slightly away from the gems.

"These are so pretty, imagine all of the rings and necklaces you could make from this?" Ashlynn said, holding the other half of the geode in her hands.

"I agree, what do you think Henri, what is the base worth of this one?" Cinderella asked. The man lowered his loupe away from it, giving the woman a shrug.

"Anywhere from 50 to 75 million gold."

"Jesus Christ, is that what it's worth uncut?" the boy exclaimed.

"No, that was an estimate if it was cut, uncut is worth 120 million." the man replied.

"You are sitting on a mine right now Blake, this finding is perfect! Imagine handing Apple one of these? She'd totally love it, these are super rare too, just as rare as Stellanium in fact." Ashlynn said, earning a nod from the boy.

"I guess, maybe get it cut into a heart, set in white gold with white diamonds surrounding it, sterling silver chain. I'll call it, Le Couer de la Mer."

"The heart of the ocean?" Cinderella asked, earning a chuckle from the boy.

"Somehow I knew you'd understand that...it isn't an exactly original design...but hey it'll be an original in this world." he said, giving her a wink.

"I like that idea, I can have my best jewelers create that idea for you. It'll take a while to cut it into a heart shape however, nowhere near enough time to give it to Apple as a gift." Henri said, earning a frown from the boy.

"That's a shame...you can keep the other half of that geode if you'd like. I'm sure you can come up with other ideas." he said, earning a smile from the man.

"I cannot simply accept this young man, this is an amazing find. I can pay you if you'd like, I have no issue with that."

"Daddy are you sure? I mean he's giving this to you as a gift after all." Ashlynn said, shooting to her feet a second later. Blake did the same, standing firm and tall.

"Ashlynn is right sir, I can't ask for payment...especially something that big, I mean...120 million gold...I don't even know what I would do with that." he said. Henri nodded, giving the boy a smile.

"I would like to thank you then, this is a precious gem, so whatever jewelry we can make from it, we'll allow you to name it. It's the least I can do, since you are providing the diamonds after all." he said.

"Sure, that would be awesome, you can take half of the Pink diamonds too, maybe a white gold bracelet, with pink and blue diamonds, along with some white zirconia, that would be a nice gift." Blake said, tapping his chin in thought.

"Well Blake, it's the moment of truth...the final geode needs to be cracked open." Cinderella said, bringing his attention to the last geode. He grabbed a hold of it, his hands shaking a bit as he looked at the crystalline surface, seeing his reflection on it.

"It's pretty, a shame that this outer layer has to be broken though." he muttered. The orb started glowing a bit, turning from light crystalline blue to a deep swirling violet.

"Whoa...what's happening to it?" Ashlynn asked, completely surprised by the change in color.

"Hmm...it must be reacting to Blake's dark magic...perhaps this crystal was grew from 100 percent Wonderland water as opposed to the others that grew through seismic pressure." Henri said, eyes narrowed a bit as he examined the geode closely. Blake handed it to Ashlynn, who took it from him with a confused look on her face.

"You break it, I don't think I can actually keep a steady hand." he said, rubbing his neck in embarrassment.

She shrugged, kneeling down on the grass, taking a hold of the hammer and her pick. She found a good spot between crystals and jabbed the pick inside, lightly tapping it with the hammer. A soft crack filled the air, followed by a soft pop as the outer shell broke off, revealing a brown ball inside. Blake face palmed, rubbing his eyes a bit.

"I swear to god, if this is a damn pearl...I'm gonna be pissed."

"It looks like dirt, here let me pour some water over it." Cinderella said, grabbing a hold of the glass pitcher filled with ice water.

She poured some water over it, revealing more of the lustrous orb. Ashlynn took a hold of the orb, drying it off with a napkin, holding it up to the setting sun. They all gasped when they saw millions of glittering stars swimming inside the orb. Almost in the shape of a galaxy, swirling endlessly inside its crystalline prison. It was slight purple in color, with a mixture of midnight blue, bright blue, orange, red and yellow dots could be seen, along with small little clouds that acted like nebulae. Blake let out a shout, pumping his fist into the air.

"Yeah motherfucker! Super rare gem my ass!" he cried.

"I'll be damned, you found an actual Stellanium crystal...not just that, this crystal is the size of a baseball. This must be the rarest find in all of Ever After History!" Henri said, taking a hold of the crystal, looking at it with his loupe.

"Is it pure?" Cinderella asked curiously, earning a nod from her husband.

"It is, it's true what the legends say...it's like having your own handheld galaxy...all this needs is to be polished. It'll have an adamantine luster to it too!" he said. Blake smirked, raising a brow as he looked at Ashlynn who still had a shocked expression on her face.

"So, I have more chances of winning the lottery three times than finding one of these eh? Maybe I should try my luck." he said, giving her a wink. She shook her head, placing her hands on her hips. Blake always pulled through, no matter the obstacle or challenge, and he always did it in an amazing fashion.

 _ **xxx**_

Apple definitely knew how to organize a party. The clearing she had chosen was big enough for all of her friends to be there, but also calm and serene. It allowed the local wild life to blend in and be undisturbed by the party goers. Thanks to various people, and even Tiny, the clearing had been decorated with various party favors. Melody had of course volunteered to handle the music, and had brought her entire set up, having built a small stage at the very back of the clearing to be distanced from everyone else. Various tables were filled to the brim with pastries, all provided by Ginger, though the birthday cake had yet to arrive, she had said it would be brought last. There were even some ice sculptures had been brought to decorate some of the refreshment tables, and since they were made of magic, the ice wouldn't melt.

Some people had dressed casually, while others more appropriate for a party. He was among those people who had bought some new threads for the party. He was wearing a baby blue tee long sleeved shirt which he had ironed before the party. Over it, he wore a brown suit vest, with light colored buttons, his pocket watch was in his pocket, the chain attached to his belt loop as always. He wore a pair of black skinny jeans, with white threads on the sides. He was wearing a brand new pair of boots, which were made of leather, and had several belts and buckles on the sides. Over it, he wore his crimson cloak, his hood over his head.

He felt a little shy, mostly because of the gift that he had gotten for Apple. He looked over to the gift table, seeing several boxes placed on it, big ones and small ones, even a long one which spanned the entire length of the table. He was pretty sure it was a flagpole, since it was also a around package, but for he wasn't sure. He and Hunter had a bet going to see who would be wrong, he bet a hundred gold that it was a flagpole, and Hunter bet a hundred, that it wasn't. Dexter was the mediator and had also kept the money, he was just waiting for Hunter to say double or nothing so he could meet his call and double his money. Besting his friend with 400 gold lining his pocket would definitely make him feel better.

He hadn't felt comfortable with placing his gift on the table, since it was such a rare and precious object. He and Ashlynn had met up early that morning and waiting for a delivery bird to bring their gifts, which had been fully wrapped as well. He had his in his messenger bag, which was around his shoulder and on his person. He was also holding onto Ashlynn's gift since she, like him, didn't trust leaving it out on the table. Other than that, the entire party was starting to get lively. It had only been half an hour, but already almost two hundred people had shown up. The daughter of Snow White was definitely a popular person, he hadn't even seen her during the day, apparently being too busy getting into her special birthday outfit. He leaned back against one of the trees, taking a sip from the glass in his hand, a champagne glass filled with some sort of drink he had never heard of. It was non-alcoholic of course, or else he would have been drunk off his ass by now.

"It's such a pretty day, no wonder Apple was so excited to hold her party today." he said, to no one in particular, he heard rustling above him and glanced up, seeing his friend Kitty lying on the branch above him, a smile on her face.

"You said it, the sun on my back feels nice." she said.

She was one of the few who had decided to dress up a little for the party. She was wearing a violet backless dress, with a white halter, the collar being decorated with lavender roses. It had black and white zigzagging lines across it, with golden paw prints around the bottom of it. The length of the dress was rather short, reaching slightly higher than mid thigh, though she was wearing a pair of black leggings, with the imprint of a grinning cat all over them. She was wearing a pair of violet heeled slippers, with golden lining on the edges. Her hair, normally up in twin tails, was free of its normal hair ties. It was weird to see her with her hair down, but it was a good look for her.

He found himself blushing a bit, and quickly looked back down, taking a sip from his glass. He did agree with Kitty however, the sun felt absolutely amazing on his face. The scent of blooming flowers and the sound of the birds chirping and the nearby animals enjoying nature. It was truly a wonderful place for a party to be held, despite the dubstep being heard in the background.

"You are most definitely right Kitty, try not to get sunburned, that shit sucks." he said, earning a grin from the girl.

"I know, which is also why I'm not wearing a bra...just in case I do grab some color." she said, giving him a wink.

"Information I didn't need, Kitty." he replied, tipping his glass back, finishing his drink. He pushed himself away from the tree, heading back toward the refreshment table. It didn't take long for Kitty to follow after him, grabbing a drink for herself.

"So, is the awesome Blake Bigby playing something for his long time crush Apple White?" she asked, earning a glare from the boy.

"First off, I don't have a crush on her...second, while we did bring our stuff and Cerise did set up, I'm not sure if we are playing anything. Cupid wasn't feeling good so she's taking it easy today." he said, pointing toward one of the tables where Cupid was sitting, looking a bit down. He could see her rubbing her side a lot, it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what was making her sick.

"Oh, poor thing...I hate that time of the month too. It makes this kitty hiss and cry, it's never fun...but that also means I can have a litter whenever I want." she said, giving him a grin.

"Hey that's a good question, since you are technically a cat, do you have a cat form? I mean Bunny has a rabbit form, so is it something like that? Also if that's the truth shouldn't you have siblings?" he asked curiously.

"Hmm...well, I don't have a cat form, but my shadow looks like a cat. My mom doesn't have a cat form either, as for the second question...we're technically human, so unless we have more than one fertile egg, we won't have more than one baby."

"Oh...well that at least answers my question, and your shadow does look cool." he said, glancing at the cat shaped shadow behind the girl. She giggled watching the shadows tail flicking back and forth.

"It's a hoot with the kids, it really makes me purr when they run after it." she said, giving him a wink.

"I'm pretty sure anything from a laser pointer, to a ball of yarn is enough to make you purr. Even something like this." he said, scratching the bottom of her chin. She stiffened a bit, a small purr escaping her lips. She pushed his hand away, giving him a glare.

"Don't do that! It's embarrassing!" she cried, her cheeks flushed red.

"Hey you two, enjoying yourselves?" the voice Apple asked, causing the two to look away from each other.

True to her word, Apple's dress was nothing short of beautiful. It was a spring gown, a light beige color with small brown dots in various areas, which looked like apple seeds. The gown reached down to almost the floor, and split in the middle, revealing the white tights she was wearing, bearing green apples on them. She was wearing a pair of glossy red heels. The area around the bust was crimson, with golden threading around the edges, she wore a sash around her waist, tied into a bow on the side, the ribbon looking like the leaves on an apple tree.

Her long blonde hair, had been completely straightened, and had several streaks of crimson and green running to it, along with a darker shade of gold. Her hair fell perfectly upon her bare shoulders, she wore a necklace made of gold, with a charm in the shape of an apple. Atop her head was a glittering tiara, which actually had her name in fancy letters forged into its design, the A and the E at the end having a spiraling design. She had a bright smile on her face, her crimson lips glittering brightly, her bright blue eyes lined with dark make up to make them shine even more in the sunlight.

Kitty shook her head, a frown on her face as she took a sip from her glass, placing a hand on her hips. She looking the girl over, studying every single detail of her dress, before finally speaking. An almost annoyed tone in her voice.

"You truly are the daughter of Snow White, aren't you?" she asked, sarcastically. Apple didn't seem bothered by it, in fact she let out a small laugh, covering her lips with her gloved hand.

"I know, mom insisted I wear this...she said she was going to show up, but right after I got here, she told me she couldn't make it. She has a lot of meetings this week and couldn't reschedule. The tiara was a gift from my dad." she replied.

"Oh, Apple I'm so sorry, I didn't think your mom was gonna bail on you." Blake said, giving her a tight hug.

"It's fine, I'm used to it...she missed my sweet sixteen, and my party last year. I figured, now that I was a full adult, she'd be here to celebrate, but that isn't possible. Daddy was busy too, he couldn't run the kingdom if he was here with me." she said, bowing her head a bit.

"There you are Apple, Cedar was looking for us for a picture." Raven said, causing the girl to look over her shoulder.

The daughter of the Evil Queen had also dressed up a bit, though she was only wearing a simple outfit, the same one she had worn on her first date with Dexter in fact. Plain and simple, just like Raven, Blake mused, a smile on his face. Though he did notice the violet tiara on her head, that was almost the same in design to Apple's, only hers had more spikes at the top and on the sides, along with a raven in the center. Her name was also built into the design, and he recognized the font as the one that Raven used as her signature. It made him wonder if Apple's tiara had her own signature on it as well. His eyes narrowed a bit when he looked at the letters closely.

"Hey Rae, is the lettering on your tiara based on your signature?" he asked.

"It actually is, our father asked us for a sample so he could get these made for us. Although Apple's is fancier because she's taken formal classes." she said.

"Oh, your signature is just as good as mine, especially the Q, I can't even get close to writing it that way." Apple said.

Blake focused mostly on that letter, and the entire name. He felt a twinge of pain in his head, his hand flying to his temple. He closed his eyes for a second, almost seeing something in his minds eye. It was a bit hazy, but he saw a hand, writing that very same name. But he didn't know who's it was, it did look rather young, a toddler perhaps. He shook his head a bit, meeting the concerned gazes of the three girls.

"You okay there Blake?" Kitty asked, earning a nod from the boy.

"Yeah I'm fine, just a slight headache. It's gone now so you don't have to worry, why don't you go and get that picture taken Apple? Don't keep Cedar waiting." he suggested, earning a nod from the girl.

"I'll talk to you later, I hope you enjoy yourselves...there's gonna be a bake off later to see who can make the best cake. So if you want to join, I suggest you gather your ingredients soon." she said, giving them a smile, following after Raven.

"A bake off huh? That sounds interesting, maybe I can me some Pomegranate Right-side Up cake...what do you think Blake? Blake?"

The boy shook his head a bit, glancing at Kitty who was once again giving him a worried look. He gave her a smile, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"I'm sure that would be a good idea, though I've never seen a Right-side up cake, wouldn't that be a normal cake?" he asked curiously, earning a grin from the girl.

"Not in Wonderland, come on you can help me!" she said, pulling him along. He rolled his eyes, allowing himself to be pulled along.

 _ **xxx**_

It was late afternoon now, and the party was starting to wind down a bit. Ginger had indeed outdid herself with the cake she had created. It was a tower cake, covered in white frosting, every layer had small apples made of frosting, each cake had a different colored apple on it. The sides of the cake had also been decorated with apple slices, which had been dipped in orange juice to prevent them from turning brown. The platter the cake had been served on had several apple themed pastries, fritters, caramel apples, even some small apple pies. She had somehow made Apple's likeness out of cupcakes. The entire set up had taken about ten minutes to actually get anything, and it had to be done from behind her a truck to keep it a surprise. To say Apple was impressed was an understatement, if her screams of joy were anything to go by.

She had also started to open her presents, with Raven filming everything so that her father and her step-sister Snow White would be able to see it. He had been waiting for her to open the cylindrical present, since Hunter had taunted him earlier. He had successfully baited him into a double or nothing bet, and now the two of them stood side by side, watching as she opened various presents. She had gotten several dresses already, and even a shield from Daring, with her face on it. Apparently, he said that if she had her radiant beauty on her shield, her assailant would be smitten and forced to drop his sword.

She had found it entirely weird, but also a sweet gesture, and it went well with the sword that Darling had gotten her, saying that she needed something for self defense, even if she was supposed to be poisoned by an apple. Ashlynn had been holding her present in her hands, prepared to give it to her at a moments notice. Blake still hadn't decided if he was going to give her his present in front of everyone, seeing as it was a very rare present. Not only that, but it was a present that could be taken out of context by literally everyone there, except for Ashlynn who had already seen it. Apple stood up from her seat, grabbing the last present from the table, looking at it oddly.

"Alright Blake, here we go, you wanna up the ante? Three hundred says its not a flagpole." Hunter whispered, earning a smirk from the boy.

"Damn straight, I meet your call. Get ready to lose." he said, shaking the next Huntsman's hand. Apple impatiently tore the paper, pulling the cap from the top of the box, reaching inside.

"Is this what I think it is?" she asked, pulling the item from within. Her eyes were focused on the silver colored cylindrical object until she had pulled it out entirely. She ended up pressing a button on the middle of it, causing it to extend several more feet.

"HA! I knew it, it was a flagpole! You totally fucking owe me!" Blake said, holding his hand out. Hunter grumbled under his breath, reaching his back pocket for his wallet, dropping two bills in his hands. Dexter put the other two in his hand, causing the boy to kiss the money.

"Did you two seriously make a bet on what that present was?" Briar asked, earning a grin from Blake.

"Of course, I knew it was a flagpole from the get go. No way in hell someone was going to get something cylindrical for no reason." he said, shoving the money in his pocket.

"It is an interesting gift, but what would I do with a flagpole?" Apple asked curiously.

"Sorry about that, the guys I got that from messed up my order, it was supposed to come with a flag. But the dumb ass ended up sending the flag all the way across Ever After, and I'm too lazy to go get it. So I'll give you the flag later." Jessica said, earning a nod from the blonde.

"Well, thank you Jessica...I've always wanted my own flagpole. I suppose I can use it when I'm finally the Queen of the Enchanted Forest." she said, flipping her hair over her shoulder. Ashlynn stepped forward, handing the girl the box in her hands.

"Here you go Apple, this is a very special present and quite expensive. I didn't want it to get lost or damaged, Happy Birthday." she said. The blonde accepted the box from her hands, giving her friend a hug.

"Thank you Ashlynn...I'm sure I'll love whatever this is." she said, pulling the ribbon from the box. Blake noticed the girl crossing her fingers as she lowered her arms, making him chuckle under his breath. Apple let out a gasp as she opened the box, pulling the Sunset Opal from inside. It was glowing brightly in the light, all of the imperfections Blake had seen on it the day before were entirely gone. She held it up, getting the same reaction from everyone in else in the clearing.

"This is beautiful, like the sunset was put inside a gem. Thank you so much for this Ash, you know how much I love the sunsets here."

"You're welcome Apple, I'm happy that you love it. It took me half an hour to dig it from a hole, but I'm sure you are gonna like Blake's gift a lot more than mine." she said, turning to face the boy.

"Oh, goddamn it...nice way of putting me on the spot." he said, earning a giggle and a wink from Ashlynn.

"If Ashlynn says it's better than her present, then lets see it." Blondie said, aiming her MirrorPad at the boy. He chuckled dryly, looking away from it.

"Uh...I...actually have it back in my dorm. It's something that looks way better at night, you know? So uh...I'll go and get it." he said.

"I can go with you if you want? I sort of want to take half of these things back to my dorm too. It was a good thing I brought that wagon with me, and you said I wouldn't need it Raven." Apple said, earning a sigh from the girl.

"Alright, I was wrong. I wasn't expecting people to give you a lot of stuff, but you gotta admit, my present was cool. A dragon whistle is very hard to make, especially when made from melted dragon scales." she said, giving her step-niece a wink. Blake rubbed his arm nervously, uttering a small laugh.

"Okay, I'll help you with that. We can be there and back in half an hour." he said happily.

"Alright then, in the mean time I'll keep this party going. We gotta get our second wind in, so let's start with some hardstep, I wanna see everyone shake on that dance floor." Melody said firmly, spinning a record between her fingers.

It wasn't long before the blaring music started to fill the clearing. Blake and Apple took a few minutes to load up the wagon, filling it with as many presents as they could. He carried some of the larger ones, even the flagpole that Jessica had gotten for the girl. Once he got everything, he and Apple headed out of the clearing. It grew very quiet, as the music faded away behind them, the skies were slowly turning purple, the first of the twinkling stars being visible. The blonde birthday girl was holding her Sunset Opal in her hands, a smile on her face as the soft glow filled the area.

"This is so beautiful, it's gonna be a great nightlight. I'm excited to see what you got me though, knowing you, it's gonna be eccentric."

"It is, trust me...but like I said, it looks better at night." he replied, giving her a smile. She flushed a bit, turning her attention back to the gem in her hands.

It didn't take long to reach the High School. Several teachers had wished the future Snow White a happy birthday, even the Headmasters had given her a small present, though they were just buttering her up, at least Milton was. Giles seemed genuine with his. She thanked the two for their gifts, placing them with the others she was tugging along, and the promise to open them when she had time. They reached the girls dorms not long after, and Apple opened the door to her room, sighing happily as she finally got her presents safely to her dorm. She sat down at the edge of her bed, sighing contently.

"You have no idea how much I wanted to just, be away from everyone for a bit." she said.

"I can tell, you look really happy...like a kid who finally makes his mother cave at the candy store...or when your friend finally leaves so you can take a deuce." he said. The blonde's airy laugh filled his ears, her cheeks tinged red with mirth.

"You have the oddest things to say, but they're so accurate too."

"I do try." he replied, taking a seat on Raven's computer chair. His eyes went wide for a second as he settled into it, sinking a bit into the soft cushioned seat.

"I gotta get myself one these, it's so damn comfy."

"Good luck, Raven had that custom made and it cost her like four pay checks to pay for it." Apple replied, causing the boy to tilt his head.

"Raven has a job? Where at?"

"Hocus Latte, she works seasonal. Even though our dad can get us whatever we want, she still wants to make her own money. She says when she's in the music business she'll finally be able to get what she wants without having to use her father's money. I think she only says that because she feels like she's taking money that doesn't belong to her."

"Wait, isn't the Good King, Raven's father as well?" he asked.

"For all intents and purposes yes, but he isn't her biological father. She never met him, she was only three years old when she and my dad married. By that point, my grandmother had passed away, and mother had become depressed. Even more so that the woman who would poison her with the apple, wanted to marry her father and shove a random infant into the family. It's a well guarded secret, I'm not sure how people would react should they find it out, so please keep it to yourself."

"You don't have to worry about that Apple, I'll keep this secret. After all, Raven doesn't need anymore bullshit, she gets enough of it on a daily basis." he replied.

"You really care about her huh? As more than a sister?" Apple asked, earning a confused look from the boy.

"What do you mean? As more than a sister? I'm not attracted to her at all." Blake replied, slightly taken aback.

"Oh...I thought you were, I mean you always give her a loving look whenever the two of you are together...and since she's with Dexter I thought...you know, unrequited love?" the blonde said, earning an audible sigh from the boy.

"You gotta stop reading Holly's mommy porn. Seriously, it warps peoples minds...what I mean is that lately, I feel different when Raven is nearby. At first, I just called her my sister because we shared the same magic. But now it feels more genuine...like I feel in my heart that we truly are siblings. Like you know that thing that twins have?"

"Twin sixth sense, Holly and Poppy have it, whenever one of them is in trouble, the other can feel it. Same with emotions, whenever one of them feels sad, the other twin will feel sad as well."

"Precisely. There are times where I feel that whenever I think of Raven and how she's doing. Whenever she's bored, I'll more than likely be bored as well. When I'm high on sugar, she's laughing and smiling and generally doing whatever crazy shit Maddie gets her into. Then there are times when she thinks about her mother, and I get really pissed off about it. I can feel that mirror shard heat up in my chest." he said, looking away from the girl. Apple reached for the center of her chest, tracing the spot where he would have the scar.

"I know what you mean, I felt it when I was in your body...that warm heat, and dark aura. It felt so ominous and bad, I finally realized what you went through on a daily basis...it made me feel sympathy for you. But also know you wouldn't want me to give you my pity." she said.

"It's fine Apple, none of this is your fault...but now you know a little more about my thoughts on Raven. I don't care that she isn't my real sister, she will always be my sister...I'll never go back to Earth. It's good to at least have family on this side...anyway, we should start heading back to the party." he said, standing up from the chair. Apple did the same, following the boy out the door. She locked her door right after, looking at the boy who reached into his bag, pulling out a box from within.

"I sort of lied to you, I did have this on me...it's just a little embarrassing to hand it to you...you know, in public. The connotation behind it could cause people to think things." he said, placing the box in her hands.

"Dear me Blake, is this really that eccentric? It can't be that shocking of a present." she said, pulling the ribbon from the box.

"I'm sure you'll think otherwise after you see it." he replied. The girl rolled her eyes, pulling the lid from the box, looking inside it. Her eyes widened a bit as she reached her shaking hand into the box, pulling out the tennis ball sized crystal from within. She ended up dropping the box to the floor, cupping the crystal with both hands.

She was speechless, unable to form a single word or phrase. The look on her face was just the thing he had been expecting from her. He couldn't stop himself from laughing, he was sure to remember that face for the rest of his life. After about a minute, most likely to process what he had given her, she finally spoke.

"Stellanium...you got me Stellanium? Do you know how rare this is? This is so...I...I can't even form words I...Blake how did you even find this?" she asked, trying to keep her voice low.

"I asked Ashlynn for some advice. We found it in a crystal geode at the bottom of a lake in a crystal mine. Turns out, that lake had once been a portal to Wonderland, so we theorize that Wonderland's magic has something to do with the growing process." he replied.

"I...wow...how much is this worth?"

"Millions, billions maybe...to me, having a handheld galaxy is priceless. This orb, is the first one found in 200 years...it's the biggest one found in the history of its discovery and existence. It's one of a kind, just like you." he said, giving her a wink. Apple wrapped her arms around the boy, giving him a hug. He didn't really know what to do, so he just wrapped his arms around her smaller frame. He could hear her sniffling a bit. She looked up at him, wiping her tears as she gave him the brightest smile she could muster.

"I love it, thank you. You really do know how to make a girl wet you know." she said, giving him a wink as she walked off, hugging the gem closer to her chest, near her beating heart.

"What? You didn't just say that, Apple White doesn't talk like that!"

"Hmm? What are you talking about? I didn't say anything...all I did was give you my thanks. Let's go back to that party." she replied. He sighed, shaking his head, that princess was definitely going to be the end of him.


	64. Way Too Wonderland Prelude I

**A/N:**

 **Hey guys! I would love to welcome you all to the prelude of the next arc! Way Too Wonderland is almost here guys! But before the official beginning, we need to get some stuff out of the way. Unlike With Spring Unsprung, which had three preludes, this one only has two. It was going to be one but the prelude became so long that I just had to cut it in half. Now, you will get to learn a lot of stuff about Gloriosa White during this prelude and the next one as well. But you also get to learn a lot of other things. Blake is getting curious about his true purpose in Ever After, and he wants to seek answers. However, those answers lie with the Evil Queen. Will he get the answers he seeks in this arc? Or will he end up getting more questions than before? That is for all of you to find out!**

 **This arc actually serves to set up for Dragon Games, as some information from this entire arc will be once again reviewed in full during the Dragon Games arc. A lot of stuff is going to happen then...you know, I still haven't watched that special. lol...I've been saving it for when I eventually have to write for that arc, also I don't have a lot of time where I can sit down and watch it, so I have been waiting for the proper time for me to sit down and watch it. I've actually rewatched episode one of Way Too Wonderland, and am working on Chapter 69, part Four of that arc. No idea how many chapters it will have, but there is a lot of stuff that needs to be covered so it might be a very long arc.**

 **Yes, you will all get to see Joey's plan slowly come to fruition as well. Will Plan Theta work, or will he have to go onto Plan Delta? Who knows, that is for you to read and for Joey to experience...because often times the well thought out plans of mice and men often go awry...and his jealousy might once again get the better of him. You will also get to see a new pairing come to light thanks to this prelude, and I'm sure you are all guessing on who it is. Sadly, it is not Blake with any girl, that won't happen until the final chapter of Way Too Wonderland, so keep guessing if you think you know what the One True Pairing is. I've sprinkled enough hints throughout this story, so you all should know who it is by now, looking forward to those guesses!  
**

 **I hope you find this chapter informative, I wish to know what you all think of it. Let me know in the reviews or PMs what you all think about it. I am looking forward to seeing everything pan out, and I do hope you all are looking forward to Way Too Wonderland, because I'm having a blast writing it! It's the only arc where I can do shit that doesn't make sense and it will still make sense. It allows my imagination to flow freely and creatively. So look forward to it! See ya all later!**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 64

Way Too Wonderland Prelude

Innocent Curiosity

Blake found himself doodling in his notebook during class. Ever since Apple's birthday, he had been having strange visions. The first one he had, was of someone signing the name Queen onto a piece of paper. That intricate movement of the hand, the fact that the Q was the same style as the one Raven was used to signing was alarming. He was a rather small hand too, like that of a five year old child. It made him wonder why he was even seeing things like that. He figured he had gotten used to his magic for so long, that now he was seeing memories of the Evil Queen. He had been jotting these down whenever it was he was getting them, only a week had passed since his first one, and he had only had four in that time period.

The second one had been a bit more vivid than before. This time, he saw a large ominous looking castle, in a dark valley. It had long claw like spires coming out of the ground, clawing up at the sky. It had a single tower that was higher than all the others, a single window being visible from the angle he had been watching it at. The entire forest around it was withered and dead, all of the trees were missing its leaves, the soil in the area was black and hard, as if there hadn't been rainfall in a long time. The skies around it were black and swirling and crackling with thunder. It was a thick cloud cover, shielding the blue skies and casting darkness around the entire area, not even the sun cut through that thick cover. It was honestly a frightening place to envision, but he didn't feel scared of it at all, he almost felt welcomed by its sight, and that had been the weird part of it all.

The third vision, or rather soundclip as he called it, was just that. All he heard in the back of his head was the Evil Queen's voice. She was muttering some sort of enchantment, in what he assumed was Latin. Her voice would go loud and soft various times through out it, so he had only picked up a few words. Not a lot of people actually bothered to learn that language. But like Lucy had insisted in learning everything she could about Wonderland, he had had a knack for learning Latin. He had taken to it in middle school and was fluent in it by Freshmen year, it was why he had been able to create that wand all of those months ago, same with the body switching enchantment that Jessica had cast on them. Even then, the voice sounded distorted, so the only thing he picked up was Dies Irae, which meant Day of Wrath in Latin. What that meant? He didn't know.

The forth and final vision he had, had been so cloudy he couldn't make anything out. All he could see was four figures, at least that's what he could see. He could see two of the figures had been young, most likely about seven, if he had to guess. The only thing he could see were those two small hands, the ones that belonged to that five year old. It looked as if that person was being pushed toward the four figures, but that was where it ended. He hadn't had another vision like that all week, he had written everything down in detail and had reviewed it several times, but none of it made sense to him. He let out a quiet sigh, glancing at the board, making several lines on his notebook. He hadn't even been paying attention to what he was doodling. He just wanted Science and Sorcery to end so he could head back to his dorm and take a nap.

He sat up a bit when he felt someone grab his arm, making him look to his left. The look Raven was giving him was a weird one, it was a look of shock and surprise and he didn't know why. He saw her slide the notebook from in front of him, holding it up to look at whatever he had doodled in his notebook. They heard the bell start to ring, and everyone started packing their things, with Professor Rumpelstiltskin shouting to all of them to read chapters 1-2 of the Advanced S&S book and do all of the work. He and Raven were the only ones that didn't move from their place, mostly because he wanted his notebook back.

"Rae, can I have that back? I gotta finish my homework." he said.

"Blake, where did you see this?" she asked curiously, causing him to tilt his head in confusion. She turned the notebook to him, showing him the image he had drawn. His eyes widened a bit, realizing it was the same castle he had seen in his vision.

"What the fuck? Did I draw that?" he cried, clearly taken aback.

"You mean, you didn't notice yourself drawing this? How can that be?"

"I'm not sure, I wasn't paying attention...I was just listening to the lesson, and my hand was doing that on its own. Do you know who's castle that is?" he asked curiously, earning a nod from the girl. She placed a hand on it, a frown on her face.

"This castle belongs to the Evil Queen, my mother." she replied. The boy looked taken aback, looking back at the image inside his notebook. He rubbed his eyes a few times, trying to dismiss what was going on, but he couldn't deny it. He reached a hand to the center of his chest, where his Mirror Shard was. He could feel the warmth coming from it, seeping into his skin.

"I think this shard is messing with my mind. I've been getting these weird visions lately...not just that, there's that nagging feeling I get whenever I'm next to you. Perhaps her magic is making me feel different." he said, rubbing his chin in thought.

"That might be it, magic often times acts on the emotions of people...well you know how I get when I'm pissed off."

"Yup, that is true...I remember last week during Sword Training when you got really pissed off and sent that dark wave at everyone. I get that you don't like being a damsel, but come on Rae, let us do our job." he replied, earning a punch to the arm.

"It isn't my damn fault Madam Maid Marion decided to cross classes again! There is nothing that annoys me more than being turned into a helpless damsel! You know how that makes me feel!"

"I know...extremely pissed off. But there are times I want to carry my sister off into the sunset you know...maybe have her pay for my ice cream since she punched my arm?"

"Ugh...fine, I could use something to distract me from all of this." she replied, standing up from her seat. He grinned, pumping his fist joyously. Any day that he didn't have to pay for ice cream was a good day for him.

Meanwhile, at the school Library, Darling Charming was currently looking at the portal book she had found a week and a half prior. She had been reading this book in secret, comparing the sheet she had found along with it to the spells inside the book. The Evil Queen had done quite an interesting job when she had created this book. She could feel the dark magic flowing through each and every single page. But she knew someone like her couldn't use dark magic as easily. Still, it had been an amazing find, however the spell wasn't as flawless as one would expect. In order to open a portal into another world, an object from that world would be needed, along with a massive amount of magic to force the door open.

Raven was realistically the only one who could open a portal to Wonderland with this book. In fact, the spell had been created just for that...but she didn't understand exactly what it had been created for. She knew that the Evil Queen had an interest in Wonderland, throughout high school, she had shown quite a lot of interest in studying everything she could. But that had been before she signed her name into the Storybook of Legends. One could say, her mentality became warped when she had gotten her full power, it had been what lead her into cursing Wonderland instead of researching it like a normal person. It was why she didn't like destiny as much as most of the other Royals did. She was a Rebel, so she had her own personal views of the entire thing. She flipped to the next page, seeing a piece of worn looking paper taped onto the page, the yellowing around the corners of the paper let her know that it had been there for quite a long time. She lightly pulled on the paper, her eyes hovering over the words.

" _Riddlish, why would this be here?"_ she thought to herself. She read the statement on the paper, thinking about it for a few seconds.

"A friend in need, is a friend you seek. Through the Portal, you two shall meet. Chains of gold, Charms of love, the Way Too Wonder will come to you, from Below." she muttered. The quill in her hand moved slightly, as her finger tapped the paper, making a few dots on the white sheet.

"What does this mean? Is this a riddle to reach Wonderland?" she asked herself, eyes narrowed in thought. She took notice of how several words had been capitalized in the sentence.

The words Portal, Chains, Charms, Way Too Wonder, and Below had all been capitalized. Unless they meant something important or had something to do with reaching Wonderland itself, there was no need to capitalized those. She grabbed a clean sheet of paper, trying to jot down areas of interest within Ever After High. There was one area of interest in the large castle, the Lower School, located below the main floor. No one was allowed down there, the doors were always locked, and for the longest time, people had been asking what was down there. Headmaster Grimm said that the original school had been down there, but it was off limits to everyone. Security was never enforced, making it quite easy for someone to actually get in. She grabbed all of her things, placing them in her satchel, slinging it over her shoulder.

She gave the Librarians a polite wave, earning a usual hiss back from the two. She felt bad that one of those two was Ashlynn's future Evil Step Mother. But she already knew the daughter of Cinderella wasn't going to sign her page in the book. She made her way through the first floor of the school, trying her hardest not to attract attention to herself. Thankfully, due to her own training, she had learned to lighten her steps so that she didn't make a sound. No one would be in this area at the moment, since school had ended for the day. She had even taken her shoes off to minimize noise.

The doors leading to the basement were located in the same hallway that lead toward Legacy Plaza. They were perhaps the oldest doors in the entire school, judging by the locks on the doors. They hadn't been replaced in at least two hundred years, and if they had then they looked old purely for aesthetic purposes. She looked back and forth down the hall before reaching up to her hair, pulling one of her pins free. She jabbed it into the look, jimmying it slightly trying to get the tumblers in place. After a few clicks, she managed to get the lock opened. She took a deep breath, turning the knob, slowly pulling the door open.

"Yo, what are you doing?"

She let out a gasp, rapidly turning around having expected the Headmaster. It was in fact Blake, who was standing next to his sister Raven, both of them holding a cup of ice cream in their hands. She looked to and fro, nervously laughing, a small bead of sweat forming on her temple.

"Blake, Raven! What...what are you doing around these parts?"

"We were going to meet with Maddie and Lizzie to play some croquet, but then we saw you busting a lock. Anything you wanna share with us?" Raven asked, shoving some of her chocolate ice cream into her mouth.

"Um...well you see...okay fine, I need to check something. It's found down here, so I figured I could take a quick peek. Don't tell anyone, especially Daring, he'd probably never let me live this down." she said, a pleading look on her face.

"What are you talking about? I didn't see you do anything. As far as I know, Darling Charming was never in this hallway. Right Raven?" Blake asked, earning a nod from his sister.

"That's right, but only if she lets us go with her. The last time I was down there, it was for a fucking prank, you bastard. I still haven't gotten you back." the girl cried, earning chuckle from the boy.

"I said I was sorry! You gotta admit, Joey screaming like a little bitch was totally worth it. Well, come on let's not dawdle." the boy replied, gesturing for Darling to open the door. She shrugged, and stepped into the stairwell behind the door.

In her opinion, it was much better for her to have company. She reached into her satchel, pulling a silver colored zippo lighter, flicking it open. She grabbed one of the torches on the side of the wall and held the flame to it, causing it to spark and burst into flames, providing them with a bit of light. The three students started walking down the marble steps, the echoing of their footsteps following them as they walked.

"So Darling, what exactly did you find down here that needed to be checked out?" Blake asked curiously.

"After you left the Forbidden Library last week, something was brought to my attention. I ended up finding this wedged between two books." she replied, reaching into her satchel for the bound papers. Blake took them into his hands, his eyes hovering over the words.

"Porta ad alium se orbem terrarum, a portal to another world?" he asked.

"That's right, it's entirely in Latin, as far as I can tell. But the most alarming thing, is the book I found it with." she replied, handing the book to Raven, who looked at the title in the firelight.

"Advanced Portal Magic, written by the Evil Queen. My mother wrote this book?"

"Whoa...that's insane." the boy added, disbelief written on his face. The three teenagers made it to the last floor, glancing around the empty school.

"It would seem so...at first I thought it was the one previous Queens. But I saw the name Mira written on the inside cover. Mira Queen is the name of your mother right Raven?"

"That's right Darling, my mothers name is Mira Queen...my grandmother had chosen that name because it closely resembled the word Mirror. As you know, she gets trapped inside a mirror at the end of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves." she replied. Blake wrapped an arm around her waist, giving her a smile.

"Hey, don't be sad...none of us think any less of you. Your mothers choices were her own, not yours." he replied.

"Anyway, I've been studying the scripture within this tome for the last week. This tome does contain a lot of magical energy within it, and it does have the power to open a portal. However, a strong magical object from that world is needed to keep the portal open and stable."

"A strong magical object? So wait, we can definitely use this to go to Wonderland! We can go there and break the curse the Evil Queen put on that realm!" Blake said, an excited look on his face.

"That would be ideal but, you need a lot of magic in order to cast this spell, aside from that magical object. It was translated by someone into Latin, which makes it easier to cast but...I'm sorry Blake, we can't use this spell, not yet anyway." Raven said, making the boy frown.

"That's what I thought as well, but I realized that if we used a medium, in conjunction with this book, and a magical object, we can keep a stable portal open." Darling said, earning nods from the two. They stopped in the middle spacious school area, looking around the area for a seconds.

"That is true but...why down here? Do you think there's a portal down here?"

"Perhaps, but I do recall Cupid saying something about traveling through a Mirror. She came from a place called Monster High, traveled to her home in Mount Olympus, and then took a Mirror to Ever After High. So that means there is a connection between worlds, and with this spell we'll be able to use that portal to get into Wonderland. That's my theory at least." the platinum blonde replied. She picked a direction and started walking in it, heading toward another hallway.

"Yeah but, Cupid also told me that she appeared outside of the school, not through another mirror. So there's no actual way to travel through...if only the Well didn't dump you into a random place, it would be more convenient to take that." Blake muttered, finishing the last of his ice cream. He tossed the cup into a nearby trash can, which looked like it hadn't been used in a hundred or so years. Raven did the same, tossing her napkins as well.

"Yes, that's true as well. But the only reason why I decided to come here, is because of the paper that I found inside that book. Here, take a look at it, it's in Riddlish."

Blake took the paper from her hand, unfolding it, his eyes reading the words on it. He blinked a few times, jaw clenching a bit as he read the words on it a few times. He reached into his bag, pulling out his journal, flipping through the pages, stopping at the one that had the same riddle written down on it.

"I've seen this riddle before...during the Spring Fairest, when I was still under the Topsy-Turvy curse, the Cheshire Cat read me this. I dismissed it at first, but Kitty jotted it down for me. Briar helped me out with it, she theorized that this riddle predicted me and Lucy meeting each other in Wonderland. To open the portal, we need an item from Wonderland right? I have just the one we need." he replied, reaching for his pocket watch for the charm Lucy had given him, all those years ago. He placed it in Darling's hands, her eyes widening a bit.

"A charm...that's it, this is what we need. In that riddle, the words Portal, Chains, Charm, Way Too Wonder, and Below are capitalized. Those are important words, we have the way to open the Portal, we have the Charm, we just have to find the place Below the school where we can open the Way Too Wonderland!" Darling said, an excited look on her face.

"What about the Chains though? What could that be about?" Raven asked curiously. Blake frowned, shaking his head a bit, brushing his hair from his eyes.

"I haven't figured that out, but if Lucy's charm is involved, then somehow, her bracelet is also a part of this. But getting it is going to be hard, there is no way we'll be able to figure the answer to this riddle without it."

"That's just what we needed, so close and yet so far...let's just keep looking, we might be able to find something." Darling said, earning a nod from the two teenagers.

 _ **xxx**_

Joey smirked a bit as he paced around his room, Faybelle was hanging out with him again. Since Duchess was practicing for a recital and trying her hardest to avoid her half sister Ophelia, she didn't have anyone else to hang out with. She was completely bored, but at least the young man kept her entertained. She was snacking on some cheese puffs, looking through her MirrorPhone and replying to messages from her best friend. Ironically enough, she was also talking to Briar a lot, even though she was the one who was supposed to curse her. Briar had stated that she wasn't going to follow her destiny, and strived to actually befriend the daughter of the Dark Fairy. She was mad outwardly, but inwardly she was impressed with the balls Briar had between her legs, metaphorically of course.

"My plan is slowly coming to fruition. Those idiots haven't even noticed the bug I planted on that book. Magic is such a boon sometimes you know." he said, pulling his right hand away from his ear, glancing at Faybelle.

"Yeah, it is...but what is your angle in all of this? You wanna be the next King Arthur, I get that. But why make them do all the work? Why not do it yourself?" She asked curiously, grabbing a hold of her water bottle which she had placed on his desk.

"That's easy my dear...all good plans need a few pawns. Right now, I got several of them walking through the school, none as big as those idiots from Wonderland. It is they're longing to go home that will open the portal. I put a hidden enchantment in it, a sort of separating enchantment. Only seven people will be able to travel through the portal to Wonderland. They need a high source of magic, Blake and Raven will be that source. Now, we just have to get the final pawn in place." the boy said. She noticed the boy move one of the pawns on his glass chess board, noticing that only a few black pieces could be seen on it. The Queen, the King, the Rook, the Knight and the Bishop, every other piece was gone.

"I've been wondering, how have you been able to do all of this? Without detection I mean? Wouldn't someone have noticed this by now?" Faybelle asked, earning a smile from the boy.

"Ah yes, they would have...I'll admit, I haven't been as careful as I would want to be. In fact, I almost blabbed about my own plan in front of my bandmates. But the reason why, is because dark magic isn't easy to detect, unless you have an affinity for it." he said, showing her his bracelet. Her eyes widened when she saw it glowing slightly.

"That bracelet, it's filled with dark magic...her magic." she said, glancing at the nearby mirror.

"Indeed, I made a deal with the Evil Queen. For some reason or another, she wants Blake to fall into the darkside. Now that he's been cursed by that Wonderland Riddle book, I can see why. His magic is more powerful in the darkness. I've been trying to figure out why him specifically, but she hasn't said a word. I have a few theories though, which I will withhold for now." he replied, taking a drink from a glass of soda that he had on his desk. He sat down on his chair, glancing at the other end of the room, idly listening to the conversation on the other side of the bug.

It was honestly very fascinating. She had assumed the Evil Queen was involved in all of this, but wasn't aware that the boy had actually made a deal with her. She found it impressive that someone had actually managed to make a deal with her and not get back stabbed. She was sure the Queen would eventually lose her use in Joey and cast him aside. It was most likely why he hadn't freed her from the Mirror Realm, because once she was free, she would cast him aside. The boy was a lot smarter than he lead on. His jealousy was a good motivator, but she was just concerned that he would go too far. She was an evil person, that much she had attested too, but she had friends. Even though she was destined to curse Briar Beauty to sleep for a 100 years, she wouldn't innately harm others. Especially elderly and children...it made her worry that Joey truly didn't care about anything but his own selfish gain.

"When you are King of Ever After...what are you doing to do? I mean, you already have magic." she asked curiously, earning a smirk from the boy.

"It's been my dream to always be surrounded by beautiful girls, and have magic. Getting Isekai'd is the best thing that can happen to someone like me. I'm gonna start myself a little harem, but of course I need to have a wife too, someone who can continue the line. I got my eyes on a certain girl that's had my interest since we met." he said.

"Typical, horny guys always want lots of girls to fuck. That is so gross! But that is what you want, and I could careless what you do...but, who's that girl you want to wife up?"

"Oh, you should know her...her name is Duchess Swan, I've been into her this entire time. But she's playing hard to get, so I'll have to become a bit more forceful in my methods. I have a thing for girls who like fighting back." he said. Faybelle's jaw dropped at what he had just said. She stood up angrily, her eyes flaring a bit as electrical magic flowed through her entire being.

"You stay the fuck away from Duchess. Take whatever other girl you want in this world, but you do not touch her. Or you and I will have a problem."

"Ah...I knew you'd react that way...but even you aren't going to stop me...that is unless you want to take her place. Would you do that for your friend? Become a hero so that she isn't forced to be with someone disgusting and vile like moi?" he asked, earning a growl from the girl.

"You're...just fucking with me aren't you?"

"Duh, you actually think I would go for Duchess? She ground my balls into the dirt, no way in hell I would go after her. You on the other hand, that ass of yours looks like it can take a beating." the brown haired boy replied, giving her a wink.

"If this is your sick way of asking me out, then I have to decline. I'm not gonna become your sex toy Joey." Faybelle snapped, grabbing a hold of her purse and her water bottle, heading toward the door.

"Aw come on! I'll take you to whatever restaurant you want! The Silver Swan perhaps?" he said, causing the girl to stop. That was one of the fanciest places in Bookend. She sighed, narrowing her eyes.

"Fine, but I'm only going for the five star food, and for the sole fact that I get to waste your money. Do a good job and I might consider kissing you, pick me up at six." she replied, leaving his room a second later.

"Hehe, yes. I'll be able to slowly convince her to aid me in this endeavor, after all her dark magic could some in handy in the future." he said, a grin on his face. The first Phase of Plan Theta was slowly getting in place, it wouldn't be long until his plan would come to fruition. But first, to put some innocent curiosity in the only person who could actually get the correct pawns to meet up. He let out a smirk, staring at his phone screen, a picture of Apple White reflecting back at him.

 _ **xxx**_

After a through search of the bottom floor of Ever After High, Darling, Blake and Raven found nothing. They had searched every old classroom, the old music hall, the old auditorium, and found nothing. No traces of any Mirror Portal anyway where. Aside from finding footprints in the dust inside one of the classrooms near the entrance, nothing of interest had been found. So the three decided it would be beast to give up they're search before someone caught on to what they were doing. They all had to head back to their dorms and take a bath to get rid of all the dirt and old dust off their bodies. They had reconvened in Blake's room about an hour after, trying to think of something.

"Honestly speaking, I don't think we'll be able to go far. We've got the charm sure, but how are we sure it's one that belonged to Lucy?" Raven asked curiously.

"She's right, that charm could be a replica too. None of us have met this Gloriosa White girl either, so we can't exactly assume she's a good person." Darling said, earning a sigh from Blake.

"That's true too...just what is your secret Lucy, who are you really? What's your obsession with Wonderland and why does it involve us?" he asked out loud, as if his best friend would reply.

"I think there's only one thing we can do...that's get information on Gloriosa...I don't remember ever seeing her page in the fake Storybook. If she's the daughter of the White Queen, then she might have answers. After all, this involves her daughter."

"You're right Raven, we have to ask her for answers. But that could also lead her into thinking that we're trying to find a way into Wonderland. We could get into serious trouble if we attempt to open a portal there." the daughter of Prince Charming said, a frown on her face.

"So? We're talking about doing something for the betterment of not just Ever After, but for Wonderland too! Don't you think that Maddie and the others have suffered enough? Without being able to go home?!" the black haired boy said, a firm look on his face.

"I've been best friends with Maddie since before the curse. She's always happy go lucky, but I know it hurts not being able to go home, to see her mother after so long. Lizzie, Kitty, Alistair and Bunny too, they need to go home, they have that right!" Raven added, earning a giggle from Darling.

"Look at you two, leading the charge into a better and brighter tomorrow. The two gilded heroes who'll pull Wonderland out of the darkness, and one happens to be the daughter of the one who cursed it, of if this was one of Holly's novels, I'd probably be weeping right now."

"Focus Darling, we can't expose ourselves yet. Right now there are only a few people we can confide in. That's the three of us, but also everyone from Wonderland. After all, this is for the betterment of their status here, we gotta change that status quo for them...and for us to do that, we need to find information on Gloriosa White. Raven, do you think you can get your hands on some school records? Maybe she was set to study here."

"Maybe, do you know how hard that will be though? Grimm is probably in his office." she replied.

"Yes, but Giles will most likely have access to that information as well...just tell him you want to know if the White Queen ever had an heiress, since the Queen of Hearts has Lizzie. I'm sure he'll buy it. As for Darling, I need you to keep researching that spell. See if there's a way we can use it without finding a portal. We might even need Jessica's help for this." Blake said.

"You got it sir! As a future Knight, I shall do everything in my power to help you and the people of Wonderland!" she said, giving the boy a salute, and a wink. He rolled his eyes, grabbing his messenger bag from his chair, slinging it over his shoulder, underneath his cloak.

"I on the other hand shall gather information, starting with the Wonderland kids. I happen to be one of the White Queen's best students, so I'll leave her for last. She might be willing to say something about Gloriosa if I ask her gently. We'll meet back here after dinner and discuss our findings." Blake said firmly.

"Fair enough, good luck Blake...talking to Maddie about something can be quite challenging sometimes. You have my sympathy." Raven said firmly, giving him a hug before going on her way. Darling just gave him another wink before leaving, causing the boy to wonder what Raven meant by what she said.

He decided finding Alistair and Bunny first would be more convenient. After all, they had been the ones who had the most contact with her recently. It wasn't hard to find the two, in a secluded area behind the school. Alistair had started his own chess club while in Ever After High, wanting to find someone who was as good or even better than he was at the same. So far, no one had joined, save for Bunny. But he was sure she only did that to get his attention and because she was in love with him. Why those two didn't confess too each other and just get together was beyond him, but he was going to push them too hard. A little teasing though, that was something he would definitely do to them. Just as he had expected, the two teenagers were under the gazebo, an untouched chessboard in front of them. He cracked his knuckles a bit as he approached the two, giving them a small wave.

"Hey guys, how's Chess club?"

"It's fun, but no one wants to join...unless you are here to join? Would you? Maybe if you join us more people will think this game is really fun." Bunny said, earning a frown from Alistair.

"Now Bunny, we can't ask Blake to join us like that. We'd be using his image to attract people, and they would only be here for him, not for chess." he said, earning frown from the girl.

"You're right, sorry Alistair." she said. The boy ruffled her hair, giving her a warm smile which made her cheeks flush crimson.

"You two are so cute, when's the wedding?"

"W-wedding?!" the white haired girl cried, eyes wide as saucers.

"There is no wedding! Stop teasing her like that Blake, you know how she gets. Anyway, what can we do for ya? If you aren't joining, then it has to be something important." the blond boy asked.

"Well, I have a few questions...maybe we can play a quick game while we talk. I'm not that good though." he said, taking the seat cross the boy, claiming the black pieces.

"I'm sure you'll do fine...a lot of people say they suck at chess and turn out to be really good. So what are these questions you have for us?" the boy said, glancing at his chessboard. He begun by moving his first pawn to F4. Blake looked at the board for a few seconds, using his limited knowledge of chess to make a good move.

"Well, I actually need some information. Bunny gave me a note and said it was from a friend, Gloriosa White, correct? I just wanted to know more about her." he replied, moving his first pawn to E6. Immediately knowing what the boy was going for, he moved his Bishop, using it to guard the Queen, causing the boy to frown.

"She's the daughter of the White Queen, her only daughter. He husband, the White King ended up passing away shortly after she was born. So she had to raise Gloriosa on her own, for the most part. We used to play a lot as kids, she seemed to be highly intelligent and curious. She was the first one to make friends with Kitty, who just pulled pranks on anyone she met at that time." Bunny replied, earning a nod from Blake.

"That's right, I remember one time, my mom Alice, got stuck taking care of all of us. The Queen of Hearts had an important meeting, and if she didn't take care of Lizzie, she would sentence her to death. That was the first time I met both Gloria and Lizzie, it wasn't long before we met Maddie too. We used to play a lot, go on explorations through Wonderland, throw rocks at the Jabberwocky."

"Jesus, you are insane if you actually did that shit." the black haired boy said, moving another one of his pawns. Alistair moved his Knight, making the boy grit his teeth.

"Yeah, Kitty wasn't always the best role model growing up. About that time was when we started going to school. You probably know this, but school in Wonderland happens only once a year. So we had to cram a lot of stuff, Elementary School was rather easy, Middle School was what always screwed us over." Alistair said.

"Mhmm, I had to repeat the seventh grade three times in one day. It sucked, but it was always really fun. Once we made it to the ninth grade, we didn't get much of an education. The Queen passed a charter, where students needed to be a certain age to enter Wonderland High. When we finally made it, we were in school for that one day...as it turns out, it was also the day the Evil Queen put the curse on Wonderland." Bunny said, a frown on her face. Blake moved his Rook forward, he thought it best if he could get his King in the corner before Alistair managed to get his Queen out on the board.

"That day was terrible...all of us ended up scattering, we were only thirteen at the time. My only priority was to keep Bunny safe, that's when we all heard rumors of the White Queen opening a portal to Ever After, so we started going there, before the others were closed. We never made it, so we didn't know what happened to Gloriosa. All I know is that she and Mavis made it back to the White Palace, but after that Mavis doesn't remember anything."

"Mavis...the daughter of the March Hare correct? Maddie told me she was her best friend before coming here." Blake said.

"Joined at the hip, those two. Since the Mad Hatter and the March Hare are best friends, it made those two inseparable. They were quite mischievous too, especially when Kitty got involved. As for Lizzie, she was one of the first through the portal, her mother pushed her threw before she could say anything. That was before the Queen of Hearts got poisoned by the Evil Queen's curse. Now, she just as paranoid as she's insane. Checkmate." Alistair said, causing Blake to look at the board. A few of his pieces were gone, but in his distraction, he had allowed his King to be open. He sighed, shaking his head.

"You win, as I expected. So, neither of you made it to a portal in time?"

"No, we ended up running into the Evil Queen on our way to the Portal. There were three open ones in Wonderland, and all of them were slowly being closed by the Brothers Grimm and Baba Yaga. My mission was also to get Kitty and Maddie through, so I distracted her while they ran...Bunny here, decided to stick with me instead of running off."

"I couldn't leave you behind Alistair, you mean too much to me." Bunny replied, giving the boy a smile.

"Hmm, the last time you met with Gloriosa, how did she act? Did she mention anything of interest?" Blake asked, leaning back in his seat.

"Well, she said she had lost her memory for a long time...she wasn't sure if everything that happened was real or not. She said she had memories of her mother leaving her at the age of seven, with her bastard father. But she wasn't sure if those were real or not...she also said she had a borderline obsession with Wonderland, to the point where she needed to own everything that was related to that world. She even had vivid dreams of Wonderland." Alistair replied.

"That sounds a lot like Lucy. I remember her telling me once that her mother was a beautiful woman, almost acting like a Queen. But she had left her at the age of seven, and she could barely recalled what she looked like. She did also have an obsession with Wonderland, even speaking in Riddles from time to time...which would be Riddlish, now that I think about it. Anything else?"

"Oh yes...she and Mavis were searching for Marmoreal, the White Palace. She was in search of Excalibur, which had been moved from Ever After to Wonderland, to prevent it from falling into the wrong hands. Since the Pendragon Family died off hundreds of years ago, there was no new King Arthur. They didn't want the sword to fall into another persons hands." Bunny said, causing Blake to tilt his head in confusion.

"Excalibur? The legendary holy sword? Shouldn't someone who had a pure heart be able to pull the sword? If that's the case then why worry?" Blake asked curiously.

"Actually, Excalibur is a very difficult sword to work with. In fact, people often say it is sentient. While the legend says the sword can only be pulled by the worthy, it can in fact be pulled by anyone who has the strength of heart to wield it, good or bad, it doesn't matter. That's what makes it such a dangerous sword. With high amounts of magic, anyone can wield it. We haven't told Lizzie this, because we don't want her to worry but, the Queen of Hearts has a hit on her." the blond boy said, causing Blake to gasp audibly.

"Are you...serious? Someone wants to kill the Queen? Any idea who?"

"Not really, but Gloriosa thinks someone from Wonderland High is behind it. The White Queen was the previous principle there, and since she's here in Ever After High, someone else took over. Courtly Jester, daughter of the Joker."

"Fuck me...of all people it had to be the daughter of that guy?" he asked, shaking his head. Obviously, it wasn't the Joker who he knew as the Crowned Prince of Crime, but anyone with any connection to any kind of Joker was always bad news. That meant the Queen was in danger, and Lucy, or Gloriosa, was looking for Excalibur to protect her. That made the urgency of getting to Wonderland even more pressing.

"You know the Joker?" Bunny asked curiously.

"No, I know of a Joker but not the same one you know. I can never trust someone with that name, not after all of the fucked up shit I've seen that guy do. But still, this raises alarm bells...if Gloriosa is out there trying to save the Queen. I have one last thing to ask you, do either of you recognize this charm?" he asked, unclipping the charm from his watch chain, placing it on the table.

"I do, I remember Gloriosa wearing this around her neck when she was little, around eight in fact. Her mother gave it to her, since it had once belonged to her father. The GW in the middle was written to match his calligraphy. He was also the one who gave her the name, Gloriosa...according to her anyway." Alistair replied.

"He's right, I remember seeing this one time when her mother forced her, Mavis and myself to take a bath together. She hated taking baths as a kid, she preferred rolling around in the dirt than anything else."

"That definitely sounds like Lucy to me, she always did that shit. My sister Susan would literally strip her and hose her down if she refused to take a bath." he admitted, remembering one of his fondest memories. Even though it was his best friend, it had also been the first time he had seen a girl naked. She didn't let him live it down for a long time.

"I have a question for you Blake, why the sudden interest in Gloria? You think she's your missing friend Lucy right?"

"That's right Al, I think she might be Lucy. But it isn't just that, I just need a little more information about her. Darling found a portal book last week, and we need to confirm with everyone that knows Gloriosa if this is her real charm. Once we do, and I get some more stuff from the White Queen, we'll be able to figure out a way to get you back home." he said firmly.

"Seriously? You're doing this for us?"

"Of course! You both know that I've been unable to head back home. It isn't fair that you and everyone else from Wonderland can't return either. So me and Raven have decided to find a way there, break the curse and once again get the portals to open, so that you can come and go as you please. I'm gonna go talk to Lizzie now, she might know a little more information, it's never a bad idea to have a lot of that. Thanks for helping me out." he said, standing up from his seat.

"You're welcome Blake, we would like to thank you. You're the only one, along with Raven, who wants to fight against this curse. We weren't able to do anything then, but we aren't going to sit back now. We will go back home, and we will bring down that curse." Alistair said firmly.

"We'll save the Queen too! But please, don't tell any of this to Lizzie, I'm not sure how she'll react if she does find out."

"No worries Bunny, I'm not gonna do that to her. I doubt she'd be able to handle knowing that at the moment, especially since we don't have a way to get there right now. See you two later, don't take my absence as an excuse to make out now." he said, earning flabbergasted expressions from the two. He really did like teasing those two, it was always fun to see their reactions.

 _ **xxx(Wonderland)xxx**_

Some time had passed since the two girls had last seen their friends. It was for the best, Wonderland wasn't exactly safe for anyone with a looming mass of death above them. Gloriosa and Mavis were getting close to Marmoreal again. After waiting and biding they're time, they had finally started seeing the rolling green hills of the property again. She glanced up at the sky, beside the swirling mass was the glowing sun, beating down on them as it always did. It was starting to get hotter and hotter now that they were in mid May. They stopped by a tree for some shade, the soft breeze blowing from the east, carrying the scent of freshly cut grass and Sakura blooms with it.

"It's a beautiful day, shame that bloody curse is preventing us from enjoying the violet skies." Gloriosa said, holding her arm up to block the sun a bit. She was glad to be wearing a mask now, since it shielded her from most of the bothersome light.

"It is a lovely day...me and Maddie would most certainly be drinking tea right about now." Mavis replied, pulling a tea kettle from behind her back, pouring a fresh cup for herself and her friend.

"Ever After must be treating them well, especially if they didn't come back. Alistair and Bunny deserve to be away from all of this for awhile." she replied, taking a sip from the amber liquid. She licked her lips right after, sighing contently. Her best friend always knew who to whip up a good cup of tea.

"I wanna go there one day, see what all of that crap is about. Do you think the Storybook of Legends made it back fine?"

"Maybe...we gotta keep going, we can't continue dawdling or else we'll run out of time." Gloriosa said firmly, moving toward the path, while drinking her tea.

"I saw some posters on some trees awhile back, the Queen of Hearts is having her birthday party soon. That makes the perfect time to strike."

"That is correct Mavis, if our enemy is smart, which they are, that is when they will attack. We've made it this far, once we have the sword, we can return to the Queen of Hearts's castle, let her know what is going on and be there to protect her." she happily said.

"I don't think so girlie!" a familiar accented voice said, causing the two girls to stop.

In a flash, the two were surrounded by several card soldiers, all of them pointing their spears right at them. Mavis let out a scream when one of the pointed blades almost touched her throat. Gloriosa dropped the cup she was holding, glancing around in confusion.

"So, we finally caught the two deserters, how interesting. It took me quite awhile to track you both down." the voice from before said. One of the cards moved, revealing the person who had spoken.

It was a young woman, around seventeen years of age, with long blonde hair tied back into a ponytail. She was wearing an outfit similar to that of a court jester, a violet shirt with puffed out sleeves, with a sleeveless wool vest over it, bearing crimson markings over it. She wore a red skirt, resembling flower petals, which curled slightly upwards, and was held up by a golden belt around her waist. She wore a pair of two toned leggings, the right leg being blue while the left was red. She was also wearing a pair of knee high black boots, with golden broaches on the sides. She wore little make up, a white diamond painted over her left eye, her lips colored a soft pink. She wore a pair of black gloves covering her forearms, bearing small white dots on them. This young woman, was Courtly Jester, the daughter of the Joker, and the current Vice Principle of Wonderland High.

"Fucking balls, of all times for this shit to happen." Gloriosa mumbled, earning a giggle from Courtly. Her bells jingled a bit as she walked, she paused before the girl, running a finger under her chin.

"You've done quite a lot of things during your time back here...sadly, this is where it ends. I received word from the Herald, you plan on protecting the Red Queen. But why would you do that? Wouldn't she be your enemy? As you are your mother's daughter?"

"I'm protecting her because the Queen of Hearts isn't at fault. She has nothing to do with this curse, and if she chooses to ignore it for the sake of her people, then so be it. I will gladly lay down my life if it means protecting the sanctity of Wonderland!" Gloriosa snapped, causing the girl before her to smile.

"The sanctity of Wonderland? Do you hear yourself? The sanctity of Wonderland was forfeit the minute that curse was put in the sky. No matter, now that we have you, we can't let you go. The first day of school is soon my dear, and it happens to be on the Queen's Birthday. It took quite a lot for me to get it to be that day." she said.

"Wait...are you the one, who wants to kill the Queen?" Mavis asked, causing Courtly to look at her, a smile on her face.

"Oh sweetheart, I don't want to _kill_ her...I just want to send a message to everyone here. That those who ignore things such as a giant curse, for too long, don't deserve to rule. That throne is ripe for the taking, after all her dear daughter Elizabeth isn't here to take it from her. So I shall do it for her."

"You do know when Lizzie eventually comes back, not only will she slap you for calling her Elizabeth, but she'll kill your ass dead. She'll chop your head off and use it as a croquet ball. You have no significant role in our story anyway." Gloriosa said firmly, earning a laugh from the blonde, who turned to fully face her.

"Neither do you baby, not until the second story anyway. You're mother isn't here either, imagine what would happen without you? There would be two thrones available, making me the Queen by default! I will rule Wonderland in my own personal way...while you two will be trapped in Wonderland High School's Detention room!" she said.

"You can't! Under Charter 564, no student of Wonderland High shall be forced to do anything off school grounds. The principle cannot force a student to go to the high school before school starts, if the school isn't nearby!" Mavis said. The area around them started to fade, the familiar outer walls of Wonderland High School becoming visible.

It was a large building, resembling a castle of sorts, in the shape of a large tea kettle. Various other buildings were attached to it, having side ways, upside down and even broken windows. There were various shaped trees all over the courtyard, with paths that weren't straight. There was a large maze on the very left side of the courtyard, formed out of perfectly trimmed green bushes. Several weird looking animals could be seen walking around aimlessly, sniffing the weird flowers that were growing from the ground.

"As it turns out dear, the charter just came into effect. So come along now, before I get angry." Courtly said, causing the Card Soldiers to close in on the two.

"Mavis, you have to get out of here right now! Find the sword!" Gloriosa cried, causing the girl to go wide eyed.

"But Gloria, I can't!"

"Yes you can, turn into a hare and go!" she cried.

"Don't you dare, Cards, grab her quickly!" the daughter of the Joker cried, causing one of the soldiers to move forward.

Mavis glowed brightly, turning into her Hare form. Gloriosa grabbed a hold of her, literally throwing her as far as she could away from the cards, just as she was grabbed, her hands forced behind her back. Mavis let out a cry as she hit the ground, watching her friend being arrest. She let out a strangled cry, shifting back into her human form. She broke into a sprint, clutching her arm as she ran. She could see some Card Soldiers running after, she knew that if she didn't hurry, she would get captured as well, and the no one would be able to save the Queen of Hearts. So she ran, trying her hardest not to look back, even though she wanted to more than anything.


	65. Way Too Wonderland Prelude II

**A/N**

 **Wow, can you guys believe it? We've finally reached 65 Chapters! I know I said this ten chapters ago, but wow! I wasn't expecting this story to be so long, over 600,000 words and we're still reaching the halfway point. That road to a million looks so much closer now! Ahem, excuse my fangirling, I'm sure I'll do this when we reach 70, actually I'm writing Chapter 70 now.**

 **Welcome to Through the Looking Glass, Chapter 65 ladies and gentlemen, children of ages 15 and up! Today, I bring you the second Prelude to the Way Too Wonderland arc. This chapter will have a lot of information in it, information that I would make a mental note of. It will foreshadow some events for Parts 5 and 6 of Way Too Wonderland, which are Chapters 70 and 71 currently...well, it all depends on what I myself write...but the information is very important. I'm sure most of you will have answers to some of the biggest questions in the story, and there will be the others who will have bigger questions than before. Then there are those that are so lost they feel the need to skim through all 65 chapters of this story just to figure out what I am talking about...I feel bad for those who decide to do that...but at least you'll have something to do for the next six days or so, depending on your reading level and speed, have snacks ready.**

 **Yes, this chapter contains some set ups for Part 1 of Way Too Wonderland, you'll know what I mean when you read the end of this chapter. Everything is slowly fitting into place, and with each chapter you'll get another handful of puzzle pieces for you all to make due with. Hopefully you'll get the picture soon. As always, if you have any questions feel free to PM me. You know all that other jazz so I'm not gonna mention it. I hope you all enjoy this chapter! Tell me what you think!**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 65

Way Too Wonderland Prelude

Getting Answers

Finding Lizzie had been a little challenging. He had expected her to be at the back of the school playing croquet with Maddie, but as it turned out, neither of them were found there. He had asked a few people, trying to figure out where either of them were. Since Maddie was random, she was sure to find him before he found her, so he put searching for her to the back burner. His concern had risen when he found Lizzie all by herself sitting in the center of Wonderland Grove. Due to his closeness with all of the Wonderland students, Kitty had taught him a special spell to allow him to visit the grove whenever he felt down or just wanted some solace. He always had interesting conversations with the flowers growing there, and the Snap Dragons seemed to enjoy his company, especially when Cadence was brought along.

Lizzie didn't even notice his presence, her gaze fixed at a certain point. He didn't exactly know what she was looking at, but the disappointed expression on her face let him know that she probably was lost in thought. She had some tea in front of her, still steaming a bit as it had most likely been freshly made. She had a deck of cards with her, set up in a game of solitaire, something that she often did to calm herself down or to distract herself whenever she had a lot on her mind. He didn't say anything at first, not exactly knowing what to say.

"You don't have to stand there you know." she said, causing him to sit down across from her. He gave her a smile, placing his messenger bag on the table top.

"I wanted to ask you some questions but, I think I'd rather know what has my favorite princess down in the dumps."

"I'm not your favorite princess, you're just saying that to cheer me up." she said, a frown on her face. He shook his head, a smirk on his face.

"Of course you are! There is no other girl I know who wants to see heads roll, is obsessed with hearts, and can build a house of cards in three seconds like you. I have a lot of friends who are princesses, but there's only one princess who's my favorite." he replied, making her flush a bit. She let out a sigh, reaching into her purse for a scroll.

"It's my mother's birthday party, and she sent me an invite. I long to go back there, I haven't felt her embrace in years. But all of the portals are closed, there is absolutely nothing I can do to see her." she said, giving him the scroll. He unrolled it, eyes widening a bit when he saw a pair of lips on the paper.

"You are cordially invited to the Queen of Hearts' birthday bash. So please make sure you are present...and don't forget the presents!"

Blake chuckled a bit, looking the paper over a bit. It was loaded with riddles and various other things, but thankfully due to his knowledge, he had been able to solve them. The party was at tea time, which if his memory served, was 4:00 in the afternoon. If it was a party for the Queen of Hearts, that meant there would be a lot of people there. Of course, all of them were obligated to go, or it was Off with their Heads, so they had little option. He could tell however that Lizzie longed to go to this party more than anything. He rolled the paper up, and placed it on the table, a hand over it. He gave the girl a firm and confident look.

"Lizzie, I'm going to make you a promise right here. I will get you to this party, alright?"

"How will you do that? All of the worlds have been quarantined, to protect us all from the cursed magic. There is no way to make it to Wonderland, save for the Well, and due to the Spring Fairest incident, Headmaster Grimm took my book." Lizzie replied, a heart broken look on her face.

"If you say no all the time, you will never get anywhere in life. Goddamn it, you are Elizabeth Hearts, the Future Queen of Hearts. You will not take this lying down, and I swear I will get you to this party. I'm working on a way right now to conjure a portal. But I need information, on Gloriosa White. I need to make sure everything is accurate if I want this to work." he said.

"Gloriosa White? My, I haven't spoken with her in a long time. We used to be the best of friends...I actually met Kitty through her. We were the closest out of all my friends. All of us always got in trouble, but mother would always bail us out of it. We became joined at the hip, sisters even."

"So what happened to her then?" he asked. She sighed, reaching for the tea kettle in front of her, along with a small cup.

"At the age of Eleven, we stopped seeing each other often. We were all getting ready to enter the next step in life, preparing for our destiny. All of us had to graduate from Wonderland Middle School and Wonderland High to enroll in Ever After High. We needed to know everything in preparedness for that. But Gloriosa was being home schooled for one reason or another."

"So, the fun times were coming to an end. Is that why you were always so friendly toward us? Never wanted to let us go?" he muttered, narrowing his eyes a bit. He accepted the cup Lizzie handed him, giving her a quiet thanks.

"Gloriosa valued friendship over everything. She didn't care about destiny, and she didn't care about responsibilities. She just wanted to play with her friends. Her mother became a bit strict, but after a couple months all contact broke between us. We figured she was busy with her studies, but as it turns out...the White Queen had apparently sent her to another realm, to...study abroad." Lizzie said, causing the boy to give her a confused look.

"She sent her to Earth...I've never showed you pictures of Lucy have I?" he asked. She shook her head, causing him to reach for his phone.

"How do you know she was sent to Earth? How would that even be possible? One would have to have they're magic drained from them, or else who knows what could happen." she replied. He put the phone down on the table, showing her a picture of himself and Lucy both of them smiling like idiots. Her eyes widened a bit as she took a hold of the phone.

"Gloriosa, this is definitely her! I would recognize those blue eyes of hers anywhere. They were absolutely alluring, a lot of boys would always crowd around her, even at a young age. She was just fun to be around." she said, a smile on her face.

"Lizzie, did you have a crush on Gloriosa?" the boy asked seriously, causing her to gasp.

"Heavens no! What do you take me as? I like men thank you very much, you of all people should know about that!"

"There's nothing wrong with it you know, it is all part of growing up. She was amazing, so I wouldn't put it past anyone that she is able to attract various types of people, boys and girls alike. She was a beacon of light after all." he said, looking fondly at the paper.

"That is correct, she brought out the best in all of us. However, when she was gone everything changed. She was what kept us all together, I suppose all of us are still innately close, but not as much as before. Kitty and I are still joined at the hip, I'm her sister from another litter after all. Alistair and Bunny remained close, as did Mavis and Maddie, but we always were missing that one last key member." she said, finishing the last of her tea. Blake did the same, gently setting the cup down on the small dish.

"I know how that feels, Lucy was what kept me and Joey together...she complemented my loner behavior, and was always on Joey's case when he was a dick. Now that she's gone look at what happened between us, always at each others throats, getting ready to jab a knife in the others back when we have the chance." he replied, a frown on his face.

"Losing a friend is never easy, but you never asked to be brought here sweetheart. At least you have all of us, we will never turn our back on you...you've been too kind to us. I know you'll get me home, if you can manage that, I'll make you a noble...you'll be my knight in red armor." she said, giving him a wink. He flushed a bit, giving him a nod.

"That would be cool...one last thing, do you recognize this charm? Gloriosa's initials are on it and I wanted to check and make sure." he said, placing the charm on the table in front of her. Her eyes widened a bit as she grabbed a hold of it, eyeing it closely.

"This is most definitely her charm. She wore it around her neck all the time, it was a gift from her father, the White King. He passed away when she was a newborn...so they never met. He had that custom made to be given to her at birth. Gloriosa truly is your friend Lucy. There are quite a lot of questions swirling in my head now." Lizzie said, handing him the charm back, which he clipped to his watch chain, next to his other charms.

"As do I, but now I'm starting to get a clear picture. I'm getting to know the other side of Lucy, the one that she couldn't remember. There are two others I need to talk to, Kitty and Maddie. Then I'll finally get to speak with the Queen, she needs to answer my questions. I just hope she doesn't get mad at me for asking." he said, a frown on his face.

"You care about her daughter more than anything. You two are friends, perhaps we were all destined to meet, Gloriosa is the key Blake. I think she's always been the key, but you need to find that door and open it. Only then can we all be reunited."

"Reunited and it feels so good~

Reunited cause we understood~."

"Don't fucking sing that." Lizzie snapped, causing the boy to chuckle, standing up from his seat.

"I'll be seeing you Liz, like I said...I'll get us all to Wonderland, preferably by tomorrow before tea time. Count on it." he said, giving her a wink. She smiled, giving him a wave as he left the Grove. She had quite a lot of questions right now, perhaps all of those would be answered when she and Gloriosa were reunited again...and now she had that bothersome song in her head.

 _ **xxx**_

" _The soft breeze rolling over the hills was lightly blowing the grass. Though it was still mid Spring, the winds of Summer were starting to set. It wouldn't be long before the students of Ever After High would be free, choosing to head to the beach for the summer."_ Chester said, a happy tone in his voice.

" _That is indeed right, but none was happier of the approaching season than the Royals. After a long year of not signing the Storybook of Legends, they needed a break to rethink their lives."_

" _Must you bring that up? We were doing such a nice job here Weiss."_

" _You are the only one who has a problem with it. Since you are Pro-Rebel after all! You have to admit, this entire year has been a trainwreck!"_ Weiss snapped back, causing her husband to growl.

" _Guys, seriously! We don't have time to argue right now! You wanted me to shadow you right, so do your jobs and don't argue!"_ Brooke snapped. She let out a dainty giggle, bashfully ignoring the glare her parents were giving her.

"Guys really, you gotta work this whole Royal/Rebel thing out of your systems. You are setting a bad example for your daughter!" Maddie said, a look of annoyance on her face.

" _Gah! She's here! She surprised the hell out of me!"_ Brooke exclaimed, earning a giggle from Weiss.

" _Yes, she does that quite a lot. Madeline, I believe one of your friends was looking for you earlier. By the look on his face it looked to be quite serious, wouldn't it be good to see what he wants?"_

"You're right! I'll go look for him right now!"

"No need Maddie, I'm already here. Heard all of you talking from way down there, so here I am." Blake said, a small smile on his face.

" _Hello Blake, it has been quite awhile since we've hovered over you."_ Weiss said, causing the boy to look up.

"Yes it has, how is everything up there by the way? You three doing good?"

" _It's been a challenge...there's a lot of things that are going on right now and...if only we could...never mind."_ Brooke said, a troubled tone in her voice. Blake and Maddie shared a look, both looking rather concerned.

" _It's the end of the year, so we have to keep track of everyone. It seems the author is creating Alternate Universes...let's just say, some aren't for underaged children."_ Weiss said.

" _Yes, we had to keep that black book away from Brooke's prying eyes. So we'll be letting her narrate for a couple chapters, just to get her off our backs."_

"Alternate Universes? Those are thing?" Blake asked.

"Duh? Have you ever heard of the Multi-verse theory? You know that really cool one that states that there are multiple universes? Come on Blake, I thought you would know about this!" Maddie said.

"I do, but I didn't think it was real. I mean what if there's a universe where the Multi-verse theory is incorrect?" he asked.

 _"That would be redundant wouldn't it? If there was a universe where the Multi-verse Theory was incorrect, then there wouldn't be a reason for there to be a Multi-verse Theory. Going by that logic, that would mean that the theory itself means nothing, in the grand scheme of things."_ Brooke said, causing Blake to rub his temple.

"Can we just stop talking about this? Please? This whole multi-verse thing is giving me a headache. Besides, what kind of Alternate Universes are there?"

" _Ah, we aren't allowed to say...but narrating them is quite vexing, seeing as it's all quite...graphic, especially Black Aria...jeez the author sure has a nasty mind...we'll leave you to talk."_ Chester said. The two teenagers felt their presence leave the area, leaving them with more questions than answers.

"So, what do you wanna talk about Blake? Could it perhaps be tea? Or scones? Do you want me to help you count snowflakes?" the girl asked, making the boy back away from her a bit.

"No...I wanted to know about a girl named Gloriosa White." he said.

"Hmm...she's our bestie of course! I haven't seen her in years though, I really miss her."

"Hmm, anything more solid that you can share with me?" he asked.

"Ahuh ahuh! There was this one time we were walking around her castle, and there was this huuuuge door next to the throne room! We tried going in there, but her mom got really mad at us. We didn't know why, but we just decided to play outside. That was the last time we played together before the curse was cast on Wonderland, zap!" she cried, tapping the boy's nose with her finger.

"That might be because that was the room Excalibur was kept at. The White Queen probably didn't want any of you to touch that sword. What about her, how did she act whenever you hung out?"

"The White Queen was awesome, like a second mother to all of us. She and my mom were the best of friends. That was before my mom went to Looking-Glass Land and disappeared. She's perfectly fine, we got the occasional butterfly note, but we still all miss her. I think the Queen was affected when she lost her best friend, she was a bit colder than before. Wasn't long before Gloriosa went on that "Study Abroad" thingie." she replied, taking a sip from her tea cup. Where she got it, Blake didn't know.

"A couple days actually...she didn't even say goodbye to us." the familiar voice of Kitty said, causing the two to look up at the tree behind them.

"Did you ever have an inkling that her mother was going to do this? Was there a reason at least?" Blake asked.

"Hmm...if she had one, then I don't know it. I tried visiting a couple times, but by then Gloria was gone, so there was no need for me to be there. I just hung out with Liz after that." Kitty replied, earning a nod from the boy.

"Actually, there is something...I think the Evil Queen was searching for her. I did see her at Lizzie's a couple times...I always wondered who she was, but never really asked. Tea was too important for me to care...I think that's when she whispered poison into her ear."

"Whispered poison...you mean, she was setting up for the Wonderland curse...she wanted the Queen of Hearts to lower her guard, so that she wouldn't face any problems when casting the spell." he said, a look of realization on his face.

"That makes sense at least...it all happened so fast. We were all so young too, our priority was protecting Lizzie above all else. She is our future Queen after all. Meriwether Knave pussed out when it all came down, so we just ran for it. Me, Maddie and the Mad Hatter made it through the last portal. We found out later that the White Queen had conjured the final one and got Lizzie to safety." Kitty said.

"What about everyone else? We know Alistair and Bunny never made it through, but what about Mavis Hare?" Blake asked.

"Still in Wonderland, I'm afraid. Alistair confirmed this when we all spoke during the Fairest. Gloriosa is back there as well, I think they're searching for Excalibur." Maddie said, earning a nod from the boy.

"That jives with the rest of the information I have. One last thing, do you two recognize this charm? She gave it to me before she disappeared from my world." he said, holding the charm out to the two girls. Maddie took it into her hand, holding it up to the sky.

"Yep, this is hers alright right. Always wore it around her neck, that about right Kitty?"

"Mhmm, I was always a little jealous of it. My dad never gave me something cool, but I don't really need something like that. It's weird to see this with you instead of with her. She must trust you a whole lot to hand it to you." the violet haired girl said, making the boy smile a bit.

"She told me that I would be able to use it when the time was right. That I would know when to use it, and it would be the most wonderful time of my life. That's the last time I ever saw her."

"I know you two will meet again, I just know it!" Maddie said, giving the boy a hug, making him smile.

"Hey hey, I've been thinking about something my mother said. When you told her about the shard in your chest, she said something weird."

"Eh? Really? I don't recall anything." Blake admitted, searching his mind a bit. He didn't find anything of interest, of course it had been quite a long time since he had spoken with the Cheshire Cat. Kitty flashed in front of her friends, placing her hands on hips.

"You have such a muddled mind. She said something along the lines of, I can't believe she did that to someone that meant so much to her. The _she_ that she was referring too was the Evil Queen."

Blake remained silent, eyes narrowed a bit in thought. Now that he thought about it, she had said something like that to him. The thing was, she hadn't been the only one to say something like that to him. He remembered the Goblins he had fought in the Dark Forest. They had said something weird to him as well.

"Are you perhaps the lost child?" he muttered, causing the two girls to give him a weird look.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Maddie asked curiously. The boy stood up, grabbing a hold of his messenger bag strap.

"Thank you girls, you two have shed a lot of light on several things. I have a lot of information on Gloriosa, I'll get you home...I promise."

With that, the boy walked off, leaving the two girls with more questions than answers. Kitty grew a bit worried, just by how his demeanor changed. She didn't know why, but the boy had been acting weird recently, whenever she was looking at him, he would have a far off look on his face. This had all started after Apple's birthday party, and she hadn't figured out what had actually happened. She felt a sharp slap on her back, causing her to scream in agony.

"Goddamn it Maddie! I'm still sunburned!" she cried, earning a giggle from the girl.

"You wouldn't answer my question, aren't you gonna go after him? He was acting a bit weird."

"No...I think he needs some space...after all he's been asking about Gloriosa a lot. Still can't believe she and Lucy were the same person, he showed me the picture in this charm bracelet, but it was so small that I didn't notice." she said, crossing her arms. Maddie moved around to face her, a grin on her face.

"So, when are you gonna confess? You know one of these days someone is gonna snag him up. You wanted someone who was the Cat's Meow and yet you let him walk, come on Kitty, with him you've got to talk!"

"Not now Maddie, I got something else to do...like rub some Novocaine lotion on my back. Because someone thought it would be funny to fucking five star me!" she cried angrily, flashing out of the area. Maddie threw herself to the ground, kicking her feet and laughing madly. This of course was enough to make everyone around her head for the hills.

 _ **xxx**_

Blake had been thinking a lot since he had spoken with Maddie and Kitty. A lot of things were starting to fit together, like pieces in a puzzle, not just with Gloriosa, but with the Evil Queen. For as long as he had been in Ever After, he wanted to figure out how he fit into the grand scheme of things. Was he just some random fool grabbed from another world? Or was there a reason behind it. There was a reason why he was a natural with magic, even though he had never had it or used it in his life. Enchantments came easy, he could mix potions blind folded and understanding Gibberish was second nature to him. There was a reason why he was in Ever After, he just wanted to find it.

His visions fit into the equation somehow, but he didn't know where they would fit. What the Cheshire Cat and that Goblin had said also were part of that. There was a missing child, but he didn't know who was missing a child, but they must have been important, especially if the Cheshire Cat and some random Goblin knew about it. There was only one way in his mind that he could get those answers, and that was by going to the Evil Queen's palace himself. So, as soon as he made it to the stables, he grabbed Cadence and saddled her up, taking to the skies right after. He had borrowed Alistair's WonderMap from him, saying he needed to find some ingredients for a potion.

He didn't like lying to his friends, and he didn't like to skip school either. But the Queen of Hearts's party was swiftly approaching, and he needed to have those answers at that moment. So by using the map, he had easily been able to find the Evil Queen's castle. He was glad that enchanted items like this existed, it made things a lot easier for him in the end.

He and Cadence landed outside of the front entrance, right in front of the draw bridge, which was left down. Thunder and lightning were booming and crackling above him, the endless mass of swirling clouds looked ominous. The castle stood proudly in front of him, looking quite scary against the dark backdrop. To him, it looked just like Hollow Bastion, the castle from Kingdom Hearts. It was just like he had drawn it in his notebook, tall spikes looking like sharp claws coming out from the dark pits of hell. One lone tower rose from the very center of the building, being taller than most of the other structures. The fact that this place felt remotely welcoming was sending alarm bells in his mind, but he didn't know why. He was fearful as well, he didn't know what was gonna happen beyond that bridge. He started walking forward, feeling a tug on his reins, along with a whimper.

"Cadence, I know it's scary but I can't leave you out here. I dunno what's out there, come on girl, you are a brave and fierce dragon. You don't have to be scared, I'm right here." he said, giving her a smile. The dragon gave him a nod, following right after him.

Despite being weathered, the bridge held true as the two walked over it. It creaked with each footstep as the walked over the moat, seeing the sloshing waters below. There were some large menacing gators moving around below, making Cadence move in ahead of the boy, wanting to hurry on across the bridge. Blake quickened his step, moving briskly as he made it to the other side of the bridge, stopping in front of the entrance. It was tall, the doors being completely open. He didn't know if anyone lived inside, but he was prepared just in case. He placed a hand on his sword as he climbed the dark marble steps into the castle.

The entrance hall looked rather normal, despite the outside looking like a creepy house of horrors. The floors were made of marble, and there was a large chandelier in the center of the hall, filled with long since blown out candles. There was a bit of sand gathered around the area from the doors being opened. Some of the walls were cracked, vases were broken, and paintings had been stolen or torn. He kept walking into the dark castle, tying the reins in his hands along Cadence's collar.

"I'll be right next to you sweetheart, but if something happens, you fly off and you get Raven okay? Don't stop until you reach Ever After!" he said firmly, earning a nod from the dragon, who flared her nostrils a bit.

He moved toward the leftmost hall, deciding to explore that area first...he didn't know exactly what he was looking for. He just needed something to ease his mind a bit, proof of this so called Lost Child, that he had been dwelling on. His footsteps were almost methodical as he paced through the castle. He checked all of the rooms he came across, but they were either storage rooms, large meeting halls or staff rooms.

He entered the dining hall a few minutes after. A long table that could seat at least fifty people, was the only thing that was inside. All of the windows were stain class, and there were several candelabras on the walls, and the tables. Three chain chandeliers were hanging high above the table. Some of the chairs were overturned, a few windows broken but nothing out of the ordinary, from an abandoned castle at least. He checked the kitchen briefly but found nothing there. He and Cadence started moving toward the other end of the castle, not finding much other than more service rooms. After not finding anything, he figured the second floor would yield results.

He walked into the East Wing of the castle, heading down a hallway filled with dark suits of armor. He swore he heard some of them move as he and his dragon walked. Even Cadence seemed on edge as they finally left that hallway. They arrived at another long hallway, with two doors on the very left side. The runner on the ground had been weathered and torn, and some of the windows had been broken as well. The chandelier inside this place had fallen, due to the corrosion the chain had been put through from the rain and storms no doubt. He walked toward the nearby double doors, turning the knob, finding it locked. He frowned, reaching for the pin he had borrowed from Blondie before he left. He was surprised when the girl hadn't asked him what he needed it for. She just handed it to him with a bright smile. He stuck the pin in the lock and started moving it around, hearing a click after a second. He turned the knob, placing a hand on Cadence's snout as he walked into room.

It was a library, a rather large one at that. The entirety of the room was filled with thousands of books. Hundreds of shelves four stories tall, a valuable fountain of knowledge. The room had several small windows, with one large stained glass window in the center of the room, which had an image of the Evil Queen on it, he assumed this was the original Evil Queen, Raven's ancestor. The room was covered in a soft violet carpet, hundreds of papers having fallen all around the floor. There were some knocked over tables and chairs all around the place, along with a broken desk and a discarded lamp on the floor. It was clear that someone had been inside this place before. Walking into the room, he felt an odd sense of foreboding come over him, as if he was being watched. His eyes snapped toward the right, seeing a large wall length mirror attached to the wall. He started walking toward it, almost on autopilot until he stood in front of it, looking at his reflection on the glass.

"I know you are there, watching me...don't think I don't know. You can sense me through this _thing_ in my chest. You can hide, but at least have the common courtesy to help me! I need an answer, who's the Lost Child? Why did you pick me?" he said, his voice echoing through the dark room.

All he got back was a laugh...the mirror pulsing a bit. He felt like breaking it, but he knew that wouldn't do anything. He shook his head, knowing he couldn't reason with the woman. There was a treasure trove of information in this place, that was certain. His eyes widened a bit, a smirk making its way onto his face. He was in a library, the Evil Queen's library, which meant that some of her spell books were definitely there. He snapped his fingers, a violet magic washing over his hand as he held it up in the air.

"With the power that flows from my hand, find me a portal to Wonderland!" he chanted, the ball of magic bursting from his palm. Several wisps separated from the main orb, flying all over the room, kicking up all of the papers that had been on the floor.

He watched each small chain grab a hold of a different book, pulling them all from their shelves, tossing them to the floor in front of the book. By the time the spell had done its job, he had thirty five books, in a neat stack in front of him. He could hear the Evil Queen laughing at him through the mirror, but he didn't care. He just had to find the right spell to open a direct line to Wonderland, it was all that mattered to him at the moment. He sat down in front of the books, grabbing the top one from the stack, turning to the first page. He started reading some of the pages, the Gibberish written in them wasn't anything worthwhile. It was only a spell for quick transports if a portal was already open.

He tossed that book aside and grabbed the second one. After that, he spent skimming page after page, having various open books at the same time. A certain lavender colored alicorn mare filled his mind, along with her almost obsessive manner of reading books. He shook his head a bit as he closed the three books, using his magic to toss them aside. He grabbed his nineteenth book, turning to the first page, eyes widening a bit when he saw something coherent.

"A portal mirror...you designed a magic spell that didn't need a mirror. All you need to do is draw one and this enchantment does the rest. I gotta hand it to you Mira, you are the smartest woman to come out of Snow White." he said, glancing at the mirror. He saw it pulse a few times, probably the woman agreeing with him.

He stood up, walking toward a nearby desk, grabbing a piece of worn parchment and one of his quills from inside his bag. He started drawing a small mirror on the paper, following the exact details of the design that was found in the book. Once it was completely drawn, he started writing the runes in...all of them were in various shapes and sizes. Some of them were in Latin, while others were in some languages he didn't even understand. Once he had done drawing the sketch on the paper, he stood back, holding the book in his hand as he turned to the next page, holding his hand out at the paper. Cadence stood in front of him, her focus on the sheet of paper on the table top.

"This portal is incomplete and without shimmer, with my power it shall glimmer. A doorway to between, this shall become...aspect become complete, open now! The Roads In-between!" he chanted, sending the magic spell straight to the paper. He watched as it glowed a mixture of violet and green, a loud sizzling in the air.

When the light died down, the paper was completely gone, but on the table was the etching. He looked at the glowing swirl of magic moving in the middle of the table, surrounded by glowing white runes. He placed his hand on the table top, watching it ripple as he hand slipped through. He felt around for a second, grabbing a hold of something, pulling it through. It was a rubber ball, nothing out of the ordinary, but still it was a momentous thing for him to have pulled out. The portal stopped glowing a second later, the effect of the spell disappearing right after. He glanced back at the Mirror, a smirk on his face.

"I think I just found my portal Mira, but it's clear that this is incomplete. However this book is in Riddlish, that means there's a pair to it. The one that was hidden in the Forbidden Library of Ever After High perhaps?" he asked, snapping the book closed. He didn't get an answer, making his smirk widen a bit. He placed the book in his bag, along with his pen.

He wasn't done at this castle yet, he still needed to find information about that Lost Child. He ended up leaving the library shortly after that, making sure Cadence stayed close to him. The other door in the hallway was another entrance to the library, so he didn't bother checking it. He walked straight, heading toward the marble stairwell leading to the third floor, which he figured was filled with bedrooms. He briefly wondered if Raven had a bedroom in this place, as it did belong to her mother, but he doubted she even did.

The hallway at the top of the stairs was just as dark as he imagined it would be. There were torn paintings hanging on the wall, each of them bearing an image of a previous Evil Queen. He kept walking, ignoring all of the Gargoyle statues on either side of the hall. Cadence went up to one, sniffing it lightly, only to run away from it when it hissed loudly at it. The boy jolted a bit, a chuckle escaping his lips when he saw the statue return to normal. Finally reaching the final room at the end of the hall, Blake pushed the doors open. He had been expecting something rather normal, but instead he found a room that belonged to a little girl. He noticed a small bed placed against the wall, the violet bedsheets were still made. There were some toys and drawings on the floor, weathered and yellowed with age. One of the windows was open, and to his surprise, a majestic owl was perched on the window sill, its beady orange eyes following his every move.

He swallowed hard, moving toward the small vanity that had been set up across from the bed. There was a small dresser near the entrance of the room, above it were some mounts which he guessed were for a television set, long since stolen, or taken by its original owner. He traced a finger over the wooden surface of the vanity, seeing the thick layer of dust that had settled over it. He looked at the mirror, not bothering to wipe its surface. It was only going to turn into a window for the Evil Queen anyway. He grabbed one of the framed pictures on the top of it, looking at it, seeing a six year old Raven Queen looking rather cross at the camera, lips in a small pout. He smiled a bit, showing the picture to Cadence.

"This is weird, seeing Rae like this, isn't it?" he asked. The dragon licked the glass, purring slightly in agreement. The boy rolled his eyes and wiped the frame off, placing it in his bag. He grabbed a sheet of paper from the pile at the top, flipping it over to see a drawing.

He guessed Raven had been drawing something revolving around her dog. He did remember her father the Good King had given her a dog, which she had named Prince...only for her mother to turn it into a Bone Rat. The picture showed Raven playing fetch with the dog, with her mother and father watching from a distance. There was another stick person drawn in purple on the other side of the grassy field. He assumed that was Apple, who must have played with her at that age. The sun in the corner of the paper had a bright smiley face, reminding him of the ones he drew when he was younger. Several squiggles were drawn to mimic birds. It brought a small smile to his face. He looked at the bottom of the paper seeing some chicken scratch at the bottom.

"Me and my b...it's cut off." he muttered, seeing the small tear on the paper. He shrugged, placing it inside his bag alongside the picture. He grabbed a few other things, among them a rather precious looking ceramic doll, which he cleaned with a cloth he had in his bag.

"Well girl, looks like we aren't finding anything here, this is Raven's room after all. There might be something in the West Wing however." he replied, turning toward the door.

Cadence gave him a small nod, moving toward the door. Blake took once last look at the room that had once belonged to his sister, before walking out the door. There was a lot more questions swimming in this mind now, and he only hoped he could find what he was looking for in time. He was half of the way there, he had a means to get to Wonderland, he just needed to settle his own curiosity before anything else could be done. He just didn't want to run out of time...

 _ **xxx**_

"Hey Maddie, have you seen Blake today? I've been trying to text him, but I guess he isn't replying." Raven said, leaning against the lockers next to her friend. She gave her a shrug, handing her a cup of tea.

"I haven't seen Blake since yesterday...he was acting a little weird too. He was asking questions about Gloriosa White!" the girl replied.

"That girl that disappeared from your world?" she asked curiously, earning a vigorous nod from her friend.

"Ahuh ahuh! Turns out, his Lucy and our Gloriosa are one and the same! He wanted some information about her and showed us a charm she wore around her neck. But then he started saying weird stuff."

"Weird stuff? What kind of weird stuff?" Raven asked, taking a sip form her cup.

"The kind of stuff that is weird of course!" Kitty replied, appearing on the railing of the stairs, arms crossed.

"You two are making no sense."

"Sense? What's the fun in making sense? There's no sense in making sense, so we don't make sense. Instead, we use incense to make our nose's sense go crazy with its scent!" Maddie cried, holding several incense sticks in her hands.

"Okay, even I was confused by that."

"Kitty, do you know anything about where Blake could have possibly gone? I tried going to his dorm and I know he isn't in there. I was passing by the stables to check on Nevermore and I saw Cadence was gone. So was her saddle and bridle, that means he took her out." Raven said, a firm tone in her voice.

"Wish I could tell you, but even I don't know where he went. However, he was saying some weird things...when we spoke yesterday, he said something about some Lost Child. Not just that, he was thinking about something my mom said." Kitty replied.

"Mhmm, Kitty's mom told him, I can't believe she did that to someone that meant so much to her. Kitty also said that the _she_ in that statement was your mom, the Evil Queen!"

"My mom? She did something to Blake?"

"I think what my mom meant was what she already did to him, the mirror shard? Although it's weird that my mom knows about Blake. I was thinking about it for a long time, so she must know something. But she isn't answering the kitty-call, so I guess she doesn't want to talk. The only way I'm getting answers out of her is by going to where she is." She said, jumping down from the railing, landing a bit hard on the floor.

"Yeah yeah! We need to go home, oh but the portals are closed. There's no way we'll be able to do anything without a portal." Maddie said, a disappointed look on her face. Raven sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"That doesn't exactly tell me where Blake is...I guess I'll just do a search of the school again." Raven said, about to leave on her search, when Blondie appeared before her.

"I couldn't help but hear you are looking for Blake. He spoke with me yesterday asking me for one of my enchanted pins. He didn't say what he needed it for, but I figured he was going to open something he wasn't supposed too. I followed after him and after he packed some stuff into his bag, he and Cadence took off. It was around Midnight when he did, he spoke with Alistair around ten at night." the blonde girl said, earning a wide eyed look from the girl.

"He left at midnight...okay, now this is weird. I'm gonna go find Alistair, he has to know something. I'm starting to get worried, I know he can handle himself, but he can't just leave without telling me." she cried, breaking into a sprint in the opposite direction.

"She's acting really weird...ever since this morning she's been a bit tweaky." Maddie said, a curious look on her face.

"You know, I've noticed Blake act the same way whenever Raven is off doing something. He said once that he had a weird feeling she was loosing control of a spell, and sure enough she had. Do you think the magic in that mirror shard is affecting the two of them?" Blondie asked curiously.

"Maybe...but there's something else there...I just gotta find who this Lost Child is. The same with what my mom said...this is a riddle begging to be solved...and this Kitty isn't good with hard riddles."

"Well, if there is a lost child then that means the Evil Queen is hiding something. The only place she could hide something is in her castle, so maybe Blake went there." Maddie said, shrugging her shoulders slightly.

"Snow White's palace? Why would the Evil Queen hide something there?"

"No silly, not Snow White's castle, the Evil Queen's castle! You know, the place where she sulks all the time, talking to that mirror? That place. There's a picture of it in the Library's west wing, the history of Castles Good and Evil." the daughter of the Mad Hatter said. Kitty let out a small smirk, instantly vanishing. Blondie's cheeks puffed out, a look of annoyance on her face.

"If you are gonna go off on your own, at least take me with you!" she cried, breaking into a sprint toward the library.

"Tch...children these days. They don't even have the courtesy to drink their tea!" Maddie said, pouring the three scalding cups down her throat, sighing contently right after.

Elsewhere in the school, Joey, Tobias and the rest of Yuletide Bliss were hanging out in the castleteria, as it was lunch time. Joey was reading the school news paper, looking at all of the boring news for the week. There were some pictures of Apple's party, which he hadn't been invited too, along with some horoscopes and other stuff. There was even some comics, which had been drawn by some of the members of the A/V club. Tobias was reading the last page of the paper, a bored look on his face, glancing at the picture of Apple and Ashlynn after they're performance. Even though it had been a week since then, they had finally gotten the approval to put it on the paper, since Apple White was the Editor-in-Chief of the paper, it was easy for her to get it in, something that really annoyed him.

"Yawn, there is nothing interesting this paper. Just the stuff from last week, the party and some other bullshit. Shouldn't there be something cool for all us to read?" Joey said, folding the paper in half. He glanced up at the second floor, spotting Apple, Ashlynn and Briar, three girls he knew were in the paper.

"Well, not everything has to be of interest to you. I for one do like reading my horoscope, it lets me know who's gonna be a fucking dickhole this week." Jack said, earning a few chuckles from Pierre.

"Would you forget the fucking horoscopes for a second? How come we never get interesting stories from other realms? Wouldn't it be good to learn something about Neverland? And about Peter Pan?" Tobias asked curiously.

"Man, who the hell wants to know more about some douche bag in green tights?"

"I do, those green tights are swanky, and I have a lowkey fear of death. I wanna move to Neverland sometime, you know? But I wanna fuck some bitches before I do. I'll go to Neverland a legend, and if one of them gets preggers, I'll go visit my descendants in the future." Pierre said, earning a sigh from Frost.

"You are a fucking piece of shit you know that? You make all of us, look like shit, by comparison." Jack replied.

"Jesus, you aren't getting it. Why do we only get stuff about Ever After? I mean there are other interesting places...like Wonderland?" Joey said, a small smirk on his face.

"Wonderland, the fuck you wanna learn about Wonderland for?" Tobias asked, earning a disgusted head shake from the boy.

"Are you really good at expectorating, or do you fake it?" the brown haired boy asked, earning a grin from the muscular teen.

"Of course I am, I'm the best expectorator there is."

"You two are fucking idiots, first off expectorating means to spit phlegm or clearing the throat, second, expectorator isn't even a word. Read a damn dictionary once in awhile." Jessica said, walking past them with an empty tray in her hands.

"Hey sexy, are you free tonight? I wanna show you why they call me Tobias _Muscle Man_ LeGume."

"Get bent asshole." the white haired wizard cried, tossing her tray away before flashing out of the room with a wave of her wand.

"No one is gonna find any interest in Wonderland. Hell, Tobias failing to find a girl is more interesting than that." Pierre said, earning a glare from the muscular boy.

"Well, I for one would find a lot of interest in a Wonderland oriented paper. It would be an interesting read, who knows what mysteries could lie on the other side of the Rabbit Hole? Food for thought." Joey said, pushing himself away from the wall, placing his paper in his book. Jack narrowed his eyes a bit, watching the boy go.

" _Why the sudden interest in Wonderland, I wonder? First it was that thing he said, about breaking into Wonderland, now it's a Wonderland oriented paper? Hmm, something is wrong here."_ he thought to himself.

"What's got you so down Apple? You really weren't paying attention to that douche bag we're you?" Briar asked.

"Not really...well...he does have a point. We've been cut off from Wonderland for more than four years now. Many don't know a single thing about it, wouldn't it be good to inform the students about the Wonders of Wonderland?" the blonde girl asked, earning a nod from Ashlynn.

"I think it would be a wonderful idea...a Wonderlandiful idea...hehe."

"Your puns are horrible Ashlynn." the daughter of Sleeping Beauty said, fixing her glasses a bit so they wouldn't fall off.

"Well I don't think it's a horrible pun, it's a cute one...I've got to go. There is a lot of research I have to do, and little time to do it in." Apple replied, standing up from her seat.

"Hey, are you gonna eat that slice of pie?"

"I was, but you can have it Ashlynn. You gotta eat all you can since you have a baby on the way."

"You're pregnant?" Briar asked.

"Oh my godmother! I am not pregnant, jeez! What's wrong with a vegetarian breaking out of her diet for one meal because she wants to have piece of pie?" she cried, arms in the air in disbelief.

"Well if you don't want it, then that's fine too. I'll just take it with me...see ya." Apple said, taking the pie with her. Ashlynn groaned, slamming her head against the table. Briar started petting her head, a small frown on her face.

 _ **xxx**_

Having explored the West Wing and finding nothing of interest, Blake had decided to explore the other areas of interest within the castle. He had since then found a Ballroom, which looked as haunting as one could imagine, the basement which was so dark you felt the darkness eating you alive, and some other unused rooms. As he was leaving the West Wing, he noticed something out of the corner of his eye and walked over to a bust of the Evil Queen. He had looked it over, finding one of the eyes out of place, when he pressed it in, he saw the stairs begin to split open.

In the center was a stairwell leading down, and at the end of them was a set of red doors. Having gone to it, and cracked the lock with his pin, he walked into it, finding another stairwell. He had been climbing for half an hour, spinning in endless circles as he continued his spiraled path up the stairs. He honestly didn't know why the Evil Queen didn't build a damn elevator, but when you possessed a massive amount of magic, teleportation was much easier than climbing the stairs. Since he still didn't know how to teleport, he had no choice but to take those horrid stairs. He glanced at Cadence who was panting a bit, doing her best to keep pace.

"Don't worry Caddie, if there's a window up there we'll just jump from it. I doubt there's anything else of interest here." he said, pausing to pour some water from his bottle into her mouth. She gave him a thankful lick on the face, after drinking the bottle entirely.

Afterwards, they continued the rest of the way, finally reaching a single door after another ten minutes. Blake opened it with his pin, slipping it in his watch chain as he stepped inside the room. It was much bigger than it looked, and was exactly what he had been expecting, a cliché evil lair. There was a red rug in the center of the room, along with a large cauldron, which thankfully wasn't bubbling. There was a desk on the other side of the room next to the window, with a chemistry set on top of it.

There were some weird objects on the other table, including a pot with a small leafy green tree, which he assumed was an apple tree. Of course with magic one could easily just blow up whatever fruits grew from it. The boy walked into the room, seeing several other magic objects, including a scepter and even a crown, placed on the seat of a large throne. The last thing he saw attached to the wall was a large mirror, the same one that the Evil Queen was always seen talking too. He smirked a bit, doing a small 360 around the room.

"So, this is where the Evil Queen enchanted that apple for Snow White. Where she kept an eye on literally everyone that ever caught her interest." he said, seeing the crystal ball by the arm rest of the chair.

He looked at the scepter and the crown, grimacing a bit at it's sight. He noticed something else on the chair, which had fallen between the cushions. Tugging on it, he pulled it out, seeing it was a black round locket, which looked almost like a pocket watch. He tried to open it, but the small latch on the side wasn't coming undone. He turned it over, looking at the engraved letters on it, they looked to be initials.

"J.Q...this must have belonged to someone important, the first letter is scratched out though. Hmm...Maybe it was the Evil Queen's original husband, Raven's real rather." he muttered, glancing at the mirror. He shrugged, shoving the locket in his pocket as he walked over to the mirror, seeing it start swirling. He glanced at the ceiling for a few seconds, thinking of something to ask.

"Mirror mirror on the wall, tell me about the one I seek, the child that's lost, the one who was left by the Evil Queen." he said, causing the mirror to swirl for a few seconds, only for it to start smoking slightly.

" _I am not authorized to answer your questions."_ the mirror replied, earning a sigh from the boy.

"Dammit, it was worth a shot." he said, turning toward the desk.

He saw some framed pictures on the table, grabbing his attention. When he looked at one of the pictures, he saw a much younger Mira Queen, a proud smile on her face. She was holding two bundles in her hand, one covered in a violet blanket, the second covered in a royal purple blanket. He grabbed the picture from the desk, brushing some of the dust from the glass, looking closely at it.

"Twins...the Evil Queen had twins...so wait...that means Raven has a little brother! Or an older brother, depending on when they were born. This is phenomenal...this is something no one back in school knows!" Blake said, turning to Cadence, who gave him a happy yip, a bit of crystal mist leaving her mouth.

This of course answered a lot of questions, the lost child was the missing baby the Evil Queen had. Raven had a twin brother or sister, but judging by the other bedroom he had found, which had been for a little boy, it was obvious that she had fraternal twins. But that also begged the question, where was that child now?

If Raven was eighteen years old, that meant that her twin was also that age. Raven and Apple had been born on the same year, since they were the same age. It was also part of Snow White's story, and one of the reasons why Snow White disliked her step-mother, because they were the same age. But that meant there were a lot of other questions that had no answers. He placed the picture in his rapidly filling bag, turning back to the Mirror on the Wall. He knew he wasn't going to get any answer from it, so he just let it be.

"Could it be that...the Evil Queen lost that child? Perhaps she wasn't going to fulfill that destiny at all. But she ended up losing that little boy, and that drove her crazy...that has happened before. That's why she didn't do the same things her mother had done to her, to Raven. She didn't want her remaining daughter to have the same bullshit destiny she got. Could it be the Evil Queen truly wasn't evil?" he asked himself. His heart was beating rapidly and he didn't really know why. It was as if he had just asked the Million Dollar question, and the answer was just about to be revealed, but he was always short of opening the envelope. He shook his head, walking toward the window, throwing it open.

"Let's go Cadence, we've found everything we could here. There is nothing left for us to see." he said, gesturing for his dragon to jump out the window. Cadence quickly did, spreading her wings mid air shifting into her larger form. He was about to jump when he heard a voice from the other side of the room, from the mirror in fact.

"The answers you seek, shall reveal themselves soon. But for that, you must search for the key, for it is due to curiosity that you seek. If you wish to find a place to look, you must first find the Storybook." it replied, rather mystically as well. He saw the glass flash, the smirk of the Evil Queen barely visible before it faded away into nothingness.

"You must find the Storybook, so...I guess we really are going to Wonderland after all...I can't wait." he said, jumping from the tower, landing on Cadence's back. He grabbed the reins, a smirk on his face.

"Hyah! Back to Ever After High, girl! We need to make it post haste, I have a spell to work on!" he said, a grin on his face.

 _ **xxx(Wonderland High, Wonderland)xxx**_

Gloriosa groaned as she woke up, her head was swimming, pain shooting through her back. Her eyes cleared a bit, and she looked around, finding herself in a room filled with desks. There was a stagnant pool of water at her feet, and several other things all over the room. Bookshelves were attached to the walls, every which way possible, the books being forward, backward and even upside down. There was a leaking pipe above her, and a steam pipe behind her, a small hiss coming from a small crack in the metal. It wasn't hard for her to guess exactly where she was. She stood up from her seat, finding her normal attire had been changed into a different one.

She was wearing a long sleeved puffy pink shirt, with a feathery bow tie around her neck. She was wearing a black corset, which reached to just below her bust, and had bright golden buttons. The vest had various chess pieces printed on it, the most prominent one of them being the White Queen chess piece. She was wearing a belt around her waist, which was a bright red color, throwing off the entirety of her outfit, in her opinion since she didn't like the color red. She wore a pair of maroon colored parachute style shorts, with black leggings underneath. On her feet she wore a pair of black slippers with a white puffball at the top of them. She was also wearing a cavalier hat on her head, with a crimson bow wrapped around the middle of it, a long white feather stuck back from it for decoration. She felt around her face, finding that at least her mask hadn't been removed. Her hair fell down her shoulders, reaching the upper part of her back. She also noticed her hands were covered with lavender colored leather gloves, which felt a little out of place for her, but she didn't mind.

She stood up from her seat, ignoring the sleeping Mock Turtle sitting behind the desk, walking straight toward the door. She opened it and stepped through it, finding herself back in the same room. She sighed, a deep frown on her face. She truly was stuck in the detention room at the high school. That meant there was no way she was going to leave this place, which meant she couldn't get a hold of Excalibur or help the Queen of Hearts out. She leaned against the back of the room, looking up at the ceiling.

"Goddamn you Courtly...you must have been planning this shit for months, weren't you? Sending that Herald to keep an eye on us...how could I have been such a fool?" she hissed, glancing at the water around her feet. Her feet were wet, and she really didn't appreciate that, but there was nothing she could do about that at the moment. She did notice a tea cup being etched into the wood, the familiar MH being swirled into it. Her eyes widened a bit.

"The Mad Hatter! Of course, he must have gotten into detention a lot back in the day...which means he knows how to get out of here. Shit, he's not in Wonderland right now...that means I truly am stuck here."

"No talking in detention." the Mock Turtle cried, shortly before going back to sleep. She sighed, closing her eyes, ignoring the dripping water around her.

" _Okay, how am I gonna get outta here? There has to be some challenge, a clause...something! Mavis knows this shit better than me, dammit...maybe if I can talk to the March Hare...nah, that's impossible. Not from here, he's on the payroll, he wouldn't willingly let me leave."_ she thought, glancing around the room. Her eyes settled on the books, and she started moving toward them. She started scanning the titles, finding nothing of interest. She saw the Mad Hatter's mark again on the bookshelf, but that meant nothing to her at the moment. She looked at some of the other books, one of them grabbing her attention.

She pulled it from the shelf and opened it, flipping through some of the pages. Most of it was in Riddlish while the other was in Gibberish, a language she didn't understand. She stopped in the middle of the book when she saw a picture of the Evil Queen in it. She hissed angrily, wanting to snap the book shut. But something caught her eye, she looked closely at the image of the Queen, finding something of interest, two children were at her feet in this picture, a little boy and a little girl. She had an almost fond smile on her face. She had a tome in her hands, but she couldn't read the title at all. She narrowed her eyes, closing the book.

" _So Evil Queen, you are hiding a secret eh? This is certainly something Raven will be interested in seeing. When I meet her of course."_

She sighed, deciding to go back to her seat. There was nothing she could do but read the book she had selected. Even though she understood half of it maybe it would keep her distracted for now. She closed her eyes for a second, praying that something would happen soon. She heard some rustling around her, and noticed something attached to the feather of her hat. She reached for it, seeing it was a small piece of paper. When she opened it, she saw the neatest hand writing she had ever seen staring back at her. Her eyes narrowed a bit in thought.

" _Tiddlywinks? That stupid game with the chips? Why would that be important?"_ she thought to herself. She flipped the paper over, eyes widening a bit.

"Do you Wonder? If you didn't, then you wouldn't be here...without wonder, I wouldn't have found Wonderland. Wait for the opportune moment to strike, good luck...Alice." she muttered, a smirk finding its way onto her face.

" _So, Alice is somewhere in the school. Knowing her, she's getting help from the White Rabbit, they must have seen me being brought here, but couldn't set me free. That would raise too much suspicion, but she gave me the key...I just need to find the right time to stick it in the lock."_

"Well...If I'm gonna be here for awhile, I might as well serenade the poor sleeping toitle...ahem. I WANNA BE, THE VERY BEST, LIKE NO ONE EVER WAS! TO CATCH THEM, IS MY REAL TEST, TO TRAIN THEM IS MY CAUSE!"

Oh yes, Gloriosa White was definitely going to enjoy her time in detention. Pissing off the Mock Turtle was going to be an excellent pass time, and when the time was right, she would make a break for it. She needed to find the sword, and she needed to protect the Queen. That one phrase made her think of Blake, back in Ever After. She just prayed that he opened the door soon, or else the entire fate of Wonderland would be sealed in blood.


	66. Way Too Wonderland I

**A/N:**

 **Allow me to welcome you beautiful people to the first, that is right, the first chapter of Way Too Wonderland, I.E. Chapter 66 of Through the Looking Glass! This is it you guys, the next story arc is finally here, honestly speaking, this is the one I was looking forward to the most. When I started writing this story, I just wanted to skip ahead to this arc because it's by far one of my favorites, I like Wonderland a lot you see, and I used to watch that movie a lot as a kid. So yes, I channeled a bit of me into Gloriosa because she also loves Wonderland, but she loves it for obvious reasons.**

 **I will say, the beginning of this arc might seem slow, but it will get a lot better as you keep reading. It is by far the longest story arc with over seven parts. Promises will be fulfilled and broken, battles will be waged, and secrets shall be revealed, along with the answer that Blake has been seeking the entire time he has been in Ever After High. We will finally get to see all of that culminate in a clash against good and evil as Everyone tries to save the Queen and all of Wonderland from the might of the Evil Queen's curse and from Joey and Courtly as well.**

 **Not only that, but this arc will set up some stuff for Dragon Games, the next major arc. Of course there will be some filler arcs between Way Too Wonderland and Dragon Games, like the special arc revolving around Duchess Swan. This arc will also spawn several Segway chapters, which will be a little confusing for you all...but I shall name all the girls that will receive one during the final part of Way Too Wonderland, as that chapter will serve as the segway for it. It's gonna increase my story count, that's for sure...lol.**

 **Blake will not be traveling to Wonderland in this chapter I'm afraid, that shall happen tomorrow, but I have sprinkled this chapter with funny moments, rage moments, happy moments, Lizzie moments near the end, magic moments, and it also contains various answers revolving around the main topic of this arc, the Lost Child? Who do you think they are? I'm sure you all know the answer...but please, who are they really? You are either wrong, or your totally wrong...I'm afraid. Hehe.**

 **Well...I leave you all with this, I hope you all enjoy it and are looking forward to the next seven or eight parts to this arc, I'm sure Dragon Games will have a lot more parts, depending on when I get to it. It would be around Chapter 85 or 90 actually...damn...still I'm so impressed with the length of this story...66 chapters and I'm currently on Chapter 73...that's insane. I have all of you to thank, because I'm not just writing this for me, but for you as well, the readers. Thank you all so much for being loyal fans of my work, I truly do hope you are liking this story! Have yourselves a nice night.**

 **Also, make sure to keep an eye on the sky tonight, apparently, there's a Lunar Eclipse, Super Blue Blood Moon thingie happening. New Hampshire as always kills my excitement because it is always fucking cloudy here, but some of you might be able to see it, have an awesome night!**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 66

Way Too Wonderland I

"What do you mean, you don't know where he went?" Raven cried, earning a startled look from Bunny and Alistair. The two of them hadn't been expecting her to just yell at them.

Alistair and Bunny were playing chess like normal and taking a break. That was when the daughter of the Evil Queen strode up to them, with a mission in mind. He hadn't exactly been expecting her to actually start asking rapid fire questions at him though. He had done his best to answer all of the ones she had asked in order, but when she had asked him where Blake had gone, he was stumped. He didn't know the answer, because the boy didn't tell him. He was a bit scared to actually answer her with the truth, because he didn't know what the young sorceress was capable of. But the flames in her eyes told him that if he didn't answer with the truth, something bad was going to happen. So he had, and this had been the result, Raven Queen in pissed off older sister mode. It wasn't a good thing to witness. He took a deep breath, calming himself down.

"Raven, please you need to stay calm alright? I don't know where he went. All he asked for was my WonderMap, after he had gotten it he just took off." the blond boy said.

"Oh, he mentioned something about seeing Blondie before leaving. But I assumed it was to ask her about homework or something. He's been acting rather strange these last few days. Just yesterday, he was asking us about our friend Gloriosa. We're not exactly sure what he's planning." Bunny said, causing Raven to sigh angrily. She took a deep breath and sat down, placing her hand on her forehead.

"I'm sorry okay? I just get so worried for him...I mean, my mom did a lot of messed up stuff to him. I feel responsible for taking care of him, he's all alone here and I'm the closest thing to family he's got. All because of our magic being the same as my mom's. I get this sick choking feeling in my throat whenever he doesn't say anything to me." she replied.

"I get that...I sort of get the same whenever Bunny doesn't tell me where she's going. Since we lived in constant paranoia back in Wonderland, we sort of got used to the two of us being alone together. So whenever she's gone, I get antsy. It's normal to worry Raven, we don't blame you." Alistair said, giving her a smile.

"Still, him taking the WonderMap was sort of odd. What would he need that map for? There's a map of Ever After in the library."

"That's the thing Bun, I think he went to a place that isn't on any map. A very dangerous place that he shouldn't even go near." the violet haired girl replied.

"Hmm...aside from his strange behavior, have you noticed anything our of the ordinary? I mean, I saw him doodling some weird things in Wonderland History. And in Creative Writing, he told Holly he was interested in writing a story revolving around three teenagers exploring a creepy abandoned castle. I think those two things correlate, if only a minuscule correlation."

"No, Alistair this is a big one. He's probably getting a lot of weird emotions and thoughts because of his magic. It doesn't behave like it would normally, due to that shard in his chest. So the magic within him is my mother's and since it belongs to someone else, he is getting those emotions from her. After all, magic is tied very closely to those who use it." Raven said firmly.

"That could be it, but still a rather odd topic to broach...I think him asking about Wonderland also has a large impact. He's been weirdly obsessed with it...since Apple's birthday in fact. That was the first time I noticed him acting strange." Bunny replied, earning a similar look from Alistair.

"Now that you mention it, he did start acting weird after that. He kept muttering things about a tiara, and someone writing the word Queen on a piece of parchment. But I didn't bother asking him about it, I just thought he was thinking about story ideas for Creative Writing."

Raven remained silent at this new revelation. She didn't know exactly what these two things meant, but they were connected. That meant someone was writing the name Queen in his mind, and if that was true...it could be that he was getting memories through his magic. Memories of his mother or even herself. She didn't think that was possible, but at this rate anything could be the truth. If someone was able to curse Wonderland, then a person getting memories through magic was plausible, in the grand scheme of things.

"Are you okay Raven?"

"Hmm? Oh, yes I am...I'm just thinking...I've calmed down a bit. I didn't stop to think about Blake, and what he must be going through right now. It's normal for him to be curious I guess." she replied, a small frown on her face.

"It must be hard for him...all of this, being gone from home, unable to see his family. Wonderland is right next door for us, but he has it so much worse. The mirror shard, all of those enchantments, it's like the Evil Queen did all of that out of spite, almost. There definitely has to be a reason for that." Alistair said.

"Yeah, there is a reason...she wanted Blake to be her magic sponge. As to why she picked him? Well that's a reason that only she knows...and since she's trapped in the Mirror Realm, we aren't getting that answer any time soon."

"But there has to be something! Don't you have an idea at least? A single reason as to why she chose him? I mean it seems a little impulsive for her to pick someone like Blake, she could have picked anyone randomly, she could have even picked someone from Ever After. It makes no sense." Bunny replied.

"That's the thing Bun, it's the Evil Queen...she doesn't have to make sense for it to make sense. Sometimes, you have to be insane to outsane the sane...that's exactly what she did. She grabbed someone seemingly at random, to make everyone think it was a victimless crime. Of course, as everyone later found out, she gave him several stipulations, because she had further plans for him. What those plans are, that's the biggest riddle of them all, thankfully the riddle master is here, and he shall help find that answer."

"Alright then, I'll go talk to Tobias then. He certainly has a lot of answers for us to work with." Raven said, earning a laugh from Bunny who almost fell out of her chair.

"Oh yeah, laugh it up. That was a good joke Raven, props...but seriously, I will find out what your mom intends to do with Blake. He's a close friend, one of the first I made here...and I'm not gonna let her kill him. You can count on that." he said, holding up the hilt of his Vorpal Blade for emphasis. The girl smiled, giving him a thumbs up.

"I expect you to slice and dice anything in our way then big man. Show me the things Alice passed down to you. And if anything, leave some Jabberwocky for the rest of us, I've longed to cut its legs off." Raven said, giving the boy a wink.

 _ **xxx**_

Blake had finally arrived at Ever After High, after an hour or so of flying. It was already four in the afternoon, and he had gotten a stream of messages from many of his friends. He hadn't even noticed he had gone out of the Mirror Tower's range until he felt all of the vibrations in his leg. He had made a mental note of apologizing personally to all of his friends, starting with Raven who had sent him one hundred and thirty messages during the time he was gone. He had left at night without anyone knowing and hadn't said a single word, so that had definitely been his bad.

After dropping off Cadence at the stables, and making sure everything in her personal stable was clean, and she was fed, the boy started heading back toward the school. He was surprised to see most of the courtyard and entrance hall empty, but since it was late in the afternoon and after classes, it was normal not to see anyone. He made it back toward his locker, imputing his combination, throwing it open. He grabbed some of his text books, placing them in his already filled bag, frowning a bit as he had to organize everything so it wouldn't overfill. He heard a chuckle behind him, causing him to look over his shoulder.

"What's up with you? No show in all of your classes, you got your harem running around like chickens with their heads cut off. You should have seen Raven flipping her shit, it was really funny."

"Joey, if you are just gonna talk shit, just take a walk...I haven't got the time nor the effort to deal with you right now." the black haired boy replied, slamming his locker door closed. He started walking off, causing his former friend to follow him.

"Nah, man I was just messing. Thought I would let you know where Raven was since she seemed really pissed. She's with Alistair right now."

"Uh...alright then. No idea why you of all people wanna help me, but I suppose I should thank you for the information." he said with a shrug, continuing his walk. Joey kept following after him, grabbing a hold of the rolled up paper sticking out of his bag, shoving it in his shirt sleeve.

"Hey before you go, I need some money. I asked Faybelle on a date and I'm a little short, she wanted to go to the Silver Swan, so I need that IOU from you." he said. Blake stopped in his tracks, spinning on his heel, a rather pissed look on his face.

"What the fuck are you talking about? I don't owe fuckin shit!"

"Actually, you do owe me fuckin shit. Remember that time when Lucy turned thirteen? You wanted to get her the Alice in Wonderland BluRay combo pack, and you were short twenty bucks, so I spotted you. So I sort of need that twenty bucks back, I'm afraid." he said with a shrug. Blake narrowed his eyes, growling slightly as he pulled his wallet from his back pocket, tossing him a 20 G bill.

"There, for all intents and purposes, I hope you have fun on your date. Try not to choke on the Walrus penis, it's a delicacy served there. However I hear that only those that are massive assholes get them, because they're the only ones who could ease down on it without any lube...peace." he said, flipping him the bird as he walked off. Joey rolled his eyes, shoving the money in his pocket.

" _And just like that, the King makes his first move. Not only did I score twenty bucks, but now I also have the WonderMap...this is gonna be a good day. All I gotta do is wait for those idiots to convene for the inevitable Wonderland meeting, bank on them using the spell, badda bing, badda boom. Hehe...idiots."_ he thought to himself, whistling as he walked.

Blake while mad, decided not to let Joey get under his skin. He was just doing that to annoy him, and he wouldn't get anything in the end if he got mad. So he had continued on his way, trying not to raise too much attention to himself. He had already started texting some of his friends back, letting them know that he was alright, not telling them where he had gone so late at night. He didn't exactly want to tell them that he spent the night in the woods trying to get to the Evil Queen's castle before sunrise. That would have just made them even more worried and that was the last thing he needed. He turned the corner rather briskly, slamming into someone sending them sprawling to the ground. His eyes quickly fell to the ground, cringing a bit when he saw the youngest Charming on the floor, stunned from what had just happened.

"Shit, sorry Darling. I wasn't paying attention to where I was going." he said, holding his hand out to the girl.

"Blake! I...I'm happy to see you." she said, taking a hold of his hand. He pulled her to her feet, kneeling down to grab her satchel and the book that had slipped out of it, the one that had been written by the Evil Queen. It seemed she was still reading it.

"I guess I worried you too right? Sorry sweetheart, I've had a lot on my mind lately. I got a lot of apologizing to do, but I'm also very busy." he said, holding her satchel out to her, along with the book.

"It's alright Blake, I know you have stuff to figure out. Where exactly did you go? I heard Blondie say you left last night at midnight." she asked, causing the boy to look away.

"I uh...took a little trip somewhere...you know to clear my head. I needed a personal day, it's been hectic. I'm sorry, I can't exactly give you an explanation right now, but I will let you know later on. Don't lose sight of the Wonder, in fact I would prepare for it...because soon enough we'll bare witness to it." he said, giving her a wink as he walked off. Her eyes widened a bit, a giddy look on her face.

He arrived at his dorm a few minutes, quickly entering it before anyone else asked questions. He reached into his pocket and searched for Raven's contact, dialing her number as he reached the other end of the room. He grabbed the fish food beside his lamp and fed Swimmy, who had groaned quite big in the short time he had owned him. He took his bag off and placed it on his bed, grabbing the book he had brought with him from the Evil Queen's castle, placing on the desk, along the other things he had brought with him.

" _Blake, it's about fucking time! Do you know how pissed off I am at you? You almost turned my damn hair white!"_

"Sorry sis, I didn't mean to worry you. I have a lot of stuff to share with you, so hurry up to my dorm...it's serious stuff so come alone." he said, a hint of seriousness in his voice. He could almost see the look on her face.

 _"Alright, I'll be there soon. I'm practicing my teleportation magic, so I'll in a few minutes...see ya then."_ she replied, ending the call right after.

Blake set his phone down on the table, glancing at all of the things he had brought with him from the Evil Queen's castle. He had two pictures, one of Raven when he was younger, and the Evil Queen holding two babies in her arms. He had brought along the portal book, which he hid under his pillow, he wanted to read it thoroughly before showing it to anyone. He had also brought along the locket he had found wedged in the throne at the top of the tower. Finally, he brought two toys with him. The ball he had pulled from the portal, and something he had picked up from the other bedroom in the West Wing of the castle. Oddly enough, it had been a glass Pegasus, which was a dark violet in color, with hues of pink and black running through it. It had large black wings growing from the middle of its back, the detail of each feather being uncanny. He had found it on the dresser, tipped over. It was an item that he couldn't leave behind.

"It might be a little odd but, I think something like this will be perfect for my collection." he said, looking the small figurine over.

He hadn't been collecting glass horses while in Ever After, only having the ones from his wish. Kitty had been putting glass cats alongside the horses, which he didn't mind, so he was at least thinking of expanding his collection to more than just horses and cats. This would be an interesting addition. He heard a fizzling behind him and turned around, a thick violet cloud swirled in the middle of the room, and a second later his sister Raven literally dropped into the room, landing right on her rump. He cringed a bit, looking away from the girl.

"Ow, I think I just cracked my ass." she replied, rubbing her lower back as she stood up. Blake tried not to laugh from the joke.

"It's good to see your teleportation is getting better...when you have it down pat, show me okay?"

"Sure, if you wanna go to Hood Hollow, Hocus Latte, Meadow Brooke or High Village, then yeah I'll show you. Anyway, tell me why I shouldn't kick you in the dick for leaving without warning?" she asked, arms crossed, a rather cross look on her face.

"Well first off, I need my dick, so please don't kick. Second, I had questions, and I needed to find answers. It was a personal matter that I had to resolve on my own, so I apologize for not saying anything to you. I've already sent apology texts to everyone else too. Seriously, I'm sorry."

"Just because you apologize doesn't make it right. Do you know how worried I was about you? I searched this entire school for you, twice!" she cried. The boy frowned, glancing away from her, a disappointed look on his face.

"Yeah I know, I knew that would happen and in my defense, I did try to make it back before noon. However, my little expedition took a little longer than I expected. Well, no use beating around it...I went to your mom's castle." he said. Raven grew wide eyed, a look of disbelief on her face. She took a deep breath, calming herself down before she started shouting at him again.

"Alright...what exactly...drove you to go there?"

"I've been having these weird dream like visions lately. Ever since I saw that tiara you were wearing during Apple's party. I've had four, one of somebody writing the word Queen on a piece of paper, in the same way that you sign your name. The second was a dark ominous castle, the third was a voice, and the fourth was a hazy one...with four figures in it, and a fifth being pushed toward them...I got no idea what any of these mean."

"I have a theory about that. Since you have the same magic as me and my mother, due to the shard, I think you are seeing memories. From either myself or my mother...it would make a lot of sense, since magic is rooted deep in someone's emotions." Raven replied, earning a nod from the boy.

"That is a plausible theory. We did just learn that in Magicology not that long ago...I'll keep that in mind. However, there is something else that I found in that castle, about the Lost Child." he said, the tone in his voice shifting to a more serious one.

"You know, Kitty was talking about that earlier. She said something that caught my attention, mind explaining that to me in more detail?"

"Yes. You probably already know what the Cheshire Cat said to Kitty and I, so I'll skip that part. When me and Holly were searching for Poppy and the others, we ran into some Goblins, as you know. One of them seemed to be a high leader, and he asked me if I was the lost child. Of course, I thought nothing of it, but recently I started thinking on that...since I started drawing the Evil Queen's castle, I figured that place would have answers, and they did." he said, reaching for the picture of the Evil Queen, holding the two babies in her arms. He handed it to Raven, who looked at it closely.

"What...what is this?" she asked, voice trembling a bit as she spoke.

"That is a picture of your mother holding two babies. You have a twin brother, but I'm not sure where they are. Do you not remember this?" he asked curiously.

"Of course I don't! I don't have a biological brother, I don't! I never have and my mother hasn't mentioned him before!" she exclaimed, the disbelief still in her voice. He reached behind his back, pulling out a drawing he had grabbed from her room.

"It's possible that you were too young to remember him. I found this in your old bedroom, a drawing that you made." he said, handing her the worn looking picture. She looked it over, eyes narrowed a bit.

"I remember drawing this, mom had already married Apple's dad. We were playing outside with my new puppy Prince. I think this was me and Apple, we used to play a lot when we were kids, before Snow White filled her mind with destiny crap...me and my b...it's cut off."

"Do you perhaps remember what you had written there?" he asked curiously. She shook her head.

"Not really...I think I wrote, me and my best friend Apple. It looks long enough for the strip that is missing at least." she replied. The last object that he pulled out was the locket, handing it over to his sister who looked at it oddly.

"This is a strange locket, it looks like a pocket watch actually."

"It might be, I couldn't open it. The initials on the back raise some questions though, do you remember your father's name? You're real father I mean." he asked.

"Mom didn't talk about him much...in fact we never met. She just got pregnant with me to ensure the future of the Evil Queen. I suppose that's the same reason why Snow White got pregnant with Apple. I believe she said his name was Jeremiah...but since our fairytale names are more important, he took my mom's name instead of the other way around."

"So, his name is Jeremiah Queen then...that would explain a lot. But I didn't find a single picture of anyone that looked like they could be your dad. I checked the library, the tower, the East and West Wings, the Ballroom and all of the staff rooms. The only place I stayed away from was the basement, since it was really dark in there...very peculiar." he muttered, rubbing his chin in thought.

"Did you...find anything else in there?" Raven asked curiously, closing her hands over the locket.

"No...nothing of interest. I tried speaking with the mirror but I wasn't authorized to ask it questions. However, your mom gave me a riddle before I left. The answers you seek, shall reveal themselves soon. But for that, you must search for the key, for it is due to curiosity that you seek. If you wish to find a place to look, you must first find the Storybook." he replied. He had read that one from his journal, as he had written it down before he had forgotten it.

"So...the Storybook of Legends holds the answers. That means I...might actually have a sibling somewhere in the world. The Storybook of Legends has a page for anyone that is born to a Fairytale character, even if they don't have a destiny...so that book has the answers we week."

"Which means, we must go retrieve it." he replied a smirk on his face.

"Wonderland?"

"Wonderland."

 _ **xxx**_

Joey sat back in his seat, glancing at the WonderMap before him. He was happy to see that this map showed every single area of interest in Ever After and in Wonderland. All it took was a flick and the map instantly switched over. He could see every single area of the once mythical area. The most interesting thing was that he could easily get whatever he wanted by talking to it. He brought out his highly detailed plan, now that it had been written in French in his journal so that no one else could understand, he smirked, going over it with a sneer on his face.

"Alright, everything is set. I translated the spell into Latin for Blake and Raven to read, and phase one has already started. Darling's highly curious, and that lead to her sharing her findings with those two. The final part of Phase One, motivate someone into informing the school about Wonderland. Apple White will most likely announcing something for the school paper, and since no one has an interest in Wonderland, no one will help her research, except the Wonderland kids of course. That will get them all together, I of course will volunteer because of my genuine _interest_ for Wonderland.

Phase Two shall begin when all of those idiots are actually sucked into Wonderland by that spell. That will leave me completely as the only one to have stayed back, and since no one else will be there then I won't have to worry about anything else. I'll be able to easily slip away and use the Well of Wonder as my portal. Once in Wonderland, I'll be able to use this map to find Excalibur and the Storybook of Legends. Once I have both in my possession, I shall sign my name in King Arthur's page.

Phase Three shall then begin once I have the full power of Excalibur in my grasp. I'll be able to not only slay the Queen of Hearts, but also Lizzie Hearts, a key player in this little game. Once the two rightful heirs of the throne are eliminated, I'll be able to trap Raven and Blake in Wonderland, making it impossible for them to get back. After all, they won't be able to find the Well of Wonder without a map, which they thankfully will not have.

Phase Four, I shall then return to Ever After High with my new found power and set the Evil Queen free. As King Arthur, I shall use the power of Excalibur to bend this realm to my will. I will imprison the Brothers Grimm and Baba Yaga in the Mirror Realm, making it impossible for them to even do anything to retaliate. We shall then head back to Wonderland so that the Evil Queen sucks the power from Blake, where I will then permanently erase him from this world. With that done, the final Phase shall begin.

I will then take anyone who wants to resist and make an example of them. I shall take their destinies one by one and become the strongest being in all of Ever After! With that amount of power, no one shall stand in my way. The Evil Queen gets Wonderland and I get Ever After. We will then combine forces and rule every single pathetic realm in this existence! And I shall do it all before dinner time, as it is Meat Friday." he said, a smirk on his face. The mirror flashed a few times, getting approval from the Evil Queen, making him smirk.

" _Well, she agrees with it. It's wonderful that someone enjoys my amazingly well thought out plans. I worked on this one practically right after the Fairest. So everything has to come to fruition perfectly."_ he thought, looking at the bracelet around his wrist. He heard a knock on his door and stood up, closing the journal as he did.

"Who the hell is knocking on my door?" he muttered, opening the door right after. He was surprised to see Tobias's hulking form behind the door, a small smirk on his face.

"Eh...could I help you?" Joey asked, confusion on his face.

"No, but I think I can help you. I heard your plan to take over Ever After." he said, making the boy frown.

"Oh, you did, did you? You know I'm gonna have to kill you right?" the brunette asked, earning a chuckle from the muscular boy. He walked into the room, closing the door right after.

"There is no need, I wish to help you. I also wish to rid myself of that thorn in my side, the one that made Rosabella abandon our friendship. It's because of him that I can't fucking love her! So I want to kill him in revenge, it'll be absolutely wonderful." Tobias said, earning a curious look from Joey.

"You wanna kill Blake? That is interesting but...what can you provide that I can't do myself?"

"Come on, all great plans go awry at some point. You can't go at it alone, especially when there are people willing to do something about it. I saw Jack sniffing around earlier, he's been getting rather curious as of late. He may be a hindrance, plus I know for a fact that you want Duchess Swan all to yourself. You wouldn't give her lecherous looks if you didn't." he replied.

"That is true...there is nothing I want to do more than screw her brains out. But she's off limits, so Faybelle will do...I've enlisted her help. While reluctant, her magic will be quite the boon, especially when sucked out by someone more powerful." Joey said, gesturing to the mirror behind him. The boy's eyes widened in shock.

"The Evil Queen, you've been...helping her haven't you?"

"A little bit...will that be an issue? I can still slice your throat if you prefer."

"Nah...I got no issues there. I heard your plan in detail, but there is something I don't agree with, killing Blake in Wonderland. Would it not be easier to have the Queen suck his magic out and then bring him back here?" Tobias asked curiously.

"The hell would I do that for? He would have already served his purpose...no need prolonging the inevitable." the boy said with a shrug.

"Yes, that is true...but there are a lot of girls here who are fond of the wretch. Wouldn't it be wonderful if we did a public execution? Force them all to watch as the object of their affections dies before them? Even better, find the one that he likes and kill her in front of him, when he loses hope, rip that shard out of his chest and let him die of magic poisoning. Irony at it's finest if I do say so myself." he said. Joey nodded, lips pursed in thought.

"I hadn't thought of it that way...yes, I think that'll do much better than before. However, know that if you do join me, you are in it until the end and if I fall you fall with me. If you try to fuck me, I will kill you. Do we have an accord?" he asked, holding his hand out. Tobias smirked, shaking it firmly.

"Agreed."

 _ **xxx**_

"The most important meal of the day, serving it up, Gary's way...bleugh!"

"Kitty for fucksakes, stop saying that!" Blake cried, earning a giggle from the girl, who flashed away from his table.

It was breakfast time in Ever After High. Blake had spent most of his afternoon tracking down all of his friends and giving a personal apology. Being dragged around by Raven had been embarrassing, but seeing her smile at the end made it pay off. She had been whisked away by Dexter after he was done, finally giving him the space he needed. His ear still throbbed, but he kept moving on. After taking a shower, he had been intending to take a nap, but his Wonderland friends decided to stop by to check on him.

That lead to them watching some episodes of Spongebob Squarepants, thus leading Kitty to repeat one of the most annoying lines from the episode Missing Identity. They had a good time however, so he couldn't blame them for repeating some lines from Spongebob, even now as an adult he still repeated Spongebob lines and even laughed out loud at some of the memes that had spawned from the series.

He tried to continue eating his food in peace, but he knew that wasn't going to happen. He glanced over to Raven who was busy finishing her Science and Sorcery homework, which she had skipped in order to search for him. He felt really bad, so he had given her all of his notes, along with the ones he had borrowed from Apple to help her get through it.

Even though it wasn't his most solid subject, since he was passing with a C currently, he was still able to understand the formulas. He wanted to check how she was doing, but didn't want to bother her, so he left her alone. He hadn't seen Apple at all during the morning, and when he had asked Briar where she was, the brunette simply pointed to the Study Hall. He figured she was preparing for the weeks newspaper, and was quite interested in seeing what she had come up with.

"Are you okay there Blake? Would you like some tea to soothe your angry thoughts." Maddie asked, gesturing to her set. He rolled his eyes, giving her a nod.

"Thanks Maddie, I just got a lot of stuff on my mind and Kitty saying that over and over again doesn't help me."

"It's alright, she's just trying to make you smile. Judging by that blush on your face, I can tell she's doing her job just right!"

"Hey, that's my line!" Blondie cried from the table next to them. She narrowed her eyes, motioning with her fingers that she was watching them. Blake shook his head, a deep frown on his face.

"No idea what you are trying to get at there Maddie. Kitty is just pissing him off, the blush on his cheeks is just him being angry. Happens to the best of us." Raven said, taking a drink from her cup without looking away from her worksheets.

"Uh-uh, that isn't it! I think there's something more there, you remember that day they were found at the observatory? The two of them had gotten drunk and had fallen asleep next to each other. I've had my eye on them since then, and so have the narrators! Isn't that right guys?" she asked, looking up at the ceiling.

" _Of course Madeline, but we are narrators so we must keep an eye on everyone."_

" _Chester! You are setting a bad example for Brooke...she's gonna start thinking it's okay to interact with them whenever she wants!"_

" _Mom please, we already do that more often than not. There's no avoiding it at this point."_

"Brooke has a point Weiss, what's the point of ignoring what can't be ignored? I mean we're the only ones who can talk to you. Sometimes we need advice from people other than our friends. And you two have given me solid advice over the last ten months." Blake said, a smile on his face.

"That is correct! We cannot live without you narrators, so just bend the rules a bit, after all rules are there to be broken right?" Maddie asked.

" _That's right! That means I'll be able to actually hang out with you without being a voice in your heads!"_

" _No Brooke! You know what will happen if you make that choice. You'll become a character and we'll never see you again!"_ Weiss cried out, earning a sigh from the girl.

" _Mom, if they can be Rebels and rewrite destiny, then I think I have the choice to do it too. It can get a bit boring up here with no one but you to talk too. I love you guys, but I need friends my age, and not the narrators from Neverland, those guys are idiots!"_

" _Hey, I like Tristan. He's really cool."_ Chester said.

" _Of course you think he's cool dad, you are just trying to hook me up!"_

"Guys, I don't plan to get in between this little family spat but...children need space to grow. Maybe there's a way that Brooke can come join us and be a narrator as well...if there is, I'll figure it out. Trust me, sometimes it's better to do stupid shit, or else you won't grow in life. I spent several years of my life sulking to myself, feeling unloved, and I regret that time...I don't want anyone to feel what I did for so long." Blake replied. The two parents remained silent, with Weiss letting out a sigh.

" _If there is a safe way for Brooke to visit you and remain a narrator...then I will allow it. However, it is a very dangerous world...there are people that...can hurt us...and we wouldn't want our precious daughter to be in the path of harm."_

" _That is correct...so be sure to search safely...until then, Brooke feel free to talk to them all that you like...but only when we're not narrating."_

" _Yay! Thanks mom, thanks dad! I love you guys so much!"_

"Aw, you resolved a family matter! High five!" Maddie cried, holding her hand up high for Blake to slap, which he happily did.

"Maybe I should become a family coach, I have enough stories to tell, I think." Blake said, a grin on his face.

"Stories? About what? About how you can't visit your family ever again? Or about the fact that your real parents abandoned you? Real shocker there." Tobias called out. Blake slammed his fists hard against the table, enough to snap it clean in half. He stood up from his seat, cracking his fingers, the audible sound echoing through the room.

"So, it seems there's a poor bastard that wants to die. You think you are sooo cool saying something like that eh? That only makes you a piece of shit. Eh...well, that's probably not a good title I suppose." he said.

"Funny man, you really are funny. I think your real parents abandoned you for a reason, because they knew you wouldn't amount to anything. So they tossed you aside to the first doorstep that they figured would serve you good. I'm surprised you didn't die of Hypothermia from the cold of night!"

"I was born on a tropical island shit face. And you wanna know something, I'm glad that I don't know my parents. I don't even care that they abandoned me. They're the ones missing out, I'd rather not know my parents and be a good man, then be a back stabbing asshole like my old man. After all, wasn't it your father who stabbed a man in the back after he saved his life? Wasn't it your father who lead a coup-de-e'tat to invade a castle because a beast lived within? Wasn't it your father who lost the girl because of the massive cock head he truly is? All of these questions and no answers...come on Toby, answer them for me? Enlighten me." Blake said, holding his arms out a smirk on his face.

"Okay, that's enough...this has clearly gone too far. Tobias, sit down before something happens, and you sit down too. I'm not paying for this broken table." Raven snapped, pulling her brother along toward a nearby table, where Cedar was sitting with Cerise.

"It's not my fault, he was the one who started it."

"Well I'm ending it before you do something stupid. That fuck head is just trying to get under your skin...forget him and his stupid ass, you are better than him. No one cares about your real parents leaving you, like you said it's their loss not yours." she said, wrapping her arm around his waist. He sighed, returning the awkward hug.

"Thanks Rae, I could feel my magic wanting to burst out."

"Yeah, so could I...normally I would have let that happen, but I didn't want you to hurt him too much." she said, giving him a wink. A sharp whistle cut through the castleteria, causing everyone to stop what they were doing, looking up to the third balcony where Apple White was standing, a bright smile on her face.

"Attention everyone, as Editor-in-Chief of the Griffon, our beloved school paper, I am happy to announce that this weeks topic is, a Time of Wonder. It will feature various stories from Wonderland. Every day of the week will have an interview with one of our five Wonderland students, including two of our teachers, the Mad Hatter and her Majesty, the White Queen!"

"It's about goddamn time!" Joey cried, his voice cutting across the silence. Everyone turned to look at him, while he just sipped his coffee.

"Why the sudden interest in Wonderland?" someone asked, earning a smirk from him.

"My loving and _deceased_ girlfriend loved Wonderland. So I wish to learn more about this wonderful place, in her stead. All of the stories hit me on such a deep and emotional level, that I wish to share it with the generations of the future."

"Oh my god, you are so full of shit." Blake said, causing everyone to look back at him.

"How am I...full of shit, as you so eloquently put?"

"Because you are full of shit. You have never _ever_ given a remote donkey fuck, about Wonderland. Why the sudden interest now? As I recall, you said Alice's Adventure's in Wonderland was a story written by some retard who didn't know what he was doing. A guy who probably had a hodgepodge of ideas in his dusty old brain and threw them all together in a coherent story. So forgive me if I have trouble believing the stream of steaming excrement that just came from your mouth." he said.

"That was past me, this is present me. Present me wants to know about Wonderland." Joey said, a blank look on his face.

"Present me thinks that present Joey is a fuckass...but to each his own." the black haired boy said, moving some bangs from his eyes.

"Well I for one think that Apple's idea is wonderful!" Faybelle said, a grin on her face as she looked up at the blonde, who smiled in return.

"Thanks Faybelle, that means a lot to...wait what? You think this is a good idea?"

"Of course I do...you can rehash the story of how these Wonderdolts got stuck in Ever After. And how Wonderland was cursed by Raven's mother, the Evil Queen!" she said, showing a video of a mirror, a dark voice coming from the speakers. It was enough to send some of the students running from the castleteria, all of them being fearful of the mirror. Raven stood up from her seat, a rather annoyed look on her face.

"Hey! It isn't my fault that my mother put a curse on Wonderland. I'm not in control of what she decides to do. I mean...yeah she did poison Wonderland's magic...and because of her, Wonderland is more topsy-turvy than before...and thanks to her, the Queen of Hearts is a total whacko-nutjob who wants to decapitate anyone within a thousand feet of her."

Gasps filled the castleteria, causing the girl to cringe from what she had just said. Faybelle glanced over to Lizzie, who was sulking as she looked at her locket, a picture of her mother being inside it.

"Uh, hello? She just insulted your mother, aren't you gonna say anything?"

"It is alright Faybelle. I know Raven didn't mean it, and she is correct...the Wonderland curse has made her paranoid...I fear that she might lose control soon." she replied, sniffling a bit as she wiped her tears away.

"I'm sorry Lizzie, I didn't mean to say that...I was just, trying to say that...my mom isn't entirely to blame. I mean, she wasn't the one that closed the portals, that fault belongs to Headmaster Grimm! He's the one who always says, "You must follow you're own story" or, "You have to abide by the rules of destiny!" so if you wanna blame someone, blame him!" she said. Blake glanced at the girl, silently telling her to stop talking. She took a deep breath once she looked at everyone's expressions.

"He's uh...standing right behind me, isn't he?"

"I am...you may be seated, Miss Queen." Milton Grimm said firmly, causing the girl to dash back to her seat.

"Now then, since the topic of Wonderland has been brought up...I must reiterate, no one shall have contact with that world for any reason. The curse is highly dangerous, and anyone could become affected by it. So we shall cease this talk at once!"

"Hey! It isn't fair that Lizzie and the others can't visit there home! Sure, the curse is dangerous and all this bullcrap, but opening a single use portal and closing it right after is still a viable option!" Blake cried, causing the headmaster to look at him.

"Ah, Mr. Bigby...of course you'd have a problem with it. You still don't have an understanding of the dangers of Wonderland. That curse is deadly, and it shouldn't be taken lightly."

"Come on, you of all people should know that I understand the dangers of this curse. I was stabbed in the chest with a piece of mirror, I was cursed and lost it all. If there's anyone who understands the Evil Queen's magic, it is me. And I disagree with your methods, total quarantine doesn't solve the problem. The curse needs to be broken, that is much more important than anything else. After all, everyone here knows how totally fucked Ever After is without Wonderland, so shouldn't that be motivation enough to seek a way to reverse it?" he asked.

"That is enough young man, I will not tolerate that form of speech towards myself!"

"At least let Lizzie go home! It's her mom's birthday today, let her go see her mother! No child should have to suffer not being able to see her parents, not like them! They have that right, she has that right!" Blake said.

"One more word about this topic from you and you shall be suspended young man...am I understood?" Milton snapped, causing Blake to growl angrily.

"Fine."

"Very well then, I want everyone to understand that Wonderland being quarantined for your own good. None of you will have contact with that world for any reason." he said, turning to leave the castleteria.

"Oh oh, Headmaster Grimm...I have a question. Since I'm profiling Wonderland for the paper, would you mind explaining how the curse..."

"That is enough Miss White, all that you need to know is that it is a dangerous curse. That is it...now, it's time for you all to head to class." the man said, the bell ringing a second or two later. Apple sighed, but quickly composed herself, smiling brightly at all of the students making their way to class.

"Everyone, I'm going to need volunteers to write the stories. If you are interested then meet me at the Study Hall after classes!" she said cheerfully.

"Are you alright Lizzie?" Blake asked softly, as he stood next to his friend. She gave him a nod, picking her things up from the table.

"I would like to thank you Blake, your efforts of persuasion were sweet. But Headmaster Grimm is a hardass, he would have never agreed to let me visit my mom for the day." she replied.

"I know, but I had to try...I promised I would get you to Wonderland, and goddamn it, I am. Trust me!" he replied. She gave him a kiss on the cheek, making the boy blush brightly.

"I appreciate the sentiment, truly. We both have Science and Sorcery now, would you like to accompany me to class?"

"I...sure why not?" he asked, a small smile on his face. He grabbed his bag from the table, walking toward his first class with the Princess of Hearts. Joey smirked, glancing at Tobias who had a similar sneer on his countenance.

"Phase One is proceeding smoothly...I wasn't expecting all of that to go down however. I apologize for all of those insults he threw at you."

"No worries, I don't let words get the better of me. His reaction was amazing however, it was quite entertaining. You are quite the expert at manipulation...I didn't think that conversation from yesterday was enough to get that one to make changes to the paper." Tobias said.

"It's all about how you word it, my friend. If you insult someone's pride and joy, then they're pride will get the best of them. That means they will try to once again grab attention, she took the bait, hook, line and sinker. Now, we must _volunteer_ in order to make sure everything goes according to plan. Remember, subtle suggestions and nothing to big...I'll leave the big part to you, my good man." Joey said, patting his shoulder, as he headed toward his first class.

"Sorry man, I wanna be there, truly but I have to retake a few tests I missed. You planned everything so far, I'm sure you'll do fine...I shall join you after lunch." he said.

"Alright, see you then partner."

 _ **xxx**_

Science and Sorcery was quite different today, especially because of the chemistry sets that were out on each station. That meant that there would be experiments for all of them to do. Blake honestly loved this part of the class, when you could mess around with magical chemicals and other things in order to make different potions and effects.

Of course that also meant that people had to partner up, and they all immediately went with they're friends. Kitty had gone with Duchess, and Raven had partnered with Apple, a nervous look on her face due to not having done any of the homework. Since Blake had no one to partner with, he ended up sticking with Lizzie. She seemed very comfortable with him nearby, since Maddie, Bunny and Alistair weren't in this class and Kitty had another partner, she was glad to be with a friend. He sat down at his desk, looking at all of the things in front of him.

"Alright, I love the practical shit in this class! I can finally make my dreams come true!" he said, grabbing a vial of pixie dust, watching the glowing intently.

"Are you gonna go all Heisenberg on us and start cooking up meth?" Duchess asked, causing the boy to look at the station below and in front of him.

"You clearly don't know who you are talking to, so let me clue you in. I'm not in danger, Duchess, I am the danger! A guy opens his door and gets shot and you think that of me? No! I am the one who knocks!" he said gruffly. Kitty started clapping her hands, making the boy bow slightly.

"That was nice! We need to finish Breaking Bad, come on! When can we?"

"Sorry Kitty, I have to help Apple through the emotional turmoil of losing Chelsea in Akame Ga Kill. Poor thing started screaming when she saw her disembodied head on a pike." he said.

"Oh, that wasn't a good moment for me...it was quite cruel in my opinion." Lizzie added, earning a nod from the boy.

"Tell me about it, she was one of my favorite characters! She was so cool with that make up box. Now that would be something that could bring Chaos on an entirely new level!"

"Jesus no! Kitty Cheshire with Gaea Foundation would be the worst thing imaginable. She'd be able to transform into anyone, and that would not end well. Oh the humanity!" he exclaimed, placing his arm on his forehead, almost spilling the pixie dust in his hands.

"Alright class, everybody quiet down! Pop quiz on everything in Chapter 3, and if you fail, you get detention!" Professor Rumpelstiltskin announced, jumping into the desk, holding two test tubes in his hands. Blake grabbed a hold of his rubber gloves, pulling them onto his hands, putting his glasses his goggles on.

"Blake, I didn't read chapter 3." Lizzie said, a worried look on her face. He just gave her a grin.

"Don't worry, it's just an extension of what we covered in chapter 2." he whispered, just as Rumpelstiltskin started listing off various chemicals.

He grabbed some matches and struck one on the side of the box, holding it under the hot plate, turning the flame on. Once the water started bubbling he knew he could proceed, he gave Lizzie a smile and a wink, his focus on the stuff before him. He grabbed two bubbling beakers and poured them into the bubbling breaker on the hot plate. He grabbed a hold of the violet powder in front of him, spooning some into the mixture causing it to turn a deep hue of violet. Several explosions sounded off around him and Lizzie, making the girl much more nervous than before.

"Alright then, three phoenix tears, followed by some dragon saliva. Mix that over a low flame, then add three sprinkles of pixie dust, wait for it to bubble." he muttered, watching the mixture intently. He glanced behind him, just in time to see Dexter get turned into a sheep, which honestly made him laugh, earning a loud cry from his friend.

"Wow Blake, I'm impressed. How are you so good with this stuff? How are you passing this class with a C?" Lizzie asked. He shrugged, grabbing the wooden spoon from beside the sink.

"It isn't hard when you memorize the entire periodic table of magical elements. A little bit of magic, a little bit of wonder, and you'll get the results you are after." he said, adding the last three ingredients into the beaker.

"You seriously memorized that entire table?"

"Mhmm, oh wait I forgot the snowflake." he said, grabbing a hold of the insulated box. He grabbed the flake with some tweezers and dropped it into the beaker. A small explosion filled the room and he turned his attention toward Apple and Raven's station, seeing the beautiful orange butterfly that had come from her mixture.

"Nice job Apple White, you get A...B+." Rumpelstiltskin corrected. Blake rolled his eyes, swirling his beaker a bit. It started smoking slightly, a small orb shooting into the air.

"Well, that was a little anticlimactic." Lizzie said firmly.

"Wait for it." he said softly.

The orb burst, a swirling smoke gathering around it. The creature that he had made spread apart its wings, clearing the smoke away. It was a butterfly just like Apple's, only his was an icy blue color, with snowflake patterns on the wings, and thick black lines and swirls on each wings. He clapped his hands happily, a grin on his face.

"Blake Bigby, B-."

"Minus? Seriously?" the boy asked, earning a growl from the teacher, making him cower back a bit.

"I have to say Blake, you are quite handy when it comes to the hands on experiments. I'm not that good when it comes to this, in fact if it doesn't involve riddles or cards, I tend to be very bad at it."

"We all have our strengths and weaknesses. I just happen to have a genuine interest in all of this stuff...although, I'm sure that's just because of the Evil Queen's magic flowing through me. I find this stuff cool, but I don't think I would be any good without it." he said, holding his hand out for the butterfly to land on. He smiled, petting its head, earning a small coo from it in return.

"That isn't true you know, even without the Evil Queen's magic, you'd still be good at this stuff. It's just who you are Blake, don't doubt yourself, or else you'll be breaking your promise to Lucy." Duchess said, giving him a wink.

"Promise, what promise?" Kitty asked, brushing her shirt a bit, from the explosion that had taken place moments prior.

"I promised her, that I wouldn't sulk around anymore. That I would actually try to make friends and get more involved in school. Honestly, I think I wouldn't have done it unless I had come here. It was easier to make friends in Ever After High. No one knew me, they wouldn't think I'm desperate, or a loner...I wanted to go home once...back to my world but now...this is my home. I'm never going back, I love it here...even if I can't see my folks anymore." he said, a sad smile on his face.

"No more talking, let us continue the pop quiz! Experiment number two start now!" Rumpelstiltskin said, causing everyone in the room to groan in annoyance.


	67. Way Too Wonderland II

**A/N:**

 **Do you wonder? Well do you? Well you are about too, because Chapter 67 of Through the Looking Glass is here! This chapter marks the official true beginning of Way Too Wonderland, as this is the time Blake and the girls travel to the world beyond the Rabbit Hole. Bare with me, this is going to be a bit different than the actual special. But in order to make it all fit the story, changes had to be made...for one, I wrote this before watching Episode 1 of Way Too Wonderland, so I had completely forgotten about the spell Raven cast to get them all to Wonderland in the first place. So after this was written, it had to be added in, so that entire sequence was added post script. So it might not fit in, but oh well, it is what it is.**

 **Blake's outfit is explained in detail, as he is the only one who's outfit you don't see, because he doesn't exist in the special, it's sad, I know, but I didn't make this series, only this story. It took me about two hours to actually come up with a cool looking design, so it was a combination of the Mad Hatter, with Kirito from Sword Art Online, a bit of armor, to make him look kinda like a Knight, and also to give a little bit of Wonderland flare to the outfit, several things that gives it a reference to card games and chess. I wish I could draw it, but honestly I cannot draw for shit, it would be awesome if I had Blake's outfit drawn down on paper, cuz then I could actually design it, create it and cosplay it. Cuz you know, cosplaying as oc characters is always fun, and creative. Especially when you cosplay Team Skull from Pokemon with all of your buddies one weekend cuz you wanted to invade Walmart for some snacks.**

 **I have gotten quite a lot of theories revolving around the truth behind Blake and the reasons the Evil Queen has chosen him, and let me say, the last one I got was the wildest thing I have ever seen. It was so out there that I actually really loved it...is it true? is it false? Well you'll have to wait...the full truth behind it all will be revealed in Dragon Games when the Evil Queen does in fact explain it. So save your cherries for that arc, as they will be popped then...nothing sexual of course.**

 **Finally we get to the One True Pairing, it is coming along in this arc and you all get to see who snagged Blake's heart. There have been a lot of hints, and there will be a few more during this arc, but it will happen soon. Because of this, that means that future Segway chapters will include a little note at the beginning, where the OTP never happened and this is what is happening instead. Just so the connotation stays the same...I have quite a lot of segways to write, and not enough time to write them. Now that Way Too Wonderland is being posted, I can work on Chapter 2 for Black Aria and Black Apple, but also Chapter 3 of Pantoufle Noir. Among them, we will get Black Knight, Blake x Darling, Black Rose, Blake x Briar, Black Wolf, Blake x Cerise, Black Werewolf, Blake x Ramona, and various others that I will not name here. But those are most of the pairings that may or may not spawn from the finale of Way Too Wonderland, so you'll be able to sink your teeth into a lot of content for this story...ah...if only it was easier on me...so a lot of these stories will have this finale as part of the beginning because of this, so prepare thy anus, for it shall be penetrated with words!**

 **I leave you with this...the theme song for this chapter is Do You Wonder, a lovely song from Ever After High's special, Way Too Wonderland. The first time I heard this song, I got so addicted to it, that I ended up buying it on my Ipod, and to this day, it is on my list of top ten favorite songs of all time. There is a song used in this chapter, called The Ballad of Klimpaloon, but it isn't really sung as a performance style thing...just as a joke. Blake becomes more savage in this arc, because of him finding the truth about a lot of things...you know how it is. Black and Yellow, Black and Yellow, Black and Yellow, ironically enough, those were the colors I chose for Blake's outfit, who knew?**

 **I hope you all like this chapter, tell me what you all think or if you have anymore wild theories, leave those behind too, I enjoy reading those. See ya all later gators!**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 67

Way Too Wonderland II

Blake snuck away from his Advanced Sword Training class ten minutes early. Mr. Knight had been busy showing everyone how to disassemble Muskets for proper cleaning, so his attention wasn't on anyone in particular. He had been able to make it back to the school rather quickly, so he was able to head to his dorm and grab the things he needed, stuffing them into his bag. That of course included the book he had brought with him from the Evil Queen's castle, and his journal, which he had stored in his drawer for safe keeping. He started making his way back to the Study Hall, which luckily wasn't in use at the moment, which was perfect for what he wanted.

The room was empty when he arrived, six desks being placed in a semi-circle in the middle of the room. The desks had book shaped tops, instead of the normal ones he was used to seeing in other classes. The carpet was a deep maroon color with golden lining on it. The entire room was filled with books and tomes of every shape and size. The large windows let in lots of golden sunshine, giving the room a rather serene look. He closed the door right after, making sure to be as quiet as he could. He reached into his bag, pulling out his box of chalk, which he had bought at the school store, along with his book, which he opened to a specific page.

"Alright, if I set up this circle, and combine it with that other spell, I'll definitely be able to open that portal." he muttered.

He grabbed the erasers and started to erase everything that had been written and drawn on the board, making sure it was completely clean. He brushed the chalk dust from his hands, grabbing one stick from his pack, grabbing a nearby ladder, climbing up to the top of it. He glanced down at the book he had brought, memorizing the lines written on it. He started drawing them, making sure he was doing everything as closely as possible. He slowly made his way down the steps, keeping the oval he was drawing in line. Once he had done the first half of it, he did the other half, backing away and comparing it to the book.

He started drawing all of the more intricate lines, the small designs coming from every the top and bottom sides of the oval. He tossed the last bit of his chalk into the trash, grabbing a new stick as he started climbing back up, the book in hand. Ever so slowly, he started drawing the small runes that had been written in the paper. They were archaic runes that he hadn't even learned about in Magicology yet. He slowed his breathing down, his movements becoming almost methodical as he continued drawing everything from the picture in front of him.

"Um...Blake, what are you doing here?" the voice of Darling asked, causing him to look away from his work.

"Volunteering, felt the need to rack up those community service points while I'm still in high school." he replied with a grin.

"Okay then...and that drawing? You trying to practice your artistic side?" she asked curiously, leaning forward on the desk, resting her elbows on it.

"It's a surprise...that spell you found the other day, do you have it with you?" he asked curiously. She narrowed her eyes for a few seconds, reaching into her bag for the papers she had found, handing them to him.

"I always carry them with me, in case they come in handy. Something tells me Wonderland is in need of a couple knights...you have my full support." she said, giving him a wink.

"Thanks Darling, just don't say anything about what I'm doing. Far as you know, I'm just here on an art project." he said. She nodded, taking a seat the first available desk. The bell rung, signaling the beginning of the lunch period.

Blake tried to keep himself as busy as he could. He made sure each and every single rune he was writing was perfect. He remembered in one of his favorite anime series, one of the characters ended up using the wrong runes when he cast his magic circle, making the spell completely fail. For something as intricate as this, it needed to come out perfectly, the last thing he needed to do was end up in Cleveland...because that would probably spell the end of his life, unless it was in an alternate version of Earth at least. Darling kept watching silently, wondering to herself what every single rune meant. She knew every single one stood for a letter in the archaic alphabet, but that's where her knowledge ended. She decided at that moment to read more magic tomes in the future.

Apple White made her way into the room a few minutes after the bell rung, carrying a stack of books and papers in her hands, along with a quill. She set them down on the desk, glancing behind her to see what Blake was doing. She had expected him to show up, but she hadn't been expecting him to be drawing on the board. She blinked a few times, glancing at ever line he was currently drawing.

"Um Blake...what is all this?"

"Art project, hand me another piece of chalk would you sweetheart?" he asked. The girl shrugged, pulling a new piece from the box on the desk top. Once she had given it to him, she sat down behind the desk.

"Alright then, I call this planning meeting to order. Now then, everyone who's here, sound off with your full name." she said happily, only to see, that aside from Blake, who's name she wrote neatly below hers, the only person in the room was Darling Charming. She gave her fellow princess a wave.

"Hello Apple, Darling Charming, present and accounted for."

"Okay then...so only two of you. That's alright, I think between the three of us we can make this work." she said, writing Darling's name on the paper.

"Are you disappointed?"

"A little bit, I was expecting more people to show up, since you know...they wanted me to write this article in the first place. So...what are your interests in Wonderland, Darling?"

"Oh you know...there's a lot we don't know about Wonderland. I'm dying to know what secrets it holds." she said, a grin on her face. Blake paused what he was doing, glancing at the platinum blonde.

"Secrets?" he asked curiously.

"Did I say secrets? I meant...marmots...you know...those big things that come out of Tulgey Wood?"

"Those are Bandersnatches, I don't think there are even any marmots in Wonderland. If there were, I'd be scared shitless, those things are fucking scary as hell." the black haired boy said with a shrug. The door opened a second later, and Joey walked into the room, hands in his pockets. He glanced around the room, a frown on his face.

"So, this is the planning committee? I'm sort of disappointed."

"You can just leave if you want, it isn't obligatory for you to be here." Blake said, climbing down from the step ladder he was using, finally finished with the left half of the circle.

"You forget that I am knowledgeable on Wonderland, just as much as you are. I know about the Bandersnatches, the Jabberwocky, the Vorpal Blade, and I know a lot about Looking-Glass Land. After all, who do you think watched every Alice in Wonderland special, movie, read every book and every poem revolving around this shit with Lucy? It would make her happy if I used my knowledge to help people. Since her soul is being disturbed and all." he said.

"When Lucy sees you again after so long, I really want her to punch your chops. Because you are honestly such a dick." Darling said, causing Blake to scoff, hiding his laughter. Joey narrowed his eyes, about to say something when Apple stepped between them.

"O-kay...so it seems we've run into a problem...let's just all be respectful toward each other. Joey, if you have knowledge on Wonderland, and wish to share it with us, then it is most appreciated."

"Thank you Apple, for being the reasonable one of the group, I shall take my seat." he said, walking behind the desk, subtly wiping away one of the runes Blake had finished writing, it was so small that it wasn't even noticeable. He smirked as he sat down at the desk next to the one Darling had claimed.

"Well, with the addition of Joey, we have four people to help us out. I have quite a lot of ideas already, we will begin by broaching the first topic...which is." Apple said, only to be interrupted by the door opening. Lizzie walked into the room, a rather sad expression on her face. They were all surprised to actually see here there.

"Lizzie, I thought you said you didn't want to talk about Wonderland at the moment." Blake said, causing the girl to look up at him.

"I...will admit it is rather difficult to talk about Wonderland at the moment. But you need all the help you can get, Apple did say she was going to interview us during the week. It would be better to get mine out of the way." she said, claiming the desk nearest the window.

"I know it's hard for you, we understand if you don't feel like talking. We are your friends after all, and we respect your choices." Apple said, giving her a smile. Blake continued copying the circle onto the board, finding it easier as it went along.

"Is there anything you want to share with us first? Didn't Blake say something at breakfast about your mom's birthday being today?" Darling asked curiously, causing Joey to scoff from his seat.

"Hey yeah, that was when he was throwing his little hissy fit." he said. Blake threw the remainder of his chalk at him, hitting him square in the face. The black haired boy smirked as he grabbed another piece of chalk, returning to his drawing. Joey wanted to do something, but he knew his plans weren't gonna work if he didn't finish that drawing.

"You are right Darling, my mother invited me to her birthday bash, which is today at tea time." Lizzie replied, handing the two girls the magical scroll.

" _You're presence is required today at my birthday bash. Though it has been a long time, I hope to see you, so I may bask in your presence. And don't forget the presents!"_

"Whoa, the message is different." Blake said, a confused look on his face.

"It's self updating...she really wants me to go. But with every portal closed off, there is no way I can make it to Wonderland. The Headmaster took my book, there's no other way to get there."

"I'm sorry, the Well of Wonder would be a viable option, but thanks to my dumb ass, I forgot the WonderMap Alistair, let me borrow back at the Evil Queen's castle."

"What the hell were you doing there Blakey? Want to follow your evil roots?" Joey asked, earning a glare from the boy. He jumped down to the floor, his eyes back on the board.

"I wanted to find information on something, and I can successfully say I have. Now stop distracting me!" he exclaimed, his focus solely on his magic circle. Lizzie wanted to ask him what it was for, but she decided not to bother him.

"I'm sorry that you can't be there Lizzie...if we could get you to Wonderland we would. But it's impossible right now." Apple said. She felt the paper in her hands being tugged, and accidentally let it go, watching as it flew up into the air.

"Ha! Invisibility spell, I had to pull some major strings to get that one down. I felt the need to put a stop to this self-pity train. We were one pun away from breaking the dam, and I don't think the eyeliner is water proof."

"Faybelle, what are you doing here?" Darling asked curiously, earning a smirk from the dark fairy.

"I want to learn about Wonderland duh...and my boy toy told me he would be here." she said, winking at Joey who gave her a smile back.

"You two are? Ew, that's so gross."

"At least I can get a girlfriend Blake, don't knock it until you try it." the boy said, giving Faybelle a quick kiss before leaning back against his desk, glancing at the invitation in her hands.

"Anyway, it's clear that you want to go home. You are gonna need a lot of dark magic to force a portal open, luckily you are looking at the only one capable of doing that." she said, taking a seat on the desk.

"Uh...Raven is stronger than you, she can open that portal without breaking a sweat."

"Then why doesn't she Blake? Oh that's right, because she has no control. Besides, she isn't even here, so don't bother even mentioning her right now!" the daughter of the Dark Fairy said, a smirk on her face. A second later, a dark violet mist filled the room, from it fell Raven, along with several other people, all landing in various areas of the room. Alistair, Maddie, Briar, and Bunny, the ones she had managed to bring with her.

"Ugh...finally! You have no idea how many times we tried to make it here." she exclaimed, stretching her limbs a bit. She heard fluttering underneath her, and glanced down, cringing when she saw that she was sitting on Faybelle. She quickly jumped off, a sheepish smile on her face.

"You seriously need to control your magic." she said.

"Sorry, still learning you know...hehe."

"Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it soon." Bunny added, shifting into her human form, landing on Faybelle's back. She growled, glaring at the white haired girl.

"Get off me." she hissed, causing Bunny to jump right off, several Sorry's slipping through her lips.

"Guys, I can't believe you are all here! I'm so happy that you made it!" Apple cried excitedly, giving Raven a hug.

"We wouldn't miss a conversation about Wonderland for anything in the world. The meeting hasn't started yet, has it?" Alistair asked, earning a smile from the blonde princess.

"It's actually just beginning. Grab a seat and we can get started!"

"We can't start yet! No meeting can start without tea! And you can't have tea without scones, and you can't have scones without jam. Oh, and I can't eat jam without butter."

"Maddie, did anyone ever tell you to watch the glucose intake? I'm scared that you'll be a full blown diabetic before your story starts." Blake said, earning a snort from the girl.

"Oh you! I have Wonderland magic after all, it protects me from silly things like getting sick from sugar. Besides, I only use sugar in my tea, everything else is Au naturale!"

" _Ugh! I can't take this anymore, pause the story!"_

"Ah, Brooke! Why the hell are you screaming?" Blake cried, rubbing his ears slightly. The others just looked at him in confusion, wondering who he was talking too, of course only he and Maddie could hear her at the moment.

" _Because! While all of you are here having this meeting, with those delicious looking scones and that amazing smelling tea...the Queen of Hearts is in danger! Someone is going to try to dethrone her, today!"_

"Today? They're gonna do what?" Maddie cried, eyes widening in shock.

"Shit, I had completely forgotten about that! What is Lucy doing? Wasn't she supposed to be looking for Excalibur?" the boy asked, earning a sigh from the young narrator.

" _Yes, but as it turns out she was captured. I can't say by who, because I didn't see...all I know is that Alice helped her out. I don't have much time, you have to tell Lizzie right away, her mother is in danger. And if anything happens to her, then..."_

"It'll be off with her head." the daughter of the Mad Hatter whispered ominously. Blake swallowed hard, finishing the last few runes. He looked at his book and at the circle he had drawn, seeing it was identical to each other. He sighed, placing the book on the table.

"Alright then guys...we have some serious shit going down right now. Our friend Brooke, she's a narrator by the way, just told us some heavy stuff. Lizzie, your mom is in danger...someone is trying to kill her." Blake said, causing the girl to jump from her seat.

"What? Are you certain of this?" she asked.

"I heard it too, Brooke wouldn't lie. She can't tell us more than what she gets a peek at, but she's saying the truth. There was urgency in her voice, so that means she is 100 percent accurate." Maddie added.

"Oh no...what happened to Gloriosa? She was supposed to find Excalibur...she told us that she was heading to Marmoreal to grab a hold of the holy sword...to protect the Queen of Hearts!" Alistair said.

"She was caught...Lucy...Gloriosa, was seen by Alice being taken somewhere. Brooke didn't specify where, but she said that she had helped her out in one way or another. I'm not sure if she's free, but if she isn't then the Queen is definitely in danger." Blake said, a frown on his face.

"Hate to piss in your cornflakes but...how are we gonna get there without a portal? Didn't Lizzie just say the only way left was the Well?" Joey asked.

"That's right...but we don't have the Book my mother gave me...and Blake misplaced the WonderMap, which would have showed us any location in Wonderland and in Ever After. All of the natural portals were closed as well...we are completely cut off." Lizzie said.

"Well, we're surrounded by books...maybe there's something here that we can use to open a portal!" Raven said, earning a smirk from Blake, who brushed his hands free of the chalk dust covering them.

"Hehehe, as it turns out we do have a portal. What I just spent drawing on the board was something I found right in this book. I retrieved it from the Evil Queen's library, and when I tested it out, it turned any surface with this circle into a portal. All we have to do is cast it, and we can walk right into Wonderland." Blake said, a smirk on his face.

"No way, are you serious?" Darling asked, turning to face the board.

"This is insane, you actually found something that specific?" Faybelle added, earning a nod from the boy.

"I did...it took me awhile to read it...but essentially, this book will let us travel right through to Wonderland. However, this isn't done...this is only the first half of the spell. Here is the second half, from a book that Darling found in the Forbidden Library, this is our gateway spell, which will take us straight there with the use of an enchanted item from that world." he said, placing the bundle of papers on the desk top.

"Alright! I can't believe we're actually this close to going home! I can't wait to see my mom again!" Alistair said happily.

"Me too, I miss my father!"

"Don't get ahead of yourselves, Blake just said this spell was incomplete. You can't cast a spell with only two thirds of it, so where's the last one?" Joey asked, arms crossed over his chest.

"That's the thing, I have no idea where it is...I don't think you need it. We have the charm needed to connect straight to Wonderland, but I just wanted to make sure." Blake said, rubbing his neck, a sheepish smile on his face.

"Ugh...you are an idiot!"

"Hey, at least he's trying to do something, what the hell are you doing? Other than complain!" Briar snapped, causing the boy to jump back.

"Whatever, I said I would help and I would...searching for anything written about Wonderland would do...as a start." he said, reaching into a nearby shelf, pulling out a red book.

"He's right...by studying the things written about Wonderland, we might actually find a way back. Let's see what we can find, anything will do no matter how big or small." Raven said, earning nods from her friends.

Blake's eyes started scanning the room, trying to find a book of interest. He ended up walking to a random shelf, scanning the titles for anything that had to do with Wonderland. He was honestly thinking of using a search spell, but he wanted to save his magic, knowing that it would take quite a lot to enchant the chalk board with it. Even with Raven's help, it would take quite a lot to handle everything. He skimmed through the book he had grabbed, shoving it back into the shelf. He placed his foot on the edge of the shelf, grabbing the two tomes from the fourth shelf above him, pulling them free with ease.

"Whoa...I found some Wonderland tax law books. Jesus, I thought I fucking left this back on Earth, I didn't think this was a subject here."

"Of course it is a subject here. You must understand each and every tax that is applicable in Wonderland. It changes by the week dear, or whenever mother wants to change it." Lizzie said.

"Well, the Queen of Hearts has nothing on King George then...I'm surprised they haven't dumped tea into the river in protest." Joey said, chuckling right after. Of course Blake was the only one who got the joke.

"What is he talking about? Who would dare throw tea away?" Maddie cried, an annoyed look on her face.

"He's talking about the Boston Tea Party. When The United States was being colonized by the English, King George was taxing the colonies outrageously on everything. Postage and tea were among the highest taxes, so to send a message to the tyranny of the King, everyone in Boston intercepted three cargo ships, stole the tea from inside, and dumped it into the ocean. This even became known as the Boston Tea Party. It was one of the important events which would serve as one of the many reasons why the United States would eventually secede from England." Blake explained.

"Fascinating...would you mind telling me about that stuff later Blake? I would love to learn more about your world." Darling said, earning a nod from the boy.

"Sure, any time." he replied, smiling brightly.

" _Damn that bastard...always able to get girls to swoon. Who cares about Earth history anyway? That was the most boring shit in the universe!"_ Joey exclaimed in his mind.

"Something wrong Joe?"

"Eh? Nothing at all Faybelle, I just never liked history growing up...sure it was interesting, but I didn't care for it." he replied.

It was silent for a few minutes, with everyone pulling books from every shelf around them, trying to find anything related to the portal. Blake had sat down next to the wall, several open books in front of him. He skimmed every single page, flipping them all rapidly as he did, memorizing all of the information he could. Some of it was information that he knew about the place, from Wonderland History or stuff that he knew from Lucy. There was some other stuff that he didn't know, Rainbow Water day, where people made various pastries with Rainbow water as its base ingredient. He also learned about Unbirthdays, which he already knew from both Alice in Wonderland, Lucy and Maddie.

"I can't find anything." he muttered dryly, closing the books he had opened. He set them aside grabbing a thick tome, leaning back against the wall, next to a mirror in fact, which he hadn't even noticed. He licked his finger as he turned the page, reading the Riddlish on the first page he stopped at. He started humming a song, a small smile coming onto his face as he did.

"He's made out of wool, he's itchy to wear

He's got broad stripes and Savior-faire.

He's out of place, almost everywhere since 1883.

He's a costume out of time,

Both ridiculous and sublime

Seems innocuous, but I'm afraid

He's scaring me!

He's the magical old-timey bathing suit

That lives in the Himalayas.

They call him Klimpaloon!"

"What the fuck are you singing over there?" Joey asked, glaring at Blake who just shrugged.

"The song I fucked your mom too." he replied, causing everyone in the room to gasp in surprise. Alistair was trying to hold back his laughter, same with Bunny and Raven. Everyone else was in a mixture of being shocked or impressed. Joey sucked his teeth, nodding slowly in acceptance.

"That was savage! Straight savage, I give you props." he said.

"I do try. The band is called Love Handle if you are all interested." Blake said, shrugging it off as he continued reading the book in his lap.

"Well, here's an interesting fact. Maddie, is it true that school in Wonderland takes place one day a year?" Raven asked.

"Ahuh! But you gotta cram a lot a lot a lot a lot of stuff during that one day!" she replied.

"It was a wonderful place to live, we had some of the best times in those halls." Alistair said.

"And your mother is a good ruler Lizzie, it's just that the curse made her a bit paranoid. That's all." Bunny said, patting her friend's shoulder.

"I know...it must be so hard, having to run an entire Queendom by herself." she said.

"I'm sorry Lizzie, despite what I said in the castleteria, this truly is my mom's fault. I almost wish she were around...I could try to reason with her...se if we could reverse the curse."

"Rae, I know you are trying to be hopeful...but come on. You and I both know she isn't going to help us, even if she were here. Look at all the shit she's done to you, to me...to Ever After...to Wonderland. If we got help from her, it would be a backward ass attempt...and it would make things worse." Blake said, a frown on his face as he closed the last book he had found.

"I know." she said sadly.

He wrapped an arm around her, holding her tightly against himself. He glanced over his shoulder, seeing a flash out of the corner of his eye. He saw a single book falling to the floor, landing open right around the middle of it. He released his hold on his sister, making his way over to the book, picking it up from the floor. He noticed several things being drawn on it, the White Rabbit, a picture of a school, several pictures of chess pieces, even a picture of a large castle made of cards. He glanced up at the mirror, hearing a soft laughter behind the glass.

"Did that last comment tickle your fancy? I'm sure you feel insulted right about now...does that mean your shriveled heart feels a twinge of love?"

"Who are you talking to?" Briar asked curiously. He turned to face her, a blank look on his face.

"No one of importance. This book fell out of the shelf, it's a book entirely about Wonderland." he said, showing it to the others. Raven took a hold of it, searching through all of the pages. After a few seconds, she stopped looking at the top corner of the book, a frown on her face.

"My mother."

"Wait a tick, what's a picture of the Evil Queen doing in a book all about Wonderland?" Maddie asked curiously.

"She's got something in her hands, a book...but I can't read the title."

"Maybe I can get it. I'll try using my new scanning app, place the book flat on the desk." Apple instructed, earning a nod from Raven who did as she was told. The blonde scanned the picture into her MirrorPad.

"I gotta admit, Ever After tech is a lot better than Earth stuff." Joey said, arms crossed.

"The Iphone X, the most beautiful 4k experience in your pocket...don't worry, if you want to listen to music like a normal ass American, you gotta buy our 150 dollar Apple Air earbuds. Of if you'd like to use a headphone jack, you can buy an extra cable for 10.99, however you can't charge your phone and listen to music at the same time. Christ, if Steve Jobs was still alive, the would have fuckin died when he saw this shit go down." Blake said, earning a chuckle from Joey.

"Tell me about it, wait until 2020, they'll probably have the Iphone 14 that's so flat it looks like a fucking crepe."

"Check this out, the book she's hold in her hands has some visible words on the mirror's reflection." Raven said, taking a hold of the MirrorPad.

"Can you read it?" Lizzie asked. Raven hummed for a second, flipping the picture over, eyes widening in shock.

"The Wonderland Curse." she replied, earning surprised looks from the others.

"So, she's holding the curse in her hands...wait if you have this, then that means you can reverse the curse!" Briar said, an excited look on her face.

"Yes! Then Headmaster Grimm can take down the block between our worlds!" Apple added. Blake took a hold of the MirrorPad, his eyes hovering over the words.

"Riddlish, just like the other one...could this be part of the trifecta? Or is this just a decoy?" he muttered, looking back at the board.

"Raven, you can use this to take us to Wonderland!" Briar said, a smile on her face. Raven however didn't look happy, in fact she looked rather nervous.

"I can't! I'm still getting used to this magic thing."

"But you teleported here." Apple said, earning a sigh from her.

"After like four tries...magic is just hard for some people." she replied. Kitty appeared in the room right next to her, a bright grin on her face as she greeted everyone.

"Sorry I'm late everyone, they had chicken tenders at the castleteria today."

"Dammit! My fucking wrap! I was waiting all month for chicken tenders. Shit balls!" Joey exclaimed, grabbing a hold of his hair, making Blake chuckle. He shook his head, glancing at the tablet.

"If this is the way, then I'll take a crack at it. I'm almost done my portal anyway." he said, turning to the board.

"Tch...you think this is going to open the portal to Wonderland? Get real...it would take a whole lotta magic for that to happen. Magic that you don't have! You should let me do it, with this I'll be able to open that portal, lickety-split!" Faybelle cried, swiping the pad from his hands.

"Uh...you don't want to do that." the boy warned, she smirked pushing him back. Everyone stepped away, watching the girl get into her normal Cheer Leading stance, a grin on her face.

"I'm sure it's simple, all you have to do is say it backwards! Ready okay! Curse this cast I Wonderland...what the?!"

They all watched with amusement as Faybelle slowly turned into a sheep, her small wings keeping her aloft. She let out a cry of annoyance, sounding more like an angry sheep than anything. She let out a huff, heading toward the door.

"That's it! I am so outta here!"

"Huh...that's the second time I've seen that happen today." Briar noted, causing Kitty to grin.

"Doesn't get old, does it?"

"I think I know what happened. The curse must have a protection charm on it, only someone from the Queen family can cast it." Darling said.

"That means only Raven can do it, you are the next Evil Queen." Apple added.

"I know but...I don't think I can do this."

"Raven, take a breath...I'm right here okay? I got the same magic as you, thanks to this shard. I think I'm going crazy, but I think I'm happy to have this thing in my chest, at least right now. If we combine our magic, we'll be able to enchant this board, we'll be able to just walk into Wonderland. Better yet, this spell looks normal...no one will see this portal if they walk here...we gotta try Raven...there isn't much time left!" Blake said. The girl sighed, giving him a nod. She followed him toward the board, both standing in front of it.

"Alright, what do we do with this?"

"We have to enchant the circle...this spell that Darling found, coupled with Gloriosa's charm will keep it stable. And I think the Wonderland Curse read backward will make it so we can travel there without incident. It might even break the curse by casting it on the portal." he said firmly.

"Are you sure about that? Or are you making assumptions?" Joey asked.

"I'm not sure alright? This is all just a hunch, but what else do we have to try? It's either this, or nothing and doing nothing gets us nowhere. So we might as well do something." he replied. He took a hold of Raven's hand, feeling the magic flowing through them as he held his hand out, the magic circle glowing a deep violet.

"This portal is incomplete and without shimmer, with my power it shall glimmer. A doorway to between, this shall become...aspect become complete, open now! The Roads between!" he chanted. He felt his magic drop slightly as it flowed out of his body, shooting straight toward the board, making it glow a bright blue-violet as the magic circle was enchanted.

"Now Raven, the other spell." Blake said, causing the girl to look at her tablet.

"Curse this cast I Wonderland on. Worse to bad, from bad to good from.." she paused, seeing a reddish violet mist start flowing toward the portal that was rapidly forming around them.

Her eyes followed the glowing light as it lit up the chalk lines and runes, making them look brighter than before. Blake did the same, following each small dot. He let out a gasp when he saw one of the runes had been erased.

"Oh shit!"

"What...what's wrong?" Apple cried. The boy reached for the chalk, going toward the missing rune, about to draw it in when the magic pushed him back into one of the desks.

"Ooh...that looked like it hurt." Joey said, earning a glare from Briar.

"Are you alright Blake?"

"I'm fine...one of the runes got erased...I'm not sure what'll happen with out it!" he said.

"Well, with luck the spell will break right? Without the right runes then the spell becomes useless." Kitty said.

"Except this was written by the Evil Queen, so that means it will still do something!" Alistair cried out. The last of the runes lit up, making the board ripple a bit. They all just stood there, sighing with relief when nothing happened.

However, a swirl started appearing in the middle of the room, the sound of suction following it. Blake felt a tug on his clothes, seeing the portal had started to suck things inside it.

"Crap, it's sucking stuff in. We have to read this backward, it'll close the spell and it'll give me enough time to fix it." Blake said, earning a nod from Raven, who took a hold of his hand.

"Okay, let's begin!" she said.

Before they could, Blake's grasp on the Wonderland book slipped, and it was sucked into the portal. He let out a cry, letting go of Raven's hand as he jumped into the portal after it. Before anyone could question his sanity, the suction power started increasing, sucking Raven, Apple and Kitty into the portal. Joey grabbed a hold of the back shelf, his arm wrapped around Darling's waist, preventing her from being sucked in. Alistair and Bunny were hugging each other tightly behind the railing, which was surprisingly sturdy enough to hold them in place.

"Briar, take my hand!" Lizzie cried, holding her hand out to her friend. Briar grabbed a hold of it, trying to reach the railing Lizzie was holding on to. She let out a scream of fear as her hold slipped, the portal sucking her in.

"Yay! This is so much fun! I believe I can fly!" Maddie cried, jumping into the air, holding her arms forward like a super hero as she was absorbed into the portal.

"She's insane!" Joey cried. Darling held her hand out, reaching toward Lizzie, only for the girl's hold on the railing to slip. She let out a scream of fear watching the girl being absorbed into the portal just like everyone else.

Joey smirked, knowing everything was going according to plan. He knew that erasing that one rune would do just that. But for everything to work out smoothly, he needed to have a taunt. The spell he had found was one the Evil Queen had told him about, which would take everyone to a realm between realms, no exactly another realm, but not exactly reality either. It could be compared to the realm of the Narrators in a way, except way bigger. It was where all of the doorways to each realm connected to Ever After were. He smirked, letting go of the shelf, causing him and Darling to fly forward. Both of them grabbed a hold of the railing, the suction being enough to pull them off their feet.

"This is some crazy shit! I didn't sign up for this!" he said.

"We have to close the portal, we have to get them back!" Darling cried. He nodded, using his strength to flip the girl over the railing so she wouldn't be sucked in after him.

"I'll go get them...I wanna be a hero! Pokemon!" he sung, letting go of the railing. He was sucked into the portal, which rippled a second later.

The effects of the spell finally wore off, the suction in the entire room cutting off. Whatever was mid air fell to the ground, all of the desks had been pulled near the board, but since they were too big, they hadn't been sucked in. several papers and books littered the floor. Darling stood up, eyes widening as she walked toward the board, rapping her knuckles on it.

"Oh no...Blake, Apple...everyone!" she cried.

"Are you alright Darling? It seems we were the only ones not sucked into that portal." Alistair said. Bunny stood beside him, a frightened look on her face.

"I'm fine! But our friends...they were sucked into that portal...they were probably warped somewhere else. We need to search the school for them, just in case!"

"You're right Darling...it's obvious they didn't go to Wonderland, they couldn't have if that spell was broken. So they have to be in Ever After somewhere. We'll take a quick look around and meet back here in half an hour."

"Alright then, message us if you find anyone...we'll be right back." Alistair said, leading Bunny out of the room. Darling sighed, shaking her head.

"It's possible that they're somewhere around here...but I'm sure they're not...I have to go there...but it'll take a lot of my own magic...maybe I shouldn't have kept my mouth shut." she muttered, hastily leaving the Study Hall.

 _ **xxx**_

Blake let out a groan, his head was spinning as he forced himself to his knees. His vision was blurry for a few seconds, but quickly cleared. He looked around, seeing he was in some weird place. It was glowing, not like there was a light in the room, but as in the entire place seemed to be exuding light...almost like a glow stick. The entire area was midnight blue in color, and several moving patches of grass and dirt could be seen floating around, moving in all directions. He tried standing up, feeling a weakness in his legs as he did, his stomach was churning, and it took everything he had not to vomit on the floor.

"Ugh...where am I?" he muttered. He heard a few groans beside him and turned around, eyes widening when he saw he wasn't alone.

Raven, Apple, Briar, Maddie, Kitty, Lizzie and even Joey had been there. He remembered what had happened, eyes widening a bit as the others started regaining consciousness.

"What happened? Where are we?" Raven asked, forcing herself to her feet.

"That incomplete spell took us to this place...I think this is the in-between." he replied.

"The in-between? What do you mean by that?" Kitty asked curiously, brushing some dust from her clothes. Briar helped Lizzie up, returning her glove to her, which she had been holding.

"What he means is, this is the road between...I read about this place in Magicology. Supposedly, the portals are all connected to each world by magic...but if a world is cut off and a backdoor is opened, there's a chance you can end up here. From this place, you can go to any other realm you want, as long as the door is open. It serves as a more indirect way of getting where you wanna go." Joey explained, looking around the area. It reminded him of the Worlds Between from the game Kingdom Hearts, except there was no road of light and no stars swirling around him.

"Great, that means we're stuck between worlds! Nice going Blake."

"Kitty, I swear to god I will slap you!" the boy replied, earning a giggle from the boy. He sighed when he realized she was just messing with him.

"This isn't necessarily bad...we can just find the door to Wonderland and walk through it." Briar said, glancing around the area.

"You better prepare then honey, there are portals to places other than realms connected to Ever After. You ever hear of the Multi-verse theory? Yeah, well this is a close equivalent to that place. Every single door here will lead to the past, present, future, and even alternate Ever After. Now that I think about it, I think I wanna find the portal where I'm the leader of Purple Rhapsody instead of Blake."

"I wanna find the Ever After where Joey never got wished here by me." Blake muttered, earning a dainty laugh from Lizzie.

"We still have this one...maybe if we cast this spell from this place, we'll be able to find the correct door!" Raven said, holding the stack of papers Darling had found up. She was also holding the book Blake had gotten as well as the one they found in the Study Hall.

"Hey, that's not a bad idea...it's worth a shot at least!" Apple said, an encouraging tone in her voice. Blake took the paper from her hands, reading it over, translating the words in his head, a frown on his face.

"This won't work...this portal spell is designed to open a portal within a realm, specifically Ever After. It won't work in the realm between realms...it could even turn into something else entirely. But there is one part that can work, the part where it requires a charm from someone in Wonderland." he said, flipping to the last page. He reached for his watch chain, pulling the charm from it, holding it in the palm of his hand.

"Do you think this will work?" Briar asked, looking closely at her friends.

"I'm not sure myself...but we're already this deep, we might as well jump in right?" Raven asked, earning a nod from the others.

"Get back, just in case." Blake added. All of their friends backed away from them, as Raven once again took Blake's hand, slipping her fingers through it. She held the papers out, her eyes hovering over a single phrase, while Blake held the charm out before him.

"Ne hoc leporem, aperire ostium admirari!" _ **(Let this charm open the door to Wonder.)**_

The charm in Blake's hand started glowing a fierce golden color. It flew out into in front of them, spinning around its axis rather rapidly. It shot a light right to the ground, forming a large flower like marking. Blake noticed that it was in fact the same shape of of the charm, which slowly started turning black. The lines glowed a bright blue, the GW on the disappearing. It wasn't long before it started turning dark, the light fading from it.

"That was anticlimactic." Joey muttered, shoving his hands in his pocket.

"I gotta agree there...I was expecting fireworks...that's too bad...whelp, time to go home!" Maddie said, only to be grabbed by Briar before she could walk off. Blake approached the large black spot on the ground seeing it was nearly the size of a pond. He peered into it, eyes widening a bit.

"A friend in need is a friend you seek. Through the Portal you two shall meet. Chains of gold, Charms of love, the Way Too Wonder, shall come from Below...guys, this is it...the answer to the riddle the Cheshire Cat gave me. The Way Too Wonderland shall come from Below...this is a rabbit hole." he said, turning to face his friends.

"A rabbit hole? That means...we can take it back home!" Lizzie said, clapping her hands excitedly.

"Oh ho ho! This is so exciting! I should prepare some tea for us in celebration!" Maddie said.

"Guys...even though we found this portal...I'm not sure if we can exactly take it. We're not sure if it'll actually lead to Wonderland...besides our friends are back there, worried shitless. I think we should go back to Ever After, tell them we're fine and then bring them back here. After all, Alistair and Bunny deserve to come with all of us." Raven said.

"She's right, it wouldn't be right for us to take this rabbit hole without them. Would you mind waiting just a few more minutes Lizzie?" Blake asked. She sighed, giving the boy a smile.

"Time is of the essence...so let us find a portal to Ever After High quickly...I believe that door right there might be our ticket. I've got a gut feeling about it." she said, pointing to the door in the distance. The all started walking toward it, all except Joey who stayed to the very back.

"You know...I think there's something else that we're missing. Chains of Gold...that's something that hasn't been fulfilled yet...the beginning is simple, you'll see your friends at the other side of the portal...but what about the chains?"

"I don't think it matters right now Joey. We opened the portal and found the Rabbit hole, the chains don't exactly matter...in fact, Chains of gold could easily be the watch chain Blake had the charm on." Briar said.

"I suppose...eh...since I'm here, I think I'm gonna take the chance to return something." he said, walking toward the rabbit hole, causing everyone to stop.

"Joey, what are you doing?" Apple asked, causing the boy to stop.

"Well, Lucy was in love with Wonderland...since she's dead I...like to think her soul is resting there...in place that she loved the most during life. I wanted to go to Wonderland to return the last gift I ever got her." he said, holding out the charm bracelet he had taken from Blake.

"Dude, I have no idea how many times I have to tell you. Lucy is alive, she's in Wonderland right fucking now! Her real name is Gloriosa White!" Blake cried, earning a laugh from the boy.

"You are insane man...I told you that letting her go was the best option...she's gonna drive you crazy!"

"The only one crazy here is you! Don't throw that in there, if you are gonna toss it, then give it back to Blake! It doesn't belong to you anyway!" Lizzie exclaimed, her booming voice echoing through the emptiness.

"I'm the one who bought it, so I can do whatever I want with it!" Joey said. Blake chuckled, taking a few steps forward, causing Joey to back away a bit.

"You are bluffing, you aren't going to throw that into the rabbit hole. It means too much to you, I know that you and I don't get along. You know that I once loved Lucy the same way that you loved her. You aren't going to get rid of that, not when you can rub it in my face. So put it away, you don't have the nuts to throw it!" he said. The brown haired boy smirked, taking a hold of an insignificant looking charm, unclipping it from the chain, tossing it into the hole.

"Charms of love my friend, charms of love...I can toss this in there...I have no issue with it. But I can see it on your face...you'd do anything to have this in your hands again...because it's your last connection to Lucy. Because you know as well as I do that she's dead." he said. Suddenly Kitty flashed behind him, pushing him with all of her strength to the ground, making him drop the bracelet. Blake started running toward it, hoping to be quick enough to grab it. Joey easily pushed Kitty back, snagging the bracelet from the ground, throwing it as hard as he could toward the rabbit hole.

It all happened in slow motion for Blake. He could see everything around him, even though it was impossible for something like that to happen. He could see the bracelet slowly heading toward the rabbit hole, he could see the surprised looks on the girls faces. The sneer on Joey's face, everything was culminating in that one single instance. He had three choices, stop and let the bracelet fall into the rabbit hole, attempt to grab it before it fell, or the most plausible one of the three. Jump in after it...it was too late for him to attempt to grab it, as he had been to far to make it in time, and he wasn't going to let it disappear for ever. So, instead of stopping, he kept running full speed, jumping into the rabbit hole after the bracelet.

It was dark all around him, the only colors filling his line of sight being violet, black and blue. All around him, he could see random objects floating down, the chessboard pattern acting almost like a path. He landed on a clock face, which was tickling loudly, the hands spinning out of control. He sprinted across it, jumping from the edge, the weightless feeling once again over taking him. His heart was beating wildly in his chest, disbelief written on his face. He thought he heard voices behind him, but he tuned them out. He had one thing on his mind after all.

He didn't care, nothing mattered to him in that instance. He could vaguely hear the others crying his name. All he wanted to do was get a hold of that bracelet, memories of his best friend flowed through his minds, tears falling from his eyes. His heart beat faster than before, a firm look appearing on his face. He could hear his cloak billowing behind him, the hood whipping wildly around his head. After a second or two, he finally caught sight of the falling bracelet. He used a burst of his magic to speed himself up, his hand closing over the precious item.

His eyes widened a bit as the bracelet started glowing brightly making him close his eyes for a second. The bracelet started moving around his arm, spinning almost wildly with a life of its own. A bright golden light flowed from it as it moved up his arm, changing his clothing as it did. His entire body was soon enveloped by this glow, he could feel this clothes warping and changing on their own, startling him quite a lot. The glow finally ceased, the bracelet traveling back down his arm, attaching itself to his wrist. He looked himself over, surprised to see he had now been wearing an entirely different outfit.

He was now wearing a long sleeved, black muscle shirt, with a V-neck style collar. It had two zippers on the shoulders, that unzipped below his arms. He wore a light red vest made of leather, his pocket watch chain being rapped in a loop around one of the golden buttons, stuffed into his pocket. He wore a pair of long sky blue pants, around his waist he wore a leather belt, brown in color. His pants were decorated with the symbols from the four card suits. Red hearts, white diamonds, violet spades, and green clubs. He was wearing a pair of armored boots, which were silver in color and reached to his knees. They had rounded toes and sturdy looking knee protectors in the shape of a heart.

Over the outfit, Blake was wearing a long trench coat, reaching to the back of his knees. The coat had a high collar with silver lining. It had long sleeves with silver cuffs, the coat being bright yellow in color. It was decorated with chess pieces. A black king, a white queen, a black bishop, a white knight, a black rook and a white pawn. He was wearing a matching yellow top hat with a Queen of Hearts card on the brim, sucked into the hat ribbon, which was violet in color. It also had chess pieces and card suits printed on it. He was wearing a pair of leather fingerless gloves. Above his left glove sat his two bracelets, the moon crystal bracelet, and Lucy's charm bracelet. He wore silver shoulder guards which were attached to his coat.

He briefly wondered how he had gotten his clothes changed like that. But he figured that the magic of Wonderland was flowing through the rabbit hole, making it possible that this clothes just changed on a whim to match the new world. He heard a giggle beside him, and glanced to his right, surprised to see Kitty falling beside him, her outfit had changed as well to something so weird and wild he couldn't even describe.

"What are you doing here?"

"Oh you know...falling, what about you? Looking snazzy in that outfit! I approve!" she said, moving slightly to avoid a falling rocking chair.

Blake noticed several other things, a falling piano, a chess set, a grandfather clock and even a mirror. He looked at his reflection, noticing his hair color had changed a bit. The fringe over his eye had gotten a darker strand of purple, with white and crimson red being mixed into it. He noticed that he now had a violet spade painted over his left eye, and a white pawn was painted on his left cheek, which he found rather odd, but didn't really question.

"You know something Blake, you've been rather impulsive lately, I'm starting to think you might be insane." Raven said, causing the boy to almost scream from being startled. She was falling next to him, her arms crossed with a look of disdain on her face.

"Whoa, Rae what the hell happened to your collar?" he asked, looking at the mass of feathers around her neck.

"No idea, look at Apple's hair, and Briar's dress." she said, pointing upward. He looked up seeing his other friends had also taken the plunge. Apple White was wearing a large bow in her hair, looking almost out of place on someone of her stature. Briar's dress also made her look like a giant top. Maddie was the only one who fit her dress almost to a T, as she had a tea themed dress.

"You guys are crazy! Sorry for dragging you into this!" he called out.

"No worries, it's that dick hole Joey that you gotta blame! He ran off as soon as you jumped!" Briar replied.

"Asshole." the boy muttered.

"It's quite alright, we're on our way to our home...that is all that matters now." Lizzie said, a bright smile on her face.

The descent started going a little faster, causing all of them to worry slightly. A thin water like barrier formed in front of them, as if it was trying to hold them back but it was far to weak for any of them, who easily burst through it. For a few seconds, the only thing that Blake saw was white, before a golden energy flowed around him, encasing him in an orb of protection. The seven teenagers landed in what looked like water, shooting down an underwater passage almost at the speed of light. The end of the tunnel was slowly approaching, glowing a brilliant gold.

"This is it you guys! The light at the end of the hole! Get ready, the landing might be a little ruff!" Kitty said, giving her friends a wink.

Blake shielded his eyes as the blinding light appeared before him. The low gravity was suddenly replaced by a firm pull on his body. It was then that he realized he was free falling. Unlike inside the rabbit hole where everything felt weightless, this felt like you were plunging toward the ground. His arms flailed around for a bit, trying to think about something. His eyes widened a bit and he reached out into the clouds, grabbing a hold of Kitty's waist as he did.

"Quick, use the clouds!" he cried, closing his hand around one. He suddenly stopped falling, a piece of the cloud broke off, acting almost like a parachute as he slowly started descending.

"Nice thinking! We can use these to ride down." Raven said, grabbing a hold of her own cloud, the other girls did the same, all of them slowly falling toward the ground below.

Blake's eyes were wide as he looked around the entire area. The skies were glowing a sickly yellow green, unlike the violet skies he had been expecting. Several colors around him were mashed together, almost as if a painter had slammed their entire pallet onto the canvas and made a painting out of it. He could see a large forest in the distance, all of the trees being different sizes. He could see a swamp filled with large dirty dishes, and bubbling water. Rolling hills lined the path toward the Queen of Hearts' castle in the distance. A large flowing rainbow river could be seen cutting across the land. He felt a choking feeling in his throat, a smile working its way onto his face.

"I'm...finally in Wonderland...I can...finally see what Lucy loves so much about this place." he said.

"Hmm? Don't tell me you're crying Blake! Come on, Wonderland is a happy place!" Kitty said.

"I'm not crying! I just got cloud in my eyes!" he cried back, sticking his tongue out at her.

"Blake, it looks like you really did keep your promise...you brought me home...I don't think I can thank you enough for this!" Lizzie said, a few tears slipping down her face.

"You aren't home yet sweetheart. The Queen of Hearts needs to get her present from me, Apple I'm gonna have to confiscate that bow of yours. I can't exactly gift wrap Lizzie, but I can at least put the bow on her head."

"Oh ha ha, very funny Blake!" the blonde cried back, making them all burst into laughter.

It had taken a lot of effort, but Blake had finally made it to Wonderland. He had kept his promise to Lizzie, Kitty and Maddie about getting them home. What he didn't know, was that he was about to go on the adventure of a lifetime. The Way Too Wonderland had finally been found, but that didn't mean it would be a clean road for them to walk down. It would in fact be the bumpiest road they were going to take in their entire lives.

 _ **xxx(Ever After High)xxx**_

Joey smirked as he stepped out of the Realms Between, coming back right to the Study Hall through the portal he had found. He had successfully gotten rid of the thorns in his side. Phase One had been a success, but now he had to begin Phase Two of Plan Theta. He couldn't be seen anywhere in the school, because he had gotten sucked into the portal. He was happy Faybelle had taught him the invisibility spell, because it was certainly going to come in handy for the next few hours.

" _Idiot, I can't believe he actually jumped in after it. No matter, now that the portal is open, I gotta get my hands on the WonderMap. I have to take the Well back to Wonderland, or else those idiots might ruin everything. My search for Excalibur begins now...rest easy Ever After...enjoy your last days of peace...for when I return from Wonderland, a new King shall be ready to be crowned!"_


	68. Way Too Wonderland III

**A/N:**

 **Hello everyone, welcome one and all to Chapter 68 of Through the Looking Glass. This will be part 3 of Way Too Wonderland...I gotta say, I just finished writing this arc last night, and I am so happy and proud of it. This was my favorite story arc in Ever After High, and I really liked how it turned out, even the ending had me almost tearing up, I'm the author goddamn it, I'm not supposed to cry at my own work! But if I make myself cry, then that means I'm going a good job lel. In fact, I am so happy that you all will get two chapters today. I will be posting Part 4 later on tonight, around nine or so, so look forward to it. I just gotta let this one digest a bit.**

 **I am taking a lot of things in this arc and running with them, it skips around a lot and some characters get more screen time than others, but I tried to keep it balanced. Sometimes I wish I could draw, because I would make this into a manga and I would honestly put work on it. I can write a good script and a good story, but drawing is not my forte. There are just things that look better animated or drawn out than written, like fight scenes. I'm sure all of you will love the fight scenes in this arc, near the ending. This arc has a whopping nine parts, all of them being 40 pages each..talk about dedication. Dragon Games is most likely gonna be a bit longer than even this, depending on how the story turns out, since I still haven't watched it, Netflix has my account on hold until tomorrow, alas, nothing is ever easy.**

 **I hope I did this chapter justice, I love the way it turned out, and I'm sure you all will too. In the next Chapter you will get to see more of Gloriosa, who hasn't had a lot of screen time in the story, despite being a main character, because she sort of is right? She's Blake's best friend who he talks about a lot...that means main character right? I digress...She will be making more appearances in this arc, while our lovable heroines and hero traverse the halls of Wonderland High school, the most challenging place in the history of Ever. Because what's better than High school? High School in Wonderland, the most insane illogical place ever created...gotta love that shit.**

 **Oh man, all of you are gonna love the fight scenes...let's just say, someone finally gets their face ground in shit for all of the crap that they've been flinging at Blake...look forward to it, raise the hype yo!**

 **So, for now I bid you adieu, as I will start editing chapter 69...hehe...for all of you to read and enjoy, have a little mouth wash ready, because it's gonna be a nasty one. Have fun guys!**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 68

Way Too Wonderland III

 _ **xxx(Wonderland)xxx**_

It had been a few minutes after Blake and the girls had touched down on one of the many fields in Wonderland. All around them, the wackiness of the land could be seen. The grass wasn't always green, the trees weren't always straight and the animals were nothing like the ones they had seen. There was a waterfall behind the area where they had fallen, a rather small one, but it was being crowded by some rather odd looking backward flying birds, trying to get a quick drink from the falling rapids. The clouds above them had slowly moved away, and they had all been surprised to see one shaped like a lion, roaring loudly into the heavens before it faded away into nothingness.

The sheer excitement on Lizzie's face was hidden only by pure willpower. It was clear in her eyes, she wanted to run off and scream and jump for joy. He didn't blame her, after four years of being gone from his home, Blake guessed he would probably do the same. He now had respect for those who traveled often and were never home, the feeling they got whenever they saw they're families must be wonderful. He took a few steps forward, seeing a large checkered path laying ahead of him, a few arches spanning the sides of the path, along with some bright green shrubs that looked like they hadn't been trimmed in ages. He felt an odd warmth in his chest, his hand touching the spot where the Mirror Shard had been stabbed into his body. He didn't know why, but an odd sense of dread filled his entire being.

" _Now that we're in Wonderland, not only can we save the Queen of Hearts, but we can search for the Storybook of Legends. That book alone will have the answers I seek...odd, I didn't see anything about a lost child the last time I skimmed through it."_ he thought to himself.

He looked around for a few seconds, the voices of his friends filling his mind as he took a few steps forward.

"Blake dear, where are you going? You can't just walk off, Wonderland can be rather dangerous you know."

"Eh...sorry, I thought I could get a head start on reaching the Queen of Hearts's castle. I remember Lucy telling me there was a short cut around this area." he said. He had been thinking a lot about the things that Lucy had told him about Wonderland in the past. What he once thought were the ramblings of a thirteen year old girl, now would act as his map.

"Oh you're right, there is a shortcut around this area. But we have to be very careful, follow me!" Maddie cried, skipping merrily down the path. The others just shrugged, allowing her, Lizzie and Kitty to take the lead. Blake glanced over his shoulder briefly, blinking a few times when he saw a figure dashing behind one of the trees. He rubbed his eyes, but saw nothing.

"You okay Blake?"

"Eh? Sorry Raven, I thought I saw someone over there...lets go, before Maddie leaves us behind." he replied, catching up to the others.

They remained mostly silent as they walked, all of them taking in the scenery. It wasn't every day that you saw odd animals running across the path every so often. The walked into a clearing, seeing a lot of origami moose running across the path. Instead of wondering how that was possible, like he knew Raven was currently doing, Blake decided to get a little more practical. One of the babies was trying to reach one of the branches from the nearby tree, clearly too small to even reach the leaves. He grabbed a hold of the branch and lowered it down for the small animal, earning a happy cry from it. It started eating the spade shaped leaves, its neck unfolding as it grew in height, now being able to reach the high branches.

"Interesting, so they unfold their necks when they eat this plant. That way, they can reach the rest of their food source." he replied.

"Come on, we don't have time to look at the oddities here." Raven said, pushing the boy forward.

"This really is a beautiful place Lizzie, I now understand why you longed to come here." Apple said, earning a smile from the Princess of Hearts.

"Thank you Apple...I'm glad my friends can see Wonderland's beauty after all this time. It's the only thing I have longed for...perhaps casting that spell also got rid of the curse some how!" she added, a hopeful look on her face.

"Hehehe, hey Blake, check this out! You're totally gonna love this!" Kitty said, causing the black haired boy to pull his attention away from some birds. She placed something wet and slimy into his hands, almost causing him to jump back.

"Ew, what the fuck is this?" he cried.

"Oi, set me down fore I get my sword out and stab ye!" the creature cried, causing Blake to let go of it. He noticed then it was a frog...or rather it was the front half of a bull and the back end of a frog.

"Ah...I get it, it's a bullfrog." he said.

"Got ya! I just had to see your reaction." the girl said, giving him a wink.

"Try not to mess around with the fauna Kitty, you know how they get when they are disturbed." Lizzie said, earning a grin from the girl, who resumed her walk beside her friends.

"Um...I have a question...we aren't going to run into any...Bandersnatches are we? I'm not exactly fond of that creature." Briar said.

"Don't worry Briar, you can only find those down Bandersnatch Boulevard, it's quite the dangerous place of course!" Maddie replied, earning a nod from the girl.

The path ahead of them started becoming more open. Several paths could be seen going in several directions. Some kept going straight, others took odd turns, and some even went in loops across the land. Blake didn't even question how those roads would work...nothing made sense in Wonderland after all, and he wasn't going to start making sense in this place now.

"Wow, what beautiful silver archways!" Raven cried, her eyes following the silver arch that stood on the side of the path.

"That isn't an archway sis." Blake replied, pointing upward. The girl looked up, eyes focused on the rest of the arch, noticing it was in fact a fork, with its handle bent downward, almost as if a child had taken a pair of pliers and bent it out of shape.

"Blake is right, it seems we've arrived at a fork in the road." Lizzie added, stopping at the middle of the splitting path. Three different roads spanned out before them, all of them looking rather odd.

"So, which way do we go to find the castle?" Briar asked curiously.

"Um...well...we could pick any of these paths. But I don't recommend Dirty Dish Drive, it's sort of stinky in there." Maddie said, her nose scrounging a up a bit as she looked toward the dirty dishes. A loud farting noise echoed from it, making the girls grimace in disgust while Blake just laughed like a boy would.

"Yes, and as Maddie said before. Bandersnatch Boulevard isn't a good place to go either." Kitty added, pointing to the second path which was filled with spiny thorn plants, and a thick gray mist. They saw several beady eyes beyond the first arc, making them all shiver in fear.

"That leaves Old Timey Road, a fine choice if I say so myself. Come along my friends, we shall be at the palace soon enough." Lizzie said firmly, once again taking the lead. Blake followed close to her, glancing at all of the ticking watches and clocks that lined the path, trying his hardest not to fall over the moving hours hands.

"You know I've been thinking...we don't exactly have to take any path to reach the castle." he said.

"What are you talking about Blake? You have to take a path to get to where we are going! You can't just teleport there, and I doubt Kitty can teleport all of us." Apple said.

"Magic isn't a good idea to use right now anyway...I wouldn't trust it." Raven added, a frown on her face.

"No...what I mean is...well, if you use logic, you might end up going somewhere else. In order to find something you have to stop looking for it. Once you get yourself good and lost, you'll find what you are looking for. To find is to lose, to lose is to find, so if we get lost, we'll be where we want to be." he said.

"Yay! I like this idea! You are truly fitting in Wonderland Blake, it's as if you've lived here your whole life!" Maddie cried cheerfully, wrapping an arm around the boy, a grin on her face.

"Whoa...are you serious? That actually makes sense?" Briar asked, earning a giggle from Kitty.

"We're in Wonderland, nothing makes sense here...and if you try to make sense, you'll have a rough go at it. So let's follow Blake's suggestion and get lost!" she said, a giddy look on her face.

The others just sighed, not exactly trusting that idea. But they didn't have anything else to go by so they had to try it. They just had to trust that they're friends knew where they were going. After all, it had been four years since they had been in Wonderland. Things weren't the same as they once were, so they weren't exactly sure about anything. But they had nowhere to go but forward, and for now that was the direction they would take.

 _ **xxx(Ever After High)xxx**_

Ashlynn found it rather odd that Briar and Apple hadn't shown up for Princessology. They were the most poised girls in the class, never missing a lesson for any reason whatsoever. She knew that the two of them would be discussing the school paper during their lunch period. However she had been expecting to see them back in class right after lunch was over, but that was not the case. So against her better judgment, she decided to skip her last two classes in order to search the school for her friends. She had also taken notice of how Lizzie had also missed the class, and she had the perfect attendance in almost every single class. She hadn't seen Raven or Kitty or even Maddie in the halls either or during Muse-ic Class. It was honestly beginning to worry her.

"You know they're probably fine. Maybe they got caught up in the paper and decided to skip class. As the Editor-in-Chief of the paper, Apple has the authority to write passes for them, not just that she's the Royal Student Council President." Hunter said, trying to ease her nerves a bit.

"I know that but...it just doesn't feel like something Apple would do. Briar yes, she's fallen asleep hundreds of times and skipped class because of it. Lizzie and Apple however are a different story, those two never skip class, even when they are sick or have cramps. They are always there...which makes it odd for them to suddenly skip class." Ashlynn replied, earning a sigh from her boyfriend. He took a hold of her hand, causing her to stop and look at him.

"Sweetheart, you have to calm down a bit. I'm worried too, Blake skipped out on the last few minutes of Sword Training. He's been acting weird for the last few days, so I know what you are feeling right now. But running around with no leads will get us nowhere. So let's just go to the Study Hall and see if they're there." he said. She nodded, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"Thank you Hunter, I'm not sure how I would do this without you." she said, earning a flush from the boy.

The couple started walking back toward the first floor of the school, heading toward the classrooms. The halls were empty since students were still in class. It didn't take them long for them to reach the Study Hall, when they walked in they had been expecting to see a large group of students gathered there. What they got was a mess of books and scattered papers. The desks had been flung across the room, and one of the railings had been broken. Several books had been stacked everywhere, all of them seemingly being about Wonderland. Ashlynn moved further into the room, only seeing Alistair and Bunny standing there, the two of them having worried looks on their faces.

"Alistair, Bunny! What happened here?" Ashlynn asked, earning disappointed looks from the two.

"It was...it's hard to explain."

"Bunny is right...we all came here with Raven to talk about the paper. But we found out that Lizzie's mom is in danger, we had to get to Wonderland. Blake drew a magic circle on the board and enchanted it, and Raven cast the Wonderland curse on it and that's when everything went south. They were all sucked into that portal, and we haven't been able to find them." he replied.

"Oh no...Briar and Apple too?" the daughter of Cinderella asked, earning a nod from the boy. She bowed her head, eyes firmly closed as she tried to digest the information she had just been given.

"How long...how long has it been?" Hunter asked curiously.

"About an hour or so...we haven't heard from Darling either, the only other person with us was Joey, but he was sucked inside as well." Bunny replied. Hunter nodded, rubbing his chin in thought.

"Okay then, we need a good old fashioned search party. Obviously we can't tell the Headmaster, he's fry our asses if he found out someone was trying to open a portal. So we have to go and find our friends, I can get a party in a few minutes." he said.

"That would be most appreciated, it's hard searching the entire school with just the two of us." Alistair said, a look of relief on his face, though the worry was still in his eyes.

"Alright, then let's start gathering people...the fast we find them, the better. We have to make sure they're all okay from what happened." Bunny said firmly.

"I'll stay here, in case one of them shows up here. I just need a few minutes alone to think, okay?" Ashlynn asked, earning a nod from Hunter. They shared a quick kiss before he left the Study Hall, leaving her to her own devices.

She leaned against the nearby wall, arms crossed as she started to think. There had to be a place where her friends could have gone. Alistair said they had been trying to open a portal to Wonderland, but by the looks of it, it looked like it had failed. That meant they could not only be somewhere in the high school, but across Ever After as well. She reached for her phone and started a chain message, selecting all of the people who had been in Apple's planning party, minus Joey since she didn't have his contact. She just sent a one word message, watching as every single message failed to send. Her eyes narrowed in thought.

"The messages are failing to send...either they are out of the Mirror Tower's reach or...they're...not in Ever After anymore." she muttered.

It was a stretch, but she had to go with the obvious. There was no way a portal spell would fail in a manner that would send her friends scattered across Ever After.

That only meant that her friends were actually in Wonderland. She pushed herself away from the wall, walking quickly toward the chalk board. She saw the remains of Blake's magic circle, having lost most of the lines that had been drawn. She poked it with her finger, feeling the cold of the board. She wiped the dust away from her finger tip, a frown on her face. She wasn't getting anywhere with this portal.

" _I need to go there, I have to make sure my friends are alright. But how am I going to get to Wonderland? There's only one way to...of course! Lizzie's book...I have to go and get it."_ she said, moving out of the Study Hall, heading toward the dormitories.

She tried not to make herself look like she was in a rush. A few teachers were wondering why she was in such a hurry, but she just told them she needed to head back to class as she was already late. It was well known around Ever After High that Ashlynn wasn't good with attendance. In fact, she had to leave class five minutes early to get to her next class on time. If she wasn't going to make it, she had to skip class or else her clothes would turn to rags. It had happened several times before, as part of a curse surrounding her story. It was something she had gotten used to, which is why she was so punctual when it came to everything, from going to class, to dates with Hunter, to even going to work at her store. It was a meticulous process that she had perfected through many years of practice.

It at least made a good reason as to why she was in a hurry. She turned into the dormitory hallway, reaching into her pocket for her purse, dialing Duchess's number. She knew the monochrome ballerina had this period off on Mondays. She just hoped she wasn't sleeping or anything. Thankfully, a tired voice answered her class a moment or two later.

" _Hello? Ash why are you calling me? I'm...taking a nap."_

"Duchess, I'm coming to your dorm right now...something serious has happened and I need your help."

" _Pfft. Why would I help you? How would it benefit me in anyway?"_

"It won't, but I'm gonna tell you something very important. Blake ended up finding a way to open a portal to Wonderland, he and Raven cast it, and now they were sucked into it and are most likely there, in Wonderland. Do you know what that means? It means Blake isn't in Ever After, he's in Wonderland, and that means you'll never, ever see him again!" she said firmly. She hated herself for doing that to Duchess, but she felt the Swan Princess needed a bit of motivation. She reached Duchess and Lizzie's dorm, the door opening a second later. Duchess grabbed a hold of her arm, pulling her into the room, slamming the door closed. Ashlynn was slammed against it by the feral looking girl, a fearful look on her face.

"What...do you mean...Blake...is gone?" she asked.

"He is...he promised Liz he would get her home...I guess he found a way to open a portal, and now they're in Wonderland." she replied. Duchess backed away from the girl, brushing her hair out of her face. She took a moment to brush the wrinkles from her nightgown, turning around to face the other side of the room. She bit her tongue trying her hardest not to scream, because her screams usually came out as honks and she always found those embarrassing. Once she had calmed down, she turned back to face the shoe loving princess.

"Okay...you say they're actually in Wonderland but...it would take a lot of magic to actually get there...wait, Faybelle was with them. Maybe she's there too!"

"Actually, I saw Faybelle earlier, she had been turned into a sheep for some reason...it was actually the second time today that I saw that. I couldn't help but giggle a bit." Ashlynn admitted, earning a glare from the Swan Princess. She shook her head, walking toward the other side of the room. She opened Lizzie's wardrobe, looking through it for anything of interest.

"I'm not sure if she has anything in here. But Lizzie is resourceful, she wouldn't just give up something like that book without a backup plan." Duchess said, grabbing a hold of one of the books. It was a picture album, filled with various pictures of Lizzie and her friends when they were growing up.

"There is no backup plan...the only plan we have is the Well of Wonder. So we have to get the book back from the Headmaster...but how are we gonna do that?" Ashlynn asked curiously. Duchess let out a small giggle, turning to face her fellow princess.

"Do you trust me?" she asked.

"Eh? Why wouldn't I? We're friends right? Even though you always get Sparkles to poke me in the butt during beast training."

"One time! I haven't done that in months, thank you very much. Oh come on!" she said, grabbing a hold of Ashlynn's hand.

"Uh...maybe you wanna change first?" she said, as they reached the door. Duchess stopped for a second, glancing down at herself, a flushed look on her cheeks.

"Alright, give me five minutes."

 _ **xxx**_

Sneaking back into his dorm had been quite the challenge, but it was one that Joey appreciated. Once there, he grabbed the rolled up WonderMap from under his bed, along with his satchel and his notebook. He had gotten dressed in a very durable outfit, conjured from the magic of his bracelet. He was wearing a black long sleeved shirt, with a low collar. He was wearing a pair of tight fitting black jeans, along with a pair of black boots, that had thin silver lines on the sides. Over it, he was wearing a black hooded coat, that reached all the way to his ankles. It had long black sleeves and lacked any discernible feature. It had metal hoodie strings, which jingled a bit as he walked. It was the perfect coat for him to use darkness magic in, as it wouldn't affect the area much and no one would be able to sense his presence. Not only that, but he could hide in the shadows with ease and not be easily seen.

He stuffed the journal inside his coat pocket, knowing he couldn't take his satchel with him. He also carried a small knife around with him for self defense. He couldn't exactly take a sword from the school, since none of them were kept sharp, and all of the real swords were locked away elsewhere. Once he was ready, he opened his window and looked down, grabbed a hold of the water pipe beside his window, he slowly started sliding down. Once on the ground, he continued moving through the brush, staying away from the main courtyard until he reached one of the other bridges that lead away from Ever After High. Using the back streets in Bookend, he was able to quickly make it to the Enchanted Forest. He reached for his map, a smirk on his face.

"WonderMap, show me the Well of Wonder." he said. The map glowed brilliantly, a hologram forming over the top. A single arrow appeared on it, and he started walking toward it, keeping an eye on the arrow as it moved slightly from side to side. The arrow shifted to the left and he started walking in that direction.

" _Alright then, it seems everything is according to plan. That bumbling fool Tobias is set to handle everything in the school. If anyone forms any rescue parties, he'll lead them astray. It's good, even though I have a tool, it's one I don't exactly need this very second."_ he thought to himself.

One of the things he was looking forward to the most was finally getting his revenge on Blake. It had taken a lot of planning to get this one right, and he was going to make it work. But for that he needed to find Excalibur and the Storybook of Legends. There was no way this plan could fail...he didn't know if he could get another chance like this ever again. Tobias had given him an excellent idea...after tossing him around for awhile, Blake would be dragged back to Ever After and put out in front of the school. He would watch the place he had come to love slowly crumble away to nothing, he would find the one he loved and cherished more than he did with Cerise and he would kill her. Only then could he finally take his life. It was the perfect addition to his little plan.

The map started beeping loudly, and he looked up, smirking a bit. He saw the Well of Wonder appear before him, brick by brick until it had fully formed. The Wonderland water started flowing from it, sparkling as it hit the green grass around the well. He rolled up the map and stuffed it into his coat, walking toward the edge of the well. The last time he had seen it, he had made a blunder and had let his old book fall into it. Perhaps with a little luck, he would be able to find that book before anyone else saw it. He doubted anyone would do anything against him if it was found, but it wouldn't matter in the end. He took a deep breath, jumping into the edge of the well.

"Tally-ho!" he cried, jumping inside it. He took a deep breath, feeling the cool rush of water around him.

He started being sucked downward at quite a fast rate. He closed his eyes as he burst through a thin membrane of sorts. When he opened his eyes, he almost lost the breath he had been holding. All around him were hundreds of different branches, all of them filled with water flowing in different directions. He swallowed hard, the need to breathe becoming more apparent by the second, but he couldn't help but admire the entirety of this underground area. He felt himself being pulled upward, and crossed his arms as he passed through another membrane. He shot out of the well on the other side, finally being allowed to breathe. His eyes widened a bit when he realized he was now free falling through the air.

"Holy shit!" he cried, arms flailing wildly.

The ground was fast approaching, but he didn't know exactly what to do to stop himself. He had thought he would land on land, but hadn't been expecting the well to actually drop him into Wonderland from the sky. He saw the Queen of Hearts castle in the distance, and memorized the general area, just as he reached the tree tops. He slammed into a few tree branches, a cry of pain escaping his lips. He fell down to the ground, landing right on top of a bouncy mushroom.

"Eh...Jesus, Wonderland is trying to kill me." he spat, still shaking from his entree into the realm. He sat up on the mushroom cap, looking around the area. He seemed to be in a mushroom forest, since it was the only thing he could see around him. He reached into his coat for his map, quickly unrolling it.

"Bouncy Mushroom forest...alright then, at least I got a semblance of a location. But I'm not here to sight see, WonderMap, show me Excalibur!" he said, an excited look on his face. The map swirled with a pink mist, different from the hologram in Ever After. An image of a white castle appeared on the paper, the name Marmoreal being written underneath it.

"Marmoreal...there's a White Queen behind it...oh, so it's in the White Queen's castle. My my my, Madam White Queen, what were you hiding?" he muttered, a smirk on his face. He traced the path to the castle from the forest he was in, frowning a bit when he saw how far it was. It would take him hours to get there.

"I need to get there now, not later. WonderMap, where is the nearest Rabbit hole to Marmoreal?" he asked. The mist swirled once more, showing him several blinking dots on the grid. He smirked when he saw there was one near Dirty Dish Drive, which was a half hour walk, or bounce, from his location. He stood up and started bouncing in that direction...a smile on his face.

"Phase Two is going to be so much fun!" he said, a cackle escaping his lips, only for him to choke a fly that swooped into his mouth. He hacked and spat on the ground, swearing under his breath.

 _ **xxx(Meanwhile, with Blake and the others)xxx**_

"No, I'm telling you he is 100 percent real."

"Blake, I don't believe you. There is no such thing as a magical bathing suit that lives in winter! That is just not possible!" Briar said, earning a sigh from the boy.

"But he's real! They wrote a song about him and everything! He's the magical old-timey bathing suit, that lives in the Himalayas, they call him Klimpaloon! Come on, if there's a song written about him, then he's real!" the boy said.

"You don't seem to understand, there are songs written about everything. But seriously, a bathing suit that walks around, and just...does nothing but live in snow?" Apple asked.

"He doesn't do nothing...he does something." Blake said, crossing his arms. He jumped down from the flower he had been walking on, continuing his walk as the other girls jumped down behind him.

"What does he do then?" Kitty asked curiously.

"Oh you know...Klimpaloon stuff like...oh, when he walks he goes nang nang nang nang nang nang...so that's definitely something."

"Blake, I'm worried about you...truly I am." Lizzie said, a worried look on her face.

"Yeah sure, okay. There was a literal fork in the road all the way back there, and you believe that, but you can't believe in Klimpaloon? I feel offended." he said, pouting a bit as he looked away from his friends.

"Don't worry Blake, I believe you and your delusions of magical bathing suits!" Maddie said, patting his shoulder. He smiled a bit, wrapping his arm around her waist in a side hug.

"You know...I've seen quite a lot during my time here, but I've never seen a river flowing up." Apple said, glancing at the stream that was flowing into the clouds.

"Good day madam." the fish in the small boat said, bowing to the princess.

"Oh...good day sir." Apple replied, giving the fish a curtsy as well. Blake poked the water with his finger, finding it was rather cool to the touch. He had been expecting it to be warm or something. He looked up, seeing the stream above him shifted into a bit of a loop as it continued making its way to the heavens.

"So, would that be swimming upstream?"

"Oh my godmother...seriously?"

"That pun was horrible!"

"What? Someone had to say it!" Raven said, a smirk on her face.

They continued moving through the small forest, finally being greeted by an open path. The clouds were gone from the skies which were shining a sickly greenish yellow. The sun was shining brightly, but even its light seemed to be affected by something. There was a large hill in front of them, the checkered path kept going forward over that hill. Lizzie had an excited look on her face, especially when she saw the tips of the spires that bore the flags of her Queendom.

"It's this way everyone! I can see the flags! I can't wait to see mother, she's gonna be so excited! Now that the curse is lifted, we'll be able to see each other more often!" she cried.

"Uh...I don't think the curse was lifted." Raven said, though it fell on deaf ears as the Princess of Hearts made her way toward the top of the hill.

"Hey, now that we're here...we can look for the Storybook of Legends. It has to be around here somewhere right?" Apple asked, earning a nervous chuckle from Briar.

"M-maybe...remember, Gloriosa was the one that found it, and it was switched so."

"The Cheshire Cat has the book, that means we're gonna have to ask her about it. I have my own questions to ask her anyway, Kitty do you think you can find her?" Blake asked curiously.

"Um...maybe. She might be under Wonderland right now, but since today is the Queen's birthday, and its mandatory for all citizens to be there...she's bound to be at the castle. So we can ask her about it when we get there." she replied, earning a nod from the others.

They reached the top of the hill, finding Lizzie there, looking right at the sky. They all followed her gaze into the sky, a swirling mass of crackling clouds hung above the entirety of Wonderland. Kitty and Maddie had looks of fear on their faces, backing away slightly from the hill.

"What...is that?" Apple asked, being the only one brave enough to speak.

"That's the Wonderland Curse...I had thought, that spell had broken the curse."

"I'm sorry Lizzie, I've been trying to tell you. This curse can't be broken by just reading it backward, there's more to it than that. My mom wouldn't make it that easy." Raven said, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder.

"Son of a bitch...I knew it was too good to be true but...I was hoping, for Lizzie's sake, that it had been broken. No matter, there isn't anything we can do about it right now. Let's just go to the Queen's party, saving her life takes priority over everything." Blake said firmly, earning nods from the girls.

They started heading down the hill, walking in the direction of the castle, when they heard a loud whinny behind them. They all stopped walking, with Blake getting into his Aikido stance, just in case someone tried to attack. Instead, he was greeted by a large Knight in shining armor, riding on a chess piece, ironically enough, the white knight piece.

"The White Knight? What are you doing here?" Apple asked.

"There is no time, quickly. They're approaching us!" he said firmly.

"Whoa, what are you talking about? Who's approaching us?" Blake asked, relaxing a bit. The knight reached to the saddle of his horse, tossing him a sword, not just any sword, his own Katana. He looked at it, before looking up the night, a confused look on his face.

"I had an inkling I would meet you here, Blake Bigby. You must help me protect these fine ladies, come...we haven't much time!" he said, taking the lead up the path. Blake strapped his sword to the loop his belt already had on. Once he did, he urged the girls to move behind the knight, with him guarding the rear.

"What's going on? Are we in danger?" Briar asked.

"Yes, there is no time to lose, step lively." the knight replied.

For a few minutes, the seven teenagers had nothing to do but follow the White Knight. Blake had hundreds of questions swirling around his mind, on top of the others he had come to Wonderland to solve. He just wanted to know what was chasing them, and if it truly was a danger. He could trust the White Knight however, he knew the man was a hero...though his armor looked different than it did at school, probably an effect of Wonderland magic changing his armor to look more like he fit in. He kept a hand on the hilt of his sword just in case, his eyes peeled for anything that would dare attack him or his friends.

"Excuse me! Can we please stop these senseless running? Please tell us what is going on?!" Apple cried, causing the knight to stop in his tracks.

"We cannot stop Miss White...I'm afraid if we do then..."

"Halt! Do not move further! Soldiers, surround them!" a booming voice said, causing everyone to jump a bit.

In front of them was a crimson knight, wearing a suit of armor nearly identical to that of the White Knight. Before Blake could even say anything, a card soldier appeared beside the man, blowing a loud whistle. The card soldiers all appeared from behind him, quickly working to surround them. The path to the other side of the bridge was blocked, and even if one wanted to jump into the water, the soldiers had blocked that avenue of escape as well.

"Why didn't you do something?" Briar hissed, glancing at the knight, who just looked dejected.

"It was his turn." he replied, causing the girl to sigh, looking away from him, disappointment written on her face.

"Who the heck are you?" Apple cried, standing tall and firm next to Lizzie, who's eyes were narrowed in a fierce glare.

"I am the hall monitor for Wonderland High School. It is my job to round up all students who attempt to skip class. Unless you have a hall pass written by the Vice principle, you are not allowed to wonder the halls." he said firmly.

"Wonderland High School? Listen man, we didn't come here for school. We're here for a reason, so we're gonna take our leave." Blake said, about to turn around, only for one of the soldiers to point their spear at him. He growled, his hand tightening around the hilt of his Katana.

"I'm afraid you don't understand young man...the Vice Principle's rules are absolute." the Red Knight said firmly.

"No, I don't think you understand! I am the daughter of the Queen of Hearts! You cannot force me to remain at school, you'll just have to speak with her yourself. Come along my friends, we don't have time for this." Lizzie said firmly, turning away from the knight. She let out a yelp of surprise when one of the soldiers aimed his spear at her.

"Again, I apologize...but once you are on school grounds you cannot leave without a pass. Even your mother can't undo that very specific rule, My Princess." the man said firmly.

"Tch...where is the school anyway? I don't see it anywhere!"

"It's actually not that far along."

Blake and the others watched in amazement as the land around them started turning into a thick red mist, swirling in all directions. From the mist emerged a building, unlike anything they had ever seen. It was a large building, resembling a castle of sorts, in the shape of a large tea kettle. Various other buildings were attached to it, having side ways, upside down and even broken windows. There were various shaped trees all over the courtyard, with paths that weren't straight. There was a large maze on the very left side of the courtyard, formed out of perfectly trimmed green bushes. Several weird looking animals could be seen walking around aimlessly, sniffing the weird flowers that were growing from the ground. Blake glanced over his shoulder, seeing the bridge had disappeared, instead being replaced with an archway, and a long checkered path that seemed to hang in mid air, supported by nothing.

"Welcome Ladies, and Gentleman, to Wonderland High School. If you wish to leave school grounds, you must get yourself a hall pass. However, we do recommend graduation, after all none of you are leaving until you graduate all of your classes!" the Red Knight said firmly, the loud slam of the gate closing behind them startled the seven teenagers, and even the White Knight. Blake grit his teeth, trying to think of something to bail them out.

" _Come on...there has to be something logical I can...wait a minute, that's it!"_

"Actually Mr. Red Knight, didn't you know that today is opposite day? During this day you have to do things completely different than how you would normally do them. On Opposite Day, you don't need a hall pass to leave school grounds, in fact you don't even have to attend school. So uh...if we could take our leave, that would be great."

"Ha! Nice try, Opposite day was yesterday, I marked it in my calender so that delinquents like you couldn't use it against me. It's happened far too often and I shall not be made a fool of twice! Come along, you are going to class whether you like it or not." he snapped.

"It was a good try Blake...however the rules of Wonderland High are absolute...I would know, my mother wrote all of of them. Perhaps if we can speak to the Vice Principle we could get hall passes, but that's only a stretch." Lizzie said. She glanced behind her shoulder, seeing the row of soldiers pointing their spears right at them, forcing them to walk forward.

"Isn't there like...a loophole or something we can use?" Raven asked softly. Lizzie shook her head, not exactly knowing of any. Kitty was trying to use her magic to teleport, but she wasn't able to fully disappear.

"There is a loophole...Blake isn't from Wonderland, or from Ever After...the rules of either realm don't apply to him. So he can technically get out of here if wanted to...he's the only person who can save the Queen!" Apple said. All of the girls looked at Blake, who had a frightened look on his face.

"No...I can't go on my own! Are you insane?"

"Blake, you are the only one who can save my mother! Please, you have to try, you have to tell her. Here, this if you show her this, she'll believe you!" the girl said, handing the boy a heart shaped pocket watch, which had a picture of Lizzie and her mother inside. He gave her a nod, placing the watch in his pocket.

"Alright then, I guess there's only on thing left to do." Blake said, causing the Red Knight to stop.

"What are you saying? Guard, take his sword before he attacks any of us!" he said.

Blake smirked as he drew his sword, using it to guard against the spear. He grabbed a hold of the spear, pulling it from the soldier's grasp. He swung it as hard as he could, slamming the wooden handle into the head of another soldier, a metallic clang filling the air. Blake burst through them, dashing forward as fast as he could, sliding his sword back into its sheathe. He didn't even look back, knowing that if he did he probably would lost his focus. He reached the iron gates and jumped up, grabbing a hold of the bars, climbing up them as well as he could. He had some trouble, but thankfully due to his leather gloves, he had been able go get a good grip on them.

"Stop! You cannot leave school grounds!" the Captain of the Card Soldiers cried, blowing his bugle as loudly as he could. Blake ignored him, his fingers grabbing a hold of the top of the arch. As he was pulling himself over, he felt the strap holding his katana snap clean in half, his sword falling back over the gate.

"Shit!" he muttered.

"Go Blake! Save my mother!" Lizzie cried at the top of her lungs. He gave her a nod, jumping down onto the path, almost spraining his ankle as he did. He paused, seeing the mass of soldiers attempting and failing to climb over the walls.

"Gentlemen, remember this as the day that you almost caught Blake J. Bigby." he said, taking his hat off, bowing to the cards. He broke into a sprint, donning his hat once more as he raced out of the school, as fast as his legs could carry him.

 _ **xxx(Ever After High)xxx**_

When Duchess had told her that she had a plan on retrieving the Book of Wonder from the Headmaster, she believed her. But crawling through the ventilation system was not what Ashlynn had in mind. For the last few minutes, they had been trying to make their way to the Headmaster's office by crawling through the vents, trying their hardest not to alert anyone that they were in there. Duchess had taken the lead, having donned her normal outfit, along with a shawl to prevent herself from getting cuts on her shoulders. Ashlynn didn't mind a bit of muck and grime, after all she spent most of the weekend cleaning her dorm and the dorms of her closest friends, it was something she enjoyed doing.

"Achoo!"

"Keep it quiet! We can't be making all this nose!" Duchess snapped, causing Ashlynn to wipe her nose.

"Sorry, I'm a bit allergic to dust." she replied, trying to breath through her stuffed up nose. Duchess rolled her eyes, and kept moving forward.

They reached another area where the shaft had a vertical incline. Duchess easily climbed inside, jabbing her foot into the wedges between shafts, using them as a sort of ladder to climb up to the next part. She effortlessly climbed up, turning around to help Ashlynn up to the next area. The shaft once again moved forward, taking another two inclines before they finally made it to the fourth floor.

"You know, why couldn't we just find a ventilation shaft on the 4th floor and just climb through it, instead of having to wonder through three floors of dust and vents?" Ashlynn asked.

"Cleaver girl, sadly that wouldn't work. There aren't that many ground entrances into these shafts up here. The only one is in the White Queen's classroom, and she's currently teaching a class, can't exactly go there, can we?" she asked. Ashlynn gave her a nod, choosing not to say anything.

As they shimmied along the shaft, Ashlynn couldn't help but wonder what her friends were up to. She had always dreamed of going to Wonderland, but actually attempting to go there, it was insane. The fact that she wasn't going to tell Hunter was even more insane. He would most likely try to stop her, saying that it was impossible for them all to be in Wonderland. She however knew better, whenever someone did something that involved magic, the least likely place they would be was actually the most likely place they would end up in. It was a gut feeling that she was going to follow through on no matter what.

"I think this is it...yeah it is, I can see Grimm inside his office. He's staring at that weird mirror." Duchess whispered, making a spot for Ashlynn to peer into the room. She was honestly surprised the shaft was capable of holding their combined weight, but she wasn't going to jinx it.

"Isn't that the one that the Evil Queen is imprisoned in? Why would he have it in his office?"

"Safe keeping probably...but we have to get him to leave. Just stay quiet and don't say anything." Duchess said, reaching into her pocket for her phone. She clicked on a specific app, which let her hack into the PA system. She plugged her nose up, holding the speaker close to her mouth.

"Attention all students and staff, due to a gas leak in the Cooking Class-ic room, we will now hold an emergency evacuation of school grounds. Everyone proceed with emergency evacuation procedures, all students will be required to be present at the courtyard, thank you!"

Ashlynn watched as Headmaster Grimm frantically tried dialing something into the phone. However since Duchess hadn't hung up, he wasn't able to get onto the system. He let out a shout and ran right out of the office, the door slamming shut a second later. Duchess ended the call, making sure not to make any noise so the Headmaster wouldn't have a reason to return. She quickly pulled on the grate until it came undone.

"You know, I really want to know who installed these shafts, none of these grates are secured with the proper screws."

"Ashlynn shut up, we don't have the time to wonder that stupid shit...come on, you first." the ballerina cried, gesturing for the girl to go before her. Ashlynn took her hand, slowly lowering herself down, keeping a firm hold of the edge of the shaft. She swung her legs toward the bookshelf, snagging it with her feet.

Once she had a firm hold of the book shelf, she easily climbed down. Duchess shifted into her swan form, a brilliant glow filling the vent as she turned into a black swan, easily flying into the room. She looked around for a few seconds, flapping her wings to stay aloft, spotting what she was looking for on the other side of the room. Her body glowed brightly as she returned to her human form, landing firmly on her feet.

"Ash, over here...looks like it's being kept in the case the Storybook was being kept in." she said. Ashlynn approached it, looking it over for any locks or latches.

"I'm not sure how we get this open...I think we need a key!" she said, glancing at the Swan Princess. She sighed, grabbing a nearby trophy from the case.

"Yeah, here's my damn key!" she cried, slamming the base of the trophy into the case, causing Ashlynn to scream. The glass shattered, falling in large pieces onto the floor around them. She grabbed a hold of the book, shoving it into her purse.

"Step one, complete! Step two, let's get the fuck out of here!" she said, running toward the doors. She opened it and looked into the hallway, seeing a bunch of students lingering around the halls. They walked out of the office and blended into the crowd, moving toward the charmitorium.

" _Attention, Students and Staff. Please disregard that last page, there is no emergency, all students are urged to return to class. As for the prankster, you best show up in my office immediately so we can deal with you. It's bad enough that we have you reading journals and personal diaries over the PA, we cannot risk the lives of the students!"_ Headmaster Grimm cried through the PA, a rather angry tone in his voice.

"He's pissed, how pissed do you think he would be when he finds the book was stolen?" Ashlynn asked.

"I try not to think about it, come on we haven't got much time. If Blake and the others are indeed in Wonderland, then they might have gotten in trouble or who knows what else." Duchess replied, keeping her focus solely on reaching the first floor.

Once the two girls did, they used once of the emergency exits to get out of the school, moving toward the Village of Bookend. Once they had gotten through the village, which had taken them fifteen minutes, since they tried not to be seen. Duchess opened the book to the middle pages, the map appearing in front of her. She saw the blinking arrow, pointing toward the right side of the Enchanted Forest. They continued onward, trying to hurry along.

"I'm glad I grabbed my hiking boots before I came here...heels are not good for this sort of thing." Ashlynn said, a smile on her face she looked at the beautiful glass boots on her legs.

"I've always wondered, how is it that glass slippers are made? Farrah doesn't make them right?"

"Actually, it's her mother that makes them. The Fairy Godmother has a show factory and she has her workers traditionally made them through glass blowing. I actually got to see the entire process, it's so cool to see how glass is made. It takes a lot of sand though." she replied.

"Wait, glass is made out of sand? I never knew that!"

"Yup, you have to heat it up to like 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit in order for it all to melt. After that some other stuff gets added and what you get is glass...I think." she said, earning a sigh from Duchess.

"It's good to know you are at least familiar with the general process." she replied, her eyes trained on the book in her hands.

"Well, if I'm gonna be the next Cinderella, I have to at least know what goes into making the shoe. Maybe I could get you some glass dancing shoes, as thanks for helping me."

"As long as they don't break on me that is...my feet and legs are my most prized possession. If anything happened to them, well...I would just be a swan at that point. Heads up, the Well is about to show up in front of us."

Ashlynn stopped in her tracks, looking out into the forest. There wasn't much of a clearing, just a small space between a few thick trees. The shimmering sound of the well filled the area, causing the nearby animals to run off from being startled. Brick by brick, the two girls watched as the well appeared before them in all of its wonder and splendor. They both shared a look, walking toward the edge of the well, both girls peered inside, seeing the glowing rainbow water. Ashlynn took a deep breath, climbing up to the edge of the well, rising to her full height.

"Whoa, you're a just gonna go for it? Aren't you gonna tell Hunter at least?"

"No, I know for a fact that he'll stop me if I even broach the topic. He would kill me if he saw me even doing this. Apple, Briar and Lizzie my closest friends, same with Blake, Raven, Maddie and Kitty. I can't just let them wonder around in Wonderland...I just have to make sure they're alright." she replied.

"You worry about the girls, I'll worry about Blake, he is my best friend forever after you know. I'll walk to the gates of hell for him." she said, climbing up to the edge of the well. Ashlynn held her hand out for Duchess to grab a hold of. They both shared a look, nodding firmly, they're resolve unwavering. They took a deep breath and jumped into the well, neither of them knew of the adventure they were about to have.

Ashlynn and Duchess tried they're hardest to hold onto each other, not wanting to let go of their hands. A weird cold feeling washed over them as they burst through a thin membrane. The book in Duchess's hand started glowing brightly, a swirling golden light spinning around the two, forming an orb around them. The girls gasped loudly, panting for breath as they were pulled forward.

"What's going on?" Duchess asked, holding the book a in front of her.

"I dunno, maybe the magic in that book is making all of this stuff happen!" Ashlynn replied. Duchess pulled the book open, causing another stream of magic to flow out of it, spinning rapidly around they're bodies. They could feel the magic tugging and pulling on their clothes, as if it wanted to tear it completely off their bodies.

Ashlynn noticed that it was in fact changing their clothes. She had long auburn colored hair, with streaks of gold highlights in her hair. When the light died down around her, she noticed her new attire. She a beautiful golden tiara atop her head, a long strand of hot pink hair falling down the left side of her face. She was wearing a beautiful sleeveless silken dress, the top of it was magenta in color, with hot pink and gold threading forming various flowers and birds on it. The bottom part of the dress was blue in color, the skirt reaching down to just above her knees. Various roses and flowers had been embroidered into the cloth, along with more birds and butterflies. Glancing at her feet, she saw a rather fancy pair of glass heels on her feet, the straps of which wrapped around her leg, and were glittering brightly.

Duchess's clothes had also completely changed. She was now wearing a dark blue, sleeveless dress, that reached down to her mid thigh. She wore a white corset made entirely out of pure white feathers, around her shoulder, was the neck of a swan, attached to a shoulder guard which doubled as the rest of its body. The outer skirt of her dress was white in color, and fell down around her bare legs, reaching down to her ankles. A mixture of dark gray, white and black feathers made most of this garment up. She was wearing a pair of black boots that reached up to her calves, and were covered in white feathers at the top. Her long monochrome hair, which had been tied into a ponytail before, had been pulled free, separated into twin tails, the left being white and the right being black. She was wearing a crown on her head, with a small plush swan in the middle of it, being both black and white in color, in a checkerboard design.

The novelty of their attire died down seconds later when they passed through another membrane. They felt the pull of gravity on their bodies, both blocking their eyes as the light became to much to bare. They felt themselves land on something hard, and finally opened their eyes, seeing they had landed in a wooden slide.

"What the hell? Where are we?" Duchess cried, confused as to why they were on a slide.

"We're in Wonderland, look!" Ashlynn cried, pointing to the Card Castle in the distance. They let out a scream as the slide was cut short, leaving the two to free fall for several hundred feet.

Thankfully, they ended up landing in a large pile of marshmallows, which easily broke they're fall. Ashlynn lead out a happy laugh bouncing a bit on the blown up candy. Duchess sighed with relief, glancing around the area, finding a quick way down. She jumped to the ground, which was in fact another marshmallow. She groaned, placing a hand on her hips.

"How the hell are we gonna find anyone in this place? I mean we're surrounded by giant marshmallows!" she shouted, a honk slipping through her lips right after.

"Eh? I'd recognize that honk anywhere. Duchess? Is that you?" a familiar voice said. The girl gasped and turned around, a giddy look on her face.

"Blake!"


	69. Way Too Wonderland IV

**A/N:**

 **Hey gays, as I said in Chapter 68, I decided to post Chapter 69 hehe, so here you are guys, Chapter 69 of Through the Looking Glass. Tomorrow, you will all get Chapter 70, man...70 chapters already...I'll stop before I begin. This chapter, you will all get to see a bit of Wonderland, along with some of Wonderland High and a lot of other things. I hope you guys enjoy this chapter, let me know what you all think. Sorry about the short authors note, but I'm sort off in a hurry right now, I'm sure you'll all be looking forward to tomorrow's chapter as some of the more excited things will occur in that chapter. You'll also need to prepare yourselves, because there will be some fights in the next few chapters and they will be some of the most important and in my opinion, exciting ones. I have been meaning to throw some more action into the story for awhile and Way Too Wonderland gave me that excuse, so you'll finally get a serious fight. I hope you all have a good night!**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 69

Way Too Wonderland IV

 _ **xxx(Wonderland)xxx**_

Blake leaned up against a tree, panting a bit for breath. He had been running for the last ten minutes, not stopping for a single second. He glanced at his watch, seeing it wasn't working, most likely because time ran differently in Wonderland. He instead reached for the one Lizzie had given him, looking at the time on it. The three hands were spinning around the clock face, stopping on the correct time for a single second before resuming their wild spinning. It was nine thirty in the morning, which felt rather odd since when they left Ever After, it was clearly past noon. He closed the watch, pushing himself away from the tree, looking around the area for someone or something that could help him out.

He had to reach the Card Castle, but he was all turned around. There was no way he would be able to find the correct path without Lizzie, Maddie or Kitty by his side. He didn't have a map with him, he was completely on his own. He didn't have had a sword for self defense anymore. He took a deep breath to calm down, heading down the path he was already walking on, getting as far as he would from Wonderland High school. If he was captured now, he wouldn't be able to warn the Queen of Hearts of her attack. He pinched his eyes, exhaling through his nose.

" _Alright, I'm all alone in a foreign land...not the first time it's happened. But at least in those places I had logic...how can I get to the Queen of Hearts without a map?"_ he thought to himself.

He started to think, arriving at an answer a second later. He stopped in his tracks and walked right off the path, straight into the forest. If he wanted to find his way, then he had to lose his way. It was the only way to find the right way. At least that was what his muddled thoughts arrived at. He reached behind his back for his handgun, pumping it a few times as he walked through the woods, at least he would have this for self defense.

His thoughts drifted back to his friends. Lizzie had given him a very important task, and he wasn't going to fail her. But he couldn't help but worry about them and how they were doing. He trusted that Raven could bail them out in case something bad happened, but knowing how Wonderland operated, it made him fear for what would happen to them inside Wonderland High school. After all, it wasn't like taking a walk through the halls of Ever After High. The normalcy would be alright for everyone else, but it would be highly confusing for them. Blake took another step forward, the branch under him snapped and he ended up tripping, sliding down a grassy hill. He let out a surprised shout as he reached the edge of the hill, pulling himself to a stop just as he was about to drop off a cliff face.

He put a hand over his chest, his hands shaking a bit. A dainty chuckle slipped past his lips, becoming a boisterous laugh. He had been rather close to biting it, but his quick thinking had gotten him out of that situation. He stood up, brushing his coat off as he looked into the distance, seeing the Card Castle standing proudly, the flags billowing in the wind. He started looking around, a frown on his face.

"I gotta get down from here. If I go straight, which means take a turn somewhere down the path, I'll be able to reach the castle!" he said cheerfully. He glanced down, seeing the bottom of the cliff face was rather far down. But he also noticed the large blue mushrooms growing from the bottom of the rock formations.

He took a deep breath and jumped off the cliff, letting out a shout as the pull of gravity brought him to the ground. He landed on the bouncy mushroom, being sprung outward onto the ground. He rolled around for a few seconds before ending up laying on his back, looking right at the swirling mass of clouds that made up the curse. He sighed, shoving his gun into his belt, not wanting to lose it from all of the falling he was currently doing. He pulled himself to his feet, cracking his back as he walked, getting onto the checkered path in front of him. As he was walking however, he couldn't help but notice someone else on the path. He quickly hid behind a boulder, which was a bright blue for some reason, but he didn't question it.

The figure was dressed in black, with a hood pulled over their head. It was so dark that he couldn't make out any facial features. But from the stature, he could tell it was a male. He was holding a piece of paper in his hands, and was stopping every so often, as if checking the paper. It didn't take Blake long to figure out he was looking at a map. A WonderMap in fact.

He didn't know why, but Blake felt a sense of familiarity with this black figure. As if he had met it before, he narrowed his eyes in thought a bit, remembering the guy that had been shooting him with Cupid's bow back in February. He felt a shiver down his spine when he remembered the events of that day, but he knew for a fact that this guy was the same guy as before. It was a gut feeling he had, but he couldn't attack him. He knew revenge wouldn't do anything except getting him hurt or worse. However, he did want to follow the guy as closely as he could. If he could swipe the map, he could get a direct route to the Queen of Hearts without having to wonder through Wonderland, aimlessly looking for a path that didn't exist. He waited for the figure to disappear down a hill, quickly moving after him, keeping himself low to the ground.

It became a little easier as they approached a nearby Marshmallow Marsh. It was a marshland completely covered in multicolored marshmallows. The figure stopped to admire the marshland before continuing onward. Blake moved as fast as he could toward a nearby marshmallow, hiding behind it, breathing raggedly from the running he had to do, he narrowed his eyes, watching the figure stop at a four-way split in the path.

" _Who are you really? And why are you in Wonderland? Why did you attack me back in Ever After...that's a good question too."_

It then dawned on the boy, he could possibly be staring at the Fake Rebel. He had been quiet for the last few weeks, mostly because of Radio Rebel putting a block on the PA whenever they were on. It had most likely angered him and made him want to seek revenge elsewhere. After all, his plans fell apart when Blake owned up to tossing the Storybook in the well of Wonder. He blinked a few times, an audible gasp leaving his mouth.

"He's going after the Storybook...that has to be it! Why else would he be here?" he muttered, eyes wide in shock. The black cloaked young man continued onward, having chosen the middle path. Blake started moving after him as soon as he got far enough away. He stopped at the split in the road, seeing the Queen's castle in the distance.

"Dammit! This is bullshit, here I am...standing in a fork in the road, letting the guy who could potentially be here for the Storybook, get away. But I also made a promise to Lizzie, I can't let her down, and I can't let the Queen of Hearts get attacked either!" he said.

"How do you know about the Queen of Hearts's attack?"

The boy turned around, backing away a bit when he saw a young woman standing behind him. She was a bit shorter than him, perhaps five foot four or so. She had long copper colored hair, and two brown ears coming right out of her head. He looked at her tea themed dress and snapped his fingers, a small smile on his face.

"Mavis Hare, correct?"

"Erm...yes, that's my name. Who are you? I don't think we have met before."

"My name is Blake Bigby, I came from Ever After. You asked me how I know of the Queen's attack correct? Alistair and Bunny told us about it. They said Gloriosa White was trying to protect her from an attack." he said. Her eyes widened in shock, a look of relief on her face.

"Oh...you're him...you're definitely him! She's spoken so much about you, I didn't think I would actually run into you!" she cried, hugging the boy tightly. He noticed she was favoring her left arm a bit, most likely due to an injury. Confusion appeared on his face as he pushed the girl back from him.

"She? Gloriosa you mean? I know her by Lucy. She was my best friend...where is she? I have quite a lot to say to her."

"She was taken prisoner by a girl named Courtly Jester. The two of us were trying to find Marmoreal so we could get our hands on Excalibur. We need its power to protect the Queen...she was taken to Wonderland High School. She sacrificed herself in order for me to get away, I need to find the sword, but I can't do it alone!" she said, distress in her voice.

"Wonderland High...shit, I just came from there. My friends are there, so are Madeline Hatter, Kitty Cheshire and Lizzie Hearts."

"Maddie and Kitty are here? And Lizzie too?"

"They're here, but they're in Wonderland High right now. I can't risk going back or I might get stuck there too. We need to go warn the Queen of the attack, do you know how to get there?" Blake asked. The girl reached into her dress, pulling out a folded WonderMap.

"We can easily make it there through some nearby Rabbit Holes. But we don't know exactly the level of the attack, we need to reach Marmoreal and get Excalibur first. I was following this path before I ran into you, this way is the way to the palace." she said, pointing to the same path that the Black Figure had taken.

"No way...could it be that he...no, the sword can only be pulled if you are worthy right?"

"Not exactly...anyone can wield the sword, as long as they have a strong heart. Good or bad, it doesn't matter. Gloriosa was prepared to channel her own magic into it in case she couldn't pull it. Why do you ask?"

"We have to go after that sword right now. I think someone is here from Ever After, someone dangerous who might be after the sword." he said, causing Mavis to go wide eyed. She unfurled the map, holding it out before her.

"WonderMap, find me a direct line to Marmoreal!" she cried. Several doors appeared on the map, all of them being dotted on the map. They saw one that was very close to where they were.

"There's a door not far from here, it'll lead straight into the castle. However, it takes a lot of magic to open one...it was the reason Gloriosa avoided them in the first place." Mavis said.

"Don't worry about it, I'll supply the magic...lead the way, I don't want to get lost." he said, allowing the girl to take the lead. The started moving toward the furthermost left path, which lead further into the Marshmallow Marshland.

As they were walking however, Blake couldn't help but hear a pair of screams echoing through the air. He stopped for a few seconds trying to find the source. He tried moving toward the marshmallows, with Mavis grabbing a hold of his hand.

"Don't, there are some animals that prowl in there. Those screams were probably because of its pray. It's better to just leave them be." she said. A loud honk followed after, along with a stream of swearing, making the boy smile a bit. He kept walking forward, seeing a couple of familiar faces sitting on some of the marshmallows they had landed in.

"Eh? I'd recognize that honk anywhere. Duchess, is that you?" he asked, causing the girl to turn around. Her eyes lit up, a bright grin on her face.

"Blake!" she cried, launching herself into his arms. He stumbled a bit as he caught her in a hug, a chuckle escaping his lips. She wrapped her legs around him, as she kissed his cheek repeatedly.

"I thought you were dead! Alistair and Bunny said you were sucked into a portal and I just lost my mind!"

"Well, I'm perfectly fine...if you would remove yourself from my body, I would be even better." he said. She flushed brightly, dropping down to the floor, backing away from the boy.

"I didn't think she would actually do that to you...are you alright Blake?"

"Ashlynn, you're here too?" Blake asked, giving the girl a once over. It seemed the magic of Wonderland had changed their clothes as well.

"Well...as soon as I saw that magic circle, I had a hunch that you would be here in Wonderland. Although I'm surprised with all of this...I mean...marshmallows?" she asked, gesturing to the candy behind them.

"Oh, that's Marshmallow Marsh...we also have Haphazard Bog which is made entirely of chocolate milk." Mavis pointed out, causing Duchess to scrounge her nose up.

"Who'd want to walk through chocolate milk?"

"Well, that's why it's called Haphazard Bog, because you have to walk through it, haphazardly...my name is Mavis Hare, I'm the daughter of the March Hare...are you Blake's girlfriend perhaps?" she asked, earning a snort from Duchess, who held her hand to her cheek.

"I wish, this attractive hunk has his eye on someone else. If not, I'd be on that like ketchup on french fries." she admitted.

"Oh Duchess, I've already told you I see you as a friend, why do you keep insisting?" Blake asked, arms crossed with a frown on his face.

"Until I win the war of course. Anyway, now that we're here, are we gonna grab the girls and get out? And what the fuck is that in sky?" the monochrome ballerina asked, causing Mavis to look up at the sky, a fearful look on her face.

"That, is the Wonderland Curse. It's been hanging in the sky for the past four years...all of us live in constant fear of it. And someone is currently using it to attempt a coup-de-e'tat against our Queen. We must hurry to Marmoreal and get that sword." she said firmly.

"Right, lead the way. Ash, Duchess stay close...Wonderland is a wonderful place, but it is also quite dangerous as well." the black haired boy said, following after Mavis.

 _ **xxx(Wonderland High)xxx**_

It hadn't been long since they had walked into the weirdest school anyone had seen in a long time. Wonderland High did live up to its name of being the weirdest place in Wonderland. The halls moved, there was a fountain in the middle of the foyer, paths were upside down and right-side up, and people were jumping from high balconies into water bubbles, as if it was a normal occurrence.

Raven was currently following her friends through the halls on the way to her next class. It bad been rather complicated, but Chase Redfield, the young man under the Red armor had told them that school got out at three. So far, they had completed three classes, Fishology 101, Mathematics 101 and Debate Class. It had only been half an hour, but in the span of five minutes, they had passed three classes. Maddie had been correct when she said you had to cram quite a lot to actually pass your classes. It was rather hard for someone who relied mostly on logic than anything, but at least she was able to go with the flow.

"So, what's are next class? Or are we just gonna find it when we find it?" Briar asked curiously.

"I'm not sure, but if we pass two more, we'll officially be Sophomores. We'll be Juniors by lunch if we keep a good pace!" Maddie replied, waving to a few people who were looking down from the second floor.

"Kitty, are you alright? You've been oddly silent."

"Can you blame me? I'm here in class while my best friend is running for his life, trying to reach the Card Castle. He doesn't have his map, his sword was taken by soldiers and there's no phone service for us here. I'm just...really worried about him." she replied.

"He'll be fine...he's got his brain...after all he understands Wonderland Logic. He'll make it to Lizzie's palace and warn her mother...and all us will be set free from here." Raven said, a smile on her face.

"How can you tell?"

"Well Apple...I just can...there's this weird feeling in my chest, telling me to believe in him. I'm putting all of my hope into that...besides, were stuck here until three, so there's nothing to worry about." she said. The bell rung a few seconds later, causing the floor underneath them to literally disappear. They landed in a brightly lit room, with bubbles floating all around him. There was a snapping turtle sitting on a podium, a pair of glasses on his face.

"Welcome to Bubbleology 101! Today we will be learning about bubbles and how to ubble when they wobble."

"What?" Apple cried, clearly confused.

"Is there a problem miss?" the Turtle asked curiously.

"Of course there is! What is an ubble and when do bubbles wobble? Have you ever seen wobbling bubble? It makes no sense. Bubbles can't wobble because they would pop before they did, unless it's a bubble gum." she replied, causing the turtle to blink.

"That is correct, bubblegum is the right answer! Thanks again, have wonderful day." the turtle replied, pulling the cord beside him, causing the girls to be captured inside a giant bubble, the entirety of the room disappearing around him.

"Okay, even I was confused by that last class...when did they add Bubbleology to the curriculum?" Maddie asked curiously.

"Maybe it was during our missing years? I believe they may have added more things to keep classes fresh and new." Lizzie added.

"I don't think I'll be able to get used to this place." Raven said, a smile on her face.

"You and me both." Apple and Briar said in unison.

Meanwhile in the main office, Courtly Jester was sitting at her chair, a frown on her face as she stared out the window. She had seen the altercation that had taken place when Lizzie Hearts had returned. She had also witnessed how one student had managed to get out of her school. She had been absolutely furious at this, how dare that exchange student make a mockery of her? She was the Vice Principle of the school, she had made those rules so that no one would be able to slip through the cracks. It was clear what the boy's intentions were, he was aiming to reach the Queen of Hearts and give her a warning. She stood up from her seat, just as Chase walked into her office, holding his helmet in his hands.

"You wanted to see me, Madam Vice Principle?" the boy asked, causing her to look in his direction.

"Yes I do...that boy that ran out of here...have you gotten his name yet?"

"I have not, my apologies. I hadn't been expecting him to actually fight back the way he did...I already sent a regimen of soldiers after him, they are close to his position. Not just them, it seems there are two others along with Mavis Hare." he said, causing the girl to go wide eyed. She smirked, pressing her hands together.

"Mavis Hare you say? That is interesting...that means we'll be able to get the last person capable of stopping me into the detention room. I would go myself but...I've got things to handle here...make sure you retrieve her for me, and that boy...when you get him back here...put him into class with his friends." she replied.

"As you wish, I shall get him back here posthaste." Chase said, putting on his helmet, closing the visor right after. Courtly smirked, her plan was coming to fruition...soon enough, the Queen of Hearts would be no more, and she would be able to take the throne.

 _ **xxx**_

"That's how we ended up here in Wonderland. The outfit was created from the magic of the bracelet, no idea how though." Blake said, finishing his story.

For the last few minutes, he had been sharing with Ashlynn and Duchess the story of how he and the others had arrived in Wonderland. How after they had been sucked into the portal, and got stuck in between the realms, Joey had tossed Lucy's bracelet into the Rabbit hole. He had also told them most of what had happened after they had arrived, but Ashlynn had asked him where he had gotten his outfit, which lead to him retelling everything from the beginning, which he should have honestly done from the beginning.

"So, it seems that if something has innate magic in it, it has the power to transform you. Lizzie's book made us blend into Wonderland so we wouldn't look out of place." Duchess said, holding the book closely to herself.

"I suppose that could be the answer. There's no logic in Wonderland after all, especially when your head is filled with sugar. I'd kill for a donut right now." Mavis said, licking her lips at the thought.

"But wait, didn't you mention someone else?" Ashlynn asked.

"Ah yes...thanks for reminding me Ash. As I was making my way to the Queen's castle, I saw a black figure walking down the path. I hid behind the boulder and noticed he had a WonderMap too. It might be a stretch, but I have a feeling they're the Fake Rebel." he said.

"The Fake Rebel? Are you serious? How can you tell?"

"Well Duchess, he was dressed in all black. Like that guy that was shooting everyone with the love arrows. On top of that, he was the one who exposed who got rid of the book. What if he came to Wonderland because he wants to find the Storybook of Legends?"

"You got a good point there...we don't know who this person is, but he was hellbent on making Blake look bad at the Fairest. If they're after the book, then all of us could be in danger. That just adds to the other stuff we gotta do, we gotta find the sword, the book and stop the Queen of Hearts's attack." Ashlynn said, a frown on her face.

"We're spread to thin...after we get our hands on Excalibur, we're gonna split up. I'll go warn the Queen, and you guys find the Storybook, I can move faster on my own anyway." Blake said, earning a nod from the three girls.

"There's the door!" Mavis suddenly cried, pointing at the path ahead of them. Just like she said, there was a door right in the middle of the path. It was just a plain wooden door, with a golden handle on it. The four of them approached the door, walking around it only to see nothing attached to it.

"That's so weird...this is just a door...nothing attached to it." Ashlynn said, standing right at the frame, looking behind the door.

"How do we open it?"

"Well Duchess, it takes a lot of magic to open it. It's a bit dangerous to use magic in Wonderland, since it's poisoned by the curse. It was a risk Gloriosa didn't want to take, but it is unavoidable now. If that unknown man is after the Storybook of Legends, we need to get this sword as soon as we can." Mavis said firmly, a desperate look on her face.

"Maybe we don't need magic...all we need, is a key." Blake said, holding a bobby pin in his hands, which twinkled a bit.

"You still have one of Blondie's pins? That's great, you can open practically any door with one!" the daughter of Cinderella cried, earning a nod from the boy, who jabbed the pin into the lock.

"Let's just hope this works...I've done this plenty of times, but sometimes you have a little bit of trouble getting all the pins in." he said, hearing a click right after. He pulled the pin out and turned the knob, pushing the door inward. He was greeted by nothing but a marble hallway, completely empty, save for several doors leading into other areas.

"This is it, the main hallway of Marmoreal...I can't believe we could have done this so easily. And with a pin no less...oh well, we'll be able to grab the sword. We can leave this door open to get back here." Mavis said, folding the map and placing it into her shirt. She stepped into the hallway first, followed by Ashlynn who had a curious look on her face. As soon as Duchess was going to step through however, a spear flew through the door, making her scream and jump back in shock.

"Men, surround them quickly!" a voice called out. Blake turned around, a familiar crimson armor glinting in the sunlight.

"Shit, the Red Knight!" he cried.

"The who?" Duchess asked curiously, fear still on her face.

"He's the herald for Wonderland High, if he catches us we'll be forced to go back to school! We can't let him get us!" Mavis said.

"He won't, Ashlynn, Duchess...you two have to protect Mavis and get a hold sword. Don't let anyone get to it, find the book and keep it safe. Stop whoever wants to kill the Queen." he said firmly, grabbing a hold of the spear, pulling it free from the door.

"Huh? But we can't just do all of that! What about you?!" Ashlynn cried, a look of shock on her face.

"Just go! Ashlynn you need to help Mavis...you have to save the Queen, it's all in your hands now...good luck!" he said, slamming the door closed. He spun the spear around him, pointing the tip at the Red Knight. He drew his sword from his hip, holding it outward in both hands.

"Stand down, all we wish to do is return you to school."

"Absolutely not, I'm not of this world and I'm not going to school! I have to get to the Queen of Hearts, as soon as I can! Besides, Mavis told me you can't force me to do anything unless I'm on school grounds." Blake replied.

"Funny you should mention that."

Blake felt the ground shake a bit, a rather familiar mist surrounding him. It blinded him entirely, blocking his line of sight. He swung his spear back and forth, trying to jab the Red Knight, who easily dodged all of his attacks. He grabbed a hold of Blake's weapon, using his sword to slice the handle clean in half. A solid kick to the chest sent the boy sprawling to the ground, coughing and wheezing from the hit to his sternum. He glanced around him, eye widening a bit when he saw the familiar buildings of Wonderland High. He forced himself to stand up, clutching his chest with his arm.

"You don't...get it...the Queen...your queen...might die." he said.

"I'm only here to follow the rules. You broke the rule of wondering the halls without a pass, I'm afraid there is nothing you can do but graduate. You shall be put in the same classes as your friends, so congratulations, you've already passed six. You've got three more years to go and only a few hours to do it in. Walk." he said firmly, pushing the boy toward the entrance of the school.

"You're a fool you know...following the rules when they're clearly meant to be broken. The Queen breaks them all the time, so why don't let us go already?" Blake asked, earning a sigh from the knight.

"It's complicated... and you misunderstand...school gets out at three. Even if you don't pass all of your classes, you get to go home for an entire year. Just make it through the day, the Queen is heavily guarded...I can assure you, if there is an attack, she isn't going to go down without a fight. If you hurry, you'll be able to catch your friends before they head to lunch. Good luck." the knight said, standing firm at the door. Blake looked around, eyes widening a bit at what he was seeing. Frowning, he picked a hallway and started walking.

"Ah yes, before you go...what is your name, for our records of course." the knight said, causing the boy to look over his shoulder.

"Blake J. Bigby." he said, disappearing down the hallway. Once he was gone, the Red Knight moved toward the main office, a small smile on his face.

 _ **xxx**_

"Finally, jeez...it took forever to find this place!" Joey said firmly, finally arriving at Marmoreal. He had to work around a few Rabbit Holes that had been placed in front of it for protection, but he had finally made it inside the palace.

Wonderland was quite an interesting place. He had seen a lot of flora and fauna, unlike anything he had ever seen. Lucy had been right about this place, it truly was a wonderful place to be at. But one could only take so much wackiness before wanting to through up rainbows. He continued following the map through the winding halls of the place, taking in all of the detail of it. The White Queen was stupid rich, that was obvious. This castle was unlike anything he had ever seen, even more grandiose than Ever After High. But he couldn't focus on all of the frivolities, he had things to do after all. He stopped in front of a wooden door, seeing it was being poorly hidden by a couple of iron suits of armor. He rolled his eyes and moved forward, grabbing a hold of the knob, turning it until the door opened.

When he did however, he saw one of the suits turn to face him. Of course since he was invisible, not even the suits of armor could find him. He was about to let out a laugh when he heard some voices coming up the hallway. He glanced to his left, jaw dropping when he saw Ashlynn and Duchess, along with some unknown girl walking in this direction. His eyes were solely on the Swan Princess, who looked absolutely stunning in her outfit. But he quickly shook his head, ducking into the room. He dashed down the stairs, surprised to see all of the torches lighting up as he ran. He reached the bottom floor, seeing what he was looking for right in the center of the room.

A large gray stone sat in the middle of the room, being completely surrounded by red velvet ropes. There was a sign in front of it, that read, "If you have the courage, try your luck with the sword." written on it. It made him think that this was part of a museum rather than being kept here for one reason or another.

The sword stabbed into it was the most beautiful sword he had ever seen. It was a beautiful long sword, with an ivory colored blade. It had a swan etched onto the center of the blade, about to take flight. The blade was sharpened to a razor sharp tip, which would pierce flesh with ease. The handle of the sword was crafted with glimmering gold. The cross guard was angled a bit, and painted a dark blue in color, encrusted with various gemstones. The handle was wrapped around with black leather and lined with white gold. The pommel was around, and had a shining ruby on it, a small strap was attached to it, being tied tightly around the pommel of the blade.

"Excalibur." he muttered, slowly moving toward it. The blade had a small glow coming from it, and was exuding quite a lot of light. It was a holy sword after all, so it radiated quite a lot of it. He reached a hand for it, but stopped when he heard voices coming from the stairs. He quickly moved away from it, reactivating his invisibility spell to hide in the corner.

"Well, the map says that the sword is...whoa." Mavis stopped mid existence and mid step as she laid eyes on the sword.

"Is that Excalibur?" Ashlynn asked softly, earning a nod from the copper haired girl.

"It has a swan on it...ha, that means I get to pull it! I was destined to wield it." Duchess said, a smirk on her face as she walked around the stone.

"Duchess, you might want to be careful. Sometimes when someone isn't worthy or doesn't have a strong heart, it'll shock the hell out of you. Not only that, it'll rob you of your magic as well." Mavis warned. The girl disregarded it, stepping up to the sword, cracking her knuckles as she wrapped her hand around the hilt.

"I have the power!" she chanted, her voice echoing through the room. Ashlynn sighed, shaking her head. It seemed Blake had been watching cartoons with her again. The sword started glowing brightly, only for it to turn black. A bolt of lightning flew out of it, hitting Duchess right in the hand, causing her to let go of the sword, a scream of pain leaving her lips.

"See, arrogance sometimes is a bad quality...I know I can't wield it, I don't believe I should be allowed to carry something like this. That's why Gloriosa wanted to inject magic into it...if the conditions are right, she would be able to use it."

"Well, Gloriosa isn't here...so someone else has to pull the sword. We have to save the Queen, and we can't waste time debating on who will pull it. Blake tasked us to do this, now that he's back in Wonderland High, we have to hurry. I'll do it." Ashlynn said firmly, taking Duchess's spot. The girl was still rubbing her hand, feeling the remains of the lightning spell she had just taken to it.

"Careful, it hurts like hell." she said dejectedly. Ashlynn brushed it off, wrapping her hand around the hilt. She closed her eyes, focusing on moving the blade slightly. She felt it start to move, and started pulling harder on it, until the blade came free, making her fall back onto the floor.

"Ow...did I do it?" she asked.

"Look in your hand." Mavis said, pointing a shaky hand toward the sword. Ashlynn looked at it, eyes widening a bit as she held the sword up.

"That is so not fair!" Duchess muttered, a look of annoyance on her face.

"It doesn't matter, we have to get this out of here. Let's go to the Queen of Hearts's castle." Ashlynn said, pulling herself to her feet. She grabbed a hold of a scabbard that had been sitting inside a glass case, slipping the sword into it.

"The closest Rabbit hole is just outside of the White Castle grounds. We'll be able to make it to the Fork in the road from there." Mavis said, folding her map. The three girls started moving out of the room, unknowingly being followed by Joey, who still hid in the shadows.

He followed silently after them, already planning on what he was going to do. Once they had made it outside, he made his move. Dropping in his invisibility, he dashed past Ashlynn, grabbing a hold of Excalibur's hilt, drawing the sword as he ran stunning the auburn haired girl, who hadn't been expecting it.

"That guy is stealing the sword!"

"The Fake Rebel! Quick, let's go after him!" Duchess cried, breaking into a sprint after the man. He forced himself to a stop, holding his hand out, a swirling light appearing in his palm.

"From good to bad, and bad to nice, make the ground slip like ice!" he chanted, throwing the orb of magic at the ground. It burst, coating the ground in ice, causing the three girls to slip and fall, their shoes freezing to the ice.

"No! We can't let him get away, if he steals that sword it could spell the end of Wonderland!" Mavis cried.

Duchess let out a honk, shifting into her swan form, she shot into the air following after the black clocked young man. Much to his surprise however, he ended up falling into a rabbit hole, one of the ones that had been placed to protect the castle from intruders. The black swan tried flying in after him, but the hole closed before she could actually make it in. Flapping her wings, she regained some height, landing back inside the courtyard, shifting back into her human form.

"Shit balls...he got away." she snapped. Her legs fell out from under her, and she dropped to her knees, bowing her head, teeth grit in anger.

"Duchess! Are you alright?" Ashlynn cried, kneeling down next to her.

"No! I let him get away! Blake gave me one task and I couldn't even complete it...now we can't protect the Queen." she said, tears running down her face.

"It's alright, so we don't have the sword, big whoop. We can still warn her, we have too...we can't give up. This is the fate of Wonderland we are talking about!" Mavis said. Ashlynn nodded, helping her friend up to her feet.

"Okay then, what's the nearest place with a rabbit hole to the Queen's castle?" she asked. Mavis pulled the map from inside her shirt, looking around it.

"There's one nearby. If we hurry to the castle before tea time, we might be able to get through to the Queen. She might not let us in without an invite, but we can easily get in...I got my ways." Mavis said, giving the girls a wink.

"Don't worry Duchess, we haven't failed...not yet. We'll protect the Queen, even without Excalibur's help. We'll be fine." she said. Duchess nodded, a firm look on her face.

"Alright then, let's do this! We have a Queen to save...and if we do, I might get knighted, that would be the perfect way to rub my sister's nose in it!" she said, earning a sigh from her friend.

Joey laughed as he landed in the Rainbow River basin. He had done it, he had finally gotten a hold of Excalibur! He could finally begin Phase 3 of his plan...everything was going smoothly. Blake was trapped in Wonderland High, according to his friends, and the Holy Sword was in his hand. He stood up from the ground, walking out of the river, not caring that he was soaking wet. He slipped Excalibur into the hilt he had brought along with him, resting his hand on the pommel. The magic of the sword was flowing through his hand, filling him with power.

"Finally, now that I have the sword I can fucking put my plan in motion. Now then, to the next part of Phase 3." he muttered, reaching into his pocket for the map. He unrolled it, a smirk on his face.

"WonderMap, show me the Storybook of Legends." he said, watching the map swirl with a giddy look on his face. An image of the Queen of Hearts's castle appeared on the map, a blinking dot right in the middle of it, his smile widened.

"It's at the Queen's castle...what are the odds of that? It seems someone's head is going to roll a little earlier than planned. Once I sign my name in that book, I'll get all the power I need to bring down this entire kingdom." he muttered, starting his long walk toward the Queen's castle.

 _ **xxx(Wonderland High)xxx**_

After much searching, Blake had finally found his way to the cafeteria of Wonderland High school. He had already passed a few classes, added to the ones Raven and the others had already passed by themselves. He had no idea how the students of Wonderland had managed to get through each one with all of the stuff he had to go through. But he did enjoy Bandersnatch training, the ones they were working with were really fun. At least until Bandersnatch Racing 101 forced him to race against seventeen other students. Somehow he had gotten first place in that race and a free pass on one of his classes, which was how he was able to get to the cafeteria just as the lunch bell rung. It was only noon when he looked at Lizzie's watch, a frown on his face.

"I've done so much shit today, and it's not even one in the afternoon here. Time must flow a lot slower in Wonderland than back in Ever After." he muttered, looking down into the cafeteria.

He had been on the fifth floor balcony that overlooked all of the cafeteria. There were people everywhere, sitting at oddly shaped tables, wobbly chairs, some were even sitting on table tops and on chairs made out of pencil shavings. He didn't even understand how that worked, but he decided not to think to hard on it. He looked around for a few seconds, trying to spot Raven among the crowd of students, but he didn't see her at all. He looked at the balcony below him, seeing several other tables filled to the brim with other students. His stomach grumbled a bit, the hunger pangs hitting him hard. He had skipped lunch in order to help Apple with her meeting, but that felt like so long ago. He sighed, pushing himself away from the railing, turning around almost bumping into a girl that had been standing behind him.

"Ello there, you're one of the transfer students ain't ya?" she asked, her accented voice sounded grating to his ears. He had nothing against people with accents, but this one sounded so snobby it made him want to hide his head in the ground like an ostrich.

"Uh...yes...Blake J. Bigby, pleasure to meet you miss...Harley Quinn?" he asked.

"Seriously? You confuse me with that useless twit? My name is Courtly Jester, I happen to be the Student Body President here...I make it my business to know people's business. Someone told me that you jumped the gate...that's a big no-no here in Wonderland High."

"Listen, I don't really give a shit. I was tasked to do something important, once I speak to the Vice Principle and get a pass from them, I am out of here. There is nothing you or the Student Council can do to make me think otherwise." he said, moving toward the stairs.

"You don't seem to understand love, the rules here are different than what you are used to in Ever After High. Here we have to abide by them, and frankly hopping the gate is grounds for detention. I have been lenient with informing the Vice Principle of this offense. However, if you break another rule, then I shall have to inform her."

"Whatever, I've been passing my classes since being forced into this school. Did you know that's against basic human rights? Forcing people into doing something they don't want? Yeah, that's a thing. So tell that to your principle next time you send a regimen of soldiers and throw a spear at my friend!" he shouted angrily, his eyes flashing violet. Courtly looked a bit frightened by his outburst, deciding to back off for a bit.

Blake took a deep breath, getting away from that young woman as fast as possible. There was something about her that just didn't tickle his fancy. It wasn't just the annoying accent, it was just her attitude. He had been told about her before, and he already knew why Lizzie disliked her so much. Since she was the daughter of the Joker Card, that meant she could do anything. He spotted his friends sitting at a table away from the other students, a frown on his face.

"Dammit...this sucks...in the end I wasn't even able to reach the castle. If I hadn't followed that figure, I could have made it to the castle...but then I would have missed Ashlynn and Duchess, and I wouldn't have met Mavis either. Guess it's time to face the music." he muttered, steeling his nerves.

He started making his way toward the table the girls were sitting at, his focus solely on what he was going to say to them. He of course didn't see the foot that had been stuck in front of him and ended up tripping over it. As he fell forward, he grabbed a hold of the table cloth, pulling it along with the bowls of food onto himself.

"Goddamn it, fucking son of a bitch!" he shouted, his face red with embarrassment and anger. Of course due to the table cloth, no one could see it.

"Oh my goodness. Are you alright?" the daughter of the Queen of Hearts asked, quickly jumping out of her chair to assist the boy. He forced himself to his knees, pulling the table cloth from around himself, tossing it aside.

"Surprise! Guess who got caught, forced into the school against his will, and now is covered in food?" he cried, arms wide.

"Blake, we...weren't expecting you back."

"I wasn't expecting to be back...but the Vice Principle sent a regimen of card soldiers after me. Sorry Liz, I failed to warn your mom about the attack." he replied, placing the watch she had given him into her hand. She shook her head, giving the boy a smile.

"It's alright, I had a feeling something like this would happen. It isn't your fault, but now this makes it even more pressing." she said replied. He stood up from the floor, helping the girl up to her feet. Several people laughed at him, but he didn't really care anymore. He leaned against the railing, using his magic to clean the food off himself.

"Have you taken any classes here?"

"As a matter of fact Rae, I have...I took four. Apparently, all of our classes are combined, so I don't have to go to the classes you've already been too."

"That's a good thing...the last thing we need is to waste time we don't have." Briar said, giving the boy a smile.

"Briar has a point...we have to talk to the Vice Principle, I'm sure if they knew about everything...they would be more lenient." Apple said.

"That's what I'm saying, they're stricter than Headmaster Grimm. It's kind of annoying." Raven replied, resting her head in her hand.

"Did anything happen while you were gone Blake? Did you see my mom at all?" Kitty asked curiously. Blake tore his eyes away from the..chowder, he guessed, that Maddie was busy eating, looking back at Kitty, who had a hopeful look on her face.

"Sorry...I didn't find the Cheshire Cat...or she didn't find me. I did meet Mavis Hare however, we were on our way to Marmoreal to retrieve the sword. Apparently, Gloriosa was planning on defending Lizzie's mom from this attack, with the sword. Not just that, Duchess and Ashlynn are here as well, the three of them are in Marmoreal as we speak." Blake said.

"Ashlynn is here?" Apple cried, disbelief on her face.

"That idiot, I can't believe she actually came here!" Briar added, a look of annoyance with a mixture of worry on her face.

"How did they get here? Was the portal still open?" Lizzie asked curiously.

"No, they broke into Headmaster Grimm's office and stole your book back. They came here through the well." he replied, poking one of the clams on the table. It started to scream loudly, making him wince a bit, only for Maddie to smack it with a spoon, causing it to shut up.

"Oh, those clams can get annoying. Don't worry about a thing Blake, they won't hurt you!" she said cheerfully, grabbing a hold of the clam shoving it in her bowl.

"I gotta say, Duchess has some big lady nuts to come all the way to Wonderland. She's still so in love with you, why don't you go out with her already?" Kitty asked, earning a sigh from the boy.

"Because Kitty, I'm in love with someone else. I've tried telling her several times, but she doesn't give up. It's annoying as hell, and tiring to deal with." he replied.

"Oh, so Blake has moved on? Are you gonna tell your sister who you are crushing on?"

"Sorry Raven, but using the sister card isn't gonna work on me." he said, giving her a wink and a grin. He glanced just past Lizzie, frowning a bit when he saw Courtly approaching them, a smug look on her face.

"Well, looks like the gangs all here...you all must be...the transfer students. Madeline, Kitty, it's so good to see you are here as well." she said, a plastic smile on her face. Kitty backed away slightly, and Maddie set aside her food, clearly not interested in it anymore. Blake could tell that they didn't get along with her one bit.

"Um...I suppose it's nice to meet you miss. My name is Apple White, this is Raven Queen, and Briar Beauty...we're from Ever After High." Apple said, a bright smile on her face.

"Ever After High? That sounds like a posh place...hear the summers are warm there." she said, leaning forward on the table a bit.

"Ahem, mind getting off the table Courtly? It isn't proper table manners."

"Oh dear me, is that the voice of Lizzie Hearts I hear? I'm surprised to see you back here as well. Sorry for not greeting you dear, but I didn't see you there."

"That's a bullshit lie, you were outright ignoring her." Blake said, crossing his arms, causing the girl to snap her head in his direction, a glare on her face.

"I'm not addressing you am I?"

"No, but you should have the goddamn common courtesy to greet your future Queen. In fact, you should apologize to her for your treatment of her." he snapped angrily.

"It's quite alright Blake, I'm quite used to this attitude from her. For intents and purposes, everyone this is Courtly Jester, the daughter of the Joker Card."

"It's a pleasure to meet you all loves, I'm sure you are enjoying your classes here."

"We are, they're quite different than the ones we take back in Ever After, but we're having fun at least!" Raven added.

"Are you a student like us? We sort of need a little help." Briar said, earning a grin from the girl.

"You're looking at the Student Body President my dear...it happen to make everyones business my business. So, what exactly can I help you with?" she asked curiously.

"Well, actually there's a reason why we are all here. We need to speak with the Vice Principle right away, there's a..."

"Apple, don't say anything...I don't exactly trust this one...she feels...off to me." Blake said, stopping the girl from speaking.

"I agree with Blake, it's quite a long story Courtly, one we haven't the time to share right now. I truly do apologize." Lizzie cut in, a firm tone in her voice.

"Come on you guys, she's the Student Body President! She can definitely help us get some hall passes so we can get out of here. Courtly, there's actually someone who is trying to kill the Queen of Hearts. We need to get to her castle and warn her right away."

"Really? That is a rather interesting story! Would you mind telling me more?" she asked, a smug look on her face.

"Actually, I think we've shared enough information. This is something that doesn't exactly concern you, if you could help us get some hall passes, that would be greatly appreciated." Blake said firmly. Courtly narrowed her eyes, standing at her full height. The boy was actually impressed to see that she was slightly taller than him, though that was due to her boots.

"I suppose you are correct...this doesn't concern me at all...though with how the Queen is running things, I'm surprised it's taken this long for someone to try something."

"How dare you say something like that? You must respect your queen, my mother in my presence!" Lizzie shouted, causing the girl to back away, her bells jingling as she walked.

"My mistake, it seems freedom of speech isn't something found here. But it is true, thanks to the curse, she's grown paranoid. Not just that, people are starting an uproar...it happens in all Queendoms my dear, don't take it as a bad thing. The Queen of Hearts did an excellent job...now, off to classes. I hope you enjoy the rest of your day!" she said, jumping off the railing. They all gasped in shock, only to see her land on a large floating fish.

"I don't like her...you shouldn't have said anything Apple...we can't trust everyone just because of their title." Blake said, a scolding tone in his voice.

"I'm sorry, I figured she could help us."

"It's fine Apple, Blake isn't mad at you...I would have probably tried my luck as well. But we have to be careful...we have to focus on graduating from now on." Raven said, giving the blonde a half hug.

"Don't worry, I know the Queen is still in danger, but Ashlynn and Duchess will get to her. They'll find Excalibur and they'll protect her...at least until we can get out of here." Blake said, a confident look on his face.

"There you are talking about Duchess again, are you sure you don't like her?" Kitty asked, hands at her hips.

"I've already told you I don't. By the way, I asked Maddie before we met up at the Study Hall to bring something from your dorm. Just in case we came to Wonderland. We're gonna break that curse, so you better fulfill your promise to me." he said. Her eyes widened a bit as she looked to her friend and roommate, earning a wink from her. Her cheeks tinged crimson, a look of embarrassment on her face. Thankfully, her friends didn't notice it, if not they would have most likely teased her about it.


	70. Way Too Wonderland V

**A/N:**

 **Fucking finally! Jesus, I have been trying to post this chapter since last night, but that pesky Net 1 error kept popping up! Lemme tell ya, I was extremely pissed off because of this, but since it is Sunday, Super Bowl Sunday in fact, and I didn't post anything last night, you all get two chapters today! Isn't that grand? You all get to enjoy this chapter, as well as the next one which I shall post soon! So welcome one and all to the 70th Chapter of Through the Looking Glass!**

 **70 chapters already, man this is great. We are definitely on the road to 100 chapters now, and seeing that I have just started chapter 79, It will not be that long. I also have ideas for the next story arc, which will be completely original...it shall be called, Return to Neverland: Saviors of Time. Of course you will all know more about this chapter as we start getting closer to it. Following this arc, shall be the Dragon Games, which I have finally started watching. Let me tell ya, I already have a lot of ideas for it, and they will be quite interesting, starting with Blake petitioning to make the Dragon Games unisex since it's a female only sport. There will be some getting down to business, to defeat the girls, and make his friends act like men instead of boys...hehe...but yes, it is going to be exciting, and one of the rising climaxes of the series as there will be a lot of questions left behind after this arc.**

 **I have actually combined two story arcs, Return to Neverland was actually supposed to be called, the Ballad of Bluebeard, where I finally bring in that sick twisted fuck Bluebeard, but his arc shall take place during Return to Neverland, as he is one of the major driving forces behind what happens in that arc. More details as the arc gets written...and after that arc, there is nothing left but Dragon Games and Epic Winter, with a few arcs after that before the grand finale of the story. I wish it could go on forever, but now that we've reached the midway point with Way Too Wonderland, I have started planning out the ending. But there will be the side stories to look forward too, as I have decided to wait a bit before continuing, seeing as the finale to this arc is the beginning chapter to many side stories, including Briar's, Cerise's, Ramona's, and Darling's, which makes it that much harder to work with. It is also the beginning chapter for Lizzie's story as well. I haven't decided if I'm going to pair up Blake and Maddie, though they look like a cute couple, at least in my head.**

 **So, I will leave you with this chapter, I'm not gonna include an authors note in the next one, as everything I have wanted to say has been said. If you are curious about the new arc, or want your ideas to be used in any chapters, drop me a line, I'm always up to suggestions. I would like to apologize for not posting last night, it was out of my hand. Enjoy these two chapters, they are going to be emotional...maybe.**

 **Song used in Chapter 71, the first one is called An Eloquent by an awesome band known as Shaka Ponk, seriously that band has some hilarious music videos, just the outlook of it and the lyrics make me smile. Check them out when you can.**

 **The second song is called Be Prepared, from the Lion King movie, I couldn't resist not using one of the best villain songs ever in this story. I mean, I already used Poor Unfortunate Souls, and I'm planning on using Bells of Notre Dame later on along with Hellfire, so I might as well keep the trend going right?**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 70

Way Too Wonderland V

 _ **xxx(Ever After High)xxx**_

Cerise was quite disappointed, and one of the reasons why she was, was the fact that one of her friends had skipped practice. She loved her band dearly, there was nothing like relieving some stress by beating on some drums. However, as many times as she practiced on her own, she found herself wanting to be with her bandmates. They had agreed to practice during the last period of class since they all had it free. That turned into a bust when their lead guitarist didn't show up. Melody had tried calling him to see where he was, but she didn't get any answers. More worrying yet, Kitty and Duchess weren't replying either and she had to prepare for Radio Rebel in an hour. Dexter had decided to search the school for them, and Cupid ever the faithful friend, joined in the search. Melody was too busy setting up for a solo cast of Radio Rebel to search, and that just left her, sitting on a bench at a nearby park in Bookend.

She felt herself growl a bit when she started thinking of Blake again. She had been thinking about him a lot lately. Whenever she saw him with Duchess she felt her insides start to burn. The Swan Princess was just a clingy woman who needed to find her own man. That of course was when she stopped herself, she wasn't with Blake anymore so she couldn't stop Duchess's attempts at courting the boy. It was the same with the other girls that were interested in him. Melody had apparently asked him out and he had turned her down.

She remembered the day after she had gone to her dorm and had broke down. It was a bit awkward, but she was the only one who had dated Blake in the past, so she had the experience with heartbreak. It wasn't just her either, she knew Briar had feelings for the boy, but couldn't express them in the way that she wanted, and she was sure Kitty also had feelings for the boy. But with her, one could never tell, though the blush on her face whenever he got mad her was enough of a sign.

What annoyed her the most was the fact that Cerise didn't want any girl that wasn't her with Blake. She hated to have vain thoughts like that, but it was true. She still felt something for the boy, she had been thinking a lot about him recently. She knew what had broken them up was just a misunderstanding, a stupid one that they could have worked on. They blew it out of proportions and let something beautiful die. The first few days was awkward. She wanted to jump into his arms, hug him and kiss him, but she couldn't do that anymore. She wanted to call him in the middle of the night when she had weird thoughts or was mad at her sister, but she couldn't do that either. Whenever she wanted to speak to him, she always stopped herself. They were still good friends, and messed around with their bandmates, told each other jokes and even had friendly races at times. But that sense of longing in her heart was starting to drive her insane.

She took a deep breath, calming herself a bit. She decided she would try to give him another call. Sure, they couldn't exactly practice until after Radio Rebel, but it would be fine. They had the afternoons free anyway, so recording a few songs for their Heart's on Fire album wouldn't be an issue. They only had ten songs on that album currently and they were supposed to record a new one today, but that was before Blake went AWOL on all of them. She dialed his number and held the phone to her ear, biting down on her thumb nail hoping he would pick up.

" _I'm sorry, the number you have reached is currently unavailable."_

"Fuck." she muttered, ending the call right after.

She glanced at the contact picture, the one that they had taken together two days after they had gotten together. She didn't have the heart to change it. She felt the bench move slightly, someone most likely had sat down beside her. She pulled her hood down father to hide her face, though it didn't matter how much she did, her red hood was a clear indicator of who she was. She just hoped whoever they were, they would mind their own business and not interact with her. She had enough of that on a daily basis from background characters.

"Something wrong pup? You're never this silent."

She sighed, of course it was her sister. She had been avoiding Ramona for awhile, not wanting to speak with her. She was another girl who was interested in Blake. She didn't beat around the bush when she had told her, she had straight up told her, I like Blake, and if you don't tell him how you truly feel, I will. They had an argument and that ended badly, but she couldn't hate her sister for her own lack of initiative. She glanced up at her sister, a frown on her lips.

"Of course something is wrong. Blake isn't answering his phone, Duchess and Kitty are gone too, Melody needs all three of them for Radio Rebel. I've tried calling them but none of them are answering, it's all unavailable." she replied.

"Hmm...I've been hearing a lot of stuff myself. They aren't the only ones missing, Apple, Briar and Raven are gone too. Even that cockmeat Joey is gone...something is going on, but I got no idea what." she replied.

"You don't think this is all connected right? It seems weird that all of them are gone, and that weird announcement from earlier? They canceled last period because of it. Something smells fishy." she replied.

"Sorry about that, I ended up falling into a bucket of tuna water earlier." a passerby said, quickening his pace as he left the area. Ramona blinked a few times, turning her attention back to her sister.

"This isn't about the fact that they're missing is it? It's because Blake is missing that you are worried." she replied, arms crossed as she leaned back into the bench.

"No it's not. Why did you have to bring him into the conversation?"

"I didn't, you did. You said he was missing, and I'm just acknowledging that. But you are more concerned for him than anyone else."

"I am not! Briar and Raven are my friends too! So are Apple and Lizzie, they're gone as well. I'm just worried alright? Sorry if my face doesn't show it." she snapped, looking away from her sister. Ramona sighed, looking up at the sky, her hair falling around her shoulders.

"Cerise, listen I'm your sister. You can bullshit to anyone of your friends, maybe to Mom and Pop, but not to me. Don't bullshit me, you still love him, so don't fucking stew on it. Go and tell him that you love him...before someone else does." she said firmly.

"It isn't that simple...I can't just stride up to him and tell him I love him. He's changed, he's become a better person...but I was the one that broke him in the past. Why would he go back out with me? When he's clearly moved on?"

"You don't know that."

"But I do! He only sees me as a friend now, nothing more than that...I can never be that person again...I had so many dreams...but they were all delusions in the end." she replied, glancing down at the ground.

"Delusions huh? Is wanting a family a delusion? Is seeing him as your husband a delusion as well? Listen pup, it's normal to want that stuff...you are seventeen years old, soon you'll be an adult. We're set to graduate in two years, then what? You aren't following the story, and neither am I...become enemies with my sister? What a cruel system." Ramona spat, clenching her fist angrily.

"I know we aren't following the system...but I'm scared to...to pull this hood down. I've made so many great friends, but I'm not sure what they'll think. He promised me...he would be there when the time came...he's taking care of mom when dad isn't there...he's actually warmed up to him. Dad, warming up to a boy that isn't even family...it's just...so fucking crazy you know."

"Life tends to work that way...a year ago, all of us were just mindless puppets, being controlled by this school. Destiny this, destiny that...you must sign the book or else you'll disappear. What a farce...Blake, Briar and Kitty did us a favor...the Evil Queen, evil as she maybe, did us a favor as well. She got rid of the book, and those three made it inaccessible for all of us. It shows that all of the stuff we were lead to believe...was bullshit...just another fairytale." she replied, a frown on her face.

"He's been acting weird lately...ever since Apple's party...I've heard him muttering things about a lost child. He even went to the Evil Queen's castle...he makes me worry, but I can't just ask him this stuff either." Cerise added, tugging on her hood when a few kids ran by. Ramona slipped her arm around her waist, pulling her close to herself.

"I'm telling you sis, you have to speak with him...even if it hurts. You never know, he might say yes. But it's better than losing him to someone else."

"To you, you mean?" she asked, glancing up at her sister. Ramona didn't say anything for a few moments, possibly thinking about a reply. Her lips were pressed into a thin line, not knowing what to say to her. She just patted Cerise's head, looking away from her.

"I like him, I'm not gonna deny that. Watching him take care of mom like that, taking time out of his schedule to make sure that she's fine, because dad can't be there as often as he wants...it made me like him. But for you, I'll do anything even giving up on him. But I swear if you don't grow some ovaries and tell him how you feel, I will punch the shit out of you, are we clear?"

"Crystal...the fact that there's a beating at the end of the line serves as a good motivator." she replied. Ramona pulled her into a hug, kissing her forehead.

"I love you Cerise, with all my heart...don't be scared to talk to me, I'm your sister after all."

"I love you too sis...sorry for being such a bad wolf." she said, making the older girl chuckle.

"Hey guys uh...what's up with the hugging?" Dexter asked, causing Ramona to release her sister, standing up from the bench. She towered over the boy, and Cupid who backed away from her.

"Nothing, just making sure this one is fine...she ate too much and has a stomach ache. Something the matter? Your both covered in sweat."

"We've been running around the school searching for Blake and the others. We found out from Alistair and Bunny that they were messing with Portal magic...they're nowhere to be found in the school." Cupid said, earning a surprised look from the two girls.

"Are you serious? Why didn't you tell me Dexter? I could have been helping you out!" Cerise cried back, causing the boy to back away slightly.

"I did, but you didn't reply to my calls or messages. I figured we could use your speed to quickly search the area. Maybe Ramona can use her scent tracking to find them that way?" the boy suggested.

"I could do that, but I need something that belongs to him to get a trail."

"Blake isn't the only one that's missing, I just got a message from Hunter not that long ago. It seems Ashlynn is also gone, he tried calling her after he went to check on her in the Study Hall. She didn't reply either, it keeps saying, call unavailable." Cupid said, glancing away from her phone.

"Wait a minute...Ashlynn is missing, so is Duchess. Blake and Apple were gonna work on the paper, I saw Darling heading there too, but I haven't seen her in awhile either. Joey is gone, Briar and Lizzie are gone too...who else is missing?"

"Raven, Maddie and Kitty. They're the only others who are missing, I'm starting to grow worried...Raven doesn't just disappear unless she's working on a magic spell." Dexter replied, earning a nod from Cerise.

"You think this is all connected, don't you Cerise?" Ramona asked.

"Mhmm...what exactly were they doing in the Study Hall? I mean, they were working on the Griffon, but where does the portal come in?" she asked.

"Um...we think they were trying to...you know...go to Wonderland." Cupid said, whispering so that no one else would hear. Ramona pursed her lips, glancing up at the sky.

"Did any of you consider the possibility that you know...they're in Wonderland right now?"

"We have, but Alistair and Bunny said the spell failed. They were sucked in through the board and were teleported somewhere else." Dexter said.

"But are you sure they're not there? I mean it would be obvious if they were in Ever After. There are MirrorPhone Towers all over the place, except in the Dark Woods and in the desert. They would be connected no matter where they go, if we keep getting a call unavailable message, then the place where they're at, has no service towers. I.E...they're all in Wonderland." Ramona concluded, earning gasps from the three.

"Oh my godmother...that means they're...but the curse! They're all in danger right now, they could get magic poisoning or worse!" Dexter said.

"We have to go there! We gotta help them out!"

"How do you propose we do that? With what portal? Clearly going to the Headmaster is a shit idea, he'd just read us the bullshit and send us on our way. Not to mention they would get their asses chewed up and spit out. The Well of Wonder can't be found without a map, so we can't use that portal...we're fucked six ways from Sunday."

"Ramona! You can't just give up so easily, there has to be something...a backdoor, a hidden portal, a spell something has to work!"

"If I knew of a back way, I would tell you Angel, but sadly I am not a wizard!" she snapped, eyes widening a second later. All of them had the same look of realization on their faces.

"Jessica!"

 _ **xxx(Wonderland High School)xxx**_

"And that my friends, is how you make nothing out of something!" Blake said, bowing to their teacher, who started clapping his hands vigorously.

"Bravo, I say! You have left me quite impressed young man. You and your ladies have received a passing grade! Good luck, you are gonna need it!" the man said, pulling the crank beside him. Blake let out a yelp as the floor fell out from under him. It wasn't long before the girls joined him in the dark room.

"I give you props Blake, you are adapting to Wonderland High a lot easier than all of us." Briar said, earning a smirk from the boy.

"It's quite simple really...all you have to do is take the fundamentals of logic, problem solving and common sense and just toss them out the window. Let your inner crazy flow through, if misery loves company, then insanity is quite the house guest." he said, a grin on his face.

"Oh no...he's got Wonderland Fever! He's already acting like he's from here!" Kitty said, a worried look on her face.

"No...I think he's just being a moron...which in this school carries you far I'm afraid." Lizzie said.

The group of seven landed on a slide, moving straight down into the darkness. They ended up appearing on a Chessboard, all of the pieces had already been put in place. Blake pulled himself to his knees, glancing around the entire room, the chessboard seemed to extend to cover the entirety of the room, not just that, but it also curved upward and formed the ceiling as well. There were several torches lining the back wall of the room, providing some much needed light to the room.

"Oh fuck, I suck at chess." the boy muttered, forcing himself to his feet.

"It isn't that hard, once you know the rules you just have to think ahead." Apple added, taking his offered hand. The floor around them glowed violet, forming a platform of cards around them which lifted them from the board, leaving only Raven behind.

"So...what was that about thinking ahead Apple?" the boy asked, brow raised as the girl flushed brightly. The teacher appeared from a window in a red chess piece behind them, looking quite forlorn.

"Logic and illogic, strategy and tragedy, I am your instructor. Raven Queen, time for your pop quiz."

"What? Pop quiz? Can someone else do it?"

"Nope, as a future queen you must take your position on the board. Since you are in fact a Queen, you shall have the role of the White Queen, if you would." the man said, glancing at the white dressed woman on the board. She huffed, grabbing a hold of her dress.

"I am never allowed to play. Humph." she said, walking away with a smug look on her face.

"Raven Queen, please take your position on the board." the man said, causing her to swallow hard. She glanced at her friends, who just gave her a wave. Blake rolled his eyes, gesturing to the open spot.

"Raven, just play the Queen, I have some knowledge on this so I'll get you through it." he said. She nodded, taking her spot where the White Queen once stood.

"Alright then, begin!"

"What? What do I do?" Raven cried, still confused on what she was doing. The Red Rook shrugged, turning away from her.

"My apologies Miss Queen, but the game has begun and helping the enemy team is against the rules." he said, taking his position on the board. From the balcony above, Blake was already going through a few moves he remembered. He wasn't very experienced with the game, but he had seen people play it, and had played a few times with Alistair, so he would use his little knowledge to hopefully pull a win.

"Raven, move that pawn in front of you to two spaces forward." he said.

"Are you sure?"

"Trust him Raven, just do it." Apple said, giving her a thumbs up. Raven nodded, poking the pawn in front of her.

"Mr. Pawn, please move forward two spaces."

"On who's orders?" the pawn asked, earning a look of disbelief on the girl's face.

"Raven Queen."

"Nope, don't know a Raven Queen, I know a White Queen, and a Red Queen but not..."

A crimson staff slammed into the pawn, sending him flying into the distance, disappearing entirely from the chessboard. The Red Queen laughed loudly, a grin on her face as she spun her staff around.

"I make the first move, go ahead White Queen, make your move!" she taunted, pointing her staff at Raven.

"Wasn't that my turn?" she asked, confusion on her face.

"You see, my Queen...a turns a turn, so if one of us were to turn, say, to speak with you, then that would count as a turn." another pawn said, only for him and two others to be struck off the board by the Red Queen.

"Hey, this is bullshit! That is not how we play chess!" Blake shouted, slamming his fist against the railing. The Red Queen smirked, pointing her staff at the boy.

"My apologies boy, but it seems you are out of your game and in mine. If you wish for your Queen to win, then she has to make the right move. Hopefully one that ends with me as the winner, ahahaha!"

"What a haughty woman...Raven, you must stop talking with the pawns, they'll only waste more turns. Just get away from them." Lizzie said.

"Okay." she replied, running off her spot, toward the center of the board.

"Red Knight to Bishop 7." the Red Queen cried, causing the Red Knight to move forward. Raven stopped before the crimson knight, back peddling a bit.

"Chase? Is that you?" she asked. The knight opened his visor, giving her a sheepish smile.

"Sorry about my mom...she really likes chess."

"The Red Queen is your mom? I'm so confused right now."

"She's the woman that raised me...I must apologize for what I am about to do." he said, drawing his sword from its sheathe.

"White Knight to Bishop 7!" Blake cried out, causing the White Knight to move forward, just in time to deflect the sword.

"My Queen, I have come to protect you!" the White Knight cried, pushing the Red Knight's sword back. Blake let out a sigh of relief, bowing his head a bit.

"Good move Blake, I didn't even see that one." Apple said, patting his shoulder.

"I can't believe they're using real swords! What kind of chess game is this?" Briar exclaimed, glancing toward Maddie who just gave her a smile. Blake however already had the answer she was seeking.

"Yeah, honestly it took me awhile to figure out, but I just realized they're not playing chess. They're playing Unchess." he said.

"What? Unchess?"

"That's right Apple, you can move your pieces any which way you want, as long as it is not a chess move!" Maddie replied, placing her hands on her hips, a proud look on her face.

"Honestly, I will never get used to Wonderland." Briar muttered, her head hanging in defeat.

"My Queen, I cannot hold him back forever, what is your command?" the White Knight cried out, turning slightly to glance at Raven.

"Wait...it's my turn then?"

"Yes."

"And I can issue any command I want, since we're playing unchess, right?" she asked again.

"Of course, please hurry."

"Alright then, I declare this chess game a dance battle instead!" she cried, a smirk on her face. The girls looked at Blake who just gave them a shrug, not exactly knowing what Raven was doing at all. The Red Rook moved in front of them, a grin on his face.

"And an amazing move by Raven Queen! Drop the beat yo!" he cried, a turn table appearing on his chess piece. Two speakers dropped from the ceiling, along with a pair of discoballs and laser lights that moved across the chessboard.

"What...the fuck...where does this school get the funding for this?" Blake asked, taking his hat off his head. Kitty giggled beside him, giving him her famous Cheshire Grin.

"I thought you were getting the hang of Wonderland High, you should know better than to ask that kind of question." she said.

"Come on guys! People aren't allowed on the chessboard, but everyone is allowed on the dance floor." Raven said, urging her friends to join them on the newly made dance floor. Kitty took a hold of Blake's hand, pulling him along.

"You owe me a dance mister, come on!"

"What...no Kitty please, I don't want to dance!" he shouted, but the violet haired girl's pull was unrelenting.

He didn't know how much time had passed, but he had lost track awhile ago. When the music stopped playing and Kitty finally let him go, the first thing he did was attempt to get a hold of his spinning head. The second thing he did was locate the nearest trash can, because he didn't feel quite right after that, and not having eaten lunch was definitely not helping. He reached into his hat for a water bottle and rinsed his mouth, downing the rest right after.

"Congratulations everyone, you all pass!" the Red Rook announced, earning cheers from the girl, and a thumbs up from Blake who was leaning against the wall. The bell rung loudly, causing them all to look up.

"Oh my, oh dear. It's two o'clock, here are your school announcements. The Vice Principle has announced that next Thursday is now Wednesday. The hare shall stop mocking the turtle, and Raven, Apple, Briar, Kitty, Lizzie, Maddie and Blake's schedules have changed. You shall now report to Tea Time 101." the White Rabbit announced. Before they could say anything, the floor caved under them, sending them down another slide.

They all appeared into another room, which was completely dark. Blake groaned as he climbed onto his feet, glancing around the area. He didn't know why, but he felt rather boxed in at the moment. Lizzie took a few steps forward, only to slam into an invisible wall, or rather a glass wall. Some lights flashed on behind them, confirming his feeling. He heard the sounds of cheering and applause, but didn't see a crowd anywhere. He glanced to the back of the box, seeing a brown hare standing next to the box, holding a remote in his paw, which he clicked off.

"The March Hare?" the boy asked, earning a grin from the hare.

"That is correct, welcome class to Tea Time 101. I see you are ready, tea time, commence!" he cried, pressing a button at the front of the room. The sound of flowing water started filling the box, causing them all to look down, seeing that it in fact wasn't water but tea instead. Blake backed away from it, hitting the glass wall behind him.

"What...was is this?" Kitty cried, fear in her voice.

"This is _not_ how tea time works!" Lizzie exclaimed, a look of anger on her face.

"I know! Where are the bread and butterflies? And there are no chairs to switch around with."

"Maddie, we have more pressing matters than tables, chairs and finger foods. If we don't get out of here, all of us will drown!" Raven cried.

"Oh hell no, I saw Titanic, I know how this ends!" Blake shouted, slamming his fists against the glass. Maddie made her way to the front of the room, knocking on the glass.

"Um excuse me, Mr. March Hare...could you help us please?"

"Hehe, look at me, I'm standing three feet below tea level." the hare replied, pressing a button on his remote, once again filling the empty room with applause and cheering.

"What do we do? We're almost at the top!" Kitty cried, glancing above her at the shrinking air bubble.

"We take a deep breath of air, that way if we all run out of it we can share it under the tea." Blake suggested, earning confused looks from the girl.

"How would that help us?"

"It gives us a few precious seconds to reflect on our lives before our lungs explode from lack of oxygen." Blake replied, causing Briar to slap him across the face.

"This is insane...I wish I could just, think outside the box and..." Raven said, only to flash out of the box, appearing on top of it. She knocked on the glass a few times, eyes widened in surprise.

"I get it, guys just think outside the box!" Lizzie said, earning nods from the others. They all took a breath just as the air ran out. Once by one, all of them flashed on top of the box, all of them panting for breath.

"We did it!" Apple cried cheerfully.

"Yeah...we did it...thanks for the trauma...drowning is like, my biggest fucking fear!" Blake said, placing a hand on his chest.

"At least we made it out in time, you should never let your tea steep for too long." Maddie said, earning an applause from the March Hare.

"Outstanding, I have nothing left to teach you! You all pass, Madeline please send my regards to your father would you?"

"Count on it Mr. March Hare! Also don't worry, Mavis is just fine, she's with some our friends right now!" she said, giving the hare a wink. He looked even more relieved than before, a grin on his face.

"Well then, I'm off to find a cup of sugar for my cube of tea! See you all later!" the hare said, teleporting them off to their next class.

They all appeared in an empty hallway. Blake was about to say something when a large foot appeared a literal inch away from his face. He backed away from it, bumping into Apple who had a look of surprise on her face.

"We've shrunk." Raven said, glancing around the area. It would seem that was the likely case as well.

"Or perhaps the school got bigger?"

"Around here, it's never easy to tell...oh I have had enough of this! We have to speak to the Vice Principle this instant!" Lizzie cried, a look of anger on her face.

"That is a good idea, except it would take us years to make it in our current size. We gotta get bigger somehow, I don't see any mushrooms anywhere, and I doubt Viagra would work in this case." Blake said, rubbing his chin in thought.

"Raven, what's Viagra?" Kitty asked, an innocent look on her face. Raven shuddered a bit, shaking her head.

"You don't wanna know Kitty."

"Well, there's a door over here, and since it's the only one we can reach, it's clearly the right way to go." Maddie said, pulling the door open. They all filed into the door, appearing in another dark hallway.

Blake followed behind Lizzie, not exactly knowing what to expect. The hallway they were in bore no doors, or ways to get out, except the door that they had walked in through. Several suits of armor were placed at odd intervals, all having sharp looking axes. He felt their gaze on the back of his neck, making him quicken his pace a bit. He could defend himself just fine, but without a weapon of his own, he would have a long time. They finally reached another door, which was closer to the ground that they would like. Lizzie pulled it open, kneeling down to crawl through it, only for her to get stuck in the doorway.

"Dear me, it seems I've gotten stuck. Mind giving me a push?" she said, voice sounding muffled. Blake knelt down about to help the girl out when Apple took a hold of his hand.

"Whoa, are you just gonna put your hands on her butt like that? What's wrong with you?"

"She's stuck in the doorway, how else would I push her through?" he asked.

"Clearly you have to let someone with a gentler touch handle the job." the blonde replied.

"Oh would you just push me? I could care less who grabs my ass in this particular instance!" Lizzie shouted, causing Blake to give her the push she had asked for. Once she made it through, he went through next, helping the others into the room.

They all moved forward toward the odd looking desk, seeing various knickknack, a paintings and other things scattered about. Blake noticed something else on the desk in front of him, his sword. He felt a bit unnerved to see it here, it was as if the Vice Principle was keeping it there to taunt him rather than as a confiscated item. He held his hand out, stopping Lizzie before she got to close, gesturing to the sword on the desk. She nodded, giving him her silent thanks.

"Ahem, Vice Principle, glad we caught you. My name is Lizzie Hearts, daughter of the Queen of Hearts. Me and my friends have come here to ask for your assistance."

"Yeah, we're trying to pass our classes, but our schedules keep changing." Raven said firmly, a worried look on her face.

"And they're getting much harder too." Apple added, the Vice Principle let out a little chuckle, slowly turning the chair her feet slamming onto the desk top.

"Oh that sounds absolutely dreadful!" a familiar accented voice said, causing them all to back away from the desk.

"Courtly Jester?"

"God, I fucking knew it! I knew there was a reason why I didn't like you, or your accent." Blake said, earning a laugh from the woman.

"Sorry Bigby, in life there are people you just don't get along with."

"How are you the Vice Principle?" Briar asked, a confused look on her face.

"Well, if you bothered to read the school bylaws, you would know that as Student Body President, that makes me Vice Principle. And as Vice Principle, that makes me Principle, it's a matter of principle you see."

"Oh, then you can help us! Lizzie's mom is in danger!" Apple cried, earning a laugh from the woman who stood up from her chair.

"Yes, and you want to get to her party at tea time. Or else she won't know of the plot to kick her off the throne, what a shame that school isn't over." she said, a smirk on her face.

"But you're the Vice Principle, you can release us!"

"I could, but look at this...it's only eleven o'clock. School never lets out at eleven, I'm afraid." she said, showing them the grandfather clock that was in the room.

"Of course, that's how people graduate from Wonderland High, they have control of time. What seems like hours to use is only minutes here, we're stuck in a time loop!" Blake said firmly.

"Uh...no, that isn't it you twit. Time can only go forward, but since you are in my school and follow my clock, then you have to leave when my clock says so. And my clock says it will never be three o'clock!" she cried, activating the slot machine attached to the clock. They all watched as the clock hands moved backward several hours, until it stopped at 6:30 Am. Blake growled angrily, his hands shaking in anger.

"You cannot do this! As you future queen, I command you to release us at once!"

"Oh, you command me do you? You have no power here, and neither will your mother, I'm afraid!" Courtly cried, jumping onto the desk top. Maddie let out a giggle, placing a hand on her cheek.

"Oh my, it's as if...wait, of course! You want this plan to succeed, don't you?" she asked, earning a blank expression from the girl, which rapidly turned into anger.

"Of course I do! Because this is my plan! It happens all the time I'm afraid, the Joker becomes the Queen it happens all the time, the Joker becomes the Queen, it happens all the time! The Joker becomes the Queen, it happens all the time!" she cried, dancing around the group.

"You're the traitor?" Lizzie exclaimed, earning another giggle from the girl.

"Uh...what are you talking about? Aren't you just a lowly court jester?" Briar asked, causing the girl to scream, tugging on her hat, the bells jingling loudly.

"Don't you ever play cards?" she cried.

"I'm still confused."

"Think of it like a promotion Briar...just like a pawn making it into enemy territory and getting promoted in chess. The Joker card can be promoted too, it's a wild card that can be used as any card in any suit with any value. So, as this woman has clearly just said, the Joker can become the Queen." Blake said. Courtly smiled, pinching his cheek rather hard.

"Aw look at you, you must be good at cards for you to know that. I've been looking for a new herald, if you want you can join me as my new Knight."

"Fuck you. I am not and I will never be your knight, I am a knight in the service of Lizzie Hearts. I shall stop at nothing to save the Queen, even if I have to kill you." the boy hissed, glaring right into her eyes. Courtly backed away slightly, a fearful look on her face, for just a second or two, before it shifted to a smile.

"My, you're the first person to outright threaten me before...you seem to forget, you are in my high school." she said.

"You seem to forget, I'm Batman." he said gruffly, causing her to give him a confused look.

"Off with your head!" Lizzie shouted, tackling the girl to the ground. Blake grabbed a hold of his sword, drawing it from the scabbard, running toward the fighting girls.

"Security cards! Quickly, restrain all of them and get them back to class!" Courtly shouted, easily pushing Lizzie aside.

Blake took a swing at Courtly, only for it to clash with a spear. Another card slammed the handle of his spear into his hand, causing him to let go of his sword, which clattered to the ground. He pulled his hand back, about to punch the soldier when it was grabbed instead, he was quickly slammed onto the desk, hands behind his back, a pair of shackles being put on his wrists.

"You think you can get away with attacking the Vice Principle?" the soldier asked.

"Suck my ass card boy!" he hissed, growling as he tried to break free.

"Hmm, I perhaps gloated too much." Courtly said, grabbing a hold of the katana, walking over to where Blake was, resting the tip of the blade on his cheek.

"Courtly please, don't hurt him!" Lizzie cried, causing the woman to look at her. The look of desperation on her face made her grin even wider.

"Oh I see, you fancy this boy don't you...oh my, not just you...four of you fancy him...I can tell by your expressions. This is so tragic." she said.

"You don't have the balls do jack Courtly...we will get out of here, and we will warn the queen. I promise you that!" Blake spat angrily. He felt a sharp sting on his face as the blade of his sword cut his skin, it wasn't a deep cut, but was deep enough for it to start bleeding profusely.

"I like that in a man, a lot of fight...it seems you care for them a lot too...you are all buddy buddy with them. But it won't be that way for long I'm afraid...I...what the hell?" she paused, watching in awe as the cut she had made started sealing itself shut, a smokey mist coming from the cut itself.

"Magic bitch, I got so much of it that it heals me. I am the son of the Evil Queen after all." he said, a smirk on his face.

"You...you are, your mother is the one who cast the curse then? So you know how to reverse it. Alright then soldiers, get him to the detention room, he shall stay there. The girls shall be escorted to their classes, where they shall remain for the rest of their lives!" she cried.

Blake was forced to walk forward, being taken through another door. Raven looked back at him, still shocked at what he had said, but he just gave her a reassuring wink. He two soldiers who were escorting him chuckled, making the boy narrow his eyes.

"You are shit out of luck kid...once you are in detention, you will never get out." he said.

"Unless you are the Mad Hatter of course. He was in detention so much back in the day...that man is a legend."

"Yup, but this kid isn't...he's just gonna rot away for all eternity." the first soldier said, both of them laughing. Blake rolled his eyes, trying to think of a way to break free from their grasp. He was about to tug himself free, when a loud clang filled his ears. It was followed by a second one, his chains became lose for a second, but he was then pulled into a nearby room, the door closed right after him.

"Uh...I don't know who this is but, I'm trained in Martial Arts, even with these shackles I can still kick your ass!" he said firmly.

The person said nothing, instead pushing him forward. It was pitch black in this hallway, so he didn't know where exactly he was going. The person opened the door at the end of the hall, pushing the boy through. He came out in what looked like a garden, filled with large rose bushes, decorated with various colors. He turned around, finally getting a good look at the person that had got him away from the soldiers, only to see a silver suit of armor instead. He backed away from it, clearly surprised.

"Oh Jesus, this is it isn't it? How I die? Getting killed by some man in an iron suit before I save the Queen?"

"Oh relax you ninny, I'm not gonna kill you." the knight said, reaching up for their helmet, pulling it off. The man, actually turned out to be a woman, with bright blonde hair, brilliant blue eyes and rosy red cheeks. She was wearing red lipstick, and a black ribbon around her hair. His jaw dropped, in surprise, blinking a few times.

"Alice?"

"Yes, you are Blake Bigby correct? Gloriosa has told me quite a lot about you." she replied, stunning the boy a bit.

"Gloriosa...I haven't even thought about her while I've been here. I'm such a horrible friend, she must be mad at me." he said.

"She's not, she's been looking forward to the day you two meet once more. But there are a lot of things wrong here, it seems the plot to kill the Queen goes further. There is another after her head, and it isn't to dethrone her." the blonde woman said, quickly taking the armor off, revealing a powder blue dress, with a white apron over it, white pettycoat and black Mary-Jane shoes.

"What do you mean? Isn't Courtly the only one who wants to dethrone the Queen?"

"No, I'm afraid not. A few of my friends told me some grave news, it seems someone has taken Excalibur...they're heading to the Queen's castle right now." she said.

"Oh them? There's no need to worry, those are my friends Ashlynn and Duchess, and Mavis Hare. They're on their way to protect her." Blake said, a confident look on his face. Alice reached into her pocket, pulling out a golden key from within, placing it inside the shackles, undoing the one on his right wrist.

"I'm afraid the ones that were in the White Queen's castle had the sword stolen from them. The one I speak of is dressed in Black, he is carrying a WonderMap and is planning on invading the castle." she replied, finally taking the shackles off his wrists. Blake sighed angrily, rubbing his aching wrists.

"Damn it, I wasn't expecting them to be attacked. Here I am, dillydallying and there's a guy about to kill the Queen." he said.

"It is a pressing matter yes, but I was watching from the shadows. Are you truly the son of the Evil Queen?" Alice asked, making the boy shake his head.

"I'm not, I just said that on a whim, hoping Courtly would take me somewhere else. It worked at least, and thankfully you were there, but I can't sit around now. I gotta get back in there and get the girls out." he said.

"You can't, it's too risky...by now someone must have found those soldiers. Here is a hall pass, and an invitation to the Queen's party...as well as a sword. I'm not sure how good you are with them, but I think you can manage." the woman said, handing the boy two rolled up papers, as well as a sheathed steel sword. He took a hold of the items, placing the papers in his pockets, drawing the blade slightly.

"It'll do...do you know where that figure is right now?" he asked. She reached into her pocket, pulling out what looked like a compass, placing it in his hand.

"This compass will point you anywhere you wish to go. However it doesn't point north, so don't try looking for that direction. Hurry along, I'll handle things here." she said firmly. He nodded, about to leave the garden, only to turn around, giving the blonde woman a tight hug.

"Thank you Alice, I'm so happy to have met you. Alistair has told me so much about you, I can tell he loves you a lot." he said. The woman hugged the boy back, a smile on her face.

"I thought I would never see my son again, but I'm glad to know now that he is safe in Ever After. Did he get the Vorpal Blade? I left it for him in Heritage Hall."

"Oh about that...there's a lengthy story behind that blade, but yes he has it now. I'll tell you about it later, for now we have to part ways. Thanks again Alice, I hope to see you again soon." he said, sliding the sheathed sword into his belt, making sure it was firmly in place. He took off running toward the gate, a sense of urgency on his face.

"Okay compass, find me a Rabbit hole to the Queen of Hearts palace!" he said. The needled moved around wildly, settling on a single direction. He quickly jumped the gate, moving in the direction the trinket was pointing. He reached the edge of the path and jumped into the air, the hole appearing under his feet.

 _ **xxx**_

Having taken a nearby Rabbit Hole, Ashlynn, Duchess and Mavis, made it to the Queen of Hearts castle. Or rather, they got really close, they were still quite a ways away from the castle, about a mile away and there weren't any other paths to take but straight. Mavis looked around for another Rabbit Hole that would get them closer, but it was becoming apparent that she wasn't going to find one in time. She rolled the map up and started moving down the checkered path, walking briskly as she moved.

"There aren't any other paths, we're gonna have to run from here. Hope you two are fit." Mavis said, earning a giggle from Duchess.

"I can just fly there honey, no running involved, you want me to go ahead?"

"That isn't a good idea Duchess, you might get attacked by a soldier. We don't have the invitation after all, we might not even be let in." Ashlynn said, earning a sigh from the ballerina.

"You are right, we're gonna have to take it slow and come up with a plan to get in." she said. A rabbit hole suddenly appeared before them, and out came out the black figure from before, slamming hard onto the ground, a cry of pain escaping his lips, though it sounded distorted. The three girls stopped in their tracks, eyes widened in shock.

"Hey, it's you!" Mavis cried, the figure looked up, quickly jumping to his feet.

"Well, what the fucking odds of this? Wonderland really does know how to screw you over." he said firmly.

"In my opinion, I think Wonderland is trying to help us! That sword doesn't belong to you, so you better return it, or else!" Duchess snapped, an angry look on her face. The man chuckled, drawing Excalibur from his sheathe.

"Or else what Honey? You ain't got a sword, so all you'll do is die...will you die for me, Duchess Swan?" he asked. The girl felt unnerved by his statement, but she didn't back down. The man was about to move forward, about to attack the girls when another Rabbit Hole appeared before them. He backed away in surprise, a familiar figure dressed in yellow landing in a crouch.

"Sorry I'm late, I got lost on the way here."

"Blake!" the three girls cried, looks of surprise on their faces. The boy stood up, cracking his neck as he faced the black figure, glancing at the sword in his hand.

"So...that's the holy sword...you know that doesn't belong to you right?"

"Of course it does! I am the next King Arthur, my name is Clive Pendragon, a distant relative of the original King Arthur." he snapped angrily.

"Mhmm, that's as believable as all the other bullshit you've spouted in the past. You know, at first I didn't think about who you were...but I was slowly starting to put things together in my head. It was all just hodgepodge, but then I found this in that rabbit hole just now." he said, holding up a leather bound journal, causing the figure to gasp, taking a step back.

"Huh? Blake, what does a notebook have to do with this?" Ashlynn asked.

"His reaction right now clearly answers that question. It contains a plan, not just any plan, but a plan that didn't just cause harm to Duchess, Apple and Melody. But it also details how it was going to break me and Cerise up, how he was going to uncover the secrets behind the Storybook of Legends, and what me, Kitty and Briar had done with it. I'm surprised it took me this long to figure it out, but I'm not gonna let you get away with it." he said, earning a laugh from the figure, who pulled his hood down, revealing the face of Joey, who had a smirk on his face.

"Well, it seems my plans have been uncovered, but just because they have doesn't mean they'll go awry yet."

"You? It was you who did all of this?" Duchess cried out in shock. Ashlynn's hands flew to her mouth, disbelief written on her face. Mavis was slightly confused, but was still concerned over the sword. She glanced at her watch, seeing it was close to three o'clock.

"We don't have time! We must get to the party before Tea Time!" she said.

"I'm afraid that isn't going to happen sweetheart. No one aside from you three now know my plans...so I'll have to kill you here. Besides, even if you four know about it, no one back home is going to believe you. I've got friends in powerful places, I'm afraid. I'm not going to let anyone, especially Blake, take this away from me!" Joey shouted, running right at the boy. He drew his sword as fast as he could, deflecting the slash that was thrown at him.

Blake stepped forward, throwing a forward slash at the bow, which was deflected rather easily. White sparks flew around them as he swung his blade in wide arcs, aiming to strike the boy's arms. Blake however knew what he was trying to do and put his training in action. He lowered himself a bit to the ground, parrying the next attack, seeing the crazed look on Joey's face.

"Ashlynn, Duchess, Mavis, get the hell out of here right now! I got this!" Blake shouted, pushing the boy back.

"But Blake, what about..."

"I said go now! He won't stop until we are dead, so go! Warn the Queen, here's an invitation, just hurry!" he cried, throwing the rolled up paper Alice had given him at Mavis. He dashed forward, swinging his sword at Joey, who blocked the attack with ease, a small shock wave flowing through the blade into his arms.

"I'm not letting them leave! They'll get to the palace over my dead body!"

"Tch...that can be arranged...I've waited a long time for this. Show me what you got asshole!" Blake replied, an angered cry leaving his lips as he ran forward, blades clashing once more.

"Come on, we can't stay here!" Mavis cried, grabbing Duchess and Ashlynn's hands, pulling them along.

"Blake, you better not die you hear me? I'm gonna get you to love me one way or another, so come back alive!" Duchess cried, quickening her pace, pulling Ashlynn along.

Joey growled angrily, cracking his neck and shoulders as he lowered his sword, backing away from Blake. He had a sneer on his face, and a confident look in his eye, he wasn't going to lose. The black haired boy could see that, it was do or die time, and he knew that anything he did was going to result in an action from the boy. He started chuckling, making Blake narrow his eyes a bit.

"I don't know how that bitch can like someone with so much baggage. You are a piece of shit you know that? You truly are!"

"This coming from you? You think you can get away with this? What else have you been planning? I already know you wanna kill me, and the Queen of Hearts. Were you gonna free the Evil Queen? Take over Ever After? I'm not letting you do that...Excalibur leaves with me!" he said.

"Come and take it from me then."

The two young men clashed once more, the battle for Wonderland's freedom had just begun.


	71. Way Too Wonderland VI

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 71

Way Too Wonderland VI

 _ **xxx(Wonderland High)xxx**_

"What did you do with Blake? You have no right to send him away!" Lizzie snapped angrily, grabbing a hold of the axes the two soldiers had crossed before her.

"Sorry dear, but he was a danger to my well-being. He shouldn't have been a mouthy one...he certainly had a pair though, trying to cut my head off." she said, glancing at the blood on the sword, before placing it back in its scabbard.

"Still, being the son of the Evil Queen...that is quite the tidbit, perhaps I can convince him to lend me a hand. After all, what I want is quite simple." she continued, turning to face the six girls.

"Ha, Blake will never listen to the likes of you! You think you are so smart, but he will get out of whatever situation he is in. And he will stop at nothing until you are dead!" Kitty cried, earning a laugh from the jester, who stood in the middle of the room.

"You say that, but wait until he actually spends time in the detention room. He'll go absolutely bananas in there...anyway, I don't know what I'll do with you all...you've become quite the thorn in my side. However, you have but one wish, to graduate correct?"

"You know that already! Release us at once, and bring Blake back to us!" Lizzie snapped.

"Okay, okay...I'll do as you ask...however, there is a little something I want you to do for me." Courtly said, snapping her fingers. A scroll appeared in mid air, unrolling before her and the Princess of Hearts who stared at it oddly. Courtly grabbed it from the floor, grabbing a pencil from her desk.

"If you agree to resign all of your powers as the future Queen of Hearts to me, I shall let you all graduate." she said, handing her the pencil, earning a gasp from the others.

"But...I can't."

"Of course you can! All you have to do is sign your name on the dotted line, one flick of the wrist and you and your friends are free! That's what you want isn't it? For you to leave this place, to graduate...to see your little boy toy? Hmm?" the jester asked, leaning rather close to the girl.

"Lizzie, don't listen to her. She's trying to bait you into signing that contract!" Raven cried, causing her to look toward her friend.

"But Raven, we'll all be set free if I sign...they'll bring Blake back, we'll be able to save my mother."

"At the cost of losing Wonderland! Listen to me, you have to be the Queen of Hearts...it's...it's your destiny!" she cried.

"What? What did you just say?" Apple cried, genuine shock on her face.

"I don't think I heard her right, did she just say the D word?" Briar added. Kitty grinned, about to speak when Maddie blocked her mouth, preventing her from speaking, much to her chagrin.

"Jeez, it's just a word. I know, I'm not a stickler for Destiny, but sometimes, following your heart is your destiny. Lizzie, you have thought of nothing but ruling Wonderland your entire life. You love this place, you love your future subjects, you've waited so long to come back. Are you really going to throw it all away for our freedom?" Raven asked firmly.

"I...I."

"Don't listen to her Lizzie! Think about it, freedom...the great outdoors, you'll be able to leave, as a graduate this time." Courtly added. Lizzie closed her eyes firmly, clenching the pencil so hard it snapped in half.

"I refuse! I will never turn Wonderland to you, it would be an insult to my mother, my people and my friends. My heart lies with them, and with Wonderland's crown!" she replied firmly, walking back toward her friends. Maddie held her hand up, high fiving her friend. Courtly growled angrily, her hands shaking.

"Alright then, if you refuse to sign then you leave me no choice but to cast you all into detention with your friend!" she cried.

"Um...actually, Miss Jester...you can't do that." the White Rabbit said nervously, causing her to glare at him.

"Why shouldn't I do that to them?"

"Um...um..."

"Well? Go on with it then, speak!"

"Y-you c-cannot give them detention...without a disciplinary trial." he said.

"Oh...and why can't I just skip that part?" Courtly asked, a smirk on her face. The White Rabbit shook nervously, clutching his watch tightly.

"B-because...it is your rule...madam."

"Ah...it is...isn't it? Well, if it's a rule then we must follow it. Prepare the Trial Grounds for the Disciplinary trial! And bring the boy as well, he must be part of this gag fest!" she said. Two card soldiers ran into the office, grim expressions on their faces.

"Courtly Jester, madam...we regret to inform you that the prisoner has escaped. It seems he got help from one of the Knights in the school...madam." the card soldier said.

"Ha, take that! You can't stop Blake, he will get us out of here...and even if he doesn't, he will warn the queen of your attack!" Apple said proudly, causing the jester to look at her, a glare on her face.

"Oh he will, will he? Then I shall make sure he never sees his friends again! Ready the witnesses, off to the Trial Room with them!" she shouted, waving her arm before her.

Shackles were placed on their wrists, and they were escorted out of the office. Courtly moved toward the mirror, glancing at her reflection in it, seeing her make up had been partially ruined by her tussle with Lizzie. She reached into her pocket, pulling out some face paint from within.

"The Evil Queen's son eh? He's more resourceful than I thought he would be...and full of shit...that silver tongue is going to get him killed one day. Perhaps I should redouble my efforts with his capture...or, perhaps I should let him run off, make him feel a false sense of security...it's going to make it so much better when he gets taken to detention." she said, cackling evilly, not noticing the crimson flash beyond the mirror.

 _ **xxx**_

Sparks flew around his face as he deflected another heavy blow from his attacker. He tried doing a reversal, swiping at his back but he reacted quickly, rolling out of the way. He threw a slash at him, once again parrying the hit. Joey was clearly not slacking in strength...he didn't even know the boy was good with a sword. Then again, he did take Sword Training now that he had entered the new semester. Blake didn't dwell on that, he had to win this fight, for his friends, for Lizzie and for Wonderland. He let out a shout, aiming a jab right at his chest, Joey was able to easily redirected the hit, throwing a punch to his face, making his head snap back from the sheer force, knocking his hat off. He quickly bad peddled, panting a bit.

"Are you feeling it? The strength behind every hit? That's Excalibur's natural magic. It makes each and every strike heavier, no matter how hard the swing. Channeling magic into it works as well, but with the poison in the air, it isn't worth it." Joey said, smirking slightly.

"Why...why are you doing this?"

"You read the book didn't you? You know why!" he cried.

"Jealousy...you want what you can't have, you want what I have...is that it?" Blake asked.

"It was always about you! Your parents always got you want you wanted, and you never appreciated it, always taking it for granted. I didn't even get a laptop until last year when you had already disappeared from Earth! She always hung out with you more, she always told you everything! She was planning to leave me for you? What makes you any better than me?" he shouted, running at the boy, taking a diagonal slash at him.

Blake moved out of the way, throwing a slash to Joey's head. He moved back just in time for the tip of the blade to grace his cheek bone, a small cut appearing on his face. He didn't let that bother him, in fact it fueled him even more as he threw a barrage of slashes at the boy, which he deflected with ease. Joey threw an upward slash, causing Blake to trip on his own feet, falling down to the ground. He smirked, pulling Excalibur back, a swirling light forming at the tip of the blade, a violet sickly looking light.

"This is it! The end of you!" he cried. Blake moved out of the way, just as the tip pieced the ground, causing a small crater where his head had sat previously.

He quickly stood up, swiping his foot under Joey's, knocking him onto the ground. He threw a kick at him, causing him to roll out of the way. He grabbed a hold of Excalibur and pushed himself to his feet, spinning on his heel once again facing him, holding the sword level with his shoulder. They paused for a few moments, catching their breath a bit.

"You wanna know...why she picked me over you...because she saw it...she saw how the world rejected me. She was the only one who knew what it felt like to be abandoned. Her mother dumped her there from a young age, with a man she claimed was her father. She held my hand when I found out, we cried together for hours...she made me smile. She was everything I wanted in a best friend, a sibling even. She was more my sister than Susan and Mary were. She understood me, that's why she liked me better."

"Bullshit!"

"You call it what you want...but she saw it in me. In you, she saw nothing but self loathing...you were putting yourself in that position. But you didn't feel rejected, you were just mad at the world, because you didn't have the same things that we had. It wasn't about your mother not being around, it wasn't about your father being an alcoholic. You were just jealous of other people and what they had, you thought you deserved the things I got because you think you are better than me!" he cried.

"That's not true, you piece of shit!" Joey cried, running at him once more. They clashed, sparks showering around them like the lit fuse on a rocket.

Blake pushed him back, winning their face off as he ran forward, spinning his sword around his hand. He jumped into the air, blade glowing a brilliant purple as he activated one of his sword spells, he brought the sword down, slamming the blade against Joey, only he dodged it at the last second and it got the ground instead. Dust and debris littered the area, blocking their view slightly. Blake swung his blade, cutting through the dust with a single slash, only to see Joey was gone.

" _Great, now he's hiding...invisibility perhaps?"_ he muttered to himself. His ears twitched a bit, and he moved slightly, feeling a light slash on his arm, somehow not cutting his clothes, but the pain was still there. He felt several more, making him drop to a knee.

" _Dammit, at this rate he's going to kill me...I need to figure out how I'm gonna do this!"_

 **"** _ **Tch...you fool, getting beaten by this boy and his revenge plot...I thought you were better than that. You wish to be strong enough to defeat me? Then prove it, you have my powers, use them and defeat this boy!"** _

Blake let out a sigh, closing his eyes. Hearing Mira's voice in his head wasn't very reassuring...it meant she was using the Mirror Shard as a sort of communication device..but she did have a point. He did want to meet the Evil Queen, and he wanted to defeat her, and ask her why she had picked him, and why she had cursed him. But he couldn't do that if he was dead. He felt the area light up around him, though his eyes were closed, he could see everything around him. It was a simple tracking spell, using dark magic and infusing his aura into it. He heard footsteps behind him and quickly turned around, swinging his blade at the same time.

A loud clang filled the area, along with a gasp of surprise. Blake pushed the sword back as hard as he could, pulling the boy into a fierce fight. Slash after slash, all of them were deflected by Blake, who wasn't breaking a single sweat. Joey looked almost horrified by his increased speed and stamina. It was then that he realized that he was using magic to increase his senses, he could see a spot in his chest glowing violet, he was using the Evil Queen's magic to his advantage. Joey growled angrily, pushing the boy back as hard as he could, backing away from him.

"Drop your invisibility spell, it's useless. I can see your aura, there is no hiding from me." Blake said firmly, opening his eyes. A cloud of smoke washed over the boy, his body becoming visible again.

"You said...you would never use the Queen's magic...and yet here you are..you hypocrite."

"I came here to seek answers, and I've been far from the truth...I think I finally realized what my purpose is...my destiny. It's to set Wonderland free, and to protect it, Ever After and all of the realms, from people like you...from tyrants like the Evil Queen! I will fulfill that until my dying breath, and not even you will stop me!"

"Then come on, there is only so much magic can do...let's see if your heart is where you think it belongs. You will realize today Blake Bigby, that having a big heart and being selfless is your biggest weakness. Your blood will run across Wonderland, along with the Queen of Hearts's head!" he shouted, breaking into laughter as he ran at Blake once more.

 _ **xxx(Wonderland High)xxx**_

Raven was honestly confused beyond belief by the proceedings of the trial. Not only were they forced into it against their will, but they were being charged with stuff they didn't even commit. Courtly Jester was exerting her power over everyone and it was apparent. The Caterpillar, which sounded oddly like Headmaster Grimm, was bashing his gavels on the counter, calling Disorder in the court, further cementing the ludicrous trial they were currently in, but Courtly seemed quite content.

"Alright, we have heard quite enough from the defendants...it is time for you to choose. How do you plea, Guilty, or Extremely Guilty?" the Caterpillar asked.

"What? That's not even a verdict!" Lizzie cried, slamming her fist onto the railing, for the umpteenth time. Raven was surprised she hadn't broken her wrist from how many times she had done it. The White Rabbit moved forward, nervously as he did.

"Uh...Guilty, what do you..."

"The defendants are Guilty as charged! I sentence them to eternal detention, forever! Court dismissed!" he cried, slamming his gavels against the desk.

"What? No! That is not what I meant! You cannot sentence them to detention!" the White Rabbit cried.

"My verdict is final, I cannot change it, I'm afraid." the Caterpillar replied.

"Ha, you think you are all so smart! It doesn't matter if Lizzie signs the contract. Lizzie will still be the future Queen of Hearts because she'll sign the Storybook of Legends. My mother, the Cheshire Cat has the book, and we'll be able to get it easily. So go ahead and bask in your victory, for we are still the winners!"

"Oh Kitty, you really need to learn how to gloat better." Lizzie muttered, lowering her head in disappointment.

"What are you saying, the Storybook is here? Well then, I've changed my mind and my offer. Lizzie, I no longer need you to sign that contract. All I have to do is sign your page in the Storybook of Legends, and your destiny will be mine. Take them to the detention hall." she said, snapping her fingers. She walked out of the trial room, right into her office, a smirk on her face as she slammed the door closed.

She couldn't believe it, Kitty had perhaps committed the biggest blunder yet. She didn't once think the Storybook of Legends was in Wonderland, but now that it was, she could finally take what was rightfully hers. She smirked walking toward her desk, hitting the page button.

"Red Knight, to my office please." she called out. She pulled a tube of lipstick from the drawer, walking toward the mirror on the other side of the office, pulling the cap off.

"Once I find the Cheshire Cat, I can finally take the throne. I'll be able to rule Wonderland how I please...then we'll see who's grin is wider." she smirked, drawing a crown and a crimson grin on the mirror.

Beyond the mirror, the Evil Queen stood, wringing her hands a smirk on her face. She had been watching everything through the mirrors around Wonderland, and hearing everything through the shard in Blake's chest. She had made the right choice in placing said shard within the boy, though it pained her to do it, it was something she had to do. She had to make sure his magic was more developed, in case her daughter rejected her evil role. But what she was seeing now was quite different and unexpected, it seemed Wonderland never failed to entertain her.

"Dear Courtly Jester, you have kept me quite entertained. It seems my own daughter denies the call of evil. It seems you are more than game. My magic is quite powerful, and it seems to be the only thing that will help you. Go then evil jester, fulfill your destiny." she said, tapping her fist against the mirror next to the bookshelf, causing a single book to fall out. The Evil Queen smirked, disappearing into the shadows, watching intently as Courtly picked up the book.

"What's this? A book of evil spells...written by the Evil Qu...yes, this will work just fine. My own book of dark magic." she said excitedly, leaning against the desk, opening to the first spell.

"Courtly, you asked to see me?" Chase said, causing her to snap the book closed. She smiled, pushing herself away from the desk.

"Yes I did...the Queen of Hearts's party starts in half an hour. I'm leaving you in charge while I am gone."

"Me?" he asked, a look of shock on his face.

"Yes yes, you know my rules...and I expect you to follow them as I would, or else!" she said firmly. He gave her a nod, lowering his gaze to the floor.

"I understand...the rules, will be followed."

"Good...well go on then, I'm sure you want to sit in the chair, we all do dear. I'll be back soon, have fun...but follow the rules!" Courtly snapped, glaring at the boy one final time before leaving the office. Chase swallowed hard, taking a deep breath to calm his nerves.

 _ **xxx**_

"I'm a clown and you're a little cunt!

Yes I'm an eloquent

I'm taking off my pants!

And it says hello

You, I'm writing you this song!

I hope you like it, cause I'm pretty tied up

Pretty tied up, don't you wanna

Pretty lick it up, pretty lick it up

Hey hey!

You're a little cunt!

Yes I'm an eloquent

I'm taking off my pants!

And it says hello

You, I'm writing you this song!

I hope you like it, cause I'm pretty tied up

Pretty tied up, don't you pretty lick it up

Pretty lick it up, I'm an eloquent!"

"Miss White, would you mind not singing? There is no singing in detention." the Mock Turtle said, causing the girl to stop singing, a frown on her face.

"Come on, don't give me that! You know you love my singing, I know you do! How about I sing the song of my people! Nants ingonyama bagithi baba, Sithi uhm ingonyama. Nants ingonyama bagithi baba, Sithi uhm ingonyama, ingonyama!" she cried, trying her hardest not to laugh.

The Mock Turtle sighed, knowing he wasn't going to get back to sleep any time soon. Not only had Gloriosa sung all of the openings to a show called Pokemon, she was also singing various inappropriate songs, throughout the entire side. Among those were rage tirades and swears tossed at Courtly Jester for imprisoning her in the detention hall. She stood up from her seat at the back shelf, walking toward the front of the room, moving her hips as she did, tipping her hat back as she placed her hand on the desk, making him back away from it.

"You don't like how Courtly treats you right? You don't want to be a Mock Turtle being mocked by those who get stuck here. Unable to mock those around them because you are their fodder. You know, I am a Queen, if you let me out I can get you another job." she said.

"My apologies Your Majesty Gloriosa White, but I cannot...I only follow the rules of Courtly and no one else." he said. She clicked her tongue, pursing her lips a bit.

"I know that your powers of retention,

Are as wet as a warthogs backside.

But thick as you are, pay attention!

My words are a matter of pride.

It's clear from your vacant expression

The lights are not all on upstairs!

But we're talking Queens and successions!

Even you can't be caught unawares!

So prepare for a chance of a lifetime

Be prepared for sensational news!

A shiny new era is tiptoeing nearer."

" _And where do I feature?"_ the Mock Turtle asked, earning a smirk from Gloriosa who tapped his nose with her finger.

"Just listen to teacher!

I know it sounds sordid, but you'll be rewarded

When at last I am given my dues

An injustice deliciously squared!

Be Prepared!"

" _Yeah, I'll be prepared...be prepared for what?"_ the turtle asked, earning a face palm from the girl who backed away from him, a hand on her hips.

"For the death of the Queen of this school, Courtly Jester."

" _Why, is she sick?"_

"No you fool, I'm gonna kill her, that dumb knight too."

" _Great Idea! Who needs a Queen? No Queen, no Queen, la la la la la la!"_

"Idiot, there will be a Queen!"

" _Hey b_ _ut you said.."_

"I will be Queen, stick with me and you'll never be mocked again!" Gloriosa cried, a grin on her face when the Mock Turtle, stood from his seat.

" _Yay! Alright, long live the Queen, long live the Queen!"_

" _It's great that I'll soon be connected! To a Queen that who'll be all-time adored!"_

"Of course quid pro quo, you're expected

To take certain duties on board!

The future is littered with prizes!

And though I'm the main addressee

The point that I must emphasize is!

You won't get jack shit without me!" Gloriosa cried, slamming her fist against the desk.

"So sit back, for the coup of the century!

Be prepared, for the murkiest scam!

Meticulous planning

Tenacity spanning,

Decades of denial

Is simply why I'll

Be Queen undisputed

Respected, saluted!

And seen for the Wonder I am!

Yes my knives and ambitions are bared!

Be prepared!

Yes my knives and ambitions are bared!

Be Prepared!"

Gloriosa took a breath, bowing a couple times as the Mock Turtle clapped loudly, whistling as well. She gave him a smile standing in front of him, sheathing her knives behind her back, hands folded together in front of her.

"So, it seems I have convinced you...will you let me out now, my mother was the previous principle here, I am the rightful heiress, how about it?" she asked.

"Sorry Miss White, but I have rules to follow, even if you convinced me with that song...I don't want to die." he said, once again taking his seat.

"Drat!" she cried, snapping her fingers angrily.

She had put so much heart and soul into that performance, channeling her inner Scar, and even managing to get her magic to play the music as well, still she was unable to get free from the detention room. It seemed she would be trapped in there forever. That was at least, until the door slammed open and six girls were thrown into the room. Her eyes scanned all of them, confusion written on their faces, perhaps because they had no idea of where they were. Her eyes widened behind her mask, as she laid eyes on three girls she thought she would never see again. She turned around, glancing at the wall, pulling the brim of her had over her eyes.

" _Maddie, Lizzie and Kitty...they were in Ever After High...but that means...he opened the door and...Blake...he's here."_

 _ **xxx**_

Blake panted hard, jumping back several feet, lowering his sword, the weight of the steel blade becoming more apparent. The steel was beginning to chip and crack from all of the magic he was pumping through it, trying to fight Joey back. Excalibur's glow had slowly turned from white to violet to the dark black that it was now. It was a blade of darkness, and since Joey's heart was strong enough to wield it, it had doubled his strength as well. He hissed angrily, clutching his side, seeing blood from a cut he hadn't even seen. His magic had already started healing him, and repairing his clothes, but there was only so much magic left in him. He had been doing his best to keep his stamina up, but he was nearing his end, while Joey still had some left.

"Give it up, you aren't going to win...look at you, ragged like a dog. Like a sick dog that shouldn't have left its kennel!" he said.

"I'm not...gonna die a dogs death here...I made a promise...to Lizzie...and I swear I'm gonna keep it." he said, dashing forward, throwing several more slashes at Joey, who struggled to deflect them. Blake pushed him back, pulling a reversal, slashing him across the back. Joey let out a howl of pain, taking a solid kick to his hip, sending him sprawling forward. He quickly grabbed a hold of Excalibur, turning around to face Blake once more.

"I'll admit, you got me...but you also gave me a tidbit of information. You're in love with her, aren't you? Lizzie Hearts stole your Heart? Interesting, seeing as you two dated for three days and she broke up with you. It makes it a lot easier, once I kill her mother, I'll cut out her still beating heart and give it to you. The last thought in her mind as the life drains from her is how she couldn't be saved by her crimson knight." he said.

"Hehehehahaha...you are funny...as if I would let you even get near Lizzie. She's one of my best friends, one of the few that understands what it's like to be in another world, to be unable to see your family. I would never let you even attempt it." he cried, dashing forward with all of his speed, throwing a heavy slash at him, making Joey back away.

They engaged in another fierce battle, both swinging their blades as hard as they could. Blake grit his teeth, channeling as much magic as he could into his sword, so much that it had started glowing a brilliant purple. Joey's sword clashed with his with a bang, sending the two of them flying back several feet. Blake panted a bit, his shoulders shaking a bit as he breathed.

" _I haven't got much magic left, even with the reserves from the mirror, I'm running out. Excalibur...it must be sucking darkness magic from the air...and from me as well."_ he thought. Joey smirked, pointing his blade forward.

"I forgot, I haven't shown you what Excalibur's magic can do...you've noticed right? How the blade has turned black? That's the magic of the holy sword, it will eradicate all darkness, or absorb it. With it, I can do this!" he cried, swinging the sword hard, sending a blast of magic at Blake. He dashed to the side, eyes widening as Joey shortened the distance. He blocked the hit with his sword, feeling it crack more than before. He let out a cry as he slammed into the ground. He used the momentum to jump to his feet, running at him once more.

"I'm not letting you defeat me! Phantom Rave!" he chanted, activating one of his sword magic spells. One thing about magic was that it did whatever you wanted it to do, and since he was an anime geek, it meant he had several techniques at the ready, this being one of them.

He swung his sword at Joey as hard as he could, leaving tendrils of light from how fast the blade was moving. Their swords clashed several times, but Blake's proved faster. The brown haired boy barely moved as he took on several slashes from the blade, his coat was stained with crimson blood, coming from various spots on his body. Blake pulled his blade up above his head for a finishing blow, causing Joey to smirk. He rose Excalibur at the same time, swinging it with all of the strength he could muster. Their swords met, a loud clang filling the air around them, followed by the sound of shattering glass.

Blake backed away, eyes widening when he saw his sword had completely broken in half. In his shock, he didn't notice Joey moving until it was too late. He gasped, feeling nothing but pain...it was a horrible unimaginable feeling, as if his insides were burning. He looked down, eyes widening when he saw Excalibur piercing his abdomen, crimson blood flowing down the sides of the blade. He coughed loudly, a glob of blood flying out of his his mouth. His hands shook as he grabbed a hold of the blade, only for it to be pulled from his grasp. He fell to his knees, seeing the blood continue to flow out of the cut.

" _What...what is this feeling...it's as if, my life is...leaving my body...but I...pain...this burning pain I...what is...I."_

"Tsk tsk tsk...poor Blake, didn't I tell you, this is a holy sword...made with magic from heaven, from God, Zeus, Odin...basically whoever you believe. One of its powers is to eradicate darkness, it's as if being pierced through the guts by a spear of light...it's eating you from the inside out." he said, a smirk on his face.

"Why...why...did you...?" Blake choked out, grasping his stab wound, trying in vain to stop the bleeding.

"Well...I honestly didn't plan on it ending this way...but it seems I had played all my cards. I had planned on taking you back to Ever After, making you watch as I took over that world...as I found the one you loved and killed her before you, only to kill you right after. But shit happens, as they say. I now know that Lizzie Hearts is the object of your affections...and she's up next. Excalibur is a vampire, and she loves feasting on the blood of the ones who wrong her. Don't worry, you got about a minute or two before you leave this world. Hey, you wanted to be with Lucy right? Now you can die with her. Well, I got places to be, people to slay, see ya never...loser." Joey spat, sheathing his sword as he walked off, pulling his hood over his head. The effects of the battle were plain to see, he was about to drop from exhaustion, but he wasn't going to give up. Blake fell to the ground, gritting his teeth in anger, he was out of magic, his wound wasn't healing. He could feel the darkness ebbing at his mind.

" _No I can't...I can't die here...I promised Lizzie...I promised Lizzie that I would save her mom...dammit...pull it together Blake...just stand up, he isn't that far away...I can't...feel my legs."_

 **" _Pathetic...you used every ounce of magic you had left, and still you feel to his might and that dumb trinket. This isn't the attitude befitting you Blake...perhaps a little motivation will do?"_**

"Shut up...Mira...you're...nothing. He'll only...betray you...in the end. You'll die...just like...I will."

 **" _Then who will protect the daughter of Cheshire? Who will protect Raven? You've been calling her your sister this entire time, are you gonna fail her? You've been searching for the Lost Child, but did you not once consider what I have done to you in the past? It was all for a reason after all...you are...my blood."_**

His eyes widened a bit, a growl escaping his lips. He closed his eyes, images filling his mind, he saw himself playing with a little girl, that looked strikingly similar to the girl from the pictures he had taken from the Evil Queen's castle. There was a small puppy running around them, and a blonde girl watching on, eating an apple with a smile on her face. He remembered a cold hand taking his own as he walked through the dark castle halls, the smile of the little girl keeping him calm. He remembered, being pushed forward into the arms of another woman. He saw himself looking up, seeing the smiling faces of Marissa and Steven Bigby, along with Susan and Mary, who were grinning happily, giving them a welcome feeling.

He felt a choking feeling in his throat, stinging and lined with blood. Realization was written on his face, he had been a fool to search for the Lost Child, something that had been plaguing his mind for awhile. He had been looking all over the place for that child, when he was in fact the one he was searching for. The pain in his stomach worsened. It hurt, it hurt so much, he was bleeding out, crimson was all over him, it was the only thing he could see. He fell once more, closing his eyes as his strength failed him. He thought he was done...but he still had time. Everything was slow to him, the wind, the leaves moving, everything.

That's when he heard it, that girly giggle he had grown accustomed to for the last ten and a half months. He heard it as clear as day, as if its owner was right beside him. It wasn't just that, he could hear the sound of fluttering wings, the subtle flicking of a hood, a hearty laugh filled with pride. He could smell apples and cinnamon, freshly brewed tea, the scent of roses...it was all so familiar to him. He closed his eyes, seeing a hand in front of him, when he looked up, he saw her smiling face in front of him. He could feel the dark magic flowing from her fingertips into his hand as he took it.

He forced himself to his feet, magic flowing from the air right into the center of his chest, pulsing through his body down to his wound, rapidly sealing it. He could feel the anemic feeling slowly start to dissipate, along with the dizziness and everything else he was feeling. His clothes were slowly repairing themselves through the force of his magic alone, the blood that had spilled from him slowly disappeared, fading into nothingness, as if it had never left his body. The sheen of his yellow jacket returned, as he grabbed his hat and placed it upon his head. He started walking forward, his eyes slowly opening once again allowing him to see the beauty of Wonderland. Several paces in front of him was Joey, limping and celebrating his victory, not knowing that he had completely failed to kill his enemy. Blake slowly approached him, a smirk on his face as his eyes flashed violet.

"From zero to hero, the power that flows, grant me the strength, that that nobody knows. Darkness become light, and light become darkness, from the pits of hell, I summon my strength, form now my blade of revenge!" he chanted, holding his hand outward, clutching the broken hilt of his steel sword. Joey stopped in his tracks, spinning around, eyes widening in shock.

"No...NO! You're supposed to be dead!" he shouted. Blake raced forward, aiming his magical blade at the boy, who tried drawing Excalibur, but he was too late. His blade pierced his body, making him scream in agony.

"You thought you could kill me, but you forgot one thing...I'm the hero of Wonderland, and heroes never die."

"You...bastard...I'm gonna...kill you." he wheezed, the feeling in his legs leaving him.

"This isn't a sword of death I'm afraid, it's a sword of paralysis. As much as I want to kill you, I would much rather you face your crimes against the crown here. This blade is slowly stunning your nerves, eventually you'll be unable to move. But don't worry, you'll still be able to breathe just fine." Blake said, pulling the magical blade from Joey's chest, dropping him to the ground.

"I'll...kill...you...just you...wait." the boy hissed angrily. Blake grabbed a hold of Excalibur, tossing aside his broken sword. He aimed it upward, releasing all of the darkness the blade had gathered, once again returning its light, only it was tinged slightly purple. He placed the sword in his sheathe, walking away from the boy.

"Oh...before I leave...it was nice to meet the pawn my mom was messing around with. But I'm afraid that pawn just lost the will to move forward. I however have just been promoted to Queen. And it is so good to finally know who I am. I just wanted to say...checkmate. Do Svidana!" he said, giving the boy a Cheshire Grin as he walked toward the Queen's castle.

 _ **xxx(Ever After High)xxx**_

It didn't take long for Jessica Merlin to settle down. As long as she had a good book, some awesome snacks, or some naughty movies, she could be entertained for hours. She had a habit of relaxing in the nude, but she had almost gotten caught once by Blake, and though she didn't mind if he saw her in the buff, she knew he would probably see her differently after that, so she made an effort to at least remain in her nightie while she watched TV. It had been oddly silent, not a single peep from her roommate, something that wasn't normal.

She would often times pop in and check to see if he was fine, and he would either be playing video games, watching anime, doing homework or just taking a nap. But he wasn't in his room today, which made things that much more troublesome. She had given him a few calls, but figured he was probably off on some excursion like last time. She sighed, grabbing the remote from beside her, turning the 5k MirrorScreen she had just bought on, keen on watching some anime.

That was however interrupted when a loud knocking filled her ears. It was a bit muffled since it was coming from Blake's room downstairs, but it was still loud enough to bother her. She tried to ignore it, but it just became louder as the minutes went on. She growled and grabbed her sparkly blue boots, kicking the crank beside her, willing the spiral staircase to unfurl downward onto the ground floor below her. She brushed her hair down a bit, fixing the star pin on the side of her head as she undid the locks on Blake's door, a look of annoyance on her face.

"What the fuck can I do for you today? You know I just got a new Anime and was planning on watching it!" she cried.

"We're sorry to bother you Jessica, but we need your help, like right now!" Ramona said, walking into the room followed by Cerise, Dexter and Cupid. Alistair and Bunny walked in right after them, looking like they had just ran a marathon.

"Jesus...alright, my rates are based on what you want me to do for you. Simple conjuring are 20-40 Gold depending on size shape and use. Teleportation is 65, Body Switching is rather new, but it takes time to prepare so you better have the big bucks for that. I have magical trinkets, cigarettes that don't have nasty shit in them and really good enchanted wizard weed, 40 gold for a gram, 80 for two..."

"We're not looking for enchanted wizard weed. We're looking for Blake, Lizzie, Maddie, Kitty, Raven, Briar, Ashlynn, Duchess and Apple. All of them are stuck in Wonderland!" Cupid cried.

"We need someone who can get us there, we think they might be in danger!" Dexter added, clearly worried for his friends and his girlfriend as well. Jessica blinked a few times, a giggle escaping her lips as she walked back toward the other side of the room.

"So...you mean to tell me, that our friends...somehow broke the biggest rule Stick in the Ass Headmaster Grimm set...and now you want me to break said rule, to get you to Wonderland? Because you think our friends are there?" she asked.

"We don't think, we know. They were sucked into something called the Realms Between, they weren't the only ones. That bastard Joey got sucked in there too, and we're not sure where Darling is either." Alistair said. Jessica swept her white locks out of her eyes, grabbing an energy drink from Blake's fridge, cracking it open with a flick of her finger.

"I'm not exactly sure you understand this but...getting to the realms between is next to impossible. It takes a lot of magic power to even break into that place, trust me...I would know, it is how I get from point A to point B. My point is, if they're stuck in the Realms between, they aren't getting to Wonderland...it takes a powerful charm or a lot of magic to force open a door to another world, a flick of the wrist for me." she said.

"That's the thing, Blake was showing us a special charm, one that belonged to our friend Gloriosa White!" Alistair said firmly.

"Yes, as it turns out, she was his friend Lucy back on Earth. That charm was what lead him to find cast this spell in the Study Hall, we're certain they are in Wonderland right now!" Bunny said, holding the book they had found in the Study Hall. Jessica looked it over, seeing the picture of the Evil Queen in the back. She narrowed her eyes, bringing the book closely to her face.

"Oh shit, the book she's reading...the Wonderland Curse...you guys let them cast this? What did they say? How did they say it?" she asked.

"Um...what was it he said first...um, he said, this Portal has no shimmer, with my power it shall glimmer. Aspect become complete, open now, roads between. Or something like that, but there was a missing rune and that ended up opening a vortex that sucked them in!"

"Don't forget Bunny, they read the curse backwards after the first spell, so that lead them to Wonderland, we assume." Alistair said, earning a sigh from Jessica, who out the book down on the desk behind her.

"Hate to break it to ya kids, but this spell isn't broken by saying it backward. There's another way to break this enchantment, but it has a protection charm, only someone from the Evil Queen's family or one that has her magic can break it. Did this not teleport them to Wonderland, however...if Blake did possess a charm from Gloriosa White, that in-conjunction with a portal spell might have forced the doors open." she said.

"So can you get us there?" Cerise asked, a pleading look on her face. Jessica frowned, sweeping her hair over her shoulder, turning to face her friends.

"I'm sorry, but I can't. There are rules that even I have to follow, good magic isn't like dark magic, it has no rules. Good magic has limitations as well, meaning that if I try to force a portal that was sealed shut by someone else, it'll fail to open, worse yet...it could close that door forever and then no one would be able to get back here." She replied.

"So that's it then...we can't help them?" the daughter of Red Riding Hood said, lowering her head, eyes tightly shut.

"I'm sorry pup, but it seems we can't do anything from this side. We'll just have to rely on them."

"But I can't, right now we don't know what is happening to them! Blake and the others could be in danger, they could even be dead for all we know!" she cried.

"Don't you think we know that? It sucks, knowing that my friends are on the other side and we can't do anything. But there is nothing we can do...not without help from someone like Headmaster Grimm, and you know he isn't going to help us." Cupid said, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"You know, to me it seems a little odd. Darling never disappears like this either, you said she didn't go through the portal, but me and Daring have been looking for her all day, and we haven't found her either." Dexter said firmly.

"Have you tried looking in a place that she likes? The library perhaps?" Jessica asked, taking another gulp from her energy drink.

"Good idea, she's a bookworm, maybe she's trying to find an alternate route to Wonderland. Come on, would you mind coming with us Jess? We might need your help." the brown haired prince asked. She reached into her shirt for her wand, flicking it around them. They found themselves in the library, being surrounded by hundreds of thousands of books.

"That one was free, the next one will cost you...oh hang on a minute...I gotta grab my clothes." the wizard said, snapping her fingers. Her usual attire appeared on her body, looking prim and proper. She stuck her wand in her boot, glancing around the area.

"So, what do we look for? I don't see platinum blonde anywhere." Ramona said, glancing around the area.

They all started walking around the library, checking behind every single stack of books they found. It was a bit awkward for them when they found others trying to study for an exam. The Evil Step Librarians kept their eyes trained on them every single step of the way, shushing them loudly whenever they made too much noise. However, it was becoming apparent that no matter where they searched in the large library, Darling was nowhere to be found. After ten minutes, they all reconvened on the second floor, away from the Librarians so they wouldn't be heard.

"She isn't here, what do we do now? Have you checked the entire school for her?" Cerise asked, earning a nod from Dexter.

"We have, but we haven't found her anywhere. This was the only spot we had left to check...if she's gone missing and isn't here in the school. Then that means she's probably in Wonderland too, that makes it that much more difficult on all of us." he replied.

"Tch...it just had to be Wonderland too, not Nottingham or Neverland...how come no one ever talks about Neverland?"

"I dunno Ramona, because no one wants to talk about a never aging boy in green tights that's more arrogant than anything else in the planet. Or the fact that there's a pirate who wants to kill said boy, being followed by a tick-tocking crocodile." Cupid said, earning a sigh from her.

"I'm not a codfish! I am a pirate!" Jessica shouted, her voice being carried throughout the entire library. The glare from the Librarians let her know that if she did something like that again, she wouldn't just be kicked out of the library.

"Hey, are you guys doing research on Wonderland?" the voice of Jack Hills said, causing them all to look in his direction. He, Pierre and Frost were sitting at a table not that far from them, a small stack of books on the top.

"Sort of, don't tell anyone, but some of our friends are stuck in Wonderland. We're trying to mount a rescue operation, but we can't open the door." Cupid said, causing the boy to stand up.

"Well, that's ironically enough, what we're doing. Joey has been acting weird for awhile, since the Fairest in fact. He was always busy, but when we talked to Faybelle earlier, she said he had stood her up, so she gave us the keys to his dorm. We found, quite a lot of stuff there...including this." he said, handing them a journal, which was completely in another language.

"Uh...it says...Portail vers un autre monde...I have no idea what the hell this is." Dexter said, passing it to Cupid, who also looked it with confusion.

"He's right, I've never seen this language before...all I know is Greek and Latin, but that's because I'm from a world filled with Gods. Does anyone know how to read this?" she asked, holding the notebook to her friends. Jessica took a hold of it, reading the first sentence.

"It's French...of course, Joey is from Canada. Let's see if I can translate this a bit...uh...it says...Portal to another World. By using this spell, once shall be able to use the powers of darkness to force the doors open. All it requires is an object from that world, and you'll be able to open the portal."

"That's it! That's what Blake was casting! He said that after he enchanted the board, he had to cast that spell along with the Wonderland Curse to get to Wonderland, but he ended up skipping this part because it was incomplete!" Alistair said, an excited look on his face.

"So, the bastard was planning on going to Wonderland. He said something weird a few days ago, when Tobias was talking about challenging Blake to an Amp vs Amp, Joey said he was busy trying to Break into Wonderland. Faybelle also mentioned something about him being the next King Arthur and wanting to take Excalibur."

"Oh no...Excalibur is currently being kept at the White Queen's castle...that means he's gone after it. If someone like him gets the sword, it could spell the end of Wonderland!" Bunny said, a look of fear on her face.

"This is bullshit! We have to tell someone about this! Someone has to help us!" Cerise snapped.

"I have an idea, you said the White Queen was keeping Excalibur, well since it is in her palace...wouldn't she...possess a way to go back? I mean, this is the holy sword, she can't just leave it unattended." Pierre said, earning a nod from Jack.

"That's right...that's a powerful sword, she wouldn't necessarily leave it unattended like that. Someone would be able to steal it, though Marmoreal is hard to get too."

"It doesn't matter, we have to get her to help us. Come on Ramona, let's go talk to her." Cerise said, grabbing her sister's hand, pulling her along.

"I'll go with them, perhaps you can search for Darling while we return. If she agrees to help us, we'll let you know." Jack said.

"Alright, good luck you guys." Dexter said, giving them a wave.

"I'm gonna go with them, just in case the Queen needs some persuasion. She totally adores me, so she'll definitely agree to it, she might need a little magical boost." Jessica said, giving them a wink as she burst into sparkles.

"Eh...I'll never get used to that." Pierre said, earning a smirk from Frost who burst into snowflakes soon after, causing him to scream in surprise. The Librarians appeared before him, grabbing a hold of his ear, pulling him along while he plead for his life and his ear.

 _ **xxx**_

"So...this is...the end. My plan...truly did fail...again." Joey muttered, glancing up at the swirling curse above him. He chuckled, having lost the feeling in his body, true to Blake's word, he could still breathe and move his head, but that was it. His entire body had failed, the boy had won.

He was filled with nothing but anger and jealous rage...but he realized in that instance, that there was nothing he could do. It was the end of the line, Blake had found out what he had been planning. He got Excalibur, and he would find the Storybook of Legends too. His plans to dethrone the Queen of Hearts had gone out the window, and his plans to help the Evil Queen had gone south. He had been so close, he could almost taste it. But he had forgotten that he was facing a person who was more powerful than he was...no matter how much he planned, schemed and perfected his plans, everything would always unfurl, like a yarn ball rolling out of a knitting basket.

"I only wish...I could have successfully killed the Queen...it would have been great...to see his expression, when Lizzie Hearts ceased to exist." he muttered, a chuckle escaping his lips.

"Ello, who are you? Terrible time to be laying about, wouldn't you say?" a woman said, causing him to look to his right, seeing a rather odd looking girl dressed like a jester.

"You...aren't you...the daughter of the Joker Card?" he asked curiously. He had heard about her from some of the creatures that had avoided going to school, apparently she was to be feared. The woman nodded, kneeling down beside him.

"Courtly Jester, at your service. My, you don't look to good, what happened to you?"

"This thorn in my side...he stole my sword, and is going to steal my destiny." he said.

"Ah...is that so...were you looking for the Storybook of Legends then? Did you see it?" she asked curiously.

"No...all I know is that it is with the Queen of Hearts...and I was looking forward to killing her and her daughter." he said, making the girl go wide eyed.

"Are you serious? You were going after the Queen's throne? What a coincidence, so was I." she said, making Joey gasp in surprise. He saw the black book in her grasp, a smirk on his face.

"How about a truce then? I have an enchantment put on me, it doesn't let me move a single muscle. If you help me, then I'll help you kill the Queen, and get the Storybook of Legends, I just want to sign a single page, you can do with it what you want afterwards. Every Queen needs a King after all." he said, a smirk on his face. She hummed to herself, bobbing her head in thought, bells jingling slightly.

"What was the name of the guy who did this to you? I need to know if you are trustworthy."

"His name? His name is Blake J. Bigby...though as of now, his true name is Blake J. Queen, son of the Evil Queen. He's on his way to the party now, with Excalibur at his waist." he said. Her eyes widened in shock, a smirk appearing on her lips.

"I've been searching for a new knight...it seems you fit the bill. Help me overthrow the Queen, and you'll not only get the book, but that sword too. When you kill Blake, you'll take your spot beside me as King of Wonderland, do we have an accord?" she asked.

"Yes...I would shake your hand but...kinda can't feel it now." he said. She chuckled, flipping up to her feet, opening the book in her hand.

"Paralysis begone, rise from the ground, crimson armor he dons, knight of the crown, King may he be, grant him the power of three." she chanted, sending a wave of violet magic at the boy, who slowly felt himself rising to his feet, his entire body being covered by crimson armor. He felt a lot more powerful than before. He reached for his side, seeing another sword at his hip, he smirked, closing his visor.

"Come my future Queen, let us crash this party, and cut some heads off."

"Yes...lets." Courtly said, a smirk on her crimson lips.


	72. Way Too Wonderland VII

**A/N:**

 **Hey guys, I hope you all are enjoying this lengthy story arc, I have come to bring you all Chapter 72 of Through the Looking Glass, which is actually part 7 of Way Too Wonderland. A lot of exciting things have been happening in the story, including the reveal of Joey as our antagonist and Blake being run through by Excalibur! Honestly, when I was writing this story, I never once thought about having Blake go through this, but hell it was a spur of the moment thing, and those are usually the best moments in stories. We finally have the answer of who the Lost Child is, and I will say that many of you who guessed this in the past were correct, but the official confirmation won't be until tomorrow...so is it true? Is it? You'll have to wait and see.**

 **This chapter has more Gloriosa in it, honestly I am having fun writing her character. She is like Jessica in a sense, that she is random and understands a lot of Earth references while making one of her own. Be Prepared never came to mind when I wrote the previous chapter, but seeing as she is the daughter of the White Queen, who was once the principle of Wonderland High, that makes her Principle by proxy, so her throne was usurped by Courtly. Be Prepared was the perfect song for her, as she announced to the Mock Turtle her plans of overthrowing and potentially killing Courtly Jester. It was just a fun thing to write if I'm being honest. In this chapter you get to see her interact with Lizzie, Maddie and Kitty who were previously her best friends, while also getting to know Apple, Briar and Raven. Speaking of Raven, she's gonna be going through some things in this chapter...it's all about that twin sixth sense thing...you'll get what I mean later.**

 **Finally, Jessica, Jack, Ramona and Cerise will get more answers behind why the White Queen sent Gloriosa away. Originally this was supposed to be a moment between the White Queen and Blake, but I decided it would be better if someone other than him asked the questions. You'll also get to see, in tomorrow's chapter I believe, the reunion of the White Queen with her daughter, after such a long time of being gone, and her reasoning behind everything, so look forward to it, I am sure you'll enjoy it.**

 **On top of this, you will also get to see the final fight between Joey and Blake start to unfold, who will be the victory? The Brilliant user of Light? or the Commander of Darkness? I'll let you all decide, of course you'll have to wait. Their fight is a bit anime-esque, and I honestly don't really give a shit. They're entire fight is a reference to a scene in one of my favorite animes...so live with it.**

 **I have also received another guest review saying that Blake is a Gary-stu and I won't admit it. You know what, yes I admit it, he is a Gary-stu, and I don't fucking care. Just because he bases his attacks on anime moves or uses video games as a fucking base, doesn't mean that he is a Gary-stu, but to make you proud, yes he is and like I said before I don't care. I've already made several things to pull him away from that, and you can't tell me that in literature and other means there aren't characters like that. Just because Blake is athletic, is good with swords, and is actually trying to pass his classes doesn't make him a Gary-stu. I mean, if that's the case than Daring would be one too, seeing as he's charming, handsome, perfect, athletic, gets all of the ladies without breaking a sweat, can ride and fight against a dragon, and many more things. Sure, he is vain, arrogant, a douche to his brother, but he still cares about him and Darling. So technically speaking, Daring Charming, the Perfect Prince Charming, is a Gary-stu, so suck on these.**

 **Sorry about the rant, I just annoys me a bit when I can't reply to people like that through a PM and explain myself to them on a more personal level, then I gotta take it out on this authors note. This was left on Chapter 7, one of the earlier chapters of the story, it's come quite a long way since then, so don't judge a character from how they are in the early story, you have to keep reading before making a baseless comment like that, or at least show proof of how he is a Gary-stu aside from, oh he watches anime and plays video games and can imitate it well. Tch...Christ, it just boils my insides that I can't talk to you on a more personal level. But I digress, all water under the bridge...honestly I don't care if Blake is a Gary-stu or not, at least he isn't like that fucker from School Days who gets any girl he wants whenever he wants, or like fucking Yukki from Mirai Nikki who just screams Stockholm syndrome whenever he's on screen. No idea how those two bring anything to the story, but you get the picture...rant over.**

 **Enjoy this chapter guys! I appreciate every single one of you! I am happy to announce that we have reached 20,000 views! It makes me really happy that we have reached this goal and it's all because of you, the readers. We can keep reaching milestones like this together...it won't be long until we reach 100 chapters, so let's keep going for it! I honestly can't thank you all enough for sticking with me through this rough and bumpy Joey hating ride. No hate towards you guys named Joey, in fact I apologize...see you all tomorrow!**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 72

Way Too Wonderland VII

 _ **xxx(Wonderland High)xxx**_

Gloriosa didn't really know how to react. She hadn't been expecting to see three of her closest friends suddenly being shoved into detention. They were still reeling, only a few moments having passed since they had been tossed in, unceremoniously. She hadn't said a single word, instead she had just remained in place, leaning against the wall, her head bowed down so that her hat could shield her face. She couldn't face them, she wasn't ready for them to face her. She hadn't been considering what could happen if she ran into any of them. She had prepared to speak with Blake...if the time came. But for the most part, she was going to remain in the shadows, not showing up for anything, she wasn't ready after all. She felt like she had betrayed all of them, though it was her mother who had cast her to Earth, all of those years ago.

She still didn't understand why. Her memory was hazy...she remembered her friends, and all of the good times they had, but up until her tenth birthday. Everything else was just a big blank...whenever she thought about it, she would just wake up on Earth, being yelled at by her scumbag father. The man was clearly not her father, she remembered who her true father was...that man was just enchanted into believing she was his daughter. Lucille Bijoux was just another part of that charade. She remembered it vividly, the fake memory she had received when she woke up on Earth, of her mother, a beautiful and regal woman, walking out of her life. Whenever she thought back on that memory, she saw herself as a seven year old, but that was far from the truth. It was all make believe, a memory shoved into her mind. But her memories of her friends, of Wonderland, of Blake...those memories were real. It was the only thing that kept her moving through the confusion of her muddled mind.

She remembered, wondering through the woods alone on a whim. Hearing that sparkle, seeing the shimmer as a well appeared in front of her. She let out a scream of shock, falling back as she backed away from it, slamming into a tree. She had just sat there, watching the well, sprinkles of rainbow water falling from the cracks between the bricks. She had grown curious about it, and had walked over to it, placing her hand on the smooth bricks, touching the glowing water. It was then that everything came rushing back into her mind, and her eyes were finally opened. She realized then that she was Gloriosa White, daughter of the White Queen, the next ruler of Looking-Glass Land, and co-ruler of Wonderland. She had made a mental note of the well's location and went back home. That's when she started thinking about everything...she knew then that she had to go back to Wonderland. She had to ask her mother why she had sent her away. She broke up with Joey, and gave her special charm to Blake, and left.

She knew it would hurt the two, she knew that her presence there was what kept them from being at odds. But she needed to go home, it was a selfish whim that lead her into jumping into that well. The cool rush of the water and the pull of gravity made her forget...but she often times thought back on everything. On her suddenly leaving, she didn't know how much time had passed between realms, but she didn't really care. She figured she could return to Earth whenever she wanted. She was dead wrong, upon landing in Wonderland, aside from feeling lost, she had seen the ugly swirling clouds above her. She didn't know what it was, or why it made her feel sick. All around her, she could feel a lingering darkness...Wonderland wasn't like she remembered.

She had wondered around aimlessly, listening to some of the creatures. She had gathered information, finding out that what was happening was a curse, put on Wonderland by the Evil Queen. Not just that, but it had been four years since then, and several key people were gone, being sent to Wonderland by portal. The doors were closed, so she couldn't go to Ever After High and check on them. She felt lost, but it was then that she ran into her old friend Mavis Hare, and she had lead them to Alistair and Bunny. It had been weird, seeing them as full grown teenagers, but she was happy nonetheless. She had regained her standing in Wonderland, and was prepared to fight back, to undo that curse that hung over them.

It was then that she also found out about the plot to dethrone the Queen of Hearts, and with Lizzie out of the picture, no one could save her. She had to step up, and go back home, to find Excalibur and use its power to save the Queen. Of course, Courtly Jester had found out, and had started hunting her down, once again leading her to her current dilemma, being stuck in detention. Normally, there would be a Disciplinary Trial for her to plead her case. However, since school hadn't started when she was brought onto school grounds, and no one was around, it was an automatic guilty verdict, leading her to Eternal Detention. She had tried her hardest to get out, but the Mock Turtle sat, unmoving. She glanced over to him, seeing he had once again gone back to sleep. He jolted awake, glancing at the new arrivals.

"Welcome, to Eternal Detention...where you will spend the rest of your lives. No escaping." he said, sounding almost rehearsed, a snore leaving his lips.

"Quick, let's escape!" Kitty cried, walking toward the door.

"Don't bother, the door is enchanted, in through the outdoor leads you back here, back here though outdoor will lead you indoors, for all eternity." Gloriosa said, keeping her head bowed as she spoke.

"Whoa...who are you? We didn't even see you standing there."

"I'm no one special, who are you?" she asked curiously.

"Oh uh...hi, I'm Apple White, this is my friend Briar, Raven Queen, Maddie, Kitty and Lizzie."

"Raven Queen? So, are you related to the shriveled up hag who cursed all of Wonderland?" she asked, eyes narrowed as she lifted her head slightly.

"Hey, I will not allow you to speak to my friend that way!" Lizzie snapped, causing the brown haired girl to chuckle, pulling on her glove slightly.

"I don't know if you noticed where we are honey, but we are not anywhere nice. Who gives a shit about petty insults? We're gonna be here for quite awhile, so just take a seat and take in the ambiance. The fart smell doesn't go away, so you best get used to it." she replied with a sneer, feeling a little bad that she was acting that way toward them.

"Oh, forget her. Who knows who long she's been here anyway? If we can't leave, I'll never be able to save my mother!" Lizzie cried, tears streaming down her face. Apple pulled her into a hug, rubbing her back soothingly, a frown on her face.

"It's alright Lizzie, Blake managed to get away! He's gonna get to her and he's gonna warn her." Briar added, a firm look on her face.

"Yeah, you have to believe in him. After all, he was the one who drew a sword on Courtly, still can't believe he said that though. It made me grin though." Kitty said, a smile on her face.

"He startled me too...we have to get out of here, we can't just stew in this stagnant piss water and wither away." Raven said firmly, glancing around the room.

"Oh oh! There might be a button or a switch somewhere, maybe one of those lever thingies! Just don't pull the wrong lever, or you'll end up in a secret lab." Maddie said, causing Gloriosa to sigh.

" _So, he's been showing them Disney stuff...wouldn't they find that shit weird? Speaking of, I wonder if he met Cinderella, he probably lost his shit when he did."_

"You there, have you checked this room extensively? Perhaps we can work together to find a way out."

"Sorry princess, but I'm afraid none of that exists. There are not switches, knobs or levers, if you want to leave detention, you'll have to think of something clever." she replied, a small smirk on her lips.

"Clever huh? If only I could use my magic, whenever I try to teleport, it just cuts off half way through." Kitty said, jumping onto the shelf, a grin on her face as she tried to teleport, only for her body to turn solid right after.

"You see? I've been trying all day, this school must be enchanted so we can't leave unless we graduate." she continued.

"Well...I guess we truly are stuck here then." Apple muttered, sitting down on top of one of the small desks, placing her head in her hands. Raven leaned back against the wall, trying to think of something. There had to be a way out of detention, but she didn't know what it could possibly be. She shifted a bit, feeling a sharp sting on her side, her hand flying to that spot.

"Ow...what the hell?" she muttered.

"Raven, are you alright?" Maddie asked, a concerned look on her face. She gave her a nod, looking at her hand.

"I'm fine but...I just felt something in my side, as if I had just gotten cut by a knife." she said.

"Uh...don't wanna alarm you or anything, but the center of your chest is glowing." Briar said, causing the girl to look down, her hand resting on the spot. She felt a warmth flowing through her body, eyes widening a bit.

"It's Blake...it's like he's drawing magic from me."

"Oh no...could it be that, he's in trouble?" Lizzie asked.

"Not necessarily, he's one of Mr. Knight's best students, so he isn't going to take anything lying down. Perhaps he just needed a little boost and managed to connect himself with magic, though the mirror shard in his chest." Apple said.

" _The what? What are they talking about?"_ Gloriosa thought, eyes widened in surprise, confusion on her face. Raven let out another cry, clutching her arm tightly.

"Okay, that once hurt even worse."

"Um...do you think this has to do with that weird sixth sense you have with him? What if he's using that to take magic from you Raven? Wouldn't that mean you can feel all of his pain?" Maddie asked curiously.

"That's insane, that doesn't make sense. She's not even related to him by blood, so why would that be it?" Briar asked, quickly dismissing the idea.

"We don't know that...remember, he's been acting weird this entire week. Always asking questions about the Lost Child, did none of you ever consider the possibility that he's...you know...Raven's actual brother?" Kitty asked, earning gasps from her and Apple.

"That's impossible, I would remember something like that!"

"Apple is right...if I had a little brother, and it was him, then I would remember him. I wouldn't just forget family, and neither would Apple, she's my step-niece after all." Raven added, gritting her teeth in pain, leaning back against the shelves.

"Except you forget the elephant in the room, or rather the Sorceress in the Mirror. The Evil Queen has the power to warp memories, doesn't she? If it was to further her own goals, I'm sure she cut those ties between you." Gloriosa said, causing the girls to look at her.

"You stay out of this miss, this doesn't concern you!" Lizzie cried, causing the brunette to laugh. She grabbed a hold of her hat, pulling it off her head, along with her mask, a smug look on her face.

"Does it concern me now Bethy? We are talking about my best friend after all." she said.

"G-Gloriosa?"

"No way...but you disappeared! You left Wonderland when we were eleven!" Kitty cried.

"Oh wowie...my mind is spinning faster than a top! I think my kettle is about to pop!" Maddie cried, grabbing a hold of her head.

"She looks...just like the pictures she's shown us. You really are Lucy aren't you?" Apple asked, Raven let out another scream, falling to her knees, her hands clutching her stomach as hard as she could.

"Ah...shit, it feels like I just got stabbed through...please it hurts!" she cried, tears running down her cheeks. Gloriosa knelt down before her, holding her hand over her stomach, a glowing blue light leaving her finger tips.

"Excalibur." she muttered, backing away from the girl.

"The holy sword? What about it?" Lizzie asked.

"The holy sword was created to destroy dark magic...if you say Blake is connecting his magic to yours, then he must have done it, unconsciously. So Raven can feel every single attack he's taking from that sword, and if she just felt like she got run through by a sword...then..." she paused, realization appearing on her face.

"No...no, you can't tell me he...he's wounded?" Apple said, clenching her hands over her heart.

"You're wrong! Blake is stronger than some sword, he isn't going to let himself be killed by it!" Lizzie cried.

"You're right, he can't die...I haven't even...I know he won't. He's my best friend, and I know he wouldn't let himself die to some stupid sword!" Kitty cried out. Briar wrapped her arm around her, holding her tightly, tears running down her cheeks. She was too choked up to even say anything.

"I can't...the warmth from before...it's fading...my magic is slowly coming back. I can't feel it anymore." Raven muttered, letting her hands fall to her side. Her eyes slowly closed as she lost consciousness, the strain of the connection proving too much for her.

"She can't feel it...does that mean that Blake is..."

"Don't you dare say it Apple! Don't say that he's gone!" Lizzie shouted, causing the blonde to jump back. Gloriosa growled angrily, rising to her feet as she donned her hat, walking toward the front desk, slamming her fist against the top.

"Hey! We have a medical emergency here, this girl has passed out! We have to take her to the Nurses Office right now! Let us out!" she shouted.

"I'm not authorized to let you go Miss White, I'm sorry!" the Mock Turtle said firmly, cowering in his seat.

"I don't give two fucks about authorization. If you want I can give you my authorization, a good old fashioned ass kicking, until that damn door flies open!" she shouted.

"Gloriosa! I know you are distraught right now, but you have got to get a grip! Shouting at that poor turtle is not going to get us out of here any faster than waiting is. Right now, we have to care for Raven, even if that means our friend is in danger!"

"Do you hear yourself Bethy, your friend got run through with Excalibur and you just stand there? Come on, we have to fight...we can't just sit around and do nothing!" Gloriosa cried back, glaring at her friend, her eyes glowing fiercely.

"I know, but we have got to make the best of it. We have a lot to handle right now and we don't need to have a shouting match added as well."

"Guys, she's coming too!" Apple cried, kneeling down before Raven, who's eyes were slowly opening. Her vision was a bit blurry, but seeing Apple's smile reminded her of where she was.

"Uh...what happened? Did I pass out?" she asked.

"For a few minutes yes, how are you feeling? Are you sick? Does your belly still hurt?" Gloriosa asked, causing her to look up at the brunette.

"I'm fine...in fact...I can feel it now, deep in my heart. Who knew someone so close to me was actually someone that was missing from my life eh?" she asked, a giggle leaving her lips.

"So wait...he's really? No way." Apple muttered, taking a step back, the shock evident on her features. Lizzie and Gloriosa helped the daughter of the Evil Queen get back to her feet, making sure she didn't lose her balance.

"We have to get out of here...whatever Blake was facing, he took care of it...it hurt, it felt like he was dying. It was the worst pain imaginable, but in that dark pit...I just felt him take my hand...and I was able to grant him all of my magic. The shard in his chest finally became more than a burden." she said, a smile on her face.

"What are you talking about? What's this about a mirror shard?" Gloriosa asked curiously. Kitty wiped the tears from her face, tucking her napkin into her pocket.

"Blake was brought from Earth by the Evil Queen through a mirror. But she ended up putting some curses on him. She placed a mirror shard in his chest to turn his light magic into dark magic. She made it so that no one can break his curse, if Raven tries to remove the shard, he would die, and if it was removed physically, he would get magic poisoning and die that way as well."

"On top of that, she took memories of his family back on Earth and used them against him. She made them forget he even existed, further barring his connection to Earth." Lizzie continued, causing the girl to growl angrily.

"That bitch...why, I aught to wring her neck until it snaps! Pardon my threat Raven, but I truly am pissed at her, not just for the curse, but now because of this as well!"

"It's fine, I'm quite used to those threats, actually. But we can't sit around, come on...we gotta find a way out of here." she said.

"Like I said before, I've been here since before school was in session. Courtly pulled some bullshit, tracked me and Mavis and caught me. The only thing that I found was that crest, the initials of the Mad Hatter." she said, pointing to the tea cup etched into the Mock Turtle's desk.

"That's it! My daddy was known for being in detention, but he was well know for getting out!" Maddie said, earning a confused look from Briar.

"You mean, getting in detention right?"

"Nope, getting out."

"Okay, so he knows how to get out of here...but how exactly do we find out? I mean were stuck here in Wonderland and he's in Ever After." Apple said, a frown on her face.

"I have an idea...oh Brooke, are you listening?" Kitty asked, glancing up to the ceiling, a grin on her face.

"Uh...who is she calling?" Lizzie asked curiously, blinking a few times in confusion.

"Oh, only the narrator of course! She's helped us out before? Remember the Spring Fairest arc? She told us about the pie in the message. She's gonna help us out, right Brooke? Come on, I know you can hear us." Maddie called out.

" _Ahem, sorry about that...I was uh...taking a break. My parents are currently suffering from Wonderland Fever, so I have to shoulder the work load. I'm trying what I can on my end, but the only thing I can do is push books out of shelves."_ Brooke replied, earning a nod from Maddie, a smirk on her face.

"Well, if you can push a book out of a shelf, then I have the perfect idea for you, hehe...it's gonna take time to set it up, so please bare with me. Kitty, grab those books from up there, start looking for bold letters." she said.

"Um...okay." the purplette said, reaching the shelves above her for some of the books. The others just shared a look, not knowing what the two were doing.

"This is crazy, are you sure they aren't hearing voices in their heads?" Briar asked.

"They aren't...I heard her too, she sounds really cute too." Gloriosa said, a giggle leaving her lips.

"Oh my Gloria, don't tell me you swing that way now."

"Pfft, are you kidding me Bethy? I would never...I got that stupid idiot Joey to worry about. Tell me, what has become of him? I know he's in Ever After right now." she said.

"Oh Gloriosa...you're in for some terrible news." Raven said, causing the girl to frown.

 _ **xxx**_

Ashlynn, Duchess and Mavis had finally made it to the Queen of Hearts's palace. It was a lot bigger up close, made entirely of cards, the theme being hearts. The arch way was built in the shape of a heart, along with the maze just beyond the courtyard's entrance. Just beyond that was the castle itself, standing with all of its might and splendor, heart shaped flags strung high on their masts, which were topped with crimson hearts. Just outside of the palace entrance was a long line of people, all of them waiting to gain entree into the castle. There were two card soldiers standing guard outside, both of them having hearts printed on their chests. The three girls slowly approached them, worried looks on their faces.

"Do you think Blake will be alright back there? Joey seemed rather serious." Ashlynn said.

"He will be just fine...I can't believe he plotted all this...split Blake and Cerise up, reveal the truth behind the Storybook...steal Excalibur and threaten the Queen? I knew I didn't like him before, but I absolutely hate him now. I loathe his entire existence and his being." Duchess spat, clenching her jaw so tight that she could almost feel her teeth snap.

"You shouldn't worry, Blake seems like a strong person. I haven't known him long, but with everything that Gloria has told me, I feels like I've known him an eternity. He will not fail in his endeavor...but it shall be up to us to carry his message." Mavis said, a smile on her face.

"Halt, you three are not permitted to pass." the guards said firmly, crossing their axes in front of the three.

"Um, we have an invitation to the Queen's party, could you please allow us through?" Ashlynn asked, handing the man the paper. He unrolled it, showing it to his friend.

"It seems things are in order, however this is an admit one invitation. Your friends cannot be permitted to enter. You also require a gift." he said, earning a sigh from the three girls.

"Alright...would you mind if we come back with a gift?" Duchess asked, earning a nod from him, accepting the invitation back. The three girls walked way from the two guards, who started grilling a few people who were trying to sneak in.

"So...what do we do now?" Mavis asked curiously.

"I have an idea to get the three of us in there. Mavis, can you turn into a Hare?" Ashlynn asked curiously, earning a nod from the girl. Duchess smirked, having already caught on to what Ashlynn was planning.

"You naughty girl...you want us to turn into animals to sneak us in. that's very clever, perhaps Wonderland has grown on you." she said.

"Hehe, maybe so. Are you two okay with it?"

"It's a good plan as any, let's do it!" Mavis said, jumping into the air, shifting into her hare form. Duchess did the same, turning into a black swan. Ashlynn grabbed some ribbons from her dress and tied them around the two girls turned animals, making sure the bows were perfect. She picked the two of them up in her arms, holding the rolled invitation outward. She gave the two guards a smile.

"Hello, I come bearing a special gift for the queen, magical talking animals." she said.

"Magical talking animals...you do know those aren't rare here...right?" the guard on the right said.

"Oh...but this is a special swan, you see they're normally white. But this one has pure black feathers, as dark as ebony...and this hare has a bowtie, with little hearts on it. I'm sure the Queen will appreciate them." Ashlynn said, trying to sound as convincing as possible. The guards shrugged, allowing them entree.

"Welcome, to the Queen of Hearts's birthday bash. We do hope you enjoy yourself, croquet starts at tea time." he said. Ashlynn bowed respectively, walking into the castle grounds.

The outer courtyard had been turned into nothing sure of an extravaganza. There was food and drink all over the place, the kids were running around happily, chasing each other and laughing loudly. There were some glowing ice sculptures in the likeness of the Queen on every single table, along with some ice in the shape of hearts. There were guards posted everywhere all of them standing by in case something happened. In the center of the yard, sat the one that had thrown the party, the Queen of Hearts.

By her side stood a tall young man, with black hair, and dark red colored clothes. It resembled a suit of armor, being covered entirely with crimson hearts. He stood tall and firm, bearing no expression on his face. The girls noticed that he had an eye patch over his left eye, in the shape of a red rose, in fact it looked like a rose bloom. He was standing rather stiff, a long sword stabbed into the ground, both of his hands on its pommel, his lone eye scanning every single everywhere yet nowhere, ready to battle if needbe.

"Who's that boy standing next to her? He seems a bit to young to be a personal guard." Ashlynn whispered.

"That's Meriwether Knave, son of the Knave of Hearts. He is the head of the Royal Guard here, the Knave trained Lizzie to use a sword from a young age, and appointed his son as her retainer. However, when Wonderland was cursed, he grew scared, and as punishment he was removed from the guard and took over his father's post as the Queen of Hearts's retainer instead." Mavis said, earning a nod from the princess.

"Wow, talk about harsh...what happened to his eye?"

"Training accident, his father lost it in the same way." the daughter of the March Hare replied. Ashlynn took a deep breath, walking toward the Queen.

"Wish me luck girls." she said softly, earning nods from the two girls.

"Meriwether, when is this party supposed to begin?" the Queen asked, earning a sigh from the boy.

"At 4:00PM, my queen. There are only a few more minutes before that, the party shall start with an official game of croquet."

"Ah yes, it must have slipped my mind...any word from my precious Lizziekins? She was supposed to be here."

"My apologies my queen, it seems the guards have yet to see her. I do not think she will be coming to your party again this year. It is due to the curse, the portals have been closed because of it." he replied, a frown on his face.

"I want you to find the one who cast that curse, and when you do, it's OFF WITH THEIR HEAD!" she shouted, her voice echoing through the entire courtyard, causing everyone to grow silent. She recomposed herself, acting as if nothing had happened.

"Yes, your highness. I shall find them posthaste." Meriwether said, a sigh leaving his lips.

" _Yes, as soon as I can get into the Mirror Realm that is."_ he thought to himself. He saw a young woman approaching the queen and quickly pulled his sword from the ground, pointing its tip at her.

"Halt! You shall approach no closer, bow before the queen." he said firmly.

"Oh put that away Meriwether, I'm not in danger here. Come come dear, I see you brought presents for me...wait, who are you? I've never seen you before." the Queen of Hearts said, earning a smile and a bow from the girl.

"It's an honor to meet you, your majesty. My name is Ashlynn Ella, I am the daughter of Cinderella. I have come from Ever After High."

"Ever After High? My you certainly did fall deep into the rabbit hole...is my little Lizzie here? Please tell me she's alright? I just miss her so."

"She's doing just fine your majesty. She's currently at Wonderland High, trying her hardest to graduate before your party. However, I bring terrible news, it seems there is someone planning to attack you today. A figure dressed in black, who stole the holy sword from Marmoreal." she said, causing the Queen to let out a laugh.

"The holy sword? Used against me? My apologies if I disrespect you, but look around you! I am surrounded by countless soldiers, the son of the Knave, my top knight and captain of the guard is here beside me. No one is going to get near me, I appreciate the warning, but there is nothing to fear." the Queen said, a smile on her face.

"Oh...but, are you sure? They're quite dangerous, in fact one of my friends is fighting this man right now...he could very well harm you."

"Worry not Madam Ashlynn, my queen shall fall to the blade of no one. I am her blade, and I am her Knave, and I shall handle any and every danger that comes her way. I shall defend her to my dying breath, of that I am certain." he said firmly.

"Please, enjoy yourself dear. It isn't every day the daughter of a dear friend comes to visit. You may let those two roam the gardens, I'm sure the other animals that live here will welcome them. Have fun!" the Queen said, dismissing her with a wave. Ashlynn gave her another bow, before walking off, heading toward one of the refreshment tables.

"What do we do now? I wasn't expecting her to just disregard the entire warning." Ashlynn said, glancing down at her friends.

"Me either...I certainly thought she would have called for more guards. But it seems she feels perfectly safe the way she is...Meriwether seemed to take it a bit more serious. I could tell by the tone of his voice and the look in his eye." Mavis said. The two girls shifted back into their human forms, no one noticing them.

"Well...there's nothing else we can do. Perhaps Blake can do a bit of a better job convincing her."

"Blake...I hope he's doing alright." Duchess said, a worried look on her face.

Meanwhile, at the front gates, Blake had finally arrived to the palace. He felt a bit winded, from having to run the rest of the way. On top of that, he was still recovering from the stab wound he had taken. He had looked at his abdomen after he had felt safe, and noticed the scar that had been left behind. It had been a worrying thought, thinking back on all of that pain and the fact that he now had a scar to prove it. His magic normally healed him, but it seemed the holy sword left behind his mark, he was almost like Kratos, after he had stabbed himself with the Blade of Olympus. He wondered if someone like that existed in Mount Olympus, and had quickly decided to disregard that. He still had trouble getting over everything that had happened.

He was the son of the Evil Queen, he and Raven were siblings, she was his twin sister. Of course, there was still that doubt in his mind, that maybe the Queen was lying to him about it. But he had felt Raven's warmth in his heart, he had felt her give him her magic. He could feel all of those emotions, that weird sixth sense had been amplified in that instance. He could feel it in his heart, but he had to convince his brain that it was true, and in order to do that, he needed to look at the Storybook of Legends. If it was true, then he would have a page in that book, regardless of if he was taken out of Ever After or not. So, he walked toward the entrance, the guards crossing their axes.

"Apologies lad, but an invitation is required to enter the Queen's birthday bash." the first one said, earning a nod from the boy.

"Yes, I know. I had an invitation, but it seems I have misplaced it, however, I have brought a gift for the Queen, something that I must present to her personally. I shall take my leave right after."

"A present, I do not see a present on your person." the other guard said. Blake patted the sword at his side, turning to show the ribbon he had tied to the sheathe of the sword.

"This is the gift, a very special sword. However, I have to give it to her personally, I happen to be friends with her daughter, Lizzie Hearts. She gave me this note for you in case you didn't believe me." he said, pulling out a folded note, handing it to the guard.

During class, Lizzie had hand written notes for all of her friends, should one of them get away from the school. It was a letter explaining the situation to the guards, with her personal authorization and seal, allowing them entree to the palace. He was going to give that note to Ashlynn, but that had been before Alice had given him the extra invite. The guard nodded, handing the note to the other guard.

"It seems this note is genuine...but we must ask you a few questions to see if you truly do know Miss Hearts. How tall is she?"

"Five feet, eight and a half inches. Her hair is two toned, raven black, and crimson red. She paints a heart over her left eye, her eyes are sea green in color, she uses only the best sparkly lipstick, called Hearts and Kisses. She writes with her right hand, but she is ambidextrous and prefers her left, she has an interest in fashion and wants to be a designer along with being a Queen. Oh, and her birthday is January 19th." he said.

"Well, that's good enough for me, no one can guess all of those without actually knowing her."

"I agree with you, go on in...but try not to do anything rash in there. We wouldn't want to come after you." the second guard said, allowing the boy to enter the party. He let out a sigh once he walked in, brushing his bangs out of his eyes.

" _Goddamn, I'm glad Lizzie filled me in with that personal information. Holy shit that was a good call on her part."_ he thought, a smile on his face.

He looked around, trying to find Ashlynn, Duchess and Mavis, but among the other patrons, he couldn't see them. He did however spot the Queen of Hearts, looking rather bored upon her throne in the center of the courtyard. He took notice of the young man standing before her, holding a rather large sword in his hands. Normally, he would have feared someone with a sword like that, and the things he could have done with it, but after being stabbed through the guts by Excalibur and feeling that pain, he doubted anything worse could happen to him. He calmly walked toward the Queen's throne, causing her to sit up a bit, donning a smile on her face.

"Another young guest, welcome...I don't think we've ever met." she said happily. He bowed politely, having taken his hat off before hand.

"Good afternoon your majesty. My name is Blake Bigby, I came here to wish you a happy birthday today, but also to bring you a warning." he said.

"It isn't about someone trying to kill the Queen right? Because the daughter of Cinderella already told us that." Meriwether said, causing Blake to look at him.

"I apologize, are you the Knave of Hearts?"

"His son actually, Meriwether Knave, nice meeting you, Master Bigby." the man said, bowing his head politely.

"As I told that girl before, I am perfectly save from this big baddie carrying Excalibur. I do not fear him at all, my retainer can easily beat that silly sword."

"That black figure was dealt with, your majesty. However, there was another unforseen foe, the daughter of the Joker, Courtly Jester is also after the throne. She put me and my friends, along with your daughter Lizzie through hell at Wonderland High. I'm not sure where they are or how they are doing, but she has outright threatened your life. Please, I plead you to take proper precautions against her." he said. The woman sighed, glancing at Meriwether.

"Do as he says, go talk to the guard and get more soldiers out here."

"Of course your majesty, you two, nine and ten, take positions around the queen, protect her with your lives." he said, urging the two soldiers forward.

"Sir, yes, sir!" the cried, stabbing their spears into the ground, standing at the Queen's sides.

"So...you know my little Lizzie too? How is she? Is she doing fine? Is she growing strong? Is she your girlfriend? Because if she is then you can kiss your body goodbye, because your head will soon be gone." the woman said, earning a shudder from the boy.

"Uh...no, we're best friends really, nothing more nothing less. She's...lovely, quite the talented young woman, beautiful and well rounded, she's splendid to be around. I'm proud to be her friend." he said.

"Hahaha! This is wonderful, I knew my daughter was amazing, after all she is mine. Anyway, you came bearing a gift yes? Where is it?" she asked. The boy reached for his sheathe, pulling it from his belt, drawing the blade part way, its glow filling the area around them.

"I have retrieved Excalibur, my personal gift for you, your majesty." he said, holding the sword out to her.

"I...cannot accept this, this is...what am I saying, of course I can! Hand it to one of the guards, they'll take it to the present room." she said.

"Alright then...ah yes, before I leave...did the Cheshire Cat come by? And if she did, has she given you anything? A book perhaps?"

"Cheshire? She dropped by about ten minutes ago...I think she did bring me some dusty old tome. If you wish to read it, it's in the present room...good luck trying to find it. Just be sure to put it back where it was when you do find it." she said, brushing him off.

"Uh...you're letting me just...stride in there, no questions?"

"You are friends with my daughter, which makes you my friend as well. Friends have privileges, we have plenty of books here, so you made read until you can't ready anymore." she said.

"Oh...thank you your majesty, I appreciate your kindness. I shall leave this sword in the present room as well." he said, slipping the sheathe back onto his belt. He gave her a bow before he left, walking further into the courtyard.

" _She's a lot nicer in person...but I can't let my guard down, at any moment, Courtly can show up here, and that would be rather bad. But first, to find the Storybook...I need to get it out of here...and answer my own questions."_

 _ **xxx(Wonderland High)xxx**_

"Have they told you the answer yet Maddie?" Raven asked, causing the girl to stop bobbing her head.

"Sorry, it seems daddy doesn't remember, he has this tick where he forgets important things when he needs them the most." she said.

"Well, then that's a bust." Briar muttered dryly.

"We were so close to getting out of here, dammit...this is all so aggravating!" Lizzie snapped, slamming her fist against the bookshelf beside her.

"It's alright Liz, we'll get out of here soon...Blake will think of something, I'm sure of it." Kitty said, a grin on her face. She nodded, giving her friend a side hug, calming down a bit.

"This day has been so fucking long...Jesus, all of this crap is just tumbling around in my mind like a damn washing machine." Gloriosa said, rubbing her temple.

"Well...it could be worse right? At least we're all together, even though this room smells like piss." Apple said, a small smile on her face. A loud farting sound filled the room, a green cloud of smoke coming in from a broken pipe.

"Holy shit, what the fuck is that smell?" Briar cried, plugging her nose.

"No, I just swallowed some of it...ugh, I can taste it." Raven said, spitting into the ground. Gloriosa gagged a bit, trying her hardest not to vomit, though the feeling over game her and she hurled onto the floor, not caring about the smell of her own bile and half digested food.

"Gloria, are you alright?" Kitty asked.

"We just got nuked by that fucking pipe! You think I'm actually alright? Oh god..." she clenched her teeth, trying to swallow the lump in her throat. She reached into her pocket for a napkin, wiping her lips with it.

"Well, you just had to say it Apple, this is all your fault." Maddie said, hands on her hips with a look of annoyance on her face.

"Hey, I was just trying to make a point, I didn't think that pipe was going to send liquid ass into the room. My mistake." she snapped back, crossing her arms, huffing a bit. Gloriosa tossed her napkin aside, reaching into her pocket for her tube of lipgloss, which surprisingly enough, Courtly hadn't taken. She felt something else in her pocket and pulled it out, noticing it was the message Alice had given her.

"Of course, how could I have forgotten this?!" she cried.

"Eh? How could you have forgotten what?" Lizzie asked, causing the girl to turn around.

"When I was brought here by Courtly, Alice tied this note to my amazing looking feather. It was so godly in its amazingness that even Courtly missed it...but that's beside the point. She told me to use this when the time was right." she said happily, walking toward the Mock Turtle's desk. She slammed her hand on the top of the desk, startling him awake.

"Eh...what is it now Miss White?" he asked tiredly, earning a grin from the girl.

"Tiddlywinks."

His eyes widened a bit, and he let out a muffled laugh, grabbing the cup on his desk.

"Yes, a challenge...it has been such a long time since such a challenge has been waged! If you can win, you will be allowed to graduate!" the Mock Turtle said, spilling the chips onto the desk top.

"So, if we can get a higher number of winks into the tiddly we win?" Apple asked curiously.

"In essence yes...but the rules change depending on the challenger. The active Vice Principle today is Chase Redford, so it is a sword fight!" he said, grabbing a hold of the cord beside him.

"A sword fight? But none of us know how to use a sword!" Raven cried, watching the Turtle pull the cord. The back wall opened up, and all of the water started to drain out of the room, pulling them toward it.

"You forget Raven, I am trained in swordplay...I'll be able to handle it with ease, you needn't worry about a thing." Lizzie said firmly.

All seven girls fell down a slide, screams of surprise and shock, and strangely enough, excitement, filled the girls. There was a bright light at the end of the tunnel, and suddenly they found themselves outside, falling hard onto the ground below, and into the stagnant water that had fallen with them. Thankfully, they had all landed on their lillypads so they didn't get any of the water onto themselves. As they stood up, they heard the other students, calling out the word challenge over and over again, slowly forming a circle around the girls.

"What's going on?" Briar asked, clearly frightened by what was happening.

"It's a challenge, one of the most obscure rules in Wonderland High. If you win the challenge, whatever it may be...you instantly graduate. If you don't, then it's back to detention, forever." Gloriosa explained. They all turned their attention to the hedges, watching a sword slice right through the leafy green leaves.

"Who dares challenge the Red Knight?"

"Um...over here?" Raven asked, holding her hand up. The knight opened his visor, revealing the face of Chase Redford.

"You guys used the obscure rule?"

"We have, we need to get out of here Chase!" Lizzie said firmly, earning a nod from the boy, who lowered his visor once more.

"Then expect no mercy from me...I shall not let you win." he said firmly.

"Wait a minute, you cannot challenge them to a sword fight. They are unqualified, the rules state that if the challengers are unqualified, then someone with the right qualifications shall take their place!" the White Knight cried, appearing on the battlefield, sword drawn and ready for battle.

"White Knight, you came back!"

"I did, you are my friends and I shall fight in your stead! Go now, before it is too late!" the Knight cried. The girls nodded, racing out of the field, just as the two knights swords clashed in battle.

"Come girls, quickly...we haven't gotten much time!" the White Rabbit said, hopping onto the tea kettle shaped shrub, opening a Rabbit Hole underneath it.

"I'm gonna go on ahead, I'll find my mom and get the Storybook of Legends away from Courtly." Kitty said.

"Alright, see you at the palace, and make sure Blake is okay...would you?" Raven asked, earning a grin from the girl, who flashed out of existence. The six girls all stopped in front of the shrub, slowly climbing up to it.

"I'm gonna stay behind, there's something I have to do here." Gloriosa said, turning back toward the school's main entrance.

"What? But you have to come with us Gloria! Blake has been dying to see you again!" Lizzie cried.

"Yes I know...but my mother was the principle of this school, and since I'm the White Queen's daughter, that makes me the next principle of Wonderland High! It's my duty to get my school under control. You guys go, stop Courtly, while I deal with the mess she's left behind." she replied, running back toward the building.

"Gloriosa wait!"

"We haven't gotten much time Miss Hearts, we must go now, it's almost Tea Time!" the Rabbit said, causing her to turn around, climbing into the Rabbit hole after her friends, the Rabbit jumped in after her, the hole closing after them.

" _And so, after everything they had been through, Raven, Maddie, Lizzie, Briar, Apple, Gloriosa and even Blake, have graduated from Wonderland High School. It would not only be up to them, but to everyone else, to save all of Wonderland."_ Brooke said, a grin on her face as she continued the story.

 _ **xxx(Ever After High)xxx**_

Cerise, Ramona, Jessica and Jack finally made it to the White Queen's classroom. It had taken them a few minutes, because they had been tossing ideas back and forth. They needed to figure out the right way to broach the topic of Wonderland with the Queen, without them all getting in trouble for it. Jessica wanted the forward approach, just going straight to the point, but Ramona thought it wouldn't be a wise idea. Jack just thought of asking her questions and easing her into it, while Cerise just wanted someone to just skip the crap and ask her to conjure the portal. It was obviously something that they hadn't fully committed too, but they were in to deep to quit now. They had waited for the classroom to be fully empty, waiting for the stragglers to finally enter the room.

"Hello students, may I help you with anything?" the White Queen greeted, turning back to wipe the whiteboard clean.

"Actually you can, Madam White Queen...we have a few questions for you." Jessica said, deciding to be the speaker of the group.

"I may have some answers Jessica, what are they? Do they pertain to any material I teach?"

"Can you open a Portal to Wonderland or not?" Cerise cut in before Jessica could even ask her question. She looked at her, a look that screamed, WTF on her face.

"Why would you ask me that Miss Hood? You know it is prohibited to even speak of portals and Wonderland in the same sentence." she replied, turning away from the four.

"Well, no use beating around the bush anymore. Madam White Queen, we require a portal to Wonderland, because our friends are currently there. There is a plot against the Queen of Hearts, it seems someone is attempting to kill her. Because of this, Raven Queen and Blake Bigby combined their powers to open a portal, and as a result, Apple, Briar, Kitty, Maddie, Lizzie, Raven, Blake and Joey are missing. Not just that, it seems Darling Charming is also missing, and we believe she might be there as well." Jack said firmly, causing the woman to turn around.

"Jessica, close that door would you? And cast a soundproofing barrier around the room, please." the woman said. Jessica nodded, flicking her wrist, using her magic to close the door. With a flick of her wand, the entire room became coated in a barrier.

"What you four are telling me is a grave. Are you certain the Queen of Hearts is in danger?"

"Yes, we are. Not just that, Alistair and Bunny informed us that Gloriosa White, your daughter was looking for Excalibur, for the sole purpose of defending the Red Queen. Do you see why we need to go there now?" Jessica asked. She looked a bit stunned, her hand flying to her chest.

"My daughter is...my little girl is back in Wonderland? But how?"

"That's actually a good question...why exactly did you send Gloriosa to Earth? Did you know that she's Blake's Lucy? The one that he longed to see for years and disappeared from his life? That caused him to grow depressed?" Cerise asked, a bit harsher than she intended. However it did have its desired effect, the White Queen seemed stunned at this revelation. She sighed, bowing her head slightly.

"I've been hiding this secret for...quite a long time...since my little girl turned ten years old. I banished my daughter from our Kingdom and our world, because she was in danger. Much like the Red Queen has nobles that represent cards of every suit, I have nobles that represent Chess pieces. It seems once of my nobles, who represented a Pawn, wanted to become a queen." she said.

"So...you sent your daughter away because you thought she was in danger? Or because you were in danger?" Ramona probed, wanting to know more about all of this.

"Both, chess is quite a tedious game, especially without a King. My husband was the one that directed me, but when he passed away, it became much harder to rule. The Queen is the most powerful piece in Chess, she has a lot of authority, which is why a lot of pawns may sometimes want to become Queen. Many tried and failed to get my hand in the past, my daughter didn't approve of any of them. Since she was a Queen, she had a right to my decision making as well."

"Hmm...you made her the active Queen while you took the role of King. So that put the entire kingdom at risk...meaning that if a Pawn managed to kill Gloriosa, they could take her spot as the next White Queen." Jessica said, a frown on her face.

"Indeed, I couldn't risk my little girl getting hurt, or dying in my stead...so I wiped her memories, drained her of her magic and sent her to Earth. I had been monitoring a house, which had a lonely man, who was mad because he had lost his wife and daughter in an accident. I figured, if I rewrote his memory into thinking Gloriosa was his biological daughter, he would care for her as his own." the White Queen said.

"Hate to break it to you, but that's the opposite of what happened. Blake saw that man mistreat her several times, even hit her on multiple occasions. When she disappeared from Earth and Blake wasted an entire year searching for her, that man shouted at him, told him that she was dead and gone and never to return. That man is a total dick." Jessica replied, leaning back against the first row of seats, arms crossed.

"I hadn't known...I couldn't exactly see her...I knew it was hard, but my little girl would be safe there. But as soon as I sent her away, that Pawn I spoke about, attempted to make his move...I had no choice but to dismiss my staff, and tell my nobles to leave, for my own safety and and that of my previous friends. My Knights and Rooks remained behind, but my Bishops and a few trustworthy Pawns quickly left, worrying about their families. It was then that I decided to cast an enchantment on my palace, so that it never stayed in one place for too long, making it impossible to invade. I redoubled the protection on Excalibur as well."

"But then the curse was placed on Wonderland, and you were no longer able to protect Excalibur. Due to your absence, that spell grew weak, until it no longer protected the sword. That sword, was most likely taken from the castle. I have reason to believe that a student here was planning on taking not only the sword, but a page that wasn't rightfully his in the Storybook of Legends." Jack said firmly, a frown on his face as he spoke.

"A student...from Ever After High?" the White Queen asked.

"Yes, Joseph Martineu...he was planning on opening a portal to Wonderland. Thanks to Faybelle, we found out his extended plan, to kill the Queen of Hearts and take over Wonderland, using his influence as King Arthur to rule in her stead. At least, that's what we gathered...which is why we need to go there...our friends are in danger!"

"So it would seem...this goes against everything established here. But, my daughter is in danger...and I will not allow anything to happen to her. So I shall open the portal, and all of us shall go to Wonderland." the White Queen said, holding her hand outward, a swirling light appearing in her palm.

"Whoa...we're all going to Wonderland? This is so cool!" Jack said, an excited look on his face.

"I thought you wanted to go to Neverland more than Wonderland?" Ramona said, earning a smirk from the boy.

"Screw Neverland, Wonderland is where it's at yo!"

"Gee, why all the hate on Neverland all of a sudden? You know, one day Peter Pan is gonna come through a portal and give you a hearty bitch slap for insulting Neverland." Jessica said, earning a giggle from Cerise.

"Okay, here goes. Heed my call, gather now light in my hand, open a portal to Wonderland!" the White Queen chanted, throwing the light forward at the ground. It swirled for a few seconds, as a Rabbit Hole appeared on the tile floor. The four students walked toward it, peering down into it.

"Well...nose goes." Ramona said, pressing a finger to her nose. Jessica was second, and Cerise was third, causing Jack to look at all of them, a frown on his face.

"Tsk...really guys?"

"Yes, really. It seems you will try it out for us, Mr. Hills." the White Queen said, a smile on her face as she had her finger on her nose.

He rolled his eyes, taking the plunge first, followed by Jessica who whopped for joy. Ramona smirked, pushing Cerise into the portal, making her scream in shock. She took a hold of the White Queen's hand, giving her a nod as the two jumped into the portal, which closed after they had jumped inside.


	73. Way Too Wonderland VIII

**A/N:**

 **Hello everyone and welcome to Chapter 73 of Through the Looking Glass. This will be Part 8 of Way Too Wonderland, at this point we are one chapter away from the Grand Finale of this story arc, so everything will come to a close in tomorrow's chapter, at least for this arc. Everything will get resolved and everyone will get some form of answer to the questions they are asking. So I hope you all look forward to this chapter, along with the fates of everyone involved in it.**

 **I must say, I just finished Dragon Games last night and I have started working on a plot for that story arc. It will mostly be a confrontation arc for Blake, who wants to face his mother and get the answers he wants. Obviously, the Evil Queen isn't going to make things easy for him, but it will be a learning experience for him and Raven. Hopefully it comes out right, trying to put Dragon Games and Epic Winter into the story has been a challenge, since I am following a sort of timeline. Dragon Games I guess takes place at the end of the year, with Epic Winter directly following it, so that makes it a little hard to place. So, I have decided to make Dragon Games take place at the beginning of the next School Year, where everyone would be a Junior and the new students would be welcomed into the fold. After that, since those will be the last of the official specials, I'll be on God's good humor. I can at least create a few more story arcs before the final one starts, which will speak mostly of the events of everyone's senior year, along with the after story to give this thing a proper close.**

 **So, we're still quite a long way away from the end...I'm most likely going to acquire some of the books for reference material, since I want to include the Legend of Shadow High in this story, yes despite my dislike of Monster High, I might include this into the story. I haven't exactly had a change of heart on the series, there's still a lot I don't like, but I have promised myself that I would give it a second chance! Gasp! Celestial you heathen!**

 **Yes bask in it, I have said it! Often times, if I don't like something the first time, I'll like it the second time. It was the same for SAO, I didn't like it at first, but once I rewatched it, I started liking it and despite a lot of people bashing on it, I enjoy it and I have no qualms with that. We all like what we like and hate what we hate. It's what makes us human...which is also why I have a lot of SAO references in this story, the sword magic which is my blatant rip off of sword skills, shameless yes, does it work? Eh...maybe...you be the judge.**

 **Now then, let us move on to another small tangent/rant...whatever you wanna call it. To my guest reviewers, thank you for your reviews...I am quite grateful that you have pointed out something that I have known during my entire story. Apparently my ego was too fragile for me to admit it, which I find very funny. Honestly I looked at these two reviews and I just laughed internally, because externally I was eating my dinner and didn't want to spit all over my desk, soaking my tiny ipod with my partially chewed food. Honestly, I don't really care of my character is a Gary-stu, I really don't. I admit it, he is a Gary-stu, who cares? I certainly don't, and I honestly don't see how he is one but whatever. I'm through with this farce, I'm 73 chapters into the story now, and it doesn't bother me. So for anyone who wants to know, I'll scream it to the world. You can bet your bottom dollar on that! So once again guests, thank you for your reviews. I would love to discuss this in a more private manner through the PMs, but that clearly can't happen. I wish you all a wonderful day!**

 **Uh...well there you have it...chapter 73 in all of its glory, uncut and quite lengthy. I hope you guys enjoy it, let me know what you all think about it, and please tell me what you truly think, I don't care how you say it, just let me know and I'll be sure to fix it. Honestly, I'm not mad about people pointing out that my character is a Gary-stu, I'm more mad that I can't sent a personal reply to these people and we can discuss this a little further so that I may improve on whats wrong. They don't even say whats wrong, just say the obvious...but it's fine...I'm writing this for myself first and foremost and for my friends and all of you dear fans...so I hope you guys have a wonderful day! Look forward to the finale which will stream to you tomorrow evening! See you all then!**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 73

Way Too Wonderland VIII

 _ **xxx(Wonderland)xxx**_

If his body didn't show his nervousness, he was sure his face did. Blake was on edge, mostly because of Courtly's imminent attack, and what had happened with Joey twenty minutes prior. He didn't know how to act, how to accept things as they were, so he had been trying to shove it to the back burner, only he was failing. He was scared, worried and confused, and that had caused him to spill his punch to the ground at least three times. He had given up on getting a drink, and his hunter had dissipated along ago. He just had no appetite anymore, it had been a long day and he just wanted it to be over already. But he just didn't know what to do anymore. He took some precautions around the area, and made sure the guards knew what Courtly looked like, but that didn't ease his mind at all. He stopped by a rose bush, taking a deep breath to calm himself, placing a hand on Excalibur's handle, his fingers wrapping around its pommel.

"Okay Blake, you gotta calm down...I know that you almost died, twice in fact, got stabbed by Excalibur and just found out you are the Evil Queen's long lost son. But you have to prioritize, right now, protecting the Queen and finding the book is priority number one. So...where could it be kept?" he muttered, finally regaining a semblance of normalcy within himself.

He glanced around the area, seeing several soldiers pushing wheelbarrows filled with presents down a path. Following said path, he noticed the entrance in the side of the castle, between two large heart shaped shrubs. He nodded to himself and started walking in that direction, a sense of urgency on his face. It took everything in his power not to break into a sprint. He had already been allowed to see the book, so he wasn't worried about that. What he was worried about was alerting Courtly of his presence if the was already here. It just added to his already worsening paranoia.

"Well well well, if it isn't little Blake...what are you doing on this side of the Well of Wonder?" a familiar voice asked, causing him to stop in his tracks. He glanced up to the outer wall of the palace, seeing the Cheshire Cat, sitting on top of it, holding a glass filled with wine.

"Cheshire, oh I'm so happy to see a familiar face." he said, relief washing over him. She tipped her glass back, disappearing from the wall she was sitting at, appearing behind the boy.

"It seems to me like you are searching for something. But what is that thing you long to find? Are you running out of time?" she asked quizzically, tossing her glass into the distance. He didn't even see it hit the ground.

"Uh...I'm not...nevermind. Listen, you have the Storybook of Legends right? And you gave it to the Queen...I need to see it, do you think you can help me find it?" he asked.

"Hmm...I'm quite busy I'm afraid, it's been awhile since I've...been to a good party. However, the book is inside that present room, I saw when it was taken there. Could it perhaps be that you search for the truth? Have you finally figured it out?"

"How do you know that? What do you know about me? You know who I am, you did from the moment you saw me. Tell me it's true." he said firmly, glaring into her eyes.

"What good is me confirming the truth if you already know it? It's my word against your belief after all. The book holds the answer, but if it makes you feel better, it's true. Me and Mira were close in high school, you could call us best friends, you were one when I was pregnant with Kitty, in fact it was you who named her."

"I...did? I thought it was her father that named her that." Blake said, taken aback by the woman's statement. She shook her head, glancing toward the wall.

"I'm afraid not. That bastard of a man left the moment he found out I was bearing his kitten. Mira was there to console me, when she was still mostly good, before her story truly kicked in. I remember you put your little hand right on my belly, and started saying Kitty over and over again, until she gave you a good kick, I knew then that she had to bear that name. So I made her full name Katherine Cheshire, and shortened it to Kitty."

"So...we were friends since before she was born...and she took that away from me. It doesn't matter...we met now and that's all that I care about...thanks for the information Cheshire...I appreciate it." he said, brushing past the woman, heading toward the present room.

"Hey kid." she called out, causing him to stop, he glanced over his shoulder, brushing his hair away to fully see her.

"Call me Sia, as opposed to Cheshire...it is my name after all. One more thing, take care of my Kitten. I can tell she cares a lot for you."

"I'll protect her with my life." he replied, resuming his walk toward the present room.

Deciding to let that information settle to the back of his mind, Blake continued walking toward the Present Room. He had passed by a few soldiers who were too busy pushing wheelbarrows back toward the table to even notice him. He grabbed a hold of the knob and twisted it, seeing the door opening piece by piece, all of them shaped like jigsaw puzzle pieces. He shook his head and walked into the room, eyes widening in shock, jaw dropping open. All around him, were piles upon piles of unopened presents. Most were unopened, while others were hidden in piles of empty boxes, ribbons and wrapping paper. Walking further into the room, he started looking around, straining his neck to see the top of a nearby pile, unable to actually see it. He frowned, shaking his head.

"I'm gonna need a lot of help." he muttered.

"Well, thankfully you got us here to help you!" the voice of Duchess cried, causing him to turn around. Standing at the entrance, were Ashlynn, Mavis and Duchess, all of them giving him a grin. He sighed with relief, giving them a nod.

"Alright then ladies, we have to find the Storybook of Legends among these piles before Courtly gets here. But we also can't leave the Queen unattended, Duchess would you mind being our eye in the sky?" he asked.

"No problem, I'll be back here if I see anything out of the ordinary." she cried, jumping into the air shifting into her swan form. She flew off through one of the high windows, back into the courtyard.

"We'll tackle this pile over here then...we'll find that Book, okay Blake? I just know we will." Ashlynn said, giving him a wink as she ran past him, along with Mavis. He turned to the nearest pile and started digging around, hoping to find the book as soon as possible. Though he knew with all of those presents, that would be next to impossible.

 _ **xxx(Wonderland High School)xxx**_

Gloriosa sighed as she finally made it into the Principle's office. It had been a long time since she had even seen the halls of the school. She remembered, playing in this office as a youngster while her mother was the active principle. Of course, since the school bylaws dictated that the Student Body President was also the Vice Principle, it always made it interesting to see who would take up office every single year. She walked toward the nearby bookshelf, seeing all of the coloring books she had colored in as a little girl, always outside of the line, coloring inside the line was for perfectionists and that didn't make sense in Wonderland. She saw the drawings on the mirror, the crown and the smile that had been drawn in Lipstick. She narrowed her eyes, pulling a napkin from her pocket, wiping it across the mirror.

"Stupid bitch...ruining my mom's school, making it a place of burden instead of fun like it was once. School bylaw this, school bylaw that...changing and bending the rules to put yourself at the top of the Pyramid. Courtly Jester will never be welcomed in my school." she snapped. She saw a light reflected in the mirror and rapidly turned around, seeing an orb of light forming in the middle of the room.

From it, came out several people she didn't know. She reached behind her back for her knives, ready to defend herself if needed. She was about to spring forward when one final person walked through the portal. A tall beautiful woman, wearing a white dress and a white crown atop her head, long blonde hair falling down to the middle of her back, a regal look on her face, brilliant blue eyes filled with warmth and love. The other teenagers looked around, finally noticing her in the room, a couple of them getting defensive because of the knives she held. She came out of her fighting stance, dropping the knives at her sides, glaring at the woman who stood in the middle of them.

"So, it took you four years to finally return to Wonderland. Did you ever consider coming back? Or did you just wait until everything went to shit to finally get off your ass and do it?" she snapped angrily.

"Hey, I don't know who the hell you are, but you are in the presence of a Queen. You have to respect her!" the girl with the wolf ears cried, earning a glare from her.

"It is alright Ramona. I understand why she's like this...she is correct, I never once thought about coming back to Wonderland...to my castle...to my beloved school. I truly did abandon this place, and my daughter." the woman said, causing the four to look toward Gloriosa, seeing the hateful glare on her face.

"Wait a sprinkle, you're Lucy aren't you? Well, Gloriosa to everyone else...you're the girl that was best friends with Blake."

"I still am his best friend, what of it?" she snapped back, still feeling a bit defensive.

"May I present my daughter, Gloriosa White. Gloriosa, these are some of my students back at Ever After High...Jessica, Cerise, Jack and Ramona. We have come here because we fear the Red Queen is in danger." the White Queen said firmly, trying to keep the conversation as formal as she could.

"I'm aware yes...I was trying to retrieve Excalibur, but I failed. I got caught by Courtly, because with your absence, she turned this place into a hellhole. I was tossed in eternal detention, and if it wasn't for Alice, Raven Queen and her friends, I wouldn't have gotten away from it. Did you know Excalibur was stolen from someone? And that they plan to use it to kill the Queen of Hearts?" she asked firmly.

"Obviously we didn't know, we came here to help our friends. If you know where they are, then point us in the right direction so we can help them. If not then we'll take our leave." Ramona said firmly. Gloriosa glared at the girl, gesturing to the large window.

"The Queen of Hearts's birthday bash is in that direction. There's a Rabbit Hole in the tea kettle shrub outside that will take you closer to the party. Of course you could just warp there, since you can't get in without an invite. I have shit to do here, so if you could leave that would be great." she said, walking toward the desk.

"I'll get us there, hang on to me alright? Magic in Wonderland tends to behave differently." Jessica said, holding her hand out. Ramona, Cerise and Jack too it, as she grabbed a hold of her wand.

"I shall remain here...there are things me and my daughter must discuss." the White Queen said firmly. Jessica gave her a nod, flicking her wand as she and the others burst into sparkles.

"I just gotta love how you think we have something to discuss. We have nothing to discuss, other than me being the new principle here." Gloriosa said, pressing the button on the PA system on her desk.

"Attention students and Staff of Wonderland High school. This is your new Principle Gloriosa White speaking. Due to the inheritance clause, any active Vice Principle and Principle shall resign effective immediately when one of royal blood accepts the role. Everyone is dismissed, have a wonderful year. Remember our motto, If it makes sense, then it's not Wonderlandiful!" she announced, ending the call a second after. She sat down in the chair, pulling out all of the student files.

"You know, the inheritance clause only works once you have signed the Storybook of Legends, and you haven't signed it yet." the White Queen said, earning a smirk from the girl.

"But I plan too, wait until Blake finds it...I'm going to sign my name in the book and take back what was taken from me." she snapped, slamming her fist against the wooden desk.

"Is that what you think? That I got rid of you for convenience? Because that is far from the truth."

"Oh? Then let me tell you the truth. You abandoned me, you left me on Earth, with a man that abused me! You took away my memories of my closest friends, made me have nightmares, and confusing visions for four and a half years! Every single time I saw something Wonderland related, I just felt that choking feeling grab a hold of me. It was horrible, it was the most horrible moment of my life. I was so close to snapping and going crazy because of you!" she shouted, feeling tears pricking her eyes.

"I'm sorry alright? I didn't think that man was going to do that to my little girl...I didn't think he would abuse you like that. You don't know the real story, you were too young to understand. I didn't leave you because I wanted too, I left you because I had too...because your life was in danger!" the White Queen exclaimed, earning a laugh from the brunette.

"That's a load of bullshit! Who would hurt us? We didn't have any enemies, everyone in Looking-Glass Land loves you! Why would there be anyone after you? I mean come on, you had more men lining up to you than a bitch in heat!"

"Gloriosa, I did not raise you to speak to me like that!"

"You didn't raise me at all...I had to raise myself. I had to cook for myself, I had to take myself to the hospital when I got hurt. You did nothing for me! It was all me!" she shouted back. Both women were breathing hard, anger coursing through them. A single knock filled the office, and they turned toward the door, seeing the familiar face of Alice, leaning against the door.

"Are you two done? Or are there other things you wish to shout at each other?"

"Alice...I wasn't expecting to see you here."

"Neither was I Mirana, but it's funny how things work out, in the grand scheme of things." she replied, coming to a stop between the two bickering ladies, glancing at both of them.

"Listen, it isn't my place to be here in this family argument. But at least listen to my standing in this...it matters not what happened in the past. What matters now, is that you are both together again...I too haven't seen my son in quite awhile, so I know what it is like, to miss the one special person in your life."

"Pfft, easy for you to say. After all, you are a main character, while us two are side characters, it doesn't matter what you say. It doesn't erase the fact that I was tossed aside like garbage!"

"That is not true! Do you know the reason why I sent you to Earth? It was because of Archibald Marian, one of our nobles and pawn in my house. He was trying to promote himself to Queen and usurp all of us. With the death of your father, the King, I had to take over the role, thus making you a Queen by proxy. He was trying to kill you to promote himself, to take everything that we had. I couldn't bare losing you right after I lost my husband, so I sent you to Earth. It was for your own good!"

"Archibald...but he was so nice he...no wait...I think I recall something now. He was telling another one of our pawns a story one day...I was hiding under the table in his study because me and Kitty were playing Hide and Seek...I heard him say something along the lines of, Now that I have taken out the King, I can drive Mirana into a checkmate." Gloriosa said.

"Are you certain of that dear? How old were you when this happened?" Alice asked curiously, hoping to probe the girl a bit. She looked up at the ceiling, eyes narrowed in thought.

"About ten...yeah, I was ten. I remember Kitty told me to shush as soon as he started speaking...he was about to look under the table when she warped us away. I was going to tell you, but Maddie and Lizzie showed up so I forgot...oh I...mom...I."

"It's alright sweetheart, you were confused...and you still are. I will help you to understand everything. Ask all of the questions you want, I have all of the answers you need...but first we must save the Queen of Hearts." she said firmly, earning a nod from the brunette.

"I'll need a sword, just in case someone tries anything. Alice, were you the one who helped Blake escape?"

"It was...he was a charming lad, just like you told me he was. However, I believe he was going to fight the one who stole Excalibur, I'm not exactly sure, but we must get to the Card Palace post haste." she said, reaching into her apron for a tiny sword. She poured a bit of water from a dropper onto it, making it grow to its original size.

"Alice, I would like to thank you...you watched over her for the past two years right? Not just that, you must have been fighting since the curse was cast."

"It isn't a problem Mirana. She's practically my own from how many times she was over with Alistair and Bunny. I'm a mom, so I have to be tough." she said, a grin on her face.

"Tell me about it, she would always force me to take a bath and would scrub me when I refused."

"Well sweetheart, you were never one to like bathing. Unless you were in mud that is." the White Queen said, making Gloriosa flush.

"Dammit Mom, don't embarrass me in front of the main character! It's so not fair!" she said, crossing her arms looking away.

"We can skip the pleasantries until after we save Wonderland. Let us go Mirana, we must hurry." Alice said, a sense of urgency on her voice. The White Queen nodded, raising her hand, conjuring up another portal. The three raced inside, hoping they weren't too late.

 _ **xxx**_

"So, striding up to the guards didn't work...what exactly are you gonna do now?" Joey asked, earning a growl from Courtly who was sifting through her book for something to use.

"Hang on, I'm looking, I'm looking." she cried.

" _This woman is taking too long...Blake is probably already in there, searching for the Storybook of Legends. I need to take it from him and sign my name into King Arthur's page before it's too late!"_ he thought.

"Ah, I found something. Take this card and wave it before your face, those who see it, will think you are someone you're not." she said, holding the card up, seeing it was in fact a Joker card, painfully Ironic for her.

"That sounds interesting, and oddly specific. Will it work?" he asked. She shrugged, snapping the book closed. She started walking back toward the two guards, with her red Knight following suit.

"Step aside, you are dealing with Royalty here." she said smugly.

"Ey, didn't we just tell you off? You cannot enter this party, your name isn't on the list." the guard said firmly, causing the girl to grin.

"Of course it isn't, because I am a guest of honor. You wouldn't want to leave me, Lizzie Hearts out of this party, would you?" she asked, waving the card in front of her face. The two guards grew fearful, uncrossing their axes.

"Right away your majesty, our apologies." they said with a bow.

"It's quite alright, let my retainer in as well would you?" she asked, keeping her nose held high as she strode into the courtyard. Joey looked around, eyes widening behind his visor as he caught sight of the Royal palace for the first time. It definitely was the same as how Lucy had described it to be.

"We're in...now what?" he asked curiously. Courtly looked around, eyes widening as she clapped her hands cheerfully.

"There she is, the Queen of Hearts...and that bothersome Knave isn't around either...oh this is perfect. Let us go." she said, walking toward the red queen. All of the guards around her tensed up, aiming their spears at her.

"Halt, how dare you show your face at the Queen's party?!" they shouted. The Queen of Hearts looked up from her feet, jumping off her chair, a look of anger on her face.

"Seize her this instant! This woman plans to kill me!" she shouted.

"Moi? Kill my dear mommy, how could I ever do that?" Courtly said, voice laced with sarcasm as she waved the card before her face, enchanting the guards and the Queen. Joey was honestly surprised with this dark power she was using, a smirk on his face.

" _If I get my hands on that book, I'll definitely be able to use dark magic. It's sort of anticlimactic for tome magic to be a thing here...but oh well, that means almost anyone can be an awesome wizard."_

"Lizzie? Oh it is Lizzie, guards lower those spears this instant! This is my daughter Lizzie!" the queen cried, urging the guards to lower their weapons. Those that weren't enchanted just shared a look of confusion, not wanting to say anything to their queen for fear of decapitation.

"It's so good to see you again mother." Courtly said, keeping the act as the Queen hugged her tightly.

"It's been so long Lizziekins, I missed you dearly!" she replied, brushing a few tears away.

"Um yes...this is a lovely party but...I have a question for you."

"Of course dear, but I have several for you...how's Ever After doing? Have you met any boys? There was one earlier that looked perfect for you, can you believe he brought me Excalibur? He was looking form dusty book. If you want to ask for his hand, I can definitely give it to you!" the Queen of Hearts said, a grin on her face.

" _He's already here! Not only did he steal my sword, but he's here to steal the book too!"_

"Cou...Lizzie, we have to go find that book. I'm afraid that man is going to steal it!" he said, going on with the act.

"That is correct...mother, where was that book taken? I've longed to read it for quite a long time." she asked sweetly, fluttering her eyes a bit as she spoke.

"It's in the Present Room of course, with all the other presents! Oh I can't wait to open all of them like we used to in the past!"

"I'll go on ahead, my Queen." Joey said with a bow, walking toward the Present Room, of course he was just assuming it was the correct path, since he was following the soldiers pushing present filled wheelbarrows.

"I shall go with him too, I have to make sure the book is safe."

"Oh but Lizzie, you just got here! I've longed to spend more time with you, come on we can play a game of croquet. Just like we used to before the Evil Queen ruined our lives!" the Queen said cheerfully.

"Um...okay, but first we have to play another game. It's called the opposite game, so we can decide who goes first. You have to say the opposite of what someone says...so if you win that game, then you go first. No cheating!"

"Oh, I adore games! No wait...I simply detest this game! Am I losing?" the woman asked, earning a wink from the Jester.

"You are most certainly losing...I am going to rest at the runroom so don't wait for me here!" Courtly said, walking off after Joey. The Queen giggled happily, clapping her hands while the other guards just looked at her oddly.

"Your majesty, you do realize that was in fact not your daughter right?" one of them said.

"Oh of course she was! I simply detest this game!" she cried cheerfully.

Meanwhile at the Present Room, after having spoken with her mother, Kitty had warped inside. The sheer number of presents hanging above her in large piles was enough to frighten her. Normally they wouldn't be an issue, but with Courtly coming after it, she knew she had to find the Book before she did. But she knew she couldn't do it on her own. She heard a familiar voice not far from where she stood and followed it, walking around a pile, seeing a familiar boy digging through a rather tall stack of tomes he had found, tossing them all aside.

"Goddammit, why the hell did they have to make this fucking book exactly like all the other special books? Oh, it has too be maroon in color, lined in gold, let's throw a clasp on it with a lock for added measure. It isn't like anyone can open the damn thing!" he exclaimed, throwing another book aside.

"Blake! Oh, I'm so happy to see you!"

The boy turned around, backing away in fright when he saw Kitty. He hadn't been expecting to see her so soon. He placed a hand on his chest, a small smile on his face. He was glad to see she had gotten out of the school fine...of course now that he knew the truth about everything, it made it more awkward than before. He looked away from her, swallowing the lump in his throat.

"Um...hi Kitty. Did Raven and the girls get out too?" he asked.

"They did, they're on their way here. I teleported here first to find the book, but it's gone, Courtly is on her way here right now!" she said.

"I know, and I'm prepared for her." he replied, partially drawing Excalibur from its sheathe. Her eyes widened in surprise when she saw the glowing blade. She shook her head, glancing around the pile.

"I'm gonna go check to see if they're here. Think you can handle finding the book while I'm gone?"

"Mhmm, Duchess is on lookout duty, and Ashlynn and Mavis are over there...we'll fine the book soon enough!" he said, giving her wink. She grinned happily, flashing out of the room. He sighed, shaking his head as he turned back to the books.

"This is going to be so damn hard...telling everyone that I'm...no, this isn't gonna change anything. I am me, nobody else...and I'm not gonna let this change anything! Some at me Storybook of Legends, because your papery ass is mine!" he cried, diving into the pile before him.

He continued digging around, deciding that this pile contained nothing. He went back to the main floor, looking around for another pile of interest. He could hear Ashlynn and Mavis nearby, neither of them finding the book either. He started climbing to the top of a nearby pile, scaling it to its full height, struggling to keep himself balanced while he looked around. There were at least thirty large piles to sift through, along with several medium and small piles. He figured the Queen not only celebrated her birthday, but also her unbirthday, and if she did that then that meant she had been getting one present from every citizen in Wonderland for the last thirty years or so. It made it that much worse, since they were literally looking for a needle in a hay stack, or in this case, a piece of hay in a needle stack. He lost his footing and ended up falling backward, slipping part way down the pile.

"Damn, it's gonna take me twenty years just to search for this one book." he muttered. A loud honk filled his ears and he looked up toward the higher entrance, seeing Duchess appearing there, returning to her human form, a look of urgency in her voice.

"Blake heads up, there's a red knight coming here right now. Courtly is right behind him!" she cried.

"Red Knight? Chase Redford...alright then, guess I'll have to deal with him too, get to Ashlynn and Mavis and make sure they keep searching for that book, I'll keep those two distracted." he said, quickly moving down the pile, rolling onto his feet. He saw Duchess flying toward the other end of the room, disappearing behind a tall pile where the others were.

"Courtly, are you sure the book is...whoa, look at all of this." the knight said, looking around the present room. Courtly sighed, clutching her book tightly.

"This is gonna take months to look through, oh well...with the Queen thinking I'm little Lizzie Hearts. Keep an eye out while I search these piles." Courtly said, approaching the nearest pile. Blake leaned against the pile, crossing his arms trying to make himself look cool before the confrontation. Once he stood in the correct pose, he let out a laugh, grabbing their attention.

"You know, I'm not gonna let you get the Storybook of Legends."

"You? How are you going to stop me from getting what I want?" the jester asked, anger flowing through her being as she watched the golden clad boy, slowly drawing Excalibur from his sheathe.

"Because I'm going to stop you. There was another person after the Queen's head, and he was taken care of, so now I only have to deal with you."

"Oh...is that so? Then you are in for a surprise. Red Knight, keep him off my back will you?" she asked. The knight opened his visor, causing Blake to step back in shock. He drew his steel blade, a smirk on his face.

"Round Two Blake, who's gonna be the winner this time? Me or you? You survived a stab from Excalibur, but I will get that blade back. It's my destiny!"

"Any destiny bestowed upon you is a mistake I will not let you commit! Your time in Wonderland ends here!" Blake shouted, running forward, holding Excalibur tightly in his grasp. He swung the sword at his head, causing Joey to kneel down, driving his fist into Blake's chest, sending him flying back into a pile of presents.

"You like that? This power comes from the Evil Queen, I think I quite like it!" Joey said, a grin on his face as he lowered his visor. Blake burst through the pile of presents, clashing swords with the other boy.

"You have to stop taking power that doesn't rightfully belong to you!" he cried, placing his hand on the armor, sucking the dark magic from it, willing it to flow into his chest. Joey pushed him back, swinging his sword in a wide arc, attempting to slash the boy.

"I will not let you steal my power! You will not steal my destiny!"

"It isn't yours to take, no ones destiny belongs to you! It belongs to the next King Arthur, just like Lizzie's destiny belongs to her!" Blake shouted, sending a pulse of darkness outward, sending the boy flying back into the wall.

"Oh, so you wanna play that way...then let's see which is stronger, the power of light, or the power of darkness! Hyraah!" he shouted, sending a blast of light at Blake, who somersaulted over it with ease. He continued running, throwing several strikes with all of his strength, his magic flowing through the blade, he couldn't afford to lose this fight, not like the previous one.

 _ **xxx**_

"Jessica, for heaven sakes please just get us to the palace already!" Ramona cried, glaring at the wizard who scratched her head with her wand. She turned to glare at the girl, teeth clenched angrily.

"I told you, magic in Wonderland behaves differently! It isn't my fault that I can't teleport us there in a single straight shot!" she shouted. Jack sighed, pushing himself from the upside down tree he had been leaning against.

"Alright, okay. Just take a breath, Jessica you are one of the strongest wizards in Ever After High...just hone that magic strength." he said.

"Fine...but don't yell at me if we don't make it there." she said, holding her hand out for them to grab. She held her wand up in the air, the tip sparking with magic power.

" _With the power that's in my wand, transport us to the castle of cards, leave nothing behind, let us all warp at the same time!"_ she chanted, flicking the magic forward. They all burst into sparkles, disappearing through the air, floating at hundreds of miles, appearing a lot closer to the palace than they were before. They all landed hard on the grass, groaning in pain.

"Well, we got closer with that last one." Cerise said, bringing herself to her knees. She quickly pulled her hood over her head, thankfully Jessica and Jack didn't see.

"Yeah, good job Jess, we can most likely walk from here." Jack said, giving her a grin.

"Sorry, I was trying to focus...but that damn curse is messing with my magic power." she said, a sheepish smile on her face.

"It's alright, apologies for snapping at you...it's just, knowing our friends are in danger drives me insane." Ramona said.

"Hey, I got an idea...we're close to the palace, why don't we just run there? Cerise and Ramona can just carry us there." Jack said firmly, earning a scoff from Jessica.

"I don't think so...they're athletically gifted yes, but running at full speed with us on their backs, it might strain them more than just a normal jog. I don't want them to get hurt because of us...I can get us even closer, don't worry about that, just take my hand again." she said, flipping her wand through her fingers.

"Okay, if you say so...just do what you did before." Cerise said, grabbing a tight hold of her hand. Jessica held her wand out, its tip once again sparkling wildly.

" _With the power that's in my wand, transport us to the castle of cards, leave nothing behind, let us all warp at the same time!"_

As they were about to once again warp through space, a rabbit hole opened up right next to them, several people coming right out of it. They all screamed in surprise, slamming into the four just as the spell took over and they were once again warped to another location. They appeared in the middle of the Queen of Hearts's courtyard, sparkles bursting all around them in various shapes sizes and colors.

"Fuck me, can I get the number of the truck that hit me?" Jessica muttered, clutching her head in pain.

"Huh? Jessica, is that you?" a familiar voice said, causing the girl to glance over her shoulder, as she was at the bottom of the pile. Her eyes widened, a grin on her face.

"Raven! It's so good to see you...damn you look good in that dress, oh if you weren't taken by Dexter, I would make you mine." she said, licking her lips, wiggling her brows a bit.

"Get off me!" Cerise cried, forcing herself up, causing the other girls to fall off her. Jack ended up falling face first into Lizzie's chest, causing her to scream, slapping the boy across the face before he could even react.

"You bastard! How dare you violate me in such an obscene and perverse way!"

"Goddamn it! It wasn't my fucking fault I fell in your ganzagas!" he shouted angrily.

"Halt! Who are you all? How dare you invade the Queen's party!" one of the guards cried, aiming a spear at them, causing them all to raise their hands above their heads.

"Jeez, I've been at spear point so many times today, that it's starting to become commonplace." Apple added.

"Tell me about it, I sort of miss people turning into sheep now." Briar said, earning a giggle from Maddie.

"Lower your spears, these are my friends! How dare you point those at them and at my person?" Lizzie cried, causing them all to back away, lowering their spears. She stood up, brushing her dress off.

"Our mistake, Your Majesty...we were not aware they were your friends." the guard said, causing her to sigh.

"It's quite alright...where is my mother?" she asked.

"Over there, she is acting quite oddly since you were last here."

"Since I was...what? This is the first time I...oh never mind. Girls, go to the present room and search for the book, I'll go speak with mother." Lizzie said, heading toward the center of the courtyard.

"You know, I never thought my first trip to Wonderland was gonna be such a kerfuffle." Jack said, finally on his feet.

"Aw, come on Jackie! These is the golden years, the time of our lives, you know, it's my first time in Wonderland in about 65 years...it's definitely changed a lot." she said, looking around the area.

"Guys, there you are! Oh, I'm so happy to see you!" Kitty cried, flashing in front of her friends.

"Kitty, we're glad to see you too...have you found the book yet?" Raven asked, earning a nod from the girl.

"It's in the Present Room, Blake, Ashlynn, Duchess and Mavis are looking for it, come on. It's this way!" she said, running in the direction of the present room.

Lizzie couldn't believe how many people had showed up to her mother's birthday bash. It was a lot more than the last time she had been there, of course she was twelve then, and her focus wasn't greeting her mother's guests. She looked around for a few seconds, spotting the Queen of Hearts walking around, a smile on her face as she spoke to some of the guests, who just gave her odd looks of confusion. She broke into a sprint, tears already forming in her eyes as she finally hugged her mother, after such a long time. The woman looked down at her in confusion, only to see it was her daughter hugging her.

"Oh mother, it's been so long! I'm so happy to see you!"

"What are you talking about? You aren't my daughter, and I am definitely not happy to see you!" the Queen cried, causing the girl let go of her. She wiped her tears from her eyes, confusion on her face.

"What...how can you say that? I've missed you for so long...I love you mother!"

"Well, I don't love you...you are definitely not my daughter. I don't have a daughter at all in fact!" she replied, giggling as she turned away from her.

"How can you say something so heartless and hateful?! After all of the things I've been through today, I've longed for nothing but your warm and brace and...wait...is this the Opposite game?"

"No, this is not the opposite game!" the Queen replied, Lizzie sighed, closing her eyes, trying her hardest not to cry.

"Please mother, I think it's time for this game to start." she said.

"Yes! I win, oh Lizzie...I've missed you so much! I'm sorry, I didn't know you weren't playing the game. I didn't mean any of that, I love you dearly, you are my most precious gift ever." she said, hugging her little girl tightly, causing a few onlookers to smile and snap pictures of the two.

"Mother, I've come to warn you. Someone here is trying to dethrone you, not just that, they're trying to kill you as well. It's Courtly Jester."

"What? Courtly Jester? But she was just here...that boy from before told me to increase the guard. How did she...guards!" she shouted, causing several soldiers to jump to her side, including Meriwether Knave, who was surprised to see Lizzie back in Wonderland.

"At your service, my Queens." the captain said, bowing to the two.

"I want you to search for and capture Courtly Jester right now! She must not leave the castle grounds!" the Queen cried, making all of the soldiers scramble for their weapons. Meriwether knelt down next to Lizzie, taking a hold of her hand, placing a single kiss on top of it.

"I am at your service Miss Heart, whatever you want me to do, I shall do it." he said.

"Meriwether, I want you to make sure Courtly is captured...she is quite dangerous...and if you see a figure dressed in black, feel free to slay him as well." she said.

"As you command my Queen." he said, standing up, grabbing his sword as he left to search for the intruders.

Another explosion rocked the Present room as Joey sent another blast of magic at Blake, who easily cut through it with Excalibur. Even with the Holy sword's power, he was no match for the intensity and magic that coursed through Joey. He could tell he had gotten an enhancement from that dark book Courtly was carrying. She was busy sifting through the presents, unaware that Ashlynn, Duchess, and Mavis were also searching on the other side of the room. He was still tired and weak from the last encounter with Joey, and he knew he couldn't last long against that amount of power. He growled, dashing forward again, holding his hand out as he formed several balls of dark light, flinging them at Joey, who sliced through all of them with ease, clashing swords with him again, easily pushing him back. He threw a roundhouse kick at the boy, sending him flying through a pile of presents.

"Your magic is too weak Bigby! You can't beat me, even with Excalibur's power, I robbed you of too much magic power!" he shouted, a laugh echoing through the room.

Blake started moving behind one of the piles, trying to be as quiet as possible. Courtly was too busy tossing aside presents for her to even notice. He steadied his breathing, his grip on Excalibur tightening a bit, he tried not to let the light from the blade become visible, as it would quickly give him away. He had been studying and make mental notes of the armor with every single strike he threw. It seemed to he made entirely of magic, so it was very hard to over power, especially if it could just absorb magic from the air and repair itself. On top of that, Joey now had dark magic and light magic, so he was twice as strong as before. Even with his low reserve, and his mirror shard, and even Excalibur, he wasn't going to be able to defeat him.

" _Damn it...I don't think I'll be able to get that magic off of him...if only I could absorb it and...wait that's it...if I find the Storybook of Legends, and I sign my page then...no, I don't even know if I have a page in that book. I don't know if it's the truth or not! Even if Sia said it was true, I still have doubts!"_ he cried in his mind.

"There you are, you can't hide from me Bigby!" Joey shouted, sending another blast of light at him. Blake let out a scream of pain, slamming into the wall, the bricks cracking from the force. He let out a gasp, falling to the floor, Excalibur slipping from his grasp.

"Blake!" Duchess cried out, causing Joey to look in her direction. He locked eyes with her, a smirk on her face.

"So, the black swan is here...that changes things quite a lot. Blake, remember that day when I saw Duchess for the first time? She was absolutely gorgeous...I've been in love ever since...but she's in love with you. However, now that I have this power, I can finally get what I want." he said firmly, opening his visor, giving the boy a grin.

"You...leave her out of this. Your fight is with me!" he said, grabbing a hold of Excalibur, regaining his standing. His shard was glowing an ominous violet as it started sucking magic from the air into it.

"There you go again, being selfless as always...well if you don't want her to die, then that means you'll have to die for her. Of course with you dead I'll still fulfill my fantasies with her, whether she wants to or not." he said, closing his visor. Blake growled angrily, channeling his magic through Excalibur.

"I am not going to let you live after this you bastard!" he shouted, running at the armored man, throwing a slash at Joey, who blocked the attack with his sword, absorbing the magic into his armor.

"Pathetic! I have more magic than you will ever possess!" he shouted, sending that power back at the boy, who barely dodged the attack, watching as it sliced through another pile of gifts. Blake ran at him, clashing blades with him once more, his eyes were glowing a brilliant purple.

"You are nothing without magic, you are just a pathetic jealous piece of shit who doesn't deserve to live!" he cried, sucking more magic out of the suit of armor.

Kicking him into the ground. He rose Excalibur above his head, slamming it down onto the ground, only for him to roll out of the way. Joey quickly stood up, slamming his knee into Blake's side, quickly spinning on his heel, driving his leg into his abdomen, sending him flying back. Blake slammed hard into the ground, the holy sword slipped from his grasp, clanging to the sword, its blade coming to rest just before the entrance to the Present Room, just as Raven and the others entered it. He forced himself to his feet, clutching his chest tightly, wiping the blood from his lip.

"Blake!" she cried, causing the boy to look at her, eyes widening in surprise.

"Raven." he said softly, his heart beating hard in his chest. He heard movement behind him, but before he could do anything, Joey drove his sword right through his body, stunning the boy who hadn't been expecting the attack.

"Oh my, this must feel familiar, being stabbed twice in one day, right through the guts. What's it like Blake? Tell me?" he asked, his voice sounding sadistic and full of pride at his action.

Everyone just stood stunned, to shock to even move from what was happening. Raven tried reaching for his hand, tripping over Excalibur, falling to her knees. Blake however wasn't going to give into his former friend. He grabbed a hold of the blade, a smirk on his face. He slammed his elbow as hard as he could into the middle of the armor, sending the crimson knight flying back, the action causing the blade to be pulled from his body. He dropped to his knee, panting a bit as he forced himself to stand, the magic in the air started flowing toward the boy, who was forcing it into his mirror shard, healing the wounds he had received. He felt a sharp pain in his chest from the mirror, but he didn't care. His left eye burst into flames, the violet magic flowing straight from it.

"You wanna know something Joey, you really piss me off. As if stabbing me a second time would actually do something. You are fucking idiot, you see, while that sword pierced my guts, I was able to absorb magic from it, enough to activate a suction spell to heal myself. You wanna know what it feels like to get stabbed? Why don't you come back out here and I can show you." he said, voice sounding a distorted. He stomped the pommel of Excalibur hard with his boot, sending it flying into the air. He held his hand outward, catching the blade in his hand, a smirk on his face.

"Tch...so, it seems you still have the power to fight...but not for much longer! Courtly, speed it up would you?" he cried.

"Yeah yeah, I'm on it!" the girl cried back. Blake turned back to his sister, giving her a nod.

"I'll be fine, you focus on finding the Storybook of Legends, don't let them get it." he said. She gave him a nod, not really knowing what to say. He dashed forward, once again resuming his fight with Joey, who was becoming fiercer by the minute.

"Who's Blake fighting? I thought I heard him say a name, but I didn't hear it." Apple asked, glancing at Ramona and Cerise who both had looks of anger on their faces.

"It's Joey, that piece of shit...I didn't think he'd actually have the balls to do something like this." the daughter of the Bad Wolf replied. Cerise's eyes were glowing gold, and she was preparing to run toward the red knight, only to be held back by Jessica.

"Don't, I can sense the Evil Queen's magic on him. Fighting him will only result in your death and Blake doesn't need that right now. We need to find the Storybook and get it the fuck out of here, now!" she said. Cerise nodded, forcing herself to calm down.

Courtly growled angrily, having searched several piles already. She hadn't made a dent in finding the book. Now she had a lot more to worry about, since the entire Present Room was filled, not only with explosions, but also with people trying to find the Storybook. She saw a few others starting to climb the present piles, while avoiding blasts from the two fighting teenagers.

"It's too hard to think! I need to find that book right now...wait a minute, why do I have to bust my hump searching, when I can just use magic?" she asked, flipping the book in her hands open. Quickly finding what she wanted, she traced her hand over the page, a violet glow appearing in her palm.

"Whatever I want to find, shall appear within my grasp, go forth my hand, and search through all this trash!" she chanted. The large magical claw burst from her hand, cutting through a pile of presents, sniffing the area for what she was looking for. It suddenly stopped, approaching a tall pile, pointing at the book which was wrapped with a pink bow.

"Haha! There it is...soon my destiny shall be in my hands." she cried, jumping off the pile, running right to where the claw was pointing.

At the same time, Blake managed to see the claw of magic, and Courtly running toward it. He pushed Joey back with all of his strength, running straight for the pile. He started climbing it, trying his hardest not to fall, dodging all of the light blasts Joey was flinging at him. He reached the top of the pile, grabbing a hold of the book just as Courtly did. She growled at him, pulling the book toward her.

"Let go! This is mine, my destiny is in here!"

"And so is mine, so I suggest you let go right now!" he cried, swinging his sword at her, only for her to duck under the blade.

"Joey! Get your ass up here now!" she cried, resuming the tug of war she had with the book, while avoiding the sword swipes Blake threw at her.

"I got it!" Joey cried, using all of his magic to jump right toward the pile, snagging the book from the two of them.

"No! Raven, he has the book!" Blake shouted, pointing at the red armored boy. Raven stopped her search, jumping from the pile, running after the boy.

"I don't think so! I'm going to destroy you two here and now!" Courtly cried, standing on top of the pile of presents, opening the book to an attack spell. She flung a wave of darkness at Blake, sending him flying back several hundred feet. She turned to Raven, doing the same thing to her, only she was able to dodge it with ease.

"Courtly, you have no idea what you are messing with. That dark power can warp your mind, put it down right now." the girl warned, earning a laugh from the jester.

"As if, this is my own personal spell book, which I will used to eradicate you and that pest in my side! And when I do, I will sign my name in the Book and take what's rightfully mine!" she shouted, sending several more attacks at the daughter of the Evil Queen, who did her best to dodge them all. One hit the ground before her, the force of the explosion was enough to send her flying back.

"Finally, I'm holding the real book in my hands. I can finally get the destiny I've so longed for!" he cried pulling the book open. He quickly sifted through all of the pages, finding the page that said King Arthur on it in bold fancy letters. It bore no picture on it, and had several passages of the fairytale itself. At the bottom was an X and a golden line for him to sign. He grinned holding his hand out as the quill formed in front of him. As he was about to press it against the paper, he felt something hard slam into his helmet, knocking the book out of his hands.

"I will not let you get what you want asshole! You've made Blake suffer too fucking much!" Duchess cried, shaking her leg a bit from the kick she had given the boy. He chuckled, turning to face her, drawing his sword from his sheathe, placing his foot on the Storybook.

"So, it seems you want to die...tell me, what do you think would happen if I signed your name in the Storybook? I've been dying to find out. You want Blake to be yours so bad, well if I can't have you...then you can't have anyone. I'll just sign buddy boy's name in Siegfried's page, so you can never be happy. You'll never be able to have a Happily Ever After my dear! You'll have nothing but an eternity of despair and sadness in your future!" he shouted.

From out of nowhere, Blake came out, tackling the boy to the ground. He opened his visor, punching him several times in the face while he had him stunned. Duchess stood there shocked for a few seconds before Blake turned to her, his unrelenting strikes pausing as Joey grabbed his hand.

"Duchess, get the book to the others now!" he shouted. She nodded, grabbing the book from the ground, just as Joey threw the boy aside, quickly running after the Swan Princess.

"Get back here Duchess! Give me back my destiny!" he shouted, causing her to quicken her pace.

"Duchy, over here quick!" Kitty cried, appearing at the top of a pile of presents. Duchess threw the book as hard as she could, watching it sail through the air right into Kitty's arms. Joey forced himself to stop, drawing his sword as he approached the pile.

"Kitty Cheshire, your life is forfeit!" he shouted, launching a blast of light at the pile, only for Blake to intercept it, landing on the ground in front of the pile, holding his sword outward.

"You do anything to her, and I swear I will make you suffer a thousand deaths."

"I think I know who you are finally in love with, and it's gonna be so good to see her die by my blade!" Joey cried, a boisterous laugh escaping his lips.

"I won't let you."

"Try me bitch! You look ready to die, that last stab wound took a lot out of you. You can't keep protecting everyone around you, you can't protect Duchess, you won't be able to protect Kitty, and you aren't going to protect your sister either!" Joey taunted, a smirk on his face. To prove his point, another explosion filled the room, and Raven was sent flying through the air, hitting the floor rather hard, scratches and cuts littering her skin.

"Raven!" Apple cried, trying to run to her air, only to be held back by Briar and Maddie.

"We can't get involved, we don't have magic like they do to defend ourselves." the daughter of Sleeping Beauty said, causing the blonde to fall to her knees, hands balled tightly. Courtly jumped down next to Joey, a smirk on her face.

"Isn't this interesting, we're winning against to fools. You never had the strength, and you never will, I'm afraid. You're lucks run out, all of you will die by our hands, and we will become the new rulers of Wonderland, so hand that book over Cheshire, unless you want to see me turn them into ashes!" she said, a ball of magic floating in the palm of her hand.

"Kitty, sweetie I want you to do me a favor. Find Snow White and the Seven Dwarves for me, tell me if you see an extra page in there." he said.

"Um...alright, it doesn't seem like the time to do that." she said, flipping the book open.

"I have no idea what you are trying to prove, but you will not get far. I will kill you all, so just say your prayers already!" Courtly cried. Blake smirked, dashing forward with great speed, taking them both by surprise. Courtly flung her spell at the boy, who swung Excalibur as hard as he could, sending it flying back at them. She and Joey jumped out of the way, just as it exploded.

Joey rapidly stood up, brandishing his sword, once more clashing with Blake, pushing back with force. Blake let out a growl, pushing him back with ease. He rose his left leg, driving it as hard as he could into Joey's chest, sending him flying back through a pile of presents. He rapidly turned around, sending a blast of magic at Courtly before she could sent her spell out. Raven took her chance, tired as she was, running at Courtly, aiming a punch right to her face.

"Gah...ow, that the hell?" Courtly cried, rubbing her face, earning a smirk from Raven.

"Sometimes you gotta get rough when someone doesn't listen."

"Oh, you want rough? I'll show you rough!" she replied, opening the black book in her hands, forming several orbs of darkness in her hand, flinging them at Raven who did her best to dodge them. She took one to the chest, sending her flying across the ground into a pile of presents.

"Heads up buddy, looks like sis is about to die!" Joey cried, pushing Blake back, making him fall to the floor.

"Aha! I found it! Oh my Godmother, Blake have you been lying to me? That's so mean!" Kitty cried.

"Ha, you're wide open!" Courtly cried happily, flinging a ball of magic at the girl. It exploded in the middle of the pile, sending presents in all directions.

"Kitty!" Blake called out, climbing to his feet running toward the falling girl. He tossed Excalibur aside, jumping into the air to catch his best friend, landing in some presents right after.

"Are you alright? You aren't hurt are you?" the boy asked, checking the girl over for injury.

"I'm fine...I...thank you Blake, but you know cat's always land on their feet right?" she asked, giving him a wink. He set the girl down, taking the book from her hands, right where the page marker was left.

"You've been such a nuisance to use you know? Just give it up, you aren't strong enough to defeat us." Joey said, a smirk on his face as Blake grabbed a hold of Excalibur, placing it in his sheathe.

"No...you are right, me and Raven aren't strong enough...but there is a way that we can defeat you both...with our full power." he said, glancing at his sister.

"With our full power...you mean sign the book? Are you insane?" she asked. He opened the book, holding the open to the right page. It not only had Raven's picture on it, but it also had Blake's picture as well, two golden lines were at the bottom of the page.

"No way...are you serious right now? This is crazy!" Briar cried.

"You mean...Blake is also the next Evil Queen?" Jack asked curiously.

"No...he's the Evil King, since they're twins they share destinies...there are other stories that have Evil rulers remember? That means they share that destiny and that power. But if both of them sign their page, they could lose control." Apple said, a worried look on her face.

"As if we're gonna let you!" Joey cried, running toward the pair. Blake shoved the book in Raven's hands, drawing his sword to clash with Joey's, growling angrily as he forced the last of his magic outward, the pulse being enough to send him flying back.

"Raven, we're the only ones who can stop them! They're too strong and without our mother's magic, we won't be able to defeat them!" he said.

"But...I..I can't." Raven cried, confusion in her voice. It was too much for her to handle right now, all of it was crumbling down into nothingness faster than she could process it.

"Raven, I hate to admit it...but Blake is right. Without the Evil Queen's power, we won't be able to defeat them. I always wanted you to follow your destiny, but now...I think you are too kindhearted for it. I love you okay? I know you can do it." Apple said, earning a nod from Raven, who took a deep breath, holding her hand out, the magical quill appearing in it. An explosion rocked the area, from Blake having sent Joey flying. He sprinted over to his sister, giving her a smile.

"Let's do this together, how we should have been doing since the very beginning." he said.

She nodded, pressing the quill on the top line, signing her name onto the golden line. She passed the book over to him, and he looked at it, he had finally gotten his answer as to why he was in Ever After, but that only left more questions for him to find answers too. His heart beat in his chest, his throat tightening as the quill appeared in his hand. In a flash, images of his last ten months flashed in his mind, all of the pain and suffering he had felt in the beginning. The good times, the bad times and all of the wonderful times. He remembered meeting all of his friends, his relationship with Cerise, all of the songs he had sung. All of the visions he had gotten in the past all became clear, the voice finally had a face, the castle became less hazy, the four figures were revealed as his Earth family, and the hands that had been signing the name on the parchment had been his own. All of it filled his mind, and with a smile on his face, he signed his name on the dotted line, Blake Jeremiah Queen, he was finally where he belonged.


	74. Way Too Wonderland Finale

**A/N:**

 **Hello people of Earth! Welcome one and all to Chapter 74 of Through the Looking Glass, the official finale to Way Too Wonderland. It has been a long ride, but it has to end sometime. This arc is honestly my favorite, in my opinion because hey, I'm entitled to it. I've had a blast writing it, especially because of the fight scenes, all of the secrets coming to light, the meetings, and of course being in Wonderland. It has been a long time coming, but after this chapter is over, we will have finally reached the hump of the story, or rather the mid point. So I honestly hope you like this chapter, it's far longer than the others in this arc, mostly because of the fight scene.**

 **Speaking of ze fight scene, hon hon hon...I mean no insult to anyone by that sentence by the way, tis for laughs only. The entire fight scene is a reference to another fight, from an anime! Guess the anime and you get a cookie, I promise...I'm already baking them right now...I just need your bank account information so I may remove the postage fee...I promise, I won't steal your money, just the postage.**

 **But anyway, yes this fight scene is a reference to an anime, one of my favorite sequences from it and I just couldn't help but add it in. It is what it is...however, I'll let the chapter speak for itself, I will ask you all to remember that promise that Blake made to Joey way back around Chapter 30 or so...the one that involved urine...it seems that promise, is getting fulfilled. In the end, one of our characters is getting their just desserts, and well deserved too.**

 **I would like to direct this Authors note to the segway chapters for just a moment. As I said before, the finale of this arc will be the beginning of most of these chapters, or the main setting. The ones getting a segway because of this chapter will be Briar, Lizzie, Darling, Ramona and Cerise. So yes, that's five segways that spawn from this one chapter, crazy isn't it? It will add to the diversity and the alternate universes that already exist and were spoken about in this arc actually. Ah, the good old multiverse theory, it's correct only until you find a universe where it's not! Isn't that fun?**

 **But yes, those five girls will be getting their segways due to this chapter. So far, only Briar and Lizzie's have actually been started on, because they're the easiest ones to work with. So because of this, for the following two days, I will not be posting chapters to the main story, solely because Chapter 75 is the epilogue of this arc and it has to be edited, and I only have about four chapters that are ready after that, since I am on chapter 80 currently. But I will be working on those two segways first, and know they won't be lemons...not everyone is going to have one...at least not until chapter 3 or so. I may put out Darling's too, if I can finish it on time. The setting will be the same, but the content in each one might differ a bit...the only one segway that might turn into a lemon is Lizzie's because he's really close to her as he is with the Wonderland kids, I may also have Briar's be a lemon, haven't decided...I mean she has liked him for awhile, but I'm not sure she would actually go that far right after getting together. So she might give him some time, for fear of pushing him away or something...I haven't decided...look forward to that!**

 **And as a final note, I would like to give a shout out to DeMoDusty, Jerry Unipeg, ChimaTigon, and my buddy BloodyDemon666 for being awesome as always. I would also like to give a shoutout to my guest reviewer, Wandering Frog for the review I was given...it was quite interesting to read it, among the annoyingness of a damn frog. It was such an awesome review filled with so much substance, and each point was driven home with the intensity of a dull knife, piercing the soft flesh of a potbellied pig...your words are the voice of a generation, truly they are...**

 **So...I hope you all like this finale, and look forward to the epilogue, as well as those segways...I will be updating Black Aria and Black Apple as well as Pantoufle Noir, so don't expect the main story to continue for a few days, just so I can knock these segways out of the way. I in fact might complete Pantoufle Noir, since I've already thought of the ending of it. So look forward to it, let me know what you think! See you all whenever after!**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 74

Way Too Wonderland Finale

 _ **xxx(Wonderland)xxx**_

The Storybook of Legends burst with power, filling the twins with unbridled magic power. Blake's mind became clouded with darkness, he could feel it entering his being, filling him with magic he didn't know he had. All of it was flowing through his mirror shard, causing it to glow a fierce violet, color. The energy seemed to be flowing out of his body, lifting him off the ground from the sheer force behind it. Even though the darkness ebbed at his mind, he wasn't going to let it take control. His eyes returned to their normal green shine, a smirk on his face as he felt himself touch down on the floor. He grabbed a hold of Excalibur, holding it outward, an intense dark flow of magic swirling around it. He saw a blur whip by him, grabbing a hold of Courtly sending them flying through some piles of presents.

"You wanna know something Joey, there was so much doubt in my mind, for such a long time. I always wanted to know what my purpose in Ever After was...why did the Evil Queen choose me? Why stab me in the chest in such a way? But I understand why now...it was because I had a destiny here. But it wasn't because I was the son of the Evil Queen, it was because I made that choice. For my friends, I will do everything in my power, I will defeat you here and now!" he said.

"You think you are so cool because you found your place huh Bigby? You think you're going to get what you want? In the end you are nothing more than a piece of shit! You are just like your mother, rotten and evil to the core!" Joey shouted angrily.

"That's just how I like it." the boy said, a twisted grin on his face as he dashed forward, swinging his sword at Joey, sending him flying through the air. He jumped up after him, forming several balls of magic in his palm flinging them outward at him.

Joey quickly landed on the ground, swiping his sword to cut through the magic. He dashed forward, getting into a battle with Blake. Sparks flew between them as each fierce strike was parried and deflected. The blades sung with power as they sliced through the air, the razor edge trying to snag a hold of flesh and bite through it. He spun around his heel, slamming his sword into the armor, sending him flying back several feet.

"Ah...you know that hurt." Joey said, a smirk on his face.

"Good, it's gonna hurt even more." Blake replied, dashing at him at full speed, holding his sword above his head, the blade glowing a fierce blue color. Joey side stepped, driving his leg into his back, sending him flying through the ground.

"Hehe, nice! Increased speed and stamina, and access to sword magic. But this suit of armor is magic, and it comes with a tanky shield, which I'm sure you'll have fun piercing through!" the boy said, holding his arm out, a large heavy steel shield appearing on his arm, guarding his entire body. Blake stood up, gritting his teeth in anger.

" _Great, as if the armor wasn't bad enough."_ he muttered.

"Blake! Up here!" a familiar accented voice cried, causing him to look at the upper balcony. It was Alice, who had arrived just in time to see everything go down. She reached into her apron, pulling something from inside, and to his surprise, he saw it was his Katana, which had been shrunken before hand.

"Take it! You have the power to defeat him, I know you do!" she cried, flinging the sword at him. He jumped through the air, grabbing a hold of the Katana, landing in a roll pausing on his knee, both blades extended outward.

"Thanks Alice, I owe ya big time!" he said, giving her a wink.

"God you sicken me...even the main characters feel bad for you. But that won't last long...wait until I sign my page in the Storybook of Legends! I will kill each and everyone you hold dear!" he shouted.

"Blake, you better not fucking die to him! I swear to the Fairy Godmother I will beat the fuck out of you if you do!" Duchess shouted, sounding rather angry.

"She's right, if you die here you will never know the true color of that rose! I made you a promise and intend to keep it, so you better win for me and for Wonderland!" Kitty said, making the boy grin.

"You got it babe, this one is for you!" he said, giving her a wink as he dashed forward. Kitty flushed, but shook her head, jumping to avoid a blast of magic from Raven and Courtly's fight.

He knew he had the speed, but Joey had stronger armor unlike himself. He knew that he would be able to tank hits much easier now that he had a shield. So Blake had to do the only thing he knew how to do, out speed him. He had faced Daring in combat hundreds of times, and he always used a heavy set shield too. But he had never been able to beat Daring in a fight, growing too tired before he could land a finishing blow. With Dexter, he had been able to win and lose rather often, giving him a bit more experience. He had also fought against Darling and they always ended up with a tie, but she had shown him the weaknesses in suits of armor so that he wouldn't commit them in the future. He had to use every skill in his arsenal to beat him here.

He swung his katana first, cutting the air like a hot knife through butter, striking his shield as hard as he could, pushing him back slightly. He swung Excalibur right after, clashing with his blade, a shock from the parried hit traveling up his arm. He quickly dashed around him, trying a Reversal, only for Joey to easily block the attack. Sparks flew with every clash, loud clangs echoing across the room accompanied by magical blasts of pure power.

" _I have to do better than this...come on, I know I'm faster!"_ he thought, crossing his swords to avoid an incoming downward slash. He pushed the blade back, aiming Excalibur at his chest only for him to move his sword, another dull clang coming from their contact. Blake spun around, aiming his katana a little higher than he wanted.

"You aren't gonna win that way, I'm stronger than you Blake!" Joey cried, pushing him back with ease. Blake stopped himself from tripping, breaking into a sprint, throwing a fake out at the brown haired boy. He planted his foot on his shield, jumping over him. He landed on the ground, crossing his blades in a dual slash, only for Blake's attack to be stopped by Joey's shield.

" _Fuck, that goddamn shield isn't giving me any headway! I can't use sword magic, at full power, my katana won't handle it. I gotta out speed him!"_ he thought, casting a speed spell under his feet. He swung his swords in wild arcs, tendrils of light cutting through the air with every heavy swing, with each one that was blocked, Joey's smirk grew wider.

Blake steadied his breathing, making sure to take a breath with each swing of Excalibur and exhale with every swing of his katana. It was how he was able to keep himself perfectly balanced so his stamina wouldn't wear out fast. But his attacks were weakening with each block of his sword, there was only so much power he could use before he either ran out of magic or his arms exploded from him channeling too much through them. He could vaguely hear Raven's distorted laugh, most likely falling farther into the pits of darkness due to their magic overpowering her. He couldn't let that happen to her, he had to finish this battle now.

His onslaught continued, strike after strike, clang after clang, he continued trying to break through Joey's guard. But with every single strike, Blake was unable to succeed in his endeavor. He threw a downward slash with Excalibur, strike his shield hard, causing the blade to bounce right off. Blake quickly regained his footing, watching Joey swing his sword right at his head, making him duck to the side, the tip of his blade slicing across his left cheek. Joey smirked as the single dribble of blood ran down the edge of the blade. Blake let out a scream of anger, crossing his swords before him, both glowing a striking blue as he channeling his magic through them, activating one of his sword spells. Joey's smirk widened into a grin as he moved his shield, realization washed over Blake's face, when he realized his opponent had just baited him into an attack.

Blake started swinging his blades faster than before, they almost moved on their own leaving trails of light in their wake. He counted the strikes against the shield in his head, one, two, three, each one ending in a stalemate and a shower of sparks. He continued counting, letting out a scream of anger as he spun on his heel, throwing a dual slash at him. He threw a diagonal slash, followed by a horizontal slash, and then a downward slash, finishing with a crossing slash. Each one blocked by his shield. He jumped back, swords aglow as he was about to hit the limit of his attack. There was only one thing on his mind as he channeled his full power into his swords. It was the same look Joey had written on his face.

" _I'm gonna fucking kill you!"_

He let out fierce distorted cry, driving his katana forward with all of his strength, striking the middle of his shield. The blade cracked from the strain, breaking in half from sheer force, stunning not just Blake but everyone else who had been witnessing the fight. He felt the loss of magic hit him, making him freeze in place, as Joey rose his sword in the air, a crimson light swirling around the blade.

"Hope you had a good life, loser!" he said, about to swing his sword.

Blake felt everything going slow motion, watching the blade slowly heading for his neck. He tried to raise Excalibur to guard against the attack, but was moving sluggishly. Exhaustion from both his stamina coupled by his loss of magic made him react much slower than normal. He closed his eyes, bracing for the attack, only it never came. A loud clang filled his eyes, causing him to open his eyes, raven and crimson hair filling his line of sight. Joey's face shifted into one surprise, not expecting the future Queen of Hearts to have closed the distance so quickly, he hadn't even seen her. Blake took his chance, swinging his katana hard against the shield, leaving him open for attack. He quickly pulled a Reversal, pulling Excalibur back, driving it right through Joey's back, the holy sword pierced the armor straight through, a crimson mist tinging the air. He let out a mixture of a gasp and a cry of pain, disbelief written on his face. Blake put his hand on his shoulder, absorbing the magic that made up his armor into his body, a smirk on his face.

"I have accepted it."

"Blake, it's Raven...she's losing control!" Lizzie cried, making the boy look at his sister, eyes widening a bit.

He released his hold on the holy sword, which was still through the boy, who's armor had completely disappeared, leaving him in a tattered black cloak. He grabbed the blade of the sword, trying to pull it out, watching as his blood slowly dripped onto the floor under him. Blake walked away from him, glancing around the room, seeing his sister about to kill Courtly, a deranged look on her face. He started running toward her, hearing Apple and Briar's pleas for her to stop, still she kept going, making a large ball of magic in front of her, aimed at the daughter of the Joker who was crying in fear. He wrapped his arms around the girl, holding her tightly in his grasp.

"Sis, don't do this...don't let her magic warp you! You are too good for your to become Evil! This isn't you, please stop!" he cried, burying his face in her shoulder.

"But...she hurt my friends...I have too...I have too."

"Raven Queen you aren't our mother...I didn't let her magic warp me...don't let it warp you. Please...just stop, for all of us." he said softly, trying to hold back his tears. She felt her legs grow weak as her magic slowly dissipated, returning her to normal. The two just fell to the floor, breathing heavily.

"Blake...are you really...are you really my brother?" she asked, turning to face the boy. He placed a hand on her cheek, wiping her tears away.

"I am...I didn't know...I had my doubts. But ever since the Fairest...I just felt so close to you, like I could tell you anything...then there was that sixth sense. I was worrying about people that weren't blood related, of the people who abandoned me, when my family was right in front of me. I'm sorry, for everything Raven...I'm sorry!" he said, burying his face in her chest, trying hard to bite back his cries.

"Don't be sorry, my mom...our mom, did this to us. She was the one who took something precious, from both of us. She was the one who did all of those atrocities to you...and she'll be the one to answer for it. We will get those answers from her, and we will show her what it's like when she messes with us. Don't you ever be sorry, because I'm not...I love you little brother...I truly do...I always have." she said.

"I love you too big sis, with all my heart." he replied, hugging her tightly.

"How...sickening...here I am...dying and you fucks...still don't understand." Joey cried, finally pulling Excalibur from his body. He placed his hand on his wound, channeling magic from his bracelet, causing it to slowly heal his stab wound. He smirked, blood dripping from Excalibur's blade.

"Give it a rest already you motherfucker, you don't know in how much trouble you are. Not just for all of this, but for attempting to kill my mother, attempting to kill my friends! You will stand trial for your crimes here and in Ever After!" Lizzie shouted, earning a laugh from the boy.

"You don't seem to understand! I will be the next King Arthur, I am going to be King! I have Excalibur, it's all I need! I will destroy each one of you. I will not stop until I kill you all...then I'll laugh, I'll make Blake watch it all, as I disembowel every single bitch who's ever had a thing for him!" he shouted, his face twisted into anger. It seemed he was starting to have a nervous break down. A blur of black and white quickly dashed at him, a single loud clang filling the quiet room. The boy fell to the ground in a heap, finally being knocked out. Duchess stood behind him, holding an iron skillet in her hand.

"Anyone who dares stab my Blake is going to face the wrath of the Black Swan! You piece of shit!" she cried, slamming her foot into his chest, several times even though he was already passed out.

"Well then...I might as well take my leave." Courtly muttered quietly, turning toward the door, only to stop when she saw Ashlynn and Mavis barring her escape.

"Ello darlin, where are you going?" Mavis asked, clearly mocking her accent. Ashlynn grabbed a hold of the girl's shirt, socking her hard across the jaw. She pulled her fist back, uppercutting her chin, sending her sprawling to the floor in a heap. She shook her hand slightly, cracking her knuckles right after.

"Oh...that's for hurting Raven, and for trying to kill Lizzie, bitch!" she said, bumping fists with Mavis. Blake sniffled a bit, wiping his tears away from his face.

"Mavis...could you please never talk like that again? I've had enough of that horrible accent." he said, causing the girl to laugh. It wasn't long before all of them were laughing, at least until the Queen of Hearts walked into the room.

"What is the meaning of this? All of my presents are destroyed!" she shouted.

"Mother, it's alright. Raven and Blake stopped the attackers, they saved your life!" Lizzie cried, sheathing her sword as she raced to her mother's side.

"Ahem, excuse me! I was the one who dealt the final blow with my skillet!" Duchess said, holding the weapon up which still had a red ribbon tied to it.

"Actually dear, that was my skillet, I never used it. So that means I dealt the finishing blow." the Queen of Hearts said, a smirk on her face. Duchess dropped the skillet, throwing her hands up in defeat.

"Meriwether, place those two under arrest! They shall be put on trial for their crimes against the crown. I doubt we need witnesses, but be prepared everyone. They're looking at quite a lot of jail time." Lizzie said, earning a nod from the young man.

"Oh oh, your majesty, could I please say it?" Blake asked, a look of excitement on his face. She rose a brow, giving him a shrug.

"Very well, say it with your chest boy." she said. He nodded, taking a deep breath as Joey and Courtly were starting to come too.

"Guards, OFF WITH THEIR HEADS!" he shouted, his distorted voice echoing through the Present Room, making the castle shake a bit. Lizzie and the Queen of Hearts shared a look, nodding subtly, the boy had definitely passed the test.

"You all think you've won...but you haven't...I'll kill you all...just you see." Joey said, laughing slightly, clutching his head in pain as he was quickly surrounded by guards, who quickly shackled him. Blake walked toward the boy, holding his hand out as a violet mist swirled around it, a small cup with blue cap appearing in his palm.

"Hey Joey, remember that physical exam all of us went through for Midterms? I saved something especially for you. Remember when I told you if you ever did something against me, that I would make you drink your own piss? Well, I hope your thirsty buddy, because I don't break my promises." the boy said, breaking the seal on the cap with a firm twist. For the next ten minutes, Joey's screams filled the Present room along with the twisted laughter from the Son of the Evil Queen.

 _ **xxx**_

Joey and Courtly were swiftly arrested, with the brown haired boy swearing a storm as he was tossed into a carriage alongside his accomplice. He grabbed a hold of the bars as the two chess horses hopped off, taking the two toward the nearby prison. Everyone had slowly started spilling out into the palace, all of them having been officially invited by the Queen of Hearts to her birthday bash. Quite a lot of time had passed, and the sun had started to dip below the sky, the sickly yellow skies starting to glow a lot more than before. The curse still hung in the sky, bringing down the mood only slightly. The music was pumping loudly, and everyone was enjoying themselves to the fullest. Blake found himself leaning against the railing in the balcony, staring out into Wonderland.

It was still surreal, seeing the country he thought was nothing more than pure imagination as an actual place. He had never once thought in his wildest dreams that he would actually be in the land beyond the rabbit hole. Though there had been a sense of urgency during the entire time he had spent there, he had fun through it all. Of course, there were things he hated about the day, having to fight Joey and being stabbed twice being among them. But he was also glad, because he had finally found the answers he was looking for. He held his hand out, seeing the violet flames gathering in his palm.

He was the son of the Evil Queen, Blake Jeremiah Queen...Raven's little brother. The Evil Queen for some reason had gotten rid of him, sending him to Earth, only to bring him back. But he didn't know why she had, he figured it was because people from Earth were sponges for magic. Now that he had his full power, due to him signing his page in the Storybook of Legends, he knew what his purpose was. He was supposed to help Raven poison Apple during their story. And since he had been on Earth, and had gotten used to that world, his magic was increased, if only slightly. The magic he had before was nothing compared to the power he now possessed. He closed his hand, willing his magic away, bringing his eyes back to the land around him.

"Jeez, there you are...I've been looking all over for you."

Blake jumped a bit, rapidly turning around to face his sister. She gave him a once over, her eyes slowly moving over him. A small smile formed on her lips as she closed the distance. She was holding a violet book in her hands, which he realized was the book that held the Wonderland curse written on it. She had found it in the Wonderland Library after getting a tour of the palace by Lizzie a few hours before. He had decided to take some time to himself just to think things over on his own. He leaned back against the railing, arms crossed over his chest, a smirk on his face.

"Is my overprotective big sis worried that her little brother would go on a tangent?" he asked.

"Pfft, no. Even now, you are still such an ass, it's a welcome sight...I'm not sure how we can make up for lost time...we've been apart for the last 13 years. Both of us were lead to believe we were only children, you thought you had been abandoned and I didn't even know you were there. But when I signed the book, I got all of those memories back...I think Apple got some back too." she said, earning a nod from the boy.

"I got some too...the one I remember fondly was of us playing fetch with Prince. Before mom turned him into a bone rat...I remember hugging you tightly when you found out, and I wiped your tears away. You said that I didn't deserve such a cry baby older sister."

"And you said that I wasn't a cry baby, that I was awesome and that I was your hero. And that you loved me with all of your heart." she continued, a fond smile on her face. The two turned to look at the sky, seeing the swirling curse above them, crackling ominously.

"Raven, it's gonna be hard resisting the pull of evil now. I'm never going to let my magic control me, we will rewrite our destiny. But I want us to make a promise right here...that if either of us fall prey to our destiny, that we will do everything in our power to stop it from happening." he said.

"I promise Blake, I'm not going to poison Apple, I love her too much to do that to her. I'm not gonna let my little brother fall to the clutches of evil either...I'll protect you, okay?"

"Hmm...I guess that's fine, as long as you let me protect you in return. You are still a princess after all...and I suppose I'm a prince now...but I'm not wearing a crown...too alluring in my opinion. I could care less about being a prince if I'm being honest."

"Stay humble Blake, perhaps you got that from our father." she said, earning a nod from him.

"Jeremiah Queen...wonder what he was like? He must have been an awesome dad...if he's still alive...let's find him. He deserves to see how his little girl has grown into a woman."

"And he deserves to see his how his little boy grew into an amazing respectable man. Of course, it'll be hard finding him...only our mother knows where he is, and I doubt she's going to tell us willingly." Raven said, a frown on her face.

"Don't worry about her, I have a bone to pick with her...and she has the rest of our magic. One day, I will return to the Mirror Realm, and I will get my answers...even with our full power, I still can't get rid of this mirror shard...she needs to pay for that." Blake said, clenching his fist tightly. They remained silent for awhile, the muffled music filling the balcony. The sounds of laughter could be heard from all of the patrons who had come to the party, including their friends. It must have been awkward for them to see that all go down.

"I need your help, it's the reason why I came out here to get you. Since we found this book, and we have our full power...it's only right that we remove this curse."

"Yes, I know...let's go inside and tell the Queen of Hearts. She might still be a little worried about it, though I doubt we'll fail. Say, you haven't seen Lucy...I mean, Gloriosa in there have you? I wanted to see her again." he asked, lowering his gaze a bit.

"I haven't...the White Queen and Alice showed up here at the same time, but Gloriosa isn't anywhere around. The Cheshire Cat did see her, but she didn't know where she went."

"Oh...that's a shame then...I suppose she's probably too scared to see me again. I mean, it has been over two years on Earth since we've seen each other. And I sort of drove Excalibur through her boyfriend's guts." he said, patting the sword at his hip.

"I'm surprised you were allowed to keep that...I wasn't even sure you could use it."

"The holy sword is a special case, as long as the user has a strong heart, it can be used. The White Queen said that my heart was not only strong enough, but that I had proven myself worthy of holding it. I even got Jessica's approval, since she's the keeper of the sword." he replied.

"Well then, it's time to face the music as you often love to say." she said, giving him a wink.

They headed back into the throne room, which had been converted into a ballroom for the party. All of the walls were covered in hundreds of cards, all of them having different suits. Card soldiers were posted at every entrance, not wanting a repeat of what had happened before. Meriwether and his father the Knave of Hearts were also posted on either side of Lizzie and the Queen of Hearts, ready to fight if need be. Upon seeing them however, the Queen of Hearts stood from her throne, holding her hand up to stop the music.

"Before we can continue the festivities in my honor, I would like to ask for Briar Beauty, Apple White, Kitty Cheshire, Madeline Hatter, Ashlynn Ella, Duchess Swan, and my own daughter Lizzie Hearts, to join Raven and Blake Queen." she said. All of the ones in question stood in front of the queen, shoulder to shoulder, not knowing exactly what she was going to say. Blake stood firm next to his sister, trying to keep his face neutral. Of course this made Raven and Maddie start giggling, causing him to sigh in annoyance.

"You nine traveled from Ever After, here to Wonderland despite the dangerous curse lingering above. Seven of you faced the challenges of Wonderland High and graduated, while the others took it upon themselves to warn me of an imminent attack. Though the battle proved fierce, you have come out the victors. You are all heroes to the crown of Wonderland, all of the ladies, save my sister, shall now be recognized as Grand Duchesses of Wonderland, the highest honor I can bestow upon you...because of course you cannot be Queen, hehe." she said, causing the crowd to burst into applause, all of the girls were stunned, at the news, unable to contain their excitement.

"Aw...I wanted to be a Grand Duchess." Blake muttered, causing Lizzie to laugh, clutching her chest, her voice cutting through the cheers and applause.

"I say Blake, you are still quite the entertaining young man. Remember, I made you a promise back in Ever After, you got me home safely, you defended my mother and our crown."

"And got stabbed, twice." he added, placing a hand over his abdomen.

"Yes quite, I apologize for the pain you must have felt. Still, you did a noble deed for all of Wonderland. So it is with my pride and honor that I name you, Blake Jeremiah Queen, a Royal Knight in the service of My mother, the Queen of Hearts. Not only that, you shall be my personal retainer, effective immediately."

"Yeah! Congratulations Blake! You get to retain Lizzie's honor!" Maddie cried, giving the boy a pat on the shoulder, pulling him from his stupor.

"I...oh wow...Lizzie...thank you. You're an awesome friend, I'm so glad I got to meet all of you, really. For the longest time, I wondered if I had a place in the world. I was so lost, wondering if I truly belonged in Ever After, or even Wonderland to be honest...but now that I know the truth, I'm glad I came here. Yeah, it sucks that my mom decided to stab me in the chest after stabbing me in the back for so long...but hey, I'm still alive, and goddamn it all if I'll let this snag in the road trip me up. Ever After was my home before, but now I'm happy to know that I'm welcome in Wonderland too." he said happily, earning a hug from the Princess of Hearts, along with Apple and Raven, who made him laugh happily.

"Now then, I want everyone to party until there's no tomorrow! Wonderland High is finally free of that horrid Courtly Jester, and our attacker is imprisoned as well. I hope you enjoy yourselves or it's Off with your head!" the Queen cried, though not enough to scare anyone.

"Before anything else, your majesty...I think it's time for me and Raven to give you our birthday present. Sorry we can't wrap it, but honestly, I think its better out of a box." Blake said, taking a hold of Raven's hand.

"If it's what I think it is, then I'm quite happy to have received it without a bow, but just this once." she said, giving them a wink. The two teens stood in the center of the room, back to back, holding their hands into the air, violet magic swirling between them.

"From bad to worse, from worse to better, from Wonderland, we now remove this curse!" they chanted, the swirling magic shot out of their hands, exploding outward, eradicating all traces of the curse that had taken Wonderland prisoner for the last for years.

"The day has dawned, the nightmares done, so let's all party on!" the two chanted, causing a stream of confetti to shoot from all over the place. Blake let out a laugh, shaking his head.

"Wonderland sure knows how to keep us on our toes." he said happily.

"Trust me, you have only scratched the surface! There's a lot of Wonderland to see, and now that the portals will reopen, everyone will get to see just how amazing our home truly is!" Lizzie said happily.

"Such a shame though...I never thought he would fall so far, so fast you know...I always thought he was just acting out. He was my best friend once, even though he was a dick...I didn't think he would end up like that...stabbing me twice, wanting to kill...I just wanna know what went wrong." Blake said, lowering his gaze a bit.

"Jealousy is a powerful motivator...it takes our emotions and warps them. It brings out the ugliness in all of us...but only those who are truly heartless, are lead down that path. You did nothing wrong, you saved our lives, and for that we are eternally grateful." the Princess of Hearts said, pulling the boy in for another hug. He hugged the girl back, earning a glare from the Queen, making him chuckle nervously.

"You're mom looks ready to kill me Lizzie, you did tell her we aren't dating right?" he asked.

"Yes...but you have proven yourself to her, which is why she agreed to make you a knight in our guard. Even though you have no true destiny, aside from your predetermined one, you will always have a place here in Wonderland."

"Thanks for that...you truly are one of my best friends forever after. I'm happy to have met you Lizzie, you still are my heart themed cutie you know." he said, giving her a wink, earning a flush from the girl, who hid her smile behind her hand.

"You're sweet, but I'm sure there's another girl who wants to speak with you right now. Go on, she's around here somewhere." she said, pushing the boy forward into the crowd of people.

 _ **xxx**_

"From hero to zero...all of my plans...gone with the wind...I think I've finally realized...that I was truthfully the one in the wrong. Well played Blake, well played." Joey muttered, leaning back against the wall of his cell. The taste of piss was still in his mouth, something that would haunt him for the rest of his days.

He had been healed by one of the mages in the palace, but the stinging was still there. He had been bested, twice by Blake, he could still feel the searing light of Excalibur burning away from the inside out. It was the worst pain imaginable...but that one last statement, still shook him to his core.

" _I have accepted it."_

It just replayed in his mind...he had readily accepted being the son of the Evil Queen. Because he truly was...he didn't know anything about Blake. Everything he knew went out the window...he had a purpose, he was originally from Ever After...while he was no one...he was just a plain old human stuck in a world where he had no purpose. He didn't even get to sign his page in the King Arthur story. He had thought his well thought out plan had no holes. But when he thought about it, it had more holes than a pasta strainer. It would never hold water, and that was why he was now stuck in a dingy sell in a Wonderland prison, highly guarded and magically protected. Until his trial before the Queen of Hearts, he wouldn't be let out, and he was looking at Decapitation for his offense. Life in prison with luck.

He heard the iron door open, and footsteps echoed through the room. He was located on the last cell, so he didn't have easy access to break out, he didn't have a window to look through either. But he had felt the darkness in the air dissipate...the curse had been lifted, no doubt by Raven and Blake. Siblings, fraternal twins...brother and sister. They had a connection, which was why the Evil Queen had chosen him. It wasn't at random, she was just reclaiming what was rightfully hers. It still didn't make sense, as to why she had done everything she had to him. The footsteps came to a stop, right in front of his cell. He didn't bother looking up at his visitor, he had no reason to even look at them. He just gave them a defeated chuckle.

"Come to gloat at my defeat? That is so unlike you Blake."

"Actually, I'm not Blake, I'm someone scarier than him...scarier than the son of the Evil Queen."

Joey became stock still. That voice...he had heard that voice before...it had heard it many times during his young life. It was the voice of someone he had thought was dead. Of his girlfriend which he loved dearly and had taken for granted for the longest time. Of the one that kept him and Blake friendly toward each other. She was the one who he had said was dead over and over again. He took a shaky breath, picking his head up, his eyes looking right at those glowing blue eyes of hers. She looked different, more Wonderlandish than before. But it was her, porcelain skin, full lips, alluring blue eyes, long curly brown hair, and the biggest bust he had seen growing up.

"Lucy?"

"Gloriosa Lucille White, daughter of the White Queen, actually." she replied, crossing her arms.

"But how...I thought you were dead you...disappeared. Everyone thought you went to the United States...you were here the whole time?"

"Hmm...I was. Remember that sick obsession I had with Wonderland? That place you thought was written by some retard who had nothing but hodgepodge in his dusty old brain? Yeah, that place is real...and I'm actually a Queen. Of Looking-Glass Land in fact." she said. The boy stood up, walking toward the cell door, grabbing onto the bar.

"You can't be real...you aren't really here. You are just a figment of my imagination...you are here because Bigby won...he drove me insane...he drove me insane."

"I am not a figment of your imagination. I am one hundred percent real, and I am here to tell you, that you disgust me. I saw everything you did to Blake, how you stabbed him, threatened to kill the one he loves. How you said you wanted to ruin Duchess Swan's life by signing the name of the man she loves in the wrong page so she can never have him. You are a horrible excuse of a man, and you will be punished to the full extent of the law."

"You don't understand...Lucy, that was all a joke. An innocent harmless prank, please...you have to get me out of here. I can't stay in this jail cell." Joey said, tears running down the sides of his face. She shook her head, tipping her hat back a bit.

"My name is Gloriosa, not Lucy...I am not your Lucy, I never was and I never will be. Anyone who threatens to take the Happily Ever After of any person, is a criminal in my eyes. You tried to take the life of an important person...you a lowly human from Earth realm. There is no salvation for you, you'd be lucky if he forgives you." Gloriosa said, a firm look on her face.

"Pfft, I don't need his forgiveness, I only need you baby. I never stopped loving you, for a single second!"

"You actually think that would work on me? Who the fuck do you think I am? I am a Queen and you shall address me as such. You piece of shit...the sole fact that I let you love me, that I let you have my body in the past, sickens me. How can you outright threaten to do such nasty things to a young woman and then turn around and tell me you love me? Oh, and I know about Faybelle, who do you think told everyone back in Ever After about your involvement in all of this? About you being the Fake Rebel and doing heinous things over there? You aren't just facing charges here sweetheart, you are also facing charges in Ever After. You'll be shoved in a cell so deep in the ground that not even dragons will be able to shit on it." she spat, glaring angrily at the boy.

"Please...this is all a mistake...I didn't mean to do it. I'm sorry, I don't want to go to jail...I have a life, I need to get back to it!" he cried, pleading to the woman he had once loved.

"You could have lived such a beautiful life in Ever After...but you threw it all down the shitter. Congratulations, Joseph Martineu, you are charged with treason against the Wonderlandian Royal Crown. You are charged with attempt at murder, second degree assault and battery, magical assault and battery, threatening to rape a minor, usurpation of destiny, two counts actually. You are charged with violation of privacy in the first degree, three counts, and two counts of conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree. See you in court." she said, giving him a wink as she walked off.

"Lucy...Lucy! You can't do this to me...you bitch! I hope you fucking die! I hope you all fucking die you fucking fairy tale fucks! GAAHH!"

"Oi! Quiet down in there, fore I use force!" one of the guards cried out, causing the boy to shut up. They would pay, oh all of them will pay dearly, starting with Blake, his sister and Lucy.

 _ **xxx**_

Wonderland always seemed to surprise even those who were used to them. Due to the removal of the curse, and the sudden opening of portals, it had caused a lot of people to warp to the Royal Palace, among them being several students from Ever After High, all of them confused as to why they were there and where they were. Though a brief explanation from the Queen set them all straight. It was heartwarming to see the White Rabbit reunite with his daughter, seeing Alistair hugging his mother Alice, and seeing the Mad Hatter back in Wonderland, greeting his sister and his best friend the March Hare with the biggest bro hug he had seen in the last seven years.

It was truly a wonderlandiful day for Wonderland and everyone who got the chance to finally travel there. He was wondering how Headmaster Grimm would react when he found out about everything. He couldn't hide in Wonderland forever after all. Blake had been looking around the party, trying to find someone, but she kept slipping through his fingers, so he was finally taking the time to eat something since he had skipped lunch twice in one day, if that made sense. He was currently leaning back against the wall, drinking some punch, watching everyone having a good time.

"Um, Blake do you think we could talk for one quick minute?" Briar asked, grabbing his attention. He gave her a nod, noticing she was holding the Storybook of Legends in her hands.

"Is this about the book?"

"Not really...I figured you wanted to see your page, since you know...heat of the moment thing." she said, handing him the book. He set his glass down, opening the book to his respective page.

Raven's picture was above his, while his was only half way down the middle of the page. Underneath it was everything that was entailed to them. Upon signing their name on the dotted line, they would inherit the Evil Queen's power and become the next Evil King and Evil Queen for Snow White and the Seven Dwarves and whatever other story required an Evil King or Queen, aside from their main role. On the lines were the names of their respective owners, Raven Queen and Blake Jeremiah Queen. He could still feel the quill in his hand when he traced his finger over his signature.

"I don't regret it, I never will...this is my destiny. It was meant to be, you know? I was meant to sign this page. But I'm not meant to be Evil...I will still be a Rebel, I guess I've always been a Rebel, in my own way." he said. He flipped through the other pages, seeing Apple's page, along with Hunter's, and Ashlynn's and Cerise's, and even Kitty's, which he had stopped on, looking at the picture, the bright grin on her face couldn't help but make him smile.

"I know you don't regret it...it takes guts to do what you did. To sign your name in this book knowing that there was a risk behind it. You overcame that adversity, and were able to beat Joey. I still have a hard time believing he was able to do all of that nasty stuff...but I'm happy to know that he's gone, and you are still here."

"Thanks Briar, it means a lot...I'm happy to be here too. Now that the book is back...you no longer have to feel guilty. There's no shame in rejecting your destiny, it is our choice now...I think." he said, closing the book back up.

"It is...you and Raven have made it that way...I've been meaning to tell you something. For the longest time, since that night you met my mom...I've...sort of had feelings for you. You opened my eyes, showed me there was a silver lining...you defended everyone who wanted to change their destiny, and stood against it every step of the way. I know you aren't my prince charming, and I don't really care...I fell in love with you Blake...I just...had to tell you." she said, making the drop his punch glass, which shattered on the floor.

"I...oh Briar...I didn't know you felt that way...for such a long time too." he said.

"Yeah...it's alright though...I realized just now that you have your eyes set on someone else. I had to tell you, to ease my own heart."

"Briar...I'm sorry. Maybe, if I had known a bit earlier...I would have liked to see where it went. I just...I don't know what to say. I got nothing to say...I'm breaking your heart after all." he said dejectedly, a frown on his face.

"It's alright, just promise me that you'll take care of her, and that you'll treat her with respect. I know you will but...you know."

"I promise, I would say cross my heart, but I don't really feel like sticking a needle in my eye. I might fall asleep after all." he said, earning a scoff from the girl.

"I'm gonna go give this to Raven...I'm sure she'll know what to do with it." she said. She excused herself, leaving the boy to ponder several things. Briar was definitely a sweet girl, and he felt bad that he had broken her heart like that...if he hadn't set his eyes on another girl, he would have loved to see where that relationship went.

After a few seconds, he ended up spotting the girl and quickly pushed himself away from the wall. He steeled his nerves a bit, placing a hand on Excalibur's hilt to reassure himself. After everything that had happened, he doubted anything wrong would happen. He did fear rejection however, it was one of the things that he didn't like. After all, he had been rejected in the past, by his best friend. He had experienced heartbreak as well. But as Holly told him all the time, he couldn't let fear hold him back, or else he would regret not taking the plunge. He took a deep calming breath, placing a smile on his face.

"Hey Kitty, mind if I talk with you real quick? It's important." he said.

"Hmm? Oh sure, I gotta go Maddie, I'll be right back." she said, giving her friend a wink.

"I'll have tea ready for everyone then, and don't you worry, the bread-and-butterflies will definitely be here!" the daughter of the Mad Hatter cried, giving the two a smile.

"I look forward to it, I've never seen a real _butter_ fly, so you better impress me Maddie. I think Mavis wants to talk to you by the way, she's just acting a little shy, go and say something...I know she's missed you forever after." he said. She gave him a nod, bounding off toward the copper haired girl. He and Kitty headed to a more quieter area of the throne room, away from some of the louder people.

"So...what did you wanna talk about? Still getting used to being the son of the Evil Queen?" she asked, giving him a grin.

"No...the novelty hasn't worn off, but trust me...I'm getting there. It's just so mind blowing...but this isn't about that. I wanted to tell you something...I got some memories back...and your mom told me something else too."

"Oh really? What did mom tell you? You know she can be a compulsive liar, so don't take what she said to heart." she said honestly, earning a chuckle from the boy.

"No...I think this one is real...I know they say babies don't remember their early years...but in my minds eye, I saw this one. When I was one, your mom was pregnant with you. She and my mother were close friends, and at this point, she hadn't decided what your name was going to be. She told me I put my hand on her belly and started crying Kitty over and over. She decided then that your name would be Kitty." he said, earning a surprised look from the girl.

"Huh? Are you serious? But she told me it was my dad that named me that...sure he was never around or anything but...even he said once that he had named me Katherine."

"Nope...it was all me, bask in my glory for I have dubbed thee, Kitty Cheshire, daughter of the Cheshire Cat...or Sia since she's asked me to call her that." he said, giving her a smirk.

"Wow, you must have left an impression on my mom if she's allowing you to call her by name. Siamese Cheshire, it's a pun on a cat breed, grandmother thought it would be funny." she said with a giggle.

"It's not a bad name, she could have named her Joseph...oof...too soon?" he asked.

"Not soon enough, I was dying to start making Joey jokes. I was close to driving a sword through the first poor bastard I saw." she said, causing both of them to laugh.

"Oh...we're going to hell." he said, wiping his tear away. She cleared her throat, a look of seriousness on her face as she reached into her pocket, pulling out the orange rose she had kept for months, since the Love Arrow incident.

"I promised you that I would show you what color this rose was if you brought me home. Thankfully, Maddie was able to get me some paint remove, with added rose scent, to revitalize those beautiful roses...apparently, Lizzie's mom has millions of these in bulk." she said, holding the can of paint remover in her hands.

"Uh...that's oddly specific...then again, when you accidentally grow red roses, are forced to paint them white, and then realize you made a mistake...you sort of have to have these in stock. But...I think I don't need to know the color of that rose...it isn't going to help me make my choice, I've already made it." he said, giving the girl a smile.

"Aw, but I wanted you to find out the color first." she said, earning a sigh from the boy.

He snapped his fingers, causing the paint remover to pop open in her hands. He dipped the rose in the can, waiting for a few seconds before removing it, shaking it a bit to remove the orange paint. Just as he had thought, the rose was a soft pink color. He was honestly impressed to see it was still alive after so long, but since it was grown by a Cherub, he doubted it would ever die.

"You know, this rose is rather pretty...your gift to me. I suppose I can give you something too." he said, reaching into his pocket, pulling out a red heart shaped bloom. Kitty's eyes widened a bit, her breath caught in her throat as he placed the bloom in her hands. She looked away from it, her blue eyes looking into his green ones.

"You want me to have this? Do you know what this means? The meaning behind it?" she asked.

"Mhmm...I want you to have it. I fell into a bit of a dark moment during the Fairest, all because of Joey pulling the strings. My break up with Cerise, the topsy-turvy curse...it was all enough to drive me into a pit of depression. But you were there, cheering me up, making me smile. We've had some awesome times, we pulled the sickest prank on Joey...I told you I was stabbed by him before, with Excalibur...when I was on the brink of death, and was about to give up, it was your cute giggle that pushed me away from the darkness. I couldn't die, not without telling you how I felt." he admitted, his cheeks flushed crimson. Kitty's lip quivered a bit, a few tears falling from her eyes.

"I don't deserve you Blake, I mean look at me...I don't think I could handle a serious relationship. I know I tease you a lot, but ever since the Fairest, I've just been feeling weird around you. Even when I'm alone, I find myself wanting to be with you. Do you really want to be in a relationship with someone who's the living embodiment of chaos and mischief?" she asked. He took a hold of her chin, capturing her lips with his own.

She stiffened a bit in surprise, the paint remover clattering to the floor. She didn't know how to react for a fraction of a second, before her emotions took over. She closed her eyes, leaning into the kiss, following his motions as it was her first. He wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her closer as he deepened the kiss, slipping his tongue past her lips. She moaned softly, a soft purr leaving her lips. She didn't care that she was at an important party, she didn't care if people were watching, and she didn't care that she was in Wonderland at the moment. In her mind, she was alone with the guy she had been crushing on for the longest time, and she wasn't ready to let this kiss end. The two didn't even notice the two golden balls of light swirl around them for a few seconds, sinking into their bodies. They didn't notice the two fighting knights that had just burst into the castle, with swords at the ready. They were locked away in their own little world.

From afar, the daughter of Red Riding Hood watched on, feeling her throat tightening in anguish as she saw the two kissing happily. She felt her heart beating wildly in her chest, everything around her had just stopped, her eyes widened in surprise. She lowered her head slightly, feeling tears start to fall from her eyes, rolling onto the floor beneath her. She felt someone wrap their arms around her and looked up, seeing the loving smile on Ramona's face. She buried her face in her shoulder, quiet sniffles being muffled by her shirt. She had waited too long, the man that she had fallen in love with, her first love was gone, and she wasn't getting him back.

 _ **xxx**_

An hour had passed since the beginning of the Queen's party and so far everyone was having a good time. Blake was finally able to relax, knowing that there was no imminent danger. He and Kitty were sitting at one of the empty tables, just listening to the music, which Melody had taken over not long after she had arrived in Wonderland. He had noticed Cerise acting rather weird earlier, but when he had approached her, she just said she was perfectly fine, giving him a fake smile. It made him wonder of something was wrong, but he couldn't probe her at all. Though she did give Kitty a hateful glare for a few seconds, only for her to give her a smile right after. He gave the girl a kiss on the cheek, earning a cute mewl from her, a grin plastered on her face.

"Yo, didn't want to bother you bro, but the Queen of Hearts was wondering if Purple Rhapsody could play a song for her." Dexter said, having approached the table with Raven by his side. Blake stood up, along with Kitty who had taken a hold of his hand.

"I have no issue with it, is Cupid up for it?"

"She is, actually...we have a request from Lizzie...she wanted to sing Shatter Me. Duchess sadly can't perform, she isn't wearing the right dress so her routine has to be cut out, but we're all ready to go on the makeshift stage." he said, pointing over to the area adjacent to the throne, which contained an entire set up, including all of the instruments they had back in Ever After.

"Hmm...I think you should sing Blake, I absolutely adore that song, especially because I was the box keeper." Kitty said.

"Well I was the one who shot the flare." Raven said, tossing her two cents into the pot.

"Now ladies, there's no need to have a dick measuring contest. It wouldn't work, since you are in fact women. Anyway, if Lizzie wants to sing, then I have no issue with that. I guess it can be her present to her mom, though I guess her presence is already enough." he said.

"Well then, let's get too it. Blondie is already set up to record it, she was ranting and raving about the two of you hooking up, she isn't gonna let you live it down. I think Cedar is putting it in the yearbook." the brown haired prince said.

"Yeah yeah, let them live it up. Wonderland just became unblocked so I'll forgive it this time...I'll be right back sweetie, keep Raven safe for me." Blake said, giving Kitty a quick kiss, walking off with his best friend and brother.

"Tch...as if I couldn't defend myself, who does he think he is? My brother?"

"Is that a trick question?" Kitty asked, causing Raven to blink a few times, realization washing over her face. She flushed a bright red, not wanting to face her friend.

Once on the makeshift stage, Blake took a hold of the heart shaped guitar, thankfully a lefty, which he started tuning. Cupid was already in her own spot, standing in front of a microphone, checking over her own guitar. She looked a bit nervous, since this was the biggest crowd they had played for in quite a long time. Playing for Ever After High was one thing, but playing for Ever After High's students, the Wonderland High students, along with all of the Wonderland citizens and Royalty...it was enough to make her wings start fluttering. He put a hand on her shoulder, causing her to yelp in surprise.

"Cupid, I know you're nervous, but just take a deep breath. We've played for all of Ever After remember? The Winter Concert and the Battle of the Bands was broadcast live...we got this!" he said.

"I know but...that's different, people are actually watching us here!" she said.

"It's gonna be fine...just imagine them in their underwear." he said, causing the girl to look back at the crowd. She flushed bright red, looking away from them.

"I can't, some of the guys are hot!"

"Jeez, what are you feeding her Blake? Trying to get her hot and bothered? That exactly doesn't help us." Melody said, a smirk on her face as she took her spot behind her laptop.

"Haha, I'm just trying to get her to calm down. It's been awhile since we've performed for a big crowd...since we're focusing on Heart's on Fire and all." he said.

"Just take a deep breath, or close your eyes. We've played Shatter Me so many times, you should have it memorized by now." Cerise said, her voice sounding a bit raspier than normal. Blake didn't question it, and gave Cupid a nod.

"Yeah, do what Cerise said...just let the music move you." he said.

"Please don't tell me you are getting cold wings Cupid dear, mother is already expecting us to perform." Lizzie said, earning a frown from the girl. She slapped her cheeks a couple times, grabbing a hold of her guitar.

"Alright, I'm not gonna let my nervousness deter me. I'm just gonna shatter through them all!" she said firmly.

"Good, we're about to start, Lizzie you're the lead for this song, so start us out." Melody said, earning a nod from the girl who took hold of the microphone standing in the middle of the stage, with Blake by her side.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, it is with pride and honor that we present, Purple Rhapsody, the number one band of Ever After High. This special song goes out to my mother, the Queen of Hearts, I hope you like it mommy!" she cried.

"Oh, I know I will sweetheart! On with the performance!" the Queen cried out.

Melody took that as the cue to start, pressing the space bar on her computer, the familiar sound of a music box being wound along with xylophone notes echoed from the speakers. Blake took notice of all of the people stepping forward, most of them were from Ever After, looking forward to hearing one of their best songs, while others were about to hear it live for the first time since the Winter Formal. Some who hadn't even been at the Formal were excited to finally hear it. Among them was a young brunette, who was trying her best to remain hidden in the crowd.

" _I pirouette in the dark_

 _I see the stars through a mirror._

 _Tired mechanical heart_

 _Beat till the song disappears!"_

" _Somebody shine a light_

 _I'm frozen by the fear in me_

 _Somebody make me feel alive_

 _And shatter me!_

 _So cut me from the line!_

 _Dizzy spinning endlessly_

 _Somebody make feel alive_

 _And Shatter me!_

 _Shatter Me!"_

Lizzie closed her eyes, as she started walking around the stage in a full circle, spinning almost like a ballerina would. After all of the practicing they had done for the original performance, she had memorized most of Duchess's movements, and since she wasn't able to dance for them, she decided to sing while performing her part, which made the Queen of Hearts smile even wider than before.

" _Somebody make me feel alive_

 _And Shatter me!_

 _If only the clockworks could speak_

 _I wouldn't be so alone._

 _We'd burn every magnet and spring_

 _And spiral into the unknown._

 _Somebody shine a light_

 _I'm frozen by the fear in me_

 _Somebody make me feel alive_

 _And shatter me!_

 _So cut me from the line!_

 _Dizzy spinning endlessly_

 _Somebody make feel alive_

 _And Shatter me!_

 _Shatter Me!_

 _Somebody make me feel alive_

 _And Shatter Me!"_

Blake closed his eyes, running his fingers up and down the neck of his guitar, his hair moving wildly as he started to play the next part, which was honestly the best part in his opinion. Lizzie stopped beside the boy, bowing her head slightly as she prepared for the next part of the song, which was also her favorite part, if her grin was anything to go by. She didn't even notice the brunette making her way to the front row. The black haired boy had been so into the music that he had closed his eyes, wanting to focus solely on his guitar.

" _If I break the glass then I'll have to fly_

 _There's no one to catch me if I take a dive_

 _I'm scared of changing, the days stay the same_

 _The world is spinning, but only in gray._

 _If I break the glass than I'll have to fly_

 _There's no one to catch me if I take a dive_

 _I'm scared of changing, the days stay the same_

 _The world is spinning but only in gray._

As he finished playing, Blake's eyes slowly opened, focusing on the brown haired girl in the front row. He was so surprised that he ended up snapping one of the strings of his guitar, the sharp note echoing through the speakers, mixed into the rest of the melody. Lizzie and Cupid both looked at him, wondering what had caused him to act that way. His hands slowly rose to his mouth, covering it, disbelief written on his face. The brunette gave him a smile, her eyes glittering in the low lighting. Lizzie followed his line of sight, realizing what had caused him to snap his string. Just as fast as it happened, the boy recomposed himself, knowing his cue was fast approaching. He ran his fingers over the neck of his guitar, another sharp note booming through the speakers.

" _Somebody shine a light_

 _I'm frozen by the fear in me_

 _Somebody make me feel alive_

 _And shatter me!_

 _So cut me from the line!_

 _Dizzy spinning endlessly_

 _Somebody make feel alive_

 _And Shatter me!_

 _Somebody make me feel alive_

 _And Shatter me!"_

The last of the notes faded away, and the crowd burst into applause, with the loudest of them all being the Queen of Hearts. Who was showing her love and support for her daughter, her chest swelled with pride as she shouted her little girl's name, making her blush brightly. Blake quickly set his guitar down, handing it to Lizzie, as he started walking off the stage, right toward Gloriosa who practically ran toward the boy, catching him in a tight embrace. They didn't say a single word, just relishing in the feeling of seeing each other again.

"I'm sorry, for not saying anything, for lying for leaving...I'm sorry about it all."

"It's alright, I forgive you...you didn't know anything, you didn't know you were...a Queen...just like I didn't know I was a King here. What matters now is that we're together again and we can make up for lost time. I missed you so much Gloriosa, you have no idea." he said. Her breath hitched in her throat a bit, a small smile appearing on her face.

"I missed you too Blake. You have no idea how much I missed you, but we can make up for lost time now...after all, I did just transfer to Ever After High." she said, giving him a smile as she held his hands in her own.

"I'm glad then...I have a lot to tell you, and a lot of people I want you to meet. They've...helped me see who I truly am, and helped me find where I belong. I wouldn't be who I am, if I hadn't met them. It's...quite the long story."

"I look forward to hearing it."

" _Aw look at that! Blake and Lucy finally got back together again! After so long, oh I wanna hug them so much! After all of the crap Blake has been through, he deserves happiness!"_

" _Brooke, don't try to bring our attention back to the story. We're not done with you yet young lady. You broke quite a few rules while we weren't paying attention, pushing books off the shelf, trying to send a message between worlds...that's very serious stuff."_ Weiss scolded, earning a whimper from the girl.

" _You're mother is right sweetheart, it would have been dangerous if something happened to you."_

" _But nothing happened daddy. We're all fine, the Storybook of Legends is now within the hearts of those who wish to rewrite their destiny. I care so much about these guys, and if they can make their choice...then I will too."_ She replied, a firm tone in her voice. Her parents sighed, knowing they had been beaten.

" _Very well, just be mindful of your choices...remember, they always have consequences. We wouldn't want you to appear on the page would we?"_

" _Pfft, as if that would ever happen."_ the young narrator said, a smirk on her face.

"Hey Brooke, why don't you pick the next song while I restring my guitar. Anything you want, it's the only thing I can do for now. I wasn't aware that bastard had threatened you, but don't worry, he'll get his, I'll make sure." Blake said firmly, a grin on his face.

" _Wait...I can seriously choose? Any song I want?"_

"Ahuh, go for it!"

" _Yes, alright then...how about...oh, how about Machines? I totally love that one."_

"Sure thing, Melody, set up for Machines, it's a request from corporate." he said, earning a shrug from the girl.

"Up next on our playlist, one of our popular songs from the Shatter Me album, available now for download and for sale. For all of you Wonderland kids, you'll be getting a free download code for it, a gift from us to you to commemorate this grand reopening of our worlds!" Melody said, earning cheers from the others.

Beyond the nearby Mirror, the Evil Queen stood, watching the crowd enjoying themselves. But mostly, she watched her two children, a smirk on her face.

"It seems you two have resisted the call of evil once more. I expected it from you Raven, but not from my dear sweet boy. I am quite impressed with your skills...enjoy your full power for now. Step one of my escape plan, is now complete." she said firmly, backing way from the mirror, a few pulses of crimson light racing across its surface, going unnoticed by everyone.


	75. Way Too Wonderland Epilogue

**A/N:**

 **Hello everyone, and welcome to Chapter 75 of Through the Looking Glass. Sorry about not posting anything, I was a little busy working on the next arc of the story, trying to fix some of the underlying problems before I start posting it. This chapter is the sort of epilogue to Way Too Wonderland, but it also sets up for the next arc of the story...so I don't know where to fit it...but that's beside the point. I was also working on Lizzie's special chapter, but I dunno...it doesn't feel right to me. I mean, it does have a lot of sappy stuff in it, and some good moments between the two, but it's a bit shorter than I would like. I only have about 20 pages, and It is complete, but I'm not gonna post it until I can get it to at least 25 pages, I'm trying not to turn it into a lemon chapter, because those can get a little boring, and I already have two starting these alternate relationships.**

 **I also started Briar's chapter, but I only have three pages on that one and I haven't gotten a good idea on where to take it. I was reviewing one of the earlier chapters, Chapter 57 I believe, where she wants to go confess to Blake, but becomes too shy to do it. I was thinking of adding that as the beginning part, and then have Blake give her an answer during the Queen of Hearts's birthday bash. I just want to give it a bit of substance instead of just writing whatever fits in nicely and just posting it. I dunno, I've been having a bit of writer's block as of late. I've also been considering the placement of other chapters as well...like Ramona's segway, I don't feel like it fits in this arc, so I'm putting it off as an alternate ending to a future chapter. Cerise had said previously she wanted to tell Blake how she felt, so her's will be an alternate end to Chapter 74 as I said previously. I was reviewing Chapter 59, and remembered Blake's moment with Darling, and was considering making that part of her segway. Yeah, the alternate endings are all over the place, it's kinda challenging, but also rather fun to place too. Duchess will be getting her segway very soon, in fact it will be an alternate ending to chapter 76. I am also in the process of writing chapter 3 for Ashlynn's segway, as well as the others for Apple and Melody. You can say, I am quite the busy bee.**

 **This chapter will consist mostly of the events following everyone's return from Wonderland. How Gloriosa starts settling into Ever After High, along with Blake's feelings about being the son of the Evil Queen. This will be a major point for the next arc, where he will start questioning himself a lot now that he realizes he was never from Earth in the first place. He will also start getting answers from other people. In fact, in a few chapters ahead of this one, he will get to meet Snow White, and he will also get to talk to the Evil Queen, as well as find out some information about another very important world connected to Ever After. So, I hope you look forward to that.**

 **I might not post anything tomorrow, as I will be once again working on those segway chapters, while beefing up Lizzie's, handling the second chapters for Apple and Melody's, and working on the next story arc. I will however say that the previous stuff that I said, how Bluebeard and Neverland were to be tied together, that has changed. I have decided to save the Neverland Plot for another time. So the next arc will be The Ballad of Bluebeard...if you haven't read that fable, I suggest you do, it's a French Fairy Tale about a nice man, with a ghastly blue beard, often times avoided by women because of said beard. However, he ends up getting married to a young woman who sees past that odd trait and starts falling for him, but she makes a ghastly discovery in his castle...seriously, look it up, it's a very short story that I'm sure you all will like...and if not...eh, it isn't for everyone.**

 **Well guys, I'll leave this chapter here for all of you...I hope you all like it. Like I said, I'm not sure if I'll post tomorrow, but on the off chance I do, then look forward to that chapter, which will continue the subplot of this chapter, which will be centered around our favorite black swan, Duchess. I'll see you all when I see you!**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 75

The Day After Wonder

To say Headmaster Grimm was pissed was an understatement. Not only had half of the school breached the rule about going to Wonderland, but the Storybook of Legends had been pulled apart by Raven, and every page now rested within the hearts of those who were meant to sign it. However, when the White Queen and the Queen of Hearts both came from Wonderland to Ever After, hailing several of his students as heroes...he had no choice but to let them off the hook. While he was mad, mostly because he was worried for their safety, he was indeed glad that the Wonderland Curse was no more. He and Baba Yaga, along with Giles, unblocked all of the natural portals between worlds, liking them all together with Wonderland and Ever After, allowing people to come and go as they pleased.

Along with that, Mavis and Gloriosa officially transferred to Ever After High as students. Since Wonderland High wouldn't be in session for a year, and their principle wouldn't be there, she needed something to do. So she had politely spoken with Headmaster Grimm and he had been able to matriculate them in the school, making them roommates since they were already close friends. He had also been told everything about Joey, and how he was currently awaiting trial in Wonderland for his crimes against the crown. He had been taken aback, especially when Blake showed the man the scars he had gotten from being stabbed through by Excalibur.

Everyone was completely taken aback, not having expecting someone to be so evil. Gloriosa had also given Headmaster Grimm a file filled with laws he had broken in Ever After, all thanks to Faybelle who ratted him out. They had quickly opened his dorm and had searched it, finding a planner with other plans against Blake, and a sick shrine dedicated to Duchess. She was disgusted and appalled by it all, shocked that someone had actually gone that far with their obsession. She had taken all of that and lit it on fire just to prove her hatred. She had even stomped the ashes until they had been ground into the soil, she was blazing mad and not even her sister Ophelia could stop her.

It had been a little weird for Blake when he finally returned to his dorm. He looked at everything differently now, what was once a part of his world, was now a part of Earth. He wasn't even born there, he was the Son of the Evil Queen, abandoned at the age of five, and given to the Bigby family. The ones that had forgotten him weren't even his real family, they were just his care takers while he was in that world. Everything he had experienced there was just an out of world experience, and now he outright didn't belong there. He wasn't going to get rid of anything, but it would take some time to get used to. He sat down on his bed, glancing at the picture of his mother, holding him and his sister as newborns. It was a surreal experience for him, a day ago he had seen that picture and not felt anything toward it. Now he looked at it, and it hit home. That was his mother, that was his sister...it was just something he had trouble getting used to.

Upon returning to Ever After, his clothes had returned to normal, something that disappointed him. Lizzie reassured him that whenever he was in Wonderland, his outfit would change back to that style. It was the magic of the realm, changing his clothes so he would fit in. She had even promised him to make an identical outfit, since he had come to like it so much while he was in Wonderland. The others had also begged her for replicas, which she happily agreed to make for them. She had even designed an entire Wonderlandian collection, featuring styles from her home. Now that she could visit whenever she wanted and get the materials she needed, she had quite a lot on her mind and she was happy to design it all.

Blake had practically fallen asleep as soon as he arrived at his dorm. The fatigue of the day had finally made him pass out. Running through Wonderland, fighting Joey and having to go through so many classes in a short period of time really put it out of him. But he had woken up refreshed the next day, which was actually Wednesday in Ever After, since Wonderland time was one day behind. He had decided to stay in his dorm most of the morning, just laying in bed staring at the ceiling. He had a lot of things to think about after all, digesting everything was just too much for him, that's why he had wanted to be alone.

He was the son of the Evil Queen, he had signed his name in the Storybook of Legends, his page was now nestled in his heart. He had his full power, and now had maximum control over his magic. Not just that, thanks to the mirror shard in his chest, he would still have a higher amount than most people, but Raven was still magically stronger than him since she was the eldest daughter of the Queen and the role of Evil Queen had gone to her instead of him. It was still weird to think about, that he had a role in Snow White helping his sister poison Apple. Not just that, whatever story required an Evil King, he would be the one to take that role, just like Farrah Goodfairy was the next Fairy Godmother and the next Blue Fairy, for The little Glass Slipper and Pinocchio. It was an odd thing to think about, but he had readily accepted it, there was nothing he could do about it.

He heard a knock on the door, pulling him out of his musings. When he sat up, he noticed that it was a quarter to eleven. Normally he would be in class, but the headmaster had given him and practically the whole school off from class. After everything that had happened in Wonderland, he doubted anyone would be looking forward to going to class. He pushed himself to his feet, fixing his cloak a bit as he headed toward the door.

" _Wonder who it could be? I'm pretty sure everyone is actively avoiding me, even my own girlfriend wanted to give me space."_ he thought, opening the door. Raven stood on the other side, a nervous look on his face. Of course it was her, she was the only other person who understood him at the moment. He said nothing, allowing her to come into his room.

"Do you want anything? Water? Juice? Jessica brought some stuff from Earth, something called Namekian Ass Sweat, which I'm pretty sure has alcohol in it."

"Water is fine." she said softly, taking a seat at the edge of the bed. He walked over to his fridge grabbing a couple bottles of water, handing her one. He sat down beside her, both of them looking at the bookshelf on the other side of the room.

"Um...so, how's life?" he asked, causing her to look at him, a single brow raised.

"We just found out we are related, and you ask me how's life?"

"I know, this is awkward." Blake said, bowing his head slightly, cracking his water open. He heard Raven sigh, looking away from him.

"It shouldn't be...I'm happy to know that you and I are truly related. We don't have to say we're brother in sister because of our magic anymore. We are actually siblings, you are my little brother, and I'm your older sister. It's remarkable, exciting...and amazing."

"Hmm...I have a hard time accepting it all...I mean, my entire life was just a facet of lies. I lived on Earth, thinking I had been born on a tropical island, and abandoned by some random couple who didn't want a baby. Now all of that comes crashing down, the Bigby's were my caretakers on Earth, waiting until I was ripe enough to be brought back here, so that mom could take advantage of my new magic absorbing properties."

"You don't know that was her plans for you." she said firmly.

"Come on Rae, what other reason did she have for sending me away? I think I was just a backup plan...in case the Wonderland Curse didn't work out, and she got imprisoned somehow, that she had a way to get enough power after she finally broke free of her prison. Why else would you stab a mirror shard in a person?" he asked.

"Okay...that does seem plausible...of course...we aren't going to find anything out. Mom is the only one that knows the reason behind all of this, why she erased your existence from the minds of everyone around us. Apple got a call last night from her mother...apparently Snow White and my father the Good King, suddenly remembered you. It was like there was a block in their minds." Raven said, taking a sip from her water.

"She did the same thing to them that she did to the Bigby's. They're purpose was fulfilled, they had no reason to remember me anymore. So I was brought back, and she most likely had plans to condition me, to turn me evil so I can accept the role of Evil King, since you didn't want to be the next Evil Queen. But she didn't plan on either of us resisting the pull of darkness, she didn't plan on us rewriting destiny, regardless of if we signed the book or not." Blake said firmly, a smile on his face.

"That's right...I'll always fight for the destiny I want...for my happily ever after. I made my choice on Legacy Day, and I am sticking by it, even if I signed the book, nothing will change me, not even this magic power." she said happily. He took a hold of her hand, slipping his fingers thorough hers, an odd feeling between them, as if their magic was complete.

"I remember holding your hand like this whenever we went out with Snow White. She never liked us, but I remember neither of us cared about it, you would hold Apple's hand and the three of us would just skip down the side walk singing merrily. It's a fond memory that I'm happy to have back."

"Me too...the two of us alone are powerful, but together...we'll be an unstoppable force. Not even our mother will stop us...so she can try and break out of that mirror, we'll be there to stop her. But not before we get our answers out of her." she said firmly.

"That's right, only then can we live our happily ever after the way we want. Just so you know, I gave Dexter my blessing last night...so don't be shy to admit that you two are dating. I know the two of you are shy around each other, but embrace it. Don't let me and Kitty be the only happy ones." he said, a smirk on his face.

"Alright then, if my little brother is asking me...then I guess I'll just have to do it. I'm still surprised though, you and Kitty, really?"

"She was there for me after Cerise and I broke up. She always made me smile, that stupid grin of hers was just ingrained in my mind. She's beautiful, every single inch of her is alluring, but none more than her eyes. I could stare at them for hours." he said, a flush on his cheeks.

"Ew, I don't wanna know about my brothers mushy feelings for his girlfriend!"

"Pfft, bullshit! I see how you look at Dexter...oh, I know I'm evil, but he's still my prince charming, I love him so much!" he said, using his magic to mimic Raven's voice.

"I'm gonna get you Blake, don't you dare force my hand!" she cried, jumping from the bed, holding her hand up a single orb of dark light swirling on it.

"Oh? So you wanna have a magic fight? Alright, now that I'm at full power I'll be able to kick your ass." he said.

"Is that so? Then come on, follow me to the Dark Forest, we'll see which one of us wins!" she said with a grin, disappearing in a violet cloud of mist. He let out a laugh, disappearing right after his sister.

 _ **xxx**_

Gloriosa sighed as she set another box on top of her desk. She looked around her new dorm room, seeing it was completely empty, save for a plain bed, a desk near the only window in the room, a wooden dresser and a vanity. There were several boxes in the room, all filled with things from her home in Marmoreal, not that she could come and go as she pleased, she could always get whatever she needed. She missed all of the things she had back on Earth, but she knew she didn't need them. She was dressed down for the first time in quite a while. She was just wearing a plain black tank top, white shorts and matching white flats, her hair was left down, curled at the ends as always. She wasn't one to dress up unless she was going to a meeting, and she was honestly dying to get out of the get up back in Wonderland.

She and Blake hadn't talked since the concert the night before. She wasn't expecting to see him with a band, to actually be so active in school that he had started one. She had spoken with a few others, saying that Purple Rhapsody had formed back during Ever After High's talent show, before Thronecoming, they had gotten quite popular and become well loved in the school. Even their competition, Yuletide Bliss, admits that they're music is subpar to the one that Purple Rhapsody makes. They put heart and love into every single song, even when they are covers of famous songs. Blake himself had written over half of the songs that they had, with Cupid and Melody writing the others. And while Cupid was the frontman of the band, she admitted that Blake was the one that stole the show, which in her opinion was alright since she didn't like being in the spotlight too often. As long as she was playing her guitar, she was fine with it.

She hadn't just found out about the band, she had also been told that Blake defended the Rebels, at every single turn. When he had found out he couldn't go home and Raven had wanted to sign the book, he had stated that he would take over for her and advocate in their stead. He had lead several people into choosing a side, or switching sides. He had a job with Ginger, and was the manager of her bakery, had high grades in all of his classes, and helped Ashlynn with her store whenever she needed a hand. Not just that, but he was helping Red Riding Hood through her pregnancy, though that tidbit had come from Ramona Badwolf, who she had found out was Red Riding Hood's daughter, which also made Cerise her little sister.

He had written part of the yearbook, taken most of the pictures, pushed Meat Fridays in the castleteria, saved a fellow students life, and then some. She was immensely proud of her best friend, but now that she thought about it with some actual time, she realized that the Blake she knew and the Blake that was in Ever After were two different people. The old Blake would always just sulk and question his existence on Earth, not caring about anything. He would just live day by day in his misery, wondering why the world hated him.

The Blake in Ever After High was completely the opposite, he was happy, energetic, helpful, selfless, sweet and kind. He would help anyone that needed help, stopped bullying with his Pirate Radio station, defended the Rebels and the Royals at times, and had taken the most sacred thing in the world, the Storybook of Legends, and had gotten rid of it, just so his friend Briar didn't sleep for a hundred years, and so Ashlynn and Hunter didn't split up. He was an entirely new person, and she was looking forward to getting to know him.

Of course, Blake had acted a bit weird around her during the party. He had been trying to return her charm bracelet to her. But she had told him to keep it, that she didn't want it after what Joey had done. He had explained to her, how it always gave him strength whenever he needed it. How it had kept her close to his heart when he needed her the most. She almost felt like crying when he had told her that, but she still couldn't accept the bracelet back. Instead she just took off all of the charms from it, adding three she had been saving for awhile.

A golden queen chess piece, a queen playing card, and a charm in the shape of a rabbit, the symbol stood for a rabbit hole, which had eventually lead them together. She had decided to toss the other charms, promising to build a new collection together. He had also given her the charm that her father had created back, but she didn't accept it, instead, she switched the locket on his wrist with their picture in it, for that same charm. She had given it to him, to lead him to Wonderland, and it didn't feel right taking it back. She heard the door open, and saw her friend Mavis, along with Lizzie and Maddie walk into the room.

"Hey Gloria, are you settling in alright?"

"Yeah, I'm settling in fine. After so long, just wondering around Wonderland, staying with Alice and sleeping in the woods...it's nice to just have my own place you know?" she asked, opening one of the boxes, seeing a few sets of clothes from Wonderland, which she had bought at one of the stores before leaving. It also included her Thief outfit, as she had dubbed it. As soon as she started making some money she would have to get more things for herself, seeing as she only have two pairs of underwear and a single night gown.

"I'm sure you are excited to start classes here, even though we only have six weeks before summer break. It'll still give us enough time for tea!" Maddie cried, having already set up everything on top of Mavis's desk. Gloriosa blinked a few times, shaking her head.

"I forgot you could do that...it's been awhile since I've actually sat down for tea. You got no idea how many times Mavis got Tea Fever whenever we didn't have any."

"Hey it isn't my fault! It's a genetic thing!" the copper haired girl cried, placing the last of her boxes on the bed. She had far more things than Gloriosa, since she had never left Wonderland in the first place.

"Anyway, I came to tell you that we were able to find the two a stable job. Our friend Ashlynn has her own business and she's short handed right now...Blake is the one that handles deliveries while Hunter helps her shelve all of the shoes. She said she would start you both at 12 gold an hour, she'll let you know the details later."

"Wow, thanks so much Liz! The last thing I needed was to worry about getting a job here. I had to run the Mad Hatter's tea shop by myself for a few months just to get enough money to get by, it was quite a difficult four years for all of us." Mavis said.

"Mhmm, the quarantine made trade with other worlds impossible, so we didn't have revenue coming in. We couldn't sell tea to the shops in Ever After or Notthingham, our big partners, and everything increased in tax. At least now we have access to the Zap Apple orchard, so we can make some bomb ass Zap Apple pie." Gloriosa said, earning signs from the others. Zap Apple pie was the national pastry of Wonderland, just because of it's amazing ever changing taste.

"Daddy is already picking those apples, he'll have pies ready for Ever After soon enough! It's gonna be fun, seeing as most of the people here haven't tried it yet!" Maddie cried excitedly. Once she had poured tea for all of the girls, she sat down on the floor, taking a dainty sip from the cup, while Mavis was pouring almost all of the sugar into hers.

"Those heathens! I am so looking forward to seeing Blake get a face full of pie. There's a lot of things from Wonderland that I wanna show him." Gloriosa added, dropping a single sugar cube into her tea cup.

"Yes, he was quite adamant about exploring it on our off time. I sort of promised I would be his guide, and you both know Kitty will be there as well...hard to believe those two got together."

"I saw it a mile away Lizzie, practically since they met. She's always had her eye on it, and whenever she was sleeping she would giggle and mutter his name. It was so adorable, of course she made me promise not to tell anyone, or else she would eat Earl Grey."

"But she's never caught him." Gloriosa said, making the girl giggle.

"I know, but I promised anyway, just in case. Earl Grey is way smarter than her, she'll never catch him unless he's asleep."

"Regardless, me and Maddie have also come to officially welcome you both to Ever After. We wanted to give you two the tour so when you start classes on Monday you wouldn't get lost."

"Thanks Liz, it wouldn't be fun if I got lost on my first day of school here. Then again, if I get lost I'll eventually find myself where I wanna be." she replied, a smile on her face.

"You know, Blake said the same thing...you probably taught him that didn't you? The whole, we have to get good and lost in order to find where we are going thing?"

"Yup...you have no idea what a Wonderland nut I was on Earth...all day, every day, even on the weekends. It was always Alice and Wonderland this, Through the Looking-Glass that...Joey always got pissed, but Blake readily accepted it. And he made me watch Titanic for hours on end." she said with a roll of her eyes, taking a sip from her cup.

"Oh, that's such a sad movie...I love it so much, I've asked him to make copies for me. We actually watched it on our first date." Lizzie said, causing Gloriosa to spit out her tea in shock.

"What the hell? You two dated? When? For how long?"

"Um...it was after we visited the Legacy Orchard...we dated for about three days, and if you must now, yes we kissed quite a lot."

"Why did you break up though? You would have made such a cute couple!" Mavis asked, downing her sugary tea, her eye twitching a bit.

"Well you see, Lizzie couldn't date Blake because he was a Rebel and she was a Royal. As the next Queen of Hearts, she couldn't tie herself down to anyone and if she got serious her destiny could come between them. So she decided to stay friends instead, and I don't regret a single moment." Lizzie said, a proud smile on her face.

"Oh my god, has he been around?" she asked, a curious look on her face.

"Well, he did kiss Briar twice, he obviously kissed Lizzie. He's kissed Apple like seven times, seriously from how many times they kissed I would have expected them to hook up. Their babies would have been cute as all hell. He's kissed Duchess and I think they did a little something something, if you catch my drift."

"Dear me Maddie, don't just air Blake's dirty laundry like that, it's private stuff. How do you even know this stuff?"

"Brooke tells me of course. She can go back to previous chapters and read all of the juicy things that the rest of us can't see, she's a total bestie!" she said, gulping down her tea, shoving a scone in her mouth right after.

"He did have a serious relationship with Cerise Hood. It was quite lovely actually, I absolutely adored them. They were so happy and filled with love, the two of them could light an entire room. Seeing her smile, and seeing her compliment Blake was just alluring. But thanks to Joey, he ended up breaking up with Cerise, because he was somehow able to record her reading a personal journal entree. It spiraled out of control and...it was quite sad, for all of us." Lizzie admitted, causing Gloriosa to growl angrily.

"That bastard, he has to pay for all the shit he's done. I knew he was messed up in the head, but to honestly go as far as breaking two people up, threatening to rape someone? Attempting to kill the guy that was once his best friend? What a fucking piece of shit...I can't believe I ever loved him...I feel so disgusting for giving myself to him." she said, hugging herself tightly.

"Oh Gloria, it's alright...it's all in the past right? You did it all out of love, he just didn't appreciate it. That's why he's in a little hobble stewing in his own piss." Maddie said, earning a giggle from Mavis.

"I agree with her, he deserves nothing less than the Queen of Hearts's harshest punishment, and since Lizzie is going to be the prosecutor, the case is already won."

"Now now, we have to lure him into a false sense of security. That way the shock will be much more delicious when he is sentenced. I mean, Blake already made him drink piss, what's worse than that?"

"Getting your head sliced off by the guillotine?" Maddie said, causing the girls to shudder.

"Honestly, death would be great, sending him back to Earth would be greater. But you know what would be the greatest sentence ever? Forcing him to live the rest of his life behind bars, making sure he relives the bullshit he did to all of those people, make him regret all of the lives he ruined. Only then will he be forgiven...and when he is, slice his head off." Gloriosa said firmly, earning nods from the others.

"Well dear, I assure you his court date has been settled, we won't have to do that until the beginning of summer break. Let's forget about it shall we? Come on, let's get this tour ready, they're serving Wonderland dishes at the castleteria today."

"Oh, I hope they have bread-and-butterflies, they always forget the butterflies, it's such an insult!" Maddie said, earning a laugh from Gloriosa and Mavis. They were surely going to love their time in Ever After High, they could already feel it.

 _ **xxx**_

"Come on Blake, you're too slow!" Raven cried, a smirk on her face, several balls of dark light swirling around her body.

"Get real! Look at which one of us is winning!" the boy replied, a Cheshire Grin on his face.

He dashed forward as fast as he could, jumping from side to side to avoid all of the dark blasts Raven sent at him. Jumping into the air, he formed a medium sized ball of magic and flung it at the girl, who easily blocked it with a shield of light. He hissed in annoyance, summoning a blade of darkness, striking it with all of his power, easily shattering the shield she hid behind. Being pushed back from the force behind the hit, Raven used her teleportation spell to warp behind the boy, sending four dark balls of light at him, which were all sliced in half, slamming into the ground around them, adding to the many craters that had already formed.

Raven held her hand outward, sending a swirling beam of darkness at the boy, who rolled out of the way in time to dodge it. It struck the tree where he just stood, causing it to explode into millions of splinters. Blake started running toward her, holding his hands at his sides, two spiraling orbs of magic appearing on his palms. He smirked, willing the two orbs to form large spinning shurikens.

"Rasen Shuriken!" he shouted, flinging the two attacks outward. Raven's eyes followed the two attacks, waiting for just the right moment to jump into the air, avoiding them entirely.

"Hey, no anime moves!"

"All's fair in love and magic sister dear!" he cried back a smirk on his face. She growled angrily, pulling her arms back, a medium sized orb of light appearing between her palms.

"Cosmic...Beam!" she chanted.

She ended up pushing her arms forward launching a spiraling beam of darkness at the boy, who watched as it tore the ground under it apart. He quickly drew Excalibur, using it to slice apart the attack, sucking it into the blade. He pulled the blade back, sending the collected magic outward in a wide blast which Raven was forced to dodge.

"Okay, now you're just cheating."

"You never said I couldn't use Excalibur, but alright, I'll just set it aside." he said, sheathing the blade at his hip. Before they could continue their battle, Kitty Cheshire had appeared on one of the nearby trees, her eyes focused on the entire clearing, a look of admiration on her face.

"Wow, you two tore this field up...look at all of those holes!" she said.

"Eh? Oh, hey Kitty...did you just get here?" Blake asked, earning a nod from the girl. She flashed in front of him, giving him a kiss on the lips, giggling right after.

"Hi Kitty, is something the matter? Or did we disturb your mid-morning nap?" Raven asked.

"Mmm, nope. I was just wondering as I always do, noticed some explosions and figured you two were blowing some steam. Of course, there are other ways to do that, you know." she said, a grin on her face.

"Pfft, please...only you would suggest that...although, she does have a point sis. We tore this place up, we normally wouldn't get that far, but we do have our full power now." Blake said, rubbing his neck in embarrassment.

"Yeah...you're right. I guess we can just call this one a draw, now that we are at full power, we have to keep honing our magic, you never know what'll happen." she said firmly. The two shared a hug, chuckling a bit at all of the destruction they had caused.

"Thanks for the training sis, I had fun. Why don't you go hang out with Dexter? I'm sure he misses you."

"Sure...try not to kiss for too long. The last thing we need is either of you eating each other. Later guys." Raven said, disappearing in a cloud of mist.

"I'm still getting used to all this you know, you being Raven's biological brother. It's weird." Kitty said, moving to inspect one of the deep craters left behind from the magic battle.

"I know, it just takes some time to get used too. At least we're free to travel to and from Wonderland whenever we want now, there are a lot of things I wanna check out."

"I'll be your tour guide then...Lizzie said she wanted to join us whenever we did go. So you'll have to retain her honor while we are there." she said, giving him a wink.

"Of course...a knight in the service of the Queen of Hearts, savior of Wonderland...all I wanted was to find the Storybook yet I still become the most popular person here, among nine people of course. Funny how the world works." he replied.

"Yup...but now that you know the Evil Queen is your mom, what are you gonna do? Are you gonna try and talk to her? Get some answers out of her?" Kitty asked, turning to face the boy. He shrugged, shoving his hands in his pockets, glancing toward the sky.

"There are things I wanna ask, things I need to know. But it isn't the right time, I'm still getting used to all of this. It's all fresh you know? So I'll just wait until all of this dies down, before I attempt to ask her anything. You wanna take a walk through town? I gotta clear my mind for a bit." he asked, earning a nod from her.

"Duchess was gonna dance on the lake, I sort of wanted to watch her for a bit. I find it strangely relaxing, and the breeze coming off the water feels really nice."

"Hehe, alright...I have no issue going to the lake." he said, taking a hold of her hand, leading her toward town.

 _ **xxx**_

Faybelle didn't feel a single ounce of regret for what she had done. She didn't trust Joey for a single moment, sure she had agreed to go on a date with him, but that was just a rouse. She wanted to get his trust, so she could easily get access to several things in his room. Once he had decided to put his plan in action, she had gone to his room and started searching around. What she found was the most horrible collection of things she had ever seen, and she was the daughter of the Dark Fairy. She was the living embodiment of evil and wickedness, but Joey had her beat.

She found a notebook filled to the brim with the phrase, Blake Bigby has to die written over and over again, every single inch of every single page had that phrase in English, French and Latin. It was just so creepy to even flip through it. She had found another leather bound book, which contained several plans inside it. It had an improved Plan Beta, which was the separation plan. It detailed how he was going to steal the journals of Duchess, Melody and Apple and broadcast the most personal entrees over the PA system.

Not only had she found that, but she had also found the laptop he used to steal information from Melody's room. She had found the old phone and plugin to get access to the PA, and a magic key that opened the lock to the basement door that lead down to the old school building below the castle itself. Finding out that he had been the one reading her best friend's private journal just made her even angrier than before. She had found another plan, called Plan Delta, which was to take place after he got Excalibur.

This plan was set after he killed the Queen of Hearts and Lizzie Hearts, to eliminate the rulers of Wonderland. He would find the Evil Queen and set her free, after that he was going to take Blake and crucify him outside of his beloved school, and he would bring in the person he cherished the most, and cut their heart out right in front of him. He would force the boy to watch as they died, and he would continue doing that, until everyone he held dear was dead. After which, he would kill Blake by slowly making him bleed to death, keeping him alive just so he could see Ever After being destroyed as his final moments alive.

Among that list, were his sister Raven, Briar, Lizzie, Kitty, Apple, Ashlynn, Hunter, Dexter, Melody, Cupid, Darling, Daring, Cerise, Ramona and even Duchess. There were several other names, but they weren't prioritized as important, but would still be tortured to death nonetheless. If that plan failed, he had Plan Epsilon, which apparently had him kill the Evil Queen, absorb her power, kill Raven and absorb her power as well, and end with him signing his name in Raven Queen's page, thus making him unstoppable. Not only that, but it also had him killing Faybelle for her own dark magic. He wanted nothing more than to rule over Ever After and the other realms, and claim all of the attractive women for his _harem._ It was the most disgusting thing she had seen in his room, at least until she opened his closet and found that sick shrine dedicated to Duchess.

He had photo copies of diary entrees pinned to a corkboard, along with pictures of Duchess bathing. There was a video of her dancing on the lake, videos of her dancing on ice, her performance at the Winter Formal. There were several pictures cut out from the Griffon where Duchess was praised for her dancing, from the talent show, from Thronecoming and all of the other school wide events. There was even one of Duchess sleeping during one of her off classes and one of her changing in the locker rooms. Faybelle had almost thrown up from how sick to her stomach she had gotten. She had lost it when she found the voodoo doll with pins stabbed through the heart, in some sick ritual to cause the girl to fall in love with him.

As soon as she had seen all of this, she had gone to Jack, Frost and Pierre. The three of them had laid eyes on everything and had just been stunned. They didn't think their band mate and almost best friend had been so sick to the head. Jack had grabbed the notebook and taken it with him, to translate it and figure out what it meant, it was there that they ran into Jessica and Jack himself ended up leaving for Wonderland. But Faybelle took it upon herself to tell Headmaster Grimm and Baba Yaga. Of course the Headmaster thought it was all a prank and Baba Yaga had been too busy to even care. But when Giles Grimm and the Fairy Queen came to look at his room, they were so stunned that they had canceled classes for the rest of the day, despite classes being extended due to the fake gas leak.

Afterwards, the room had been closed off, while officers took pictures of everything, and started building a case. It had been so serious that Snow White had been alerted, and since she was the ruler of the Enchanted Forest and the areas around it, she would be the judge for this case. So not only was Joey facing charges against the crown in Wonderland, but he was facing charges against the crown in Ever After. It was going to be the biggest trial in the history of the Fairytale world, and everyone in Ever After High had a front row seat to it. Blake had felt entirely responsible for it all, since it was his wish that brought him to Ever After in the first place. He had been so distraught when he saw everything that he wanted to disappear, but he was reassured that his wish had nothing to do with it. It was Joey himself who decided to do the horrible things he had done, not Blake.

The daughter of the Dark Fairy and head cheerleader of the Ever After High Fairies was currently in the main hall of the school, looking at all of the pictures Duchess had sent her. She hadn't been able to attend the party, but her friend had taken a lot of pictures of Wonderland and of the party, even one of Blake and Kitty kissing under the disco ball. She remembered, having walked to Hocus Latte for a cafe espresso when a random ball of light struck her in the chest. She had seen several others flying all over the place, homing in on different people, flying in all directions and to a different manner of places.

It was only after Duchess had messaged her that she found out they were the pages of the Storybook of Legends, which had been pulled apart by Raven, its pages sent to their rightful owners, so that they could decide what they wished to be. The Royal/Rebel conflict had finally come to an end, and everyone got to decide their destiny. It was almost bitter sweet to her, but she was at least happy that Raven wasn't going to steal her destiny. She still wanted to be Evil like her mother, but she would be a kinder person, at least for now.

"Hey, there you are, you fucking traitor!" a booming voice cried, causing Faybelle to look away from her phone. The halls shook as the hulking form of Tobias LeGume, who looked extremely angry, walked toward her. She pushed herself away from the lockers, standing tall and firm as the boy came to a stop before her.

"What the hell do you want you Roid chomping mongoloid?" she snapped, a rather annoyed tone in her voice.

"What I want is justice, how could you do that to him? He liked you, and you stabbed him in the back!"

"Oh...I see what this is about. Listen, you were just his pawn, nothing more nothing less. That was all that we were, he put himself as the King in his chess game, and he was slowly amassing other chess pieces. I was nothing more than a bishop, and if he succeeded, I was to be his Queen. He was slowly making moves, trying to get what he wanted. But his plans were foiled, and he's in jail where he deserves to be." she replied, a smirk on her face.

"You're sick...I thought you actually liked him." he cried, earning a chuckle from her.

"Me? Like someone like him? Let me clue you in on something, I am the daughter of the Dark Fairy. I was only friends with him, because he was evil and had really good plans, but when you bring my best friend into it, that's when I draw the line. You do not attack family, and you do not threaten to rape friends. So I lead him to believe I had actually started to like him, so that I could disband his little operation, there is only space for one evil person in Ever After High, and that is me." she said. Tobias snapped, throwing a punch at a locker behind her, denting right through the door, a sickening twisting metallic found filling the hall, causing all of those nearby to turn in their direction.

"How dare you...you're sick! He trusted you and you just stabbed him in the back!"

"Pfft...bullshit, he didn't trust me. He had plans to suck my magic out of me the first chance he got, he had plans for you too. You were to be his knight, and when you had outlived your purpose he would discard you. That's all he ever did, discard people for his own selfish gain, and that selfish gain was him killing Blake. He wanted to kill all of us, to take over Ever After!"

"No he didn't Faybelle. You are just saying that because you are desperate for a attention. Because you are guilty of what you did, now because of you, one of my friends is gone and his likely facing life in prison, at best." Tobias snapped, causing Faybelle to laugh. She turned away from him, wings fluttering as she walked.

"Good, there is a difference between justice and punishment. Justice, is when everyone involved in the crimes committed by a person, finally get to see the gratification of that person, getting what he rightfully deserves. Punishment however, is something else entirely. When you decide to take over a country, attempt to kill two royals, want to rape someones best friend due to some sick fascination with her, and want to stab your former friend in the back because he was nice to everyone he met...what I did was nothing short of punishment. He needed it, he deserved it...I told him not to fuck with Duchess, and he broke that rule. So I punished him, and he's gonna get punished by the Queen of Hearts and Snow White, only then will we get the instant gratification of justice being served!" she said, grin on her face.

"Why, I aught to beat the shit out of you! You don't deserve to be in this school, you are just sick and twisted just like your mother!"

"Aw, thank you! That means so much to me!" Faybelle said, a happy look on her face. Tobias growled angrily, approaching the young woman when he someone else stepped in front of her.

"I will not allow you to lay a finger on this young woman. Though she is a villain, she is considered a hero for her actions. Because of her, that sick bastard Joey is out of our lives, hopefully forever after. My mother is safe, and we have evidence against him, so back off."

"Lizzie...are you serious right now? I thought we were friends!" Tobias snapped, earning a sigh from the future Queen of Hearts.

"We were Tobias, we were...Duchess was your friend too. Or did all of those card games mean nothing to you? What happened to you sweetheart? You used to be so nice and kindhearted, did your father really warp your mind in this manner? The old you would have jumped at the chance to save a friend."

"This has nothing to do with my father...all he did was open my eyes...but I see how it is...it's all because of him! That blasted Blake Bigby, he's ruining Ever After, turning you all against destiny! Ever since he arrived in this world, he's done nothing but ruin everything! Look at what he did to Henry! Look at what he did to Joey, his so called best friend!"

"You're wrong! He saved lives, that's what he did! He saved Jack's life from Henry, he saved mine and Kitty's that night. He fought against Joey, he saved my mother's life, he broke the curse on my home. You have no right to say anything about him. It wasn't you who got stabbed through twice, once with Excalibur, which was killing him from the inside out! He is a hero, and he belongs here just as much as anyone else does, he's the son of the Evil Queen after all!" Lizzie shouted back, her booming voice doing nothing to scare the boy, who just chuckled.

"The Son of the Evil Queen, yeah right. How do we know he isn't faking it? How do we know he truly is the son of the Evil Queen? He could have just signed his name in that book and claimed it to be so." Tobias said, a delusional look on his face.

"Hey buddy, you know that thing in your head, it's called a brain, use it more often. Someone who doesn't have a destiny can't sign the Storybook of Legends. The only reason Joey was going to, was because the Pendragon Family has no heir, so anyone can become the next King Arthur. Seriously, it's call common sense." Faybelle said, arms crossed in annoyance.

"You shut up! Neither of you deserve to be in this school, how can you even turn your back against someone like that? He messed up sure, but come on...you readily forgive someone like Raven Queen, who almost destroyed all of our destinies, but you can't forgive Joey for a simple mistake."

"First off, how can you seriously say Joey made a simple mistake? He was planning on murdering all of us in cold blood. Just so he could have the satisfaction of seeing Blake in agony, just before he killed him. He wanted to take over Ever After and Wonderland, he was going to kill the Evil Queen for her magic...is this seriously flying over your head? Also, don't you dare bring Raven into this...she's more of a hero than anyone in this school. She saved lives, unlike Joey, that piece of shit deserves the harshest sentence my mother and Snow White can dish out to him. And if you want to defend him so much, then go ahead and do it, just know you'll be charged as his accomplice." Lizzie said, a smirk on her face. The boy growled, his arm snapping forward to grab her.

He felt a sharp pain in his leg, before he was slammed onto his back. It all happened so quickly that he didn't even know what was happening. He was panting for breath, unable to breathe as the air had exploded from his lungs. His eyes were widened with shock, when he saw the tip of a glowing white blade right above his face. He felt someone put their weight on his chest, holding him place. He blinked a few times, seeing a rather pissed off Blake standing above him, holding the holy sword tightly in his hand. He wasn't alone, Darling Charming was standing at his side, her own sword aimed at the boy.

"I'm only gonna say this once...if you ever, ever...attempt to lay a hand on Lizzie again, I will kill you. This is the holy sword Excalibur...it's enchanted with a special magical light, that eradicates darkness from within. I was stabbed through with it, its the most horrifying pain in the world...it feels like your body is being cut in half, molecule by molecule, in the most painful way possible. Losing a limb, being shot, being frozen...it has nothing on this holy light...don't make me use it on you." he said.

"Fuck you...you think you're so cool...because you have the holy sword?"

"Actually, Alistair granted me the use of the Vorpal Blade...I hear getting your arm cut off by it hurts like hell. This sword apparently cuts everything in half, right at the cellular level...meaning I can easily cut you with a flick of the wrist. Best of all, it doesn't need to be sharpened...it's just a loan for now, but I need it for my job. So don't make us slice you to bits piece by piece Toby." Darling said, a smirk on her face. Blake backed away from the boy, standing to Lizzie's left, while Darling took her right. The boy sat up, glancing at the two of them, holding their swords at the ready.

"Tobias, I want you to meet two dear friends of mine. Blake Queen and Darling Charming, though you knew them before, now they're roles are a little different. Both of them are knights in the service of my mother, not just that...they are my personal retainers. Ready to defend my life until they're dying breath...oh and don't worry. Even if they were to die, I can still fight and I will kill anyone who dares attempt killing either of them or myself. So go ahead, fuck with me...because I assure you, these two will fuck you...they will fuck you long, hard and painfully." she said.

"You're crazy...you're all crazy! You won't get away with this!" he cried, quickly getting up, running out of the foyer. Blake sighed, sheathing his sword at his hip. Darling did the same turning to face Lizzie, looking her over for injury.

"Are you alright Liz?"

"I'm quite alright...I was waiting to announce the two of you...I suppose I got a good chance there. Sorry I had to call the two of you here, but when Faybelle was in trouble, I just had to step in for her."

"No worries Liz, I can teleport now so it isn't an issue to me. Kitty is waiting for me at the lake though, so I gotta head back. Call me if you need me." the boy said, giving her a wink as he disappeared in a violet mist.

"Lucky, I gotta walk everywhere. Are you gonna be alright Lizzie?"

"I'll be fine Darling, I'm not easily intimidated. I can see you are enjoying your new position, it was your dream to be a knight right?"

"Of course, but I still haven't told my father...please don't let him know about it. I'm not ready to tell him yet, I'm not even supposed to have a sword. I can't believe me and Blake already fulfilled our promise, it's sort of crazy." she said, glancing at the scar on her palm, a fond smile on her face.

"Promise, what's all this about?" Faybelle asked, curious about what the platinum blonde was referring too. She giggled, shaking her head.

"Sorry Fay, but that's my personal secret, you'll understand one day. I've gotta go, Daring wants to see just how strong his little sis is with a sword. Any chance I get to whoop his ass is a good day for me." she said with a grin heading off toward the Grimmnasium.

"Well, that sounds entertaining...but I've got my own things to do. Try not to piss Toby off anymore, okay Faybelle? He's still confused."

"No promises Liz, see ya...and thanks for bailing me out...I guess." the dark fairy said, fluttering away. Lizzie smiled a bit, Ever After was just a little different now, for better and for worse, but she knew it would make the school that much more amazing.

 _ **xxx**_

"So, you swept him off his feet? And slammed his ass to the ground?" Kitty asked, earning a nod from the black haired boy.

"Yup, you should have seen it. He was scared shitless, Excalibur was this close to touching his nose." he said, holding his fingers close together to prove his point.

"You should have taken me with you...better yet, I should have just come with. I can teleport too...I feel so dumb now."

"Come on sweetie, it's alright. I'm sure the world will present us with more chances to make an ass out of Tobias." he said, wrapping his arm around her waist, pulling her closer to him. They were leaning against a large tree, looking out into the lake. Duchess hadn't shown up yet, but all of the swans were happily swimming around, splashing each other with water, honking rather happily.

"I'm looking forward to the next few weeks. We gotta study hard for finals, and now I'm sure you'll pass with flying colors, without Joey fucking it up."

"Mhmm, you better help me study babe, I already got plans for what we're doing during the summer. I have this idea to start a Milkshake shop, just for the summer. I'll need your help, but no eating the ice cream." he said, earning a giggle from the girl, who gave him a kiss on the cheek.

"I don't plan on it...still I like the idea, but what about your job at Spells Kitchen? Wouldn't this interfere with it?" she asked curiously.

"Ah, that's the thing. Ginger asked me to make this an addition to Spells Kitchen, so the revenue will go to the store, but the winnings will be split in half, so half goes to Ginger and half will be mine...for supplies and stuff." he said.

"Hmm...okay, I suppose you'll need an employee...seeing as these shakes are starting to become popular among our friends. Won't be long until Blondie hears about them."

"Ugh...knowing her, she'll blow it out of proportion and then I'll have a stream of Ever Afterlings at my damn door asking me about the Shamrock shake." Blake said, a frown on his face.

"Well, it is the best thing ever created by man...and your the only one in Ever After who can do it. That makes it special, and I'm happy to know that you'll make me one whenever I want." she said, giving him a wink.

"Uh...no."

"Aw...even for my birthday? It's coming up you know." she added, earning a sigh from him

"Okay fine, I'll make it for you on your birthday. But you have to behave yourself, alright sweetheart?" he asked, earning a nod from the girl. She gave him a kiss on the lips, a giggle leaving her lips.

"I love you Blake." she said, wrapping her arms around the boy. He smiled, running his fingers through her hair.

"I love you too Kitty, I have for awhile...ever since the Spring Fairest...I'm having a hard time deciding which outfit you look cuter in. Your Spring outfit, or your Wonderland outfit."

"That is a hard pick...I like the Wonderland outfit, it makes me feel happy and at home. And yellow looks good on me, if I'm being honest...hey look, Duchess is here." she said, pointing to the lake. There was a black swan swimming in circles around the other White Swans, who were all splashing water at it.

This swan however looked a little different than Duchess did. For one, she wasn't wearing a crown like the Swan Princess normally did. She was also missing her precious amethyst necklace as well, even in Swan form, Duchess always had those on her. This swan didn't have a single thing on her, in fact it looked a lot bigger than the other swans, and quite a bit older too. Blake stood up, moving toward the edge of the lake, kneeing down before the edge of it, trying to look closer at the swan. He tapped the water a bit, grabbing its attention, it started swimming toward him, stopping near the edge of the lake.

"Duchess, is that you?" he asked, earning a loud honk from the swan. He looked back Kitty, who had a confused look on her face.

"I don't think this is Duchess...I mean, she barely goes into her swan form unless she's playing with Pirouette, and I didn't see her among those other swans." she said.

"Eh? But she's the only one who can turn into a black swan unless...no...no..." he turned to face the swan, who hadn't moved a single inch from its spot. He looked right into its eyes, seeing a light brown hue in its irises, instead of a darker color like most other swans. He held his arms out, and the swan slowly swam toward him, until he was able to pick her up from the water.

"Blake? What's wrong?" Kitty asked, watching as the boy stood up and turned around.

"This isn't Duchess...this is her mother Odette."

"What? Are you serious?" she asked, clearly taken aback. The swan in his arms let out a soft honk, as if agreeing to his statement.

"I didn't think she would actually be swimming around here. She's still cursed, being stuck in this form must be so hard for her." he said, a sad look on his face.

"She must have been watching her daughter for so long...unable to do anything...it's so sad." Kitty said, a single tear slipping from her eye. The two remained silent, only for Kitty to gasp a second later, clapping her hands loudly.

"Blake, you can break her curse!"

"Huh? How the hell do you assume I can do that?"

"Because! You're the son of the Evil Queen, you have the magic power, you can easily break this curse. You can give her a human body again!" she said, causing the boy to shake his head.

"I can't do that...that's going against destiny, a destiny that's already been signed. Odette Swan signed the Storybook of Legends over twenty years ago, her story ended, I can't just turn back the clock and stop her from doing that." he said, hugging the swan close to himself.

"There has to be something...anything. No one deserves to grow up not knowing their parents...you've been saying that forever haven't you? Wouldn't you want to give this chance to Duchess?"

"I would love to do that Kitty, more than anything. She's one of my best friends, and she deserves to meet her mother. But I can't just...mess with destiny like that...signing the Storybook for myself...that was as close as it got...I don't think I can plunge any further." he said, glancing at the ground below him. He heard the girl sigh, using her hand to pull his head up, looking right into his eyes.

"Fine, instead of an awesome milkshake, I want you to break Odette's curse for my birthday. I want you to return her to human form and make it so Duchess can meet her."

"Are...are you serious? Kitty, I don't know the first thing about breaking a curse like this."

"You broke the Wonderland curse, you brought us to Wonderland...if you can do that...then you can definitely do this. I believe in you okay? I know you can do this, because you are the Son of the Evil Queen." she said, placing a hand on his cheek. He sighed, closing his eyes, thinking it over. He finally gave her a nod, glancing down at the swan in his arms.

"Alright, I'm gonna try. I'll break your curse Odette...you will get to meet your daughter...you'll get to hug her, and be with her like I know you should be...like you deserve." he said, earning a somber honk from the swan, who rubbed her head against his chest.

 _ **xxx**_

Rain was falling over the tall ghastly estate, nestled around a tall forest. It was a large European style castle, with three stories surrounded by stone walls and a large moat. It was made from glimmering limestone, each of the guard towers had several lamps, keeping the firelight visible from all corners of the forest. A single tower rose above the entire building, a cone shaped roof topped it, a single window facing the forest path. Anyone who happened upon this castle by chance would always wonder who owned it, as it was in the middle of nowhere, those who were brave enough to knock on the door were met with the most luxurious comforts. It wasn't all the same for any beautiful woman that happened to pass through those doors.

A lone figure was making his way through the darkened halls of the castle, an oil lamp in his hand. He continued walking, placing a hand on his sword as he did, his armor making the lightest of sounds as he continued moving forward. Lightning cut across the sky, a dull blue flash lighting the halls for a few brief seconds at a time, as the fierce winds continued to assault the stone and masonry of the beautiful castle. Upon reaching the throne room, the figure continued walking, down the crimson runner, which was hardly visible in the near darkness of the chamber. A lone window was opened, letting the winds of the storm outside into the castle, along with a few stray droplets of water. The figure knelt down before the throne, his head bowed before the figure who sat on it.

"My liege, you have called for me?" he asked, his voice founding firm.

"Yes...it seems something has happened with the Storybook of Legends. No longer do we have to go to Ever After High and enroll for our chance to sign. Our pages are right here my friend." the man said, holding his hand over his heart, summoning his page which was shimmering brightly.

"Yes...it was quite interesting, the wind carries the news. It seems Wonderland has become unblocked, not just that...it seems one of the people I hate the most in the world, turned out to be the son of the Evil Queen...the lost child."

"Oh...that is quite interesting my friend...but this is more important...in a few months time...I plan to send a message to Snow White. I require your assistance...I no longer possess knights to fight in my honor...so that's why I searched for you. Going to Arrendale was quite a pain in my ass, so don't make me regret it." he said, earning a chuckle from the boy, who picked his head up.

"Trust me sir, I will not disappoint you." he replied. The man rolled his eyes, leaning forward a bit, a mop of blue hair visible on top of his head.

"Please, call me Felipe, and I shall call you Henry...it is your name after all. So, Henry...are you ready to get your revenge on Ever After High, for expelling you wrongfully? For picking a foreigner instead of you?" the man asked.

"I am, I will do as you ask...I will bring Apple White to you, and I shall help you with anything else. As long as you don't mind me grabbing a few other girls. Girls who mean the world to the boy, who I'm sure will add to the legacy your father left behind." he said. The man shook his head, leaning out of the light.

"My father was a sick twisted man, he left no legacy for me. My mother wasn't aware she was pregnant until she got together with another man. She doesn't know my true destiny...she abandoned me after all...but I will fulfill it." he said, holding his hand out, a white quill appearing in his hand. He grabbed a hold of the sheet of paper, signing his name across it. Felipe Bluebeard. The quill disappeared, the page glowing brilliantly as it disappeared into his body, he could already feel the stubble on his face.

"I'll hold off on my destiny, I still need to head to Neverland to kill Crystal's half sister Annaise, after which I will kill her and then take over the entire Snow Kingdom, that'll teach Elsa for getting my father arrested."

"It'll be a pleasure working with you then, Sir Henry of the Southern Isles. Oh, just thinking about the future makes my beard each." Felipe said, breaking into a boisterous laugh, causing Henry to chuckle awkwardly.

" _It doesn't matter how insane this bastard is, he got me out of jail...and I will get my revenge on Ever After High, especially on that Foreigner. He will know the wrath of Henry Anderson...oh yes they will."_


	76. Return of the Swan Queen I

**A/N:**

 **Hey guys, welcome to Chapter 76 of Through the Looking Glass. This is the first chapter in the mini-arc revolving around Duchess Swan, it's only gonna be two chapters long, just a little bit of filler before the next arc begins. I've actually been planning this chapter for quite awhile, and had been considering writing it after Spring Unsprung, but I decided to write it after Way Too Wonderland, because the Storybook of Legends was involved in the main plot of it. The theme behind this chapter is the reversal of destiny, and whether its possible to change something once it has come to pass. You'll figure that out as you read, and you already know from the previous chapter that Kitty asked Blake to break Odette's curse. After all, she deserves to be a human, and be with her daughter. They have never met, so she has a right to meet her daughter and not watch her from afar.**

 **As I said before one of the underlying parts from the next few chapters will also be Blake coping with the discovery of his lineage. But this will be more apparent in the following chapters, as the plot of The Ballad of Bluebeard starts kicking in. That arc might not have a prelude, but you'll be able to see a bit more of Felipe Bluebeard, of course you won't get to see the fucked up shit he has already done until later on in the arc, along with one of his plans and the reason why he's doing all of this in the first place.**

 **But for this chapter, we will focus mostly on Blake's hunt for answers, revolving around destiny and some information about the Storybook of Legends itself. I have no idea how this book came to be, or how it was created, my belief is that Milton Grimm was the one who created it, and when the story characters started to attend school, that's when they vowed to relive the stories and follow them. Obviously, Giles wanted freedom from the stories, and give everyone the right to choose, and after the Bella Twins ran off, that made Milton a little wary of those beliefs, thus leading him to cast the babbling curse on Giles.**

 **That's an assumption of course, I haven't read any of the books, so if that information is factually incorrect, then my mistake...this is all something I came up with with information from the wiki surrounding the Storybook of Legends. We will also get a bit of information about an important character that won't appear until later on in the story. Some people who catch the references I left in this chapter will most likely know what I am going to do in the future. One of the original arcs will be based around one of my favorite dungeon-crawling games, and I gave a very obvious clue as to what that is. But I'll let you all figure that out.**

 **If you guys didn't notice, I put up Chapter 3 of Pantoufle Noir...I actually finished that chapter at six in the morning, so I posted it right after. I'm working on Chapter 4 of that story, as well as Lizzie's special chapter, but I'm not sure when I'll post either of those. I'm having a bit of trouble with them, but they should be up soon. I'm not sure when I'll get around to posting Briar's chapter either...everything is just a mess if I'm being honest...but I'll figure everything out as I go along. So look forward to those when I post them...let me know what you think about this chapter. As always, have a good day/evening/night/morning. See ya later!**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 76

Return of the Swan Queen I

Sneaking a full grown swan into his bedroom would have been quite difficult, if it hadn't been for teleportation. He was honestly glad he had magic now, it made it a lot easier to do things. He wanted to keep this secret from Duchess for as long as possible. Having looked at his calendar, he saw that Kitty's birthday was only three days away, on Saturday in fact, a couple weeks after Apple's birthday bash and only days after the Queen of Hearts's party. It was then that he realized that a lot of people in May had birthdays. He would have normally celebrated his on June 19th, and would have shared a birthday with Holly and Poppy, but since he was now Raven's younger brother, not only was he actually eighteen years old, his birthday was now in November. It was still mind boggling to have so many things happen to him in the span of a few hours, all of the things he had yet to know and accept, but it was all exciting for him.

He set Odette down on his bed, pausing for a few seconds trying to figure out what to do with her. He had taken care of Pirouette before, and knew that Duchess had swan feed, but he felt wrong giving that stuff to her. Then again, she had been stuck as a swan since the age of twenty, so she must have been eating whatever swans ate in the lake. He wished he could understand her, his animal speak was strong but there were animals he just couldn't understand, swans being one of them. Odette seemed more interested in his room, most likely because she hadn't seen anything like that in her entire life. He was still technically a person from another world despite being born in Ever After. He grabbed one of his clean dishes and a bottle of water, pouring it into the bowl which he set on his desk.

"Um...this is the first time I'm taking care of a swan like you...I mean, a human turned swan...I mean...you know what I mean. I've taken care of swans before, but not one like you...sorry." he said, earning a soft honk from the dark colored avian, who happily drank the water he had poured out. He sat down at his computer chair, glancing at his window, the beautiful blue skies of Ever After were glowing and free of clouds. It was a truly amazing spring day, and it wouldn't be long before summer set in.

"So...any ideas on how this curse can get reversed?" he said, glancing at the swan who just looked at him oddly. He blinked a few times, glancing at the ceiling.

"Right, if you had any ideas you wouldn't be in this situation in the first place. I guess I have to get to the root of the curse itself, that Rothsbart fellow. Oh...but he died at the end of Swan Lake, when you turned into a swan and the other swans rebelled against him...fuck, this is gonna be harder than I thought." he muttered, rubbing his chin in thought. Odette, finished with her water, decided to settle herself in the boy's bed sheets, most likely tired from swimming all day.

Blake started going through the Story of Swan Lake in his mind, but there were some snags in it. He hadn't actually read the entirety of the story, all he had was Duchess's account of the events, because it was her story. But he did recall Swan Lake had various endings, one where Siegfried and Odette commit suicide, and Rothsbart dies because of the other swans. One where Siegfried finds the truth about everything and he ends up dying, with Odette suffering his death for the rest of her life, and the one he knew from Ever After, where Siegfried had to fulfill his promise to marry Odile, and Odette got trapped as a swan forever. Aside from that, he didn't know much about the beginning or middle parts of the story, just the climax and the ending.

So, the first thing he had to do was familiarize himself with the story. He decided he would have to get some food for Odette, so he messaged Kitty, asking her to watch her while he went on his search for information. Once he got the message saying she would, he headed out of his dorm and started heading for the library. As he turned the corner however, he ended up bumping into Ophelia, who ended up dropping the book she was reading onto the ground, a startled cry leaving her lips. He backed away from the girl, who growled in annoyance.

"Seriously, how the hell do you not see me? I am dressed in white, I'm the allure of the entire room, open your eyes!" she snapped angrily.

"Okay, I'm sorry. Jeez, I wasn't paying attention to where I was going." he snapped back, kneeling down to grab her book. He tried to read the cover, but it was quickly pulled from his grasp and put into her purse.

"Oh, it's perfectly fine...I don't mind if it's you Blake. Are you doing anything? I wouldn't mind keeping you company." she said, wiggling her brows a bit.

"Ophelia, I have a girlfriend now...I'm not gonna start skirt chasing and you can't force me either."

"I know you have a girl, you have that Kitty Cheshire at your side. But my sister isn't stopping her advances, she still thinks you are her Prince Charming, and as long as she thinks that, then I'll be there to snag you away." she said, giving him a wink.

"You are honestly the worst person I have ever met. Haven't you ever thought about how Duchess feels? I mean come on, you are the White Swan, you should act more humble instead of being a bitch all the time."

"Ugh...rude much? I am not a bitch, it isn't my fault that my story makes me act like that. Daddy didn't raise a fool, as soon as I sign my page of the Storybook and my story kicks in, he's gonna get all of these awesome powers, and he's gonna help me win the heart of Duchess's future prince. I'm sorry, but that's destiny." she said, giving the boy an alluring smile, her pearly teeth glinting in the light.

"It's only destiny if you choose to make it that. You haven't signed your page right? Haven't you ever wondered what it would be like to actually be friends with your sister, instead of just fighting all the time? I mean you are robbing everything from her. Her lake, her dance recitals, and her men...give her a break." he snapped, a tone of annoyance on his voice.

"I'm not robbing her of anything...I apologize if I'm just a better ballerina than her. After all, I did go to ballet school for several years and graduated top of my class, two years early might I add."

"There you go again, all of this haughty gloating, it isn't gonna carry you far. I mean, you have to rely on a curse to even find a man, instead of finding one yourself, being nice to him, and not thinking about his cock...but you do you. I'm not gonna let you ruin Duchess's life, I swear it." he said, brushing past her toward the other hallway.

"If you say so, if you truly are her Prince Charming, then I'll eventually be hopping on your lap. Just wait and see, I'll be rocking your world in no time Blake Bigby!"

"It's Blake _Queen_ now, and you can forget about it, that will never happen!" he shouted back, voice sounding a bit distorted as he disappeared around the corner.

"Heh...it doesn't matter what he does, destiny is destiny after all." she said, placing a hand on her chest, summoning her Storybook Page, looking at the picture on it, along with the golden line at the bottom.

"Once I sign this, I'll be ready to accept my destiny, and it's going to me grand. It's a shame that my sister will turn into a swan forever, but hey, that's destiny." she said with a grin, allowing the page to disappear into her body. She walked off down the hall, practicing her dance moves as she walked.

Blake found himself in the library, ten minutes after he had run into Ophelia. He had been very angry with her, and how she was acting toward him. She didn't have a single ounce of respect in her body, and the way she spoke and acted toward Duchess was about the most aggravating thing in the world. He now understood why the Black Swan was such a bitch to everyone around her. She had started to change a lot for the better, and had been surprised especially with her attitude toward him. He just didn't understand what she saw in him that made her jump into his arms or kiss his cheek all the time. Even now that he and Kitty had been dating, she didn't really stop. They had to leave in a hurry when she showed up, in order to hide Odette, but she still gave him a hug and a kiss on the cheek regardless. Kitty wasn't a bit annoyed either, she in fact didn't seem to care about it.

"Women are hard to understand." he muttered to himself, as he walked toward the third floor of the library.

He started looking through the spines of all of the books, until he found three versions of Swan Lake, grabbing all three of them from the shelf. He walked over to one of the empty tables and set the books down, grabbing the first one from the top of the stack, turning to the first page, seeing two swans drawn on the page, one black, and one white, their necks forming a heart shape. It was then that he understood why Swans were the bird of love in some cultures. He turned to the next page, flipping through the table of contents before starting with chapter one.

For the next few hours, he just sat at that table, reading every word on every page of that book. Once he had finished the first version, he grabbed the second one and read it, they all started the same, but were drastically different, just as he thought, but it was the third one that stuck out to him, because it sounded exactly like what had happened to Odette. It was the story that Duchess would eventually have to fulfill, and he was honestly glad that Raven had torn apart the Storybook of Legends. No longer would it be used to strong arm someone into such a deceitful and disgusting destiny like this one. Headmaster Grimm was upset about it, but honestly it was the best thing in the world for everyone, and he didn't care what anyone would say or think. Their destiny was their own now, and nothing else mattered.

He replaced the books, heading toward the front desk to check out the one that told Duchess's story. The Evil Step Librarians hissed at him when he asked to check out the book, throwing the stamper his way so he could do it himself. He honestly wondered why they were the librarians of this school, but after ten months of knowing them, he didn't really question their behavior anymore. Once he had left the library, he put the book in his messenger back, deciding to head back toward his dorm to think of a plan on how to break the curse.

 _ **xxx**_

"Blake, is everything alright? You seem a little distracted...are you still getting used to everything?" Holly asked, causing the boy to look up at the blonde. They were both currently in Creative Writing class, working on a short story for an end of the year assignment.

"Huh? Oh, I'm a little distracted by something else. I'm already used to being the Evil Queen's son...well sort of. There are a lot of questions on my mind about everything, but those aren't important now." he said, glancing at his notebook.

He had written a story about a swan, ironically enough. When he started reading some of the earlier paragraphs, he noticed that it was loosely based off of Swan Lake. Holly took the notebook from him, reading some of the words, a small smile on her face.

"Oh, this is so cute. Have you been reading Swan Lake recently? Because I can tell there's a lot of influences here from it."

"Erm...sort of...yes. I read Swan Lake last night, up until then I hadn't read it at all, all I knew was what Duchess had told me, and what her destiny was going to be. Kitty being the main character is just a coincidence." he pointed out, earning a giggle from the girl, who gave him the notebook back.

"I look forward to reading the ending of it then...Wonderland Fever must have been a hard thing to get. I wish I could have gone to Wonderland with you guys, Apple told me all about it, and despite the crappy moments, a lot of them sounded really fun!"

"It was pretty fun, sans the stabbing and the bleeding of course." he replied, returning his attention to his notebook.

The story he had been writing about was about was a dark Queen, which he had based off Lizzie, who had turned a young woman into a cat, that being Kitty. She had then tasked her, if she wanted to return to her human form, that she had to get the golden heart to her by sunset on the fourth day or she'd be cursed to remain a cat forever. During the day, she would be a cat and at night she would be a girl. Somewhere, he had added a charming prince who was responsible for her during her days as a cat, and currently, they were taking a log boat across a lake of milk chocolate to retrieve the golden heart. He was honestly impressed with the level of detail he had given the story, seeing as he wasn't even paying attention, his hand was just moving on its own if he was being honest.

As he continued to write however, he started thinking more about Odette's curse. Since the original caster of it was dead, that meant there was no way to reverse it. So he would most likely have to create a spell to reverse it, but without knowing the incantation, he wouldn't be able to reverse it. That meant he would have to create a spell dedicated specifically for the purpose of returning Odette to normal. From what he had read in that book, he knew that the spell had cursed her the moment Siegfried had fulfilled his promise to marry Odile. It was only when he realized that Odette had turned into a swan forever that he realized the error of his ways, and had lost the love of his life. He had never met Siegfried or Odile, but he knew exactly where to find them. Perhaps asking them about everything from their perspective would yield results of some sort.

"Okay Blake, there is seriously something wrong with you. You've had that expression on your face for the last ten minutes...come on, you can trust me." Holly said, poking his side with her finger.

"I have no idea what expression you are talking about, are you sure you aren't just looking at my face because you are madly in love with me?"

"Pfft, as if. We're besties, nothing more nothing less, don't make me get my frying pan. I know you are hiding something, so spill the beans." she snapped, causing the boy to groan.

"Okay, alright I yield! I'm doing some research on how to break a curse put on someone. But I haven't exactly found anything on the subject, I'm having a bit of a rough go at it." he admitted, pushing his pencil lightly with his finger.

"Breaking curses eh? Well, with your power you should be able to break any curse. You and Raven easily got rid of the one in Wonderland, so this shouldn't be an issue. All you need is the incantation and an understanding of what the spell does, to reverse it." she replied.

"I know that...but what if this curse was caused by destiny? You know...from someone signing the Storybook of Legends?" he asked curiously. She blinked a few times in confusion, a small laugh escaping her lips, she glanced back at her notebook, once again grabbing her quill.

"I don't think it's possible to reverse a curse directly caused by signing the book. I mean, it updates whenever someone of that story is born. Of course now it's different, since each page rests within us. It's almost a big relief not having to worry about signing it anymore." she admitted, placing a hand on her chest.

"Why is that?"

"Well...don't say this to anyone alright? You know me and Poppy are twins right? Just like you and Raven are twins."

"Mhmm, except were fraternal and you two are identical, except Poppy goes out of her way not to look like you. What's up with that?" he asked curiously.

"Um...well...a couple of weeks after Thronecoming, we got a call from our Nona...who was our caretaker. The two of us ended up finding out, that I was born after Poppy. It was by a hair actually, our Nona got confused and signed the wrong name on the certificate." she said, a frown on her face. The boy narrowed his eyes in thought, realization washing over his face.

"So wait...that means you are Poppy, and she's Holly...or rather you're younger than her, meaning she gets the Rapunzel destiny...but you still have your long hair." he said, earning a giggle from the girl.

"Yes I know...she gave up her destiny to me, so that I could live our story. She said she was fine with being a hair stylist, she believes in destiny, but she also believes that we have a choice. Now that we can choose our destiny, I don't have to worry about it...I sort of decided to be someone else."

"Oh really? What's this about then? Is Holly O'Hair thinking of joining her sister snipping hair for the rest of her life?" he asked, resting his head in his hand, a curious look on his face.

"No, I'm good at cutting hair, I'll admit but it isn't my destiny. It's my sister's, I've...decided to be a novelist. I mean, I've written a lot of stories already, but Mr. Nimble said I have a real knack for it, people want a second part to Blondie Lockes: Zombie Slayer, and I finished writing a short story about Apple and Raven switching roles, so that Apple is the Evil Queen and Raven is Snow White, it sold out in ten minutes."

"That's impressive, and I do agree...you have a thing when it comes to writing. It's captivating, like I'm in the middle of it, and in Zombie Slayer, quite literally. I still can't believe all of the things you wrote for chapter nine, makes me think you are a closet pervert." he said, earning a flush from the girl.

"Not really, okay...I may have a tiny stash under my mattress...but it's for research purposes only! And I don't do anything either, so don't start assuming things!"

"What is there to assume? I didn't think of anything else...though if you do those things of which you are denying, then it's perfectly fine. It's normal for a teenage girl to do that stuff you know." he said, giving her a wink.

"Shush! People will think things, and I don't want them knowing that stuff!" she cried, a look of embarrassment on her face. The bell rung a couple seconds later, causing everyone to start packing their things.

"Everyone, this short story will be due on Friday and will go toward your final grade in this class. If you manage to write a very good story, then I shall submit it in your name to the Amateur writing competition held in Meadow Brook every June. Who knows? You might even find yourselves a publisher! I wish you all the best of luck!" Jack B. Nimble, happily said, waving at his class. Blake and Holly left last as they had quite a lot of things to pack up, they bid their teacher farewell, walking into the halls of Ever After High.

"You know, I look forward to reading your new story, even if its a bit smutty, I enjoy those parts." Blake said, continuing his conversation from before.

"It isn't gonna be smutty, just highly descriptive...I can't help myself. It's even more disheartening knowing a seventeen year old girl is writing this, and hasn't even had her first time yet." she said, making the boy laugh.

"It'll happen one day, with a guy that you'll fall in love with. Or a girl, if you are into that, I don't judge either way...but it'll be special, and magical. It's sort of a shame though...if you had agreed to be my gal during the Blue Moon Forest Fest, I could have probably showed you a thing or two, I do have endless stamina." he said, a grin on his face. He almost laughed when he saw the crimson blush on Holly's face.

"Stop teasing me dammit! You're gonna make me feel things and you are taken man now!"

"Sorry, I couldn't help it! I guess Kitty's teasing nature is rubbing off on me. Anyway, about the Storybook of Legends, there are a few things I still don't understand about it, despite signing one of its pages. Do you know more about it?"

"Not really...all I know is that all of our stories are collected inside it. A story isn't restarted until after we graduate from Ever After High. You have to sign your name on Legacy Day to ensure that your story continues. For people like Apple, Raven and Hunter, their story...or rather your story, would have most likely happened after high school. But for people like say me, my story wouldn't start until after all of the characters have signed their name in the book." Holly said, exchanging some books from her bag into her locker.

"So in order for a story to start, all the characters have to sign the book before hand. That could take years in some instances, and it wouldn't happen in some stories...what if the book has empty pages or unclaimed pages?" he asked.

"Um...I'm not sure. Mom told me once that every single person she knew signed the Storybook during her legacy year. She already knew that our dad was going to be her prince, if there are multiple Prince Charmings, then the story itself will pick them. That's why no one is sure if Daring is Apple's prince charming. It could be Dexter or it could even be Darling. There's no beast either, and the beast is technically a Prince Charming." she replied, earning a nod from the boy.

"Right right...I suppose I know a little more about the book now than I did before. Thanks Holly, hopefully this information leads me to finding what I need." he said, briefly hugging the girl before heading on his way.

"Good Luck Blake, if you need more information, why don't you ask Giles Grimm? He might be more lenient than the Headmaster." she said, giving him a wave.

" _Hmm...Holly does have a good point, if I wanna know more about the Storybook of Legends, then I have to ask one of the two keepers of the book. Alright then, I guess I have to go speak with Giles."_

"Blake! Blake wait up!"

Blake sighed, pausing mid stride to allow his friend Duchess to catch up to him. He gave her a hug like normal, doing nothing to stop her from kissing his cheek. The others around him, including some of his friends, just watched him, with the tiniest of smirks on their faces. They all knew he was dating Kitty Cheshire, but that didn't mean he didn't have room for another girl. Even though he had told them hundreds of time that he had his eyes on one woman, despite all of the things Duchess did. But since she was his best friend, he didn't really do anything to stop her.

"How's your day going Duchess? Find any interesting guys that might be into cute ballerinas like you?"

"Pfft, no! There's only one guy for me, even though he's taken...but that doesn't mean I still can't show him my affection. How are you though? Heard you had a run in with my terrible sister yesterday."

"Ugh...don't even get me started with her. She's such a bitch, I mean when I met you, I just hated you, but you started changing for the better. Ophelia on the other hand is the you that didn't change, times three, with the libido of a porn star." Blake said, earning a laugh from the monochrome ballerina, one that she didn't bother hiding.

"Oh, you are totally right. Honestly, I have no idea where she gets it from, probably from her mother, the bitch. Anyway, I got this period off, I was so used to doing Radio Rebel that I ended up going to Melody's dorm."

"Yeah, it happens sometimes. I got this period off too, I'm actually heading to see Giles Grimm, I want to know more about the Storybook of Legends...actually, do you think I could take a look at your page real quick?" he asked curiously.

"My page? What for? Thinking about signing it?" she asked, earning a chuckle from him.

"Sorry, but I don't have the legs to be a ballerina. I don't have a nice firm ass either, so I wouldn't look good in a leotard, I'm afraid." he replied.

"Don't knock it until you try it...you might actually look really hot in one. I'm sure Kitty would live the skin tight outfit...but anyway, I suppose I can let you peek at it, only if you let me see your page."

"Fair enough."

Holding his hand to his heart, he felt the shimmering energy of his page, the golden light appearing in his hand. It didn't take long for the page itself to form in front of him. Upon the separation of the book, his page became its own, separate from his sisters, so his bore his smiling picture, along with his full name and his signature at the bottom which was still glowing a brilliant gold. He held the page out to Duchess, who handed her own to him.

Just like he had expected, he saw her picture on the upper left corner, along with her full name in calligraphic letters. Beneath it was her role in the story, her story name and her parent's name. He noticed that Odette Swan's name was actually a signature, rather than just written on the paper. He found that rather odd, but continued looking it over. It had the same basic thing that his page had, only tweaked to match her own story.

" _I, Duchess Swan sign my name at the bottom of this page. With that signature, I accept the role of the Swan Princess in the next iteration of Swan Lake. I shall hereby accept everything that comes with that role, along with any curses or hexes that may be used against me during this story. With this signature, I accept my destiny."_

"Tch...what a load of bullshit." he muttered dryly, reading the other parts of the page, which had exempts of Swan Lake all around it.

"What...what is it?" Duchess asked curiously. He held the page out, pointing to the paragraph above the golden line.

"This right here, right above the dotted line. It's like those fucking stupid ass agreements you make when you download an app on the app store. What part of any of this page makes sense? Especially with the nature of your story? Honestly, if I was in your place, I would ask myself, what is stopping me from ripping this page out of the book and wiping my ass with it?" he asked.

"Oh my, how vulgar."

"Oh can it sweetheart, I'm the son of the Evil Queen." he snapped, causing the backgrounder to just run off in fear. He sighed, face palming right after.

"I understand the stress Blake, up until a few months ago...this was all I dreamed of...I never wanted to sign my page. Why do you think I wanted Ashlynn's destiny so badly? But then after thinking about it, I realized that I didn't want my destiny cast on anyone. I knew then, that my destiny was my own, and if I had the power, I would change it. And I will, thanks to you and thanks to Raven. And I could never thank you enough for that, truly." she said, giving him a genuine smile. The boy gave her a hug, much to her surprise.

"I'm so sorry Duchess...you've been through so much in your life. Having to grow up without a mom, being conditioned to a destiny that you didn't want, and on top of that, having a sister who gives no fucks about anything. I'm happy that I got to make you change sides...it makes me feel lighter in side." he replied.

"It's alright Blake...you had it a lot harder than I did...what matters is that we did meet, and that you did change my mind. Just like Briar doesn't deserve to lose her friends, I don't deserve this curse...if only there was something I could do to see my mom again...I would give anything for just a single hug." she said, on the verge of tears at the thought.

"Don't cry...save those tears for another day Duchess...I gotta go, there's something I need to do...think I could borrow your page for awhile? I'll return it back to you, promise." he said. She looked at the one in her hands, giving him a nod as she handed it back to him.

"Keep it close to your heart, I want it back, do you hear me?" she asked, a stern look on her face. He nodded, giving her a kiss on the cheek, much to her surprise. He took off before she could say anything, but for the next hour, Duchess Swan was laughing like a giddy princess, dancing all over the halls of Ever After.

 _ **xxx**_

"That's why I came here Giles. We already broke the curse in Wonderland, we no longer have to be tied back by destiny. Do you know if there is a way to reverse a curse like this?" Blake asked, causing the man to turn around facing him. They found themselves in his office at the Library of Lost Tales, which also acted as his personal home.

"Well I...I'm not exactly sure. For quite a long time, Milton has enforced following a predetermined destiny. As you know, it was due to breaking a rule and going against a story, that he became that way. He indirectly put me in danger, and that's why he was so stern about it. He is a lot different now than he was in the past, despite being such a stickler for the rules." he said with a chuckle.

"That's true...he's a lot different now than he was when I met him. Though he still threatens to suspend me whenever I go against him, now that everyone knows the truth about me, he probably won't be as lenient anymore." Blake admitted, bowing his head slightly.

"Don't say that my boy, Milton loves all of his students dearly. It was a shock to all of us, but we weren't aware that the Evil Queen had erased all records of your existence from every hospital and institution in Ever After...even the Storybook of Legends hid your existence." the man said, looking quite impressed with the Evil Queen's power.

"That's exactly why I came here. I have my mom's powers within me...I know that I can change destiny. Raven and I...we're super strong together...but I haven't told her this I...I'm scared. There's a lot that I don't get, things I don't understand...like my own mother doing this to me...and her end game. I'm scared that I'll wake up back on Earth and all of this is a sick dream...that Raven was never real, that I never met any of you...that would be crueler than death."

"I understand that Blake, but you must also understand this...you are one hundred percent real. You are the son of the Evil Queen and this is not a dream. Though we know not the reason behind her choice to expel you from this world, we do know that she brought you back for a reason. It will be up to you to find out...I have reason to believe that mirror shard in your chest is the answer to everything...it's the only thing that makes no sense to me."

"The last piece of the puzzle you mean...I'm half way there...just gotta expand on it a bit. But anyway, what do you know about the Storybook of Legends? How was it formed?" he asked curiously. Giles leaned back against his desk, stroking his beard a bit in thought.

"I'm...not exactly sure. I believe the Storybook came to be, around the time that the first stories were being created. After all, they were just stories then, but those stories needed to be relived every once in awhile so they weren't forgotten. When Ever After High was commissioned by the original Snow White, the Storybook had already been formed. It contained every fairytale told across the land and various realms, including Mount Olympus, Wonderland, Neverland, Nottingham, Agrabah, the Land on top of the World, Corona, the Bottom of the Sea and many other stories. Stories that were thought lost forever, suddenly found themselves within one single book, containing the names of every character of every story." he said.

"The Storybook of Legends...it was created as a medium...as if the world itself wished for these stories to be brought together. And in order for them not to fade into obscurity, it required people to repeat each story. How does that work though...Holly told me that after high school was when most of our stories begun. How does the book determine that?" Blake asked curiously.

"It is actually something that happens naturally. Each story has a countdown clock associated with it, the time of it is regulated by the Time Keeper. When the clock reaches zero, that story is set to begin, and all of the characters who signed their name into the Storybook of Legends receive a sort of homing instinct, and they will automatically start the story. I'll use Miss Ella's story as an example, the trigger for The Little Glass Slipper to begin, would be the death of her mother, Cinderella, causing her to be adopted by her Evil Step Mother, thus leading to the story of Cinderella. Identically, the trigger for Snow White to begin, would be the Evil Queen wondering who the Fairest in the Land is." Giles explained, earning a nod from the boy.

"I get it, so wait...the Time Keeper can dictate when a story starts and ends...does that mean he can make it so the Storybook of Legends reverses a destiny? Even though it already happened?" Blake asked curiously.

"I'm afraid that wouldn't be possible. A destiny cannot happen if it is stopped once it is completed. That would throw the story out of whack, and various things could happen...it is also for this reason that the Time Keeper made himself inaccessible, so that people don't try to use his magic over time to reverse a story."

"Hmm...so where is the Time Keeper really? It would be interesting to meet him...not to reverse a destiny of course. Just to find out what role he has in the grand scheme of things." he said, earning a chuckle from the man.

"Yes of course...the Time Keeper's realm is actually an adjacent realm located in Neverland. It is a place known only as the Hidden Land, a place that is neither here nor there. It is a place, located between a time periods, a split second and a minute. Even if you manage to find the Hidden Land, there are a great many monsters that guard it. But, if you are lucky to get to the Rainbow Stone ship, you'll be able to reach his dwelling, Temporal Tower, the tower that regulates time, across all eras and realms."

"Wow...that is some story...I'm sure it isn't one normally told right?"

"That's right, but I trust you to keep that one to yourself. It isn't like you can actually make it to Neverland. The portal to it never opened, it was as if someone or something is keeping the Second Star closed, it's rather worrying." he said, a frown on his face.

"Back to the topic at hand...since we can't reverse a destiny, and I don't have the original incantation, is it likely that I can still break the curse? I mean...I have the power...I know I do." Blake said, a firm look on his face.

"I have a question for you...who exactly are you trying to help? You never mentioned why you wish to reverse a curse like this. Of course, I could help you more if you told me who you wish to bring back." the man said. He sighed, holding his hands out in front of him, a swirling lavender mist swirling around them. A second later, a familiar looking black swan appeared, looking quite confused.

"She's the reason I want to break this curse...Giles, this is Odette Swan, the Swan Queen, and Duchess's mom." he said, a sad smile on his face. Giles fixed his glasses a bit, eyes peering down at the black avian in the boy's hands.

"I see, now I understand why you wanted to know more about how the Storybook worked. It's been...quite a long time Odette...I'm happy to see you again..though I wish the circumstances were better." he said, patting the swan's head, earning a happy honk from her.

"Kitty asked me to break her curse for her birthday. She wanted me to give Duchess the only thing she's never had...her mother. I thought it would be a challenge at first, but I readily agreed to it. I'm too involved now...if I don't break this curse...I'm not sure I can look at Duchess the same way again!" he exclaimed, hugging Odette in his arms, bowing his head slightly. He could feel the swan trying to console him, the soft honks and gentle nips at his cheek making him smile a bit.

"I can tell you care a lot about your friend, she means a lot to you. But I sadly do not know how I can possibly help you. Reversing a curse like this...without the original incantation is quite challenging." Giles replied, earning a sigh from the young raven haired boy.

"I know...it isn't your fault...it isn't anyone's fault...I suppose there is one last thing I can do. That's talk to Odile, Von Rothsbart was her father after all, so she might know how to reverse this." he said firmly, earning a loud honk from Odette, who shook her head fiercely.

"I think she's right lad, going to her won't be worth your while. Why would she help you break Odette's curse? After all she did it all to steal her love from her. She wouldn't help you, she isn't going too." Giles reluctantly said, making the boy frown.

"You're right...if Ophelia's attitude is anything to go by, then I know that Odile acts just the same. Talking to Siegfried wouldn't help either...I feel bad that he got tricked by Rothsbart and Odile, but he is a total fucking asshole for not recognizing Duchess as a daughter. I don't want to get in trouble for punching him in the jaw either." he admitted, earning a laugh from both Giles and Odette.

"While I don't have a set solution...I believe writing a new incantation could work. Isn't that what you and Raven did to break your mother's hold over Wonderland? If you managed to do that, without previous knowledge of how the spell worked, then you can definitely do this." Giles said, giving the boy an encouraging tone.

"Yeah...yeah you're right! I can definitely do that...I remember what Raven told me. Magic goes whatever I want it to do, it doesn't have control of me, I have control of it. And if I want it to do what I want and believe and fully trust it, then it will work. With my sister by my side...I can break any enchantment...except of course the important ones." he said, tracing a finger over his chest.

"Go for it then, young Blake. You have three things on your side, youth, magic and love..those three things alone should be enough to break this curse, and you can finally give Odette the thing she has longed for the most...her little girl."

"Thank you Giles, I appreciate everything you've done for me. Not just now, but in the past too. It's been hard to fit in, but I wouldn't trade anything that's happened to me for the world!" he said, jumping to his feet.

"Good luck, the next time I see Odette, she will be a beautiful woman, just as I remember her to be." he said, giving the black swan a pat on the back, earning a happy honk from her.

 _ **xxx**_

"So sis, I saw you talking with that cute boy Blake earlier, not just that, I saw you give him your page. What's that about?" Ophelia asked, earning a sigh from the ballerina who just wanted to eat her lunch in peace.

"I don't believe that's your business Ophelia, why don't you just leave her alone? Can't you see we are planning our next radio cast?" Kitty snapped, glaring at the White Swan who just ignored her entirely. Ophelia danced around the table, moving closer to her sister who was stabbing her salad with relentless abandon, trying to take her aggression out on the poor leafy greens.

"Could it be that, since you can't give him your heart, you gave him your page instead? That is so pathetic Duchess...I mean you are sitting here, with his girlfriend, and still have delusions that he's gonna fall in love with you. Knowing full well that even if he did, he would become mine by proxy!"

"Ophelia could you please leave me alone? I'm trying to work here...you know what that is? Work? It's what you do when you want to do something fun. It's non profit, sure...but I still enjoy it. It's the last thing I have that hasn't slipped into your grimy hands." she admitted.

"Eh, you can have that one...I hate listening to the radio. No idea why all of the people in this school listen to that crap all the time. The MirrorPod is something way better than that." she replied, earning a growl from the girl.

"That's fascinating, take a hike." Kitty snapped angrily, eyes narrowed in annoyance. Ophelia giggled, walking toward her side of the table, sitting down on top of it, leaning toward her.

"You know something Kitty, you surprised me...you truly did. How can someone as annoying as you get someone as cute as Blake to like you? I mean, you are just a dumb cat who loves nothing more than pissing everyone off. Like mother like daughter, as they say." she said. Kitty gave the girl a grin, eyes narrowed slightly as her pupils turned into thin slits, as they always did when she was angry.

"Oh...that is true you know...like mother like daughter. I'm just like my mom, I love pranks more than anything, it's my nature. But if you say that saying is true, then is it true that your mom is a retard slut whore like you are? Is it true that your mother fucks just as many guys as she can get her hands on? You should know right? Like mother like daughter?" she asked, causing Duchess to snort, the Swan Princess tried her hardest not to laugh, especially when Ophelia's cheeks tinged crimson with anger. She grabbed a hold of Kitty's shirt, pulling her to her feet, fist pulled back.

Only the hit never came, before she could even throw the punch, Raven Queen had taken a hold of her arm. Ophelia shifted her head to look behind her shoulder, and when she saw the pissed off expression on her face, she immediately let Kitty go, moving away from the daughter of the Evil Queen, who's hair was moving on its own, a violet mist coming from it.

"If you ever try to hit my friend again, you and I are going to have words...got it?" she asked, voice sounding distorted. Ophelia let out a scared honk, shifting into her swan form, she spread her wings and flew off.

"God, I've never met someone so fucking pretentious in my life. I'm sorry you were given such a horrible sister Duchess." Raven said, sitting down across from her.

"It's fine, I've grown used to her antics. You can pick your friends, you can pick your things, but you can't pick your siblings. Maybe she hatched out of a bad egg." she said, earning a giggle from Kitty.

"Definitely, what a bad girl, mrow." she said, clawing at the air before her.

"Have either of you seen Blake? He's been acting weird all day, but not like before...it's...hard to explain actually."

"I haven't seen him since breakfast Raven, I'm starting to miss him though. We usually have lunch together to discuss our radio show for the day. What about you Duchy, have you seen him at all today?"

"Actually Kitty, I did. He was acting oddly, I don't know why...but he asked to borrow my page. He looked like a man on a mission." Duchess replied, earning curious looks from the Swan Princess.

"He must be up to something, I'll go search for him. He's probably still getting used to being our mother's son. Do you know where he might be Kitty?"

"Hmm...maybe he's at the lake...he likes going there whenever he wants peace and quiet. He says watching the swans swimming around calms him down...I'll go check, it's the perfect excuse to make out with him, later." she said, disappearing right after, her signature grin hanging in the air for a fraction of a second.

"I suppose I'll check his room just in case, do you think you can search for him too Duchess?"

"Huh? Sure thing Raven, just let me finish my lunch and I'll get right on it. I know he likes hanging out in the Charmitorium sometimes, he's probably there." she said, Raven gave her a nod backing away from the table as she activated her teleportation spell. The castleteria disappeared, being replaced with the familiar scenery of her little brother's dorm.

Before she could even say something, she noticed her brother sitting at his table, with several thick tomes stacked neatly on his desk. There were some water bottles and soda cans around him, along with a bag of what looked like bird feed, which to her was weird since he didn't own a bird. She glanced around the room, noticing a black ball on his bed, it only took her a few seconds to realize it was actually a swan, who was currently sleeping. She rubbed her eyes slightly, not wanting to mess up her make up. She cleared her throat, a vain attempt to gain his attention, which thankfully worked. He looked over his shoulder, a thin pair of glasses on his face, which she didn't know he even owned.

"So...mind explaining what all of the magic books are for? And what this black swan...yeah, black swan is doing here?" she asked, clearly confused.

"Do you want the long explanation or the short one?"

"Long...no wait short, I only got five minutes before Poison Apple theory." she said, walking toward his side, leaning back against his desk.

"Ahem, before anything I would like to say, that Black Swan there is actually Odette, Duchess's mom. Me and Kitty found her at the lake yesterday, and Kitty asked me to break her curse for her birthday. So I've been doing research on the Storybook of Legends and how I can possibly reverse a curse that's been placed on someone because of their destiny. However since I don't have the incantation Von Rothsbart used on Odette, I can't reverse it, so I have to write a new one from scratch in order for me to return her to human form."

Raven remained silent, possibly trying to process what her brother had just told her. She closed her eyes, taking a few deep breaths to calm herself down, but also to clear her mind. She brought a hand to her chin, eyes narrowed in thought.

"Well...if its a curse tied to destiny, then it might not be that easy to be reversed. But if my... _our._..mother was able to steal the Dark Fairy's destiny mid story, then we can easily break this enchantment. What do you have so far?" she asked, looking at the paper in his hands.

"Well, it starts like this...A destiny so foul has left you as a fowl, from feathers of ebony, to porcelain skin from whence you came, flesh and bone you shall become. Return this swan to human form, and rid her of this foul curse." he said, passing the paper to her.

"This is pretty good, but it just doesn't sound right...remember, you need to have a strong incantation in order for something like this to work. Magic will do what you want, but the words are the medium and what provide control." she said.

"Yes I figured...I thought, that maybe Riddlish was a good language to use, since I still have a hard time with Gibberish. But there's also Latin, which is a pretty strong language...it was hard enough to come up with this and have it make sense." Blake replied, placing his head in his hands.

"How about I take this and give it my personal touch...you must really care about Duchess if you are doing this for her. Are you sure you don't have feelings for her?" she asked, a curious look on her face.

"She's one of my best friends Raven, I'm doing this because she deserves to be with her mom. Despite our mother being in the Mirror Realm, we can still talk to her, even Ophelia can see her mom whenever she wants. Duchess doesn't have that luxury...no one, should go without seeing their parents, without getting a hug from them...just like we haven't gotten a hug from our mother since we were little." he said. Raven gave the boy a kiss on the cheek, making him flush a bit.

"You are such a selfless person, even when you are evil to the bone, you are still such a kind hearted person. Let's give Duchess her mom back, I'm with you one hundred percent!"

"Awesome, I'll let you handle the spell...I suppose we have to get Odette ready to meet her daughter for the first time. Oh, can you make it so that spell brings her back with clothes? Last thing we all want is her returning to human form bare naked. I've seen way too many animes where that happens." he said, earning a giggle from his sister.

"No problem, it shouldn't be that hard to tweak this...when should we actually cast this?"

"Saturday, Kitty isn't having a party or anything. She wanted to visit Wonderland with all of us and have dinner with her mom. I figured we could bring Odette with us, along with Duchess and cast the spell there. But don't say anything to her, it has to be a surprise!" he said.

"Of course! I would never spoil this for her...though it's odd that Kitty wants to do this for her, on her birthday no less. There's something you aren't telling me."

"Really? Then it's information that I don't fucking know, this is Kitty Cheshire we're talking about. I still don't know what goes on in that muddled brain of hers. But I totally wuv her."

"Oh jeez, don't start that up again...I got enough of that yesterday. I gotta go, see you after class?"

"Sure thing, let's meet up with Kitty and Maddie at the Wonderland Tea Shop and we'll discuss our plan of action." Blake said, earning a nod from the girl, who gave her brother a hug. She flashed out of the room, heading toward her next class, while Blake was left to gather all of the materials he would need for his next class as well. He glanced over at Odette who had been watching him intently.

"I promise, I'll get you back to human form...there's nothing more important then a mother's love and embrace. Just don't make me cry when you hug Duchess for the first time, I'm not good with emotions." he said, earning a few honks from the swan, which he assumed was her laughing from his joke.

He rolled his eyes, grabbing his bag from his desk as he prepared his teleportation spell. He was honestly glad to have his full power, he would never be late for class as long as he had teleportation. Now that he had it, he wasn't going to take it for granted. As long as he had the Evil Queen's power, he would use that magic for good, now that he had full control of it. He would make sure to repay his friends for all of the things they had done for him, no matter what...he would try his best to do good with his powers.


	77. Return of the Swan Queen II

**A/N:**

 **Hello everyone welcome to Chapter 77 of Through the Looking Glass...this will be the second part to Duchess's mini-arc. This will also be the reason behind her segway chapter, but Instead of using this chapter as a basis, since it will be an alternate ending, I will be writing her ending entirely from scratch. Obviously, it would be a bit challenging since this chapter has a lot of sappy stuff between Kitty and Blake, so making Duchess suddenly affectionate near the ending in her alternate ending wouldn't truly work out for me. So I'll just write her a new ending and then that will be her first chapter. After all, she's been in love with him for months, and has been trying to get him to see her as a woman instead of a friend, so it will be really sweet when she finally gets her Prince. In fact, I think that will be Chapter 77B, obviously an alternate chapter, but also a non-canon continuation of this chapter, where he finally agrees to be her boyfriend.**

 **I finished Lizzie's ending last night, and wrote Briar's as well, and surprise surprise, Briar's turned into a fucking lemon, even though that wasn't the plan at all. It just annoys me how rational me wants to create a story, and then scum bag me is like...wonder what it would be like if they start making out, and then I'm left with twelve and a half pages of coitus and a look of disbelief on my face. Yes, this always happens when I'm writing at five am and I'm tired. On top of that, the flu has been ravaging my system, my throat feels like I swallowed a fucking cheese grater. My head feels detached, like that Disembodied Baby Head from Phineas and Ferb, only not a baby head. Don't even get me started on the rest of my body. In fact, I didn't get to sleep until around ten am today, and I forgot, I had ordered some cat food and litter from , which I had forgotten, so that shit gets here, and my room is where the front door is, so my grandmother, opens the door, the box was left in my porch, and the metal door swings shut, and all you here is this dragging sound, so it fucking sounded like a car had crashed into my house, and I jumped up, and I swear I had a heart attack, but I can't prove it yet. And I haven't slept since...yeah, being sick sucks.**

 **But let us speak about the story, not my life...which is amusing but I guess not to me? Anyway, this chapter is of course the continuation of yesterdays chapter. Blake has been learning about the Storybook of Legends and researching Odette's curse and all that...so you'll get to see that play out. The second part of the chapter moves more toward The Ballad of Bluebeard, which I guess you can call these two chapters sort of a prelude...but not really, because the next chapter is a prelude kinda, sorta? I'll let you all decide. But yes, next chapter Blake finally gets to meet his Step-sister, the fairest of the land, Snow White herself. And it's going to be an interesting meeting...honestly, I can't believe I waited until Chapter 78 to even introduce Snow White, especially when Cinderella has been in the story twice, Aurora once, Alice once...yeah, it's odd.**

 **But yes, we finally get to see Apple's mom in the story, as well as get some more information on Felipe who has been doing some naughty things in the background, even while Joey was being a dick, this young man has been acting in the shadows, making his move only now that he has his plans ready. You will get to know more about him as the story progresses, but he won't meet any of our characters until around chapter 84 or 85...where we will get a reveal about his true plans, and get to see the sick shit he has in store for us. It's gonna be...well, it isn't gonna be pretty, that's for damn sure...because Christ, that tale is fucked up.**

 **So...enough with the authors noting, I shall leave this chapter here for you to all read at your leisure, and I shall be posting Lizzie and Briar's endings later on tonight, once I get them polished. I'm actually not sure if I should post Briar's yet, because I wanna see what my tired mind wrote at five am, because I skimmed it and then just shut my ipod off and tried to go to sleep, but failed because I couldn't breathe right...yeah, totally ended up watching GameStop rant videos for like three hours before passing out...but yeah, look forward to that. I'm also working on Crystal's ending, as well as chapter 4 of Pantoufle Noir, and the other two Black Apple and Black Aria...who still need a second chapter...good times...well see you all later!**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 77

Return of the Swan Queen II

The day finally came when Blake and Kitty went back to Wonderland for her birthday. Now that the looming threat of the Queen's death didn't hang over them, they could all enjoy themselves. She had lead them directly to the Bouncy Mushroom forest where they all jumped around like idiots for awhile. Seeing Lizzie and Raven pulling off some insane flips while in mid air was quite entertaining. The tour continued, with Gloriosa and Lizzie leading them down one of the many paths that cut across the weird and wacky country. They stopped at the entrance to a large and thick wood, the trees looking scarier than anything in Ever After. The Dark Forest had nothing on this place. The two girls stopped at the entrance, turning to face their little tour group, which consisted of Blake, Raven, Apple, Briar, Ashlynn, Duchess, and of course the other Wonderland kids.

"Alright then, we have arrived at a very dangerous place here in Wonderland. This is Tulgey Wood, and at the end of it, lies the nesting grounds of the Jabberwocky, a creature so ghastly and scary, that just saying its name invokes its fury." Gloriosa said, sounding a bit ominous when she spoke.

"Wait...if saying its name invokes its fury, then why the hell did you just say it?" Blake asked curiously, earning a shrug from his best friend.

"It only invokes his fury on Thursdays, he's a nice guy the rest of the week. Sadly he gets angrier around the beginning of June, that's usually when he's supposed to get slain by the Vorpal Blade." Lizzie added, earning nods from the others.

"Poor guy, it's a shame he has to have his head cut off...I'd be pretty grumpy if that was my fate too." Maddie said, happily sipping her tea.

"Well then, let us move along. If we get lucky, we might actually see the Bizarre room before we return to the Queen of Hearts's castle." the daughter of the White Queen said, happily moving forward.

"Hey Blake, are you having fun on our tour? Do you wanna see anything in specific while we are here?" Kitty asked, grabbing the boy's attention.

"I was kinda hoping we could visit the Mad Hatter's tea shop. Ginger told me she was there when she fell into the Well of Wonder last time. Now that the curse has been lifted, I heard the March Hare is taking over it."

"That's right, daddy said he would keep the shop open while the Mad Hatter tended to the one in Ever After. They would switch every Tuesday to spice things up." Mavis said.

"Knowing them, it's bound to be interesting. The Mad Hatter always knows how to bring in the customers, whether with tea or with his insane stories." Raven said, a smile on her face.

"Hey, where did Alistair and Bunny go? They were just with us?" Apple cried, causing the group to stop, glancing around for their missing friends.

"Something tells me those two are making out behind a tree somewhere. Let's leave them be, they know Wonderland better than anyone else. If we're heading to the Mad Hatter's place next, can we stop by the Zap Apple orchard? Maddie told me it was nearby." Briar asked, earning a nod from Lizzie and Gloriosa.

"That is an excellent idea, you all get to see just how the Zap Apple's grow!" the future Queen of Hearts said, a grin on her face.

It took them about twenty minutes, walking through a winding path, that had them walking upside down at one point. They ended up taking a ride on some lily-pads, finding out more about the rainbow river and the magic the water contained. Some flying fish had started jumping out of the water flying around them and blowing streams of bubbles from their gills, showering the area with bright glowing rainbows. Eventually, they came to a stop at a river bank, the water had started flowing upward, and in order to avoid another bad pun by Raven, they moved away from it. They arrived at a hill that over looked a large plantation of seemingly normal looking trees.

These trees however had dark oval shaped leaves, covering every single one of their branches. The trunks were thick and dark, covered in various odd looking spots. The roots were thick and grew straight down into the ground, some of them actually sticking out of the ground in certain areas. The trees were shaking a bit, making them all think that animals were scurrying across their branches. Instead they started shaking wildly, rainbow colored bolts of lightning racing across the leaves, bursting outward in various intervals. Once the lightning had bounced off the trees, small buds started appearing on the leaves, all of them popping loudly as the Zap Apples formed, completely white at first, before each color started to appear, one by one until they had all seven colors of the rainbow.

"Everyone, we present the Zap Apple orchard, and it seems the apples are in bloom. This only happens every three to six months, so seeing all of these sprout and ripen before our very eyes is a special treat."

"Lizzie is right, these trees are very rare. They take years to sprout, but under the right circumstances, a single bolt of lightning striking a planted seed will make the tree sprout and grow in the span of a year. It does take longer for the apples to grow in places without natural wonder, like in Ever After." Gloriosa continued, leading the group into the orchard.

"Zap Apples are awesome, I used to sleep in these trees when I was a little girl. Getting zapped was really fun." Kitty said, giggling slightly as she tugged on Blake's hand.

"No wonder you're crazy as hell, hey Maddie did you also sleep in these trees as a kid?" Duchess asked.

"Mmm, nope. I'm just naturally insane, you know what they say after all, sometimes you have to be insane to outsane the sane, and being insane is fun. Just like making Zap Apple pie!" she cried, earning eye rolls from her friends. Apple stopped near one of the trees loaded with apples, her eyes focused on a rather big one near the top. Blake pulled Kitty to a stop, standing right next to the blonde who didn't take her eyes away from the fruit.

"Hey Apple, you hungry?" Kitty teased, startling the girl out of her thoughts.

"Oh uh...maybe a little." she replied, a flush on her cheeks. Blake grabbed a hold of one of the branches, easily pulling himself onto the tree, disappearing into the branches.

"Uh Blake, I wouldn't do that if I were you. Zap Apple trees tend to be filled with left over electrical energy...you might get shocked." Lizzie warned, earning a laugh from the boy who poked his head through the leaves.

"Please, getting shocked is nothing compared to being run through by a holy sword. I'll be fine." he said, once again disappearing into the tree. After a few more seconds, he popped up under the apple that his friend was looking at. He wrapped his hand around it and pulled it free from the tree, easily climbing down.

"Not bad, you are a human monkey little brother. You truly are."

"Thanks Raven, but remember climbing stuff is nothing to me. I practice parkour on my off time, so this isn't even a challenge to me." he said, handing the Zap Apple to Apple.

"Thank you Blake, this one is a lot bigger than the last one I had."

"That's because Zap Apples grow bigger in Wonderland, thanks to the magical rainbow lightning. They'll ripen the same day they pop in, while in Ever After, you have to wait for every single color to appear before you can pick the fruit. Let's keep moving forward, we might be able to find the owner, he'll show us how to make Zap Apple Sauce." Gloriosa said, gesturing for everyone to follow.

"Actually before we go, I think Blake has something he wants to share with everyone...right Blake?" Kitty asked, causing the boy to look up from the apple he was eating.

"Um...I do?"

"Yes...my birthday gift." she said, gesturing toward Duchess who just looked at her in confusion.

"I thought you wanted to wait to open your presents Kitty, why do you wanna open this one now?" Ashlynn asked curiously.

"Well, it isn't something I'm gonna open. You see, Blake's gift to me is a joint gift from Raven. I asked for something very special and very important, my gift is something for Duchess."

"Something for me? What did I do to deserve a gift from you? This is your birthday after all. My birthday was back in April after all."

"Mhmm, I know...but I didn't get you a gift. So my gift to you is something that you have longed for. Raven, Blake if you would do the honors." Kitty said, backing away from the boy. He swallowed hard, earning a smile from Raven who stood next to the boy. He held his arms out, a swirling mist appearing around it.

"Um, this is gonna sound weird but...Duchess, there's someone that's wanted to meet you for your entire life." he said.

The swirling mist vanished, leaving nothing but a black swan in his arms. He set her down on the grass, where she remained unmoving. Duchess didn't say a single word as she knelt down before the swan, looking closely at her. Her breath caught in her throat, her hands covering her mouth slightly as she glanced up at the twins.

"Is this...my mom?" she asked softly.

"Yes, this is Odette...she's been watching you for quite some time. I'm not sure for how long, but me and Kitty found her a few days back. Do you know why I asked you for your Storybook page?" Blake asked.

"Not really." she replied, barely above a whisper.

"It's because he was doing research on Swan Lake. We found your mom's signature on that page, under your name. She was the previous Swan Princess after all. It was a bit hard but...we've finally found a way to break the curse." Raven said, earning surprised gasps from the others.

"Are you serious? You guys found a way to break a curse placed upon someone due to their destiny?" Apple asked, a stunned look on her face.

"It took a while, but we believe so. Nothing is set in stone, ever since Raven pulled the book apart, and gave us our pages...I came to realize that our destiny is ours to choose. That means we can rewrite it in any way we want...that also means, we should be able to free those afflicted by it. Kitty asked for one thing on her birthday, to give your mom her life back, and that's what we're going to do." Blake said happily, taking a hold of his sister's hand, both holding their hands outward at Odette.

" _From swan to human you shall become, return to the time before the curse, forgotten by most. From you this curse we remove, come back from the throws of destiny, return thy humanity!"_ the twins chanted in unison.

The swirling cloud of magic spun around the black swan, making her glow a brilliant gold. It was a light so intense that the others had to shield their eyes from the luminous light produced by it. The area was rocked slightly by the force behind the spell, and when the light died down, they all took a tentative look.

Before them stood a beautiful woman, with milky white skin free of blemishes and scars. She had a soft face, thin brows and chocolate brown eyes, lined with dark make up and black eye shadow. She had a small nose and full lips painted red. She was wearing a black colored leotard, with black colored feathers around the bodice, lining the areas around the bust. She wore a feathery tu-tu around her waist, with golden swans etched into it with the finest golden thread. She wore a pair of white leggings with small sequins. She was wearing a pair of black high heels which were flat on the bottom, much like Duchess's were, the straps were thin and covered with small black feathers and bright silver buckles. She had long raven black hair, tied into a high ponytail, with a silver and pearl headpiece on her head. Around her neck, she wore a necklace in the likeness of a black swan.

They all stood watching the woman finally start moving, a look of shock on her face. She held her hands up, blinking a few times, before her legs fell from under her, probably from the shock of it all. Duchess knelt down in front of her, tears running down the sides of her face as she placed a hand on the woman's face, looking right into her eyes.

"Mom?"

"D-Duchess...I..."

She didn't get to say anything, the Swan Princess pulled her into a tight hug, burying her face in the crook of her neck, loud sobs rocking her small frame. Odette wrapped her arms around her daughter for the first time, feeling her warmth, hearing her voice and sensing her heart beating in her chest. She did nothing to hold back the tears, finally having fulfilled one of the things she had always wanted to do in her life, hold her little girl tightly in her arms. Blake held his hand out, summoning Duchess's page from within his heart, eyes widening a bit in shock when he read what was on it.

"It seems destiny can truly be changed, this is going to be a nice wake up call for Ophelia." he said, holding the page out to Raven who read it over, a smirk on her face.

"Oh yes it is...but I think we should rub this in her face. Duchess, Odette, are you two willing to head back to Ever After for a few moments? We want to see something amazing go down." Raven said. Odette picked up her head, wiping her tears away.

"I have no issue with that...it has been...quite awhile since I have walked around Bookend, without being a swan. It would be good to...stretch my legs." she said happily.

"We'll be right back you guys, unless you wanna come with. It'll be amazing to watch history being made right before our very eyes." Blake said, earning a shrug from the others.

"I for one am definitely willing to go back, this is something I gotta see." Kitty said, giving them a wink.

"Me too, what about you guys?" Lizzie asked curiously, turning back to the rest of her friends.

"I'll stay here, I still wanna see the Mad Hatter's shop, just keep me posted, though with Blondie, I'm sure I'll find out everything sooner or later." Briar said.

"Yes, I'll remain here with Briar, Ashlynn, Mavis and Gloriosa. It seems Maddie disappeared further into the orchard when she saw her dad. You guys go on ahead." Apple said, giving them a wave. Blake nodded, holding his hand out, a swirling light gathering in his palm.

"With this I call upon my power, open now a portal to Ever After!" he chanted, throwing the ball forth. It burst upon contact with the ground, a swirling light forming an ethereal doorway into the realm of Ever After.

 _ **xxx**_

"It was absolutely great mom, I think Duchess is close to breaking." Ophelia said, earning a smile from her mother.

She stood tall and proud at the edge of the Enchanted Lake. She was wearing a beautiful white dress, made out of the finest silk in Ever After. It had thin shoulder straps, the bust was make in the likeness of wings, and decorated with beautiful alabaster feathers. It was tight around the waist, showing her shapely womanly figure. The skirt was rather short, and shaped to look more like a traditional tu-tu worn by ballerinas. It had three layers, the top being a pure white color, and the others fading into gray and lined with black thread. She was wearing skin tight white leggings, with a silver stripe running down the sides. Like her daughter, she wore a pair of custom heels, flat around the front to allow her to dance gracefully on the water's surface. She had long white hair, which she left completely down. She had a crown of glittering silver and pearls on her head, in the likeness of a white swan. Around her wrists, she wore silver bracelets, which jingled with every movement.

Odile Swan lived up to her name as the White Swan, she was beautiful, poised and a bit arrogant too. She was currently watching her little girl practicing her dance routine on the lakes surface among the other white swans. However, one trumpeter swan had started honking at her earlier, causing the others to follow suit. Ophelia had almost fallen into the water, but she had quickly spoken to the swans and sent them on their way. Apparently, one of them knew her step-daughter Duchess and that had been the reason why it had started honking in the first place. She gave her daughter a smile, placing her hands together.

"That's quite the story my darling. I am quite happy that you are taking your role seriously, but remember that alone won't define you as the next White Swan. You must be poised, strong, confident and lithe. In order to swoon the man your sister will eventually marry...say, who is that anyway? Do you know yet?"

"Well mom, there is this one guy she likes. Blake Bigby...or rather Blake Queen, as it turns out, the Evil Queen had twins and he was sent to another world. She's head over heels for the boy, and he isn't too hard on the eyes either." she said, a small smirk on her face.

"Hmm...I've seen the boy myself, he is quite the looker. No doubt having the charms of the Evil Queen running through him. How come you haven't put the charm on him yet? Especially if he could be her next Prince Charming?"

"That's the thing, I'm not sure he is her prince. I mean, he and Raven share the role of Evil Queen in Snow White, according to the Storybook of Legends at least. The pages were all separated, so everything is up in the air. Every single move I put out, he just ignores...and besides, he has a girlfriend, Kitty Cheshire." Ophelia said, arms crossed with a look of annoyance on her face.

"Oh...dear me...what has this world come to? It used to be much simpler, you signed the book, you became a beautiful queen. But it seems times are changing, but I do hope you don't turn into a Rebel like that sister of yours. I'll make sure to steer her straight, so that my little girl has the best destiny ever." Odile said, a loving smile on her face as she hugged her daughter tightly.

"Actually, the best destiny ever has already been claimed, and sadly it isn't by my dear sister."

The two turned around, seeing Duchess Swan standing behind them, still wearing her Wonderland outfit. Alongside her, were Raven, Blake, Kitty and Lizzie, who all wore the same look on their face. It was a smug look with a mixture of innocence and mischief, one that the two White Swans couldn't help but notice. Odile, ever the leader quickly composed herself, turning to face her step-daughter with a haughty look on her face, her arm wrapped around her daughter's waist.

"Duchess, dear it's been such a long time...you look just like your mother."

"Thank you, I'll take that as a compliment. I was passing by with my friends and couldn't help but notice you two at _my_ lake. I thought I made it clear that you weren't allowed to dance here Ophelia."

"You can't stop me from dancing here...this is the lake from our story, so it is a shared lake. It doesn't matter what you say or do, but we aren't stopping our practices here." the daughter of the White Swan snapped, earning a giggle from Duchess, who slowly approached her, standing tall and firm, and poised like a princess should, it was an honest surprise for the two.

"I see...well, I am not opposed to sharing it...I guess even ugly ducklings need a place to wet their feet. However, only those with the grace and poise of a ballerina should be allowed here. I couldn't help but notice your pirouettes were a little off the Ophelia. Didn't they teach you that in ballet school? I mean come on, even I can pull one of those off with ease. It's just a simple triple axle, oh wait...I forgot you can't stand on ice, my mistake."

"Did you just come here to annoy us? If that is your reasoning for being here, then leave us. My daughter was just selected as the lead in the next school play. She gets to play Peter Pan." Odile said, a proud smirk on her face.

"Pfft, okay. As if anyone wants to be put in that horrid green outfit, and be prancing around like a fairy. We all know I would have rocked the house if I had chosen to perform, but I had other plans in store I'm afraid."

"Okay seriously, why all the hate on Neverland? I get that the people there are arrogant, but is it really that bad of a place?" Blake asked, a confused look on his face.

"Not now Blake, she's setting everything up perfectly. Besides, Peter Pan is a total douche, you'll know when you meet him." Kitty said, wrapping her arms around his, taking a hold of his hand. He sighed, a frown on his face.

"Aha, so you are the Blake I have heard so much about. My daughter has spoken highly of you...aren't you perhaps interested in dating a regal young woman like her? She is poised, beautiful, and much more alluring than that cat by your side." Odile said, earning a chuckle from the boy.

"I don't mean to disrespect but, I'm not into girls who act like little whores around other people. I am genuinely in love with Kitty, and not you or anyone else will make me leave her for your daughter." he replied, causing the two to gasp, shocked and horrified looks on their faces.

"Well I'll be...you didn't tell me he was vulgar."

"Son of the Evil Queen...duh!" the black haired boy said, sticking his tongue out at the girl. He bumped fists with his sister Raven, who had a proud look on her face.

"Regardless, if Duchess has her eye on you, then you will eventually belong to my daughter, whether you want to or not. That is destiny after all, once upon a time, I was in your shoes, going to Ever After High. It was quite a long journey, but when Legacy Day came, I signed the book with no regrets, unlike some other swan I will not mention. She had to force herself into signing her name in the book, the poor thing."

"Don't talk about my mom, you have no right to even mention her." Duchess snapped, an angry look on her face. Odile smirked, continuing to push the girl's buttons.

"I know it's a sour topic dear, but it isn't my fault that father cursed her. It isn't my fault that your father came crawling to me because of it...he was the one that made the promise after all, so what if Odette was turned into a swan forever? She always thought she was the better dancer, always dancing on the lake like she owned it. She thought she could continue swooning men with her charms, well too damn bad. She got what she deserved, in my opinion." she replied.

"Momma is right, we have nothing to do with the rules of fate. We are just living day to day and enjoying our destiny. It isn't up to us to determine what ending the story has after all, all we have to do is play the part, if that means losing your man, then that means you'll have to abide by it. In fact, I plan to sign my page later on tonight, at a gala celebrating my birthday. You are all invited to come if you'd like, even you Duchess. We can all see who the better swan is, White, or Black." Ophelia said, a smug look on her face.

"Oh my...so it seems the stories are true. Odile's daughter is her spitting image, everything about her is so disgusting too. I am quite ashamed to see this in person."

A look of shock appeared on Odile's face, not having expected to hear that voice after such a long time. Ophelia looked at her, confused as she started backing up toward the water's edge. She looked around the area, trying to find the source of the voice. She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned around, a scream erupting from her throat. She jumped back, tripping over her own feet, falling in a heap on the ground.

"Mom! Are you alright?" Ophelia cried, trying to help the woman back up.

"Y-you...what are _you_ doing back here? You turned into a swan, you shouldn't be here!" she shouted. Odette's expression remained rather passive, as she stood in front of her rival the White Swan. She placed her hands at her sides, her lips curving into a frown.

"I had expected you to be a little kinder when raising your daughter Odile. Both of us were pregnant at the same time, what happened to that sweet little girl that used to be my best friend? You were never like this growing up." she said, a disappointed look on her face.

"Whoa what...mom, were you seriously friends with this freak?" Ophelia asked, glancing back at her stunned and unmoving mother, who was struggling to comprehend what was happening before her.

"You see, Odette told us the truth behind everything. Odile used to be a kindhearted little girl. She didn't care about destiny, and had been Odette's best friend...but she was conditioned into the role of the White Swan by her mother, the previous White Swan of that generation. Slowly, her mind started changing, until Legacy year came for her generation. She signed the book, because her mother made her believe that everything would be fine at the end of the story, but it wasn't." Blake said firmly.

"You see Ophelia...it doesn't matter if you are the White Swan, in the end someone is going to suffer. I'll get cursed, and then what? Will you put your future daughter in the same position as you find yourself in? To keep this stagnant legacy going? I've come to realize that it isn't worth it. Life is so short for all of us...I don't want to live my life as a swan forever, I wanna stretch my wings yes...I wanna see what his world of possibilities has for me. I don't want to be the best ballerina ever anymore...I love ballet, but I enjoy Ice Skating a lot more."

"So that's it then? You're giving up your role as the Black Swan? What about me? What about my happily ever after? Don't I get to be happy?!" Ophelia shouted, forcing herself to her feet.

"Sweetheart, it isn't about a role in any story. You should worry about finding your own happiness, without having to risk anything else. You act like this now, but isn't that all just a front? Don't you want to get along with your sister? To hug her and be happy together?" Odette asked, earning a hiss from the white haired girl.

"Shut up! I'm not going to listen to you, I'm going to be the White Swan no matter what! And neither of you can force me to change my destiny!" she cried, summoning her Storybook page. She quickly signed her name on the golden line, the page bursting into a shower of sparkles that swirled around her body.

"Yes, embrace your destiny Ophelia! Teach these black swans what it means to be beautiful!" Odile shouted.

Ophelia gave Duchess a smug look, twirling on a single leg. That was when she noticed that her pristine white clothes had slowly been turning ebony. She started tugging and pulling on them wondering why it was turning black. She grabbed a strand of hair, watching as it slowly turned black. She let out a scream, scared about what was happening to her, her make up had turned black, even her fingernails which had been colored white had turned black. Once the glowing golden light died down, and her page returned to her heart.

"What's wrong sweetheart? Did you jump the gun? You didn't even read your page did you?" Duchess asked, a smug look on her face.

"I...huh? I get it...this is all your fault isn't it? You are the one who did this! Change me back!" she cried, pointing her dainty finger at Blake who just laughed.

"I didn't do this Ophelia, you did. You accepted your destiny, as the Black Swan...that's the thing about destiny...it's a fickle thing really. Duchess here proved to be more kindhearted and loving than you were, I.E. her destiny changed, she is now the White Swan, should she choose to sign her name in the Storybook of Legends, but since she chose to be an Ice Skater instead, her destiny will go unfulfilled. Sorry about that, but you should have read the page before signing it." he said, high fiving Duchess who had a genuine smile on her face.

"Grr...I will get you for this Odette! This isn't over, you will not rob my daughter's destiny, she is the White Swan, not your daughter! I wish that ugly duckling had never been born! She is nothing but a bad egg, she always has been!"

"I didn't do anything wrong...in fact, I am rather thankful...I got my life back. I can see my little girl grow into a beautiful young woman...you should use this to reflect on everything Odile. Maybe you can find it in your heart to let this all go, if you do...I'll be waiting for you, you'll always be my friend, despite our story steering us in opposite paths. I...always thought your dancing was better than mine, if I'm being honest."

"Tch...you are just rubbing it in now aren't you. Let's go pumpkin, we'll go to the Tower Hair Salon and get this nasty raven hair dyed white, like it should be." Odile said, pulling her crying daughter by the hand. Duchess let out a whooping cry, pumping her fist into the air.

"Yes! Yes! This is the best day ever! I finally know what I'm going with my life! I get to finally live my Happily Ever After! And it's all thanks to you two, thank you so much for this...I don't know how I'll ever repay you!" Duchess said, hugging the Queen siblings tightly.

"Eh...it wasn't just us you know...Kitty was the one who asked me to find a way to reverse this spell." Blake said, pointing toward his girlfriend, who had a smirk on her face.

"Yup, this was all me...despite it being my birthday, I wanted you to be happy. No one got you anything on your birthday, so consider this a late birthday present. Happy birthday Duchess...I hope you take this time to get to know your mom, you two deserve to be together." the daughter of the Cheshire Cat said, a grin on her face.

"I will...thank you Kitty...do me a favor...take care of Blake for me would you? He's been through a lot...and he deserves someone like you by his side. I think I'll be fine...I no longer need a prince charming in my life...but that doesn't mean he isn't my best friend forever after." she said sternly, earning a giggle from the girl. She leaned forward, using her hand to cover her mouth.

"I will, I promise...but if you are looking for some kinky action sometime...feel free to join us. We haven't gotten to that step yet, but I really want to see you ride him, I know you two did things, I was watching you the entire time." she said.

"Eh? What?"

"Invisibility...I came to hang out and you two were making out, no worries, I haven't told anyone. It'll be our little secret." she said, giving her a wink and a grin. Duchess turned around, her face beet red as she approached the lake.

"I'm gonna go for a swim, wanna join me mom?" she asked.

"Of course, the curse returned me to normal, but I can still turn into a swan. Let's go play with your friends, it's been awhile since I swam with other swans." Odette said, shifting into her swan form, her feathers being black as ebony.

She turned to face her friends, giving them a bow before she shifted into her own swan form, instead of the normal black feathers she had grown accustomed to, her feathers were a bright alabaster white, shining in the sunlight. She landed in the water, leading her mother away from the shore, honking quite happily.

"Mission accomplished ladies, it has been quite awesome messing with destiny." Blake said, a smug look on his face as he turned to leave the lake.

"I'll say, Odile is quite haughty...I think she quite deserved her daughter becoming the Black Swan. This inspires me to work on a new line of outfits! I hope you can model for me Blake, I think you would look quite fetching in a tutu."

"Yeah no, I got this sickness, it's called, fuckthatshititis, it usually turns my skin red whenever someone suggests I do something I'm not comfortable with. Sorry." he said, picking up his pace a bit.

"Come on Blake, you owe me one! I'll make it purple, it'll compliment your eyes, at least let me show you the designs!" Lizzie cried, running after the boy who had broken into a sprint.

"He does know he can teleport right?" Kitty asked, earning a shrug from Raven.

"He probably just forgot." she admitted, a grin on her face.

 _ **xxx(Three Days Later)xxx**_

"Welcome Blake, to General Villainy. Now, I know you are used to those goodie goodie classes, but due to your newly found heritage, I was requested to let you join us. You make take a seat next to your sister, maybe you can talk her into being more evil?" Mr. Badwolf asked, earning a chuckle from the boy.

"No promises sir, but I'll do my best." he said, giving him a salute. He headed over to where Raven was sitting, trying her hardest to hide her look of embarrassment. Everyone in the class was whispering things about the twins, questioning if what they were saying was even true. One look from their instructor quickly shut them up.

"Now then, since you are joining us at the end of the year, it would be pointless to have you prepare for finals. But this will all be good for you to know for the following year. We are currently reviewing how to properly execute the evil laugh." the werewolf said.

"The evil laugh? Really, I can nail that easy, I've been listening to Jonathan Young for like ever." he said.

"Oh really? Just because you're the Evil Queen's kid doesn't mean you can best my evil laugh." Faybelle said, causing Blake to stand up. He took a deep breath, willing a twisted expression on his face.

"Mwahahahahaha!" he cried, his distorted laughter causing lightning to crackle behind him, earning impressed looks from the others. Faybelle quickly sat down, a muttering things under her breath.

"Very good, A+ Blake, nice job." Mr. Badwolf said, making the boy grin. He didn't really like the evil classes, but he had always wanted to take one, and technically speaking, Magicology was part of the villain courses.

"Hey, it isn't fair that the new kid gets an A+. We've been busting our asses all year for this!"

"Yeah, but he can actually pull off the evil laugh, so unless you want an A+, quite your whining and start laughing!" Mr. Badwolf shouted, sending a puff of air into the class, causing everyone to grab a hold of their seats.

"Does this happen a lot sis?" Blake asked, earning a nod from Raven.

"Yes...more often than not." she replied.

General Villainy was a lot more fun than Blake had been expecting. He had made a few friends in the class, but all of them were attracted to the occult and the like. They kept asking him about the Evil Queen and what he thought about her, of course his mentality hadn't changed. Just because Mira was his mother didn't mean that he actually liked what she had done to him. He felt nothing toward the woman, not even a shred of love, unlike his sister who still loved her mother dearly. It was something he just wanted to avoid talking about. It wasn't long before the bell rung, releasing the class for lunch.

"So, I heard from Lizzie that you were getting a new outfit tailor made for your role as knight. Are you excited for that?"

"A little, I mean...I hadn't expected to be knighted. I actually made a promise with Darling not that long ago, that we would both become knights together if she told her father about her interests in swordplay. But I never thought we would be knighted that quickly, funny how life works eh?" he asked, glancing at the scar on his hand.

"Aw, that's so sweet of you. Now the two of you are Lizzie's retainers, and widely recognized as the heroes of Wonderland. Your popularity is gonna skyrocket."

"Ugh...don't say that. I could care less about popularity, I just don't want people to think I'm some sort of paragon for defeating Joey. He was just insane, that's it. I didn't really do anything."

"I can't believe you believe that spiel, are you serious Blake?"

"Gloriosa...hey." the boy said, not having expected his best friend to pop up behind him. Thankfully, they were near their lockers, so he took the chance to leave his books within, grabbing the ones he would need for after lunch.

"Don't blame him Gloria, Blake is just that humble I guess. He's never once cared about popularity, he just does things for fun. Like when he started Purple Rhapsody...I was actually a part of that band, for a couple of days, before the Yearbook consumed my life." Raven said, causing the boy to chuckle.

"I was on the yearbook committee too sis, and it didn't consume my life. I worked on it more often than not, 60 percent of it was written by me and Cedar after all." he said, giving her a wink.

"I look forward to reading that then...but seriously Blake, how can you not call yourself a hero? You saved Lizzie, and the Queen of Hearts, you broke the Wonderland curse. You saved so many lives, and helped reopen the portals between the worlds!"

"Except Neverland, for some reason the Second Star didn't open when the quarantine spell was released. Wonder why that is?" he asked, a look of curiosity on his face.

"Nevermind that, what Gloria is saying is true! I know it's gonna take awhile to get used to Blake, but you are a hero. It's better than being looked at as a villain, honestly...I quite enjoy that side of life." Raven said, a small smile on her face.

"Well, at least someone enjoys it." Gloriosa said, shaking her head slightly. She brushed some hair behind her ear, glancing at her watch.

"Anyway, what are you two doing for lunch? I heard from Blondie that the Beanstalk Bakery has a sale on cupcakes. It's been awhile since I've had a good cupcake."

"Ew...pass, I don't like that place...not since that time everyone thought I was in a pseudo-masochistic relationship with Apple. I've never quite gotten over that. Besides, if you want good cupcakes, head to Ginger's, that place is way better in my opinion."

"That sounds a little subjective little bro. You work there, of course you think it's better." Raven said, rolling her eyes.

"It isn't because I'm the manager there that I think the cupcakes are better. They just are, Ginger puts all of her love into them, unlike the Beanstalk Bakery who uses pre-made cupcakes and artificial frosting. It's a just a facet of lies and extra calories!" he said firmly, a hand on his puffed out chest.

"See, that's biased as hell. You used the manager card to say that Ginger's cupcakes are the best. They could very well not be the very best." Gloriosa said, smirking a bit. The boy narrowed his eyes, reaching into his messenger bag for some coupons.

"Here, buy six get six free. Trust me, you will like them better than the Beanstalk Bakery's crap." he said, handing the two girls the slips of paper.

"If you say so, it's always good to con my little brother out of free hand outs." Raven said, giving the boy a kiss on the cheek. He sighed, brushing his fringe out of his eyes.

"It isn't conning if you just ask. I got more of these than I know what to do with, for promotional purposes of course. It's better than what Helga has to do, poor thing has to walk around like a damn cupcake handing fliers out all afternoon."

"That's boss, remember that fight we saw in seventh grade, the hot dog and the ketchup bottle?" Gloriosa asked, earning a laugh from the boy.

"Hell yes! Oh my god, that shit was so funny. The hotdog was running like a fucking penguin, trying to dodge all of that traffic. It was hilarious!" he said, clutching his sides, his mirth evident on his face.

"Do I even wanna know?" Raven asked curiously, leaning against the lockers behind her.

"Yes, okay...so this was back when we were in middle school. Me and Blake decided to head out to the mall, to take advantage of the indoor skating rink. We normally milled around in Gamestop, a local game store, but we had full view of the Food Court from the second floor. There was this guy, dressed like a giant hotdog, advertising for Burger King, when they introduced their hotdogs for the first time. Across from him, was this other burger joint, Five Guys, and they had a ketchup and mustard bottle, handing out free samples." Gloriosa begun, setting up the scene, causing Blake to snort quietly.

"This fat guy comes from out of nowhere and eats all of the samples they're holding. The mustard guy got pissed, and I mean pissed..he was about to punch this guy in the face. The hotdog saw all of this and since he was friends with the fat guy, he goes over to see what's going on...this fuckin loser ketchup bottle, gets so pissed off that he throws a punch at the hotdog, tossing him back into some tables. Oh my god, he tried standing up and he was kicking his legs like a damn newborn, trying to stand up." Blake said, almost loosing it at the end. Gloriosa held back her laughter, continuing the story.

"So finally, the hotdog stands up, and the ketchup bottle takes his chance to grab a food tray. He swung this thing right at the Hotdogs face, making him crash into this pregnant woman. Thankfully she was unhurt, but this brolic hulking tank of a man just stands up, cracking his knuckles just by moving his fingers. He grabs the hotdog by the scruff of his suit, and just peers in his eyes."

"Tiny wiener man have no respect. You no push pregnant lady, I will show you the way. He said this in the deepest Ugandan accent ever, this poor hotdog shat blood, he let out a sissy scream and started running toward the door, with this huge man running after his ass. He was hauling, like his life depended on this shit. We moved toward the windows and saw his guy dodging traffic from the nearby interstate. He was pulled over by some cops and stuffed into a paddy wagon, still in costume. The showed his mugshot on the news and he was still in that fucking suit! I swear to god, nothing has made me laugh that hard in my entire life." Blake said, wiping his tears out of his eyes.

"Sounds like a fun time, honestly I almost lost it when you mentioned the hotdog mugshot...I would have loved to see that on the news." Raven said, a giggling a bit.

"Raven, Blake! We have some major problems!" Apple cried, out. She came to a stop in front of the twins, panting a bit as some of the students watched on in concern.

"Apple, did you run all the way here? In heels?" the black haired boy asked, earning a nod from the girl. She straightened up, brushing some hair out of her face.

"I had too, you aren't going to like this but...mom wants to see you Blake, just you."

"Oh no." Raven muttered, causing Blake to look over at his sister, confusion on his face.

"What's wrong? Snow White just wants to talk, probably about those weird memories that were taken from her. I mean, it's only been a few days since the curse was broken and everything returned to normal." he said.

"Yes, but...you've been gone for quite a long time...I remember, we were about eight when you went missing, at least that's when our memories cut off. Snow White isn't the same as she was back then...she was still really nice, well mostly nice to me. But she's become a bit more...stiff in later years." his sister said, making him furrow his brows.

"She's right. My mom is the head of a very important corporation, she uses her money and connections to bring happiness across the world. She has a lot of small companies under her ownership, most of our supplies are donated to us from one of her companies." Apple added, a small smile on her face.

"I'm not sure what all the fuss is about. So what if the Fairest of them All wants to meet with Blake? She has that right, she is his step-sister after all. She's probably gonna ask him a lot of questions revolving all of the crap he's been through. I'm surprised it took her this long to actually give a rats ass about him." Gloriosa said, earning a glare from Apple.

"Gloriosa is right...not about the last part, being the son of the Evil Queen, I doubt she cares about me, unless I plan to poison Apple. She's probably just confused because those memories came out of nowhere. Oh wait...I hope she isn't calling me because of what I did to her on her birthday." he said, trying not to laugh.

"What...what did you do to her on her birthday? I don't think I remember." Raven asked.

"Don't you remember? The hornets nest I put on her office chair?"

"I...don't remember that." Apple muttered, glancing at the floor, brows knit in thought. Raven suddenly started laughing, doing nothing to hold back her merriment.

"Ahaha, I remember now. You put this Giant Hornets nest in her chair and she sat down and got stung five times right on the ass. She was partially allergic to hornet stings, and dad had to stab her leg with an Epi-Pen. I remember she had to get this huge butt injection because her ass was swollen. I think that was when she realized how much she actually hated you."

"Just the thought of seeing someone get a butt injection is enough to make me laugh. I would have killed to see that." Gloriosa said, a smile on her face.

"Guys this is serious! Let's just stop talking about my mom's butt injection for a bit. We don't know what she could want with Blake." Apple said, trying to steer the conversation back toward the main topic. He rolled his eyes, grabbing a hold of Apple's MirrorPhone. He searched her contacts, finding the one labeled Mom, holding the phone to his ear.

"I got this, you just stay calm...I'll figure out what mommy dearest wants." he replied, taking a few steps away from the girls. He shifted his weight from leg to leg, waiting for the ringing to stop, and thankfully it did after a couple of seconds.

" _Apple dear, to what do I owe this call? I'm a bit busy at the moment."_ a saccharine sweet voice greeted, making the boy scrounge his nose a bit. He smirked, licking his lips a bit.

"I apologize...but this isn't Apple White...it is in fact someone else...someone who knows you quite well, Snow White." he said, his voice sounding slightly deeper. He heard a gasp on the other line, along with something falling, he tried not to laugh.

" _Who is this? What have you done to my daughter? I swear, if you hurt a single hair on her head, I will destroy you!"_

"You are in no position to be making threats Snow White. As I recall, it is you who wishes to speak to me, remember...butt injection?"

He heard a growl on the other end of the line, probably the woman in question who realized she had been pranked. He heard a bit of shuffling, along with the sound of a door slamming rather hard. The line was silent for a few seconds, an angry sigh filling his ears.

" _Well...it seems you haven't changed a bit, have you Blake. How are you?"_

"Fine, how about you Snowy, are you doing fine? No more ice for your butt?"

" _I would like to ask you to forget that incident. You were eight years old, it was nothing but a prank. Nothing more nothing less. I'm sure Apple has already informed you, but I wish to speak with you. It seems some memories were taken from me by your mother, and I just want to see where you were all this time."_ she said, a firm tone in her voice. She sounded business like, more professional than anything. It made him really wonder what had happened to change Snow White so much.

"Oh? You wanna know the story of how my own mother stabbed a mirror shard in my chest? Awesome, I'll bring the snacks. But I'm not going there alone, can I bring Raven with me? She is my sister after all."

" _I would prefer that you didn't...I was looking forward to speaking with you, alone."_

"Snow, I'm not going there by myself. It'll be awkward as all hell, it's been forever since I've seen you, so forgive me if I'm not too trusting. If you don't want Rae there, than can I at least bring a friend with me?" he asked. He heard the woman sigh on the other end of the line, probably considering her options.

" _Okay, I will allow it. I will send transport to pick you up after school ends."_

"No need, just give me your address and I'll make it there after school. I got my dragon license not that long ago. Would you like anything? Since Wonderland opened up, one of my friends went crazy with Zap Apples, so there's quite a lot on the menu." he said.

" _Zap Apples you say...hmm...I can see you are trying to bribe me. But I cannot turn down an offer like that...Zap Apple fritters will do. I expect you to be here by four pm today. I shall send you the address, have Apple send me your number."_

"Will do, it was nice hearing your voice again sis...even if you don't like me very much." he said.

" _I'll see you soon, and try not to prank me ever again, you almost gave me a heart attack."_ she snapped, ending the call. He rolled his eyes, handing the phone back to Apple.

"Sheesh, melodramatic as always...but I'll slowly get her to like me. After all, whatever it was that mom did to her has nothing to do with me." he said firmly.

"Mom doesn't hate you, she doesn't hate Raven either...she's just annoyed that you two aren't following your destiny. That's all...but I do hope you get along with her."

"Oh she will Apple, I'll make her like me...I'm sure she's gotten over the butt injection thing. I'm gonna hug the shit out of her, just like I did with Cinderella and Aurora. You know...this is really weird, before I knew I was the son of the Evil Queen, I had a knack for meeting fairytales easily. I've met quite a lot of them during my time here." he said.

"Maybe it's because you are likable, and the world wants you to meet them all."

"That sounds kinda stupid Gloriosa...he's just lucky. Even I haven't met Cinderella or Aurora. He's met them both, and Red Riding Hood, and Alice, it just what he does." Raven admitted. The bell rung loudly, signaling the beginning of their lunch period.

"Come on, I'm heading toward Spells Kitchen, you might as well cash in that coupon right?" Blake asked.

"Definitely, wanna join us Apple? I'll pay for your coffee." Raven asked, earning a small nod from the girl.

"That would be great Raven, thanks." she said, sounding a bit out of it. Blake wondered if she was alright, but she was most likely worried about his meeting with Snow White...and if she was worried, then he had reason to worry too. He swallowed the lump in his throat, bracing for what was to come.


	78. Meeting Snow White

**A/N:**

 **Hey guys, welcome to Chapter 78 of Through the Looking Glass. I hope you all liked the last chapter, I got a lot of positive reviews...with it of course, comes the segway for Duchess, which I have yet to write. But I am looking forward to getting started on that as soon as I can. I'm currently writing one for Holly, one of the other girls that Blake showed an actual attraction towards during the main story. I was actually thinking about this pairing for awhile too, before deciding on Kitty as the main pairing. I had three girls when it came to his final pairing, Kitty, Duchess and Holly, and trust me it was a very hard choice.**

 **This chapter, as I said yesterday, will be the first time Snow White is actually introduced into the story. You will all get to see how Blake interacts with her, as well as how she feels toward him. But we will also get stuff that will lead toward the next arc in the Story. Tomorrow's chapter will be the official start of The Ballad of Bluebeard, but I will not be calling it that during the arcs. I will obviously be calling it that when I update the chapters onto here, but each of them will have an actual name instead of how I have done it in the past. Yeah, you'll all know what I'm talking about when I start uploading that stuff.**

 **We are almost on chapter 80, and it's quite an achievement, still can't believe this story has grown so massive, with it being over 700,000 words in length. I'm not that far off from it becoming over one million words long. It will be one of my proudest achievements. If I do make it to one million words, when...I make it, actually...I will most likely do a triple update for that night, something I haven't ever done. I'm also planning a triple update after I reach Chapter 97, so it will be like a Chapter 100 extravaganza, so you all get three chapters for that night, whenever it may be.**

 **Also, I'm sure you all know this, but I am a Kingdom Hearts fanboy, I have been since I played the games back in 08 and holy shit, Kingdom Hearts 3 is looking beautiful. Unreal 4 is making it look so clean and crisp, and I am so fucking hyped for this shit. I'm actually gonna go out and buy, Kingdom Hearts 1.5 and 2.5 Remix along with Kingdom Hearts 2.9 Final Chapter, so I can play that shit and get ready. This game is something that I have been waiting for, for the longest time, and seeing it finally become a reality is just so amazing. Toy Story, and Monster's Inc, two worlds I never thought would make it, are finally in this series. Along with it comes Tangled, Frozen and Big Hero six, so you know that it's gonna be lit, and my boy Riku is looking so damn awesome in his new outfit...this game is going to be one of the best of the year, he's hoping we get a release date, they said that it would be revealed during E3 this year, so the hype is real.**

 **Anyway, sorry about that, but I felt the need to share this...I'm just so excited that Kingdom Hearts 3 is actually real and not something that we have to wait for. What I am hoping for is that we get a full game, not like Final Fantasy 15, which was cut into parts and those parts were sold to the consumer. It was total bullshit that they did that and ruined the game experience for me. I just wished we could go back to the Ps2 Era where we got full fucking games on release and not half a game and then add ons later on in the year...it's annoying.**

 **Well, I'll leave you all with this chapter...I do hope that you like it. Shout out to all of the people who have read this and are liking the story so far, tell me what you all think about this chapter. See you all tomorrow...**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 78

Meeting Snow White

Snow White's castle was finally coming into view, after a half an hour of flying. It was a tall beautiful white castle, with several towers reaching high into the sky. The castle itself looked more modern than the other castles he had seen, he could even see a glass elevator built into one of the leftmost towers. The area around the castle was very well kept, the grass was cut short, all of the shrubs were perfectly trimmed, and the trees were quite neat. There were patches of flowers all around the castle, along with smaller buildings laying about on the grounds. Blake figured those places were smaller officers for the Dwarves under Snow White's employment. Atop one of the towers was a golden flag, which bore Snow White's crest on it, two crossing swords, over a shield, with a snowflake behind it. The other was a flag of Ever After, which bore a golden key on it, along with the Storybook of Legends.

Against the blue skies, the castle looked absolutely alluring. It was the picture perfect castle that many a young woman wanted to live in. It was the one that Apple White was set to inherit upon signing her name in the Storybook of Legends. Of course without Raven Queen or himself poisoning her, that happily ever after wouldn't happen. He hadn't noticed if Apple felt any different toward it, but for now she seemed happy with that decision. After all it had been her that suggested shelving the Storybook in the first place, so that meant she had to have known the consequences behind it. He felt Cadence flapping her wings a bit to keep herself aloft, pulling him out of his musings.

"Hey Darling, are you alright back there? Or are you distracted by the land too?" he asked, glancing over his shoulder.

"Oh, I'm perfectly fine...it's just such an honor to meet Snow White. But why would you choose me to come with you? Wouldn't you want someone like Kitty here?"

"Ideally yes, she's my girlfriend and I love her. But she's also Kitty Cheshire, catch my drift? I can't have her running around Snow White's castle setting up pranks and shit. I can tell this is a serious meeting, so I needed someone like that here. Since you are a knight now, I figured I could parade you around for a bit." he said, giving her a wink.

"Haha, very funny. Seriously, why did you bring me along? Aside from preventing Kitty from pranking your step-sister." she asked, earning a sigh from the boy.

"Well, I dunno...she didn't want Raven there, and bringing Apple wouldn't help. She'd probably start telling her to act all proper and shit, plus I'm not exactly sure what she wants. So it doesn't hurt to have backup, I know she wouldn't try anything, but you know." he said, earning a nod from the platinum blonde, who patted the sword at her side.

"Hey, it's been awhile since we've trained together. How about when we get back to the school, we test our skills again? I think I'm ready for sword magic, and aside from Daring, Dexter and a few others, you are the only one who knows how to pull it off." she said, earning a nod from the boy.

"Sure, I wouldn't mind. We can practice by the dragon stables, it's far enough from the school that literally no one would look for us. Plus, it would also be good to keep you away from King Charming, until you are ready to tell him that you are a knight in Wonderland." he said.

"Ugh...tell me about it. Daring and Dexter really want me to tell him, but I'm not ready yet. On the plus side, at least Daring respects me a little more now that he knows I can stand on my own without his help. I'm one step away from being a true Princess Knight." she said, a dainty giggle leaving her lips.

"I'm proud of you Darling, you are facing the future head on. I admire that, even though we're knights now, there is still a bit of the promise unfulfilled. Being a knight by title isn't enough, we need to be trained, to defend Lizzie, Wonderland and Ever After."

"I understand, I'll take this role seriously. Maybe you can teach me to ride a dragon too?"

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves. Once you learn a sword spell, I'll give you the basics." he said, giving her a grin.

He tugged on the reins a bit, a signal that Cadence took as prepare for a landing. She angled her wings a bit, gliding down on the air, cooing happily when she felt the breeze on her face. She lifted her body a bit, coming to a stop in front of the large castle before them, making sure not to drag along the path. Blake jumped down first, his greaves clinking a bit as he did. He held his hand out, helping Darling down to the floor. Cadence shrunk down to her normal size, panting happily as she shoved her head in Blake's hand, making him chuckle.

"I know, I know...you did a great job, so here's your little reward." he said, reaching into his pocket for a smokey quartz crystal. He tossed it into the air, watching contently as the dragon jumped up and caught it in her mouth, quickly chomping down on it, the sound of breaking glass filling his ears with every chew.

"What do crystals taste like?" Darling asked curiously, earning a shrug from the boy. He took a hold of her reins, pulling her along.

"Probably like glass, but I've never eaten glass. Oh, have you ever eaten sugar crystals? It's probably like that." he said. Darling narrowed her eyes slightly, most likely wondering what it truly tasted like.

A dwarf dressed in a black suit, with a bright pink mustache and sunglasses walked over to them. He looked rather imposing, but Blake wasn't at all intimidated by him. After everything he had been through, he doubted he could ever get intimidated again. He placed a hand on Excalibur just in case, making sure to keep Cadence close to himself.

"Blake Queen?" the dwarf asked.

"Yes sir, and my friend Darling Charming. Snow White said I could bring her along, and don't worry about Cadence, I have my license with me." he said, reaching into his vest.

"No worries, Madam Snow White quite enjoys dragons. She used to be a fierce Dragon Rider in her youth. Come, I will take you to her office." he said, leading them toward the left tower, toward the elevator.

"Dragon Rider? I thought there was only one title? Dragon Master." he asked softly, glancing at Darling.

"I believe what he means is the title given to those who take part in the sport. Ever After High was known to have a fierce team of Dragon Riders, who participated in the yearly Dragon Games. Snow White was one of the best players the school had. But your mother the Evil Queen was also a really good player. The two of them had a fierce rivalry, not just for the game, but due to their stories too." she replied. A look of curiosity appeared on his face, as he entered the elevator, making sure Cadence was fully inside before the doors closed.

" _Dragon Games huh? That sounds like a lot of fun, but there haven't been full sized dragons in Ever After in years. Legend is the last dragon of the previous generation. So that means, that along with Cadence and Nevermore, there wouldn't be enough to play a game. Wonder if that dilapidated building near the stables was the stadium?"_ he thought to himself.

"Wow, you can see everything from here. I think I can see Ever After High from here." Darling said, pointing into the distance. Blake squinted a bit, it was far, but he could make out something that looked like the school.

"Maybe...excuse me, Mr. Dwarf..."

"Grumpy." the Dwarf said, making the boy blink.

"Grumpy...you say Snow White was a Dragon Rider, how come there aren't anymore games? If she likes dragons than wouldn't she sponsor teams?" he asked curiously.

"A very good question...but it has an obvious answer. There aren't any full sized dragons around, all of them left years ago. If there dragons still living in Ever After, I'm sure other schools would come to challenge your high school. Teams from Gingerbread Land, Notthingham, Neverland and Wonderland would come to Ever After for the Dragon Games, fighting to see who would be the top realm. Not just that, there were teams from other realms as well...it was truly quite a sight." he replied.

"Oh...that's a shame, I knew Legend was the last dragon of her generation, but I didn't know Ever After didn't have dragons left. It makes you quite special Cadence." he said, giving his friend a pat on the head, earning a lick in return. The doors opened a second later, right into a very large chamber. There was a red runner leading straight to the other end of the room.

Upon looking around, he noticed the main color was white. White walls, white marble floors, white ceiling. There was a glass chandelier in the center of the room, which looked more for decoration than an actual light fixture. Grumpy lead them forward, and he gave the reins in his hand a light flick, making Cadence walk forward, even she seemed a bit intimidated by the size of the room. All around, he could see framed pictures, mostly of family. He saw plaques, trophies, medals, accolades and various other awards placed in glass cases and on the walls. Whatever Snow White did, it must have been praised especially if she had gotten so many awards over the years.

At the end of the runner was a large wooden desk, behind it being three parlor windows, the curtains pulled to let in the sunlight. The desk was made of the finest oak found in Ever After, and was covered with office supplies, staplers, pens, paper, post it notes, a large desk calender and various picture frames. There was also a desk phone, which was currently in use, since the one sitting behind the desk was currently facing the windows, her saccharine voice echoing off the walls around them. Blake swallowed the lump in his throat, placing a hand on Excalibur's hilt. He wasn't scared, more nervous than anything. This was Snow White he was about to meet, the original princess. She was the ruler of Ever After, one of the best students to come out of Ever After High, and Apple's mother. He could tell Darling was much in the same state, standing stiff next to him, shoulder to shoulder as she faced the desk in front of her.

"Madam Snow White, your guests have arrived." Grumpy said, making the woman pause mid conversation.

"Yes, I'll speak with you later, I have a very important meeting to attend. Goodbye." the woman said, finally spinning her chair around, hanging the phone up.

Snow White didn't look like he had been expecting. Of course, the last time he had seen her was back on Earth, in a Disney movie. His memories were still a bit muddled, so the real Snow White kept mixing with his image of her. This woman truly was the Fairest of them All.

Just like her story detailed, she had hair as black as ebony, lips crimson like a rose, and skin as white as snow. Even though she was nearing her forties, she looked beautiful, her cheeks flushed with make up, her eyes lined with black, making her striking blue eyes pop out even more. She was wearing a white dressed, line with gold, made out of the finest silk he had seen yet. He could see she was wearing a crimson cape around her shoulders, tied around her neck. Her hair was picked up into a ponytail, and she wore a beautiful golden crown on her head. She stood up from her seat, rising to her full height, making the boy look up at her slightly, he hadn't been expecting her to be that tall in real life.

"Blake, it's been quite a long time since I last saw you. You were only eight when the Evil Queen robbed us of our memories. Are you doing alright?"

"I'm fine. It's just...sorry if I don't remember you alright? Everything is coming in bits and pieces...the only thing I do remember in detail is the butt injection." he said, earning a sigh from her.

"Quite...something like that would stick out more than anything else." she replied. Blake handed Darling the reins in his hand as he moved to hug the older woman, wrapping his arms around her frame. She looked a bit taken aback, but settled into the hug, even returning it.

"I'm just happy to know I have family here, I know that you don't like me, because of my mom. But I don't care, I'm glad that you are my sister Snow. I just don't want to be put through losing my family again." he said, voice sounding a bit muffled.

"It's quite alright...it must have been hard to lose your family twice in life. But you are here now, and that's all that matters. Would you mind introducing me to your friend?" she asked. He backed away from the woman, turning toward his friend who was flushing with embarrassment.

"Snow, this is my friend Darling Charming. She's the daughter of Lance Charming, I'm sure you are familiar with him."

"I am, I had heard rumors that he had a daughter. I wasn't aware that she was such a beautiful young woman, it's a pleasure to meet you."

"Ah...no, it's a pleasure to meet you Snow White! You are like...the idol of so many young women, just being here is an honor." she said, bowing her head a bit, earning a laugh from the woman.

"And humble no less, you truly are a Charming...I take it you have a special trait right? I'm aware of your older brother's glimmering smile. Apple can't stop talking about it sometimes. I'd love to see it."

"No you wouldn't...it's this weird time thing when she flicks her hair. It just makes you feel weird, and the bass drops too." Blake said, making the raven haired woman look at him, a single brow raised.

"The bass drops? I'm not that good with music terms, but I doubt that happens in real life."

"Ugh...okay, go for it Darling, don't say I didn't warn you." Blake said, hastily covering his ears. Darling smiled, flicking a strand of hair over her shoulder. The two watched as time literally slowed almost to a snails pace as her hair landed perfectly on her shoulder, looking quite pristine as it did. Snow White blinked a few times, shaking her head slightly as Blake uncovered his ears.

"Okay, I believe you...the bass did drop...I must get knowledge on today's lingo. My, that is a lovely dragon you've got with you, is she yours?" she asked, kneeling down in front of Cadence, who looked at her warily.

"Yes, her name is Princess Mi Amore Cadenza, Cadence for short. She's a very rare breed of crystal dragon. Me and a close friend hatched her out of her egg." the boy explained, causing Snow White to look at him.

"You hatched her? How long ago was this?"

"Uh...about November, I believe. We had just started dating and...forget that part...we ended up going to this cave that a Goblin had taken over. The dragon that resided in there had three eggs, and since she was still laying, he took the chance to kill her. Cadence was the only surviving egg, used a bit of magic to hatch her, along with a crystal flower that did the rest." he said. Snow White frowned a bit, placing a hand on Cadence's snout, earning a small yip from her.

"So, that was your fate then? Blake...that crystal dragon was named Crystalline Snow, she used to be my partner when I was in the dragon games, more than twenty years ago."

"Eh? Are you serious?" Darling asked, surprised by Snow White's claim. The woman nodded, standing back up, leaning against her desk.

"I am indeed serious. When Crystalline hatched, I was about your age...she used to be a lively dragon. It took about ten months in order for her to grow large enough to be able to ride. But dragons have an innate magic that can allow them to shift size, so the other dragons of her generation were able to be ridden as well. We won a great many games back then, but when we graduated high school, she and the other dragons, except Legend, took off into the unknown."

"Right...it must have been breeding season. Dragons normally take off when they mature in order to lay their eggs...I guess most of them were killed during this period. The others must have just disappeared, leaving only Legend and Crystalline alive, but she was slain by such a cruel creature." Blake said, hugging his dragon tightly.

"Your pet dragon is a purebred flier Blake, I can tell she's going to be feisty when her time comes. If she's anything like Crystalline, she'll be a natural at the Dragon Games, shame that they got canceled long ago. Anyway, I have called you here for a reason, Blake. It wasn't just to catch up, but to hear your story, I fear that your mother might be trying to leave the Mirror Realm." Snow White said, causing the boy to clench his jaw a bit. He shook his head a bit, a firm look on his face.

"Well, for as long as I knew I had been born on Earth...I named it the Real World. In that world, all of our stories were just that, stories. Fairytales, movies, video games, you name it, it was there. I lived quite a difficult life. The Bigbys cared for me a lot, and loved me...but I never felt like I belonged there. I was always depressed, especially when I found out I was adopted by them. I guess I always felt rejected by my real parents. Of course I wasn't alone, I had Lucy with me...or well I suppose you might know he as Gloriosa."

"Yes, the daughter of the White Queen...I've met her once...please continue." the woman said, earning a nod from the boy.

"Okay...I guess it all started on September 9th. At least, that was the date back in my world...that other world. I was on my way to school when I heard a voice through a mirror. I thought I was seeing things, but when I turned around, I saw a full length mirror resting against a wall at a nearby clothing shop. I approached it, tapping it with my knuckles when I was sucked in. I don't remember what happened in that mirror, all I recall was waking up in Apple and Raven's dorm. I thought it was all a dream, and was about to jump out of their window too."

"Oh oh, I know this...Apple slapped him across the face, it was so hard that he had the hand print on his cheek throughout the day." Darling said, nodding happily. The boy sighed, flushing a bit in annoyance.

"Yes, she did and thankfully _not_ with her ring hand. Anyway, it wasn't until the Monday of Thronecoming Week, that Baba Yaga told me the extent of what she had done. She put several curses on me, the first one being a leaving curse. She had stabbed a mirror shard in my chest at that point, and we hadn't known it until then. The leaving curse is simple, should I leave for Earth, the shard will explode and send pieces into my heart, killing me instantly."

"Oh my...that is rather serious...what about the other two?"

"The second one was the removal curse. Should I remove the shard myself, it will release all of its dark magic, poisoning my body. The last one was unnamed until recently. The third curse is the Raven clause. Should someone with the Evil Queen's power, I.E. her daughter, try to break the curse or remove the shard from my chest, it would explode killing me instantly, and probably her too." he said. Snow White remained silent, processing the information the boy had been telling her.

She hadn't been aware that the Evil Queen had done something so horrible. To her own son no less, had she no shame? Or were her children just pawns in the grand scheme of things. She would do anything to defend her daughter Apple, by any means necessary. While she didn't get along with Raven a lot, she still cared about her, for family sakes. But she would never, wish this upon anyone for as long as she lived. Darling had remained silent as well..this was the first time he had actually spoken about the curses he carried, at least with her there. It was common knowledge sure, but hearing it from him hurt even more than hearing it from a rumor.

"The final curse is one that I heard from Apple once. She said the Evil Queen used your memories of the Bigby family and erased you from their thoughts. It made it seem like you never existed for them."

"That's right Snow...she took my family away from me. Sure, they weren't my real family, but Susan and Mary were my sisters. Marissa was my mother, and Steven my father...I can never just toss away all of those good times either. My memories of my early life were fabricated, they've gone dark now, filling in with little bits and pieces of my life. I'm not sure why, but I do know one reason why my mother sent me to Earth." he said.

"I think I know this, I learned this in Princessology. Though it doesn't happen often, people from Earth realm find themselves here. The come from a world without magic, and when they come into this world, magic is attracted to them like a sponge. Using this as a basis, the Evil Queen placed the mirror shard in Blake's chest and enchanted it to turn his light magic into darkness. It made him that much more powerful, which means that she was most likely planning on sucking that magic out of him if she ever broke out." Darling said firmly.

"When she breaks out you mean...it won't be long...hopefully we can keep her in the Mirror Realm. But if she does leave, she'll be coming after you and your sister Blake, and I hope you are prepared for that."

"I am Snow, I signed the Storybook of Legends for a reason, and that was to eliminate most of her power. But also because I wanted to protect my friends with my magic. Even if I have to fight my mother, I will." he said firmly, placing a hand on Excalibur.

"You aren't like your mother at all are you? Did Raven talk you into not following destiny? Or did it come naturally? I'm not here to tell you what to do. But keep in mind, my daughter has been conditioned to follow destiny, to have her happily ever after, and she will. Raven will have to assume her role eventually, she doesn't have to remain Evil after it."

"Snow, you and I both know that isn't possible. Apple eats that poisoned apple and she is cursed with the sleeping death. She gets her happily ever after, and Raven gets crushed by a boulder. And if she manages to survive that, then she'll have the fate my mother has. I will not let that happen, I'll fight against it...I hope you understand that." he said firmly, earning a chuckle from the woman.

"I do...and I expect you to fight valiantly. However, if you wish to spare your sister, you could take care of her business yourself."

"Snow White, I don't mean to disrespect but Blake would never do that. He's a knight, he protects people not betrays them. He's rather fond of your daughter, a best friend even. I doubt he would so easily force her to eat a poisoned apple just for the sake of destiny." Darling said firmly, causing the woman to shift her gaze toward her.

"A knight you say? Ah yes...Apple told me you two were knighted when you saved Wonderland...I suppose you are right. I'm not pushing the envelope forward anymore. Just give it some thought. One last thing, may I see Excalibur? I've longed to see the holy sword since I was a little girl."

Blake glanced at Darling who just gave him a shrug. He wrapped his hands around the hilt of the holy sword, slowly drawing it from its sheathe. He held the sword out to Snow White, who had a look of awe on her face. The light that was being cast by the blade made the surrounding areas glow a bright white, making it a bit harder to see for a few moments. The woman took the sword into her hand, running her hand over the flat of the blade, tracing the etched swan which was glowing a bright blue.

"Magnificent...I never thought the holy sword would be this divine. And to see it, being wielded by the son of the Evil Queen, no less. It truly is a jarring weapon, I hope it serves you well." Snow White said, handing the blade back to the boy, who quickly sheathed it.

"It will, for as long as I have it, I will use it to defend Ever After, from anyone who dares threaten its well-being." he said firmly.

"That reminds me...Snow White, how are the court proceedings for Martineu vs Ever After coming along?"

"They are coming along quite nicely, he will first be judged by the Queen of Hearts. Once he is, he will be extradited here and charged for his crimes against the crown, then the two of us will come together to decide a proper sentence. Anyone who dares expose those secrets about my Apple deserves nothing short of death." she said, balling her hand, growling slight.

"Oh...oh god...so that means you know? About the diary entree?" Blake asked, a look of shock on his face. Snow White, while poised let him see the tiniest of smirks.

"I do...and in detail. Apple was quite descriptive when she was writing it, she has also told me in the past that you two not only kissed, but also switched bodies. You aren't the ideal prince charming, but I'll say you are quite the contender."

"Wait, but aren't they family? Wouldn't that make everything up until now like, super weird?" Darling asked.

"Normally yes, but Apple White is my step-niece, there is no blood relation at all. If I wasn't in a relationship with Kitty and held more affections toward her, I would have likely asked her on a date. She has told me she likes me in the past, so I wouldn't mind. I doubt big sis here would be too proud though."

"No...it would take awhile, but if you take care of my daughter then it is fine. Of course, that is until destiny kicks in, parting is such sweet sorrows, I'm afraid. It wouldn't be a good relationship, the would be poisoner, kissing the beautiful sleeping princess back to life...it just wouldn't be ideal." Snow White said, almost dramatically as she spoke. The door opened, and one of the many dwarves under Snow White's employment ran in, carrying what looked like a very important looking letter. He wordlessly handed it to Snow White, who flipped it over, eyeing the wax seal on it.

"I've never seen this seal before."

"Who's it for?" Blake asked curiously, earning a frown from the woman.

"It's addressed to both myself and Apple...though if it was for her, why not just send it to the school?" she asked, sliding her finger under the seal, breaking it open.

"It's rare to see people use wax seals like this. My daddy has his on his ring, same with all of my cousins and uncles. I heard Ashlynn and Briar's fathers also have seals like that." Darling happily said.

"That's right, seals are mostly used for traditional purposes now. I always wanted to have my own seal, I thought it was cooler than having a personalized stamp. There's just something cool about melting wax and putting your personal seal in something, it makes it more...personal, if you can understand that." Blake said, patting Cadence's snout, earning a snort from the dragon. He heard the sound of paper crumpling and looked back at his step-sister, who had a rather angry look on her face, she looked like she was about to snap. He placed a hand on her shoulder, startling her a bit.

"Is something wrong Snow?"

"Tch...yes...it seems someone is interested in my daughter. Someone who isn't a prince charming, he didn't even leave his name at the bottom of the letter. All he said was his name was Felipe, the nerve of him." she said, handing him the paper. His eyes hovered over the words, taking in the neat hand writing.

"To the Fairest of them All, my dearest Snow White, I write to you today, asking for your daughter's hand in marriage. You must be confused, my name is Felipe...I am a noble of royal blood who lives on the outskirts of your kingdom in a posh but luxurious castle. You must be wondering why I am asking for your daughter's hand? Allow me to explain, it is not because she bares your name, or for wealth or fame. Her beauty has attracted me, I have been a fan for quite awhile. I may not sound it in writing, but I am a humble young man, of eighteen, the ripe age of your teenage daughter. I invite you to meet me, so we can discuss this further. I assure you, my queen, that your daughter shall be in safe hands, where she will be forever loved and cherished. I have recently come to inherit quite a lot of land and massive amounts of wealth, so I assure you, I need not your money. What I wish is for a meeting between us all, if you grant me that, I assure you, you will be most pleased with what you see. Signed, Felipe." he said, finishing the contents of the letter.

"Well, if that didn't sound pretentious I don't know what does." Darling said, a look of annoyance on her face.

"He sounds like a blue blooded piece of shit, who thinks he can charm his way into a girl's heart. He thinks he can use these sweet words to charm Apple White, please...he clearly hasn't met her. I wouldn't trust this dick head, especially if he didn't give a surname. Something doesn't smell right about this letter." he said firmly.

"I agree, this one can return to living in his posh castle. My daughter shall never set foot in it, she will remain in Ever After High, where she will graduate and meet the prince of her dreams. Provided Raven changes her mind of course."

"Not gonna happen Snow...but this is a cause for concern...mind if I keep this with me?" he asked, earning a curious look from the woman.

"Have a it, I was just going to shred it. But if you want to keep it, more power to you. Now then, I would love to spend more time getting to know the man you have become, but I have a meeting in a few minutes. So I must send you two on your way. I understand summer vacation is almost here...so if you wish, I wouldn't mind having you and your sister stay with me and Apple here. I'm sure your father wishes to see you."

"My father...the Good King...Snow White, did you ever meet my real father? I have reason to believe his name is Jeremiah Queen. Does that name ring a bell?" he asked. Snow White shook her head, glancing toward the windows.

"I apologize...the Evil Queen...Mira, she never spoke about her husband, your father. I had assumed he had left once he found out she was pregnant...that or she killed him in vain. That is a question you shall have to ask her, I'm afraid." she replied.

"Oh...alright then, I suppose I'll see you some other time then. It was...nice...talking you sis. Is it weird to say that I missed you?"

"I do not believe so...take care of yourself Blake, I'm sure one day you'll have the answers you so desire." she said, giving the boy a motherly smile. He gave her another hug, happy to at least have one more family member he could call his own.

"I know, one day I will...oh yeah, before we go...here's those fritters I promised. Ginger gave me two boxes of this, she said she had to send you two. I tried not to make it obvious that it was for you, but when the name Snow White slipped from my mouth, she went nuts. It's all assorted so, yeah." he said, handing the woman the two boxes he had summoned into his hands. Snow White just looked at them, gratefully accepting them.

"Thank you, make sure you thank her as well...she's the daughter of the Candy Witch correct?"

"Mhmm, I'm the store manager at Spells Kitchen, if you're ever nearby, you should check us out. We've got pictures with Jack Horner, I'm sure a picture of you will bring the ratings up significantly."

"Blake, it's wrong using your step-sister as a means to gain popularity." Darling said, earning an eyeroll from the boy.

"Not really, she's Snow White. Even if it was just a normal visit, people would still come to our store, because Snow White was there. It is what it is...anyway, we'll let you go to your meeting...see ya sis."

"Right, it was nice seeing you Blake...take care of yourself, and your sister." Snow White said, giving him a smile.

 _ **xxx**_

The old dragon stables that belonged to Ever After High were located in the valley behind the castle, connected by an ivory stairwell. It took about ten minutes to walk down the entire distance, but for Blake it only took seconds since he just teleported the rest of the way. Since it was the place where Cadence was kept, he was quite familiar with the area. It was a large grassy field which was covered with wildflowers, the nearby river flowed through it, providing the nearby animals with a place to drink.

The building itself was a large single story, barn, painted light green in color, with dark black shingles. Inside, were several large stables built to accommodate the size of each dragon that would rest within. Fresh hay was laid inside each one to provide bedding for the dragons, and there was a chute that lead to a feeding tray where the dragons could get their food. Thankfully, dragons could eat anything, so the staff normally brought the leftovers after every meal and gave it to Cadence and Legend, and often times Nevermore, when she wasn't up in the forbidden tower guarding the Evil Queen's mirror.

It had been the perfect place for Blake and Darling to start honing their skills. Fighting Joey had been a wake up call for him, he couldn't rely just on his magic, but also on his stamina and his overall skills. He was good with a sword yes, and he may be passing Sword Training. But he had less training than most of the other students in Ever After. Comparing himself to Daring and Dexter was a clear mistake, they had been training for years, while he had ten months at best. He was always beaten by Daring, no matter how close he got to defeating him. Even though he was arrogant, he was good with a sword and it showed. Even with Sword magic, he had trouble keeping up with the son of Prince Charming. It was one of his major motivations to train harder than before.

So, he and Darling grabbed a pair of dull blades and grabbed some gear and had started fighting each other. It wasn't a normal sword fight either, during those they had tried to break the other persons guard and that would be it. This battle was more realistic, especially because they were aiming for contact. He had charmed the swords so they would turn to rubber if they made contact with skin so it wouldn't hurt, but they still weighed and acted like steel swords when they fought. They had been doing this for an hour, and neither had landed a solid hit. Nearby, Raven, Apple, Dexter and Kitty were hanging out, with the three remaining dragons in the school, watching the two teenagers intently.

"Those two are going at it, they really take that knight business seriously." Raven said, patting Nevermore's head, who was sleeping contently in her lap.

"Well duh, for a knight nothing is more fulfilling than serving someone. The fact that Lizzie actually knighted them speaks volumes of how much she trusts them. They fight valiantly, and saved all of our lives, and Wonderland too." Kitty said, her eyes solely on her boyfriend, and his sweat soaked undershirt.

"I never thought my sister was this good, I'm sorry I never paid attention to her. I suppose we all have something in common now." Dexter said, pushing his glasses up slightly. He watched intently as his sister flicked her hair, causing time to slow around them. She used that to her advantage, sending a jab right to the center of Blake's chest, knocking him to the ground.

"My point!" she cried happily.

"That's bullshit! You can't use that against me!" Blake cried, a look of shock and anger on his face. Darling just giggled, stabbing her sword into the ground.

"I'm sorry Blake, I may be a knight but I am also a lady. That means I can use my charm whenever I deem fit. Just like you can use magic in battle." she said. The boy pursed his lips, giving her a reluctant nod. He smirked, getting up to a single knee.

"Well, since you want to play that way, then I suppose I can do this." he cried, springing into a tackle, knocking the girl to the ground. She was so surprised by the attack she didn't even feel the dull wooden blade to her throat, he smirked, using his weight to keep her pinned to the ground.

"My point."

"Dammit, that was a dirty trick!" the girl cried, earning a chuckle from the boy.

"Sorry, but as a handsome knight, I have to do anything to defend my princess. Even if it means using a cheap tactic like this."

"Kitty! Tell your boyfriend to stop pinning me to the ground!"

"Sorry, he's your problem now!" Kitty cried, giving her a bring grin. Blake got off of the platinum blonde princess, holding his hand out to help her to her feet.

"Well, I think we can start practicing something else. The two of us are good with a sword, but we have to learn how to fight without one. After all, we won't always have our weapons on us. So let's just set these aside, we aren't gonna need them for now." Blake said, tossing his sword and knife aside. Darling did the same, frowning a bit since she no longer would be using it.

"What are you gonna do now Blake? You aren't gonna start punching her are you?" Raven asked curiously, earning a glare from the boy.

"No, not outright. Hand to hand combat is important in any battle, especially if you are coming into the field like a G riding on a horse. If your horse gets speared, you won't have time to reach for a sword. You have to focus on picking your sorry ass off the ground. You won't have time to draw that sucker, you need to go for it."

"What if they wear armor?" Kitty asked, a curious look on her face. She did have a point, hand to hand was useless for an armored individual, then again that was the reason why he learned Mixed Martial Arts. With Tae Kwan Do, he could easily aim for the head rather than for the chest.

"Well Kitty, the training that I have, while extensive, can be applied to various situations. I'm only a first degree black belt in MMA, and we would practiced different arts for weeks at a time, when I left Earth, I was practicing Aikido, a martial art that involves punches and kicks. First we'll start with kick boxing, it isn't that hard to learn." he said, snapping his fingers, in an instant, his armor pieces disappeared, bearing replaced with some boxing pads, Darling glanced at her hands, seeing a pair of fingerless boxing gloves on her hands.

"Whoa...this is weird." she muttered, shaking her head slightly.

"Alright then, boxing practices various upper body strikes, Haymakers are punches that use the trunk of the body to build strength, usually used as a body shot. The left and right hooks are easy, they're punches aimed at the head using a hooking motion, aimed at the jaw, a weak point that when struck hard enough, will lead to a knock out. The uppercut is quite simple, it's a punch that is aimed at the bottom of the chin, but often times used as a body shot as well. Think you can remember that?" he asked.

"Um...it's a lot of information but...yeah, I can do it."

"Okay then, leading foot first, dominant hand back. That stance is what we usually call the square stance. I just want you to punch my left hand with your right, see how strong you are." he said, earning a nod from the girl. Once she was in the proper stance, she threw her right fist forward, striking his left hand.

"How was that?"

"That was good, follow that with a left punch and just chain it together. Don't forget to breathe too, we wouldn't want you passing out." Blake said, with an encouraging tone.

For the next few minutes, Blake coached Darling with the basics of boxing. The others watched intently, taking mental notes in case they had ever found themselves in a tight spot. Apple seemed quite interested in this, her focus being mostly on Blake who was coaching his friend to the best of his ability. She felt a tap on her shoulder, causing her to look over, earning a curious look from Raven.

"What's up with you? Thinking of practicing with them?"

"A little bit...I just...felt a little helpless back in Wonderland you know? We've been taught to be rescued, not do the rescuing. But seeing Darling training hard, getting prepared for what being a knight truly entails...I dunno. I wanna learn too."

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with that. A woman who can defend herself is a valuable asset to have. It gives the rescuer a lot less to worry about...honestly that hole Damsel-in-Distress thing is so bullshit. I would much rather help a girl help herself than help a girl who's helpless. And it gives me an extra sword in the field." Dexter admitted, taking a few pictures of Darling's training. He was saving them for the time when she was going to tell their father.

"Ow fuck, did you just punch me in the face?" Blake cried, a stunned look on his face.

"Sorry, sorry! I didn't mean too." Darling said, an apologetic look on her face. He chuckled, shaking it off.

"It's fine, I'm actually quite impressed with the power behind that. Before we can continue with boxing, we need to bring you to the kick aspect of the art. However, you are wearing a skirt right now and that wouldn't be ideal for you. So we'll continue tomorrow, get yourself a good training outfit, we're gonna be coming down here a lot." he said, allowing his gloves to disappear.

"Okay, I already have all of that stuff in my dorm. Whenever Rosabella is gone, I just start my workout routine. I guess now that people know I'm the White Knight, I don't have to hide it anymore." she said, a look of relief on her face.

"Good, now then sit still. I'm gonna use my magic to give the two of us a shower, I'm too lazy to actually splash water on myself." he said, holding his hand up into the air.

"Now my dark power, turn this mist into a refreshing shower!" Blake chanted, shooting the ball into the air. Instead of it turning into an actual shower, it started turning into a dark storm cloud, which proceeded to break, causing a small rain storm to fall over the stables.

"Blake you idiot! You have to be specific when you cast an enchantment. Magic takes what you say seriously!" Raven cried, earning an annoyed look from her brother.

"I know that! But I made a mistake, sheesh! Hang on, I'll take care of this." he said, snapping his fingers, causing the cloud to disappear. With another much easier spell, the two teenagers had been cleaned off and looked as if they had come out of the shower.

"I must admit, magic is quite handy when it comes to daily chores like this. Do you do everything with magic now?" Darling asked, glancing at her friends. Blake placed his hands behind his back, a smirk on his face.

"Not everything, there are things that I just have to do physically, if you know what I mean." he said, giving her a wink. Darling flushed, a cute scowl on her face. Kitty giggled, flashing next to the boy, giving him a kiss on the lips.

"Oh, my mischievous nature is rubbing off on you. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing." she said.

"Um Blake...would it be too much trouble if I...um, joined you when you trained? I've had differing thoughts about destiny lately, but I also want to be able to defend myself." Apple said, earning a look from the boy. He hummed to himself, looking her over.

"Hmm...you don't look like a sword girl, I doubt you could actually swing one to do some damage. Maybe fencing would do, but I'm not a fencer, perhaps Lizzie could teach you that. I can tell you've got strong legs, perhaps we can focus on that." he said.

"You think she'd be good with kicking?" Raven asked. The boy nodded, he grabbed a hold of the blonde girl's arm, quickly picking her up into a bridle carry much to her surprise.

"What are you doing this for?"

"You're pretty light...120 pounds, give or take...and with strong legs...yes I think this will do. You'll be learning a different kind of technique, centered mostly around your legs. I have an idea on how to modify those heels of yours." he said, a smirk on his face as he set the girl down.

"Should I be scared?" she asked.

"Not really, if you want to learn to defend yourself, then you have to pick a good weapon. Your legs will be your weapon, so we need to make something that will help them. Just like brass knuckles help street punks when their throwing punches, what I have in mind, will definitely help with your kicks." Blake said, earning a nod from the girl.

"Well, if Apple is going to be taking this seriously, then I have to come watch. I might learn something." Raven said, a small smile on her face. Dexter coughed into his fist, clearing his throat a bit as he wrapped his arm around her waist.

"Um...I hope you don't mind me joining you then. I wanna see what my little sister can do, and learning something new is never a bad thing." he said, flushing slightly. Raven rolled her eyes, giving the boy a kiss on the cheek, making his face grow even redder.

"We should start heading up, it's almost time for dinner, and after all of this, I'm starving." Darling said, patting her stomach a bit.

"Me too, I hear they have clam chowder today, and I just love clam chowder."

"Ew, fucking gross! That shit looks like vomit!" Blake said, clearly disgusted at the thought. Kitty giggled at his reaction, giving him a kiss on the cheek.

"It doesn't to me, see you all there! I'll save you a seat." she said, flashing out of the area.

Blake rolled his eyes, following the rest of his friends, after bidding farewell to Cadence and Nevermore of course. He caught up with the others, noticing Apple was walking a little slower than the others. Darling and Raven seemed to be lost in thought, while Dexter just politely waited to give his input on whatever they were discussing. She seemed a bit distracted, and whatever it was was definitely serious. For her to ask out of the blue for him to teach her how to fight, it was rather alarming for him. He was at least glad that they only had three weeks of school left before the summer break, so he had more time to hone his skills with his friends. He placed a hand on her shoulder, causing her to look at him.

"Tell me the truth, something is bothering you, isn't it?" he asked.

"How do you figure?"

"Apple White, daughter of Snow White, a bonafied princess, a beautiful young woman who's known for being the best when it comes to Damseling, is asking me to teach her how to fight. There is something wrong, either the world is ending, hell froze over, the angels have fallen, or something is bothering you." he said, earning a giggle from the girl. She frowned, glancing at the grass and dirt leading toward the stairs.

"You're right, something is bothering me. Can I confide in you a secret? I don't want Raven to know this, because I know she'd be really worried...after everything that's happened...I don't want her to worry about me." she said, earning a nod from the boy.

"Yeah sure, hey guys! Go on ahead, me and Apple are gonna discuss some techniques for her to start with."

"Are you sure?" Raven cried back, from one of the platforms above them. He gave her a nod.

"Yes! We'll just teleport to the castleteria, don't worry about it!" he cried back. She gave him a thumbs up, continuing on ahead. He started leading her back toward the stables, glancing up at the dilapidated Dragon Games arena that had been abandoned for quite awhile. He felt almost ashamed that it had gotten that way.

"So tell me, what's bothering you? And who's nuts to I have to cut off to ensure they stop?" he asked.

"It isn't anyone in specific...ever since our return from Wonderland I...I've been getting these weird letters via carrier pigeon. They're quite...disturbing to say the least. It's all by the same guy, some Felipe who wants my hand in marriage." she said, causing the boy to gasp in shock, jaw dropping slightly.

"What did you just say?"

"This guy Felipe, he's been sending me letters for two weeks now. They come every two days or so, and they're getting longer and more disgusting." she admitted, bowing her head a bit. Blake reached into his back pocket, pulling out the letter he had taken from Snow White, holding it out to her.

"I got this one from sis earlier today, she invited me to talk about my past and to discuss what my mom did to me. One of her dwarves handed her this, this Felipe guy is asking for your hand in marriage." he said. She gasped in surprise, taking the letter from his hands, hastily pulling the note from inside. She took a few moments to read it, tearing the paper to shreds right after.

"What a piece of shit! I don't even know this guy and he is offering all of this up for my hand? Who does he think I am? I am not just something to be sought after like a goddamn trophy!"

"Damn straight...sadly I have no idea who the hell this guy is. There is no surname, just his seal which I didn't get a good look at before it was broken. The only thing I can suggest to you, is to just ignore the letters when they came, and as a measure, I'm gonna tell the other Princesses to avoid letters like that. You never know what kind of sick deranged bastard could be out there." he said. Apple sighed, her anger diminishing a bit as she looked at her shaking hands.

"I want...to be able to defend myself. I realize that I'm just a helpless person, who's bound to be stuck in a glass coffin for who knows how long? But before that time arrives, when it arrives, I want to be able to defend myself. The whole thing with Joey and Duchess was a wake up call, he was planning on doing all that sick stuff to her, ugh the nerve!"

"Tell me about it, it makes you want to scream to the heavens. Go on Apple, unleash your inner fuck. You know you want too." he said, wiggling his brows a bit. She opened her mouth for a second, her lips turning into a scowl.

"Nice try, but I'm not going to say it. You got me to say shit, but that's as far as I'll go!"

"Dammit...just you wait Apple White, I will make you drop an F-bomb if it's the last thing I do. Even if I have to sing the fuck song in your ear while you sleep!"

"You had better not, or I will punch you harder than Darling did earlier!" she replied, shaking her fist at him. He rolled his eyes, wrapping an arm around her waist.

"Come on, allow me to walk my super awesome niece to the castleteria. I hear they got Zap Apple pie for dessert, and I know how much you like Zap Apples." he said.

"Let's hurry then, before Maddie eats them all!" she cried, tugging on his hand as she lead him toward the stairs, both forgetting that he could just teleport to the school building. Neither of them noticed the falcon that had been perched in a nearby tree, and had been watching them the entire time.


	79. The Ballad of Bluebeard I

**A/N:**

 **Hello guys, welcome to Chapter 79 of Through the Looking Glass. This is going to be the first chapter in the Ballad of Bluebeard arc...I guess? I'm not sure, I was considering the last chapter the first one, since that's when you actually get to see the letter, but in this one you get to hear more about his plans along with some of his thought process. So I guess this is the first one? Whatever, I'll let you all decide...**

 **This is also the chapter where the Evil Queen gets introduced, for the first time. Not as a voice and not as a dream entity, but as who she is. I figured, if I was gonna have Blake meet Snow White, I might as well have him meet the Evil Queen as well. There is a difference here however, even though the Evil Queen is evil, she cares about her kids a lot. Raven, despite her being evil and doing a lot of evil shady shit to her and Blake, still loves her mother dearly. Blake on the other hand does not. Eventually, he will start feeling a motherly bond with her, but I doubt he will ever truly love her, at least not for now. After all the shit she has done to him, he feels nothing but hatred towards her.**

 **In this chapter you also get to hear a little bit more about Jeremiah Queen, Blake and Raven's actual father. He used to be known by another name, but when he married the Evil Queen, he took her name instead of the other way around, due to her being part of a fairytale. I'm not sure if I'll ever introduce him into the story, but I might later on. I'm sure Raven and Blake want to know who their father is, every child does at some point. It isn't a lot of information, but you'll find out more about him on his next visit with the Evil Queen, which will be after this arc is over.**

 **Yes, this arc is actually coming along smoothly, as smoothly as I want really. It has been a challenge making Felipe as twisted as his father, but also a bit different from him. I can't make him just like his father, because Bluebeard, despite him being a murderer, was charming. The reason women didn't like him was because of his blue beard. But Felipe is actually a bit of an opposite, he is charming yes, but he is cold and calculating. This will be explained later on when he tells Apple his story and why he does the shit he does. So I hope you are looking forward to that, because it is gonna be just as fucked up as you all think it is. I'm currently writing Chapter 85, and during it, Blake will discover some of the disgusting shit he has done to unsuspecting young women. Let's just say, it isn't pretty.**

 **As I said before, I have been working on Crystal and Holly's segway chapters, but I ended up catching the Flu so last night I wasn't able to write anything. So that barred my progress on all three stories. Since I was gonna use part of Chapter 52 as Crystal's segway, I decided I would rewrite her entire chapter, as she will be a part of this arc, starting in Chapter 85. So I'll most likely write her chapter to tie into this arc in some way. Holly's ties into the Blue Moon Forest Fest, as it takes place between Chapters 58 and 59, and is sort of a non-canon thing. Since the basic plot of it, is Blake wanting to tell Holly he really likes her, but she sees him as a friend only. So throughout it, Blake will try to get her to see him differently, while risking his friendship with her. I haven't done something like that yet, and I figured it would be something interesting for these two, since Holly is cute as hell and she was one of the top three choices for Blake to end up with. It's that goddamn frying pan, I'm telling ya. A woman who can beat the shit out of a man with frying pan, and then use that same frying pan to cook breakfast is a good woman to have. Plus it helps that she's a closet pervert which Blake finds extremely cute.**

 **So uh...there you have it...Chapter 79...I hope you are all looking forward to it and Chapter 80 which debuts tomorrow. I must also say, the Kingdom Hearts 3 Hype Train has left the building with my ass riding first class. I've watched those trailers like four times each, and I must say...holy shit man, Unreal 4 is making that shit crisp as fuck.**

 **Have a good night, and before I go...I have one question for all of you...Harvey Dent...can he be trusted?**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 79

An odd Premonition

June had finally arrived in Ever After High, and the students couldn't be any happier. After the hectic year they had, they were all just looking forward to summer vacation. The students were starting to break out their summer wear, shorts for the guys and short sleeved shirts for the girls. Some didn't really change their outfits, while others fit the summer thing, despite it being late spring. The weather was balmy and breeze, and even the dragons seemed to be enjoying themselves. For Blake, it was the start of his last month of school, as June 22nd was the official last day of classes for the summer. After that, he would resume classes August 21st, and he would officially be a Junior. He took that time to reflect a bit, wondering if he would have actually made it to Junior year back on Earth.

He never got used to classes on Earth. He just wasn't interested in them at all, not after he had lost his best friend. He had fallen into depression and let his grades slip. He remembered the guidance councilors asking him if he was alright. But he would just brush off their concern, to him no one cared about his pain, save for his family and maybe his friend Joey. But things had rapidly starting dropping, and he had started to skip school, staying home more often. He had found the mall more interesting and spent time playing games. During the summer break, he would skate around the city or go on a parkour run with Joey and Javi, but that was it. Once school started, he was a Freshman once more, chugging along until he had been brought to Ever After High.

He didn't care about school at first, all he wanted was to head back to Earth. So he wasn't at all giving his attention to his classes at first, unless it was Wonderland History, Riddlish, Muse-ic Class or Sword Training, he didn't really care. Eventually, when he was told that he would be spending more time in Ever After, he started taking his classes seriously, remembering what Gloriosa had told him. Strangers were friends you hadn't met yet, he had wanted to have friends, instead of being the loner he was back on Earth. Henry had made it a bit hard for him at first, but he persevered though it all. And he had made lasting friendships, and bonds that he knew weren't going to be easily broken.

He had slowly started changing, seeing Ever After High as a new chance at life. He had started giving it his all in classes and he was studying hard and passing his classes. He was speaking out for the Rebels, and advocating for the right to choose a destiny. He helped with school functions, Thronecoming, and True Hearts Day, along with most if not all the Winter Concert. He had started a band, had two girlfriends during his time there, was raising a dragon and had become quite the popular person, despite not wanting popularity. He had several dudes he could hang out with and have a good time, and several girls who he had befriended easily. It made him wonder if it had truly been that easy to make friends.

With the advent of Joey however, everything had started slowly changing. His grades had slipped because he had used magic on his tests to change his answers. He had outright ruined the Spring Fairest, and had set a book out so that he could turn evil. Because of that, he had done horrible things to his friends, of which he still suffered from. He exposed his secret, about getting rid of the Storybook of Legends. He had fought against him, almost died by his hand, but in the end he had saved Wonderland, the Queen of Hearts and Lizzie. Joey had been a tough opponent because of how cold, cruel and calculating he was. He did his planning in the shadows, and didn't express himself outwardly. If it wasn't for Faybelle giving Jack his dorm key, he doubted there would have been enough proof to show how sick and twisted he was. Who just has a shrine to a teenage girl in his closet? Who outright threatens Narrators without remorse? He was glad the bastard was in jail.

Even through all of the things he had experienced, joy, sadness, fear, love, heartbreak, excitement, anger, curiosity...his year had been a great experience and he was looking forward to his next one. But there was one thing that he was still getting used to, the elephant in the school that almost everyone was still talking about. That was his discovered lineage as the Son of the Evil Queen. He had signed his name in the Storybook of Legends and claimed his destiny alongside his sister. He had done it to fight Joey back, and for Raven to beat Courtly Jester and save Wonderland. It had been the major reason why he had even considered it, but now that he had his full power, and he was steadily practicing with it, he had started asking himself more questions.

His meeting with Snow White was a good one, he was glad to have met his step-sister again, and he was glad to know she didn't outright hate him. It was a relief to know he had dependable family members here and that he wasn't alone on that front. But he knew there was someone else he had to meet with, someone far more evil and crueler than even Snow White claimed she was. His mother the Evil Queen. It was the reason why he was currently standing in front of Headmaster Grimm's office. Raven had told him that she had visiting rights to see their mom, and that he did too.

He had made himself quite presentable as well. He was wearing the new outfit that Lizzie had designed for him. He wore a long sleeve black muscle shirt, which was almost skin tight. It had silver lining around the sleeves and the collar, giving the shirt a bit of color. Over it, he was wearing his crimson suit vest, which was made of leather. It had been modified a bit and charmed to provide more protection to him, it acted more like armor now so he wouldn't be easily stabbed. Lizzie had sown a heart shaped patch above his left pocket, his pocket watch was resting in his right. He was wearing a pair of dark blue jeans, held around his waist by a leather belt, which bore a heart shaped buckle with the crest of the Wonderland Royal family on it, another modification made by Lizzie.

On his legs, he was wearing a pair of armored boots, part of his new ensemble. Lizzie wanted him to feel more like a knight, so she and Ashlynn had designed something around his Dragon Riding outfit. The boots themselves were made of tough leather, with a thick sole that had extra traction, and a slight heel to it with a rounded toe made of steel. Over it, he was wearing crimson leg protectors, which wrapped around his leg and boots and secured tightly around his calves. The plated were lined with gold on the outer edges, the knee guards were in the shape of a heart, also bearing the royal crest on the front. On his upper body, he had a matching set of shoulder guards, which covered most of his shoulders and part of his shoulder blades, and were also lined with gold around the edges.

They were attached to his vest to be kept secured, and had also been enchanted like the rest of his armor. The final thing he wore were a pair of metal arm guards on his arms, matching the rest of his set, covering the top of his arms, leaving his hands bare, save for his fingerless gloves. Over it, he wore his cloak, one piece of clothing that he couldn't bare without. Lizzie had taken it from him and added some golden embroidery around it, and had sown a heart patch on the hood.

His skin was still blemish free, if only slightly darker from all of the sun he was getting. His eyes were still their normal piercing green color, a trait he had no doubt inherited from his mother. He had been looking at himself in the mirror a lot, glancing at all of his facial features. If Raven had gotten some beauty from her mother, than all of his chiseled features had most likely come from his father. That was one of the reasons for his being at the headmaster's office. He wanted answers, and he had gone as far as bringing Excalibur with him, now resting in a crimson sheathe at his waist. He swallowed his nerves, trying not to let the curious gazes of the other students bother him. Since his announcement as Lizzie's retainer, a lot of people had been both happy and jealous about him. Of course Lizzie was quick to dismiss those people, she had yet to announce Darling as her retainer in Ever After, since she had politely asked for some time. He had seen her armor already, and it was honestly the most beautiful set he had seen in this world.

Throwing caution to the wind, Blake grabbed a hold of the door handle and opened the office door. He stepped inside, having not seen the office in quite a long time, as he had been staying out of trouble. Headmaster Grimm was writing things on a few papers, most likely preparations for the end of the year events and the final field trip to plant the E-corn for their yearbook tree to sprout. He looked up from his papers, slightly startled by his presence. He sat up, placing his hands on his desk, that familiar firm look on his face.

"Mr. Bigby, to what do I owe this visit?"

"Um...actually Headmaster, it's Mr. Queen now." he corrected, earning a sigh from the man.

"Yes, my mistake...it's taking some time to get used too. Is something the matter? I can see you've got something important on your mind."

"I wanna see my mother...Raven told me that she has visitation rights. I would like to ask for those same rights...I know, I hate her with ever fiber of my being, for what she did to me. But I need to see her...I need to ask her why she did all of this to me." he said firmly, placing a hand over his chest, right where his mirror shard was. Milton sighed, opening one of the drawers, pulling out a piece of parchment from within.

"I will allow it, since it is your right to see her. I'm sure your sister explained the contract to you right?"

"Yes, this contract entails that I must come directly to you for this visit. It also states that I am responsible for the Queen's recapture should she escape. I must not touch the mirror by any means necessary and I must not under any circumstance set her free, willing or unwilling, though I don't get the unwilling part. If it's unwilling, then it shouldn't really count." he said, causing the headmaster to glare at him.

"We say unwilling because she still has magic power. She can still influence people to do certain things, it is a bit harder for you or Raven to fall under her spells. However, should her magic be attached to you, it could lead to someone else setting her free. We must prevent her escape by any means necessary, which is why only I and my brother have access to her mirror at all times." Milton replied, earning a nod from the boy, who grabbed the quill the man was holding out to him.

"I understand sir, I have no intentions of setting her free. I will not touch the mirror no matter how much she asks, and I will hold back my urge to obliterate her where she stands, as that would cause her to be set free. I promise, and when I promise, I keep them." Blake said, signing his name at the bottom of the paper. Milton looked at it, his eyes tracing over the last name, never expecting to see it attached to another one of his students.

"Very well, you have one hour. Remember, don't touch the mirror, whatever you do." he reiterated, earning a nod from the boy. Milton pressed a button under his desk, a loud buzzing sound filling the office. A door opened to the far right of the office, with a long stairwell leading up. He took a deep breath, placing a hand on Excalibur as he moved toward the stairs.

"Good luck, the Evil Queen is quite the shrew." the man warned, causing the boy to stop, glancing back at him.

"Trust me, I know exactly what I am getting into. Thank you." he said with a bow, before walking up the stairs.

It was a long winding staircase, that lead out to a landing. There was a single stone bridge, connecting the fourth floor of Ever After to the high tower. He never once thought that this was the holding place for the Evil Queen's mirror. He always looked at that tower from down below, wondering that was inside. At least now he knew exactly what it was for. He crossed the bridge with a few long paces, walking into the tower in front of him. Looking up, he saw a winding staircase, spanning the entire height of the tower, made entirely out of wood. Before he could take a step forward, he was tackled to the floor by something massive, startling him out of his thoughts. He felt something slimy across his face, realizing then what it was. He grabbed a hold of his attacker, pushing them back, only to see the familiar face of his sister's dragon a few inches away.

"Nevermore, I thought I told you not to do that to me. Cadence does it all the time now, I bet it was you who taught her that." he said, earning a few sad yips from the violet dragon. He rapidly got up, patting the dragon's head, her attitude quickly changing, making him smile a bit.

"I'm not mad at you Nevermore, I was just surprised. So, you watch guard over mom eh?" he asked, causing her to flare her nostrils a bit, a low growl forming at the back of her throat. He took that as a yes, the look of hatred in her eyes was enough to let him know that she didn't like the Evil Queen much.

He continued toward the stairs, with Nevermore following closely behind. He briefly wondered how long the young drake had been doing this, but when Raven's life was at risk, he figured it had to be important to her. Dragons were very smart, and once they made a bond with a human, it was a lifelong bond that was almost never broken. It was the same for Cadence, he couldn't imagine not having her by his side. He was sad that she couldn't stay in the school with him anymore, since she had grown a lot in the last ten and a half months. It wouldn't be much longer until she was an adult dragon, just a few more years, and she would be around the same size as Legend. He was proud that he had rescued her egg all of those months ago. She made for an excellent companion, and who didn't think dragons were bad ass?

As he neared the top of the structure, he started slowing down a bit, taking the steps one at a time, instead of two like he had been doing. Nevermore noticed his tenseness, and licked his hand a couple times to calm him down. He gave the dragon a smile, patting her head. He knelt down in front of her, placing a hand on her snout, looking right into her eyes.

"I'm a little nervous Nevermore. After so long, all of these questions swirling in my head, I get to have some semblance of an answer. Here I am, shaking in my boots...I may not look it...but I'm scared of her." he asked. The violet dragon rubbed her head against his chest, a purring quietly.

"I know...you're telling me that I have to be brave. I was brave fighting Joey back in Wonderland, this is nothing." he replied, giving her a kiss on the snout. He slowly stood up, once again walking up the stairs, this time with a look of confidence on his face. He reached the final door at the top of the tower, and threw it open, seeing a ladder that lead up to the top room.

He quickly climbed up the rungs, pushing the trap door open, pulling himself up. He looked around the room, seeing it was a bit dusty, filled with various chests and other important looking things. There was even a small bookshelf filled with some old looking tomes. He could sense a magical barrier guarding them, so there was no way he could grab one of the books from inside it. They looked to be in a language even he didn't recognized. He looked to the other end of the room, seeing the large violet mirror resting against the wall, swirling with darkness. He felt Nevermore beside him, giving him a look of encouragement. He gave her a smile and stood up, walking toward the mirror, standing in front of it. He took a deep breath, looking deep into the mirror, hearing a rather familiar laugh, echoing from it.

"Hello, mother."

The swirling clouds behind the reflective glass stopped, finally forming a figure. It was that of a tall woman, dressed in a violet and black dress with dark feathers around the trim. Her dark reddish violet hair was kept up, and she wore a headpiece with a crows head on it, the eyes glowing due to the gems that had been placed in the eye sockets. She had a firm look on her face, eyes glowing slightly, a small smile on her face. He saw a lot of his sister in this woman, the same firm features, the same fair colored skin and the natural beauty behind it. She was poised, firm and calculating, everything a villain truly stood for. He felt himself shudder a bit, as she placed her hand on the glass, her long fingernails, looking almost like claws bathed in blood.

"Well, this is unexpected...to what do I owe the pleasure of this visit? Did you suddenly start missing your mommy?"

"Cut the shit, I'm here for answers. So I'll be asking the questions and you just stand there like a good mirror and answer them for me." Blake snapped, earning a gasp from the woman. Her lips twisted into a grin, her eyes flashing a bit.

"Indeed, you truly did inherit that spirit of his. Ask all the questions you want, and I'll do my best to answer them. However, do not blame me if the answer you get isn't the one you seek." the Evil Queen replied. The scraping of a chair echoed through the room for a brief second as he sat down in front of the mirror, resting his sword on his lap.

"Let's start with the obvious one. Why did you send me to Earth?"

"That one was simple, by removing your magic and memories of this world, I could send you to a realm without magic. Eventually, that realm would accept you and your body would behave as if it were part of it. Upon your return, you would turn into a magic sponge, absorbing higher amounts of magic than normal, for a period of one year, before it started to settle to normal levels." she replied, making his brows furrow.

"Normal levels...you mean to tell me, it isn't permanent?"

"Of course not. Every one gets used to another world, once you got used to this magical realm, your magic power would diminish over time. Before you signed the book, didn't you feel yourself running out of magic a lot faster than normal?"

"You're right, my fight with Joey left me needing more magic. I had to make that connection with Raven just so I could fight back. I still got stabbed in the end. At least I got an answer for that...next question, the four curses you put on me, what are they for?" he asked firmly, earning a chuckle from the woman, who leaned back a bit, placing a finger under lip.

"You've already gotten the answer to that one...but if you must know, it's quite simple. That enchanted mirror shard in your chest, has two functions. The first, it turns your light magic, into dark magic, at least it did before you signed the book. The second use of that shard, was to make a direct connection to the Mirror Realm. It provides me with magic, the curse to remove it was put in place so it wouldn't sever that connection. So what little power I have in this realm is all thanks to you." she said, causing the boy to growl. Nevermore put her head in his lap, giving him a few soft yips, licking the top of his hand. He sighed, patting her head as he leaned forward, his hand loosening around Excalibur.

"I didn't know the shard provided you with magic, all the more reason for me to tear it out. I'll figure out how to break your curses, then you'll be completely cut off. Why did you erase the memories from my adoptive family, who are they really?" he continued, earning another smirk from his mother.

"The Bigbys were just a random family I'm afraid...but if you must know in detail, they're some of Snow White's best servants. Marissa was her home decorator, Steven was a business partner, and the twins, Susan and Mary were plain old girls...except for Mary, you ever hear of the nursery rhyme, Mary had a little Lamb? Yeah, that's her story." she replied, causing the boy to lean back, eyes narrowed a bit.

"So, you kicked her out of Ever After for what reason?"

"No reason at all, thought I could give Milton some more gray hairs. He's been struggling to figure out where she is, I'm surprised he didn't notice the blank page in the Storybook of Legends." the Evil Queen replied, causing Blake's eyes to go wide. He recomposed himself, releasing the breath he didn't know he had been holding.

"Well, that's another check off the list. Let me guess, this was all a plan for your eventual escape, because you knew you could potentially be captured. When you tried taking over Wonderland four years ago, you acted the part, because you knew you had me. You knew that eventually, the time would come to bring me back."

"Precisely, I will get out of here one day Blake...you'll see...and then you and Raven will have no choice but to join me. I am your mother after all."

"Yeah right, you are all talk. No one is going to release you and you aren't going to break outta here. We will never join you, I will fight against you for as long as I need too, but Raven will not be evil." he snapped, earning a laugh from the woman, a loud crackle of lightning echoing behind the mirror.

"I like that about you Blake, you are feisty...you have a lot of me in you...but you have a lot of him too. It makes it a little harder to convince you, but eventually you will follow my will. It is your destiny to join your sister and poison Apple White, that's how it's been written!" the Evil Queen exclaimed, an evil grin on her face.

"Bullshit! You and I both know that we can rewrite our destiny, that's what we are all fighting for. I will not be like you! Now, answer my question! Where is my father?" he shouted, standing up angrily from his seat, his hand wrapped around the hilt of his sword.

"Your father? Jeremiah Queen? That idiot left the moment he found out I was having twins! He didn't want two children, he wanted only one, he didn't care about you. He didn't care about his babies, not like I did. Despite being evil, I still care for my children dearly!"

"That's a load of shit! If you cared about me or Raven you wouldn't have separated us when we were eight! You wouldn't have stabbed me in the chest with this...this...this fucking mirror! If you cared about us, then you would have done the same thing the Candy Witch did when Hansel and Gretel ended! You would have quit being evil, you don't love us, you don't care about us!" he cried back, earning a growl from the woman who slammed her fists against the glass.

"Do not dare to tell me that I do not care about my children! You ungrateful wretch! I was the one who brought you into this world, and I can take you out!"

"Hard for you to do that from behind the mirror. You are never getting out of there, and on the off chance that you do, I will be there to send you back. I cannot kill my mother, it is beneath me to do that...but I will send you back. Snow White was right, you really are twisted in the head!" Blake cried back, a smirk on his face. The Evil Queen looked visibly hurt by his statement, her shocked look being replaced with discontent and anger.

"So, you side with that one eh? Leave it to you to chose her side over my side. You like her more than me, because Snow White is the hero of the story, no one ever cares about me!"

"Well people would care if you weren't so damn evil! Taking over Wonderland was your mistake, one that me and Raven thankfully corrected. The realms are safer without you in them!" he called back. The Evil Queen let out a laugh, a smirk on her dark lips.

"I see...so you are still unaware of the Neverland curse."

"Huh? The what?" the boy asked, confusion on his face.

"Yes, you are unaware alright...when Wonderland's curse was broken, all of the portals were reopened correct? That meant that people from those separated worlds could come back into Ever After. Tell me, how many people came from the Second Star?"

"I'm not...none...that portal didn't open. No one knows why, but the Headmaster told us that it was sealed shut from the other side. No one wants to come through to Ever After, and no one can go to Neverland. At least...that's what we all know...why, are you somehow involved in this as well?" he asked.

"Hmm...I'm afraid that's not the case...but I was aware of something going on in Neverland. Someone lost control, and took a special artifact. The Perpetual Darkness will affect everyone everywhere...and that my son, is something even you can't outrun." she said, slowly backing away into the shadows.

"What...wait! What are you talking about? What do you mean Perpetual Darkness? Is this your plot to escape? Tell me!" the boy cried, slowly approaching the mirror, only for Nevermore to push him back, giving him a firm growl.

"You will know in time son...it shall soon be forfeit, the arrival of the Blue bird shall mark the end. I'll see you soon!" she said, finally leaving. The black haired boy dropped to his knees, a strong sense of foreboding washing over him. He felt that same choking feeling he did back in Wonderland, like something bad was going to happen.

"We have to get out of here Nevermore...come on sweetheart." he said, heading toward the exit of the room.

He started walking down the stairs, picking up his speed as he walked down. He kept thinking about what his mother had told him, it just kept replying in his mind. He tried to keep his focus on leaving the tower, pushing everything to the back of his mind. Once on the bottom floor, he started walking slowly back toward the school, across the bridge like he had done before. He felt Nevermore tugging on his arm, and he stopped, turning around to face the young dragon.

"I'm fine Nevermore...she's just messing with my head...nothing is going to happen. I'm not gonna let her hurt Raven, or you...or anyone else in our school. I love this place more than anything, and I will defend it." he said firmly. He chuckled a bit as the dragon licked his face, wrapping her forelegs around him in a sort of hug.

"Well, this is a surprise...I'm happy to see you getting along with my dragon Blake. But don't overdo it, I'm sure Cadence will start getting jealous."

"Raven, hey...are you...going up?" he asked, quickly jumping to his feet.

"No...I had my visit earlier today. I asked the headmaster if I could go and get you, and just in time, your hour is up. I know it sounds like a bad thing, but it's just a safety precaution...last thing we need is her coming back here." she said.

"R-right...let's go...I'm getting bad vibes about this place." Blake replied, taking a hold of his sister's hand, pulling her along with him. Nevermore gave a few roars, before heading back toward the stables.

"For as long as she's been in this school, Nevermore has always guarded this tower. I guess she noticed my feelings toward mom and decided to guard it, in order to protect me." Raven said, watching her pet dragon fly off into the distance.

"Dragons are smart, they can sense our emotions. It's how they form lasting bonds with humans, didn't you read that in Beast training?" he asked.

"Yes, but how did you know that? You don't have that class."

"Hmm...that's true...but Ashlynn does, and whenever she comes to Spells Kitchen it's during my break. So I often times read whatever books she has, in case I'm shoved into one of those classes. Now that everyone knows we are related, they're gonna start shoving me in villain classes." he said, a small frown on his face.

"It'll be fine, as long as I'm there then you'll do okay." she reassured, earning a soft nod from the boy, though his face still looked unsure.

Once back in the Headmaster's office, Blake signed another paper stating that he didn't do anything that would free the Queen. Thankfully, the Headmaster didn't ask for a statement of what was discussed between them, and he was quite thankful for that. The siblings left the office right after, ignoring the prying look Milton Grimm was giving the two of them as the doors closed behind them.

"Raven, I was waiting until we left to say this but...mom gave me a weird warning...it was...odd." he said.

"Don't pay attention to those, she likes thinking she can predict the future or something. Even I know that she doesn't have the magic power for that, the magic she barely gets is enough for her to do anything."

"Actually...that's something else I wanted to say...the magic has in the Mirror Realm, comes from the shard in my chest. It's like a connection, so she's getting magic from me...sorry." Blake said, bowing his head slightly. Raven patted his shoulder, giving him a smile.

"It's fine, I figured it was something like that. If she put curses on you to prevent it from being removed, it was for a reason. Did she...tell you anything else? About dad maybe?"

"Only that he left when he found out she was pregnant with twins. She said I inherited his spirit...makes me believe that she pulled an Ursula and changed what she looked like and her behavior. He probably found out and left, not wanting anything to do with us." he said, earning a sigh from the girl.

"If he left then...we don't need him...we've got each other and our friends. That's all we need...but that isn't the only thing she told you. I can see it on your face, what is it?"

"She said...the reason why the Second Star didn't open, is because Neverland is under a curse."

Raven remained silent, processing what her brother had just said. She wasn't sure if she could believe anything their mother may have told them. But everyone was starting to talk about how Neverland hasn't become accessible like the other realms. Agrabah, Notthingham, Gingerbread Land, the Land of Giants, the Realm Under the Sea, and Wonderland all because accessible, even the portal connecting directly to The Land on Top of the World became available to everyone. Neverland was the only portal that didn't open, and so far people had started asking questions, especially to the one resident of Neverland that still lived in Ever After, the Fairy Queen. She frowned, taking a deep breath through her nose, glancing back at the boy.

"Alright then, what did she say...in detail?"

"She said...someone is lost control, and took a special artifact. The Perpetual Darkness will affect everyone everywhere. She said that in Time, I would understand, it would be forfeit, the arrival of the Blue Bird marks the end...but I don't understand what that means."

"What would be forfeit? And what's this about perpetual darkness? And a special artifact? I'm confused...there has to be more to go on." Raven said, causing Blake to shake his head.

"I'm afraid that's all she gave me to work with...I'm not sure what kind of bird it is, but I suppose when we see a blue one, we'll know what to do...hehe." he said, a dry laugh leaving his lips.

"Well we can't wait for some bird...we need to do some research on this. We broke the Wonderland curse, maybe we can break into Neverland too, figure out what's going on."

"Oh my, what's this I hear about breaking into Neverland? You two are plotting again, aren't you?" the voice of Lizzie Hearts said, startling the two teenagers.

"Hi Liz, sorry to break it to you, but we aren't plotting anything this time." Blake said, giving her a tiny smile.

"We're just discussing some of the reasons why the Second Star hasn't opened up. Nothing you need to worry about." Raven reassured, earning a shrug from the girl.

"If you say so...I was searching for you Blake, we're forming a study group for the end of the year finals. Since you are also taking Wonderland History and Riddlish, we figured we could cover everything from the second term."

"Sure, I'd love to study with you guys...just send me the meeting time and I'll gather my things." he said.

"Wonderful, be seeing you. It seems Farrah wants to design some Summer clothes for the approaching season, and that's something I cannot put off."

"Bye Lizzie, have fun...and don't prick your fingers!"

"As if, that's never happened to me, see you two later!" she cried back, once again leaving the twins to their own devices.

"That reminds me...Apple and I got into a bit of an argument earlier about the yearbook. It seems she's still hard set on having it be a Royal yearbook, while I suggested we have more natural pictures in it. All of the articles have been written, thanks to the work you did and all of the things Cedar has been doing too. But we just can't decide on what to do."

"Let me talk to Apple, she's been a bit tense lately...I'm sure she doesn't want anyone to tell, but you are family technically. She's been getting these weird letters for awhile, I haven't read any of them...but the one who's sending it wants her hand in marriage." he said.

"What? Are you serious? How come she didn't tell me? I know she's been acting weird since coming from Wonderland. But I didn't think this was that serious." she replied. Blake pursed his lips, glancing at the nearby lockers, momentarily deciding if he needed anything from his own.

"It is...this guy Felipe, he sent Snow White a letter too. It was so pretentious and disgusting, he was talking about Apple as if she were a trophy. It really made me mad." he replied, finally deciding he didn't need anything.

"Well...she and I have a conversation pending if that's the case. She can't keep stuff like this hidden from me, especially if her life could be in danger."

"She didn't want to worry you, or her friends. It was the reason why she asked me to train her, so she can defend herself if something happens. But I assure you, nothing will. I'm gonna go find her, don't worry about a thing Rae, I got this." he said, giving her a hug.

"I know you do, keep me updated."

With that, the two parted ways, with Blake heading toward the courtyard. He briefly asked Daring and Briar if they had seen the blonde princess, both of them pointing toward the courtyard. Briar had asked him if he knew why she was acting weird, but he didn't say anything to them, just shrugging the question off. He quickly walked out of the school, quickly searching for Apple among the crowd of students. It wasn't hard to find her, sulking by herself on one of the nearby benches. He shoved his hands in his pockets as he walked, wondering what had upset his friend. He stopped in front of the bench, but the blonde didn't look up, she just sighed quietly to herself.

"Hey Apple, what's made the Fairest of the Halls all mopey?" he greeted, causing the girl to look up at him. Her blue eyes normally filled with happiness, looked almost defeated. Immediately, he knew what had been bothering her.

"It's that Felipe guy, isn't it?"

"He sent me a letter this morning, I've been ignoring them for a week, tossing them into the shredder without even opening them. I have no idea what's wrong with those birds, but they get really angry when I do. One of them came this morning with a letter and a rose and wouldn't leave until I took them, not just that. It hung around me until I opened and read it." she replied, making the boy tilt his head.

"Those are some smart ass birds then...I know it sounds cruel, but maybe I can talk with a hawk. Send their little feathered asses packing."

"No! You can't do that...those birds are innocent, they're just doing their job. The fact of the matter is that this Felipe guy won't stop harassing me, and since I don't know his surname or address, I can't send anyone to make him stop."

"That is a challenge." he muttered, sitting down beside her, armor clinking a bit as it made contact with the wooden seat. He leaned back against the bench, looking up at the sky.

"Do you have any ideas?" she asked, glancing over to the boy.

"Uh...we send a bird after the courier pigeon, and then when it finds the location of this castle. We storm it and bitch slap Felipe across the face."

"That's not realistic...what if the bird notices it's being followed? What if it doesn't go back to the castle?"

"Balls, you're right. That means we can't use the birds as a means to track this bastard down, you'll just have to accept the letters and then shred them afterwards. The Dragons could always use some bedding you know." he said, giving her a wink. She giggled, nodding slightly.

"Not a bad idea...but still, I just want to know what this man wants with me. I mean, I know I'm attractive...people know that too. But everyone knows that I'm destined to marry my Prince Charming, so why is this guy asking for my hand out of the blue?" she asked, causing the boy to sigh, thinking the question over. She did have a point, but sadly he didn't have the answer. He remained silent for a few moments, trying to think of an answer, spotting something in the sky.

He didn't know why, but he felt like something was distorted. The sky was its normal blue, but a single speck looked like it was moving a bit. It rippled, almost as if a drop of water had fallen into a puddle, and the small ripples extended outward. He narrowed his eyes, focusing on that single spot, trying to figure out why it was rippling.

"What is that, in the sky...do you see it?" he asked, causing Apple to follow his gaze, looking at the sky. She narrowed her eyes a bit, trying to see what he was looking at.

"I don't see anything."

"Really? That ripple in the sky, you don't see it? It's right there!" he exclaimed, pointing to the right spot. She blinked a few times, shifting her gaze towards her friend.

"I don't see anything, sorry Blake...are you sure you aren't seeing things?" she asked, causing him to blink a few times, seeing the sky had returned to normal. He shook his head, chuckling a bit.

"Y-yeah...I might just be seeing things." he replied.

"Hey Apple, I don't mean to bother you or anything, but there's a guy looking for you. The weird thing is, he was dressed in a suit of armor, he's in front of the school, across the bridge."

"A knight? Are you sure you aren't seeing things Ashlynn? Maybe you were mistaken."

"I'm sure I know what a knight looks like Apple...you are sitting right next to one, you know." she said, sticking her tongue out at her. Blake stood up, a blank look on his face. He had an inkling he knew what this was about.

"Come on Apple, let's go see this knight...I got a thing or two to say to him. Thanks for telling us Ashlynn, we appreciate it."

"Um...sure thing Blake, hey I need a little help with a shipment later today. I'm still training Gloriosa and Mavis, and Hunter is gonna be busy with Archery practice. Think you can give me a hand?"

"Sure thing, I got some time after Radio Rebel. I'll see you then, let's go Apple." he said, hurrying out of the schoolyard. Ashlynn watched them go, a concerned look on her face. She was curious, but she was going to be late for class if she didn't get going, so she reluctantly continued onward to the school.

The two teens remained silent as they walked across the bridge, passing other students along the way. Blake had been thinking about several things, including how to deal with this Felipe problem. This man was honestly starting to aggravate him, not just for his harassment, but also for the fact that he wanted Apple as a trophy wife, instead of love. He just wanted to find this man and punch him in the face, and if not the face, then the throat...and then break his hand so he would stop writing letters to his friend.

As they approached the end of the bridge, they saw a horse drawn carriage in front of the entrance. It was a large stagecoach blue in color, with glossy golden paint around the corners. The top part of it was white in color, lined with black markings. The light blue paint shimmered in the sunlight, making it look like it was a part of the sky. It had large bronze colored wheels, and the small step at the bottom was position in front of the doors, which had two large windows with red drapes. Two large white stallions were poised at the front of the carriage, looking quite lavish and well taken care of.

Next to the carriage stood a tall man, dressed entirely in a suit of armor. It looked a lot different than the armors he had seen in the school. It was polished to a glimmering shine, on the front of it was a crest with a single blue stripe, and two crossing swords behind it. Attached to his hip was a large steel two handed sword, which almost touched the ground due to its length. He unconsciously placed a hand on Excalibur, just in case the knight tried anything against him. The knight stiffened a bit when he saw the two of them stop before him, and quickly bowed at the waist.

"Miss Apple White, it is an honor to meet you. My name is Hans, and I come with a message from my master."

"Master? Oh, so this has to do with that Felipe guy eh? Tell that bastard that Apple White isn't interested."

"I'm sorry, who are you? I specifically asked your friend to call Apple White, not you." the knight said, glaring at Blake who stood his ground.

"My name is Blake Queen, Apple White happens to be my step-niece. I'm also her retainer, which means that anything that comes from your master, goes through me first." he replied firmly, holding his arm in front of Apple, preventing her from moving forward. The knight chuckled, his helm moving slightly.

"Well, I wasn't told this was how you Ever Afterlings greeted outsiders. But it matters not, I have been sent to pick the young miss up and escort her to the master's castle. He dearly wishes to meet her."

"I refuse! I have told him many times that I do not want to meet him. I am not in love with him, nor do I ever want to be. I could never love a man who wants to turn me into a trophy wife. He isn't my Prince Charming, and he never will be!" Apple cried, her cheeks tinging red with anger. After so many days of bottling those emotions up, Blake wasn't surprised that she exploded the way she did.

"I must apologize...my master does not take no for an answer. I am authorized to use force if needed." he said, reaching for the hilt of his sword. Blake did the same, a smirk on his face.

"Then you must know that I give no quarter to those who wish to bring harm to my friends. Try and take Apple by force, and you'll definitely regret it." he said, drawing his blade slightly, exposing some of the shimmering blade to the knight, who backed away from it.

"You hold Excalibur? What is a sword of that magnitude doing in the hands of a commoner?"

"I will ask you to respect my friend. He is no mere commoner, he is a knight of the Royal Wonderland Family, he has earned that sword. Now tell your master, that I refuse his invitation, he can take it and shove it up his ass for all I care. But I will not be going with you to his castle, not now, not ever." the blonde girl cried, earning a chuckle from the knight, who released his grip on his sword.

"You are making a mistake Miss White, my master doesn't take no for an answer."

"Alright then, maybe he'll take this as an answer. Make sure you repeat it in the same way that I'm gonna say it. Ahem, Fuck...You, Kiss my Ass." Apple cried, holding both her hands up, her middle fingers raised in a rather obscene gesture. The knight laughed, climbing up to the stagecoach, he was off with a flick of the reins, the horses pulling the beautiful carriage into the village of Bookend.

"Good riddance, hopefully he doesn't bother me again...I think we should...Blake, are you crying?" Apple asked, causing the boy to wipe his tears away.

"No...it's just...you said it so beautifully...it was definitely worth waiting for you to say it. It truly was!" he cried, a proud smile on his face. The girl sighed, rolling her eyes.

"Well, it's the only one you are gonna get. There's no way I'm saying it again, nothing you do will make me say it." she said, only for the boy to flick her ear as hard as he could.

"Ow, fuck that hurt...damn it...okay, that's it...that's the only freebie you get, I'm watching your mister." she said, glaring at the boy, who was trying to hold back his giggles, a Cheshire grin on his face.

 _ **xxx**_

"Have you returned with the girl?" Felipe asked, once his knight had returned.

"I'm afraid not, I'm sure I could have brought her had she been alone. However it seemed as if the foreigner was guarding her. She said he was a knight in the service of the Wonderland Royal Family. Not just that, he held Excalibur in his hand, the holy sword is back in Ever After."

Felipe's eyes grew wide at the news. He hadn't been expecting his knight to bring him such interesting information. He leaned back in his chair, glancing at the steadily falling rain outside. He didn't know when these fierce storms would pass, but he was sure one day his castle would see the light of the sun again. He scratched at his face, his blue beard was starting to grow in...but he had started shaving it, so it didn't grow to lengthy. After all, he didn't want anyone to know who he truly was.

"That is some interesting news...well then, you my friend are going to be happy once that sword is in your hands. However, you must get Apple White to this castle, when he comes to rescue her, you can slay him and take the sword for yourself."

"Not a bad plan...how fare your plans in Neverland, are they coming along the way you want?" Henry asked, earning a frown from the man who looked toward the window, hand under his chin.

"It's a little difficult...I don't nearly have enough Pixie Dust to fly to there as much as I would like. But so far, it seems everything is working just fine, as long as I keep the Neverland curse then I will be able to take it over and rule it however I please." he replied.

"Then why is it that you need Apple White? What does she have to do with it?" the knight asked curiously, causing the young man to look back in his direction.

"Well my friend, that is a good question. I require Apple White to be my wife, if we plan to face the future, I need a strong woman by my side. The new world will be nothing like this one, in it I shall be able to do my bidding, and no one will be able to stop me."

Henry gave the man a nod, not exactly understanding what his plan was. He still didn't know a lot about what he had been planning, all he knew was that he wanted to have Apple White by any means necessary. It didn't matter how it was done all that mattered was that she was there. If she wasn't going to come willingly then she would be brought by force. If she still didn't agree, then she would be cut down and the next princess would be brought along and the cycle would repeat. At least that is what he thought his plan was. He wasn't sure exactly what Felipe was cooking up.

"But sir...forgive my forwardness...is the sacrifice of changing that world in this manner worth it? Just for Apple White's hand in marriage?"

"You do not understand my friend...for quite awhile, I have wanted Apple White to be my wife, since I was fifteen years of age. I saw pictures of her, watched her grow into a beautiful woman, fit to be wed to any manner of man in the world. But she was destined to be my wife, and she will bare my children in this new world of mine. We will rule it together, and I will destroy anyone who dares stop me." he said firmly. Henry swallowed hard, looking up at the man.

"And if she refuses?"

"Then she will be sacrificed, like the previous young women I have already married. I have my eye on several princesses in Ever After High, including Briar Beauty, Rosabella Beauty, Darling Charming, Ashlynn Ella, Lizzie Hearts, and even Crystal Winter. If they refuse, then they shall all meet their end, until I find the one that satisfies me." he said, pressing his hands together.

"I see."

"You don't seem pleased...do you have your eye on a young woman from the school? I can get her for you if that's what you want. Go on, tell me...who's the lucky girl who has you smitten?"

"Poppy O'Hair...I've had a crush on her for awhile." he replied.

"Interesting...Holly O'Hair is also on my list...it seems we have similar tastes in women...then for your service, I shall get a hold of Poppy for you. Think it as a parting gift for when we win, but you must acquire Apple White for me, by any means necessary, even if you must kidnap her, get it done." Felipe said, leaning back in his seat, the shadows once again covering his face.

"As you wish master, I shall acquire her posthaste...I will need some time to plan things out...it will be difficult, especially with the foreigner's sword. But it shall be done."

"Indeed, you are dismissed." the man said, causing the knight to rise, quickly leaving the throne room. Felipe smirked, glancing toward the window.

"Soon, that school shall face my wrath. If I had to grow up surrounded by darkness, then everyone should suffer just like I did. My mother abandoned me, and she will die just like my father had planed. She will not be spared and neither shall my bride. If she refuses then her fate shall be the same as the others. This is my castle and we will rule it, forevermore." he said, chuckling to himself.

Henry let out a sigh once he had left the throne room, shivering a bit from the cold. He leaned back against the wall once he had gotten a good distance away from the doors. He shook his head, glancing out a nearby window, seeing the fierce rainfall battering the castle walls. He looked into the distance a smirk appearing on his face.

" _Well, it seems like this is all going according to plan. This guy is an idiot if he thinks he can swoon all of those ladies. Honestly, I'm only working for him because he bought my freedom. Yeah...whatever, as long as I get Poppy in the end, nothing matters. She was destined to be my Princess, even if I have to force her into that role."_


	80. The Ballad of Bluebeard II

**A/N:**

 **Hello everyone, welcome to Chapter 80 of Through the Looking Glass! I hope you guys are liking the new story arc so far...I've actually had to revise a lot of these chapters before posting. There was supposed to be an original plot that went hand in hand with Bluebeard's plot, but I ended up turning that plot into its own arc, named Return to Neverland, which will take place later on in the story, being among the final arcs of the story. So I had to take out everything that would tie into that arc, which is also why this chapter is a little shorter than my normal 35 page chapters. It has been a bit of a challenge, but I think I got it all under control. However, some parts of this chapter will play a key role into that future arc, including all of the allusions to Time. In fact, Time will be one of the main points in this arc, as we will see how it affects the Fairytale world. I always wondered, how is it that the new characters relive the stories if the old characters are still alive? So I came up with this...Time gets restarted on each story, but it doesn't send the world back twenty years in the past. Time moves forward, but for these characters, their stories get restarted to the beginning, so they can play their role just like their parents. This is also how the Time Keeper came to be, he keeps the Timeline from getting fluctuations on it, and is responsible for managing the time of reach realm, that way he can restart each story without actually messing up time.**

 **However, more information on the Time Keeper will be given later on in the story, as he will come back in the future. Bluebeard has been planning this stuff for quite awhile, and in the next few chapters, you will get to see him take a more active role, instead of planning from the shadows. You will get to see how he acts, and what his thoughts are, and why he does what he does. I will say, that some of the shit that he does is quite...well...disgusting to say the least. I'm taking the liberty of interpretation, basing this off Bluebeard's fable itself. This man has a lot of psychological issues that he never got to speak about, which is why he does the shit he does. He's a sociopath and devalues women, and does a lot of sick shit too them...and you will all get to see him slowly sinking deeper and deeper and you'll get to see how Blake handles this. Henry was an asshole who wanted to show the world that Blake was a piece of shit, though he wasn't. Joey was jealous that Blake had the life he wanted and didn't deserve all the attention he got from other girls and from popularity in general. Bluebeard however is on a whole new level. You will all see in the future.**

 **Now then, I have a question for all of you...I haven't exactly had Blake interact with any later characters from after Way Too Wonderland, except maybe Crystal. He hasn't met Jillian, Nina, or Meeshel. He also doesn't like Courtly that much because of what happened, but he will try to befriend her in the following year of school. My question is, would you like to see Blake have an alternate ending with any of these girls? I mean I haven't really considered it, but after watching Epic Winter, yes, I watched it, I started seeing Faybelle a little differently. I think she's still got a bit of evil in her, but she has a lot of good in her too. I was planning on having an ending with Faybelle and Farrah who I have ignored for some reason or another and was thinking about these three girls who join the cast later on. Among them is also Rosabella, but I dunno, I like Rosabella and Daring together so I wouldn't want to tear them apart...and I was actually thinking of pairing up Apple and Darling, though it looks a little weird seeing as Apple is a girly girl who always wanted a Prince Charming, I'm not sure how she'd react to something like that...but yes, that is the question...would you like to see Blake paired up with Jillian, Nina, Meeshel, Faybelle and Farrah? I mean, I already had plans for Faybelle but yeah...you get the idea. Let me know what you all think.**

 **So...I'm not sure when I'll have the next alternate ending out...I wrote Briar's but as I said before, it turned into a damn lemon...and I'm still working on Holly's which will actually take place all in one day. Basically, Blake goes on a journey of stepping out of the Friendzone, despite Holly doing everything she can (Unknowingly) to put him into that friendzone. She basically adds a handful of dirt every single time she says friend, until Blake says, enough is enough, I have had it, with these Motherfucking Snakes, on this Motherfucking Plane...and then she just looks at him, wondering what planes are and why snakes would be inside them...yeah...that's the plot...**

 **See ya later!**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 80

A Message from the Past

Blake spun his pen around his hand, a look of disinterest on his face. There were several papers in front of him, along with an open text book, which belonged to his Wonderland History class. He was currently looking through all of his previous tests and worksheets, along with his notes, to study for the final exams. Also part of his group, was Lizzie, the organizer of the little gathering, along with his girlfriend Kitty who was sitting beside him, glancing at her notes every once in awhile, or lack there of as she had been copying important things from his notebook. Maddie was there with them, and had provided all of the snacks and drinks, as they were all currently in the Wonderland Tea shop. The Mad Hatter had given them all free snacks, as thanks for helping break the curse on Wonderland, even though they all refused, he didn't let up until they all accepted.

Alistair and Bunny were there as well, oddly together. They didn't want to show affection, but they had been holding hands under the table for most of the time. Blake had dropped his pen at one point and when he had grabbed it, he saw their joined hands. He gave Alistair a knowing smirk, but he just shrugged it off. The flush on his cheeks however told him otherwise. The last two people in their group was Ashlynn and Hunter, the only others who were part of that class. Hunter had kept trying to act romantic toward Ashlynn, but every time he did, she would give him a glare in return, making him focus on his studies instead. It wasn't hard to tell who had the pants in that relationship when it came to studying. He had been the most silent one out of the group, because he had been thinking a lot about everything that had happened that day.

The visit with his mother had been off putting, but it was that warning she gave him that made him worry. Everything would come to an end when the blue bird made an appearance. But he didn't know what kind of blue bird it was, or if to even trust it. Then there was the supposed Neverland Curse. He had asked the Fairy Queen earlier if there was such a thing, and she clammed up, quickly changing the subject, steering it back to Wonderland. He figured it was nothing, but the way she had been acting let him know that something was definitely wrong. On top of everything, there was that Felipe guy who kept sending letters to Apple. Sending letters is one thing, but when you send a knight to come get her, and one that would use force if she refused...it made him glad that he was there with her.

He felt something sharp poking his cheek, blinking a bit he slowly shifted his gaze toward Kitty. She had a worried look on her face, her eyes looking right into his own. He glanced around the table, noticing similar looks from his friends, all of them looking curious and worried. It wasn't hard for them to figure out that something was wrong. He grabbed a hold of his tea cup, glancing at the rapidly cooling liquid resting inside.

"I met with my mom today...I'm a little...confused about things." he said, taking a sip of his tea.

"Why didn't you say anything? Maybe we could have talked to you about it." Hunter asked, earning a shrug from the black haired boy.

"It isn't that I didn't want you to know...it's just that, even if it did it wouldn't matter. In the end, the Evil Queen is my mom...so I have to swallow whatever shit she feeds me, like or not."

"I don't think that's what Hunter meant...you've helped us all in one way or another, but you never let yourself be helped. You can rely on us Blake, we're your friends." Alistair said.

"He's right you know, don't be scared to talk to us...this is a hard and confusing time for you. But for all of us as well, since none of us were aware you and Raven were twins. It's amazing, finding your lost lineage, knowing that you have family here, and you were never alone."

"Not quite, remember Ash...he was forced into another world and then brought back to this one. It's still hard on him, after all the Bigbys are his family too, and he'll never see them again." Lizzie said, earning a frown from her fellow princess.

"Oh come on! This is a place of joy, not sadness! I promised I would show you real _butter_ flies Blake. Well here they are, freshly made with the most organic ingredients in Wonderland." Maddie said, pulling the top off a butter container. The boy watched in amazement as the small yellow butterflies flew out of it, flying all over the shop.

"Whoa...that's so cool!" he said, sparkles in his eyes. Kitty held out a piece of toast, making one of the nearby butterflies land on it rapidly melting into the bread. She took a bite from it, sighing contently.

"Tastes good too, you still got it Maddie, hehe." she said, giving her friend a wink. Blake set aside his cup, placing his hands on his lap, his hair falling around his eyes.

"This is gonna seem really out of place but...do any of you know anything about Neverland? I mean besides the common knowledge floating around."

"That's a little hard, we don't have any students from Neverland, in fact the Fairy Queen is the only person from Neverland. Her sister used to be part of the staff here years ago. She was the one that planted the Pixie Dust tree that provides the school with Pixie Dust, and she rules all of the fairies in Ever After." Hunter said, earning a nod from Ashlynn.

"All we know, is that Neverland is an island surrounded by ocean on all sides, there's a nearby place called Skull Island, and Captain Hook prowls the waters."

"That's more than we know...we barely have any information on Neverland at all. Why the sudden interest?" Alistair questioned, holding his cup out to Maddie who quickly filled it.

"Um...this ties in with something my mom told me...I'm not sure it's true but...she said Neverland is under a curse. I spoke with the Fairy Queen before Radio Rebel was set to start, and she avoided the topic entirely. So that clearly means something's the matter there."

"Heavens, another curse? Did she cause this one too?" Lizzie asked, sounding a bit annoyed at the news. He shook his head, glancing up at his friend.

"She said she wasn't responsible for this one. She said, someone is losing control, and has taken a special artifact, the perpetual darkness will affect every realm and everyone. When I questioned her further, she said that the blue bird would mark the end, but I have no idea what that means...and there's also the fact that Neverland is still inaccessible to everyone here." he said, lips pressed into a thin line.

"Hmm...well if you don't know what it means, then it's probably nothing to worry about! Why worry about something you know nothing about? If you worry about nothing, then nothing will turn into something, and you wouldn't want to worry about something that might not exist right?"

"Wonderland logic? I suppose you are right about that Maddie...but remember, no one worried about the Wonderland curse, and look what happened. Lizzie's mom was almost beheaded, by one of our own. This is something I can't take lightly, especially because it was my mother that said it. Anyway...let's just continue this session, where were we again? The history of Looking-Glass Land and the magical train that runs through it?"

His friends all shared a look, deciding to put it off until later. Studying was more important now than whatever the Evil Queen had said. Though they couldn't help but worry about their friend, especially because of all of the things that he had gone through during his time in Ever After High.

It was past sunset when everyone split up for the night, deciding to work on Riddlish the following afternoon. Maddie of course had to remain behind to help her father with the evening rush. Alistair and Bunny were gonna take a walk through town, and Lizzie had gone to Farrah's shop to check on a few things. Ashlynn and Hunter headed toward Hocus Latte, most likely for a quick date. That left Blake and Kitty to walk back to Ever After High. The village of Bookend was alluring as always, with the soft glow of the lights illuminating the path to the high school. The castle stood tall and proud, like a mountain in a scenic backdrop. The tall trees that grew around it made it look like something out of a postcard, it was the height for many students in the nearby area. It wasn't a school just for fairytales, it was a school for anyone really. The most prestigious institution in all of Ever After, and he was lucky to be attending it.

"Hey Blake...what's wrong? Are you worried about what your mother said? She probably lied you know."

"Nothing's wrong babe, just...you know...letting it digest...it's only been two weeks since I found out the truth. It's been...a hell of a year." he said. She placed a hand on his cheek, turning his head in her direction.

"It has...it's been a wonderful year, I got to meet you...you met a lot of cool people, did a lot of awesome things, and you got the girl. The next one is going to be even better." she said, giving him a wink. He smiled, leaning into a kiss, wrapping an arm around her waist. She gave a surprised mewl, kissing him back eagerly. She pulled away from him first, hugging the boy tightly.

"I love you Blake, don't worry about a thing, everything will be just fine." she said.

"I love you too Kitten, you're right...everything will be fine." he said.

The two separated, resuming their walk back toward the school. Blake glanced at the sky, stopping suddenly when he saw the Second Star high in the sky. It was glittering like normal, but it looked a bit distorted, the same rippling effect he had seen earlier in the day hanging in front of it. He focused on it for a second, seeing a light pulse from it, slowly coming from the ripple, disappearing a second later. It pulsed for a second time, this time going a bit father than before. Kitty was about to ask him what was wrong, when the sound of flapping wings filled their ears.

"Mrow, what's going on?" Kitty cried, hugging the boy's arm tightly, watching all of the birds in the area flying toward the Enchanted Forest. Everyone out on the streets of Bookend were in much the same state, just staring at the massive flock of pigeons, sparrows, swallows and other small birds that left the area. Even some ducks and swans had flown off into the distance, something that no one had ever seen before.

"What was that about?"

"Did you see all of those birds? Wonder what spooked them all."

"Somethings wrong...very wrong." Blake muttered to himself, eyes narrowed in thought. He took a hold of Kitty's hand, pulling her along.

"It's alright sweetie, some animal might have scared them all. Nothing to be afraid of." he said, giving her a smile.

"Are you sure about that? Call me crazy, but I feel like heading for the hills right now."

"That's just you worrying, trust me...if I saw all of the birds in the village fly off, I'd wanna get away too. Maybe some ogre ripped ass and they got scared of it." he said, making the girl giggle softly.

"Yeah...you're right...it's nothing to be afraid of."

He certainly hoped that was the case. He remained silent as he continued walking toward the high school, his eyes glancing toward the ripple, seeing it was once again gone. He bit his lip, lowering his gaze from the sky as they arrived at the bridge, starting to cross over the river onto the schoolyard.

" _What was that weird ripple? Was that the cause of all of those birds going crazy? They saw animals are more in tune with nature than humans. Could it be that...something big is happening, and we haven't even noticed it?"_ he asked himself.

 _ **xxx**_

After dropping his girlfriend off in her dorm, with a promise to meet later on, Blake headed back to his dorm for a quick shower. He had wanted to relax a bit, but after what he had seen happen in town, he wasn't going to wind down for the night. Once he had finished with his shower, he went to the library, for once not abusing his magic. He could actually take the time to think about everything that had been happening. The thing that stuck out the most was his mother's warning, he needed to figure out what tower she was talking about, and about the blue bird. Then there was the ripple in the sky where the Second Star was, and all of those birds flying off like something bad was coming for them. It was all just a huge hodgepodge of things coming together to form an even bigger hodgepodge.

Once he had walked into the library, earning a glare from the Evil Step Librarians, he walked toward the third floor. He started looking for books on Neverland, if he wanted to figure out what was happening, he would need more information than what he had from movies. He had never read the actual book, but he knew enough about Neverland and Peter Pan to actually understand the world. Once he reached N, he started looking at the books, finding a few that stuck out to him. Most of the books on Neverland had been taken from the shelf, leaving a few behind. One of them being a Neverland text book. There was another one next to it, which had an odd looking building on the front. He opened to the first page, scanning the words.

"Neverland Academy, a never ending guide to a never aging school. I didn't know Neverland had a school...well I suppose Peter Pan and the Lost Boys need to be educated all the time since they never age. On top of that, they have fairies and mermaids there too, along with other creatures." he muttered to himself, walking to a nearby table, setting both books down on it.

"Hey Blake, what are you doing here? I thought you were studying with Lizzie and everyone else?"

Blake looked up from his book, spotting Darling a few tables away from him, a huge stack of books in front of her. He gave her a small smile, grabbing his books, moving toward her table.

"We already finished actually, I'm doing a bit of personal research...what about you? What's up with this stack of books?"

"Personal research, since I'm able to visit Wonderland now, I figured I could start learning more stuff about it. But I've already read all of the books here, so I'll have to go to the Wonderland Library to find more information. So I moved on to the next world on the list, Neverland, the only world that didn't open when the portal blocks were removed." she said, gesturing to the stack of books next to them. All of them were Neverland History books, along with a few lost tales from Neverland, treasure troves, locales and other things of interest.

"What a coincidence, I've gotten an interest in Neverland as well...I found this book on Neverland Academy, did you know there was a school there?"

"Not until you just mentioned it, that sounds interesting. If it's anything like Wonderland High, then it's gonna be quite the experience." she replied, glancing back at her book. Blake flipped through a few pages, starting at the first chapter.

"Hmm...says here that Neverland Academy is a school that was built with the help of other realms. It's built into the oldest tree on Neverland island, the entire campus consists of various areas for all of its students, including mermaids. There are classes that teach fairies about talents and how each one picks the fairy. There's also a class that teaches about seasons and how the fairies are responsible for bringing them, to the other areas of that world. There are even pirate classes, for those interested in being pirates." he said, a look of interest on his face.

"That's rather odd, I was lead to believe that not a lot of humans live in Neverland. So why would so many classes be offered there? If you don't age, then you'd be teenagers forever."

"Well Darling, I think its for people that find themselves in Neverland. The Second Star isn't the only way to get there after all, it's the most common place. It would make sense if Peter Pan, taught good stuff, and Captain Hook taught evil stuff, after all they're always willing to kill each other. Who knows? Maybe Wendy's kids are there too? And maybe even Peter has kids." he suggested, earning a frown from the girl.

"I doubt that...he would have to age, meaning he'd have to leave Neverland."

"True...though there is a movie from Earth that I used to love watching called Hook. It was done by this brilliant actor named Robin Williams, he played the role of an adult Peter Pan who had left Neverland and then returned there with his kids many years later. He had to remember what it was like to be a lost child, while saving Neverland from the nefarious Captain Hook. It was an amazing take on the story, and a plausible one too."

"Hmm...not bad, I'm sure Peter would want to age at some point. You can't be a kid forever after all." she said with a smile. The Librarians shushed them loudly, causing the two teens to look over the railing. They glared at them, silently telling them to quiet down.

"Anyway, this is all interesting stuff. But we can't really confirm it unless we go there ourselves, something that isn't possible at the moment."

"Yes, I am aware Darling...but...there's something else. My mom gave me this weird premonition, did you know that...Neverland is under a curse?" he asked. Her eyes widened a bit, shock evident on her face.

"I...wasn't aware of that...what kind of curse? Did your mother say?"

"Sadly no. She said that someone was losing control, and another thing about a tower falling...and a blue bird. I'm not sure what it means but...there is something happening in Neverland, the Second Star is the answer."

"You mean the ripple right? I was walking through town earlier in the day, and I saw that distortion in the sky. It was pulsing slightly, but when I asked Daring and Dexter if they saw it, it was gone. Then earlier tonight, it pulsed again, and all of those birds took off into the forest." she said, making the boy sigh with relief, leaning back in his seat.

"So, I'm not the only one who sees it then. I saw it too, and I was with Apple and...oh no...I totally forgot! I was supposed to see Apple after dinner...I gotta go Darling. Uh, I have a free period tomorrow after lunch, you wanna meet up and discuss this together?"

"I...alright, I guess. I have Damsel-in-Distressing class after lunch tomorrow, so I'll just fake cramps or something. I'm not exactly looking forward to that class." she said, smirking slightly.

"Damn straight, you're a knight now, not some silly defenseless damsel. If you find anything, keep me posted." he said, grabbing his two books, teleporting out of the library.

In his hurry, the boy ended up teleporting right into Apple and Raven's dorm, hitting the ground hard, his books falling from his hand. A yelp of surprise caught his attention, coming from the left side of the room, so he knew one of its occupants was in the room. It wasn't long before a soft laugh filled his ears, this time coming from the right side of the room. He picked his head up, glaring at his sister who was leaning back against the wall, in her bed with a book in her lap, her headphones hanging around her neck.

"Having trouble teleporting little brother? You know there's an easier way to get from point A to point B, it's called walking." Raven said.

"Fuck you sis, just...fuck you."

She shook her head, returning to her reading as the boy stood up, grabbing his books from the ground. He glanced over to Apple who had remained silent during the exchange, too busy brushing her hair to notice, though she had most likely seen what happened through the mirror. He noticed a golden envelope on her dresser, with a red seal on the back, which looked unbroken from where he was standing. He closed the distance in a few steps, taking the envelope into his hand.

"He sent another one, didn't he?"

"It was through magic this time, it dropped into my lap in a puff of smoke. I tried to tear it, but its enchanted not to rip." she replied. The boy crumpled the envelope in his hand, only for it to return to normal, as if nothing had affected it.

"This asshole is getting needy...and he's starting to piss me off." he muttered, breaking the seal on the letter, pulling the paper from the envelope. He pulled the note opened, eyes reading the words written on it.

"Um Blake, don't read it out loud please...I'm not ready too...you know."

"It's too late for that Apple, he told me about this earlier today. You shouldn't have kept it from me, especially when it's something serious like this. We need to discuss this, not as friends, but as family as well." Raven said in a scolding tone, earning a sigh from the girl.

"Fine, I guess we can just keep it to ourselves. I'm sure Ashlynn knows something is up, especially because of that knight. Just get it over with Blake, I don't think I can read it myself." she said, once again grabbing her hair brush.

"Well, here goes. Dear Miss White, I am quite saddened by your refusal to accept my proposal. I spent quite a long time preparing a wonderful banquet for the two of us. He has also told me that your retainer was quite the nuisance. I will say this once, no one should intervene in our business, so this should stay private. I only wish to marry you my dear, there is nothing wrong with that. You shall live a comfortable life in my castle, surrounded by vast riches, beautiful jewelry and wonderful animals, all of them being yours. I'm sure your mother would love to see you be married off to a handsome man such as myself...allow me to show you what I have to offer. Please, give me a chance? I shall send for you tomorrow, please don't turn me down again. Signed, Felipe."

"What a pretentious douche bag. He doesn't see Apple as anything other than a damn trophy...surrounded by vast riches? There wasn't even a single sweet word, or even an attempt to court her. He was just telling her about what he has to offer." Raven snapped, her hands clenched angrily. Blake's hands ignited with violet flames, turning the papers to ash. Thankfully, they didn't return to normal.

"So, it seems once the seal is broken, you can destroy the letters. That's all you have to do then Apple, break the seal and just burn them. I'll happily do it, whenever you get a new one. But we have to deal with this at the root of the problem, we have to find out who this Felipe is and tell him to stop."

"Blake is right, but without a surname, we won't be able to get far...I never saw that name in the Storybook of Legends either, but there were hundreds of pages that scattered everywhere. So we might not even be aware of who this is."

"I know, but it's hopeless...like you said before, he's going to keep bothering me until we take care of the problem. That's why I want to be ready to fight, in case something does happen. That knight was prepared to kidnap me earlier, just to get him to this sick bastard. If Blake hadn't been there, I would have definitely been taken." Apple said, shivering slightly in fear. Blake put a hand on her shoulder, and she instantly calmed down.

"I'll make sure you can fight, like I said before, you will be able to handle yourself. But you have to train hard, for now don't leave campus. I know it may feel like jail, but it's the only safe place you can stay. With so many people here, I doubt he'd actually manage to break in here."

"He's right...I'll do my best to remain by your side when I can...but for now don't leave the school. We need to inform Headmaster Grimm about this, so he's aware of it." she said, a firm look on her face.

"This is so unfair...sometimes, I wish I wasn't the Fairest of them All...I wonder how mom dealt with this stuff." Apple muttered, earning a laugh from the boy.

"It wasn't that hard, maybe she scared them all off with her huge swollen butt." Blake said, bursting into laughter, followed by Raven who was holding her sides tightly. Apple glared at the two, causing them both to shut up.

"That isn't funny Blake...I'm gonna head to sleep early, today has been extremely stressful."

"I'm gonna work on some last minute homework, I'm sure you have some stuff to do with Kitty right? Try to be careful, she's too young to have kittens this early in life."

"Yes sis, I promise not to make you an aunt too early in life...see you two tomorrow, have a good night Apple. Before I go, I want you to have something." the boy said, reaching for one of his bracelets. He wrapped the golden chain around her wrist, a bit of Pixie Dust scattering around the floor.

"Wait, this is your moon crystal...this helps you with your nightmares. Why are you giving it to me?" she asked, a look of shock on her face. He shrugged, glancing away from the blonde.

"You need it more than I do...I've been doing this experiment for the Fairy Queen. I've actually started to having less nightmares, since I signed the book in fact. I don't think I need it anymore, but I don't want your paranoia to give you nightmares about this guy. I care about you Apple, you were my first friend here in Ever After High, and what's happening is very serious. No one should suffer when we're sleeping." he replied. She gave him a hug, holding back her tears, sniffling a bit.

"Thank you Blake, this means a lot to me...I'm sure everything will be just fine."

"I know it will, sleep tight alright? Hey that rhymed...hehe."

"Jeez, Kitty definitely is spending too much time with you." Raven said, pushing the boy out of the room.

"Alright, okay...I'm going...goodnight sis." Blake said, walking down the hallway, waving at his twin.

As he was walking, he decided to check the time, seeing it was already past eight, and knowing Kitty she was probably already eating his ice cream. He flicked his watch open, glancing at the clock face, seeing it was just past eight in the evening. He looked at the lid, seeing the new picture that rested within, one that Cedar had taken of them during the Queen of Hearts's birthday bash. He was looking straight at the camera, while Kitty kissed his cheek, the tiniest of smirks on her lips. However, he saw a light glow behind the picture, making him grow curious as to what was causing it. He removed the picture, eyes focusing on the words that had been etched into the gold, the light diminishing a second later.

"The answer is in the clock tower...what does that even mean?" he muttered to himself, looking a bit confused. He shook his head, grabbing a hold of his phone, dialing Cerise's number as he walked, his eyes focused on the words that had been written on the watch.

" _Hey Blake, what's up? You aren't calling for a surprise band practice are you?"_

"Hey Cerise, and no I'm not. Listen, did you have something engraved on the watch you gave me for Christmas? Behind the picture? I kept that one of us until just a few days ago, so I didn't notice it until now."

" _An engraving? Other than your name on the outside of it, I didn't get anything else. Especially not on the lid, I put that picture in there myself. What's it say?"_

"Um...it's weird but...it says, the answer is in the clock tower. Any idea what it means?"

" _Hmm...not really. That is odd, tell you what...I'll take a look at it tomorrow...I know for a fact I didn't see anything on there. But maybe the guy engraved something in it that neither of us noticed. You know where to find me."_

"Yup, near the lunch line, sitting with Cedar and Darling, most likely tearing into a turkey leg...by the way, I got you some charms in Wonderland. I've been meaning to give them to you for the last week, but I've been a little busy."

" _It's fine, see you then Blake, tell Kitty I said hi."_

"Um...alright, bye." he replied, ending his call. He shook his head, shoving his phone in his back pocket, placing the picture back in the lid, closing his watch. He walked into his room, hearing the sound of gunfire booming from the speakers.

"Come on you sleaze ball, fucking do something! Stop camping behind the bus, I can fucking see you!" Jessica cried, mashing the buttons on her controller rather fast.

"Hehe, you can't get me! I'm the best sniper in this game you little pussies." Kitty cried back, the sound of a gun firing once again filling the room. The boy closed his door, standing next to the two girls, seeing they were in a heated match on Call of Ever After, the local equivalent to Earth's Call of Duty. They were playing Multiplayer split screen, and were running around a forest map.

"Boom, head shot...take that Hopper you puss." Jessica cried, a giggle leaving her lips.

" _Damn it Jess, stop sniping me from across the map!"_ the annoyed voice of Hopper cried, coming from the speakers.

"You motherfuckers are gonna kill all my lilies." two more shots rung through the speakers, ending the match. Kitty pumped her fist happily, grabbing her milkshake, taking a gulp from the glass.

" _Oh...come on, that isn't fair! Those were your last two shots weren't they?"_ the voice of Dexter asked, earning a giggle from Kitty, who neither denied nor confirmed his question.

"So...what's going on in this neck of the woods?" Blake asked, arms crossed as the two girls looked at him, both giving him a grin.

"Got bored, felt the need to pown some noobs online. Your girl is quite good at this game."

"Well duh, whenever I'm over here, I'm always playing Free-for-all mode. Sniping people is really fun, and I like seeing them rage quit." she replied, a grin on her face. He shook his head, taking a seat at his bed, setting his watch down on the table, along with his books.

"Hey Jess, you have tracking magic right? Is it possible to track something that's been written into something else?"

"Eh? I'm not sure...why do you ask?" the wizard replied, a look of confusion on her face.

"Well, this weird message appeared in my watch, behind the picture of me and Kitty. There was a bit of light coming from behind it, and when I asked Cerise, she denied ever getting a message on it."

"What does it say?"

"The answer is in the clock tower, that's what it says...take a look." he replied, handing his girlfriend the watch. She opened it, the soft ticking filling the now quiet room. She carefully removed the picture, tracing the letters with her thumb.

"You're right, that is a weird message...what do you think Jess?"

"Hmm...I'm not sure, let me see if I can find something." she replied, taking the object into her hands, which started glowing with her magic. The words begun glowing a brilliant blue, the light almost bouncing off of it. She blinked a few times, closing her hands around the device.

"You aren't going to believe this...but this message wasn't written in this time."

"Huh? The fuck do you mean it wasn't written in this time? What kind of vague answer is that?" Blake cried, clearly confused by what she had said. She giggled, brushing some hair behind her head.

"Sorry, I just had to see your reaction. No but seriously, this message wasn't written in this time period, there are traces of magic on this watch, but it isn't magic from right now. In fact...it feels a lot like my magic."

"So...what you are trying to say is...this message was written on this watch, from the future?" Kitty asked.

"Most likely yes."

"How the hell is that possible? Time flows in one linear direction, forward, the past is the past, the present is now, and the future is unwritten, not set in stone. So how would this message from the future come to the past?"

"Well Blake, it's actually very simple...up until now, you have been taught the fundamentals of magic. The elements, Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Lightning, Light and Darkness. But there is another type of magic, Time magic. It is a type of magic that commoners and low leveled sorcerers aren't allowed to cast, because it takes too much power. Wizards like me and daddy can cast this stuff easily, only if we are master wizards, the level after level 1." Jessica explained, earning nods from her two friends.

"Time magic...so you can use it to dictate how time behaves. In other words, time magic can be used to make a few changes here and there. But...isn't time governed by one person?"

"The Time Keeper, you are on the ball tonight Blake." the wizard replied a smile on her face.

"The who? The Time Keeper?"

"Mhmm, the Time Keeper is the one that rules time all over these realms, Ever After included. The rules of time cannot be broken, but there are times where people think it's funny to travel through time. The Time Keeper usually isn't bothered by that, but if he sees someone trying to change the course of time, he will send them back to their proper time period."

"This is a common occurrence then?" Blake asked, earning a nod from the wizard.

"That's right. Usually, people from the past travel to the future to see how everything is turning out, if it turned out good for them, then they do nothing in their time, if it turns out bad, then they use that information for their own gain."

"So if this message wasn't written in the present, then it was written in the past...that means this watch must be very old. Maybe Cerise didn't even realize how old this watch is, and whoever owns it in the past, wrote this message for us to see...it's a weird one though." Kitty said, clapping her hands slightly.

"This message isn't from the past I'm afraid...you are right, someone used magic to write it. But this message, is definitely from the future." Jessica said ominously.

"The future? Do you know how far fetched that sounds? A message from a future that isn't written yet?"

"Blake, you must understand, maybe on Earth, time isn't written...but here in Ever After, time is in a constant loop. It moves forward, but the stories we are all a part of, often times get reset, so that everyone of the new generation can relive those roles. It's how it has been as far as I know, even before I was born, this was happening. So the future, while not set fully in stone, has been predetermined." Jessica replied, earning a sigh from the boy, who put his hands in his head.

"Okay...just as I was getting used to everything, finally accepted the Evil Queen as my mother, and one of my ex-friends trying to kill me, I get slapped with this. I guess the preconceived notions of time are completely different here."

"Don't think to hard on it Blake, everyone has trouble understanding things sometimes. Would it make you feel better if I sat on your lap?"

"How would that...yes."

"Hoo, he didn't even give himself time to ask that question...you naughty naughty boy...if you want to do anything, I'll film." the wizard said, licking her lips slightly, cheeks flushed. The two teens rolled their eyes, ignoring the white haired girl's antics. Kitty flashed onto her boyfriend's lap, giving him a kiss on the lips as he wrapped his arms around her.

"So, now that we know this message is from the future, maybe, what do we do with it?"

"Check the clock tower of course! The message clearly says it, the answer is in the clock tower, so we have to mosey on over there and do some sleuthing!"

"The clock tower? But that's been closed off from everyone for the last twenty years, it broke down during the time of our parents. Mom told me it used to fill the village with such a pretty sound." Kitty said, a fond smile on her face.

"Whatever the case, we have a mystery to solve. If you two can break the Wonderland curse, then we can definitely figure out what this silly message means. And who knows, maybe we can figure out what's wrong with Neverland." Jessica said, earning grins from the others.

"We move in the cover of night, when the faculty is gone for the night. The last thing we need is Grimm catching us skulking around." Blake said.

"Or we can just teleport there now."

"Nah, it's more fun if there's a chance we might get caught. We teleport there and then what? There's no feeling, no thrill, no reason to use super cool spy equipment!" Jessica said, warping some bags into the room, filled with black clothes, ropes and various other tools.

"Ooo, you have a point...okay then, how about we continue powning noobs online?"

"I'm down for that, I'll make us some more shakes." Blake said, giving Kitty a brief kiss, Jessica shook her head, taking the controller into her hand. There was a thought of longing on her face, as she wondered why the magic inside Blake's watch felt so familiar.

 _ **xxx**_

"You called for me Felipe?"

"Yes, I wanted to discuss some more aggressive methods for acquiring what I want. You were once a student of Ever After High, so you know the ins and outs of this place. She's gonna get defensive, and she's in a comfortable place, we need to find a way to get her." the blue haired man said, leaning forward in his seat. His face was covered in blue colored facial hair, as he hadn't shaved at all that day. His hair was nice and neat, like normal, and he was even wearing his crown. Henry cleared his throat, glancing at the darkened ceiling.

"Well, there are various points of entree, the observation deck on the fourth floor. The charmitorium is also a good point of entree, through the emergency door. There's a stairwell that remains closed as it is only used by people when there's an assembly. The dormitories are two separate buildings, both having emergency exits, so that is also a good entree point. However..."

"Yes?" the man said, stressing the word a bit. Henry cleared his throat, lowering his gaze a bit.

"However, Apple White has a roommate, the daughter of the Evil Queen. Acquiring her in her sleep will be challenging, unless She is taken out of the picture, a rather difficult task. So she has to be caught during normal school hours. Since this is the last term, they're most likely getting ready for the final exams." Henry replied, earning a nod from the young man.

"Interesting, my take over of Neverland is coming smoothly. I have convinced the magicians there to keep the portals closed. For all of their claims that they are intelligent, those people are truly dumb...I guess if they choose not to age at all, then their brains don't mature, making them rather stupid by comparison."

"Well, when the strongest leaders there are a bunch of kids, lead by a grown up kid who claims to be the Headmaster of Neverland Academy. You know that they aren't learning shit, I'm surprised Captain Hook isn't destroying that place." Henry said, smirking a bit.

"That is because his son James Hook Jr. is the Principle of the upper school, that teaches pirates how to be pirates, and also helps people learn more about Fairies and the like...regardless, we have steered this conversation away from the main topic. Is it possible to get a hold of Apple White?" Felipe asked, earning a nod from the armored young man.

"I believe it is possible...we just need her to get a false sense of security. We have to strike when people least expect it, we can't wait until finals either, because we won't see her at all with all of the classes she's taking. It must be in the following week, if we cannot convince her, we must try the frontal approach."

"Striking the school? I do own an air ship, but that would not be ideal." the blue haired man said, stroking his chin in thought.

"That is indeed true...but what if we storm the school? In the confusion, people will try to run away. Apple White can be acquired during that confusion, and then we can bring her here. I managed to get a hold of a dragon from a close family friend, so I can easily bring her here."

"Except, your plan requires one thing we do not have, man power, an army. We do not have an army, let alone the arms needed to wage an attack on this school." Felipe said, earning a smirk from the boy.

"Well, it just so happens that I have something that could be of use of you. I found this in my father's library when I went to visit. He was immensely grateful to you for setting me free, so he gifted it to you. To aid in your endeavors." he said, handing the blue haired man a black book. It was lined with white markings, and had the image of a crow's skull on the front. Felipe opened the book, a dark puff of blue smoke coming from it.

"This is...a book of evil spells, written by the Evil Queen? So that hag truly does get around...with this, we might just have a chance."

"I believe page thirty-four will suit our needs." Henry said, causing the boy to flip to that page. He read the title, a smirk on his face.

"With this spell, you shall be able to create an army of spectral soldiers, made from shadows and magic. They are easily destroyed, but can easily be remade, each time this spell is cast, one hundred shadows are created...this shall do just fine."

"Quite...with this spell you will have the numbers...we shall attack in the dead of the night. They'll be getting ready for sleep, not expecting a single attack. These shadows will invade, cause a panic and in their wake, I will storm the castle and acquire Apple White. When I do, I shall knock her out, and bring her back here on dragon back. No one will be the wiser and they won't have a way to track us." Henry said, earning a nod from the young man.

"Yes, and after I am done with my...convincing methods...I will bring Apple White to Neverland, and seal the portals forever. Once that realm is completely cut off, I shall slay Peter Pan and rule Neverland forevermore. But if she refuses, we need a backup plan." Felipe said, earning a nod from this knight.

"Then we shall have some of these shadows capture a couple of other princesses for you. Briar Beauty and Ashlynn Ella will be ideal for you, the big three as they are known. Along with Snow White, Sleeping Beauty and The Little Glass Slipper are well known, so they will be ideal women for you."

"Hmm, you have a point my friend. Okay then, grab those two as well, once they are here, keep them separated. The last thing we need is them planning something. If Apple White fails to agree, we move on to the next one on the list. Sadly, we can't just set them free either, we can't have them telling people about us."

"Of course...I shall have some graves ready just in case, far away from our castle so we are not blamed for it. Shame about that cute blonde girl, she had some nice hips." Henry said, earning a chuckle from Felipe.

"She did, she had a nice ass too...I pounded that late into the night, but I caught her shoving gold into her purse. She had to pay for stealing, it was her mistake after all."

"Well then...I shall leave you...I must plan this attack. I believe attacking in a couple days shall do. I shall have sufficient time to prepare, you summon the minions...make sure they are capable." Henry said.

"Indeed I will, my friend...and you'll be able to finally get revenge on the foreigner yes? You can recover your sword if you'd like, there will be more than enough shadows to go around. Just as long as those three are acquired...and if not them, any old princess will do. I shall have my fun with them...they shall all know the name Bluebeard."

Henry took his leave, a smirk on his face as he exited the throne room. He continued walking down the hall, ignoring the heavy rain going on outside. He was starting to think this castle was cursed with never ending rainfall, because for as long as he had been there, it hadn't stopped raining. He didn't know how many times he had drained the moat. At least they weren't surrounded by mountains or were in any place where mudslides and landslides were common. He leaned back against the dark stone wall in the main hallway, licking his lips.

" _Well, things are starting to get interesting. Finding that book in my father's library was luck. This attack has to be absolutely perfect, I cannot leave anything to chance. I am not sure what Felipe is planning in Neverland, but he's definitely cooking something. Whatever the case, if I want that sword, and Poppy...then I have to make sure everything is planned out to the smallest detail."_ he thought, eyes narrowed a bit.

"I'm going to need some blueprints of Ever After High, I need to know the weak points, access points...all areas of interest. For this invasion to work, nothing can be left to chance. The escape route must be well thought out, but most importantly, it has to be smooth. And if I have the time, I can kill Blake...this is the time for my revenge. All of those months in prison, all of that rage...I can finally take it out on him!"

He smirked, various plans already swirling in his mind. He had been waiting for this moment for quite some time. Now it was the moment to act, and he would do everything he could to help his new master. After all, it was all he could do for the kindness he had shown him. He would make sure Felipe would get his hands on Apple White. One less friend Blake would have, and if she ended up dying, it would destroy him even more. And that would be the moment he would strike, he was already looking forward to it.


	81. The Ballad of Bluebeard III

**A/N:**

 **Hello everyone, welcome to Chapter 81 of Through the Looking Glass...this is gonna be the third part in the Ballad of Bluebeard arc...and I must say, this arc is kicking my ass...I'm currently writing pre-finale for this arc, which will be Chapter 87. Honestly, I just want this arc to end...It isn't coming out the way that I had originally wanted...but I'd rather not delete what I got because I don't want to waste some chapters. That would be counter productive...so I will just do my best to fix this arc as I am writing it. Chapter 88 will be the official ending of this arc...and I honestly hope you guys are liking it so far...I totally understand if you don't. This chapter will take things into more serious territory. The next few chapters will involve Felipe in a more active role as his plans are finally coming to fruition.**

 **I have already been planning the next arc of the story, which will be the summer arc. It is also the arc where Blake will meet Meeshell Mermaid, the daughter of Ariel...yes, I say Ariel because I know nothing of the original Little Mermaid farytale, so I will be using the Disney versions instead...I like those better and I have a lot more information on that than the original tale. I mean I already made allusions to Ursula in this story, so I might as well go full circle and bring in her niece, which will be the daughter of her sister which made an appearance in The Little Mermaid 2, which a lot of people haven't seen actually. I may actually have cameo appearances from Ariel's older sister's and even Prince...or rather King Eric now...I'm not sure. The basis of that arc, or at least a few chapters of it, is Blake being lost at sea, because his dumb ass fell asleep and the boat he was on started drifting. Yeah...not an original idea, but seeing Blake alone trying to deal with his inability to sail a boat does bring in some funny situations. I had this one idea where he ends up striking a reef and as the ship is sinking, he grabs his boom box and starts blasting Nearer My God To Thee, which actually is how Meeshell meets him. Just like her mother, she is highly curious, but a lot shyer than Ariel, so she's hiding behind some rocks watching this go down and then gets brave enough to help him.**

 **This is all just a few ideas, which also tie into the rest of the summer arc which will have Blake running a Milkshake stand, which takes Ever After by storm for some reason or another. Even he doesn't know how it happened, he just shoved some sponge cake in a blender with ice cream, milk and strawberry syrup and suddenly people are knocking on his door. I think it would be interesting to see that go down...and then of course, we head straight into Dragon Games right after...and after that will be Epic Winter.**

 **I have also been considering adding Crystal to the pairing with Blake and Kitty...I have been thinking about this for quite a long time actually. The thing is, Kitty has had more screen time and development with Blake, so it would be a little hard for me to just shove Crystal into the relationship...I mean they've had one night together where they've actually had sex. And I don't really think that's a way to start a relationship in my opinion...so if I do add her, I'd have to make her a full student after Epic Winter, but we all know that the Snow King and Queen take a vacation and let her rule, so it's just...ugh...annoying...but I'll figure something else. I was also considering Meeshell as a potential girl for this little triangle...I guess I'll just have to wait and see how it all develops.**

 **Shout out to my awesome readers, DeMoDusty, Jerry Unipeg, Blobking, and ChimaTigon for being awesome...I hope you guys like this chapter, it's a little shorter than normal, but does contain a bit of information for the later chapters in this arc, specifically Chapter 82 which is where shit goes down. I hope you all like this...**

 **Before I go, I would like to give my prayers to the families who lost people today in Florida. 17 innocent people lost their lives today, and that is very disheartening to hear, especially on Valentine's Day, a day supposed to be filled with love, not hatred...I hope they can get better soon, but I know that they are facing a very grueling tragedy. I wish you all a good day, stay safe out there guys!**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 81

The Threatening Letter

Once curfew kicked in, the three students waited until they were sure the faculty was gone. Those that didn't leave had living quarters on campus, like the Headmaster, Giles, Lance Charming and the Fairy Queen. Everyone else had left for the night, leaving the halls completely empty. Now dressed in black, Blake, Jessica and Kitty started walking down the halls, incognito, blending into the shadows. All of the lights, saved the emergency lights had been turned off, bathing most of the hallways in darkness. Moonlight could be seen coming in from the windows, illuminating some of the classrooms they were passing. They had to walk all the way to the fifth floor of the school, cutting across all of the floors to make sure no one was prowling in the halls. The last thing they needed was to get caught by a teacher who was working late, of the Headmaster who was doing his rounds, like he normally did around this time.

It took them about ten minutes, they they had easily made it to the fifth floor. They headed toward a set of wooden doors, which Blake passed almost every day when he headed to General Villainy which for some reason was up in the fifth floor. These doors were similar to the ones on the first floor that lead to the lower school, a dark oak color, with intricate carvings which looked like they had all been done with a precise hand. A few clock faces had been carved into the wood, even one that looked identical to the face on Big Ben, down to the Roman Numerals. The only difference between the door on the bottom floor and this one, was the fact that this door had two long boards keeping the doors shut. It made entree a lot harder than on the first floor.

"So...how are we getting in?" Blake asked curiously.

"Beats me, I wasn't planning anything after we got here. I've never seen pictures about this location, so I can't flash up there." Kitty said. Jessica sighed, reaching into her dufflebag for a crowbar, handing it to Blake.

"Jeez, why do I even bother bringing you two anywhere. We just take the damn boards off and then I'll just magically put them on after we leave."

"Why can't you just take them off?"

"Because Kitty, we have to do some of the damn work. We can't use magic for everything, we gotta get some meat on those bones." she said, jabbing her end of the crowbar at the edge of the plank.

"What are you talking about? I'm a lean, mean, fighting machine." he replied, following Jessica's actions.

"Right, that's why you got stabbed twice!"

"Kitty, you aren't getting anymore kisses tonight for that comment."

"Aw, poop." she muttered, lowering her gaze in disappointment. He gave her a kiss on the cheek, and she instantly perked up.

Blake and Jessica easily pulled the boards free, placing them inside an empty locker next to the doors. Blake pulled out his enchanted pin, placing it inside the lock, moving it about for a few seconds, a dull click coming from the lock. He grabbed a hold of the knob, twisting it slowly as he pulled the door open. Reaching for his waist, he grabbed his flashlight and turned it on, shining it into the room, seeing it was completely empty, save for the stone stairwell on the very left of the room. With a nod, he walked into the room, followed by Kitty, and Jessica, who took the rear.

For several minutes, all they did was walk up the winding staircase, passing by a few small windows that looked out into the campus. There were some unlit torches mounted to the wall, confirming that the tower itself didn't have any electricity. From the inside, it looked like the tower was completely made of stone with wooden support beams, and painted a soft white color, the steps being made out of marble. He stop at one of the nearby windows, glancing out into the sky, seeing the same ripple from before, right in front of the Second Star. Jessica followed his gaze, seeing the same ripple he was seeing.

"So, that's the thing you mentioned earlier...it feels weird. Perhaps the portal is trying to open, or someone is trying to force themselves into Ever After."

"Are you sure about that? Why couldn't they seek an alternate route? There should be another portal right?" Kitty asked, also seeing the ripple in the sky.

"That is true...Wonderland has natural portals in Ever After, all of them were unsealed after the curse was lifted. Perhaps the curse afflicting Neverland doesn't affect the portals, and they were forced shut from the other side. Maybe someone wants to come here to tell us all about it." Blake suggested, causing Jessica to snap her fingers, a look of realization on her face.

"That's probably why its rippling so much! Someone is trying to burst through, but the magic is pushing them back. But if that's the case, then what is truly going on over there?"

"That's something we have to figure out. Jessica, you can travel to the Realms between right? Maybe we can find a portal to Neverland from that place. Just like I was able to open a Rabbit hole into Wonderland. That may be our only way in."

"It's a little dangerous right now...we at least knew beforehand what the Wonderland curse was like. We have no knowledge of what this Neverland curse will do, it might be even worse than the one your mom put on Wonderland, it could do much more damage than poisoning magic. Come on, let's keep going up." she said, urging the boy forward.

They resumed their walk up the stairs, passing by a few more windows. Finally, they reached another set of doors, right in front of the last floor. Blake once again opened the door, placing his bobby pin on his watch chain, walking into the open space.

The room was quite spacious, and for a good reason. Inside this room were large gears, and various other pieces of machinery, all of them used to control the four faces of the clock on the tower. There were bronze cat walks above them, leading to various parts of the clock. The four faces of the clock were made with white glass, intricately cut out into triangular shaped pieces, along with a few rhombus and rectangular shaped pieces, all of them forming a tessellation. The outlines were cast in bronze, and held the mounted class in place, a strong spinning axle held the two hands in place on the outside of the clock. There was a winding staircase that lead up to another floor above the mechanism that made the clock function. Blake started walking up those stairs, shining his light around the large room, reaching the second floor, which was separated from the machine room.

This floor was completely different, high above them was a large set of chimes. They looked to be made out of pure silver, all of them were arranged from long to short, all of them attached to thick metallic arms, which had small hammers on them, which would move to hit each chime with whatever song was being played. There was a thick black wire attached to the roof, being plugged into the base of the chimes, leading down into a box, which connected to what he assumed was a control panel before him. There were three levers in front of the panel, all of them being pushed forward. There was one at the very left of the panel, which was attached to two wires, that extended up into another mechanism. Above the panel were two prongs which were a few inches apart, two light bulbs rested at the top of either prong, most likely to mitigate how much electrical energy actually went through to the chimes. Walking toward the panel, he saw four spots on it, seeing what looked like steel discs placed in various slots, along with a crank to move the wheel. He traced his hand over one of the discs, finding it cool to the touch.

"What is all this?" Kitty asked, stopping beside him.

"I'm not exactly sure, but I think this is what controls the tower's music. You said this was set to play a melody every hour on the hour starting at six am right? Maybe the discs were placed here, and a controlled charge would start the song."

"Yes, you are indeed correct Blakey. Ever After Tower was being built when I was still a little girl, about ten years old, ah those were the days. My dad explained to me that for its time, this tower was the largest musical instrument. The way it was designed was for it to carry the grace and beauty if Ever After High, while enchanting the nearby villagers with beautiful music from the high tower." Jessica said, grabbing a hold of the crank, starting to move it. It creaked rather loudly as the wheel started to move, the disc clicking in place.

"Looks like this needs a little bit of oil...wonder why it was turned off?" Blake muttered, glancing at the wire rope holding the chimes in place.

"Maybe it was too hard to maintain...I mean look at this place, this looks like it was built two hundred years ago. Nowadays, we have clocks on our MirrorPhones, coffee makers, MirrorPads, our computers...we can tell time differently. Maybe the clock broke down and the Headmaster just decided to close it off." Kitty said, grabbing a hold of one of the levers, pulling it forward, causing one of the discs to pop out. Blake grabbed a hold of it before it hit the floor, glaring at his girlfriend.

"Would you mind not touching anything? We're ghosting this place, if anyone finds out any of this shit is broken, they'll start looking!" he snapped, earning a giggle from the girl.

"Don't hack a hairball honey, I just wanted to see what the lever did."

"Uh guys...look at the spot where the disc was." Jessica said, pointing to the empty space. They both looked at it, noticing some words etched into the wood.

"It says, locate the time gears." Blake said, clearly confused. Jessica started cranking the wheel again, cringing at the loud sound. Once the next disc was in place, she pulled the lever Kitty had pulled previously, popping the disc out of place. She looked at the wood, not finding anything carved into the wood.

"I got nothing, what a bore." she muttered dryly. Kitty pushed her out of the way, a grin on her face.

"Oh, I call next!" Kitty cried, a few second later, the third disc had been removed, her finger the wood, also not finding anything.

"Nothing...let me check the last disc to see if something is beneath it." she said, earning a nod from the others.

"Locate the time gears...what is that even supposed to mean?" Jessica asked curiously.

"Time gears...what the hell are they? I feel like I should know what they are?" Blake said, a confused look on his face.

"There isn't another message guys, that's it...there's nothing else here." Kitty said, placing the disc back in the open slot.

"Well, we got a little more information now...it says find the Time Gear. I got no idea what Time Gears even are, and I know a lot about everything, I mean shit, I'm Jessica Merlin, there isn't anything I haven't seen or directly caused before." the wizard said, a firm look on her face.

"Time Gears...hmm...it has to do with time...what's a place where time is relevant...or irrelevant?"

"There's only one place I think of, Neverland. Remember, time doesn't move forward there, that's the allure of that world. Never aging, a timeless place...so if we have to find these Time Gear thingies, we might find information there, hell we might even find one of them there." Blake said.

"Except we can't get there, the portal is still closed. Going through the Realms between isn't a good idea either, especially since we have no idea what kind of curse this place is under...so right now we are stuck. At least until we can do some research."

"Hmm...are there any libraries that might have books on this?" Kitty asked curiously.

"Yes, my dad has a lot of books, so I'll go to his tower and pick some of the important ones out. Blake, you need to check the library in the Snow Queen's castle, it's one of the oldest ones in Ever After, so she might have some books on the subject. I'll leave the Wonderland Library to you Kitty. We'll meet up tomorrow afternoon for dinner at Blake's dorm and share what we have found."

"Understood, I'll head to Wonderland early and grab some books." Kitty said, earning a nod from the wizard.

"Uh...I might have to skip school then. I promised Apple I would teach her how to fight. Plus Crystal's there, and she might get curious...she's really sweet, but kinda clingy too." he said.

"Would you much rather switch with Kitty, have her go to Crystal's palace and you go to Wonderland?" Jessica asked.

"Yeah, that would work out better, I can open a portal directly there and also have time to teach Apple the basics. I'm scared that Felipe guy is gonna pull something on us."

"Who's Felipe?" Kitty asked curiously, causing the boy to sigh. He brushed his hair back out of his eyes, a frown on his face.

"It's this guy who's been sending Apple marriage proposals for the last week or two. He's getting really annoying, and now he's even sending people to pick her up. She asked me to teach her how to fight, in case something happened." he replied, causing the two girls to frown, their demeanor changing drastically.

"I can't believe this bastard has the balls...if only I could track him down."

"Even if you did, what would you do? He's clearly one step ahead of us. Maybe training Apple to fight is the right call." Kitty asked, earning a nod from Blake.

"It is, she'll be able to at least defend herself from him. The knight is the one I am worried about the most, but if he gets taken out, she'll at least be able to fight Felipe off." the black haired boy said firmly.

"You know, you could just skip the training and deal with Felipe at the same time."

"How would he do that Jessica? Obviously he has to train Apple in order for her to defend herself. There's no way he can't not train her and deal with Felipe at the same time." Kitty said, shaking her head slightly. Jessica smirked, reaching into her shirt, pulling two vials of Wonderland water.

"Did you forget, I can just switch their bodies around. If we can bait this Felipe guy while Blake is in Apple's body, then we can easily take care of him." she said, earning a frown from Blake.

"Except, those vials only switch us for half an hour. This guy is willing to use force to get Apple there, he sent a fully armored _knight_ to kidnap her, for Christsakes. He would definitely notice something if I was carrying a sword with me."

"That's true...but you can't tell me it isn't a good move, he wouldn't expect it...or even better, we need to take his knight out of the picture. Switch him with one of ours, however he knows who you are Blake, but we still got Darling in the background...maybe she'd be willing to switch with you."

"Why would that even matter? Darling is a great fighter, she wouldn't be in any danger." Kitty said, causing the wizard to shake her head.

"Darling is still a woman, an attractive woman. This Felipe guy looks like he wants Apple, but who knows what his plans truly are? Knowing him, he's got his eyes on other princesses, Darling included. If they switch bodies, then she wouldn't have deal with whatever bullshit charm he tries to pull." Jessica replied, earning a nod from Blake.

"You're right, Felipe won't know he's speaking to another person. Not just that, Darling is a fighter, so her body is prepared for this stuff. I won't have a hard time moving around, unlike in an untrained body like Apple's. Not just that, I can definitely infiltrate his castle and figure out what makes this dude tick." Blake said, eyes narrowed slightly in understanding.

"Then let's talk to Darling in the morning and see if we can come up with a plan."

"Right, let's go, we've been here for an hour...someone must have noticed the doors were unlocked, hopefully not." Kitty said, placing all of the discs back in the wheel.

" _Don't worry Apple, we'll get rid of this guy, I promise!"_ he thought, as they started heading out of the tower.

"Oh Blake, before we go, I have to tell you something. That message in your watch, yeah it was totally written in the past. I was just messing with you with the whole message from the future thing."

"You fucking suck you know that? You had me going and everything!" he cried, earning a giggle from Kitty.

"You are just so gullible. It's so cute!"

"Shut up Kitty."

 _ **xxx(The Next Morning)xxx**_

Blake entered the castleteria a bit earlier than he was used to. He wasn't really in the mood to eat breakfast, as he was mostly thinking about Felipe. He was worried that this unknown man was planning something against Apple, and if he had gone through the trouble of sending a knight, he didn't know what he was capable of. He just grabbed a few apples from the basket that had been set out, taking a bite from one of them, glancing around the tables, seeing a few of the early risers that had gathered. Most of the conversations were steered more toward finals, while others spoke about their summer plans. He had heard a lot of people talking about heading to the beach, something that he had been considering himself.

He spotted Cerise and Cedar by themselves, a few books placed on the table in front of them. It didn't take him long to realize they had been studying as well. Everyone was using every single moment they could so they could get the best scores on the tests. After all, if you failed the term, you failed the year, and that was something no one wanted to experience, or the dreaded summer school, which most of the villains had to be placed in due to skipping class all the time. He gave the two girls a wave, sitting across from them.

"So, you two working hard or hardly working?"

"You use that joke whenever any of us has a project." Cerise said, eyes falling back to her worksheet. He shrugged, taking another bite from his fruit.

"What can I say? It's a good joke, plus it makes Holly laugh whenever I use it."

"Well, Holly laughs at anything."

"That is a bold faced lie Cedar, I do not laugh at everything!" Holly cried, grabbing their attention. She and Poppy had been walking by their table on their way to the lunch line. Cedar rolled her eyes, giving her a knowing look.

"Pudding."

Just as she had expected, the long haired girl started giggling, quickly clamping her mouth shut. Poppy shook her head, unable to believe her sister found something like pudding funny.

"See, I told you. She laughs at everything, even the simplest things." the daughter of Pinocchio replied, jotting a few words in her notebook.

"Okay, how about we give her a tongue twister then...those aren't funny, but they are hard to say."

"I'm good with those, go ahead Blake, hit me with one."

"Alright then, hold your tongue and say, I was born on a pirate ship." he said, giving Poppy a smug look. She narrowed her eyes in thought, a chuckling a bit as she shook her head.

"Sorry, I already know what that sounds like, good try though. Seriously, give me a good one." she said. The boy cleared his throat, thinking of a good one. After a second, he spoke.

"What a to do to die today, at a quarter to two. A terrible difficult thing to say. But a harder thing to still do. The dragon will come at the beat of the drum. With a rat-a-tat a-tat-tat a-tat-to, at a quarter or two to two today. At a quarter or two to two."

"Uh...can I have some time?" Poppy asked, earning a chuckle fro the boy.

"Sure, take all the time you need."

"Um Blake, about last night...can I take a look at the watch now? I wanna see this engraving for myself." Cerise said, grabbing his attention. He unhooked the chain from his belt look, pulling the watch from his pocket, handing it to the girl. She looked at it for a few moments, focusing on some of the charms he had attached to the chain. She pressed the side button, the spring loaded lid to pop open.

"I took the picture out...I'm sure you didn't want to see that." he admitted, a frown on his face.

"It's cool, I'm totally over what happened. We're still best friends, as long as you are happy, that's all that matters." she said. He could tell she was forcing a smile, which really made him feel bad. Cedar stood up from her seat, grabbing her coin purse from her purse.

"I'm gonna get something to drink, you want any thing Cerise?"

"Soda is fine, I know you aren't supposed to drink that stuff in the morning, but screw it. I need to wake up a bit." she replied.

"We'll go with you Cedar, we can talk about our Beast training final." Holly said, pulling her sister Poppy along, who was still struggling with the tongue twister Blake had given her. Cerise returned her focus on the words engraved onto the watch, eyes narrowed a bit.

"This is strange, I don't remember ever seeing this when I bought this watch. The man I got it from said it was very old though, so I might have missed it."

"Well...did you look at it before you wrapped it? Maybe you just glazed over it and forgot, I hadn't taken the picture out and when I did I never noticed it until just now. Call me crazy, but I saw it glowing a bit...that's how I noticed it." he replied, causing the girl to look up at him.

"You saw it glowing? Are you sure?"

"I'm sure...I asked Jessica if it could have been etched in magic, and she said it was. However since it's an old watch, it most likely happened in the past."

"It is an odd message though...the answer is in the clock tower...did you check that place out? Maybe there's more there." she asked.

"We already did that, Jessica, Kitty and I checked it last night. The only thing we found up there was another message, Search for the Time Gears. We're gonna do some research to see if we can find out what those things are, but they aren't really a priority right now. We just want to know what they are." he said. She glanced back at the watch, closing it after a few seconds, handing it back to him.

"Well, I wish you luck then. This message is a bit odd, but I'm sure you'll figure out what it means. You found a way to reach Wonderland, I'm sure this will be cake walk for you. Maybe this time, I might make a bigger impact than when I went looking for all of you."

"Hey, if there's an adventure lined up, you'll be the first one I call. Thanks for this Cerise, I appreciate you looking at this." he said, placing the watch back on his person.

"No problem...by the way, mom wants to see you. She said she remembered a few things after the Wonderland curse was broken. She and your mom used to be really close back in high school, so this might be relevant, when do you think you can go?"

"Fuck...I'm a bit busy...I have finals to study for, there's Radio Rebel, we're also recording our album...ugh...who knew I would be this busy in high school?"

"Perfect practice for the real world. We only got two years left after all, then we're all drifting through the wind, destiny or not." she said, earning a nod from the boy.

"You're right...but at least we'll have our band, we can go on tour for awhile, pay our college tuition, get real world jobs, get married, pop out a couple of kids, move to the beach and then after 70 years we can die happy." Blake said, causing the girl to laugh.

"Not a bad life, it's certainly better than the alternative...I gotta get back to studying. You better pass this time, Joey isn't here to screw you over."

"I will, see ya Cerise. I'll see if I can make some time to visit Ruby, it's been awhile since I've checked on her anyway. Maybe tomorrow, it's Wednesday, and I got last period off."

"I'll give her the message, see ya later Blake." she said, giving him a wave as he walked off. He finished his first apple as he left the castleteria, deciding to head to his locker to grab the things he needed for his first class.

" _Maybe I can meet up with Kitty before class. She was kinda mad last night since I sent her off without a kiss."_ he thought, his cheeks flushing a bit. He felt his phone start vibrating in his pocket, causing him to stop. He wondered who was calling him at such an early hour, but shrugged it off, pulling out his phone. He slid his finger across the screen, turning to face his locker.

"You have reached the voice mail box of Janet Jackson, at the tone please record your message. When you are finished recording you may hang up or dial 1 for more options...beep."

" _That was horrible, even for you Blake."_

"Aw, and here I thought you had bought it. Anyway, what's up sis, you usually come to me, not call me. You aren't sick are you?"

" _No, that isn't it...it's Apple...she woke up earlier than me to style her hair, like normal. But when she was getting dressed, I guess she got another letter from that Felipe guy. I don't know much, but all I heard was a scream, she's been locked in our bathroom ever since."_ Raven replied, sounding rather worried. The boy sighed, grabbing his needed text books, shoving them in his back quickly, closing his locker afterward.

"I'll be right there, see if you can get the letter from her."

" _I'll try, thanks little brother, see you in a few."_

"Peace out!" he said, ending the call. He shoved his phone in his bag, heading toward the Girl's dormitories. He brushed past a few people who were currently milling about through the hallways.

Once he reached the dorms, he headed straight for Darling's dorm, knocking on the door. He fixed his clothes a bit, brushing some of his hair out of his eyes. Even though he did his best, the sense of urgency was still written on his face. Rosabella was the one who opened the door, in the process of tying her hair up. It was the first time he had seen her without glasses and without make up as well. She gave him a small smile, placing her hair on her shoulder.

"It's a bit early for a visit, what can I help you with Blake?"

"Is Darling here? I need to speak to her, it's rather urgent." he said.

"Uh sure, hey Darling it's for you!" she cried, heading back into the room. Blake decided to wait outside, as it was the polite thing to do. Darling came out, holding a mirror in her hands, along with a tube of pink lipstick. She gave him a single look, her smile shifting into a frown.

"What happened? Is Lizzie in danger?"

"No, something else. I need you to come with me to Apple and Raven's dorm, I'll explain on the way." he said.

"Okay, let me finish up and we can head there. I can tell it's really serious." she said, walking back into the room.

After a few moments, the two teenagers started walking over to Apple and Raven's dorm. Blake took the time to explain everything in detail to Darling, including the letters, the knight and Felipe. She had remained silent through most of it, wanting to learn every thing she could about Felipe. They arrived at his sister's dorm a minute later, with Blake knocking on the door to grab her attention. He glanced at Darling, who had her eyes narrowed in thought.

"So, this is everything you know about this guy?"

"That's right...he's written to Snow White as well...I'm not sure how many letters he has sent to Apple. But all of them sound really disgusting and pretentious...they all focus on the fact that he wants to marry Apple, and that he's rich so she'll be happy. Then there was that knight he sent here to pick her up." he said.

"Hmm...I've never heard of any Felipe before...my daddy makes an effort to know all of the royals around the area. He knows King Henri, King Phillip, King Adam, King Ferdinand. He knows the Snow King as well, they were actually friends while in school." she said.

"Hmm...So he knows Ashlynn's dad, as well as the dads of Briar, Rosabella and Apple...this is strange. If your dad never mentioned him, then who is he?" Blake asked, just as the door opened. Raven looked relieved when she saw the two of them, quickly letting them into the room.

"She hasn't come out of there at all. I tried talking to her, but she's been crying for awhile. I don't know what the letter said, she won't show it to me." she said, handing Blake the envelope, seeing the broken seal on it.

He couldn't make out the mark since it had been broken. But to him it looked like a tradition coat of arms, a firm looking shield with a single crossing sword. The sword was a short curved blade, a cutlass, and across from it was something that looked like a stripe, forming cross over the shield itself. He opened the envelope, finding it completely empty, save a single blue hair. He pulled it out of the envelope, holding it up in the air, eyeing it carefully.

"Blue hair...so this at least limits who it could be. Darling, if you can, ask your dad if he ever met any royals with blue hair. And if he didn't, ask him about people with kids, this guy claimed to be our age in Snow White's letter, so he's most likely between the ages of sixteen and twenty."

"Okay, I'll give him a quick call, he's probably getting ready for the morning news." she said, walking to the other side of the room. Blake gestured for Raven to follow, leading her toward her half of the room.

"Listen, I told Darling about this because we needed a bit of back up. No one else knows this, just you, me, Apple, Snow White, Jessica and Kitty. I have a bit of a plan going to see how we can figure out who this guy is. Jessica suggested a body switch between me and Darling."

"A bait and switch? That's dangerous Blake, especially because it won't be _you_ out there. It'll be Darling, what happens if you two switch back?" she asked. He sighed, leaning against the wall.

"I thought about that, we've already talked about the more drastic measure. Switching for two days, it gives me one to track him down and infiltrate his castle, and a second one to take care of him. Thing is, we aren't sure who we are dealing with."

"I dunno...I think you should talk to Apple about this, more importantly...we need to tell the Headmaster, and Snow White. This is a serious matter, especially because he keeps harassing her!"

"No! You can't tell them anything, I want to deal with this myself!" Apple cried, bursting form the inside the bathroom. Her eyes were puffy from crying, and she had no make up on. Her hair looked a bit out of place, and she looked very frightened. She handed a crumpled piece of paper to Blake, who quickly unfolded it, smoothing out some of the wrinkles.

"Apple White, you have refused my proposals for far too long. Do you not understand all I want to do is show you how much I love you? But sure, you are surrounded by charming men on a daily basis. Men who are a lot more handsome than myself. Men who are heroes, knights, saviors of other worlds...holders of mythical swords. How can I hold a candle to men like that? But still, I have everything you will ever need and more! You cannot refuse my love like this, you are breaking my heart and it isn't fair. All I ask is for one meeting, and I shall show you everything I can offer you. Not just vast riches, land and jewelry, but something else as well. Something that many young women have wanted from me for the past few years. Please, say yes to my proposal, and I will make you the happiest woman in Ever After...or else you might find something horrible done to your closest friends. What are their names...Briar Beauty, Ashlynn Ella and Blondie Lockes? Yes, that's it...you are rather fond of those girls...this is your last chance. Say yes, or else they will in your stead, I assure you they will. You have until 12:00PM this afternoon to decide...see you soon my sweet."

Blake stood there for a few moments, rereading the letter over and over again for context. He could feel anger beginning to bubble in his system. He crumpled the paper in his hands, anger flowing through him. He could feel his magic swirling around him, about to explode from his being from how pissed off he was. He felt a hand take his own and looked up, seeing the worried look on his sister's face, causing him to calm down a bit. He blinked a few times, glancing around the room, seeing Darling had been quiet the entire time, her phone still pressed against her ear. He looked back at Apple, giving her a smile.

"It'll all be fine, okay? No need to worry...let me borrow your phone for a minute okay? I'll be right back." he said softly. She nodded, pointing to her vanity, where her MirrorPhone was, still plugged into the wall charger. He unplugged it, walking out of the room a second later. Once he was out in the hallway, he searched for Snow White's number and clicked on it, holding the device to his ear, walking toward a nearby window.

"Come on, pick up...you have to be up at this time sis...this shit is serious." he muttered, a second after a tired voice answered the call, making him sigh with relief.

" _Apple, sweetie do you know how early it is? It's my day off."_

"Sorry Snow, this isn't Apple...it's Blake. Listen, before you get mad, I want you to listen to me. It's a serious matter, this Felipe guy has been sending letters to Apple daily for the last couple weeks. The one he sent her just now is serious, I need you to come to the school as soon as you can." he said.

" _Alright, if you say it's serious, then it is. I shall be there in one hour, if you can, speak to Headmaster Grimm, but don't tell anyone. The last thing we need is to cause a panic."_

"Sure thing, I'll let him know. I'll see you when you get here Snow, sorry about waking you."

" _It's alright Blake, it's about my daughter's well-being...so I'll let it slide this once. Thank you for telling me this, see you soon."_

She ended the call, making the boy release the breath he had been holding. He walked back toward his sister's dorm, the mood hadn't changed at all in the time he had been gone. He gave Apple her phone back, remaining silent for a second, gathering his thoughts. He knew Apple didn't want him to tell Snow White about it, but he knew he had too. She was in danger, and so were some of his friends, so he couldn't take risks.

"Alright then, first and foremost...I have to say I'm sorry. I had to tell your mom about this."

"I know...as soon as you asked for my phone, I knew you were gonna tell her. It's alright...I'm just scared about all of this, this guy won't leave me alone. I can't help it." she replied. Raven wrapped her arm around the girl, holding her close.

"We aren't gonna let this guy do anything to you...I'll be there to fight against him, and so will Blake and Darling. No one will get hurt, not you, not Ash, not Briar and definitely not Blondie. Getting hurt isn't in her itinerary, you can say it wouldn't be Just Right." Raven said, making Apple giggle softly.

"I spoke with dad, but like I said...he doesn't know anyone with blue hair, who happens to own a castle. He also never met any royals with children that had blue hair as well. Even King Hans of the Southern Isles, a man he dislikes, was off the list. He's met all of his children." Darling said. Blake blinked a few times, tilting his head slightly.

"Hans...you know...that knight said his name was Hans...it's sort of weird, now that I think about it."

"It's a name...there are millions of people in this world Blake, so that means the name has to be common somewhere." Raven replied, earning a nod from the boy.

"Yes...I know, Darling, I know you were looking forward to researching Neverland later on, but we're gonna have to put that off. Right now, we have to figure out what to do with this guy. Snow White asked me to speak with Headmaster Grimm, we might just have to put the school on lockdown, just for now."

"Lockdown? I never thought it would be this serious." Raven muttered, lowering her gaze a bit.

"We have to be...we have to assume this guy will do anything to get his hands on Apple. Not just her, Briar, Ashlynn and Blondie were called out by name in that letter. So there's a safe bet they're on his list as well, he said they would say yes to him if she didn't. I'm sure he's planning on using force to acquire what he wants." Darling replied.

"Then we have to be careful, aside from Blondie, he named princesses, and you are a princess too. I know you can handle yourself, but we aren't sure what that knight is capable of, and we have nothing on Felipe either. First we should speak with the Headmaster, we can figure everything out as we go."

"Okay...let me do my make up then...I have to look normal. The last thing we need is people asking questions right?" Apple asked, earning a nod from everyone, just as the first bell rung.

"I have to get ready too, I'm gonna take a quick shower."

"Hey wait, can't you just use that spell Blake used awhile back?" Darling asked, causing Raven to stop, before she entered the bathroom, towel in hand.

"Sorry, but I don't want to accidentally flood the room. I can just put my clothes on magically, but I like taking a cold shower in the morning."

"In other words, she likes when her nips are hard enough to cut diamond. Because it attracts male attention, I.E. her boyfriend, which happens to be your twin brother." Blake said, earning a slap to the head from Raven, who was glaring at him.

"Stop being an ass!"

"What? I'm pointing out the obvious! If a man doesn't like boobs then he isn't a man!"

"But what if he likes ass?" Darling asked curiously, earning a shrug from the boy.

"More cushion for the pushin', I prefer boobs, because motor boating." he said, matter-of-factly, a perverted smirk on his face.

"Men...can't live with them, can't live without them." Raven said dejectedly, slamming the bathroom door after herself. Blake shook his head, jumping into his sister's bed, grabbing a hold of the book she had been reading, which was actually one she had borrowed from his room.

"Black Butler, really?"

"Shut up!" his sister cried out, though it was muffled by the door.

 _ **xxx**_

"Master, the plan is complete...it took some time, but I was able to procure some blueprints from Ever After High. Here is my idea." Henry said, placing the prints on top of a table. He and Felipe were currently in a meeting room, which was much more lit up, now that it had stopped raining. Two worn looking trophies were holding the prints open on the table, to prevent them from rolling up.

"Yes, show me...what have you been planning for the last few days."

"Quite yes...you see, the plans I am showing you now consist of the first floor of Ever After High. There's the foyer, lined with lockers, to the very right is the hallway that leads to the castleteria, lined with classrooms. In the upper part of the entrance hall, is the grand staircase that leads to the second floor, at either side on the first floor are two hallways, one that leads to the dorms here, and the one that leads to Legacy Plaza here. This will be our entree point." Henry said, pointing to a door on the outside part of the plans, facing toward the dormitories.

"What door is this?" Felipe asked curiously. Henry pulled out another print, showing him the first floor of the charmitorium.

"That door leads here, to the first floor of the charmitorium. By using it as an entree point, we can keep it clear as an exit. There's a door that leads to the second floor from there, which leads to the upper part of the dorms. There's another stairwell, that will lead down, where Apple's dorm is. We grab her at that point, and then back track through here, and out the door." Henry said, tracing the path with his finger.

"What if she isn't in her dorm? What if she decides to stay in another place?"

"That's the beauty of it, even if she isn't in her dorm, we have the element of surprise. I shall go ahead of time, and use an invisibility charm to keep an eye on Apple during the day. When I give the call, you'll flood the school with those shadows. In the confusion, I'll grab Apple, Ashlynn, Briar, and Blondie, as well as Poppy and get out of there. I've already prepared the dragon cage to put them all in."

"Excellent, by flooding the school with the shadows, they'll be able to distract the students and anyone who fights back. No one would be paying attention to who's missing until after we pull out. Once they do a headcount, they'll realize those six are missing. They won't even have time to track us down...good job Henry." Felipe said, giving the man a proud smile.

"Thank you sir, it was a rather simple plan...we had the numbers after all. If this plan works, then by tomorrow morning, you'll have Apple White in your hands...and I'll have Poppy for myself." he said.

"Indeed, not just that, you'll be able to slay the foreigner as well...you've been dying to do that for the last ten months right? I'll give you an extra half hour once the girls are captured. Send the dragon off, and I shall have a horse ready for your return."

"As you wish Felipe, I would like to thank you...for allowing me this chance. Anyone else would probably prioritize their wants over anyone elses."

"Yes...and normally I would. But you've been a good friend over the last few months...you've helped me acquire my father's wealth. This is the least I can do for you...now, to shave this bothersome beard. I wish it wouldn't grow in so much." the blue haired man said, scratching at his face, which had a short but thick beard. Henry was surprised, seeing as it had grown so thick overnight.

"It's rather impressive...but sir I must ask...are you partaking in this?"

"Why yes I am...I just have to be there...I shall be waiting in the Dark Woods, where the magic of darkness is strongest. When you give me the signal, I shall send forth our minions. I shall be dressed in armor, the last thing we need is someone identifying me." Felipe replied, earning a nod from the blond boy.

"Indeed, then let us work together to make sure this take over is smooth. I shall be leaving posthaste, oh and about that threatening letter, I must say you have done excellent. Shaking her up will make her more paranoid, it will make her fear skyrocket. That will make it easier for her to be forced into doing something."

"Yes...it is beneath me to shake someone up like that...but I couldn't help myself. At least the dungeons are clear...well, the area where her cell will be. Once she is here, I shall prepare for transport into Neverland. This castle shall be yours to do with as you please, you will finally be the rightful king you deserve to be, Henry." he said, a smirk on his face.

"Thank you, I appreciate all of this...King Felipe." Henry replied, causing the man to chuckle, holding his hand out, which he gratefully shook.

"It is no issue at all, King Henry."


	82. The Ballad of Bluebeard IV

**A/N:**

 **Hey guys, I want to apologize for the very late post. I spent almost all day working on Chapter 4 of Pantoufle Noir as well as Chapter 88 of Through the Looking Glass, the finale of The Ballad of Bluebeard arc. It is the longest chapter to date with 47 chapters and over 14,000 words. No Idea how it got that long, but it did and I'm not gonna question it.**

 **This chapter will be chapter 82 and will start to get the ball rolling on Felipe's plan, but Chapter 83 will be where the real shit starts to go down. After that you will all get to see how despicable Felipe truly is...I'm sure all of you are going to hate him just as much if not more than Joey. Joey was cunning and sly, this guy is just a fuckin dick all around...hell I hate him so much I wanted to fucking end this arc already so I could move on...lol...that's a joke...I was having a bit of trouble with this arc, because I was already planning the next one which will be the Summer arc, which I haven't named yet...there's gonna be a couple chapters of filler to wrap up Blake's first year in Ever After High. But other than that it will start transitioning towards the summer arc. It will also be the chapter where Blake will meet Meeshell Mermaid for the first time...I'm debating whether or not to introduce Justine Dancer and Nina Thumbell in this arc as well. All I know is that Blake will be the one to encourage Meeshell into matriculating at Ever After High, wanting her to work on her people skills as a human, since she feels a lot more comfortable when she's in the water.**

 **After that, we will move on to Dragon Games, which I have also been planning for awhile...a lot of shit will happen in that one, and bonds will be tested. As you all know, the Evil Queen will be freed from her prison in that arc, and that is obviously something that will piss Blake off quite a bit...there will be a lot of butting heads, swearing, and various other things. I might tweak the plot of the arc to include a bit more stuff...in fact I was thinking of having this arc feature a dragon invasion of some sort, but I quickly disregarded it...where the hell would dragons come from? the Past? Pfft...like that would ever happen.**

 **There's also gonna be some other things that will be touched upon before Epic Winter...I haven't really thought of anything except Return to Neverland...I've been thinking of adding characters from the movies, Mulan, Aladdin and Hercules. I've also been trying to get my hands on some of the books so I can work some stuff from them into the story itself, like Legend of Shadow High, which I have yet to read...after all of that is done, I'm afraid there isn't much I can do with this story, aside from ending it. We'll have a final arc and then a future arc and that'll be that...but even if I do finish the story, there will be the alternate endings to work on, so there's still a lot of Through the Looking Glass left for me to work on. But for now let us focus on this chapter and the rest of this arc...who knows, maybe by Dragon Games and Epic Winter I'll have hit One Million Words, my ultimate goal for this story and any of my stories.**

 **Have a good night guys, if I finish chapter four of Pantoufle Noir, I will post it...I will also try to work on Black Apple and Black Aria which I have neglected for awhile. Since I just finished writing The Ballad of Bluebeard, with only the Epilogue left to write, I should have time to work on that. I have also thought of a bit of a plot for Blondie's segway, let's just say she wants to do a personal report on sex and needs a subject that's Just Right, and our buddy Blake seems to be the one for her. More on that as it develops...and with this I leave you with a final question...Harvey Dent...can we trust him?**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 82

War Plans

Since class had started, it made it a lot easier to walk through the halls. No one would be there to ask why Darling and Blake were standing on either side of Apple, both having their swords at the ready. And no one would ask why Raven walked ahead of them, with Jessica covering their rear. It was something that they had formed at the last second, magical and physical coverage of Apple's being. For all they knew, Felipe was already in the school, watching them from the shadows. It wasn't that hard to believe, and with the aid of dark magic, it was entirely possible. Thankfully, no one that saw them asked what was going on, or why they had been flanking the young blonde as if she was preparing to walk into a war zone. They had made it to the Headmaster's office after a few minutes. They didn't want to risk anything, so Darling took a quick look around with Raven just in case.

After a few minutes of discussing exactly what would be talked about, the five students stepped inside the Headmaster's office. Milton and Giles were both in the room, discussing some end of the year plans along with a few other events. However, upon seeing the five students, they ceased all of their conversations, wondering what was going on with them. Milton took notice of how tense they all seemed to be, and the fact that Blake and Darling both had their swords at their waist, when normally they would be put away as they wouldn't be needed during the day. The two men moved away from the windows, standing in front of the oak desk, both curious as to what was going on. After earning a nod from Apple, Blake stepped up, reaching into his vest pocket for the letter she had been sent.

"Headmaster, Giles you must be wondering what we are doing here instead of being in class. Well, there is a reason for that...first I want to make a request. I would like you to place the school under lockdown, and if possible cancel classes for the day."

"You must be insane if you want me to consider that...but I shall allow you to explain." he replied, leaning back against his desk.

"Of course...ever since our return from Wonderland, a man known as Felipe has been sending letters to Apple via courier pigeon. At first, the letters were nothing more than love letters, that evolved into marriage proposals. They got worse and more harassing as time went on, Snow White even received one when I went to speak with her a few weeks back, Darling can attest to that."

"Blake is right, I was there when she got that letter. It was a request for Snow White to give her blessing in their marriage. She wasn't too happy, I didn't think it would be more than that. However we didn't think it would escalate, until she got this one this morning. It's not only threatening her, but threatening some of our friends too." Darling added, her hand moving to the hilt of her sword, grabbing a tight hold of it. Blake handed the man the letter, which he quickly unfolded reading its contents.

They all watched with baited breath, wondering what the man would say. He must have reread the letter a few times before passing it onto Giles, for him to have a look at it. Even after both men had read it, they didn't know what to say, or how to respond to it. They turned away from the students, speaking about the letter more privately. After several pregnant moments of silence, they faced the five, firm looks on their faces.

"This is something we cannot disregard...but we also don't see how putting the school on lockdown would benefit you." Milton said, a hint of curiosity in his voice.

"Well Headmaster, there is a reason for that. A few days ago, I got a request from this man, wanting me to meet him at his palace. He sent a stagecoach to pick me up, and one of his armored knights. Not only that, that knight had orders to bring me by force if I refused. If Blake hadn't been with me, I would have been kidnapped. Now he's forcing me to give him a reply by noon today, or else my friends are next on his list." Apple replied, a frightened look on her face.

"I'm not sure about you sir, but if I was the Headmaster here, I would prioritize the safety of my students. Who knows what this guy is capable of? What if he has an army? What if they're poised to attack, willing to do anything to get Apple, even kill?" Raven asked.

"What if he doesn't and this is all just some sick joke? We can't discard that idea either."

"Milton, I don't believe that's the case here. If he has been sending these letters to Miss White for the last few weeks, if he's willing to send a knight here, to send a letter to Snow White, our Queen...then we must assume he means it. In which case, Miss Queen is correct. We must ensure the safety of our students, but most importantly, the safety of those named in this letter." Giles said, handing the man the microphone from his desk. Milton sighed, pressing the trigger on it, holding it close to his lips, a look of annoyance on his face.

"Attention students and staff of Ever After High, we are now under lockdown status. All homeroom teachers are required to do ahead count and ensure all of their students are present and accounted for. Students out in the halls or on break, go to the nearest classroom and await there. Classes are canceled until further notice. That will be all, thank you."

"We appreciate this headmaster, we really do. I went ahead and told Snow White, she'll be coming by in fifteen minutes. But now we have to make sure these girls are safe." Blake said.

"I have an idea about that, I do possess some tracking spells in my arsenal. I suggest casting a tracking spell on each of the girls named...just in case something happens. I know I sound like a pessimist, but it's better to know where they are at all times right? That way, we'll be able to track this bastard if he does take one of them." Jessica suggested, getting firm looks from the others.

"I hate to say it, but it isn't such a bad idea. I know that I might be captured by this disgusting man...I know not the level of preparations he has taken...but we have to be more prepared than him. We have the advantage, we have magic, we have trained students, and weapons. Going the extra mile to ensure our current locations would be good." Apple said.

"Indeed, I agree with that as well. We must consider all avenues of entree into the school as well. While our doors are impregnable, if they go through an aerial approach, we might not be able to defend the castle." Giles said.

"Wonderful, looks like we'll have to break out the battle plans. Never thought we would have to look at them again in a long time." Milton said, moving across the room toward a worn looking filing cabinet. He pulled a single key from his pocket, placing it in the lock.

"You guys have battle plans?" Raven asked curiously.

"Indeed, let's just say...Ever After High has been attacked before. You're mother isn't the only Evil Queen who attempted a take over. Seven generations ago, the Evil Queen of that Era attempted to take over Ever After High as well."

"Gee, seems our family truly is hellbent on ruling this place." Blake grumbled, earning a pat on the back from Apple, who gave him a reassuring smile.

"Seven generations ago? Sheesh, you two are dusty as hell, are you older than my old man? I don't think I was even born in that era." Jessica said, head tilted in curiosity.

"Miss Merlin, our age is irrelevant in the matter. We have been the keepers of Ever After High and the Storybook of Legends for a long time. But what matters here is the safety of our students. Now, these are a bit dated, but they shall suffice for now." Milton said, placing some papers on top of the desk.

"I have something to say first...we shouldn't prepare the castle for battle...what I mean is, we shouldn't make it look like something is wrong. If this guy is going to attack and he sees this, then he will most likely be put off. We want to find out who he is at the end, but we also don't want to cause a stir, both here and in the village."

"Darling, I can see that line of thought, but we have to protect the village too. They might go after civilians as well, just to ensure they get what they want in the end. Remember, this guy is crazy obsessed, but he's most likely not stupid. He would have to prepare for anything...but we have something he doesn't, knowledge of the school grounds. This is an outsider remember? So we just make it so his entree is difficult." Blake said, glancing at one of the papers before him. Several defense points had been highlighted on the paper, including all potential entrances and exits.

"That's right...we can cast a charm on the doors, an in through the outdoor spell. Just like the detention room back at Wonderland High." Raven said, earning a chuckle from Jessica.

"Yes...I like that, if you piss them off and discourage them, then they'll make easier targets. Not to mention they might go for an obvious target, the dorms...anyone with a brain would attack at night. This is a school, so they would expect the students to be asleep. So this entree point would be key, not to mention we can have some bowmen stationed here, and here, at the top of the dorm buildings, firing right at them." Jessica said, pointing to the two buildings on the blueprints that had been laid out.

"Not a bad strategy...but we also have to defend another entree point, the castleteria. Busting the windows would be easy, not to mention an entire platoon could come through there and ravage the school. So we need to prevent that from happening. The charmitorium is another weak point, anyone who gets in there can go to any floor of the school, easily." Blake said.

"So we seal the doors, in through the out door, just like Raven suggested. That isn't the only way into the school, we have the Grimmnasium, Legacy Plaza, the Observatory, the clock tower, all of these are clear entree points." Darling said, pointing to each spot on the blue prints.

"This is looking harder and harder as we go on. We might have to get Mr. Knight up here, he's an experienced military man...he might shed some knowledge on our strategies." Giles said.

"Call him up here brother, we'll need all the help we can get. We'll have to step up our game if it means defending our students." Milton said, earning a nod from his brother, who immediately left the room.

"Hmm...we might have to increase our firepower. We don't know how many people they'll send in here, not just that, they might not be armored or on horses. Were all trained with sword fighting, but what if this dude got different arsenal?"

"Firearms you mean? That wouldn't be a good thing...I don't think none of us are prepared to combat something like that." Jessica replied, lowering her gaze a bit.

"That's true...most of our stories only require knights in shining armor, or sword capable princes. So no one is trained in firearms unless they take the advanced courses, and even the few that are wouldn't be able to handle an entire army." Raven added.

"You know...I've been thinking...this guy only wants the girls on that list right? Why don't we just eliminate them from the equation...get them to a place where he can't get them." Darling said, making everyone look in her direction.

"That's a rather hard thing to do, where would we bring them? It's not like we have other places in Ever After where we could hide them. Sure, we could send them home, but what if this guy goes as far as attacking Snow White's castle directly?" Blake said, causing the girl to frown.

"At least let me finish...what I mean is, we send them all out of the realm. It just so happens that Wonderland became available not that long ago. We can hide them in Wonderland High, that place is like a maze. Do you think he would actually go to Wonderland just to get them? Not just that, if he does go there, you know the Queen of Hearts's army is ready to fight at her beck and call."

"You're right...that's the most defensive place we've got. Setting up a perimeter around Wonderland High with her card soldiers would be ideal. Very good strategy Miss Charming, I commend you for that suggestion." Milton said, earning a giggle from the girl.

"It's what I do best, I am a knight after all. I believe discussing this with the Queen of Hearts, or rather Lizzie would be ideal. It would also help to build trust with Wonderland after everything that happened."

"Are you alright with this Apple? This is for your safety after all." Blake asked, placing a hand on her shoulder.

"No, I'm not okay with it. I don't want to abandon my school, and I'm sick of being afraid too...this guy is a disgusting creep that needs to be taken care of. But I'm not going to just, lay down and leave the place I love the most. I will remain in Ever After, but I implore you, get the others out of here...I care about them more than I do myself." she replied. Blake frowned, lips pressed in a thin line...normally, he would try to persuade her into leaving. But he already knew she wasn't going to budge.

It wasn't long after that, when Giles Grimm, along with Mr. Knight and Snow White entered the office. Though she tried to walk with grace and poise, it was evident that she was worried about her daughter's well-being. Apple wasted no time in running to her mother, wrapping her arms around her, practically in tears as the woman caught her. Snow held her tightly, not wanting to let go of her precious child. She glanced up at the others, giving them a small smile in return, a thankful look on her face.

"Headmaster, Giles has explained everything to me as well as Snow White. I am prepared to defend my students by any means necessary...I shall prepare my students as well. This might be a good test for all of them."

"Thank you Reginald, your skills are very much appreciated." Milton said, causing Jessica to giggle, her shoulders shaking a bit.

"You're name is Reginald? But that's such a fancy name for a man under a suit of armor."

"My dear, a name matters not. What strikes fear in a man is how polished his armor is, the strength of his swing and the sharpest of his blade. You can be called Muffin Man and still impose a great deal of fear on your opponent. If you would, just call me Mr. Knight." the man said firmly. The girl gave him a thumbs up, relaxing a bit.

"Tell me, what have you all come up with to keep my little girl safe? Not just that, but her friends and the students of this institution as well. Everyone is in danger, not just them."

"Well sis, Darling came up with a simple strategy...if we can get the girls that were mentioned by name into Wonderland High, then Felipe won't be able to get at them. Not just that, I believe he might be going for any princess in general, so we might just have to get them all out of here." Blake said.

"Not a bad plan, if we remove the ladies from the the school, then he won't be able to get anyone...but that would also cause a stir. We're gonna have to call for an assembly and explain everything to the students and staff. However, we must ensure a successful plan first." Milton said glancing at the papers on his desk.

"We must be prepared for anything, at the moment all we can do is assume things. We don't know how big Felipe's army even is...so we have to assume he has the numbers. We have to assume he has airships, we have to assume he's got attack dragons, and we have to assume he's going to attack soon." Raven said.

"We're on the right page then, the letter he sent to Apple this morning, said that he wanted an answer by noon today. So we have to assume he's planning an attack, but he wouldn't attack today. No, he'd most likely attack tomorrow or any of the following days. If he has an army, he'd need time to move them all here. There aren't any castles nearby, and we know he has one. The bastard won't stop bragging about it." Blake replied, arms crossed over his chest.

"Okay then, so we must be prepared for an attack tomorrow at the earliest. But no later than the end of this week, we would definitely notice if he was moving a massive army. Raven, Blake do you think you can scan the nearby areas with your dragons? A birds eye view would do us good." Snow White said.

"Certainly, I'll speak with Duchess and Odette as well, both of them can turn into swans, so we could cover the nearby areas, around Ever After and Bookend. Darling, I'm sure you and Legend can cover some ground as well?"

"Mhmm, I'm not a dragon master yet, but I know how to ride on. Daring's been teaching me, and Legend adores me. I'll help out any way I can." she said firmly.

"Alright then, if they don't see any movement, then we can assume that he's far away. There's nothing but forest between Bookend and Meadow Brook, the nearest city. My castle lies on the outskirts, so that's a two mile radius, there's no other way of reaching Ever After High without crossing the city. So a two mile radius in all directions around the castle should do. Get on with it, we'll handle all of the planning out from here."

"Sure thing, I promise I'm not gonna let you down Snow...I'm not gonna let that fucker take Apple. He'll have to kill me...and we all know that isn't gonna happen either...let's go Rae, we gotta saddle up." Blake said, earning a nod from his twin sister, both of them heading toward the door, with Darling behind them.

"Wait...can I come too? I wanna help." Apple said, causing her mother to take a hold of her hand.

"You aren't safe out there Apple, this man could be watching the castle, waiting for you to leave so he can make a move. We can't risk that, so you cannot leave the school grounds, at least not on your own. Just stay here with me alright?"

"I don't want to do that mom, I don't want to be a damsel anymore! I want to fight for myself, I am perfectly capable of taking care of myself!"

"Apple, you know normally I would be inclined to agree with you, but this guy is a lot more dangerous. We know nothing about him, at least with Courtly we knew what she was capable of and we defeated her. I was able to fight Joey as well, because I trusted my abilities and knew his arrogance would be his downfall. Felipe is a shadow, and we can't let him get a single inch on us. So please, stay here, we won't be gone too long." Blake said, earning an aggravated sigh from the blonde.

"Fine...I'll stay here."

"You'll be fine Apple, we won't let this dickhead get to you...let's hurry to the dragon stables, the faster we get there, the faster we can assess the situation." Raven said.

"You two go ahead, I'll go find Duchess and Odette, I'll handle the southern exit of Bookend, straight over the Dark Forest, I'll let you two decide which areas you'll take."

With that, Raven, Blake and Darling hurried out of the Headmaster's office. The others continued discussing various ways to defend the school and ways to keep Apple and the others safe. None of them knowing exactly what Felipe was truly planning.

 _ **xxx**_

"Do any of you know why this sudden lockdown was called?" Holly asked, earning shrugs from her friends.

Since she had the first period off of class, she had been in the castleteria when it was called. She along with a few of her friends had headed to the nearest classroom, which had been the Cooking Class-ic room. She, Cerise and Cedar, had been lucky to find their other friends, Ginger, Lizzie and Kitty among a few others in this room. They had been preparing a three course meal for their exams, and since classes had been canceled their teacher had told them to continue cooking, if only to keep themselves distracted. The scent of freshly cooked food had been drifting around the room for awhile, along with whatever had been accidentally burned. Since they were under lockdown, they couldn't open any windows, so there was a smokey scent in the air as well.

"I haven't the foggiest...me and Kitty were preparing our appetizers when the announcement was made. Headmaster Grimm seemed to be a bit apprehensive as well, as if something bad was going on." Lizzie said, grabbing a spoon. She had been preparing some lamb cutlets with mint sauce, and had been busy preparing the plate for the last five minutes. Holly stared at it hungrily, trying not to stab the meat with her fork.

"That's something that also caught my attention...perhaps something happened and we're in immediate danger." Ginger replied, earning a chuckle from Kitty.

"Immediate danger from who? The Evil Queen? She'd be the only one to cause danger to this school. I mean come on, if she broke out, do you think she'd just go for it? She'd have to plan it out."

"She's got a point, I doubt it's the Evil Queen...perhaps it's someone else. I did notice Apple acting weird lately, since we returned from Wonderland in fact. Then there was that knight that was looking for her too." Ashlynn said, catching their attention. She placed a few dirty dishes in the sink, moving back toward the stove where she was preparing some scallops.

"Yeowch, why did you hit me?" Sparrow cried, glaring at Duchess who was holding a wooden spoon in her hand.

"Because dammit, we aren't gonna pass if you keep eating our food. Now fuck off to the sink while I prepare this plate!" she cried, causing the orange haired guitarist to run off. Ashlynn looked away, turning back to her friends.

"Anyway, what was that you said? About a knight?" Lizzie said, continuing their previous conversation.

"Yeah, what's that about? I think I remember Blake saying something about that." Kitty said.

"Well, it happened a few days back. I was coming back to school after taking care of a shipment for the store. This beautiful stagecoach was parked outside of the school, in front of the bridge. Standing in front of it was a knight in shining armor, he was dressed head to toe in armor. Had a pretty big sword too. He asked me if I could find Apple White for him and I told him I would, but I didn't ask why."

"You should have babe, maybe that guy wanted Apple for something...you know...not right?" Hunter asked, setting aside the clean dishes he had been washing for his girlfriend.

"I doubt he would have said anything...wonder what this is about through...why would a random knight come here for Apple?"

"Hmm...maybe it has to do with those weird letters she's been getting...whoops, I wasn't supposed to say that...quick, forget I said anything." Kitty said, holding her hands up defensively. A single glare from Lizzie however got her to spill the details.

"Okay, there's this guy named Felipe, who's been after Apple's hand in marriage. He sends her letters every day, and all of them get really gross...the reason that knight was out there, was because he sent for her so they could meet in his castle. I'm pretty sure he said some sexual things to her in one of them, but Apple doesn't want to speak about it."

"Oh my godmother...how can someone do that to her? What a disgusting pervert!" Lizzie cried, almost snapping her wooden spoon in half.

"This is serious you guys...what if this guy is trying more fierce methods to get Apple? What if this is the reason why the school is under lockdown?" Ginger asked curiously.

"Don't wanna raise an alarm or anything, but I saw Snow White come to the school earlier. This classroom faces the castleteria courtyard, and I saw a fancy limo park outside...whatever is going on, it's serious." Sparrow added, a hint of seriousness in his voice. Whenever he didn't sing what he wanted to say, people knew he was speaking the truth.

A knock came from the classroom door a few moments later, causing the cooking teacher, Madam Maid Marian, to walk towards the door. She opened it, allowing someone into the room, that being the new ballet teacher, who happened to be Duchess's mom Odette. She said something to Maid Marian, who allowed her into the room. Everyone watched silently as she approached Duchess's station, grabbing the girl by surprise, who gave her a quick hug. After exchanging a few words, she took off her apron, placing it inside the dirty linen basket. Duchess said something to Sparrow, most likely to finish off what they were working on, before leaving the room with her mother. They all shared a look, worry evident in their faces.

"Wonder what that was about?" Lizzie muttered. Cerise, who had been speaking with Cedar for most of her time in the room, approached her friends, tugging on her hood slightly.

"I have something to share with all of you, and it's rather serious."

"Cerise, are you sure? They won't believe you heard that you know." Cedar said, earning a nod from her friend.

"It's fine, now that we can choose our destinies, I've been thinking about this a lot. Anyway, that's besides the point...I heard a bit of the conversation between Maid Marion and Odette. She needed to take Duchess because they're going to help scan the perimeter of the school for attackers. Some guy named Felipe might be attacking the school, trying to get at Apple." she said.

"Are you certain?" Lizzie asked. Cerise glanced around the room for a few moment, before moving her hood slightly, showing her friends one of her ears, all of them gasping in surprise.

"Trust me, I heard it...keep that to yourselves for now, I'll explain it later. Something big is going on, and we might be in danger, I'm not sure about you, but I'm gonna head out of her as soon as I can...they might attack Hood Hollow and my mom is in no capability to fight." she said.

"Shit, this is more serious than I thought it would be...we can't just stand around...if we're in danger then...I have to get my sword. I'm sure Darling and Blake are going to be defending Apple, so I cannot be defenseless."

"Lizzie, I know you are worried and you want to be prepared. But with this lockdown, we won't be able to leave. I'll flash to your room and back, just try not to bring attention to this place. That's the last thing we need." Kitty said, kneeling down behind the counter. She gave her friends a smile, flashing out of the cooking room.

"What do you think is truly going on? Is this guy seriously planning on attacking a school? We don't know what this dude is even capable of."

"Sparrow, your pan is gonna catch fire if you don't pay attention to it." Ginger said, causing the boy to scream, grabbing a hold of the pan. He knew if Duchess got a bad grade because of him, she'd break his legs with his own guitar. They all shook their heads at his antics.

"Sparrow is right though, I mean, I can handle myself. I'm a good archer and can use a crossbow pretty good, but if he's bringing an army...we might just be outnumbered." Hunter said, bowing his head slightly. Ashlynn kissed his cheek, making him perk up.

"We'll be just fine...that guy doesn't have the nuts to attack Ever After High. Besides, you aren't the only trained fighters in this school, if there is an attack, I'm sure Mr. Knight is already sharpening his best swords for everyone. You'll have to put all of your training to the test."

"Still...all of this just for Apple White? I mean, she's the fairest of them all, the next Snow White. She's beautiful, kind and the sweetest person you'd ever meet. But this guy is outright demanding her hand in marriage, and even going through all of this just to get her. Makes you wonder what his true plans are." Ginger said, grinding a bit of nutmeg on her cupcakes, finally finishing her dessert, placing it on the cart beside her.

"What if his plans are like...grabbing a bunch of girls to form a sort of harem. And he takes them to another world so no one can rescue them...then by some sort of skill, he gets control of that world for his own selfish gain?"

"Sparrow, has anyone ever told you, that you are the biggest retard I have ever met? Seriously, how would that even happen? You truly are the weakest link in the family." Cerise said, eyes narrowed as the boy deflated a bit.

"Thanks for defeating my ego."

"Whoa, wait a minute...you two are related?" Hunter asked.

"Bruh...they share last names." Cedar replied, brow raised slightly as she cocked her head to the side. Kitty flashed back into the room, silently handing Lizzie her sword.

"I managed to teleport into the vent above Headmaster Grimm's office. Snow White, Mr. Knight, Giles and the Headmaster are talking battle plans. Not just that, Jessica and Apple are there as well...this shit is getting serious." she said firmly.

"This is serious...ma, I gotta talk to you!" Sparrow cried, shutting the stove off in his station, before heading over to his where his mom was, helping one of the other students.

"Kitty, I know you and I don't really get along that well but...would you please do me a favor? Teleport me to my mom's place...please. She's seven months pregnant and I don't want anything to happen to her."

"Sure, I'll take you there right away. Do you want me to get Momo too? She might need a little more defense."

"That would be great, thank you. Guys, I'm sorry for bailing on you all, but my mom is in a delicate situation, and I don't want anything to happen to her."

"Don't worry Cerise, we understand...if any of our mother's were in that state, we'd want to be with them too. Go on, we don't blame you for leaving...be safe." Lizzie said, giving her a hug. The daughter of Red Riding Hood took Kitty's hand, both of them flashing out of the room a second later.

"If what Kitty said is true, then this is a lot more serious than I thought it would be. That means anyone can be targeted, even you and Holly...I'm not gonna let anything happen to either of you. You're my friends after all." Hunter said firmly, earning a nod from Ashlynn, who wrapped her arm around him.

"You underestimate me Hunter, me and Blake took on Goblins with nothing more than a Katana, a couple of lanterns and my frying pan. I never leave home without it." she said, reaching behind her back for her cast iron pan, which she flipped through the air, catching it with ease.

"I gotta get me one of those...hey, how do you keep that attached to your waist?" Lizzie asked curiously. Holly swept her hair away, showing her the custom holster she had around her waist.

"Designed it myself, with Poppy's help of course. She insisted I carry a griddle instead, but those are too big and a bit too hard to swing. Frying pans are where it's at yo."

"Holly, please don't speak like that. You are too beautiful to speak like you come from the hood." Cedar said, earning a sigh from her friend.

" _Attention Students of Ever After High...would the following students report immediately to the Headmaster's office. Ashlynn Ella, Lizzie Hearts, Holly O'Hair, Poppy O'Hair, Briar Beauty, Rosabella Beauty, Gloriosa White, Blondie Lockes and Farrah Goodfairy. Thank you in advance."_

"Wonder what that's about?" Ginger asked, a worried look on her face.

"Well, it might be for our own safety. Aside from Blondie and Farrah, a majority were princesses...maybe this dick is after princesses, not just Apple...whatever the case, we should move on. Ginger, would you mind watching this until Kitty returns?"

"Sure thing Lizzie, I wish you, Ashlynn and Holly good luck...keep all of us posted." she replied. Ashlynn and Hunter shared a brief kiss, before she followed her friends out the door, which Maid Marian closed and locked right after. She clapped her hands, trying to keep her smile on her face.

"Students, we are going to be here for a little while, so feel free to make anything you'd like. I need some help trying out some of the finished courses, so if you'd like to volunteer, then I would appreciate it." she said, though her voice sounded upbeat, the look in her eyes told everyone otherwise.

"Ginger, Cedar...get ready for anything...we might have to fight, and we don't know against who or what." Hunter said softly, earning nods from the two girls. It was rapidly growing tense inside the school, and most still had no idea what their enemy was planning.

 _ **xxx**_

From the nearby Dark Forest, the pair of Felipe and Henry stood, watching the citizens of Bookend. While they couldn't exactly see much, it looked like a normal day to them. However, the two of them did notice three dragons shooting into the sky from the old dragon stables, and they had been hovering above the forest for awhile, as if they were looking for something, or someone. For the two armored teenagers, this meant nothing, in the end they had the upper hand and a very easy way to make an endless armor of shadow soldiers. They walked further back into the woods, hiding behind the shadows of the Dark Forest. Felipe stood back against a tree, his armor being similar to Henry's, only more fit to his smaller frame. He had a steel sword attached to his side, ready to be used if needed.

"Seems someone jumped the gun...they have dragon riders hovering over this area." Henry said.

"So it would seem...it matters not what they attempt. Apple White leaves with me tonight."

"Yes, the end result will be the same. However, we must be prepared if they bolstered security...right now they must be working under assumptions. Knowing Grimm, he's probably got the school under lockdown. He isn't however, a military leader, so he can't possibly come up with a plan of attack, just a plan of defense."

"Indeed...so their security will be high, so we must push our way in. Thankfully, the shades will be able to get through any nook and cranny, unless they reinforce the entrances with magic." the blue haired man said.

"They have no need...sure they can magically shut the doors, making any human unable to enter. But they aren't expecting magic soldiers, they expect humans. That's where we have the advantage...while these soldiers don't kill, they do incapacitate. By the time anyone realizes what hit them, it'll be too late." Henry said, a smirk on his face.

"That is what I am hoping for...what does it feel like? To be back in this place? Looking at your old Alma Mater?"

"Ever After High is just a building, Master. I used to have friends there, but they all turned against me, all of them...because of _him_. I heard rumors of another young man who came here from Earth...tried to kill him and the Queen of Hearts. It's how he got Excalibur in the first place...but he won't have it for much longer."

"Go forth then, but before you go...I shall aid you in this." Felipe said, reaching behind his back for his magic tome. Flipping through the pages, he stopped at an easy charm. He placed his hand on it, focusing on the words written on the paper.

"We are all sad and miserable, make my friend invisible." he chanted, tossing a ball of light at Henry, who slowly started disappearing until he was completely gone. He snapped his book closed, a smirk on his face.

"Whoa...this is pretty sweet." Henry said, looking at his invisible hand. He did a full 360, trying to see any of his armor but was unable to due to the charm.

"You must be careful, this doesn't hide sound. Those who are in tune with dark magic or can sense auras can easily see you. And this enchantment breaks if you get hit with water...so mind what you do...I will not be able to help you in the field."

"That is alright Felipe, I will be able to handle myself from here. I've got my sword, and I've got my mission. I shall relay news to you about what is going on within the school. It'll be a little hard to get in if it's locked down, but it isn't a problem for me...see you soon." he said, walking toward down, leaving deep footprints in the soil.

"Yes, the next time we see each other, both of us will have a woman at our sides. Ahahahaha!" Felipe cried, cackling like a madman. Henry rolled his eyes, continuing onward to Bookend.

" _Man, this dude is crazy...but whatever...he's promised me his castle...some riches, and I get Poppy. Who gives a shit what he wants? As long as I get it to him in the end, I'll be able to get what I want. This is going to be a very sweet revenge."_

 _ **xxx**_

"So, how was it? Did you see anything?" Milton asked, once Blake, Raven and the others returned to the school.

The children of the Evil Queen were both dressed in their Dragon riding armor, with Blake having added some parts from the armor Lizzie had designed for him. Darling was standing in between the two, with Odette and Duchess on either side of the twins. All five of them had the same look on their face, they hadn't been able to spot a single person.

"There's no one out there Headmaster...I extended my search from the south, heading over the Dark Forest, swinging around Hood Hollow, before returning back. I did this for an hour, and I didn't spot anyone at all...I did sense some dark magic at the edge of the Dark Forest...but that's normal in that area." Blake said.

"I got the same results...I took the east side over the Enchanted Forest. Other than dwarfs, I didn't see a single person that looked remotely threatening. Darling and I crossed paths a couple times, but she found nothing as well."

"Yup, Raven is right...I extended my search to three miles, and the areas surrounding Meadow Brook. I didn't spot anything, not a single foot soldier, knight, cavalier, dragon rider, nothing...the paths were clear...I even checked some trees in case lancers or dragoons were hiding in the trees, but that yielded no results." Darling said, earning a chuckle from Jessica.

"They were in the trees man...they came from the trees." she whispered softly. A stern glare from Snow White caused her to shut up, straightening up a bit, doing nothing to hide her giggles.

"Me and my daughter to the North side, around Grimm's Peak, and back over the back part of the school. It's safe to say we aren't getting attacked from behind. The valley is too vast for them to hide, we would see them too easily, so that isn't a good avenue of attack." Odette said, earning a nod from the Headmaster.

"Could it be possible that he isn't going to attack yet?" Giles asked curiously.

"No, it could be his army hasn't arrived yet. Realistically speaking, if they wanted to get here to seize the castle, they'd come from the Western side of town, through the Dark Forest. No one would expect people to come through there. The Enchanted Forest is too open, too filled with light, they'd want to hide in the darkness. That's my interpretation anyway." Blake said.

"Not a bad one...we'll have to keep an eye on the west then." Milton replied. The doors opened a moment later, and several girls walked into the office, all of them surprised to see the amount of people that had been gathered there.

"What's going on? Why are we being pulled from class all of the sudden?" Briar asked, once everyone had entered the room.

"Well Miss Beauty, it seems there is a grave situation afoot. Miss Apple White has been receiving letters from a young man named Felipe...we have reason to believe that this man is going to attempt and acquire her. Not just that, some of you were named in his letter, Ashlynn Ella, Blondie Lockes, and even you Miss Beauty." Milton replied, handing the girl the letter.

"It's even worse, he's given me until Noon today to decide if I'll go with him or not. That letter said that all of you would say yes regardless...meaning he wants to kidnap you as a backup plan. I have no idea what he wants with you, but we are all in danger." Apple cried, grabbing a hold of Briar's hand, holding it tightly.

"And before you ask, you others were called here because we think he's going after other princesses. Farrah, you were called here to assist Jessica in creating magical barriers on the easily accessible areas of the school." Giles added.

"Oh I...wow this is a big scoop...I can't believe something like this is happening. Is it alright if I take notes? I'd like to report on it, after all of this is over of course."

"You may, we might actually require a report for the future. You may record video as well if you'd like, just don't post it until after this has all been dealt with." Milton replied, earning a thumbs up from Blondie, who instantly took out her MirrorPad, already setting the camera up to record.

"Without a looming threat of an army, it gives all of us more time to prepare. We must address this immediately, prepare the students as best we can...prepare the weapons and armor just in case." Mr. Knight said.

"So, we call an assembly...just explain everything as best we can. This will give Mr. Knight enough time to prepare the weapons, while informing the students and staff of the coming danger. We must also prepare the town, just in case. You never know what this deranged psychopath is capable of." Darling suggested.

"Yes, alerting and preparing the students should be priority for now. I shall be the one to address them, if I may Headmaster."

"Of course my Queen...I shall be by your side." Milton said, giving Snow White an appreciative smile.

"I dunno if calling an assembly is a good idea...all of the students and staff in one place at the same time? Isn't that a little dangerous?" Blake asked, earning a chuckle from Jessica.

"Now you are just being paranoid. There's no army, and none of us sensed anyone with dark magic nearby. But if it makes you feel better, me and Farrah will start casting those enchantments on the weak points. No human will be able to break into this castle, guaranteed."

"Oh...but we'll have to cast it again after midnight, you know my magic tends to wear off during that time." Farrah said, flushing sheepishly.

"No problem, my fortification magic will strengthen yours. Let's hurry, the halls are empty, less people whose attention we'll attract." Jessica said, taking a hold of her hand, leading her out of the office.

"Now then, to discuss an idea that we have all been considering. Since some of you have been named by this man...we were thinking of having you all go to Wonderland High school, at least until this man is captured." Snow White said, earning gasps from the girls.

"You want us to leave the school?" Briar cried.

"Absolutely not! This is my home for the time being, and I shall defend it, and my friend. I am not leaving." Lizzie cried, her hand already on the hilt of her rapier.

"I agree, I can't very well cover this if I'm not in Ever After." Blondie added, holding her MirrorPad up for emphasis.

"Enough you guys...the only reason this was a suggestion was for your own safety. Remember, this guy will do anything to get a hold of you...we have no idea what this guy wants. But it isn't just Apple's hand in marriage. He thinks of her like a trophy, a possession...a thing...he wants you for one fuckin thing, and a very disgusting thing at that. There is no love, no vast amount of riches...just a sick twisted fuck who has his eyes on the princesses of Ever After. So if you have to leave the school, you will fucking do it, don't make me force you." Blake said, quite angrily. His eyes were glowing violet, hair moving slightly as he spoke.

"If it's for my safety...then fine...but Hunter comes with me. I'll need someone there to protect me, right?" Ashlynn asked, earning a nod from the boy.

"I'll go too, just promise me no one will get hurt because of me?"

"Don't worry Rosabella, no one is going to get hurt, no one is going to die. We aren't letting that happen...Lizzie, what do you say?" Raven asked, glancing toward the Princess of Hearts.

"Sorry Raven, my answer remains the same. I shall remain here in Ever After, I have been taught how to fight by Meriwether Knave himself, I will not let this ruffian to belittle my school." she said firmly.

"If that is your choice, we cannot force you. Briar, Blondie...you two are encouraged to go to Wonderland High as well. You'll be safe there, Poppy, Holly you two will be safe there too...all of you will."

"Sorry, your majesty...but I don't want to leave Ever After either...I fought tons of Goblins before, with an ice gun and a frying pan. I can handle myself easily. I can tell Apple isn't leaving either, so I'm staying by her side." Holly replied, her sister took a hold of her hand, the same look on her face.

"If Holly stays, then I will too. I have to watch my older sister's back after all."

"I have to be there to make a record of this, if we faced Ever After losing its wonder, and the loss of the Storybook of Legends, then I'm ready to face this as well. I'm not scared, a reporter can't be scared." Blondie said firmly, a proud look on her face.

"Very well then, if you choose to stay, then your lives will be in danger. You must be prepared to fight at any cost, despite not having training with a sword. Everyone who is capable will have to pick up arms." Milton said, earning a nod from her.

"What about you Briar? Will you leave...or are you gonna stay too?" Blake asked. The girl glanced around the office, taking note of their concerned looks. She felt her cousin take a hold of her hand, giving her a smile and a nod, telling her that she'd respect any decision she took.

"I wanna stay...to protect Apple, she's my best friend...I let her and everyone else down once. I want to make up for that, and if I can defend her from this creep, then I will...I'll stay." she replied. Blake frowned for a few seconds, closing his eyes in thought. He took a deep breath, glancing toward the Headmaster.

"Well, all that's left is getting them to Wonderland High, Gloriosa think you can open a portal directly there?" he asked.

"Easily, but I'm coming back here to help your ass. I know you can fight, but after learning you got stabbed through twice, I'm starting to doubt whatever skills you picked up here."

"Pfft, really? I'm a better fighter than you. I took martial arts after all, and you thought those were silly, and for people who watched Kung Fu movies." he replied, smirking slightly. She gave him a grin, turning to face the three girls who had decided to go to Wonderland High.

"Well then, pack some things and grab yourselves something to eat. I'm not sure how long this conflict will go on, if at all. But we have to be prepared for anything. The High school doesn't have a dormitory building, but I can set you up in the Nurses office...I'll even convince some of the staff to come back and cook for you guys...good food, I promise." she said.

"Okay, I'll go find Hunter then...before I go though...I wanna say, good luck...this is a tense situation, and I wish I could do more but...Apple, Briar, girls...stay safe alright. I wanna see you all again when we come back."

"You got it Ash, we aren't going to die so easily. You can count on that!" Blondie replied, giving her friend a salute.

"Let us prepare for the assembly then, it's already one in the afternoon. Since Apple didn't give this man an answer, we will assume he shall attack tomorrow, or in the coming days. The assembly will be at four, so I'll have the students go to lunch then return to their dorms until then." Milton said.

"I shall go prepare the weapons and armor...Mr. Queen, Miss Charming, would you mind assisting me?" Mr. Knight asked, earning eager nods from the two.

"I would be delighted to help...I'll find some light armor for the girls to wear, and pick them up some light swords. I know we have some rapiers in stock somewhere." Darling said.

"Raven, tell Kitty sorry for me...I haven't been able to talk to her all day because of this. I'm worried about her, I know she'll be fine but.."

"I know, go okay? I'll tell her your message." she said, giving her brother a hug. He ran off, catching up with Darling and Mr. Knight. She didn't know if anything was going to happen, but when it did, she would make sure to be prepared for it. Both mentally and physically. She felt Apple take a hold of her hand, her body shaking slightly in fear. She had put a brave face on, but she knew the girl was scared out of her mind. She had never faced something like this before, and Raven hoped she never faced anything like this, not now, not ever.


	83. The Ballad of Bluebeard V

**A/N:**

 **Hey everyone, welcome to Chapter 83 of Through the Looking Glass. I'm not sure if you all saw or not, you probably did, but I posted Chapter 4 of Pantoufle Noir this morning at 7am. I'm gonna be working on finishing that story in the coming days, while also working on the other segways. Today's chapter will continue the Ballad of Bluebeard arc, and we will get to see Felipe getting a bit more active in this one. You will get to see Blake struggle to drive him back and do a lot of other things in the later parts of this arc.**

 **I finished the finale last night and will be working toward the next arc of the Story, which will be the Summer Arc...I'm not sure what the hell I'm gonna call it yet, but the first half of it is going to be in Atlantica, so it might be a bit sea themed. The main premise of that arc is Blake spending some time with his friends at the Charming Family's summer home, and Daring invites all of his friends over so it practically becomes like a summer camp thing. This is also the part where Blake and Ginger open up a shake shop for the summer while Gus and Helga run Spells Kitchen back in Bookend. What happens is, Blake ends up getting into some shenanigans which attracts the attention of Meeshell Mermaid, the daughter of Ariel, yes I am going with the Disney version, don't question it. Some stuff will happen that gets him involved with the Kingdom of Atlantica...but I haven't figured out what yet, It is still a work in progress.**

 **I do hope you like this chapter...it's a bit longer than yesterdays chapter and will start getting the ball rolling when it comes to Bluebeard's plot...It might be a little underwhelming...I dunno...this arc didn't come out the way I wanted it, but I don't want to start over...It's still good, just didn't touch up on the points that I wanted I guess...I'll let you all be the judge of it. I hope you guys have a good night, I'll be posting Chapter 84 tomorrow, so look forward to it...see ya later!**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 83

Captured

It hadn't exactly been too hard for Henry to sneak onto Ever After High's campus. Thanks to his invisibility, no one had sensed his presence at all. The front courtyard and the bridge were completely empty, further confirming his lockdown theory. He had slowly made his way up the front steps, testing the doors, only for them to be firmly locked. He saw a few people walking around inside, but he recognized them as faculty, no students at all. He had seen three dragons heading back to the stables a few minutes after leaving the Dark Forest, but he hadn't seen who was riding them, though he did recognize Legend among them, so he figured Daring must have been one of the dragon riders. He quickly moved around the campus, trying to peek into some of the front classrooms, only to find the shades being pulled down. So as of now, he had no way of actually assessing the situation inside. Once he walked around the corner, he started moving toward the castleteria courtyard, moving toward the entrance, only for it to also be firmly locked. He felt a slight zap on his hand from the brief contact, making him back away from it, shaking his hand slightly.

" _Magical reinforcement...did Farrah do this? Nah...her magic only grants wishes, so unless someone wished it, this wouldn't work...Jessica must be back in school...that makes things a lot harder than before."_ he thought to himself.

He had seen students inside the castleteria, currently in the process of eating lunch. They all looked a little tense, but other than that no one looked worried. Knowing that Jessica was probably among the students was a bit worrying. With her superior control of light magic, it made it much more likely that she'd be able to handle the shades. Of course no one else was expecting that type of infiltration. They were expecting a human army, and if they had sent out dragon riders to survey the area and not found anything, that meant they were lulled in a false sense of security, just like Felipe had been wanting. He moved away from the castleteria entrance, heading toward the lot between the dormitories, reaching into his pocket for a small crystal ball which served as his communication with Felipe. He looked around for a few seconds, before tapping it with his finger.

"Felipe, I'm on campus...it's on lockdown. The dragon riders came back while I was making my way here. The doors are sealed with magic, no humans can get in." he said.

" _That doesn't matter, our shades will get in regardless...it's about three in the afternoon now. Apple didn't give me a reply, so we're moving on with the plan."_ Felipe replied, earning a chuckle from Henry.

"Forgive me for laughing, but you would have moved on, whether she said yes or no...we spent long enough planning it after all."

" _You are correct...do you see what's going on?"_

"Negative, I'm currently behind the dorms...I'm looking around, perhaps I can get up to the roof and get in through the access panel."

" _As you were then...keep me posted if anything catches your attention."_ the blue haired man replied, ending the call.

Henry shoved the crystal ball in his pocket, and started moving toward the boy's dormitories. He started looking around, spotting the window that had once belonged to his dorm room. He tried to climb up to it, but he found it extremely difficult with the armor he had on. After struggling for a few minutes, he reached the window, pulling on it until one of the windows swung open. He grit his teeth, pulling himself up to the window sill, slowly climbing inside. He landed on the floor with a soft thud, glancing around for a few seconds. He slowly stood up, turning around to close the window, noticing something etched into the wood.

" _Blake Bigby must die. Whoever took this room after me really had it in for that kid."_ he thought to himself. He started moving toward the hallway, noticing all of the foreign looking things in the room, including a few pictures of Duchess Swan which were on the floor near the closet. He shrugged, slowly opening the door.

He peeked into the hallway, not seeing anyone walking around. He started leaving the room, slowly closing the door behind him. He held his breath as he walked toward the foyer. Making sure to keep his steps as light as he could. All of the classrooms he passed were completely empty, the doors locked tightly, and he didn't hear the voices of teachers coming from the inside. He reached the grand staircase and started walking down the stairs, hearing something snap from the opposite hallway, which lead down to the Legacy Plaza. He quickly moved down the stairs, pressing himself against the edge of the lockers, glancing around the corner. Even though he was invisible, he felt the need to keep himself as hidden as possible, in case someone with magic or aura senses could see him. He spotted someone he hadn't seen since before he was expelled from Ever After High, Tobias LeGume.

As rumor would have it, the boy had been pulled from school by his father, Gaston. He had been put through an intense regimen to increase his body mass and prepare him for Beauty and the Beast. He had heard from a few people at the prison for minors he had been staying at, that they had been in Arrendale, training in the winter snow to get resistance against the cold. A lot of them were disgusted by how the man forced his teenage son to do all of those things. But seeing him now, he saw that he had gotten results. Tobias was a lot bulkier than before, his arms being bigger than before. He was no longer lanky, being quite muscular, his pectorals and abdomen being visible through his shirt. There was something else he noticed on the young man, anger. He had been standing in front of his locker, punching something rather hard. He started approaching the boy, staying behind him as much as possible. When he managed to get close enough, he saw the metal inside his locker was dented from how hard he had been hitting it. He noticed a few specks of blood as well, most likely from cutting his knuckles on the metal. Tobias let out another growl, punching the same area, rocking the wall a bit.

" _Jeez, this one is a lot stronger than before...but what the hell has him so pissed off? What happened while I was gone? When did he even come back to the school?"_ Henry asked himself.

"Damn that stupid bitch Faybelle, I can't believe she did that shit to Joey like that. I didn't know him long, but he was doing the right thing...he needed to kill that damn foreigner. Who does he think he is? Waltzing in here through a mirror and thinking he can do whatever he wants?" Tobias hissed, slamming his fist into the metal.

" _Well then, looks like not everyone gets along with Blake...who's this Joey fella though? Was he the other one who hates Blake? Wonder what happened to him?"_

"This school isn't like it used to be...I can't believe this...that kid almost destroyed Ever After when he sealed the Well of Wonder. He almost killed his so called friends, threw the book into the Well and lost it in Wonderland, and he still gets hailed a hero. Goddamn it, Joey should have cut his head off." he hissed, grabbing a water bottle from inside his locker, downing it in a few gulps.

" _Seal the Well of Wonder? Toss the book into the Well? What the hell have I missed?"_ Henry muttered.

"Hey, Mr. LeGume, you can't be out in the halls. We are under lockdown right now, you must either be in castleteria or in the charmitorium. I apologize for any inconvenience but it is for your own safety."

"Yeah, I'll be there Mr. Nimble...I just gotta put my stuff in my locker real quick and I'll head back to the charmitorium. What the heck is going on anyway? Why are we gathering there?" he asked. Mr. Nimble shrugged, glancing down slightly.

"I'm not entirely sure myself. All I know is that there is going to be an assembly in a few minutes and that all students must be present for it. It has to be rather serious, there are some people saying Snow White is going to be speaking...so please, head back to the charmitorium when you are done. I wouldn't want you to get in trouble." he said, swiveling around on his foot, heading back in the other direction.

"Don't worry, Mr. Nimble, I'll be there soon." Tobias replied, grabbing the bag by his feet, shoving some text books into the locker.

" _An assembly eh? That sounds rather interesting...and Snow White is here...that is some sensational news. This is going to be good, but maybe I'll need a little push from the inside."_ Henry thought, grabbing a sheet of paper from the wall behind him. He walked into a nearby classroom, which had thankfully been open, and grabbed a pen from the desk. He scrawled a quick message on the paper, crumpling it up right after. He threw the paper ball at Tobias, hitting him in the side of the head, quickly closing the door.

"What the hell? Who the fuck threw this?" he shouted, his booming voice echoing through the hallway.

There wasn't a soul in sight, which frightened him slightly. He grabbed the ball from the floor, and looked it over, about to toss it in the nearby trash. He didn't know why, but he felt the need to unfold it. When he did, all he saw was an advertisement for a club that had opened in the spring and were doing summer activities while school was out. He flipped the paper over, seeing a small message written on the other side. His brows furrowed a bit when he read it, squinting a bit.

"When the assembly starts, open the front doors...what's that supposed to mean?" he grumbled under his breath. He heard three loud bells over the PA, causing him to look up at the nearby speakers.

" _Attention all students and staff. Please report to the Charmitorium for the emergency assembly. All students must be present, I repeat, all students must be present. Those who are caught out in the halls will get suspended until the end of the year and will not take their final exams. I repeat, all students and staff, report to the charmitorium. That is is all."_

In that split second, Tobias had two choices to make. Go to the Charmitorium and follow everyone inside to his seat with his friends. Or open the front doors for whoever had thrown that paper at him. He started hearing the voices of students coming from the castleteria, heading toward the crematorium's first floor. He nodded to himself, dashing toward the front doors as fast as he could. He pushed the door open, and took the piece of paper he had gotten, folding it a few times before shoving it into the door jamb. He closed the door a second later, pushing it slightly seeing it move. He smirked as he turned around, following the crowd toward the charmitorium.

"Step one, complete. Felipe, this is Henry, I'm inside the school...guess what, they're holding an emergency assembly right now." the knight said, keeping his eyes on the crowd of students that were slowly filing into the charmitorium.

" _Yeah, so?"_

"So...it's the perfect time to attack. All of the students and staff are going to be in one place, it's gonna make one hell of a stir. Not just that, I'm sure those girls are inside."

" _We can't be sure, can you make it into the charmitorium and confirm this?"_ Felipe asked.

"Easily, I'll report back in ten minutes, if I see them, I'll give you the go ahead."

" _Understood, don't fail me Henry...regardless of if they are there or not, we will get a hold of them."_

Henry nodded to himself, heading toward the second floor of the school. He quickly moved into the charmitorium, seeing a massive crowd gathered on the balcony. He sighed, glancing toward the nearby stairwell, immediately heading toward it. He kept walking all the way up, until he reached the empty fifth floor. Almost no one went up to the higher deck, as it was always reserved for Royal students, but today it was empty, since most of them were down on the first floor. He walked toward the edge, leaning against the wall, placing a hand on the railing. He made sure to be in a place where no one could bump into him. Since he was completely invisible, no one would. But he wasn't intangible, so people would still bump into him, and that's the last thing he wanted. He let out a little smirk when he saw his target standing on the stage next to her mother.

" _Bingo...let's see what this is about."_

Meanwhile, Headmaster Grimm, along with his brother Giles and Snow White, all stood on the stage facing the gathering crowd of students. All of the teachers were busy taking the names of everyone, making sure they were all present and accounted for. Apple was standing next to her mother, with two security dwarfs by her side. In the front row, sat Blake and Darling, ready to move in case something happened. They were confident nothing would, but his paranoia was starting to get the best of him. Next to them sat Raven, who had her arms crossed, a bored look on her face. She already knew everything that was going to be discussed, but she wasn't allowed to miss the assembly. Holly, Poppy, Briar, and Lizzie were all sitting beside her, having refused to go to Wonderland High with Ashlynn, Rosabella and Hunter.

Along with them, went a few other people, including Duchess who was practically forced by her mother. Odette didn't want anything to happen to her daughter, and since she was technically a princess, she had been encouraged to leave. She didn't want to at first, but Blake eventually convinced her. Ophelia went as well, she was still mad at Odette and her half sister, but she did promise nothing would happen to them. Alistair and Bunny had gone as well, not wanting his friend to get hurt by whatever was going to happen. Blake wasn't specific, as the Headmaster didn't want to cause a panic. Of course he promised to open a portal to all of those who wanted to evacuate after the assembly. He leaned back in his seat a bit, placing a hand on Excalibur's hilt to keep himself calm. He felt someone sit beside him, and glanced to his left, seeing his girlfriend, holding a cup in her hand, along with a bag of popcorn. He rose his brow, earning a smirk from her.

"What? This is gonna be entertaining, so I wanted to be prepared...or are you mad that I didn't bring you anything?" she asked.

"It's alright honey, just...be wary...anything can happen, and I don't want anything to happen to you." he said, taking a hold of her hand. She giggled, slipping her fingers through his.

"I'm a fighter remember? I'll claw my way through anything that stands in our way." she said, giving him a kiss on the lips.

"Ahem, may I have your attention please? Teachers, are we in full attendance?" Headmaster Grimm asked, earning a few replies from some of the teachers.

"Actually, we'll never be in full attendance. That cocksucker Joey tried killing people!" Jack Hills shouted, causing a few people to laugh around him. Milton glared at the crowed, instantly shutting them up.

"This is not the time for jokes...something serious is happening. As you can see, our Queen, Snow White has returned to our school. However, it is not for a good reason. We called this emergency assembly together because of the gravity of our situation. I will now turn the microphone to one of our Royal Student Body Presidents, Miss Apple White." Milton said, moving away from the podium, allowing the blonde to stand in front of them, with a few papers in her hands. She took a deep breath, placing a smile on her face.

"Hello, everyone...as you know, I am Apple White...excuse my nervousness I...it's been a hard few weeks for me. But, I'll just chug along, and get this out into the open. Since my return from Wonderland, I have been getting some letters from a young man who seems to be romantically interested in me. Before you say anything, hear me out...this young man, wanted my hand in marriage...however, he wanted to force me into making a decision. I politely declined...but that wasn't the end of it."

She paused, gathering her thoughts a bit as she glanced at her papers. She placed her hand on top of them, grabbing a hold of the microphone instead, walking around the podium to the edge of the stage. Her smile turned into a frown, a look of worry on her face as she looked at the crowd of students in front of them. Everyone was muttering softly to themselves and each other, wondering what was going on that had Apple White so upset.

"This man, didn't stop there. For the last two to three weeks, he has been sending me letters constantly. Asking me to reconsider, telling me he has vast riches...in one of them, he said that if I married him, we would be the talk of the town. Because I was a beautiful girl and the daughter of Snow White...he wanted to make me his trophy wife. He sounded so condescending in those letters. So disgusting, he didn't name a single one of my traits that he liked, like most letters normally did. He made no mentions of making a family, the word love wasn't used toward me, it was used subjectively. I'd love his castle, I would love his riches, and the jewelry he would get me...but he didn't once say I would love him or vise versa. It made me feel like nothing more than a damn tool."

She stopped once again, glancing toward the front rows where most of her close friends were, giving her encouraging smiles. Blake gave her a reassuring smile, and a small wave, hoping to ease her nerves a bit. She gave him a thumbs up, taking another breath to calm herself down a bit.

"This man, went as far as sending a knight to get me, in this fancy stagecoach, with beautiful white horses. This man, had been authorized to bring me to his castle, even if he had to use force. If it wasn't because Blake was there with me, I would have likely been taken then. But I wasn't, and I am thankful that he was there. However, this turned slightly darker when this morning, he sent me a letter, giving me until noon today to make my choice. In it, he said that if I didn't say yes, someone else would, that someone being my closest friends. Briar, Ashlynn, Blondie...all of them had been mentioned by name in that letter. As if he was saying, say yes, and I won't hurt them."

This time the crowd didn't stay quiet, all of them wanting to say something or asking a question. The Headmaster was quick to quiet them down, but there were those who were more concerned and voiced their opinions a bit firmer than others. After a few pleading words from Apple however, they had quieted down. She headed back to the podium, placing the microphone back into its stand, glancing back at her mother who gave her a reassuring smile.

"I know, you all have questions, about who this man is and what he truly wants. I'm not sure myself...all I know is that his name is Felipe, and he is a royal, a king or a marquis, I don't know. What I do know is that he wants me above anyone else, for whatever sick plans he has in mind. It doesn't take a lot for the imagination to start working, and the paranoia to set in. I tried to ignore the letters, but they were always in the back of my mind, as if he was watching me from afar. But today he made it clear, that he was going to get me whether I wanted to or not. I didn't give him a reply...so this assembly was called, because we are potentially under attack from him and his army." she said.

Everyone remained silent this time, too stunned for anyone to say anything. Blake glanced around the crowd, gauging the reactions from the others. While some were calm, others were startled and frightened, others didn't care, and some looked like they wanted a fight to break out. Like they wanted to prove their skills and what they had been taught during their time there. Apple looked around for a few seconds, before continuing on with her speech.

"We have no confirmation of when this will happen. But we have to assume this man has an army, and we have to assume he is coming for me, not just me, but for several others. He named my friends in his letter, but realistically speaking, any young woman from this school can be taken by him at any time. Who knows how many have fallen to his supposed charms, and met an ill fate? We don't know anything about him, which makes him that much more of a threat. We have locked down the school, and after this assembly, a portal shall be opened to Wonderland High school, which has been turned into a refuge camp for anyone who wishes to leave the academy. I know, it hurts...the thought of abandoning your beloved school, but you must do what you think is right for yourself. I am staying here, and I will defend my school, but you are all encouraged to follow your heart, whatever you want to do...you will not be faulted if you decide to leave." She said firmly.

"That's outrageous Apple! Why would we want to leave?"

"Yeah, have the fucker bring it on! We'll kick his ass and send him packing!"

"World Star!"

"Everyone, calm down...my daughter is only suggesting this for your own safety. This man is a deranged psychopath, we know not what he is capable of. He could be praying on Princesses yes, but he could also grab whatever young woman catches his eye...and if you are captured, we might not be able to safe you. We don't know where this man is currently set up, for all we know he doesn't even live in Ever After, or at least in the outer reaches of my kingdom. The Queen of Hearts has agreed to reinforce Wonderland High with her highly trained soldiers, you will be safe there. If you however decide to remain behind, then we commend you as well, you are all brave young men and women...and we can not thank you enough." Snow White said, earning a laugh from Blake who was in the front row, taking sips from Kitty's drink.

"You act like we're gonna die Snow, that isn't gonna happen. Ever After High is our school, and I'll be goddamned if I let some skinny spitfuck come into our school and harm our ladies. I'll cut his fucking head clean off his shoulders, you'll see." he said.

"Yeah! I agree with Blake! Ever After High will come out victorious!"

"We can't gonna let them take Apple White!"

"Ever After, Ever After, Ever After!"

It wasn't long before everyone started chanting and clapping loudly. Apple smiled brightly, a few tears slipping from her eyes as she watched the students coming together. For a long time, the school had been split in half, the Royals would stick with the Royals, and the Rebels with the Rebels. But now the school had been integrated into a single Student Body...seeing them all like this, coming together to defend their school, regardless of the previous conflict made her happy. She grabbed a hold of the microphone again, a grin on her face.

"That's right! We can't let this Felipe guy infiltrate our school, we can't let him destroy all we hold dear. I'm not letting myself be taken by him, I will fight tooth and nail, and I will tell him that he will not hurt me, or my friends. I will tell him to his face to shove his proposal up his ass where it belongs! This school is our home, and I will not let him ruin our way of life!" she shouted, her voice booming through the speakers, further causing the crowd to start cheering loudly.

"Whoo, go Apple! Show them what you're made of!" Blake shouted.

"We aren't gonna let you get taken, we promise!" Darling added, her voice blending along with the rest of the chanting crowd.

"Yes, that's right! We will show them what we can do, we aren't just the children of famous Fairytales anymore. We are all one big family joined under our Alma Mater, and no one will destroy us. Not the Evil Queen, not a person from another world committing treason against us, and definitely not this bastard. We will unite, and we will all give him the finger, tell him to fuck right off. And if he doesn't, then we can show him what we fairytales are made out of!"

"Apple White! Apple White! Apple White!"

"Well, at least she isn't scared anymore...so that's a plus." Blake said, earning a giggle from Kitty, who gave him a grin.

"Yeah, she really does know how to inspire people doesn't she? She's amazing! It makes me want to pick up a sword and stab this bastard in the face!" she replied.

"Don't get ahead of yourself, we still need some time to prepare. We don't know when this man could attack." Darling added, earning a nod from the violet haired girl.

"Thank you Miss White, for that moving speech. We will now turn the floor to our Queen, Snow White. Who will explain our defense strategy to protect the school and the citizens of Bookend from this maniac!" Milton Grimm said, handing the microphone to Snow White, who once again greeted the crowd.

From the fifth floor, Henry let out a laugh, which blended into the chants down below. The entire fifth floor was empty, so he had been watching everything go down without a hitch. He reached into his pocket for his crystal ball, hovering his hand over it, seeing the image of his friend and master. The skies were starting to grow dark outside, he didn't know how much time had already passed, but it was early evening now, judging by the darkening skies.

"Felipe, it seems Apple White has riled up the students...they're all down here preparing for an invasion from a human army, just like you predicted. Not just that, it seems they're planning on sending people to Wonderland High School. I believe some of the girls you wanted are there already." he said softly.

" _Damn! Getting them will be nigh impossible...it matters not. As long as I get Apple White within my grasp, that will suffice. It would be good to have a backup, but we haven't the time."_

"Yes...I have gotten one of the other students to open the front doors to let more shades in. Our plan...is a go." he said, a smirk on his face.

Felipe smirked, shutting off his communication device as he reached behind his back for the book he had brought along. He flipped through it, until he stopped at page thirty-five. The Shades that were presented on the paper were horribly disfigured ghouls, with faces in the shape of human skulls, lacking a bottom jaw. Their bodies were mostly made of dark magic and shadows, their arms being made entirely out of bone. Anyone they touched would immediately fall under paralysis, that would leave them stunned for a couple of hours. He didn't know why the Evil Queen had designed a spell like that and not made it able to kill anyone, but he wasn't going to question it. It was an easy spell to cast, and it gave him the use of one hundred shades per cast. He smirked as he hovered his hand over the page, watching the runes start glowing with a dark violet light.

"Come my minions of darkness, rise for your master! Let your evil shine! Go on now, Fly faster! Bring me back what's rightfully mine! With this power, I conjure your lives, and what I want is Apple White! Go forth, bring her to me!" Felipe chanted, holding the glowing orb of light into the air. It swirled around for a few seconds, growing size before it burst, sending several violet lights flying toward Ever After High.

"Yes, I conjure a hundred more! And a hundred more! Go forth! Rise from the shadows my minions! Show me what you can do! A hundred more, come on faster!" Felipe chanted, making several magical orbs fly around him at a fast pace, sending out more and more shades all of them flying over Bookend. Several screams could be heard as they entered the town, and started attacking everyone in sight. He smirked, an evil disgusting grin appearing on his face.

" _Yes, Apple White will finally be mine! No one is going to stop me from getting what I want! I am Felipe Bluebeard! My word is law, and soon all of Neverland will be mine as well! She and I will be lovers forever!"_

 _ **xxx**_

Henry rapidly hurried to the front doors, making sure to stay as quiet as he could. There were only a few teachers, all of them paying attention to the live cast that was coming from the charmitorium. He made it down the grand staircase, throwing caution to the wind as he started seeing the ghastly shadows moving toward the doors. He looked around for a few seconds before throwing them open with a firm kick, wedging some door stops into them. He opened the others from the inside, ignoring the sharp stings of magic running through his armor, glad his master had enchanted it earlier. If he hadn't, he would have been incapacitated by now.

"Hey, what's going on? How did those doors open!" Coach Gingerbread Man cried, standing in the middle of the hallway.

"I'm not sure, but I'll go close them!" The Bad Wolf said, dashing toward the doors, only for him to stop.

"Mr. Bad Wolf, what is the matter?" Jack B. Nimble asked, coming to a stop beside his friend. He rose a single claw up, pointing to the gave of ghouls currently making their way toward them, forming a cloud so dark it was blocking the remaining rays of sunlight.

"Shit, code red, code red! We have to do something!" Coach Gingerbread Man cried.

"Yeah, I'll go alert Reginald about this, Jack head to the charmitorium and tell them. Coach, I would start running if I were you...these are not simple bakers." the Bad Wolf said, dashing down the hall and up the stairs, heading toward the Grimmnasium as fast as he possibly could. The ghouls burst though the door shortly after, their cackles filling the hallways as they started pouring in by the hundreds. Jack B. Nimble started running back toward the charmitorium, doing what he did best. Even in his later years, he was still as agile and nimble as he was when he jumped over the candle stick, and he wasn't going to let his students get hurt. He made it to the charmitorium with seconds to spare, slamming the doors closed. He started moving down the main row, not even stopping as he jumped onto the stage.

"Jack, is something the matter? You look like you just ran a marathon!"

"Milton, it's serious, there's a gave of ghouls flooding the school right now. We need to get the students out of here before they get here!" he shouted, his voice echoing through the microphone.

Milton didn't even have time to react, as the doors to the charmitorium burst open. The ghouls started pouring into the room, laughing and cackling loudly as they flew above the crowd. The students started screaming in surprise and fear, jumping out of their seats heading toward the nearby exits. One of the teachers kicked the fire door open, only for more ghouls to start pouring in from outside.

"Keep calm, do not panic, start heading to the second floor! I repeat, head to the second floor!" Milton cried, trying to keep some semblance of control.

"Raven, this looks like mom's magic...what do you think?" Blake asked, keeping his head low so the ghouls wouldn't attack.

"It is...I can sense it's innate power, just like when Courtly took that book. We need to stop them right now, we don't know what they can do." she said.

"We have to make sure Apple is fine, Blake you handle that...get her out of here, I'll help the people here."

"Darling are you sure?" he asked, earning a nod from her, grabbing onto her borrowed blade.

"Yes, I am. Now go!" she cried. He turned to face Kitty, giving her a kiss on the lips.

"Get as many people as you can out of here, use your teleportation power okay? See if you can set a record."

"I will, go on, I love you!"

"Love you too babe." he replied giving her a wink. The boy moved toward the stage, avoiding all of the ghouls flying around him, heading straight toward Apple and Snow White, who were being guarded by their dwarf body guards, and by Jessica who was zapping anyone who got near with her wand.

"About damn time, what do you make of this?" Jessica cried out, causing the boy to glance at the ghouls, who were flying around. He noticed a few people being grabbed by them, only to be tossed aside, where they lay unmoving, sparks running across their bodies.

"Uh...low level shadow ghouls...they seem to have an innate power to paralyze people via touch. I think my mom created these, but I got no idea what they can do...whatever the case we need to get Apple to Wonderland right now!" he said.

"No! I said I was staying, and goddamn it, I will!"

"Apple White, you will listen to what Blake says...at least for now. We can't fight against these things. He wants you, no one else...but right now your friends are in danger...think of them." Snow White said, earning a glare from her daughter.

"All the more reason for me to fight back. I have to do that, I have to fight for them." she cried.

"Okay fine, you wanna fight, then we'll have you fight...but you'll need a sword first. We gotta go to the Grimmnasium, say bye to your mom, I'll be right here." he said, approaching Jessica.

"Are you insane? Getting her a sword?"

"Don't worry, I'm gonna shove her threw a portal I opened in the back room. Jessica, save as many people as you can...light magic easily destroys dark magic, especially low level spells. Go crazy." he said.

"Awesome, that means I can go full power!" she said, shoving her wand into her boot. She slapped her hands together, several large glowing snowflakes forming around her.

"Take this! Freezing Light!" she chanted loudly. The snowflakes started spinning rapidly, a giant beam of ice shooting from the center of them, striking some of the nearby ghouls, freezing them instantly. They burst apart as soon as they hit the ground, turning into dark wisps.

"Apple come on, we have to go!" Blake cried, grabbing a hold of Apple's hand.

"Okay...bye mom, stay safe!"

"I'll be fine honey, just go! You keep her safe Blake, or I swear I'll never forgive you!" Snow White cried, earning a nod from the boy who left Jessica's protective barrier a few seconds later. They headed behind the stage, going through the door that lead to the Costume Prep Room, where various people were hiding.

Blake looked around for a few seconds, quickly finding the other door, opening it just a crack to peek into the hall. Several students were running down the hallways, trying to find a way out of the school, while others had been fighting with whatever weapons they had available. The ghouls seemed to be very week, going down in a single hit for some of the students. The only problem was the fact that they came in large numbers, which made it easy for someone to get overwhelmed. Blake reached behind his back, handing Apple his Ice Gun.

"Alright, you wanna fight, then let's fight. Until we can get you something better, your gonna have to defend yourself. This isn't hard to work, just pull that pump a few times, point and shoot. Think you can manage?" he asked.

"Yeah, this is easy. Crystal showed me how to use one of these when she was last here." she replied. He nodded, opening the door enough for them to leave, making sure it was closed shortly after.

They started moving down the hall, immediately grabbing the attention of all of the ghouls in it. They all seemed to scream when they spotted Apple, darting toward them with inhuman speed. Blake held his hand up, sending several blasts of magic at them, destroying them instantly. Apple, no longer afraid, held the gun up and started shooting the nearby ghouls, striking them in the chest, instantly freezing them. Blake held his arms out, forming a protective dome over them, watching all of the ghouls scream when they tried to break through it.

"So, they've been charmed to go after you...that means this isn't gonna be an easy walk. If they touch you, you'll be paralyzed by them...whatever you do, you just run okay."

"But what about you? What if they grab you?"

"I'll be fine, me and Raven have the same magic used to create them. So we won't fall under their paralysis...but that doesn't mean they won't try to hurt us. I can't keep this barrier up forever, I'm gonna send it out and detonate it...then we run, okay?" he asked, earning a nod from the girl. She gave her gun a few pumps, holding it firmly in her hands. Blake took a deep breath, letting out a distorted cry as he expanded the barrier, willing it to explore, the nearby ghouls all screamed as the disappeared into nothingness.

Blake broke into a sprint, running straight down the hallway, dodging all of the injured, hoping he could do something to help. He grabbed Apple's hand as he reached the foyer, grabbing onto the railing. He started pulling her up the stairs to the second floor. She let out a few brief shots, taking out the nearby ghouls who had caught her attention. They raced into the second floor, seeing a lot more ghouls than before. Blake let out a growl, drawing Excalibur from his waist, spinning on his heel, he swung the blade outward, sending a blast of holy light at the nearby shades, killing them instantly. He sliced another one apart, jumping to the side as one tried striking him in the chest. A swift shot from Apple's weapon took it out.

"This is insane, who just sends these things to a high school? Doesn't that bastard care about people's well-being?" Apple cried. The two came to a stop, seeing a set of double doors, which were normally kept open, being firmly shut.

"It's obvious he cares about one thing Apple. He doesn't want you because you are a sweet person, he wants you because you are Snow White's daughter. Because he wants your body, that's it, nothing else matters to him." he cried, grabbing a hold of her hand. They moved into another hallway, seeing only a few ghouls inside, which he easily took gave of with a few balls of magic.

"That's just...so horrible...how can someone do that? Does love not mean anything to him?" she asked, looking a little disappointed.

"No, like I said...he wants one thing...you'll be put on a pedestal, as nothing more than a trophy wife. He'll probably force you to give him some kids, and when you have outlived your purpose, he'd either divorce you, or worse. But I'm not letting him get you." he said.

The lights above them flickered a bit, making them run a bit faster. The skies outside were rapidly growing dark with the coming night, he knew that these ghouls were bound to be stronger at night. He had to get Apple to the Grimmnasium by all costs. Thankfully the other hallways had been left open. The screams and sounds of battle were the only things that filled the halls of Ever After High, and he was worried about his friends, and everyone else that hadn't made it out of the charmitorium. They passed one of its entrances, one of the doors burst open, sending a new wave of ghouls right at them.

"Shit!" he cried, pushing Apple behind himself. He held his arm up, forming another barrier before them, pressing themselves against the wall behind them. They both watched as they piled onto the barrier, blocking out all visible light.

"Oh my gosh...Blake can you hold them back?"

"For a little bit yes...get ready to run." he said. She gave her gun a few pumps, and just like before, he expanded the barrier and caused it to explode, destroying the nearby ghouls with ease. They started sprinting down the hallway, slashing and shooting through any ghoul the came into their path.

They finally reached the Grimmnasium, throwing the doors open, only to see even more ghouls gathered inside. Mr. Knight was holding them off with ease, along with Daring and Dexter who both had their armor on, along with their shields. A few others were along side them, fighting the creatures back, attempting to protect a few people who had been injured. He spotted Gloriosa among them, the daughter of the White Queen was dashing to and fro, slashing the nearby ghouls with her sword, a rapier. She stumbled back, a ghoul took its chance to attack her, only for it to burst into wisps from Blake's attack.

"Thanks for that, you saved my ass." she said, earning a nod from the boy.

"Mr. Knight, there are a lot of injured people in the hallways, we need to figure out how to get these ghouls out of here!" Blake said, coming to his teacher's side, slashing apart a few ghouls, who were pouring into one of the open windows in the Grimmnasium.

"Yes, I am aware...all of them are paralyzed from a single touch. They don't seem to stop coming!" he cried back.

"We've been here since before the assembly, preparing the swords and the rest of the equipment, they've been pouring in for the last then minutes." Dexter added, blocking an attack with his shield. Daring sliced it apart, a smirk on his face.

"Haha, take that you vile beast! I will not let you defeat me!" he cried out, slicing apart several others.

"Be careful Daring, we don't want you to get hurt." Apple said, earning a smirk from the boy as he continued destroying the ghouls. One of the other students dropped to the floor after being grabbed by one of them, instantly freezing in place. Blake sheathed his sword, holding his hands outward, firing several condensed balls of magic at the window, wiping out several of the incoming ghouls.

"Gloriosa, get her out of here. Through the wall, the door is set, go now or we'll all fall to regret." he said. She narrowed her eyes briefly, before giving him a nod of understanding.

"Come on Apple, I'll get you a sword, they're kept over here." she said, pulling the girl along, toward the backroom, however before they could walk in, the two girls were struck by an invisible force, sending them flying back toward the middle of the Grimmnasium, both landing in a heap.

"Apple, Gloria!" Blake cried, quickly moving toward them, only for the same force to slam into him. It felt like he was being punched in the gut by a gauntlet, which sent him sprawling back several feet.

"Blake, are you alright?" Dexter asked, earning a groan from the boy, who clutched his stomach, struggling to breathe.

"Yeah...someone...invisible. Protect...Apple." he croaked, forcing himself to his feet.

"I wouldn't bother if I were you, I'm going to bring Apple White to my master, no matter how long it takes." a voice said, sounding distorted. They heard a laugh near the middle of the Grimmnasium, seeing a glowing light forming around a figure who slowly revealed themselves. Blake growled, pulling his sword from his sheathe.

"It's the knight...the one who wanted to kidnap Apple before." he said, his hand shaking a bit. The armored man grabbed a handful of Apple's hair, causing her to scream as he held her up.

"Let her go!" Daring cried, dashing at the man.

"Ah ah ah, take another step and I'll slice her throat, and none of us want that would we?" he said, drawing his sword, placing it at Apple's throat. Daring forced himself to stop, tightening his hold on his sword.

"You don't want to do this man, whatever that Felipe guy promised you...you aren't going to get it. Someone who wants to do that to someone like Apple, is a bad person!" Dexter cried, earning a laugh from the knight.

"He got me my life back, gave me what was taken away from me. Not just that, he promised me vast riches, and the woman of my dreams. Sorry, but no matter what you say, I will not be convinced...I will be taking Apple White with me, and you will not be able to stop me." he replied.

"Think again!" Gloriosa cried, sending a blast of light right at the knight's head, causing him to let go of Apple, who hit the floor a little roughly. Blake quickly closed the distance, drop kicking the knight as hard as he could, sending him sprawling back.

"Oh no! More ghouls are coming in!" Dexter cried, pointing to the open window, a new wave of glowing shades started pouring in.

"Why are they glowing?" Daring asked, looking a bit frightened by them.

"Because they're stronger at night. The magic that makes these things up was created by the Evil Queen, but I don't know how to get control of them. So all we have to do is fight them back, Daring, Gloriosa, keep Apple safe, I have to take out the trash." Blake said, walking toward the knight who was rapidly standing up.

"Everyone who can still fight, grab a sword, we must defend the school and Miss White at any cost!" Mr. Knight cried, addressing some of the students who had arrived beforehand. Several ended up taking arms while others just decided to hide behind the bleachers.

"Go ahead, fight all you want...but I will still get what I was sent here for!" the knight cried, opening his visor slightly, blowing a whistle. This seemed to cause the ghouls to start screaming loudly, making them more aggressive than before.

Blake dashed toward him, swinging his sword at the knight, who parried his attack with his own sword. He pushed the boy back, throwing several heavy attacks of his own. Dexter dashed in front of Blake, blocking a downward slash that was aimed at him. He let out a groan from the force behind the attack. Blake channeled some magic into his foot, dashing behind the knight, attempting to throw a slash. The knight quickly turned around, grabbing the boy by the neck.

"I don't think so!" he said, throwing him back into the brick wall with force. Blake let out a scream of pain, the air bursting from his lungs. Before Dexter could check on his friend, the knight countered, throwing another heavy slash at the boy's shield.

"You aren't...beating me that easily!" he said, pushing the sword back. He threw his own slash at the knight, causing him to duck under his blade.

"These ghouls aren't letting up!" Gloriosa cried, combining her light magic with her sword slashes.

"I'm running out of water here, soon I won't be able to shoot." Apple added, having covered Gloriosa's back as soon as she had been let go.

"That won't matter soon Miss White, I will be taking you with me." the knight cried, moving forward, only for him to stumble. He turned around, taking another ball of magic to the chest.

"I'm not letting you do that buddy!" Blake added, dashing forward as fast as he could. He channeled his magic into Excalibur, taking a swing at the knight, a trail of light following his swing. The knight easily blocked the attack, causing the light to burst outward, destroying some of the ghouls nearby.

"So...this is the holy sword's power?" the knight muttered, causing Blake to push him back.

"Not all of it, but I can show you if you want...you know, I've been stabbed with it before. I'm sure you're gonna enjoy that!" he said with a grin, eyes glowing violet as he moved forward, throwing a side kick at the knight.

The Knight dodged the attack, causing Blake to growl. He quickly spun around, swinging Excalibur as hard as he could, aiming for a slash at his side. The armor took the hit, denting slightly from the hit, causing his opponent to scream in pain. He growled, throwing a punch to Blake's face, his head snapping back from the unexpected attack. He hit the wall behind him, quickly ducking as the Knight's sword struck the wall where his head had just been. He took two more swings, chipping the bricks slightly with each hit. He backed away from the wall, firing another series of fireballs at the knight, striking his armor. He dashed forward, coating his shield in black ice, launching it at his feet, freezing the armor to the floor.

"Tch...you've gotten better I see."

"Eh? Gotten better? Who the hell are you? You know me?" Blake asked, earning a growl from the knight, who broke the ice away with his sword.

"I don't know you, I've never met you! This is where you die!" he shouted, holding his sword up, swinging it downward.

Blake ducked down, avoiding the sword completely, channeling magic to his feet for another Reversal, only for the knight to slam his elbow into his chest, making him stumble back into Dexter who had been fighting against one of the stronger ghouls. He pushed the boy back, both avoiding the shade's glowing claws. The black haired boy quickly destroyed it, turning to face the knight, who blew his whistle again, causing the ghouls to once again scream, as if in agony of the sound. Soon the beating of wings could be heard coming from the outside, large flaps which Blake quickly recognized.

"Get down, he's got a dragon!" he shouted, just in time for the outer wall of the Grimmnasium to explode, rocking the entire building.

Large pieces of stone and mortar flew in all directions, the blast sent everyone off their feet, disorienting them for a few seconds. Blake grabbed his head, unable to hear anything except a loud ringing sound in his ears. He glanced up briefly, seeing a plume of blue flames shooting in all directions, sending people scrambling for cover, with only a few brave people like Daring and Mr. Knight, using their shields to block the flames. Shattering glass filled his ears, rattling around his head as he glanced toward one of the windows, another stream of ghouls pouring in. Blake grabbed his sword, getting up to his feet, glancing around, seeing Gloriosa standing in front of an unconscious Apple, using her rapier to stab the nearby ghouls.

"Apple." he muttered, moving toward the girl. The knight intercepted him, punching him across the face, sending him sprawling to the ground. He grabbed a hold of the blonde girl, dragging her toward the dragon who had kept blowing its fire breath in all directions.

"Looks like you fail Ever After High! You couldn't protect the Fairest of them All..and would you look at that, I got another one for free!" the knight said, opening the cage attached to the dragon's underside, tossing Apple inside. Blake got off the ground, briefly seeing the inside of the cage, seeing Poppy inside the cage, just as it was slammed shut. The knight climbed onto the dark dragon's back, grabbing a hold of its reins.

"Ghouls! Finish these idiots off, cover our escape!" he shouted, pulling the dragon's reins to the left. It spread its wings, about to take off.

Blake forced himself to his feet, forcing himself to run, ignoring the throbbing in his head. He let out a scream of anger, trying to jump into the dragons back, only for it to take off, sending the boy flying back. He quickly sheathed his sword, following the dragon outside, making sure not to fall down the stairs and the broken pieces that once formed the outer wall. He saw the black scaled dragon climbing high into the sky, the hanging cage moving slightly as it flew.

"I'm not gonna let them take you." he said, placing his fingers in his mouth, letting out a shrill whistle.

"Nevermore!" he shouted, his voice echoing through the night sky, over the sound of the still invading ghouls. By now, most of them had been destroyed, and the last of them were still pouring into the school. He continued following the general path the knight seemed to be taking, as he climbed higher into the air.

He heard a loud roar behind him and forced himself to a stop, seeing his sister's dragon flying above. He flagged her down, and she landed before him, he climbed up to her back, grabbing a hold of her reins in his hands.

"Apple and Poppy were just taken, I need you to follow that dragon up there...please!" he said. The dragon gave him a loud snort and broke into a sprint, shooting into the air after the black dragon.

He knew Nevermore was fast enough to catch up. Cadence wouldn't have made it in time, which was why he had to rely on Nevermore, and have complete faith in her. It took them a few minutes, but they started to see the black dragon in the distance. He held his hand out, charging an attack in his palm, which he launched right at the black dragon in the distance, striking its flank. He hissed angrily, charging another attack. The knight swiftly dove downward, making Blake do the same.

"Okay Nevermore, just keep your eyes on that dragon and don't lose it for anything in the world!" he said. The dragon gave a loud cry in reply picking up speed as she dove pulling out of the dive just before hitting the ground. She focused on the black dragon's glowing markings, trying not to hit any of the trees in front of her. The black dragon swerved to the left, disappearing entirely.

"What the hell? Where did it go?" Blake muttered. A loud roar from his left answered his question. He pulled hard on the reins, forcing Nevermore up in time to avoid a blue plume of flames aimed at them. He pulled up, causing the violet dragon to swiftly turn around returning the attack with her own violet flames.

"You think you can win eh? You aren't going to get these girls back kid!" the knight cried, aiming a slash at the boy, who easily dodged the attack, forcing Nevermore downward.

"I'm bringing them back home, I promised Apple I wouldn't let her get taken! So give her and Poppy back!" he cried back, earning a laugh from the Knight.

"Sorry, but my benefactor needs these two...I'm sure you'll understand. I must apologize, but you'll be sent away now, I'm sorry but you'll never see your friends again."

"Sent away? My ass, I'll be sending you to hell! Nevermore, get ready to fight!" Blake cried, grabbing a hold of her reins in his right hand, slowly drawing Excalibur. The Knight let out a chuckle, glancing at the ground.

"Now Master, get rid of him."

"With pleasure, my friend." a firm, charming voice said, causing Blake to glance down at the ground.

He saw another young man standing by the base of a tree, his face being slightly hidden by the darkness around him, but he did see part of his face, an the blue facial hair growing from his cheeks. His eyes widened a bit in realization, but it was too late. The young man opened the dark book in his hand, holding his hand.

"Gather now shadows around, knock this man to the ground. Tie him up, and bind him down, and cast him into the underground. Through the rabbit hole he'll be thrown, and into Wonderland he go." he chanted, throwing the orb of magic at Nevermore, which burst into smoke, causing her to fall to the ground.

"No! Nevermore!" Blake shouted.

He stood, eyes wide as he was watching the smoke turning into some black chains, which started binding her wings to her body. He stood up, trying to run toward the blue haired man, only for the chains to wrap around his body, pulling him to a stop. He growled, trying to move forward, just as the man moved out of the light. He gave him a smirk, wrapping his hand around Excalibur's hilt.

"I'll be taking this...I believe my friends deserves a promotion."

"You...I know who you are...who your father is...you disgusting fuck...let go of Apple and Poppy, or I swear I'll kill you!" Blake hissed angrily. The man chuckled, pulling the sword and its sheathe from Blake's belt, tossing it to his knight.

"I'm afraid I can't do that...sorry...Apple White shall be mine...I shall keep her in my palace. I will, hold her there, tell her everything is fine, shock her, torture her for awhile...until she eventually starts to like it. Once she gets it in her mind that she has no other option but to love me...then my work will be done. She will bare my children and I will have what's mine." he said. Blake threw his fist forward, another dark chain wrapping around him, starting to pull him back. He tried using his magic, but the chains prevented him from focusing enough power for a magic blast.

"You may have taken my sword...but trust me, I will find you...and I will get my sword back...and when I do, I will slice your head clean off your shoulders...that is a promise."

"Let's go, you aren't shit boy...heh, claiming to be the Evil Queen's son...pathetic. You were always a piece of shit when I met you, but now you are an even bigger disgrace. Let's go master." the knight said, jumping back onto his dragon, strapping Excalibur to his side.

"I knew it...you do know me...just know that your buddy's fate is also your own." Blake said. Felipe snapped his fingers, the chains tightening their hold on both Blake and Nevermore, pulling them through the rabbit hole that he had conjured up.

"Well...that shall buy us enough time...the students back at Ever After High are either paralyzed or tired from the attack, that idiot is in Wonderland, and we've got the girls we wanted. Shame we couldn't get the others, but it matters not...you did well Henry, I commend you."

"Thank you Felipe. It was just perfect timing, and thanks to Tobias that I was able to get that many ghouls through the front entrance. Let us go, we are still in close range of Bookend...the faster we leave the better." he said, urging his dragon to take off. Felipe climbed onto his black stallion, which had been hidden by the shadows. He smirked, flicking his reins, making the horse start galloping away from the village.

" _Finally, I have gotten a hold of my precious Apple White! I can't wait to start prodding her mind...it will take awhile, but once I drive her insane, she'll have to agree with everything I say...and then I can have my way with her."_ he thought, licking his lips at the thought. He was looking forward to the next few days, they would be the greatest ones of his life.


	84. The Ballad of Bluebeard VI

**A/N:**

 **Hello everyone, and welcome to Chapter 84 of Through the Looking Glass. Things are starting to heat up as Felipe finally got his hands on Apple White, Briar Beauty and Poppy O'Hair. Meanwhile, Blake is going to be planning an attack and rescue attempt to get his friend and step-niece back to Ever After High. Of course there are going to be several snags in the road that will prevent him from easily succeeding..**

 **I will say, from here on out, the parts with Felipe will get darker...I mean, He is based on Bluebeard, this man was a disgusting fucker who assassinated seven young woman for his own sick kicks. His son won't be any different, but I did portray him as charming and deceitful, you will get to see how he acts toward women...there will be a bit of an explanation as we go on in the next parts of this arc. I will say this...there will be a lot of mentions about Time, yes I decided to add elements of Time into it so you might all get really confused so if you have questions or are in fact confused, I will explain it to you through PMs. I know it's a little confusing, shit, even I got confused...but every cliche story needs to mess with time for whatever reason. So I have decided to add it in mine...to add to the various cliches I want to cross of my list...deal with it.**

 **I will be posting Duchess's segway, or rather it will be posted before this chapter...I have been speaking about it for awhile so I decided to finally get off my ass and write it. Well...get on my ass because I am sitting down to write it...whatever. So yes, I hope you guys like that segway, it has been a long time cumming...hehe, there's a little surprise not really wink wink...but I feel that the relationship between Blake and Duchess is stable enough for them to be a little more intimate than other couples. She's been in love with him for awhile now and they've had sex before so it's fine I guess...you know, I completely forgot I had finished Briar's segway, like over a week and a half ago...I was supposed to post that but I never got around to it...so I guess you're lucky because tomorrow you get another one? Maybe? I dunno...that one is a lemon as well so I'm trying to balance out the lemon chapters with the real chapters...Pantoufle Noir and Black Moon so far are the only ones who aren't lemon chapters, while Black Apple, Black Aria, Black Rose and now Black Swan are...and technically speaking, in the future Black Cat will be a thing...or Chat Noir because of Kitty and Blake being the OTP...so yeah...stuff and thangs.**

 **Before I go, I must ask you all this question...Harvey Dent...can he be trusted? Please you must tell me...**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 84

Rescuing Apple White

The black haired boy stirred a bit, feeling a sharp pain shooting up his back. He felt something licking his face, trying to get his attention. He groaned a bit, his eyes slowly opening vision slightly blurred. After a few seconds, his vision cleared enough for him to look around. He had been greeted by light lavender colored skies, the sight of a twisted tree with red leaves, the sound of flowing water around him. He felt a bit of weight on his chest and looked up, seeing the worried look from a violet dragon. He sat up, popping his back a bit as he looked around the area, which he barely recognized. He forced himself to his feet, a splitting headache making him stumble forward toward the tree, which he leaned up against, turning around so he had his back against the trunk. He took a few gulps of air, licking his dry lips.

He closed his eyes, trying to remember what had happened. Almost instantly, he remembered everything that had gone down. He was at an assembly, Apple had been riling up the crowd, preparing them for the incoming attack. That's when things had changed, hundreds if not thousands of ghouls had poured into the school. He remembered, trying to get Apple to the Grimmnasium to push her through the portal he had opened there. But he hadn't made it, Felipe's knight had been using invisibility to hide in the school. He remembered, having fought him back for a few minutes, before a dragon had attacked. It had blown up part of the Grimmnasium, and in that confusion, Apple had been taken. Not just her, but Poppy and who knows who else had also probably been taken. After following him on Nevermore, he had been cast into Wonderland, at least that's what he hoped. He felt his headache dull down a bit, and glanced down beside him, seeing the worried look Nevermore had been giving him. He sighed, kneeling down in front of the dragon, gritting his teeth a bit.

"Are you okay girl? I couldn't forgive myself if you got hurt under my care." he said. Nevermore gave him a few sad yips, licking his cheek. He smiled a bit, giving her a hug. He glanced around the area, not being familiar with it. He had yet to explore most of Wonderland, but he saw the Rainbow River nearby, so he knew he had to be somewhere close.

"Okay, we need to go to the Queen of Hearts's castle. I know there's a portal there, and we'll be able to go back to Ever After High. We need to get there as soon as we can, think you are up for it, Nevermore?" he asked. The dragon nodded, gesturing for him to climb aboard.

Once he was safely on, he flicked the reins lightly and they shot into the sky. It wasn't hard to figure out exactly where he had landed now that he had a bird's eye view of Wonderland. His body still hurt, but his magic was slowly healing his injuries. This however didn't do anything to calm him down, he was still thinking back on everything that had happened. Apple had been captured, and so had Poppy. He had failed to protect her, even after all of the promises he had made to her, he had let Apple down. Not only that, his sword had gotten stolen by the enemy, now Excalibur was once again in dark hands, potentially being used for evil. It made him angry, angry at the situation, and angry at himself for not being able to break out of the trap. Even though he had inherited his full power from his mother, there were still things he didn't understand about magic. Raven had been training her entire life, so she most likely knew what to do. Blake had been in another world for most of his life with no magic training at all. He only had ten months to her years of training. He doubted he could ever fill that gap, and now he had paid the price.

"I feel so stupid, I felt strong with all of this magic. After everything that happened here, I felt like I could take on anyone. But I was wrong...there's still a lot about magic that I don't understand." he said softly. Nevermore gave him a soft growl, making him smile a bit.

Despite everything that had happened, he wasn't going to give up. Yes, Apple had been captured, but he now knew who had been doing it. He could finally fill that blank and search this new lead. Felipe Bluebeard, that was the guy's name, and he was the son of a very dark and disgusting person. And if he had gone through all of the things he did to get his hands on Apple, then he didn't know what this man was planning. He was sick in the head, and if he was like all of the other fairytales, and had gotten a page in the book, it would be even worse.

With his signature and his claim of destiny, he would turn out just like his father. It was obvious that he had been out of Ever After for quite some time, possibly didn't even know about his lineage. Judging by the growing beard on his face, it meant he had been a few days, maybe a few weeks into his plan. Ever since Wonderland opened and the pages were cast into the realms. He figured Felipe must have signed his page at some point, and that made him just like his father, planning and calculating. It wouldn't be beyond him if he had already been seducing women with his vast riches, and then killing them all for his own sick kicks. It made the sense of urgency even worse, he had to get to Ever After High, no matter what.

Finally reaching the Queen of Hearts's castle, he started leading Nevermore toward the portal. He had her dive down, keeping her wings spread as she hovered above the ground. With a few flaps she picked up speed, shooting straight into the portal. As he left Wonderland behind, he felt the dark portal creeping around him, forcing him to lead Nevermore straight into an upward climb. She was struggling to keep flying straight, still being tired from the flying she had down the night before. With a few encouraging words, they managed to break through the barrier keeping the worlds apart, shooting right out of the ground into the skies of Ever After. It was day light now, a few hours after sunrise in fact. Blake started looking around, spotting the high school to his left, and he quickly started flying in that direction.

"Come on Nevermore, just a bit more...we'll be able to get home and we'll get you some food. You deserve it and a long rest after all of this crap." he said, patting her neck. She growled happily, taking the offering of food as encouragement to fly a little faster.

As they started approaching the Village of Bookend, Blake started seeing the aftermath of the Ghoul Invasion. Several houses had been damaged, along with storefronts, signs and various other things. All around, there were injured people, being checked out by the few nurses and doctors that had been available. One of the open plazas in the village had been turned into a triage center, with various victims lying down in cots, various body parts covered in gauze, casts and wraps. He recognized some of them as townspeople, there were some children among them too, some still suffering from the paralysis. He tore his eyes away from the injured, keeping his eyes head until he started approaching the school grounds. He had Nevermore land on the other side of the bridge, not wanting to disturb any of the injured that may have been out on the courtyard.

Nevermore, being tired from the flight was panting slightly, happy to have finally landed. Blake took a hold of her reins and started the lengthy walk across the bridge. He felt his heart sink when he saw all of the familiar faces being tended to by the school nurses as well as a few other doctors. Students and faculty alike, were laying on cots and on the ground. Some people could be seen walking around, checking on their friends, those who had been spared any kind of injury were busy bringing supplies from inside the school out into the courtyard.

He bowed his head slightly, not wanting to meet the eyes of those that he knew. The foyer was even worse, several lockers had been destroyed, doors had been broken by the ghouls, along with windows, and desks that had been thrown out into the halls. The chandelier that had once hung above the main hall was now on the ground, destroyed beyond repair. Some more students were laying back against the lockers, being asked questions by some of the staff that had been uninjured. A few were being cared for as well, having to hold their IV bags because they didn't have anywhere to hang them. Seeing his school like this really saddened him, but he also felt anger toward those two for what they did. He tightened his hold on Nevermore's reins, gritting his teeth angrily.

"Blake, there you are. Bro, where have you been? Your sister has been searching the entire campus for you." Jack said, grabbing his attention. Blake glanced at him, looking him over, Jack thankfully wasn't injured, other than a cut lip. He gave him a nod, glancing away from him.

"That knight...he took Apple...he had a dragon, I couldn't do anything." he replied.

"It isn't your fault man, no one was expecting ghouls to just suddenly attack. Half of the school is injured, another good chunk is paralyzed from them, and the rest is scattered throughout the school helping with the clean up. Don't even get me started on Bookend, I walked through it with Frost earlier and it's just total hell." he said.

"I saw parts of it when I flew overhead. Where's Headmaster Grimm? I need to speak with him, I finally know who's doing all of this."

"What...really? Nevermind, the Headmaster is up in his office with Snow White and Mr. Knight, several of the faculty have been injured and those that haven't are busy helping the students out. I gotta go back, Pierre ended up getting paralyzed and we're waiting to see if he comes out of it."

"He will, those ghouls are enchanted with something called, Petrification. A single touch will petrify whoever is grabbed by them, it usually wears off in around twelve hours. He'll be fine...thanks Jack, you're doing a good job here."

"This his horrible...but don't beat yourself up. We were all caught unawares by this dick, Apple will be fine." Jack replied, heading back toward a nearby classroom, which had been converted into a nurse station. Blake continued his way to the grand staircase, heading up to the fourth floor.

As he walked, he saw more and more destruction around the halls, along with other people who were still petrified. One hallway had been blocked by some medical carts, some of the nurses barring access to them because they contained some of the more severe cases, broken limbs and the like. He saw a few of his friends helping out with the clean up or with some of the injured, he didn't say anything, just kept on walking, hoping none of them noticed him. After finally reaching the Fourth floor, he started walking straight to the Headmaster's office. Nevermore followed along, she had been smelling the air a lot, most likely trying to find Raven, to make sure she was alright. Blake felt like telling her to find his sister, but with all of the injured people around, he didn't want her to accidentally hurt anyone. Thankfully, the fourth floor had been completely empty, but some of the destruction was evident, as some lockers had been ripped off the wall, and dented or even broken. Though the damaged looked less here, and that was at least reassuring in Blake's eyes.

He didn't bother knocking when he reached the Headmaster's office. Just like Jack said, Milton Grimm, along with Snow White and Mr. Knight were inside. Giles Grimm was also inside the room, a look of worry on his face. He noticed Raven, Darling and Holly were also inside the room, all of them looking devastated, tired and angry. Darling and Holly were hugging each other, and it didn't take long for Blake to realize why she had been crying. Raven didn't bother waiting for him to reach the center of the room, tackling the boy into a hug. He bowed his head slightly, wrapping his arms around her frame, trying to soothe her cries.

"I was so worried about you, Dexter told me you ran off, and you hadn't been found I...thought you were...I'm glad your safe." she said, sounding muffled due to his shirt.

"I'm sorry...I couldn't stop that knight from taking Apple...I couldn't stop him from hurting several of my friends. I feel useless...he even took my fucking sword."

"It isn't your fault young man, none of us were expecting to get attacked by these ghastly ghouls. We were even more surprised when we sensed the Evil Queen's magic in them. We have tried talking to her about them, but she refuses to comment, it seems she is amused by all of this." Milton replied, causing the boy too look up. He walked toward the center of the room, allowing Raven to check over her dragon.

"I know that...which is why we need to strike back. I know who it is...I know who did this, when me and Nevermore went after him, I saw his face. He ended up using one of my mom's magic books, and sent me to Wonderland, while they got away." he said firmly.

"Blake, did you see Poppy at all? We haven't found her, Briar is gone too, and Lizzie ended up spraining her ankle in the fight. She couldn't defend her in time before she was swallowed up those ghouls. If she's safe, tell me where she is?" Holly said. Blake frowned, glancing up at the ceiling for a few seconds, a dejected look on his face.

"When that dragon attacked, and destroyed part of the Grimmnasium, I noticed it had a cage attached to it. The knight threw Apple into that cage, I managed to see Poppy in there as well. I'm not sure if Briar was in there, but if she was then she was most likely in there with them. I gave chase, but like I said. He used a magic book written by my mom to send me to Wonderland." he replied. Darling hugged the girl who started sobbing again at the news. It broke his heart to hear one of his close friends having to go through that pain.

"You said you saw him right? Well then Blake, who are we dealing with? Who do I have to destroy to get my daughter back?" Snow White asked, clearly angry at the one who had taken her little girl. He remained silently, gathering his thoughts a bit. Finally he steeled his nerves, a collected look on his face.

"The one who took Apple, Briar and Poppy, was a man named Felipe. We know this, because he has told us his name...but he never told us his surname. However, when I saw his face yesterday, I saw something that was significant, something that never stuck out to me, because I hadn't seen this guy before. But now, it all makes sense...we are all dealing with the son of a man named Bluebeard. Felipe Bluebeard."

"Bluebeard?" Milton asked, clearly stunned at the sound of the name.

"Oh my, this is serious...that young man was barred entree into our school. His tale was one that is quite ghastly, we were aware of what it entailed, and had decided not to allow him access to the Storybook of Legends. If he signed his page, then his destiny would take over, and he would be lead to commit a great many atrocities." Giles added, a worried look on his face.

"Yes, I am aware of Bluebeard myself...I have heard a great many tales of his disgusting nature. How he married seven beautiful women, and killed them all, and had them hanging in his dungeons as some sort of sick trophy. I'm not sure if his son is the same, but now that the Storybook of Legends has been pulled apart, he has gotten what he wanted."

"So wait...all of this happened, because we took apart the book?" Raven asked, slowly rising to her feet, a look of disbelief on her face.

"No, it isn't...as much as I would like to put a face on this, I cannot. After much consideration, giving the students their pages was the right thing to do, especially after what Joey and Courtly Jester were planning with them. We just weren't aware of what he was doing, he's been missing for such a long time." Milton said, surprising the students gathered in the office.

"Whoa wait...what? What do you mean by that Headmaster?" Darling asked, glancing toward Milton, who glanced directly at the platinum blonde.

"It is as you hear...this young man, is actually a lot older than you all may think. He was actually supposed to be in class with your parents and the previous generation. However, as soon as he found out he wasn't getting entree into Ever After High, he disappeared. The reason for that is simple, he managed to reach the Second Star and went to Neverland."

"Of course...it all makes sense now. He sounded a lot more mature in his letters than a kid who's our age. I mean, don't get me wrong, he sounded condescending...but the way he wrote everything, it was calm and collected. If a kid my age wrote a love note, it would be a little different, filled with emotion, this was just...clean." Blake added, a look of realization on his face.

"So, he went to Neverland, because while you are there you don't age. So he waited for twenty years or so, so he could come back...and get Apple, why?" Raven asked, slightly confused.

"Because he was most likely attracted to Snow White. But he knew that he couldn't get her, so he waited until the next generation to pray on her daughter. We know nothing about him, because he disappeared from Ever After, that's why he most likely used an army of ghouls too, because he doesn't have a human army. I hate to admit it, but he pulled a fast one on us, and it was well thought out." Milton said firmly.

"Well we cannot take this lying down! He kidnapped my daughter!" Snow White cried angrily, causing Mr. Knight to put a hand on her shoulder, keeping her calm.

"We don't know where he is right now, but we will find him. We must, but we need to handle the injured here first before we can build an army of our own."

"Actually, Jessica put an enchantment on all of the girls, just in case one of them got taken. We know exactly where Apple, Briar and Poppy are right now. However, knowing is half of the battle...we don't know what he's planning, and now that he has one of my mom's magic books, we have to be twice as prepared as before." Blake said.

"This is all quite interesting to hear, Bluebeard returning after so long...could that be the reason why the Second Star hasn't opened up? Because he's keeping it shut? If that's the case, he could be planning on taking Apple and the others to Neverland. A place where you never age, he'd be able to do a great number of things on them...heaven forbid." Giles said.

"Well, there's something else...when I spoke with my mother recently, she told me about something. She said that Neverland was under a curse, she didn't say what it was...but she said something about Perpetual Darkness." Blake said. Milton and Giles shared a look, both most likely knowing what he was speaking about. Milton shook his head, deciding not to say anything about the matter.

"I am not sure what she meant by that, there is no such curse by that name. But if she did say Neverland was under a curse, and she isn't the direct cause...then there is a good change that Bluebeard is involved in this as well. Perhaps they were even in cahoots with each other."

"I wouldn't put it past her, my mother is smart, cunning and calculating. If she sees someone useful, she will make a deal with them...after all, she agreed to help Joey out if he killed Blake. It makes perfect sense." Raven said, looking rather disappointed.

"That doesn't matter! What about Poppy? We have to go get her!" Holly cried, having recovered slightly. She wiped her eyes away, standing up from where she had been sitting.

"We under stand Miss O'Hair, but we cannot jump the gun. First, we must call Jessica here and get their immediate location. We know now what he is capable of, because of those ghouls. So we can easily counter them." Milton said, earning a small nod from the girl.

"Not just that, these ghouls are powerful during the day. It doesn't matter of its dark outside because the sun is covered, or anything else. They'll be weak, not worth casting them. This guy cast this spell multiple times, enough to fill this entire school. So he probably exhausted his own magic stores without realizing it. We have to attack now, or else we may never get Apple back." Blake said firmly.

"Okay, I'll go get Jessica. We'll bring this bastard down, together!" Raven replied, bumping fists with her brother. She grabbed a hold of Nevermore's reins, heading out of the office.

 _ **xxx**_

Apple groaned a bit, as her eyes slowly fluttered open. Her vision was blurred, and her head was throbbing, and she could barely feel her arms. She noticed something out of the corner of her eye, a bright moving flame which she immediately focused on. She blinked a few times, vision clearing as she started looking around. She found herself in what looked like a small cell, made entirely out of dark stone. There was a single torch inside her cell, providing her with her only light source. There was a small window high above her head, too small for anyone to escape. Her heart started beating hard in her chest, as she started remembering what had happened the night before. She lifted her arms up, seeing she was chained to a wooden bench. She stood up, trying to move toward the cell doors, only for the chains to hold her in place. Her arms had been shackled to the walls, but her legs had been left free. She tugged on the chains, but they didn't yield, holding firm. She stopped pulling on them, and looked around, trying to see out of her cell, only seeing the wall in front of her, which had another torch mounted on it.

She sat back down on the small bench, bowing her head slightly, her mattered hair covering her face. She noticed a few flecks of red in her golden tresses, a bit of dried blood from the night before. She remembered, fighting with Gloriosa and launching ice spears at the ghouls. She remembered Blake fighting the knight, trying to hold him back. However that all changed when she heard the flapping of wings. An explosion had tore the wall apart and she had been knocked out, by what she assumed was one of the overhead lights. That was most likely the cause of her headache and the blood in her hair. She didn't know how long it had been, but from the light coming from her window, it was early morning, most likely around nine or ten. She licked her dried lips, glancing at her torn leggings, seeing a few cuts on her skin which had been oozing blood. She dabbed it with a finger, a frown on her face.

" _Well, it could be worse. As far as I know, I'm the only one who was captured...I know that Blake will come find me. Jessica cast that spell on us, so they'll definitely be here."_

"Fuck you asshole! You can take your food and shove it up your ass!"

"Briar? Briar!" Apple cried, hoping to grab her friend's attention.

"Apple, are you alright?"

"I'm fine, what's going on? Where are we?" she shouted back, earning a laugh.

A man appeared in front of her cell, dressed in a very nice black suit. It looked like it was made out of the finest silk and ramie in all the land, with white lapels that had golden embroidery on it. He was wearing a firmly pressed long sleeved shirt underneath, with a bright red tie around his neck. He wore a pair of long black slacks, long with some armored greaves, which wrapped around most of his lower leg, and his knee. She noticed he wore a belt around his waist, which held a steel short sword, which bore no markings whatsoever. Her had striking features, a small nose with visible cheek bones. He had striking blue eyes, and a mop of soft blue hair, that had been neatly combed, not a single strand out of place. His most striking feature of course was the short blue beard that had been growing from his face. He stepped up to the cell doors, a smirk on his face.

"Welcome Apple White, to your new home. I see you noticed that we have also been joined by Miss Briar Beauty. I had been hoping to get the set, but Ashlynn Ella ditched Ever After before I could. Could you imagine? The three daughters of the gilded Queens? Snow White, Cinderella and Aurora? It would be quite an honor having all three of you here."

"An honor? It's no honor when you are brought here against your will, you asshole! You don't know who you are messing with, my friends and my school will come for me!"

"HA! That's a laugh, just so you know those ghouls I sent to your school are special. You probably know this, but they are made by the Evil Queen. Their petrification magic lasts between twelve and thirty-six hours. Last I checked, around 65% of your school has been afflicted by it. So the only ones who can fight, are untrained people." Felipe said, a smirk on his face.

"That isn't true! Daring will come save me! Blake will come save me as well, so will Raven. You think you are so smart, but are one step ahead of you, you may have attacked beforehand, but we were prepared for something like this. You'll see, you will not get away with this!" Apple spat, earning another laugh from the young man. He reached into his pocket, slipping out a key. He placed it into the cell door and opened it with a click, stepping into the cell. He knelt down before the girl, looking right into her eyes.

"Actually sweetheart, I have gotten away with it. That uh...Blake fellow? Yeah, he's not coming. With luck he's still in Wonderland, where he shall remain while I make you do my bidding."

"Wonderland? Really? You think Wonderland is going to hold Blake back? He's the son of the Evil Queen, he can easily open a portal back to Ever After!" Apple cried, glaring right back. The man smirked, placing one of his hands on her leg, making her breath hitch a bit in surprise.

"I know that...but with luck, that slowed him down enough not to follow me. That means that he doesn't know where you, Briar Beauty and Poppy O'Hair are. I only want two, so my knight gets the last one...it's quite clear that you and Miss Beauty will have to be broken in." he said, his hand moving slowly up her thigh. Apple arched her neck, hocking loudly, just as Felipe looked up, she shot a glob of phlegm right into his eye, catching him by surprise. She had a proud smirk on her face as he rose to his full height.

"Well...I see you truly aren't the Fairest in the Land." he said, pulling out his handkerchief, wiping his eye clean. Once he did, he stuffed it back in his pocket. He bit his lip for a second, before back handing the blonde as hard as he could, a loud slap echoing around the cells.

"You stupid little bitch! You don't know who you are fucking with, so let me tell you who I am. My name is Felipe Bluebeard, you are now my property. You will be my wife, whether you want to or not, and if you don't agree to whatever I do, I will hurt your friends."

"No! You will not touch them!" Apple cried, causing the boy to wrap his hand around her throat, pinning her to the wall.

"You will do as I say! If not, then I will hurt Briar Beauty in a way that will scar her for life. Every single time you say no, is one more thing I'll do to her. I'll give you a freebie, but if you do something like that again, I will bring her here. And you will watch as I deflower her, and break her fragile little mind." Felipe replied. He knelt down before the girl, grabbing a hold of her shirt.

"Is that understood?" he asked. She remained silent, looking away from the boy. He pulled on her dress, a loud tearing filling the cell. Apple grit her teeth, trying her hardest not to react.

"Is that understood?" he asked again, a bit firmer than before.

"Yes." she hissed, glaring right into his eyes. He nodded, grabbing the piece of cloth he had torn from her dress. He held it to his nose briefly, a smirk on his face.

"Good...I'm not gonna hurt you Apple...I just want you to be my wife...that's all. If you agree, you will live a beautiful and comfortable life with me. But if you disagree, then your friend's virginity is mine...simple as that. You know...she gave me a really cute expression. Just like this girl I met last week...she was so beautiful. I had her on my bed, showing her the time of her life, and as soon as she hit her climax, I slit her throat. Just watching her body twitch as she felt her first and last orgasm, watching the blood drain from her body...it was so exhilarating, I couldn't stop myself. She was dead before I even finished, the dumb bitch."

"You disgusting fuck!"

"Ah ah! You better watch that tone with me miss, or else I'll have to shut your mouth. And you wouldn't want me to do that, now would we?" he asked, a smirk on his face.

"Master, I hate to bother you but it seems like Miss O'Hair has woken up. How do you want to proceed?" the Knight asked, causing the blue haired man to stand up, glancing back at his friend.

"She's all yours, as promised. I got you the sword as a reward, and as a sign of loyalty, you can do whatever you want with that one. It's a shame you couldn't bring her twin sister...I've never had my way with a pair of twins...but oh well. I'm sure I'll get my chance another time right?" Felipe asked, earning a nod from the knight.

"Yes sire...I shall leave you then." he said.

"Eh...I'm done here...It's time to make preparations...is that stupid bitch done making food yet? Her resume said she was a five star chef, and I have yet to receive my sirloin steak!"

"Yes, I believe she is finishing soon. I've never seen a woman cook naked before, it's quite the treat. But I wish she wasn't crying all the time...it just defeats the purpose." the knight replied. Felipe left the cell, closing it right after.

"I shall be back for you for lunch in an hour...this isn't a request. You shall also be dressed for the occasion...or rather undressed." Felipe said, giving Apple a grin before he disappeared, following his knight. The door closed a second later, casting the dungeons into silence.

Apple growled angrily, breathing hard as the reality of the situation hit her. She pulled herself to her feet, screaming angrily. She tugged on her chains, shouting a vast stream of obscenities she didn't think she'd ever say. The chains held true, and she knew she wasn't going to break out of there easily. She fell down to her knees, her body shaking with her sobs.

"Apple, are you alright? Did her do anything to you?" Briar called out, hoping to get her friend's attention.

"He said...if I didn't agree to his demands...that he would hurt you and Poppy." she said between sobs. She sat back down against the bench, using the remains of her dress to wipe her face clean.

"Listen, don't worry about me alright? I'll be fine. You do not give into him, no matter what he asks. Even if that means I die, you can't agree to what he's asking you. He's a sick twisted man, he's going to do whatever he wants, even if you say yes. Don't worry about me."

"How can I not worry about you Briar? Or Poppy? You two are my closest friends, I can't let him hurt you!" She cried back, shocked that her friend would even say something like that.

"I know that...but listen to me, he will do whatever he wants...it doesn't matter what you say or do. There's no reasoning with him or his knight, they're too far gone. Like I said, don't worry about me...maybe I can figure something out and get out of here...even if I have to give myself to him." Briar replied, her voice shaky as she spoke.

"No Briar please...don't do anything like that...he's just going to kill you...I love you! I can't lose my best friend forever after! We're supposed to live happily ever after with our princes. I don't want you to die!"

"I don't want to die either...we will get out of here. We'll grow up, meet our prince charming, have kids...and we'll live an awesome life. We will, you just have to keep hope in your heart, and don't lose sight of the light. Don't fall for his demands, and don't be tempted by his offer. He's gonna do whatever it is he's planning anyway. So don't give him the satisfaction, fight with everything you've got, got it?" she cried back. Apple nodded, though she knew her friend couldn't see it.

"Okay...I will...I'll fight until I can't fight anymore, and then some!"

"Good...now onto a more important topic. I gotta pee and I can't reach my bucket, you got any ideas on how I can reach it?" she asked, earning a genuine laugh from Apple, who did nothing to hold back her laugh.

"No...Apple I'm serious, it's starting to hurt."

 _ **xxx**_

Raven and Jessica arrived after a few minutes. The daughter of Merlin had been using her magic, not only to repair the damage done to the school, but also to heal some of the injured. She had been working overtime, and it showed. It looked like she hadn't slept at all, but she was still moving, knowing that if she stopped the injured wouldn't heal. Ashlynn and Rosabella had come in after the two, having returned from Wonderland when they heard what had happened. The general feeling inside the room was the same, stress, tiredness and despair. The wizard came to a stop before the Headmasters and the Queen, bowing politely, before glancing at Milton with a firm expression on her face.

"I need a map, the more recent the better." she replied, earning a nod from the man. He stood from his chair, walking over to one of his filing cabinets.

"Do you guys know exactly what happened? How Apple was taken?" Rosabella asked, causing Blake to lift his head, glancing over to her.

"She was taken by the knight...they brought a dragon. Not just that, Briar and Poppy were taken too. We were expecting a human army, not a ghoul one." he replied, the frown on his face ever apparent.

"Not just that, they stole Blake's sword too. Something tells me that was part of their plan too, I mean not a lot of people in Ever After know that he has the sword. Something about how that knight fights is familiar too, how you described him I mean."

"You're right Darling, his fighting style is familiar. That knight reminds me of someone, someone who was once a part of the alumni here. He said during our fight, "You've Gotten Better". So that means he knows who I am...and before he cast me into Wonderland, he said something else too. He said outright that he knew who I was." the black haired boy replied.

"Could it be Joey perhaps?" Raven asked.

"I doubt it, Lizzie said he was in a highly secured prison. In fact, they already sentenced him in Wonderland. No idea with what though." Darling replied.

"So it isn't him, and I doubt Felipe actually bothered going for him in Wonderland. To me, it sounded like he's never even been there...no, it was someone else. The name Hans has been bothering me ever since I heard him say it...and even though his helm disguises his voice, his mannerisms are similar too..." Blake paused, narrowing his eyes a bit. He blinked a few times, meeting eyes with Raven who seemed to also arrived at an answer.

"You think, it's Henry isn't it?"

"What? But wasn't he tossed in prison? He tried killing Jack right? Along with Lizzie and Kitty?" Ashlynn cried.

"That's correct, we kept it a secret from the student body. But yes, it was him, and it was Blake who put a stop to him. We never revealed who it was, because he asked us not to. However, he was placed in a prison back in Arrendale for his crimes." Giles said.

"There is a way that he could have gotten free. Perhaps this Felipe paid someone to change his sentence to an execution. Then he paid the executioner to kill someone else and say that it was Henry. That way, Henry escaped the gallows and everyone thinks he's dead." Snow White said, making a few students shudder.

"What a sick disgusting monster. I know I'm supposed to see the good in people, but this man isn't good. He is a beast on the inside and the outside." Rosabella snapped, her hand balled into a fist. Ashlynn placed her hand over it, giving her a small smile.

"Briar will be fine, she isn't gonna go down without a fight. She'll claw her way to freedom, I'm sure of it."

"Aha! Found you, you little fuck...here he is. He's in an area just outside of Snow White's kingdom. Huh...this area looks familiar." Jessica said, grabbing a hold of the map, showing the three blinking dots, one red, one pink and one purple. Blake took a hold of the map, glancing at the areas around it, eyes widening.

"I know this area too...this castle that Felipe is using...it isn't his. This castle belongs to the Evil Queen, and I know exactly where it is." Blake said.

"Why would he use the Evil Queen's castle? The way he spoke in those letters, it made it seem as if he had his own castle?" Holly asked, clearly confused.

"He doesn't, remember this man is older than all of you. It is possible that he destroyed all records of his existence. That way, he could come back to Ever After and not raise an alarm. By using the Evil Queen's abandoned castle, it means that he wasn't going to raise suspicions." Snow White said. Blake spun on his heel, heading toward the door.

"Mr. Knight, I need your sharpest swords and your lightest armor, I'm going after this motherfucker, and I'm going to destroy him." he said.

"Are you sure about that son? All on your own?"

"I know that castle like the back of my hand, I know exactly where Apple is being kept. Inside the basement that I refused to enter...it leads down to the dungeons. That's where they're most likely at...at this point, he doesn't know we know where they are. We need to strike now, Snow White you have an airship right?" he asked.

"I do, what's the plan? I'm in regardless of what it is."

"Well then, you hate my mom just as much as I do...you wanna test how much damage your long nines can do on her castle?" he asked, a grin on his face. He swore he saw a flash of mischievousness in her eyes.

"Tell me more."

 _ **xxx**_

Just like Felipe had said, at noon Apple had been collected. She had been grabbed by the knight and taken to a bedroom in the West Wing of the castle. Of course she had been blindfolded so she didn't know the exact route they had taken. Once the knight had tossed her into the bedroom. A young woman, took her into the nearby bathroom and all but forced her to take a bath. The water had been cold, and she didn't feel clean just as much as she felt violated. But she had to suck it up, knowing if she thrashed around or did anything, she would most likely end up hurting her friends. Once she had been bathed, she had been dried off, and taken into the other room, where she had been forced into a bright red and white ballgown.

It was the most hideous thing she had ever seen, looking like something from the Victorian era. She had to wear some wire bell thing around her waist to make the dress more of a gown. The golden embroidery looked old and dated, and the sleeves were so long that she had to fold them back. The corset had been total hell, the woman helping her had been pulling hard on it, just so her dress could fit perfectly. She could barely breathe, but after awhile she had gotten used to it. She had been forced into some heels different from the ones she was used to. Finally, her beautiful golden locks, which were kept normally curled, had been straightened, so her hair was now far longer than it normally was.

Once that was over, she had been taken to the dining hall all the way across the castle. She walked into the room, a blank look on her face as she saw the long table that had been placed in the room. Her chains were tugged by the knight who forced her toward the other end of the table, having her sit down at the large wooden chair. After securing her shackles to her arm rest, he took his leave. Another young woman, who was wearing nothing more than an apron, came out of the kitchen, setting down various dishes in front of her. Her hands were shaking a bit with each new plate that was brought off the cart. Once she had finished, the girl bowed her head and hurriedly left.

Apple glanced down at the spread...it was quite fancy, if she cared to admit. There was a large salad, made with what looked like fresh grown ingredients, freshly sliced tomatoes and leafy green lettuce, along with onions, peppers and cucumbers. She noticed some dressing on the side, but wasn't aware what kind it was. She saw some caviar next to the salad, along with some freshly baked bread. There was a sirloin steak directly to her right, in a light mint sauce with some baked carrots beside it. There were various other things in front of her, but she didn't know what most of it was. She turned her head away from it, refusing to eat anything. She heard the door behind her open, the familiar clinking of armor filling her ears.

"Well, it is quite lovely to see you again my sweet. You look rather beautiful in that dress."

"I look like the Crypt keeper." Apple snapped, not acknowledging the young man. He smirked, grabbing a hold of her chin, forcing her to face him. He placed a kiss on her cheek, much to her disgust.

"Still snappy I see, go on and eat...I cannot have my beautiful wife starving to death. We need her to be nice and strong so she can bare children in the future."

"If you think I'm going to let you slide your nasty micropenis inside me, you have another thing coming." the blonde spat, giving the young man a hateful glare. He chuckled, sitting down directly to her left.

"You haven't a choice I'm afraid...though I am a bit insulted...all of the girls I have been with have enjoyed themselves immensely. This is a fine feast prepared just for you, so go on...eat. I assure you, nothing has been poisoned, there's no way I would do that." Felipe said, earning a smirk from the girl.

"Have you got any apples? I'd gladly eat one of those, maybe if I wish hard enough, one of them will kill me."

"Tsk tsk tsk...dear Apple...I thought we already discussed this...you will do as I ask, or Briar shall be mine. Would you like her to join us? I have no trouble bending her over this table." he said a smirk on his face. Apple reluctantly grabbed her utensils, choosing to start with the steak. Her shackles moved slightly as she cut a piece of the meat, bending down just to place it in her mouth.

"I must apologize about those shackles...they're for your own safety...I feel that I would get stabbed by you."

"Why would I bother killing you? That wouldn't do anything for me...it wouldn't make it satisfying. You know he's going to kill you right? You and your knight." she said, pausing to take a drink of her wine, which was sadly the only drink she had available.

"Who? You mean the boy? What was his name...Blake Queen? Ha, I doubt it...he doesn't know where we are...and after you are done here, we will be leaving this castle."

"Eh...what do you mean by that?" Apple asked curiously, setting her wine glass down. Felipe smirked, leaning forward in his seat.

"It is as you hear babe...we'll be ditching this castle. After last night, I passed this castle onto my dear friend, my knight...but you might know him as Henry. Take off your helm Henry, show her your face, she deserves to see you." the man said, earning a nod from the knight, who twisted off his helmet, taking it off.

"Hello Apple, long time no see."

"Tch...I had never considered you to be in leagues with this guy...but it makes sense now. This is all some sick revenge plot for you isn't it? You've been planning on taking care of Blake, and you've gone as far as stealing his sword from him. You know, I may be a proper lady, but I will give you this warning, you have royally fucked the pooch. You have fucked it so hard, that you have no idea the kind of hell that you have brought upon yourselves." she said, calmly continuing her meal. Henry chuckled, a smirk on his face.

"Right...you actually think the foreigner will defeat either of us? He so claims to be the son of the Evil Queen, yet he hadn't been able to handle those Shades. He wasn't able to save half of his school, most of his friends being those among the injured. He wasn't able to save you, and now it'll be too late for him to even try it." he said.

"If you say so."

"Hmm...you seem to have a lot of hope for this young man...but it won't matter. After you finish your meal here, you along with Miss Beauty shall be transported to a new world. A vast new land of possibility, which has taken quite awhile to get under my rule. You will be taken to Neverland." he said, causing the girl to choke on her food. She hit her chest a couple of times, grabbing her wine glass, gulping its contents down.

"What...did you just...say?" she croaked, her eyes widened with surprise.

"It's as you have heard my dear...we will all be going to Neverland. You see, there is something mystical about that world. Time doesn't flow forward...it's in a constant state of perpetual pause. No one ages, yet time moves forward, there are seasons, weather, all of it controlled by the fairies of Pixie Hollow. However, it wasn't hard to...manipulate its time to my favor. Let's just say...Perpetual Darkness can drive a lot of people insane."

"Perpetual Darkness? What are you talking about?" Apple asked, prodding the man a bit. Perhaps if she continued her innocent curiosity charade, she would be able to get useful information out of him.

"It's just as it sounds...you see, each world is ruled by time. Every single story is reset so that the new generation can play their role. It is how it has been dictated for years. Each world has a special relic, all connected to a man known as the Time Keeper. Something called a Time Gear." Felipe explained, confusing the girl slightly.

"You see, it's like this...in order for stories to restart, the Time Keeper needed a way to access those stories. Those special relics not only give him that power, but it also serves another function. It keeps time for each realm...but what do you think happens when one is removed from its pedestal?" Henry asked. Apple just sat there, letting the information process for a few minutes, before turning to face Felipe.

"You...you removed that relic from its pedestal...it caused time to go out of control didn't it? It brought Neverland to a state of ruin...and that's why the portal didn't open...because it can't open. Anything dictated by time within that world has been frozen...but the Time Keeper is still alive, so that means those that survived in that world are..."

"That's right...all of them have been driven insane by the darkness. In that world, everything that makes it live is gone. There is no weather, there are no seasons, there is no sun...that world is in a complete state of ruin. Yet time moves forward...because the Time Keeper is still able to control it." Felipe said, taking a sip from his own wine glass. Apple scoffed, shoving her plate away from her.

"I don't believe you...this is all smoke and mirrors, you are just trying to confuse me. I assure you, my mind will not be broken, even if you take me to Neverland, Blake will find me...and he will kill you." she replied. Felipe shook his head, reaching into his shirt pulling out what had been hidden underneath it, showing it to Apple.

"You see this...this is a Time Gear...the one that belongs to Neverland." he said, tugging on the leather cord. He held it out to Apple, who's eyes widened as she stared at it.

It was small, about the size of a gold doubloon. It was a light green in color, with six cogs, each bearing a deep etching of an arrow, coming out from the center of it. She could feel a bit of magic power coming from it, quite a lot in fact. She didn't know why, but her heart had started beating fast in her chest when she saw it. She reached out for it, but her shackles kept her arm back, just inches away from grabbing it. Felipe smirked, dangling the object above her.

"Here lies the salvation of Neverland...if this is placed back in its proper place, time will resume, and the effects of this curse will be lifted. Everyone will just think all of this is a fever dream, but that's something I'm not letting happen. It took awhile to convince a bunch of kids to appoint me as their leader but...hey, Peter Pan is just as stupid as everyone thinks he is." Felipe said, tucking the pendant under his shirt.

"That's right, you are looking at the new Headmaster of Neverland Academy. Not just that, but they all voted him as the supreme leader of all of Neverland. Even those stupid fairies had no choice but to submit to his rule. After all, he took their all important Blue Pixie Dust, without it, the Pixie Dust tree became just a normal tree. The fairies have been unable to fly for the last twenty years. Happiness is no longer a part of Neverland, even the oceans have become rough."

"Mhmm...even without the flow of time, the ocean remains in constant movement, and the perpetual rain assaults the world below. It is among the most hated things in this new world of mine...I find it quite relaxing...anyway, are you finished? We must go to the library posthaste, that is where the portal is. Henry, is Briar prepared?"

"Indeed, while Apple was being dressed, I moved her to the library. She awaits your arrival...I shall see to it that you make it there with no issues." he said, unhooking Apple's shackles from the chair. He tied her arms behind her back, forcing her to move forward.

As they walked however, they started hearing something rather loud. It caused the two to stop, glancing around the dining room. They heard something that sounded like whistling, as if a pressure cooker had been left on the stove for too long. Henry was going to say something when a loud explosion rocked the castle. Three more explosions followed it, the sound of stone breaking echoing through the entire area. Felipe was about to give Henry a command when one of the windows to exploded, a hail of gunfire pouring in from the outside. Fireballs followed after it, setting the inside of the room ablaze.

"Felipe, you have to get out of here! The castle is under attack!" Henry cried out, pushing the man forward.

"No shit Sherlock! What the fuck are we facing?" he cried. Henry moved toward the broken window, avoiding some of the flames. More explosions could be felt rocking the entirety of the castle, one of the chandeliers snapped from its chain, falling onto the long table in the middle of the room.

"Uh sir...looks like were under fire from some airships...they're all bearing Ever After's crest. Not just that, I can see Snow White's crest as well." he said.

"Shit, how the fuck did she find us?"

"I told you didn't I? They were going to find you, we were one step ahead you, and now I know exactly what you are planning. He's going to kill you Felipe...and I truly hope he does." Apple said, a smug look on her face. The man growled angrily, slapping her across the face.

"Stupid bitch, this has you written all over it!" he cried, kicking her in the side, eliciting a cry of pain from the girl. He grabbed a hold of her shackles, pulling her to her feet.

"Walk you fucking cunt, Henry, take this...you are going to need it. Cover our escape, let no one go into Neverland after us!" He shouted, tossing the Evil Queen's book at the boy. He smirked, giving him a nod.

"You got it boss!"

 _ **xxx**_

"Alright Cadence, don't let up...destroy every fucking wall you see!" Blake cried.

Cadence let out a loud roar shooting a beam of crystalline mist at one of the nearby walls, tearing a hole open in the side. The loud cannon fire from Snow White's brigade wasn't letting up. Three of her largest frigates were currently above the castle, all firing hell down on the Evil Queen's castle. The tall tower started falling, landing on top of the building in a crumpled heap.

"Blake, the main entrance is over here, how do we proceed?" Raven cried, pulling up next to him on Nevermore's back. Cerise was riding with her, holding an axe in her hands. Similarly, Holly was behind him, wearing some light armor, with a frying pan at her waist.

"I'm going in, Holly you take command of Cadence, you help bring this place to the ground. I'm gonna go get your sister, okay?"

"Alright, but if I see it getting hairy I'm coming in." she said, taking the reins from the boy. He stood up on the saddle, jumping down toward the main bridge, along with Cerise who had jumped down from Nevermore.

"Wanna have a race?" she asked, giving the boy a smirk.

"If you run, your hood might fall down, I don't see it pinned down."

"I don't care, all I care about is our friends...so how about it?" she asked. He nodded, kneeling down placing a single hand on the floor.

"One...two...three...go!" he cried, breaking into a sprint, drawing one of his swords from his waist.

The two teenagers kept running forward, jumping over the large gap that had been created by one of the canon balls. They didn't lose any speed, both preparing to drop kick the door. They jumped at the same time, putting all of their weight into the doors, which both swung open with a bang, leading them into the entrance hall. The both rolled into a crouch, just as Felipe had entered the hall, dragging Apple with him. He let out a surprised gasp, shock evident on his face.

"Blake, Cerise!" Apple shouted.

"Apple!" Blake cried, trying to break free. The knight jumped in front of her and Felipe, firing hundreds of fireballs at the two, several explosions ringing out through the entrance hall.

"Go now! I'll hold them off!" he shouted.

"Many thanks friend, kill them all." Felipe said, dragging Apple along. The girl continued to scream the names of her friends who tried moving forward, only for them to be pushed back by the flaming balls of magic. Blake growled angrily, knowing the real battle was about to begin.


	85. The Ballad of Bluebeard VII

**A/N:**

 **So uh...I'll just drop this chapter right here for all of you to read. This is going to be chapter 85 of Through the Looking Glass, part 7 of The Ballad of Bluebeard, at least I believe it's part 7, lost track of how many parts this has, honestly. This is where some more of the screwed up stuff will start happening, as well as everyone getting to see Felipe's true nature...or more of it. You get to see him explain why he does the shit he does as well as start setting his plan in motion. We also get to see the return of one of Blake's friends, as well as a battle between Blake and Henry, which should be hype I guess...**

 **I just finished Chapter 90 of the Story, and will be moving on to the Summer arc, which I haven't exactly named, but I am going to be doing something rather unique for this story. I was listening to Fall Out Boy last night, one of my all time favorite bands, and decided to add some of their songs to the story. I decided instead to write an arc profiling the Young Blood Chronicles, but of course with Purple Rhapsody instead. I felt so inspired by their music that I just couldn't stop thinking about it. I started listening to them back in 2012, when I heard This Ain't a Scene, it's a Goddamn Arms Race. I started listening to their old stuff and then I got to see My Songs Know What you Did in the Dark for the first time...it was amazing, and 2 Chainz with a Flamethrower was pretty cool. Pretty much, the opening scene of that video and the image of Blake and his bandmates kneeling in front of a giant bon fire, watching some random people toss their stuff into that fire, it just made me wanna do it, so it's gonna happen. So I guess you can call the beginning part of the Summer arc filler, or a prelude because there's gonna be a lot of talking about that arc during it. Also, during Where Did the Party Go, I'm gonna have Apple in a sexy nurse outfit, just cuz, you're welcome.**

 **After that, we are of course left with the Dragon Games arc. There's gonna be some filler before that, along with some story stuff, introducing Nina Thumbell, Jillian Beanstalk, Justince Dancer and Meeshell Mermaid into Ever After High. In fact, one of the reasons why Meeshell goes to Ever After High is because Blake talks her into going, not just that but she is friends with Holly and Poppy O'Hair since they live pretty close to each other. We'll get to see her break out of her shell and actually start feeling comfortable about showing her true self to people. Just before the Evil Queen gets broken out of her prison and proceeds to fuck shit up, in the most fucktacular way possible, yes fucktacular is now a word, deal with it.**

 **So, I leave you with Chapter 85, the beginning of the journey to Neverland...things are most likely gonna get confusing from here on out, so if you have questions, PM me and I'll answer them. Chapter 86 will get shit moving toward the end of this arc. Let me know what you think...see ya all later.**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 85

The Journey to Neverland I

The first thing that Poppy had seen when she had awoken was a prison cell. She had instantly gotten frightened, because she had been confused. One minute she was fighting ghouls with Holly, the next she had been knocked out. She had started screaming and shouting, but no one had heard her cries. It wasn't long before a knight came to her cell and opened it. He had grabbed a hold of her shackles and wordlessly pulled her along. She had been brought out from the dungeons, and through what looked like the main hall of a large spacious castle. She remembered they had gone to the left side, the East Wing of the castle, and down a hallway filled with some dark suits of armor, matching the one the man was wearing. They passed by a set of double doors, leading to what she assumed was a library, since one of the doors had been opened and she saw some books inside. They went up the stairs and down another hallway, into a bedroom. Once inside, the knight brought her to an iron framed bed, attaching her shackles to it.

He hadn't said a single thing to her, and just stood there staring at her. She remembered making some snappy comment, causing him to leave. For a few minutes, she had been trying to free herself, trying to reach for one of her many pins to undo her shackles. When the knight had come back, he brought her a plate of food and told her to keep her strength up. That she would be set free soon, that had been the last time she had seen the knight. Now, the entire castle was being assaulted by someone, loud cannons and explosions cutting through the silence. Poppy had been trying to free herself for the last ten minutes, but the iron frame held true. She had only moved the bed in her crusade to free herself. She fell to her knees, panting a bit from all of the energy she had spent.

"Damn it, what the hell is going on out there?" she muttered, glancing over her shoulder. An explosion rocked the entire room, a giant hole being blown right through the roof straight through the ground. Poppy stood up again, trying to once again free herself.

"I'm gonna die in here if I don't get out!" she screamed, placing her foot on the frame of the bed.

She started pulling back as hard as she could, grabbing a hold of the chains. She let out a shout, feeling something snap. She ended up tripping and falling back, slamming into the vanity dresser behind her. She moved out of the way, just in time for the mirror to slam into the ground where she had been. She looked at her hands, seeing they were still shackled together, but the iron frame of the bed had snapped at the top, a single spike sticking out where she had been shackled. She stood up, trying her hardest not to fall from how much the building was shaking. Reaching up to her head, she pulled out one of her pins, jabbing it into one of the locks.

"Come on, Blondie showed me how to do this...it isn't that hard to do." she muttered, twisting the pin around for a few seconds. She heard a soft click, and sighed, opening the wrist cuff, taking it off. She jabbed the pin into the other one, opening it as well. Once she was freed, she grabbed a hold of a nearby chair and pulled one of the legs off, a smirk on her face.

"I'm not gonna become a damsel, that is so not my style." she said.

She realized a second later that she was all alone, and that lowered her demeanor a bit. She opened the door and started running down the hall, heading toward the stairs she remembered seeing, coming to a stop when she saw several ghouls flying in the hallway. She grit her teeth, growling angrily when they took notice of her.

"Time to rumble I guess, I'm not letting myself get captured by them again...that's for sure." she said, bashing one of the ghouls with her wooden stake.

In the main hall, Blake had gotten in a fierce battle with the Knight, who had been casting spell after spell against him. He had summoned a stream of ghouls to fight against the people that had managed to get into the castle. Cerise had managed to find herself a spear, and had been fighting some of the ghouls with great skill. Blake dashed back, swiping one of his swords forward, slicing through another magic ball, causing it to explode. The knight took this chance, drawing Excalibur from his hip, swinging it at Blake, who crossed his swords, redirecting his strike.

"What are the odds of this? Having to fight against Excalibur twice in less than two months. This is a fuckin record." Blake said, earning a laugh from the knight, who aimed his sword at the boy.

"That's because you are under-qualified to hold such a beautiful weapon as this. You don't deserve it, you never did...especially because of that shard in your chest!" he shouted, dashing at Blake with murderous intent. He swung Excalibur hard, causing the boy to duck under the blade, allowing it to destroy some of the ghouls that had been flying around them.

A few explosions rocked the foyer, causing one of the walls to crumble apart beside them. Cerise spun her spear overhead, jabbing the blade into the ground. Using all of her strength, she sent one of the large chunks of rock flying toward the knight, who sliced it apart with ease. Blake took his chance, delivering two swift slashes at the young man's armor, denting it slightly, but was unable to do heavy damage to it. The knight let out a laugh, turning to face the boy.

"You think those puny swords are going to do damage to me? You have no chance of winning against me. This armor is enchanted, It shall not bend to the likes of you!" he cried. The knight held his sword outward, pressing the dark book against it, an orb of light forming at its tip.

"Cerise, now!" Blake cried, jumping out of the way. The hooded girl threw her spear as hard as she could, sending it straight at the orb of magic, which burst as soon as the weapon made contact with it. The explosion was enough to send the knight sprawling back, making him let go of his weapon.

Blake raced forward, taking a hold of Excalibur, pulling it free from the ground, tossing one of his swords to Cerise, who dashed past him toward the stairs. The hail of gunfire outside had slowly dwindled, with only the attacks from the dragons that had been flying over head. The knight stood up, grabbing a hold of the Evil Queen's book, a growl leaving his lips. Blake held Excalibur tightly in his grasp, the light coming off the blade slowly turning violet.

"That book doesn't belong to you, I'm afraid. It's property of the Evil Queen, as is everything in this castle. And since you have it here, that means that it belongs to me."

"Tch...you think anyone believes you? That fuckin spiel about you being the Evil Queen's son? That's low even for you. You used to hate this woman with all of your being, and now you readily accept her as family? You must be insane!" he cried back.

"No...you are insane. You haven't changed much have you Henry? Still the same vengeful young man I met all the way back in Ever After. So, how was prison life?" Blake said, taunting the boy a bit. He let out a growl, shooting several balls of magic at the boy, who dashed too and fro to avoid them. Henry burst from the smoke, driving his iron glad fist into his face, sending the boy sprawling back.

"I'll show you! Dark Holy!" he cried, holding his hand outward, sending pulse after pulse of violet light at the black haired boy. He jumped over each blast, trying to shorten the distance between them.

"Darkness Stream!" Blake chanted, slamming Excalibur's blade into the ground. He held his hands out, a barrage of magical arrows flying right at the armored knight, who just laughed as the all struck his armor.

"You can't beat me with magic Blake! This armor is enchanted with darkness, it has no effect on me!" he cried out. He opened the pages of the book, pressing his hand against one of them.

" _Heed my call darkness around me. Create a shadow that obeys only me, rise from the darkest pits of hell, my pet Cerberus, the guard of the underworld realm!"_ he cried. However, before he could finish the spell, he felt something hook around his right leg, before being pulled hard knocking him to the ground, causing his helmet to come flying off. He growled, glancing over his shoulder, eyes widening a bit.

"What the hell are you doing here?"

"Getting revenge on the one who attacked our school. And I couldn't help myself, as soon as Blake said you were here, I just had to come."

"Thanks a lot Lily, I owe you one." Blake said, grabbing a hold of the book Henry had been holding. Lily gave him a nod, spinning her crook in her hands, hooking the other end around Henry's neck.

"So...what are we going to do with this one?" she asked, placing her armored foot on his back.

"Hmm...I'm not sure...because of him, Dutch is petrified right? Did you know they're dating now Henry? Yeah, they're going steady and because of you, he's laying in a bed back in Ever After. So, give me an idea? What should Lily-Bo Peep do to you?" he asked, flipping through the pages of the book.

"Let me go of course...but I don't need your approval for that!" he said, reaching into his shirt for a glass orb, which he shattered against the floor. From inside came a strong blizzard, which started filling the entrance hall with snow.

Henry used this confusion to free himself, pushing through the two teenagers, heading straight up the stairs to where his master was. Blake let out a growl, following after the book, clenching the book in his hand as tight as he could. He channeled his magic into it, absorbing it into his body, instantly memorizing all of the spells. He followed Henry toward the East Hallway, where hundreds of ghouls had been flying around. Poppy and Cerise had been holding them off, destroying them with some of the weapons they had been able to find. The brown haired boy came to a stop in the middle of the hallway, glancing back the way he had come, seeing Blake and Lily behind him.

"End of the line Henry, we aren't letting you get away!" he said, drawing Excalibur from his waist.

"Oh, is that so? Those ghouls are still under my control, and I say they will let me get away. Ghouls, attack!" he cried. Blake smirked, snapping his fingers, causing all of the ghouls to disappear.

"Hmm...nice try...but did you know that things made by the Evil Queen can easily be destroyed? I read it in a book once. Since I am her son, that means I can control her magic. So, unless you wanna die, tell me where Felipe is."

"I'm not telling you shit!" he shouted back.

"Blake, we saw him dragging Apple into the library. He locked the door from inside, and we haven't seen him come out. All we heard was some sort of commotion, I think Briar is inside!" Cerise cried.

"Lily, see if you can bust that door open. I got Henry, we're gonna settle this shit like we should have months ago." Blake said, drawing his second sword, tossing it at Henry who caught it with ease.

"If you wanna die, then so be it...I'll finish what I should have done months ago!" he shouted, dashing toward Blake, aiming at him with a downward swing. Blake spun on his heel, slamming his foot right into Henry's chest, sending him flying back.

"Idiot, you forgot I know martial arts." he said, moving toward his fallen opponent. He swing his blade at the knight, only for him to block his hit with ease.

The pushed each other for a few seconds, only for Henry to come out the victor. Blake lost his footing, giving the taller boy the chance he needed to strike, slashing at his arm, making him cry in pain. He jumped back a few feet, dodging all of Henry's wild swings, trying to see if he could strike. He held his hand out, a blast of raw magic flying from his palm, heading straight toward Henry's head. He cocked his head to the side, smirking as he avoided it. His smirk changed however when he saw Blake close the distance, slamming his fist right into his face.

"You owed me that one." he said, shaking his hand a bit. Henry wiped the blood from his lip, letting out a shout as he dashed forward, swinging his sword with all of his strength, hoping to hit his opponent.

Blake rose Excalibur in time to defend against the heavy hit, sparks raining between the two. He let out a shout of surprise as he was sent flying back toward the wall from the strength of the hit. Henry had been using magic to increase the strength of his attacks. Blake slammed hard into the ground, landing in a roll before quickly righting himself. He used the wall behind him as a spring board, channeling magic through his legs to increase his speed. He pulled Excalibur back, swinging it just as hard as Henry had swung his own blade. Both swords collided, a loud clang echoing through the castle.

Both knights were pushed back by the intensity of their attacks. They slashed at each other, swords becoming mere blurs with each swing. Henry threw a punch at Blake's face, which he was able to duck in time. He threw a forward jab with his sword, slicing open the boy's cheek. He howled angrily, grabbing Blake by the shirt, slamming him down hard against the ground, enough to crack the stone underneath him. Henry shouted angrily as he pulled his sword above his head.

"This is the end Bigby!" he shouted, bringing the sword down hard. Blake teleported out from underneath him, just as the sword struck the ground. He appeared above the boy, slamming his legs down onto his back, sending him flying forward.

"It's Queen! My name is Blake Queen, get it memorized!" the black haired boy shouted.

"Why...why can't you die?!" Henry shouted, pulling his sword free, swinging it at Blake, who used a Reversal to dodge the attack. He slammed his leg into his back, sending a massive blast of magic right into his back.

"I refuse to die...I know, I may not be as well trained as some of the others, I may not understand magic like Raven. But I am not going to give up, for anything in the world. I will save Apple, and I will save Briar! And you aren't going to stop me!" he shouted, driving Excalibur right through his leg. Henry let out a scream of agony, dropping to the floor clutching his injured leg.

"Ah...it hurts! Why does it hurt so much?!"

"You gave yourself into the darkness, and the holy sword eradicates it. But I have been using my darkness magic in conjunction with its light, a holy dark sword, kind of ironic really." he said.

"Blake, this door won't open! I can hear voices inside." Cerise cried, grabbing his attention. He sheathed his sword, holding both hands at his side.

"Get out of the way." he said. The three girls moved out of the way, in time for him to send a swirling ball of magic at the doors, which exploded into a shower of splinters.

He started running forward, pushing his way into the room, eyes widening a bit when he saw the swirling portal on the other side of the room. Felipe had been standing in front of it, holding a book in his hand. Apple had been bound and gagged, forced to kneel by his side, alongside Briar who looked just as frightened. The blue haired man turned around, giving the new arrivals a grin.

"Ah, welcome to my humble castle...it seems you all let yourselves in quite nicely. How's Henry doing?" he asked amicably.

"Bleeding, just like you will in a few moments." Cerise said, grabbing her spear tightly.

"She's right, because of you, my boyfriend is lying in a cot unable to move. My friends are all injured, and worst of all...because of you, my sheep have gone missing. And bad shit happens when my sheep go missing mister." Lily spat, twirling her crook in her hands, a menacing look on her face.

"Oh my...aren't you a cutie, Lily-Bo Peep has lost her sheep, and now I'm the one to blame? You should have kept them on a leash my dear. Then there's Cerise Hood, daughter of Red Riding Hood and the Bad Wolf, shame your sister Ramona wasn't available. I've never had my way with a werewolf."

"Shut up! Let Apple and Briar go, or I swear I'll slice your neck apart!" Cerise cried, her eyes glowing gold. Normally, Blake would have done something to calm her down, but at this moment, he would be glad to see the bastard torn to shreds.

"Eh, I don't feel like it." Felipe replied, grabbing a hold of Apple's shackles. Blake moved forward, causing Felipe to stop, giving him a smirk.

"Oh? Who said you could move boy?"

"Fuck you...let her go, and I promise your death will be quick." he said, drawing his sword once more.

Felipe grabbed Apple's gag and pulled it down, forcing a kiss onto her lips. Briar's eyes widened, and she tried standing up, but was unable to due to the chains holding her arms and legs together. Cerise sprung forward, a feral growl escaping her lips as she jumped at the man. He let go of Apple who was still stunned by what he had done, pushing her into the portal behind them, her screams of shock becoming distorted as she disappeared deeper inside. He somehow managed to avoid Cerise's claws, which sliced apart the bookshelf behind where he had once stood. He grabbed a hold of Briar, forcing her to stand up, holding a knife to her throat.

"Now now now...you think you guys are all so fucking smart...why do you think I grabbed this fine girl here? To use her as collateral of course. She's just so beautiful, it's a shame sadly." he said, licking Briar's neck, causing her to thrash about, trying to free herself from his grasp.

"Let her go!" Cerise shouted, causing Felipe to press the knife harder against Briar's throat.

"Ah ah, move another foot and this Beauty will sleep eternally. Is that what you want? To lose a close friend? Because of your own inabilities? As far as I know, you've already lost one in the past, eh Blake? You are nothing but your mother's tool...that's it. You think you can save everyone, but sadly this isn't like that!"

"Shut up, you have no idea what I've been through. You think you can do all of this, and for who, for what? Who gets the gratification? You do? Does any of this benefit you in any way?" Blake replied, earning a laugh from the man, who was slowly moving forward the portal.

"It does actually. Do you know what it's like to be the son of a man so vile that your own mother abandons you? It isn't fun...my life was nothing more than a six by six by six square box, with a fucking sink and a bucket. My mom, thought I was going to be just like my father...and when I was finally old enough to break free, and run away...I come to the only place that could help me. Ever After High was revered as a school for Fairytales, where they were taken care of and taught about their destiny. And even they rejected me!"

"They rejected you because you are a sick fuck. You have the right to chose which destiny you want to fulfill. I should know, my mom discarded me like a rag, tossed me into another world. Just so she could use me as some sort of sponge for when she eventually broke out of her prison. My sister and I, both signed the book and we are not evil...Felipe this isn't hurting anyone but yourself and those around you. You don't have to be like your father...you can be someone else." Blake said, holding his hand out. Felipe smirked, lowering his knife from Briar's throat.

"You're right, I can be someone else...I can be someone more twisted than my father. I've already sunken too deep I'm afraid...in fact, it was your mother who opened the portal to Neverland for me the first time...back when she was in high school. We ran into each other, and we made a deal...if I helped her steal the Storybook of Legends, she would then give me the power to do anything I wanted. To get revenge on my mother, to destroy the school that rejected me. I couldn't have Snow White, but I decided to wait until she popped one out, and that sucker happened to be the most beautiful girl in all the land!" Felipe said, chuckling slightly.

"You're sick...how could doing any of this be right?" Lily cried, taken aback by the man's attitude.

"Haha...that's a good question...but I'll clue you in on something...I despise women...it was my mother who made me hate them. Always saying that no woman would ever love me because of my disgusting beard, that I was just like my father...well fuck her! All women are disgusting creatures, but we can't live without them I'm afraid."

"You can't make that choice just because your mom mistreated you. Blake isn't evil because his mom tossed stabbed him in the chest with a mirror is he?" Cerise growled, earning a laugh from the boy.

"That's true I suppose, but that doesn't change a thing...so I made it my mission to take every woman that caught my fancy and take her to the promised land. So far, seven of them were stupid enough to actually listen to me...the last one was the funniest one...she said she'd love me forever, and when she told me she was pregnant I couldn't help myself. I had to cut out her uterus and make sure she wasn't lying!"

"Oh...god you're sick...how many more must die before you realize you have issues man? Think about their families? They're parents who will never see them again?" Blake shouted, causing Felipe to grin. He grabbed a hold of Briar's breast, squeezing it tightly in his grasp, earning a muffled cry from her.

"Fuck their parents...I didn't get to have happy memories with mine...so they won't get happy families with theirs. There's only one girl that I will treat differently, and that is Apple...after all, I have to do Snow White that kindness. She was my first love after all, and I have to make sure her daughter is taken care of. Once I have three kids, all boys mind you, I will send her back home...if she makes it back alive, then that will be a miracle."

"You think I'll let you do that? Apple White will get her happily ever after, and it will not be from you! You will pay for these crimes Felipe, there is nothing you can do to stop me from killing you. I keep my promises, and while I may have given one man mercy in the past, you shall have no mercy from me!" Blake said, moving forward.

"I see, well...then you'll have to catch me...but which is more important? My life? Or Briar's? You have a minute to choose...and I hope you choose wisely!" Felipe said, giving them all a grin as he plunged his knife into Briar's side. He threw the girl forward, jumping back into the portal at the same time. Cerise moved in time to catch Briar before she hit the ground, eyes trained on the knife.

"Blake, go after him! I got Briar, you have to go!"

"I can't...we have to get her out of here." Blake said, kneeling down beside the girl.

"No Blake, you have to go...if he gets away, we'll never be able to find him. We can get Briar out of here, just go!" Lily cried, earning a distorted growl from the boy.

"I said no! Briar is my friend, and I'm not going to let her die here. He's gone to Neverland, he made it that obvious, we can get him later. Right now we need to get this bleeding out of control." he snapped back. He grabbed a piece of his shirt and tore it off, grabbing a hold of the knife.

"Are you sure you wanna move that? What if it's keeping the bleeding stable?" Cerise asked.

"You're right...but we can't just leave it in either...alright, Poppy, Cerise you two go and get Raven and Kitty here right now. Lily you and I will keep her bleeding from becoming more profuse. We need to get these shackles off her first." he said.

"Okay, we'll get her some help. Come on." Cerise said, dashing out of the library ahead of Poppy, who gave Briar a glance before leaving. Blake pulled the gag from the girl's mouth, allowing her to fully breathe. She grit her teeth, eyes clenched shut.

"Tell me Blake...how bad is it?"

"It's just a flesh wound, you'll be fine. Lily, take this cloth and press it against the wound. But don't move the knife, try to wrap your fingers around it if you can." he said, handing the blue haired girl another piece of cloth.

"Okay...I'll see what I can do." she said, kneeling down next to Briar, pressing the cloth to her side, causing Briar to writhe in pain. Blake took a hold of her shackles, slipping his enchanted pin into her shackles, quickly taking them off. He did the same with the ones on her legs, tossing them aside.

"Ugh...this is bullshit...first, I'm fighting some ghouls...and then I wake up in this hellhole...can't even pee in a bucket. Only to get fucking stabbed...what a shitty day this has been." Briar said, earning a chuckle from the boy.

"Good to see you've got your humor...don't worry honey, we'll get you out of here in no time. Just stay still." he said, channeling some magic into her body. He closed his eyes, focusing on the magic energy entering her body. He could see exactly where the blade of the knife was, thankfully it wasn't piercing any organs. It had missed all nearby arteries as well.

"Good news, we can move this knife. This is just a flesh wound, no internal organs were injured, and no arteries were sliced open either." he said.

"That's good, last thing I need...is to bleed to death. I still haven't...gotten laid yet."

"Gotta love how you've got a knife in your side and your priorities are having sex. You really are Sleeping Beauty's daughter aren't you?" Lily asked.

"Hey, if I gotta sleep...for a hundred years...I gotta...have some fun right? Go on Blake, pull that sucker out." she said. The boy nodded, wrapping his fingers around the knife. He slowly slid the knife out of place, a small rush of blood pouring out of the wound. Blake handed Lily another piece of cloth, pressing it hard against the wound. The portal behind them finally closed, their only access to Neverland finally closing.

"You should have gone after him Blake...Lily and Poppy could have taken care of me." Briar said, causing him to shake his head.

"I can't abandon a friend...I know Apple is in danger, but he isn't going to kill her. He wants her for one thing, and I will get to him before he does...you'll be fine too...after you get some stitches taken of course."

"They're over here, come on." Poppy cried, suddenly entering the library. Following her was Cerise, Raven and Kitty, along with Holly and a few of Snow White's soldiers.

"Oh god, Briar...how could he do this to you?" Holly cried, kneeling next to her friend.

"He's a sick bastard...don't worry, I'll be fine. How is everyone else?"

"Not good, half of the school has been petrified by ghouls and a lot of our fighters are incapacitated. Realistically speaking, we were dealt some heavy blows...where did he take Apple?" Raven asked, causing Blake to stand up, wiping the blood on his hands on his shirt.

"He took Apple to Neverland...he said he was going to keep her there as his wife. He also said he killed seven others, I'm not sure how many more he's killed." he said.

"We have to get out of here...didn't you say Henry was in the hallway? He wasn't there when we came through." Kitty said, earning a sigh from the boy.

"He must have gotten away...it doesn't matter. Kitty, we have to get Briar to Snow White's frigate as soon as we can. You two, you brought some medical stuff right?" he asked, glancing at the soldiers.

"Yes sir, we brought a first aid kit and a few pain killers." one of the men said, handing him the box. He knelt down next to Briar, opening the box. He opened the alcohol and poured some on his hands, ignoring the slight stinging.

"Okay, Lily move those rags...we gotta disinfect that wound, then we'll be able to put some gauze on it. Briar, this is gonna hurt like hell."

"Tch...compared to pricking my finger on a spindle, I doubt it. Just do it." she said, closing her eyes tightly.

He nodded, pouring some of the antiseptic into the wound. To his surprise, she didn't make much of a fuss or even scream like he had been expecting her too. A bit more blood started rushing out, but he quickly put some gauze on it. Pressing it into the cut, he wrapped it tightly around her waist, making sure the bundle of gauze didn't move. Once he had done his rapid patch work, he nodded to Kitty, who took a hold of Briar's hand.

"Let's get out of here Briar, you'll be a-okay in no time." she said, giving her a grin.

"Thank you Kitty...see you all soon." she said. Blake shared a brief kiss with Kitty before she left, leaving them all alone in the room.

"Let's get out of here...I want this place destroyed as soon as we leave." Blake muttered, handing the first aid kit to the soldiers.

 _ **xxx**_

A couple hours after returning to Ever After High, Briar had been taken to the nearby hospital for an extensive check up. She not only needed to get stitches, but also a blood transfusion from all of the blood she had lost. The mission had been mostly a success, though they had still lost Apple. Snow White had been disappointed, but was still glad that they had been able to rescue someone from Felipe's clutches. She hadn't been able to interview Briar, and Poppy didn't remember much about what had happened, so they still had nothing to go on.

Blake and Lily however had told Snow White everything that Felipe had spoken about. Cerise and Poppy had also given their version of the events, once they had entered the airspace around Ever After High. She had been stunned when she had heard everything, and even though she remained calm and collected, the four of them knew she was close to losing her cool. They had never seen Snow White get pissed off, but they had been rather close to it. Not only that, she had also shared with them the ghastly discovery they had made in the dungeons below the castle grounds.

Apparently, what Felipe had said had been accurate. They had found seven bodies inside seven different cells. Two of them had been young women between the ages of seventeen to twenty four, and had been the more recent of the group, since they only seemed to be dead for a few weeks. One young woman had been deceased for a few months, and had her uterus completely cut out. Another girl had her throat slit, and had even been disemboweled by the sick man. The other three women were so badly decayed that they couldn't even be recognized. Snow White had left several of her soldiers and some police officers to document the scene, hoping not only to bury those victims, but also to contact their families. Blake was at least glad he hadn't seen any of that, because he would have most likely lost it at that point. For now, he had been explaining the situation to the Headmasters and Snow White, just outside of the entrance to the school. The mayor of Bookend had declared an emergency, and the nearby city of Meadow Brook had sent their assistance almost immediately. Gloriosa and the White Queen had also left a portal directly to Wonderland High's gymnasium, to use as a refuge for the injured.

"So, that's it...he took Apple to Neverland. I have no idea how he was able to open the portal, but he was holding a book in his hand. My mother has written a lot of evil spells...I wouldn't put it past her if she created portal spells to each realm connected to Ever After." Blake said, bowing his head a bit.

"This is rather serious...it seems he has taken her out of our grasp. Without that particular book, I'm afraid there's nothing we can do." Milton said, rubbing his eyes tiredly.

"What do you mean there's nothing you can do? There has to be something!" Snow White cried, a desperate look on her face.

"Sis, I know the situation is bad...but the only portal is the Second Star, and that one has been blocked off. What Headmaster Grimm means, is we'll have to look for another way in. We found one into Wonderland, we can definitely do the same for Neverland." Raven said, taking a hold of her hand. Snow White nodded, giving her step-sister a nod.

"It's gonna be a bit harder...we had the Wonderland curse, and that spell that I was able to find last time. Gloriosa's charm was the one that opened the rabbit hole when we got to the realms between. That spell could work again, if only I had something from Neverland to use." Blake said, placing a hand on his face.

"What about Pixie Dust? We can use that can't we?" Kitty asked, a hopeful look on her face.

"Hate to piss in your cornflakes Kitten, but that won't work." the voice of Faybelle said, bringing their attention toward the school sign. She was sitting on top of it, looking a bit tired.

"Why not? Would you mind explaining that Miss Thorn?" Milton asked curiously. She rolled her eyes, wings fluttering a bit.

"All fairies use Pixie Dust for their magic. For my magic, I require dark Pixie Dust, which of course comes from the Dark Pixie Dust tree located in the Dark Forest. Good fairies, like Farrah...ew...use Pixie Dust from good fairies. The only problem is that the dust that we all use here in Ever After comes from the tree the Fairy Queen planted here when she first arrived. So it isn't dust from Neverland, meaning it can't be used." she said.

"That is a good point...plus I think it has to be a personal object. When the rabbit hole opened up, Gloriosa's charm appeared on the floor and opened the rabbit hole." Raven added a frown on her face.

"Well, right now we're stumped...we might as well take a few minutes to rest and come up with another plan. I must check on my students to see how they are doing...Giles would you mind accompanying me? It's been quite awhile since we have gone to Wonderland High, hasn't it?"

"Indeed it has brother, let us go together." Giles said, following his brother toward the portal, both disappearing beyond it.

"I'm gonna sit down...I feel like shit." Blake muttered, moving toward a nearby bench, practically falling onto it.

"You've done a great job so far Blake...I'm not sure when we'll be able to move onto the next phase. So take all the time off you need, you deserve it...all of you." Snow White said, earning thankful smiles from the others.

"Um, your majesty...don't worry...we'll bring Apple back to you. She helped us all out when we went to Wonderland last time...she's an irreplaceable friend. We will not let that guy do anything to her, I promise."

"Thank you Miss Cheshire...you know...you made a wonderful choice Blake...she's a beautiful young woman...make sure you treat her well."

"I will sis, see ya soon." Blake said, earning a nod from Snow White, who started heading toward one of her frigates. She was tired, and it was becoming apparent that she was running herself ragged.

"This is hard on all of us, but it's even harder on Snow...she must be suffering so much. She can't even show it, because if she does, then her subjects will revolt." Raven muttered, watching her sister disappear into the large airship.

"Um...hello, aren't we gonna go to Neverland? I mean, I don't normally give a rats ass about anyone other than me. But that fucker stabbed my friend, and he's threatening to do nasty things to Apple. That means we have to go there and kill his ass!" Faybelle cried, fluttering down from the sign.

"How exactly do you want us to get to Neverland? Didn't you hear, the only portal is closed?" Blake asked. Kitty sat down next to the boy, wrapping her arms around him, resting her head on his shoulder.

"That didn't stop you from opening one to Wonderland did it? Are we just gonna sit here and do nothing?"

"Faybelle, it isn't that we are doing nothing. We just can't do anything right now...I have an idea...how about we go search the Forbidden Library for some books? We might find something there." Raven suggested.

"Fine...how about we pick up some assistance on the way? I'm sure Lizzie and Gloriosa are available, seeing as the others are frozen or on check up duty."

"Hey Fay, why are you helping us all of a sudden? Is Briar getting stabbed the only reason or is there another reason?" Blake asked curiously. The dark fairy looked toward him, crossing her arms.

"Because I owe you...remember the Forest Fest? You got me a ticket to that dance...so I'm paying you back. Just this once, you'll have Faybelle on your party. So you best get off your ass, snuggling with your cat isn't gonna bring Apple back." she said, giving the boy a wink. She took off toward the school, with Raven following after her.

"It's been a hard day, and it's only one o'clock...would you like something from the lunch line? I think they're serving sliders today."

"Would you? I just wanna sit here for awhile, catch my breath. All of this shit is just piling together." he said. She gave him a kiss on the cheek, disappearing a second later. He leaned forward in the bench, placing his head in his hands.

"What a mess...Apple is gone, half the school is injured, Briar got stabbed, and now we gotta go to Neverland. Can't shit just stay calm for awhile? All I wanted to was to take my finals and enjoy my summer vacation." he muttered, clenching his eyes shut. He felt a cold breeze suddenly pick up, making him shiver slightly. He looked up, seeing a stream of snow forming in front of him, causing him to get up to his feet, placing a hand on his sword.

However when a familiar girl fell out of it it, he eased up a bit sighing with relief. The snow around her disappeared, revealing none of other than Crystal Winter. She was still dressed in her winter clothing, not at all bothered by the heat of the lower world. She muttered something under her breath, forcing herself up to her feet, brushing the dirt and dust from her clothes. She looked up mid part, locking eyes with Blake who had been watching her closely, an amused smile on his face.

"Having trouble teleporting Crys? Trust me, I've been there."

"Blake! I'm so happy to see you." she cried happily, jumping into his arms. He sighed, returning the hug the girl had given him. He was hoping she didn't still have feelings for him, that was the last thing he needed at the moment.

"I'm happy to see you too Crystal, I missed you. You've grown a bit." he said, noticing she had gotten a little taller than before.

"Yeah, mom said I still have a bit more growing to do...I came here because I heard what happened from Ashlynn. I wanted to help out." she said, earning a smile from the boy.

"Thank you...we could use all the help we can get. Over half of the school is injured, the other students are helping the injured...the worst cases are in Wonderland right now. And Apple is currently in Neverland, and we're trying to find a way to get there." He explained.

"Whoo...that's bad...I can't believe that Felipe guy did those horrible things. I'm not sure if Ash told you, but my parents received a note from him as well...my father was exceedingly mad. He sent a letter in return, threatening to freeze him where he stood if he sent another one."

"Hmm...so my theory was true. Apple wasn't his only target...he had others too...I'm worried for her. But I'm worried for Briar as well, she got stabbed by that fucker earlier."

"What? Ashlynn didn't tell me that! Is she alright? Where is she?"

"Whoa...she's fine...she's in the nearby hospital. She had to get some stitches and a few blood drips. But she'll be fine." he said. She calmed down a bit, but her look of distress persisted. Kitty returned a second later, holding a single lunch tray in her hands, along with a couple burgers, some apples, and a few bottles of juice. She locked eyes with Crystal, giving her a once over before smirking.

"Oh...so Crystal Winter returns...looking forward to screwing my boyfriend again?"

"Whoa what? Boyfriend? When did this happen?" she asked, glancing at Blake who flushed, rubbing his neck.

"During our trip to Wonderland...you can say I finally got what you meant." he replied, earning a pout from the girl.

"Aw...no fair...here I was hoping to get you on a date...but I suppose if you are a taken man, then I can't do anything...though how do you know about that little event?" she asked, earning a giggle from Kitty.

"Do people really forget I can go invisible? I saw all of it...and it was super hot...it took a lot not to jump in. I'm alright with sharing just so you know."

"Okay, enough of that...we don't have time to screw around. We have to figure out a way to Neverland as soon as possible." Blake said, taking a hold of one of the burgers, hungrily tearing into it.

"Ash told me about your trip to Wonderland, can't you just do the same thing?"

"No we can't...in order to use that spell, we would need something from Neverland for the portal to open. So that one is out, Felipe took the only book from the Evil Queen's castle too. So right now, there's only one portal we can take, and it's currently sealed." Kitty said, pointing to the sky, where the Second Star was shining brightly. Even in the day time, it was the only star visible in the sky.

"Oh, it's so pretty! I see that star shining so brightly back home, I never once thought that was a portal to Neverland." Crystal said, pressing her hands together.

"Really? Haven't you heard the saying?" Kitty asked, muffled due to the food in her mouth. Blake rolled his eyes, handing his girlfriend a napkin.

"Here, don't talk with your mouth full babe, it makes you look impolite. Anyway, the saying goes like this...Take the Second Star to the right and fly on until morning. You'll soon find yourself in a timeless land, where people don't age and you can be a kid forever. This is the mystical world of Neverland." he said, taking another bite from his burger.

"Well...if it involves flying...it's gonna be a little hard. I don't think Cadence can hold a lot of people...she's still pretty young."

"Not just that, we just got back from a raid on the Evil Queen's palace. So she's really tired, we're gonna have to fly there ourselves." Kitty said.

"Fly there our...of course! That's it...we can just fly there ourselves...who the hell said we need a portal? If I combine my magic with my sister, Faybelle and Crystal, we might actually break through the portal. We'll be able to fly through the Second Star into Neverland!" Blake said, a grin on his face.

"That does sound plausible...are there any other users of magic here that can lend a hand?" Crystal asked curiously.

"Yup yup! There's Farrah Goodfairy and Jessica Merlin...if all of you combine your magic, you'll definitely be able to burst through...but...what about the curse?"

"I'm not sure what the curse is...it might be something like Wonderland, or it can be something worse." Blake said, finishing his burger. He wiped his mouth clean with his napkin, grabbing one of the juice bottles, giving it a few good shakes.

"Maybe it's something like the Wonderland curse? I think it was magic poisoning right, that's why all of the portals were closed. At least...that's what my mom said." Crystal said, earning nods from the two.

"That's right...the Wonderland curse poisoned the magic and wonder. But this curse isn't anything like that...I think it's something else."

"It's a time curse." Kitty said, causing the two to look at her.

"A...time curse? What does that mean?"

"Yeah, what do you mean by that Kitty? How do you even know this?" the black haired boy asked curiously. She gave him a grin, setting the tray down on the bench, grabbing one of the apples.

"Well...before Briar went to sleep, she told me something. She pretended to be knocked out when Felipe brought Apple into the library. She was talking about something called a Time Gear...she also said, that a curse of Perpetual Darkness was put on Neverland when it was removed. At first I was confused, because I didn't know what a Time Gear was, but we've heard that term before haven't we?"

"Yes...the clock tower...there was a message inscribed in it...look for the time gear. Could this be a message from the past? Could someone have predicted this would happen and put that there to warn us?" he asked.

"Oh oh, what if it's a message from the future?"

"Uh no...that isn't it...perhaps this goes along with what my mom said...she said that Neverland was under a curse of Perpetual Darkness. The Time Gear sounds important, but I have no idea what it does exactly, perhaps it regulates time in some way? Since Neverland's time is at a stand still, no one ages. But what if there's something more than that?"

"More than not being able to age?" Kitty asked.

"Well, I did hear a story from my daddy once. He said there was this man known as the Time Keeper, who lived at the top of the tower of Time. From it, he could watch the entire timeline and make changes when needed. If the Time Gear regulates time like Blake theorized, than maybe the Time Keeper being alive has something to do with it too." Crystal said. Though confused, Kitty seemed to understand what she was alluding too, if only vaguely.

"Right...so as long as the Time Keeper is keeping time, the time of a realm won't stop. But that also makes no sense, I guess the only way to get our answers would be to go to Neverland ourselves." he said, glancing at the Second Star. Kitty finished her apple and grabbed her juice bottle, twisting the lid off, gulping half of it down.

"Ah well, I guess I'll go check on Raven and Faybelle. I'll also gather Farrah and Jessica, see if we can get this party started. You and Crystal go talk to the Fairy Queen, she's from Neverland so she might have answers."

"I dunno...she's been acting weird ever since this whole debacle started. I mentioned the Neverland Curse to her and she just shut me out, I haven't spoken to her in awhile, and we used to speak almost daily." he said, a worried tone in his voice.

"I'm sure you'll figure it out...you bested the evil Joey, and you saved all of Wonderland...this should be cakewalk for you...I'll see you both later. Feel free to smooch Crystal all you want, I don't mind."

"Ugh...just go you annoying cat." Blake cried in annoyance. She wrapped her arms around his neck, giving him a firm kiss on the lips. He pulled her close to him, returning the kiss with one of his own, causing her to start purring. She pulled away from the boy, giving him a wink before disappearing, her smile hanging in the air for a second before flashing out of existence.

"I can tell you two care a lot for each other...you remind me of my mom and dad." Crystal said, a fond smile on her face.

"I'm glad then...if we head to Neverland, then that means we can save your sister...what was her name again? Annaise?"

"That's right...I haven't seen her in forever. I'm so glad I decided to come here today...by the way, are you gonna eat that apple?" she asked, pointing to the apple left on the tray. He shook his head, handing it to her.

"Here, you can have it. Let me just toss this and we can go." he said, grabbing the tray, which was thankfully disposable. Crystal took a step forward, only for her to trip, though Blake was fast enough to catch her.

"Oh man, my shoes are untied again." she muttered dejectedly. She moved over to the bench, glancing at her unlaced boots.

"It's alright...I'll wait." he said, finishing his apple.

"Well, you'll be sprouting roots then. I uh don't know how to...you know...tie my shoes." she said, glancing at the floor with a flush on her face.

"Eh? Are you serious...Crystal, you're seventeen, you can't be telling me you don't know how to tie your shoes."

"I don't! I have pixies for that, they're the ones who lace my boots for me...you didn't notice this at all last time you were over. I tried to keep it hidden from you and Kitty because I didn't want you to make fun of me." she said, earning a sigh from the boy.

"Sweetheart, I'm not a dick hole. I wouldn't make fun of you because of your inabilities...it isn't that hard. Thankfully, I've grown used to wearing boots my entire life. So this is not an issue for me...I'll teach you how to do it." he said, kneeling down before her, grabbing a hold of her laces.

"Okay, now pay close attention..this part is easy, all you have to do, is tug on them until their firm. You grab all of this excess and you do the following, cross both laces and tug on them. Then you take the one in your left hand and loop it, you take the one in your right and slip it through and form another loop, and then you pull. That's it." he said, removing his hands once her laces were tied.

"Oh wow, that is really easy...um...I'll go ahead and try this one." she said, grabbing the laces. She started tugging on them just as Blake had shown her, but after she had she had forgotten what had come next. She ended up looping both laces, trying to tie them only for them to come undone.

"Hmm...maybe you should wear flip flops."

"Ew no...I hate those...even when I go to the beach I gotta have my boots on. They're just a part of me...this is a lot harder than I expected." she replied. He rolled his eyes, grabbing a hold of her laces.

"I'll do it, but next time you gotta do it yourself." he said.

"Whoa...what the hell do we have here? Yo Bigby, are you tying her shoes for her?" a familiar voice said, causing the boy to look up.

"Joey...what the fuck are you doing here?" he asked, more stunned than angry. The boy was wearing a crimson jumpsuit, with black stripes on it, decorated with hundreds of little hearts. Standing beside him was a card soldier, who was holding onto a lengthy chain tied to the boy's waist.

"Community service...I got through a pre-trial back in Wonderland. Once the Queen of Hearts read everything I had done, and let it sink in...I realized what a fucked up piece of shit I had become. Hard labor for the rest of my life sounds like shit, but it's better than dying."

"Tch...somehow I don't believe you...a person who stabs another man twice in one day, deserves more than hard labor. Does he speak the truth soldier?"

"Every word Sir Blake, the Queen of Hearts listened to his appeal and gave him a sentence. The final verdict will come once he goes on trial here, so far he has gotten a life of servitude to those he has wronged. So he has become a butler to the Queen of Hearts, highly watched so he doesn't attempt anything." the card soldier said, earning a laugh from Blake.

"Ah...that's rich...you gotta pick up after the Queen of Hearts...man I do not feel for you." he said, returning to his task.

"You didn't answer my question douche bag. Why are you tying her boot straps for her? Isn't she a big girl?" Joey asked, a smug look on his face. Blake gave the laces a tug, turning to face the boy.

"Actually, I'm showing her how to tie a noose. That way when pieces of shit like you attempt to kill her, she'll know exactly how to tie one. Now remember Crystal, you want to make sure the platform is high enough for them to hang. When you pull the lever, you want to let gravity do the work, the neck will snap and the noose will do the rest. If it isn't tied properly, then they could slip out. And someone with a broken neck is just as bad as wounded animal, and it would be a waste of a bullet." he said, earning a wide eyed look from the girl. Joey started walking down toward Bookend, being followed by his Card Keeper.

"I'm so sorry Crystal, I didn't meant to say any of that...it's just...you haven't heard the whole story."

"No it's okay...you don't have to explain. After everything that happened, you weren't expecting to see him here...you have nothing to apologize for. Now come on, let's go talk to the Fairy Queen." she said, taking a hold of his hand, slipping her fingers through his.

"Crystal, you know I'm in a relationship right?"

"Mhmm...but I'm tempted to take Kitty's offer." she said, giving the boy a kiss on the cheek.

"Do I get a say in this?"

"Nope." she replied, pulling him along. He glanced up at the sky, frowning a bit as he focused on the Second Star.

" _Soon Apple...we'll see each other again, and I will bring you back. I made you a promise, and goddammit, I'm gonna keep it. Felipe's life is forfeit."_


	86. The Ballad of Bluebeard VIII

**A/N:**

 **Hey everyone, I would like to welcome you to Chapter 86 of Through the Looking Glass. Things are finally starting to change as Felipe reveals his past to our main characters. He is also beginning his endgame plot, having taken Apple into Neverland. Now all that was left was for Blake and his friends to form a rescue party and head there to save their friend. The only problem with that is that they don't exactly know how to get to Neverland. In this chapter, you'll get to see how they get there, as well as a bit of the Neverland Curse and how it has affected the land, it's people, those who survived it and of course our heroes who will head there to save Apple White.**

 **I have just started the prelude to the next arc, which will be centered around the Little Mermaid...I decided that I want to have Blake visit every realm connected to Ever After. So far, he has been to Wonderland, The Land on top of the World and now Neverland. The next place he will visit will be Atlantica, after that, I might have him go to either Agrabah or Mount Olympus, it depends on the mood really. Obviously the next two arcs after this will be Dragon Games and Epic Winter, centered around Ever After High and The Land on top of the World. After that, I was planning on doing a Return to Neverland thing, but I haven't exactly planned it out. So I might do Agrabah or Mount Olympus instead...afterwards, I might have him head to Gingerbread Land so that he can meet the Candy Witch, Ginger's mom, as well as a few other people, like the Muffin Man, who I have been wanting to add for a long time, but haven't for some reason or another. ChimaTigon suggested I do Oz, but that world is so expansive and there are so many books that use it, that it would be a little hard to actually come up with a plot for that world. I would love to see the daughter of Dorothy exploring Oz and walking down the Yellow Brick Road to see the Wizard...but honestly, it has been a long time since I've seen that movie, and like I said, I bit complex for me to create a plot.**

 **I forgot to say, in this chapter you get to see Time in a different way. As everyone knows, Time flows forward, without pause...but I started wondering, how is it that no one in Neverland ages but time moves forward? Well, I came up with something and based it on one of my favorite Dungeon Crawlers, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, that's why I mentioned Time Gears, Perpetual Darkness and Temporal Tower. I wanted to do some nods to that series by adding some aspects of it into this. Honestly, I have a lot of love for that series, It was such a good game for its time and even now it holds up better than Gates to Infinity, and even against Super Mystery Dungeon, though that game was pretty fun. So yeah, if you are a little confused, I'll do my best to explain everything. If you are a fan of Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Sky, then you'll definitely understand what I am going for.**

 **As for the next arc, well I'm having a hard time naming it, but I so far have called it, The World Under the Sea...the main plot of it involves Blake on a boat by himself, because Daring can't anchor a boat worth a damn. The true plot will start after Blake finds Atlantica and meets Ariel, Prince Eric...or rather King Eric, as well as Ariel's seven daughters...or rather two because the other five are...somewhere, no idea where. I haven't even thought of names for them. Meeshell and Melody are the only ones I have. I'm going for Seven names that start with M like Triton named all of his daughters with A, I can still name them all too, Attina, Andrina, Aquata, Arista, Alana, Adella, and of course Ariel. I haven't really come up with any more names, except Marcus...which I guess isn't bad, because I'm sure Ariel and Eric would have a son...actually yeah, I'm adding him in now...yeah, Under the Sea!**

 **But anyway, I hope you all have a good day today. Tell me what you think about this chapter, even if you think it's crap...honestly, I'm comparing the views of this arc with Way Too Wonderland, and it's getting a lot less views than I thought. It isn't a bad thing, I mean...I hyped up this arc up a bit and even I struggled writing it...I'll most likely rewrite it in the future, or make another Neverland arc once I rewatch the movies, though I wanna base it more on Pixie Hollow than Neverland as I whole, because I love the Pixie Hollow movies quite a lot, more than Peter Pan to be honest. I always wanted to write a Tinkerbell story, guess I have an excuse now. Anyway, I'll see you all tomorrow with Chapter 87 of Through the Looking Glass...have a nice day/night.**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 86

The Journey to Neverland II

 _ **xxx(Neverland: Location ?)xxx**_

When Apple awoke, she had been expecting to see herself inside another jail cell. But instead she found herself in a different place all together. She looked to be inside what looked like a classroom. She was a bit dazed as she woke up, finding herself looking around the area. It was completely dark, save for a single candle that had been left on the desk in front of her. She glanced around at the open windows, expecting to see sunlight, only to see nothing but darkness beyond the glass. The walls looked like the had been carved out of wood. In fact, the entire classroom looked like it had been built inside of a tree. The desks were made of metal, resembling oak leaves, while the chairs had been made of wood, along with the floors which were polished to a glossy shine. She stood up, still being in that horrid dress she had been put in. She grabbed a hold of the candle holder in front of her, and held it up, shining the light around the rest of the room.

Behind her were some cubbies all of them having colorful doors on them, though they looked a bit dark. The paint looked like someone had thrown in a bit of tint into it. The shadows on the walls seemed almost fixed in place. She walked over to one of the cubbies, seeing a pencil had fallen out of it, only it had been floating in mid air. She looked at it curiously, grabbing a hold of it, only for it to remain in place, no matter how hard she pulled, it wouldn't move. It was as if it was frozen in place. She looked away from it, glancing at the glass doors which belonged to some cupboards. They were both opened, and when she reached inside, she glanced at one of the text books, eyes widening slightly.

"Neverland History, learn the history of how Pixie Dust came to be...what?" she muttered to herself.

She set the book down, trying to close the cupboard, only to find the door unable to move. Deciding to ignore it, she walked over to the windows, trying to open one. She reached for the lock, about to flick it open when she saw that it was in fact open. She set the candle down, pulling on the window as hard as she could, still it didn't budge. She sighed, wiping the glass with her sleeve, peeking outside of it. Her eyes widened a bit at the sight beyond the window.

She seemed to be on the second floor of whatever school this was. But down below, there were people standing around only they weren't moving. She saw what looked like a little girl, mid flight with a look of bliss on her face, only she wasn't moving forward or backward. There was a fairy stuck in mid air as well, about to flap his wings. She could even see the design on its wings clear as day, something that the fairies back in Ever After barely showed off because of how fast their wings were moving. She glanced out the other window, seeing what looked like a waterfall, frozen in place. The water wasn't flowing at all, she even saw what looked like water droplets being stuck in mid air, as if they had been about to fall on the children down below. The skies were covered with dark swirling clouds, only they weren't moving. The wind wasn't rattling the windows, she didn't even feel cold. The air just hung in place, unmoving, not even a single air current was flowing through the room. The nearby ocean was also stuck in place, the waves having just pulled back, about to come onto the land again, the white foam having turned dark. Even the water looked black, matching the rest of the world around them.

"Impressive, isn't it?"

Apple let out a scream, whirling around to face Felipe, who had entered the room without her noticing him. She grabbed a hold of a text book, hoping to use it as a weapon. The man chuckled, slipping through all of the desks, coming to stand beside her, glancing out the window.

"What...what is going on outside? Those kids, they look like they're playing...one of them is flying...but she isn't even moving."

"Ah...yes, that's because her time has stopped...just like the time of those children. The world around us is suffering the same curse, this is what happens when a Time Gear is removed from its pedestal, I'm afraid. Those that managed to get to areas where time was already frozen, were spared, but that was only ten percent of this world. There are one thousand four hundred and sixty two students in Neverland Academy, all of them between the ages of 5-13, with Peter Pan being the oldest of them all. Out of those one thousand four hundred and sixty two, only two hundred and ninety four made it to safety. Out of the over one hundred thousand fairies that live in Pixie Hollow, only about a thousand have survived."

"Oh my godmother...you did all of this? Why? Why would you do something so horrible? Put these people through that?" she asked, causing the man to look at her, a smirk on his face.

"I had to live in darkness for most of my childhood...why should they be any different? This world is beautiful...the sun never rises, so morning never comes. The wind doesn't blow, water doesn't flow...there are no seasons, there is no weather...this is a world of Perpetual Darkness. And those that have been left behind, have been tainted by that darkness."

"Sire, I hope I am not bothering you." a young voice said, causing the two to look over to the entrance.

Standing there was a young man of fourteen with bright auburn colored hair. He was wearing a dark green outfit, which looked to be made of leaves, the shirt bore short sleeves. He was wearing a pair of leafy green shorts, reaching down to his mid calf. He was also wearing a pair of brown shoes, held onto his feet with short cords. On his head, he was wearing a hat, which was green in color and had two red ribbons on it. Strapped to his waist, was a cutlass, which looked rather sharp. Felipe smiled, giving him a nod.

"Ah, just who I wanted to see. Come in, come in...I'd like for you to meet my wife. Apple, this is someone I'm sure you've heard of before...this my dear is Peter Pan, the boy who wouldn't grow up."

"You're...what? How are you even able to follow this guy's orders? What is wrong with you?" Apple cried, disbelief written on her face.

"I'm following his orders because he promised me he'd find the missing Time Gear. He said he would return Neverland to normal if I helped him out while he was here. I have no choice, with each day, Captain Hook gets stronger, he's even forcing his own son to do his bidding. We have to find that Time Gear and save the Fairies, before it becomes irreversible."

"And I am, I am still searching for it I'm afraid. Tell me, how is the portal doing? Are you all still keeping it shut?"

"We are...but we are running out of Pixie Dust, the fairies can't make anymore without the blue dust. Which is why I have come to you, to humbly request some blue dust...did you acquire some from the other world?" he asked curiously. Felipe reached into his pocket, pulling out a glowing vial of blue dust.

"Before I give this to you...have you located those rogue fairies yet? The ones that were friends with that traitor Tinker Bell?"

"I have not sire, it seems they have disappeared entirely. The couldn't have gotten across the ocean, even though the water doesn't flow, it still retains its properties. If their wings get wet, they can't fly, so they would have most likely died." Peter replied, earning a nod from Felipe. He tossed him the blue vial, which he caught with ease.

"If you do find them, bring them to me...if they get away from you again, then I will stop helping you and the remaining children here. That stupid Pirate Fairy has to pay for what she's done."

"Of course...I shall take this to the remaining fairies to use on the portal. Thank you sire, I know you'll find that Time Gear eventually, and we will be forever in your debt." he said, giving the man a bow. He disappeared shortly after, leaving them all in silence. Felipe let out a laugh, clutching his sides as if he were being tickled by someone. Apple glared at him, growling under her breath.

"What the fuck is so funny? The fact that you are a taking advantage of a little boy? Or the fact that you are a piece of shit? Because you fucking are!"

"Oh...I'm sorry, who gave you permission to speak to me that way?"

"You do not own me. I am my own person, you think just because we're in Neverland you can rule over me? You've got another thing coming. Wait until Blake and Raven get here...they're gonna tear you a new one." Apple snapped, earning a chuckle from the man.

"You still have hopes that those two are going to save you? They failed back in Ever After...there is no way for them to get here. That portal those idiots are forcing shut is the only way into Neverland now. Sadly, there are seven little fairies who have been a thorn in my side for the last fifteen years. Trying to open that portal through any means necessary...I want nothing more than their wings in my personal collection."

"You're sick...how the hell can someone like you do this shit? And with a calm look on your face?"

"It is what it is my dear. I'm unreachable, and unbeatable...here in Neverland, I am God! So you best start getting used to it...because in three days, you will be my lawfully wedded wife. You will belong to me, every single inch of you will be mine." he said, grabbing a hold of her hair, taking a deep breath through his nose, inhaling its scent. Apple grabbed a hold of the candle stick, driving it right into his face, making him scream in pain.

"You lay a hand on me and I swear I will cut your balls off. I will find a way, trust me." she cried, racing out of the room and into the hallway.

"Hehe...go ahead and run Apple...run all you want. But I will always find you, Neverland is my kingdom, and soon it will be yours too. You can hide if you want too...but I will find you, and I will marry you, and you will be my wife. We will have kids, you'll see." he shouted loudly, his voice echoing through the empty halls.

Apple shuddered as she made it to the entrance hall of Neverland Academy, seeing the front counter to her right. There was a secretary behind the counter, sitting in a chair looking blissfully asleep. They had been sleeping when time froze, and didn't even see it coming. She ignored her as she ran, walking through the only open door. Once she made it outside to the courtyard, she turned around, getting a full view of the school. It was built into a large tree just like she had assumed, with various other buildings built around the trunk of the large tree. There was a large ship attached to the right side of the main building, being joined to it by a wooden building, being held up by thick poles and ropes. The ship looked like a large frigate, almost the same size as the one that her mother owned. She figured it must have been completely gutted and had its decks turned into classrooms. The left side of the school had other buildings, built into nearby trees connected by rope bridges. To her it looked like a giant tree house, which also doubled as a school. It was the perfect place for never aging kids to study.

The skies around Neverland were all dark and foggy, covered by thick rain clouds. It looked like a storm had been brewing when time stopped. In fact, high above her she could see small spikes hanging in the air, except it wasn't small spikes. They were rain drops suspended in mid air. She noticed some leaves on the ground that had been blowing in the wind, had also been frozen in place. She started walking toward the shoreline, kneeling down in front of the water. Even through it looked solid, when she placed her hand in it, it still felt wet. She grabbed a handful of it, expecting it to run through her fingers, only for it to remain in her hand. She glanced down, seeing the shape of her fingers in the water. She shook her head, tossing the ball aside as she rose to her feet, walking away from the water.

"This is insane...how can time be frozen and still be moving? How can someone do something so horrible?" she muttered, glancing around the dark area. Even though it was dark outside, it looked more like it was night time, or rather about to be morning, since it was light enough to see. It was as if time fully froze an hour or so before sunrise...which also explained why the kids were outside. Perhaps they woke up to watch the sunrise every day, and that was when all of them were frozen. Then again, kids were kids, so they might've just stayed up all night. She glanced up at the sky, almost expecting to feel the salty sea breeze on her face as she brushed some hair over her ear. She could see a bright glow in the sky, where the Second Star would be. She adopted a sad smile, pressing her hands together.

"Please Raven, Blake...I know you guys will come here. I know I wanted to fight, and I still do...I'm not going to let him defeat me. But I need your help...please, hurry up." she said, bowing her head hoping her prayers were soon answered.

 _ **xxx**_

Crystal had grown increasingly distraught as she and Blake traversed the halls of Ever After High. Some of the custodial workers and some students had started the clean up efforts in the school, hoping to get everything fixed as soon as they all could. Some students were still located inside nearby classrooms, which had been turned into hospital facilities for the injured. While the heavily injured had been moved to Wonderland High, the less injured had remained in Ever After High. Some of the towns people had also been moved there since the nearby hospital was overflowing with patients. The ghouls had done quite a number on the citizens of Bookend and the school, and that was something that angered Blake quite a lot.

They headed up to the third floor, since the guidance offices had been closed off for the time being. The Fairy Queen had been helping some of the students with lesser injuries with the aid of her pixie dust. She had just finished taking care of some of the local children when the two of them walked into the classroom. Once the parents thanked her and headed toward the doors, leaving the room empty for what seemed like the first time in hours. The Fairy Queen gave the two a wave, gesturing for them to approach her.

"You two aren't hurt are you?"

"No, I'm sure you've been working all through the night healing people. Thanks for that, I'm sure everyone would still be injured without a good healer like you." Blake said, earning a smile from the woman.

"It's alright Blake, I've taken my healing dust quite serious...one of my dear friends taught me how to make new types of dust through alchemy. There was a time when that wasn't a talent, and she ended up getting banished for an entire year because of her curiosity. I wonder if she's doing fine."

"Um...Miss Fairy Queen, me and Blake have a question...I'm not sure if the Headmaster told you this but...Apple has been taken to Neverland. We need to find a way to get there, we were wondering if you had a means to travel there?" Crystal asked. The Fairy Queen turned away from them, slowly heading back towards her desk, where hundreds of vials of different glowing dust could be seen.

"I'm sorry, but I cannot help you...I don't have a way to reach Neverland."

"Are you sure about that? This is Apple White we are talking about, and she was kidnapped by the son of Bluebeard. He plans to do some horrible things to her...I know, something must have happened, something that you don't want to talk about. We don't care about that, we just want our friend back...please, would you help us Tinkerbell?" Blake asked, causing her to stiffen a bit.

"Tinkerbell? You mean like... _the_ Tinkerbell?" the daughter of the Snow Queen asked, earning a nod from the black haired boy.

"It's not that I can't help you Blake...it's just that I don't know how...you have most likely been wondering how someone so tiny, became the size of a human and had her appearance change so much right? You've asked me before." the woman said, turning to face the boy.

"Hmm...I asked once, because you resemble my mom...Melissa I mean. But that is a good question, why exactly are you...well like this? The Tinkerbell I'm used to seeing has lighter skin, short blonde hair in a bun, and wears green. Even your wings are different." he said.

"That is a good point, why do you look like this if you really are Tinkerbell?" Crystal asked, earning a frown from the Fairy Queen, who glanced toward the windows.

"I was banished from Neverland...I had this whole story fabricated for when I arrived here. That I was the sister of Queen Clarion, the Queen of the Fairies, and she had sent me to Ever After to tend to the fairies here. But the main reason why I am here is because of what I did, and it got me kicked out of Neverland, forever."

"Eternal banishment...what exactly did you do?" Blake asked.

The woman rubbed her arm nervously, biting her lip. Even though she acted like a regal queen most days, he could see this was her true nature. She was a curious Tinker fairy who got herself and her friends in quite a lot of trouble, but was also smart and heroic. Seeing her acting bashful was a bit of a welcome sight.

"I accidentally lead someone to one of Neverland's most prized artifacts...because of this, I was the indirect cause of Neverland's curse. It was slow at first, but eventually it came on us fast. Out of the hundred thousand fairies in Pixie Hollow, only a thousand or so escaped the freeze. After a few years, the darkness started warping the minds of people, few of us remained the same. But since I was the direct cause of the curse, I was banished for Eternity." She replied.

"The Neverland curse...the person you lead to that artifact was Felipe right? And the artifact he stole was Neverland's Time Gear. Because of that, everyone in that world was frozen in time, and perpetual darkness overtook the world." Blake said, earning a nod from the woman.

"But that's unfair, that wasn't your fault...did you even know Felipe was following you? Or that he was a bad person?"

"I didn't...I was just curious. Since I was friends with Peter and the other Lost Boys, I came to trust humans. This man appeared one day, he was older than Peter by a year or so...he gained our trust. My friends told me it was time for the Blue Moon and the gathering of the Blue Pixie Dust. I decided to take a look at the Time Gear to see how it was doing, and that's when he took his chance and stole it. It wasn't my fault, but the Queen had no say in it. It was the Ministers of the Seasons who became the new Fairy Council, all of them were warped by darkness, and I got the boot in the end."

"Hmm...so how were you able to change your appearance then? To become the Fairy Queen and lead the fairies of Ever After?"

"That was actually because of me."

The three glanced toward the door, seeing Jessica leaning against the door frame. She walked into the room, gauging the looks of surprise and curiosity on her friend's faces. She gave the Fairy Queen a brief hug, before leaning against the black board, holding her wand tightly in her hand.

"I'm sure you wanna know right? Well, it was a simple trade...she gave me some spare Pixie Dust, and I granted her a single wish. She ended up taking this form and appointing herself as the Fairy Queen. It was then that she enrolled in Ever After High as a student, and once she graduated she became a teacher her. That part of the story is true."

"Why did you change your appearance though? I'm sure you would have fit in with all of the Fairies here." Blake asked curiously. She grabbed a piece of chalk from the board and started drawing something on it.

"When I arrived in Ever After, the Fairies here used an alternate source of magic, instead of Pixie Dust. They had to use the dark equivalent, and that usually lead to a lot of bad things happening. The Fairies needed a strong firm leader, and some golden dust. Their wings didn't even glimmer like I was used to seeing. So, using some of my spare Garden Talent dust, I was able to raise a new Pixie Dust tree from a seed my friend gave me. I nurtured it, until it grew to an adult size, and with the last of my blue dust, I was able to create the dust that's widely used today." She said, finishing her diagram.

"Blue Pixie Dust is important, twenty six specks must be used. Nothing more, nothing less...it takes it from a trickle to a roar. Since she didn't have a Moon stone to create the blue dust, I had to use my magic to make some natural flowing blue dust. It is kept here in Ever After High, and the supply that is used to create more golden dust is managed by some of the most trained Pixie Dust keeper fairies in Ever After. All of this was done with the Fairy Queen's previous knowledge of how things worked in Pixie Hollow." Jessica added, earning nods of understanding from the two teens.

"Wow...so you had to form a kingdom from scratch...I commend you, it must have been so hard. Especially after all of the bullshit you had to go through, being unable to go home because of something out of your hands." Blake said, bowing his head in sadness.

"It's alright Blake...Ever After is my home now, and this is my school. I don't regret anything, if I hadn't lead Felipe there...I wouldn't be here. I wouldn't have the friends I do, I wouldn't have wonderful students like you...and I guess Apple wouldn't be captured."

"Hey, no one knew that was going to happen...which is why you need to help us. I know you can't go back, but do you maybe have a way to get through the Second Star?" Crystal asked curiously. She tapped her chin with a finger, glancing at the board.

"I'm not sure...I've been looking at the star for awhile now and have noticed a weird shimmer. It seems the Fairies beyond it, are keeping the portal shut. That means they need Pixie Dust in order to do it, and if I remember correctly, the Pixie Dust tree ran out three years in."

"So that means Felipe is somehow smuggling Blue dust into Neverland...how long has he been planning this for? Has he really been around for more than twenty years?" Jessica asked curiously.

"Who knows really? I don't exactly remember when he showed up...but he was part of Captain Hook's crew. I remember when his son James Hook Jr. appeared in Neverland, I wasn't even aware that he had a son at that point...I guess before he came to Neverland he was married and a decent man. But now that Neverland's time has been frozen, the darkness has warped his mind." The Fairy Queen added, causing Blake to sigh angrily.

"So, we have even more bastards to take care of. If Felipe is in leagues with Hook, we're gonna have a hard time getting Apple back. God, I just wanna plunge my sword through his guts, not just for taking Apple, but for stabbing Briar too. The fucker."

"Don't say stuff like that Blake, I know you are mad but if you get vengeful thoughts...you are only gonna get hurt in the end." Crystal said, placing a hand on his shoulder.

"As much as I want to kill this dude, I gotta agree with the Snow Angel...you aren't gonna get far with those thoughts. We have to think clearly, and figure out a way to bust through that fuckin portal."

"Man...this is just such a pain in the ass...I wish we could just get there with normal pixie dust." Blake muttered, a hopeful look on his face. A swirling mist of violet light appeared near the center of the room. From it came Raven, along with Kitty, Farrah, Faybelle, Gloriosa and Lizzie. A few seconds later, Dexter and Daring came in, panting a bit as they were both in full armor, holding their heavy shields in their hands.

"Raven...before you teleport...at least tell us." Dexter panted, earning a blush from the violet haired girl.

"Sorry Dex, I thought you weren't gonna come with us...but I'm glad to see you and Daring here too."

"I'm glad to see all of you here as well...but what are you all doing here?" Blake asked curiously.

"We found a way to get into Neverland, duh...what exactly did you think we were doing? Tracking down sheep?" Faybelle asked, a smirk on her face.

"Oh, it's so good to see you guys! I'm just so sorry about everything that's happening...I promise, after all of this is over, I'm gonna shower the school with snow to get rid of this bothersome heat!"

"It's nice to see you too Crystal...I'm actually glad that you are here. Me and Faybelle found this in the Forbidden Library, it's a book about the Time Gears, and what to do to reverse the effects of it being removed from its pedestal." Raven said, handing Blake the book. He opened to the first page, skimming some of the words.

"How much of it have you read?"

"Not much, but so far we found out a lot of information about the Time Gears. Apparently, they are all artifacts that are connected directly to the tower that regulates time. They contain the power to restart all of our stories, without the Time Keeper having to do much. However, when one of them is taken from it's rightful place, it can have negative effects on what world. The darkness brought upon by the loss of time will often times drive the weak willed insane." Raven said, earning a cringe from the boy.

"Not just that I'm afraid...it is much worse. Whatever world that happens too becomes stagnant and dark. Time doesn't move forward, so the planet has no rotation. There is no wind, there is no flow of water...there is no sunlight, there is no weather. That world is nothing but a terrifying nightmare. Those that survived the curse of time are left behind to suffer in that darkness, without being able to move forward or backward...it truly is a horrible curse." the Fairy Queen said, placing a hand over her heart.

"It says here that, in order to break the curse of time, one must travel to a time period where the Time Gear was still in place. Both must then be switched, the Time Gear from the past must be brought to the present, in order to jump start the flow of time, and connect that world to Temporal Tower." Blake said, glancing up from the book.

"How exactly would we do that? We can't travel back in time!" Daring snapped, earning a laugh from Jessica, who wagged her finger back and forth.

"Oh poor naive little Daring...have you forgotten you live in a world of magic? Lest we forget its power...with magic we can do anything. Sometimes it's hard relying on it so much, but it is there to help us. There is a way to get to the past, however our priority is to rescue Apple first and foremost, breaking the curse can happen later." she said firmly.

"I agree with Jessica...we mustn't waste anymore time...I'm willing to travel to Neverland for her. Apple helped me out a lot when we traveled to Wonderland. So it would be beneath me to ignore her in her time of need." Lizzie said, placing a hand on her rapier.

"Same here, that Felipe guy needs to pay for injuring so many of my friends. Not to mention I have to help Daring get his girl back." Dexter said, giving his brother a smile.

"Well, if you are all planning a rescue, you best not forget me. I have words to share with that disgusting bastard for what he did to my friend." Darling said, entering the room fully dressed in the armor Lizzie had designed for her.

Instead of crimson like the armor Blake had gotten, her armor was a beautiful polished white color. Her shoulder guards were emblazoned with red hearts, outlined with gilded lines that shined brightly in the light. She was wearing matching arm guards on her arm, firmly secured in place with black leather straps which were barely visible, and tucked into the armor. Over her dress she was wearing a silver colored chest plate, which had been designed to follow her every curve, and had flower designs etched into the metal. In the center of it was a heart shaped ruby glittering brightly. On her legs, she wore a pair of knee high greaves, which was a polished white color, and was designed to fit her legs snugly, like Blake's armor, her knee protectors were in the shape of a heart. At her waist was the Vorpal Blade, the sword she had been borrowing from Alistair.

"Little sis you are looking...quite fabulous if a do say so myself."

"Thanks Daring, it means a lot that you think that. But you should thank Lizzie, she's the one who designed it." she said, glancing over at her friend who was flushing a bit, a proud smile on her face.

"That looks absolutely dashing on you...you and Blake are definitely rocking that armor. Are you sure you don't want me to add a chest plate Blake?"

"I'm sure, it's too heavy for me, and would limit my movements. But anyway, this is our current rescue party right? Before we continue with anything, I have to ask. Are you all sure you want to come to Neverland? We won't be facing wacky schools or topsy-turvy students this time. We'll be facing a lot of people twisted by the darkness of this curse, not just them but rogue pirates lead by Captain Hook himself. Are you all sure you want to do this?"

"I know you are worried about us little brother, but I'm in it to win it. I'm getting my friend back, no matter what." Raven said firmly.

"I already told you, I owed you one...so I'm gonna go to Neverland...and nothing you can do can talk me out of it."

"I'm with Faybelle, you helped save Wonderland, and I abandoned you for years...it's time for me to repay you for all of the pain you have been through. Besides, Apple is one of my friends too...and I can't let someone sick like Felipe do the shit he does...I'm going." Gloriosa said, giving the boy a grin.

"Me too, I need to help in some way...I know my magic will be of great help to all of us while we are there." Farrah added.

"It is the duty of a Charming prince such as myself to rescue the beautiful damsel. Apple White is my Princess, so I must rescue her from the clutches of that evil bastard Bluebeard!" Daring said firmly.

"You know I'm not backing out of this one Blake, I got my armor on and everything...and neither is Lizzie. We owe that bastard one for stabbing Briar and attacking our school." Darling said.

"If Raven is going, then I'm going too...I have to stop being shy all the time because I don't like fighting much. It's time for me to step up and become a Prince Charming." Dexter said, giving his friend a firm nod. Blake glanced over to Kitty, who had been busy drawing a cat on the blackboard. She glanced over her shoulder, giving him a smile.

"You know I've got your back sweetheart...you brought me home, and Apple is my friend. So no matter what, I'll be there to fight."

"I'm going too, my magic will be of help...we have to work together to burst through that portal anyway." Crystal said, earning a similar nod from Jessica. Blake remained silent for a few moments, glancing toward the windows, seeing the sun was already starting to set. Had time really gotten away from them? How long had it been since they had gathered there?

"Fine then...we're going to be Apple's rescue party...we will not stop until we bring her back. I will say this, Bluebeard has crossed the line this time. He crossed the line when he took Neverland's Time Gear...but he definitely crossed it, when he attacked our school. When he took Apple from us, when he stabbed Briar in the back. I am not going to let any of that shit slide any longer." he said, drawing Excalibur from his sheathe, glancing at his reflection on the blade, his eyes normally green, were tinged purple. He ran his fingers across the blade, a proud glint in his eye.

"I promised that bastard, that I would slice his head clean off his shoulders. And I will, with the power of this sword, I will set Neverland free, and I will get Apple back. No matter how long it takes, and no matter the peril, because she's our friend. She doesn't deserve this bullshit!"

"Aye, I agree too...but there's one last thing...actually getting there. It'll take a lot more than a few vials of Pixie Dust to fly up there. We gotta fly through that fuckin portal." Jessica said firmly.

"We can't exactly open a portal from the realms between either. We don't have an item from Neverland to use." Raven added, glancing at the floor.

"So what...we're at square one again? I feel like I wasted my time."

"Sorry if you feel that way Faybelle, but realistically speaking, there's nothing we can do yet. And it is a worrying thought...every moment we waste here, is a moment that Apple is suffering in Felipe's clutches." Farrah said, earning a glare from the dark fairy.

"I know it isn't much but, when the time comes you'll need to fly up there. Here are some vials of dust, this should be enough to carry you to the Second Star and into Neverland. It is a precious resource there now, so if you have extra, be sure to hide it. I wouldn't want its glow to attract danger to you all." the Fairy Queen said, handing the group a a couple vials of Pixie Dust. Blake glanced at it, seeing the gilded shimmer of every single granule. He sighed, placing the vial in his pocket.

"I'm gonna head to the observatory...I usually get good ideas up there. I might find something if I think long enough." he said, heading out of the room.

"I'm coming too, in case you do come up with something." Kitty said, quickly taking the boy's hand in her own. Crystal flushed a bit, following after the couple.

"I wish you all the best of luck, I would go to the Observatory as well...just in case the time comes, you'll be able to leave together." the Fairy Queen said. It wasn't long before everyone riled out of the room, save Jessica who stayed leaning against the wall, a frown on her face.

"You know Tink, you're gonna have to face your demons eventually. If time gets fixed, I'm sure your friends will want to see you again."

"I doubt it, Peter said I was a traitor, and that he never wanted to see me for as long as I lived. Fairies live forever, so that's an eternity of suffering."

"I'm sure he didn't mean that...he's a kid, and kids throw tantrums all the time. I'm sure he will forgive you, and if he doesn't, who cares? It obviously means he didn't value your friendship if he easily kicked you aside. You've got your fairy friends too." Jessica replied, earning a from the Fairy Queen, who swept some hair over her shoulder.

"It still hurts...you've got no idea how much I valued his friendship...watching him say all of those things to me. Even though it was all an accident...it hurt. I don't think I could ever forgive myself for what happened."

"Well you have to Tink...you have to...you have to forgive yourself because you weren't the cause of any of that. Humans live a short life...it's why I didn't want to come back to Ever After High. I've been alive for 200 years...once this generation leaves, I'll graduate with them...but I'll have to watch all of my friends grow old, while I remain young like my dad. They'll all die, and I'll still be here...I've had that happened countless times, and it hurts every single time. That's why I'm telling you to forgive yourself, because an eternity of suffering, for something you didn't do, is a shitty way to live."

With that, the white haired wizard walked off, heading toward the Observation Deck, to wait with her friends. The Fairy Queen had a lot to think about.

 _ **xxx**_

It had been a few minutes after sundown, day two since the attack that had ravaged Ever After High and taken Apple from them. The skies were once again their beautiful midnight blue, decorated with millions of twinkling stars. After not finding anything, Blake and the others had gone down to the castleteria for dinner, to discuss ideas, only to return up to the Observation Deck. The mood seemed to be the same among the group, constant sadness and worry. Blake was sitting down on the railing, glancing longingly at the sky. The warm spring night and soft breeze had made him rather calm. Normally he would have been blasting things apart in the Dark Forest, but he knew he would need his magic once he got through the Second Star. It was shimmering again, but unlike it did normally, it looked distorted and blinked quite profusely.

He felt Kitty sit down beside him, taking a hold of his hand. He gave her a smile, kissing her cheek which made her giggle happily. He of course didn't notice the glares Crystal was giving either of them. Kitty of course took notice of said glare, and decided to return his kiss with one of her own, this time on the lips. She swore she saw steam coming out of the girl's ears from how angry she had gotten. The boy pulled away from her, wrapping his arm around her waist.

"I still got nothing, I've been thinking of everything...from flying up there, blasting through it, using a back door...nothing just works." he said.

"I know...this was gonna be a hard sell. What about you Raven, anything yet?"

"No...aside from traveling through the Mirror Realm and finding a mirror in Neverland. Thing is, we can't get anyone's attention on the other side. And there's a risk we can't break out of there ourselves...and there's the glaring hole that plan." she said, frowning.

"The Evil Queen...you know, you could ask her for help. She was the one who cursed Wonderland, and had plans to take over the other realms. That means she has to have a direct spell there." Faybelle said, an almost excited look on her face.

"Sorry Fay, asking our mother for help is out of the question. She would probably use Apple as a bargaining chip. You want my help? To save Apple White? Then you must grant me my freedom, only then shall I help you get to her...or something like that." Blake said, glancing back at the stars.

"That sounds surprisingly accurate." Daring said, glancing away from his mirror.

"That's because it is...that's the offer she just gave me. I can hear her in my head, through my mirror shard. I can normally tune it out, but she's been talking up a storm for the last two hours. I just told her to fuck off." the black haired boy replied, causing Jessica and Kitty to giggle.

"Ugh...this is total bullshit! We got magic, and we're here in Ever After High, there has to be something we can do right?" Gloriosa snapped, slamming her fists on the ground. She had been laying down on the floor for most of the time they had all been there, just looking at her phone.

"Just because we have magic doesn't mean we'll be able to do whatever we want Gloria. We can't just wish for it to happen." Lizzie said, shaking her head dismissively. Blake gasped, a grin on his face as he shot to his feet.

"Lizzie, you're a fucking genius!"

"Huh...I am? Well of course I am, I am the daughter of the Queen of Hearts after all." the girl said. He rolled his eyes, turning to face Farrah, who had been sitting by Faybelle on one of the many benches in the observation deck.

"Farrah, would it be possible to wish ourselves to Neverland?"

"Not really...it would take a lot of magic, and even if I was able to grant that, we would all be back by midnight." she replied.

"Shit."

"No wait...you got a good idea Blake, just the wrong thought process. If we fly up to the Second Star, we can just wish the portal open. We'll be in and out before it closes at midnight, and even if it does close, once we break Neverland's Time curse, the portal will be automatically opened!" Jessica said. Everyone shot to their feet, excited looks on their faces.

"Okay, so we've got our plan of action...now how exactly do we fly up there? I mean, we were given pixie dust, but the Fairy Queen never told us how it works." Raven said, holding up her vial of dust.

"Heh, I don't need dust to fly, I got my wings...so I can go ahead without you." Faybelle said, her wings fluttering a bit. Crystal however froze her feet to the ground so she wouldn't move.

"Don't jump the gun, it would be better of we all went...and you aren't the only one with wings, Farrah has wings too." Crystal said, earning a blush from the blue haired girl.

"Does anyone know how to fly with this dust then? Or do we have to ask the Fairy Queen?" Darling asked, glancing up from her vial of sparkling dust. Blake however took a more proactive approach, jumping onto the railing of the observation deck, glancing down at the courtyard below. He swallowed hard, reaching for his dust which he had kept in his vest pocket.

"In order to fly with Pixie Dust, you have to do a few things. You must pour it all over yourself, every single sprinkle matters. Then you have to believe in yourself and think happy thoughts. Or else you'll be a shit stain on the ground...let's hope this actually works." he said, flicking the cork from the top of the vial, pouring the dust all over himself.

"Blake, you aren't seriously going to jump right? Right?" Raven asked, sounding distressed. The boy took a deep breath, arms spread out to his sides.

"Faith, Trust, and Pixie Dust."

"Oh my god, he's gonna jump." Gloriosa cried, quickly sprinting toward the boy. He jumped before she actually got to him, disappearing over the edge. A few moments passed by, and the black haired boy shot over the edge of the railing, floating in mid air, a grin on his face.

"Come on, you guys have to try this!" he said, shooting up higher into the air. Gloriosa sighed with relief, adopting a rather angry look on her face.

"You asshole, I thought you were gonna fucking die!" she shouted.

"Oh come on, you knew this information too...all you need is Faith, Trust and Pixie Dust. We haven't gotten much time, we've only got a few hours before midnight!" he cried back. Gloriosa nodded, pouring the dust all over herself, following the boy's actions. She too shot into the sky, a giddy expression on her face.

"No way...I've always wanted to fly...this is so cool!" she cried, doing a few loops through the air. It wasn't long before Kitty joined them in the sky, giggling happily as she took a hold of Blake's hand.

"Come on, let's get to that Second Star already!"

"Kitty, we have to wait for the others!" he said, trying and failing to be pulled by his girlfriend.

It wasn't long before the others had joined them in the sky. To Blake, it was like he was falling down the rabbit hole again. That same excitement he felt when he was going to Wonderland, had entered his body again, as he flew straight ahead toward the Second Star. It wasn't long before they came upon it, seeing the swirling portal just beyond it. It was being blocked by an invisible barrier, which was glittering a brilliant blue color. It was pulsing slightly, as if it was being kept in place by magic. They didn't know what would happen when they crossed it, but they knew it had to be done. Blake turned to Farrah, who gave him a nod, pulling her wand from her belt.

"Go ahead Blake, I'll be sure to grant this wish to my best ability."

"That's reassuring." Faybelle muttered, causing Lizzie to jab her in the side with her elbow. Blake shook his head, glancing back at the portal before them.

"I came up with another theory. If the time gear is removed from its pedestal, the curse could spread through other realms...that's most likely why Felipe has kept this thing closed for the last twenty years. He didn't want something like that to happen...we don't need that happening because I wished the barrier away. So instead, I came up with a new wish...I wish all of us could travel through that portal, regardless of any magical resistance it's providing against travelers!" he said.

"Now that's something I can easily do." Farrah said, giving the boy a wink. She held her wand up high, a bright golden pulse of light washing over the twelve teenagers.

They all remained unmoving, doubting that the magic could actually work. Kitty however decided to take the plunge, flying straight toward the barrier, easily passing through. She turned around, giving the others a wink before flying straight toward the Second Star. Following suit, the others passed through the barrier, feeling a bit different now that they were on the other side. They picked up speed as they started moving, finally entering the Star itself. It was as if they were all being pulled straight ahead. They all tried to fight against the strong pull, but were unable to break free from it.

"Don't fight against it, just go for it!" Blake shouted, shooting past the others, easily catching up to Kitty. The others did the same, deciding it would be better to throw caution to the wind.

The group of twelve ended up passing through another barrier, that ended up shocking all of them with giant bolts of lightning. All of them feel a bit weak from it, and Blake realized it must have been a defensive spell, cast so people would be deterred from leaving Neverland. It wasn't long before they passed through the portal, being greeted by nothing but think cloud cover. It was as if they were flying through thick shaving cream, instead of the soft clouds they had been expecting. After a few minutes, they finally made it through the clouds, eyes widening a bit at the land below them.

Everything was completely dark and gray, it was dreary as if it was about to rain. In fact, they could see rain drops stuck in the middle of the air. The ocean below, which would have normally been blue, had been completely dark and gray, and unmoving as well. They tried to make out any land marks, seeing Neverland Island in the distance. It was completely dark, save a few glowing lights in a few of the buildings. Everything just seemed to be stuck in time, unmoving and unaging. They didn't feel a breeze, they didn't hear the ocean waves below them, there was no morning on the other side of the Second Star, and they couldn't make out the seasons kept together at Pixie Hollow. It was a world of perpetual darkness.

"This is horrible...is this the extent of removing the Time Gear from it's place?" Lizzie asked, completely stunned by what she was seeing.

"I can't even feel the breezes of winter...it doesn't feel cold, or hot...it's just...neutral." Crystal added, a look of confusion on her face.

"Don't worry guys, we're here to save Apple and to change this deary world. It has been stuck in time for twenty years because of that fucker Felipe...and we are not going to let him win!" Jessica said, a happy look on her face.

"Halt! Who are you and what are you doing here?" a young voice cried, causing them all to stop. In front of them shot a young boy dressed in green, with bright orange hair hidden underneath a leafy hat. It didn't take long for them to realize they had come face to face with Peter Pan.

"Oh good, someone coherent...listen, we've come from Ever After. My name is Blake, these are my friends. There's this really bad guy by the name of Felipe Bluebeard."

"Yeah, he ended up stealing Neverland's Time Gear. Not just that, he took one of our friends, do you think you could help us find them?" Kitty asked. The boy smirked, crossing his arms before his chest.

"You have spoken to the wrong person I'm afraid. You see, Felipe Bluebeard happens to be my sire...not just that, he is a wonderful kind person. He's a lost boy like me, and my friends...because of him, we have blue dust to keep us going. He's the one who's trying to find Tinkerbell the traitor who stole the time gear from us!" he cried.

"What? That's a load of crap! Listen to us, this guy is pure evil...he has the Time Gear around his neck...he kidnapped our friend Apple White. He stabbed another one of our friends, he's killed seven other girls. If you know anything, please just help us find him...we promise to return Neverland to the way it was!" Darling said pleadingly, slowly approaching the boy.

"You think you are all so smart, you are all lying about Felipe. He isn't a killer, not like Captain Hook! He isn't the one who stole the Time Gear, it was Tinkerbell, she betrayed us! She cast all of us into darkness, all of our friends are frozen in time because of her. Now you claim that Felipe is bad, well you are all wrong!"

"Screw this, we aren't getting anywhere with this kid. We're better off flying to Neverland Island ourselves...she's probably being kept at Neverland Academy. Come on." Faybelle said, fluttering past the boy, followed by a few of the others. Peter however, reached into his satchel, grabbing a handful of dust.

"I'm telling you right now, fly any closer to the island, and I'll have to stop you!"

"Oh yeah, you'll stop us? You and what army?" Daring said, giving him a charming smile as he flew past. The boy shook his head angrily, pulling his hand from his satchel.

"Who said I need an army, this dust will take care of all of you!" he said, throwing the fistful of dust throwing it at the twelve teenagers.

All of a sudden, the light golden glow from their pixie dust disappeared. They all started falling out of the sky, rather uncontrollably. Faybelle tried her hardest to flap her wings, but even she couldn't fly. The ocean was fast approaching, and none of them knew that to do to stop themselves from hitting it with the force of a cinder block hitting cement.

"Raven, Jessica, Farrah! We have to combine our magic now! Before all of us die!" Blake cried out, holding his hands out. He took a hold of Farrah's hand, as well as Raven's. Both grabbed a hold of Jessica's hands.

"What do we do?" Raven cried.

"Uh...um...bubble...bubble spell, we can expand it!" Farrah cried out.

"Yeah good plan! Just channel your magic to me, I'll perform the spell!"

"Hey guys, we're running out of sky, hurry it up!"

"Oh shut up Daring, this is all your fault...you and what army, who the fuck asks that you dumb ass?" Faybelle cried, struggling to flap her wings. Jessica closed her eyes, calling up on her magic, which was increased two fold thanks to Blake, Raven and Farrah.

"I call upon the powers of good and evil, channel it now and allow me to become the medium. From this power that comes from inside, I create now, a bubble to save our lives!" Jessica cried, aiming the spell below them. A large pink bubble formed above them, growing in size just in time to catch all twelve of them, just a mere thousand feet above the ground. They all sighed with relief, as the bubble slowly drifted downward.

"Now we're riding in style...good thinking Farrah!" Lizzie said, earning a smile from her friend.

"It was no problem, you just gotta think of everything I guess...even if it sounds stupid!"

"Ne..ne..ne..ne..ne...even if it sounds stupid, get real." Faybelle grumbled, a deep frown on her lips.

"Uh oh...we're not alone guys!" Kitty said, pointing upward. They saw Peter Pan floating above them, holding a sharp sword in his hands. He gave them a grin, poking the bubble with the tip of his sword. The bubble popped loudly, causing all of them to free fall once more.

Without anything else they could do, they all braced themselves for impact, falling into the cold ocean water below. They had been expecting it to be solid, since water wasn't flowing in Neverland. But despite it being unmoving, it still remained in its liquid state. Blake saw nothing but darkness down below, despite the perpetual darkness that hung over Neverland, he could still see the light of the moon cutting through the waves, before it was frozen still. He started swimming upward, feeling like he was moving through jelly. All of a sudden, like a fierce crack from a whip, the water around them started flowing.

It had come as such a shock to everyone that it made them all freak out. Blake breached the surface a second later, breathing raggedly as he caught a breath of air. The rain clouds above them were swirling again, the rain falling relentlessly from high above. Despite that, there was no wind at all, yet the waves were moving fiercely as if there was. He could see Lizzie struggling to hold Darling up due to the armor she had been wearing. It was the same for Dexter and Daring, who with the help of Raven and Gloriosa were struggling to make it to the nearby skull island.

"Hey wait a minute...where's Crystal?" Farrah asked, sweeping her wet locks out of her eyes.

"Wasn't she with you? Oh no...does she know how to swim?" Kitty cried out, causing Blake to go wide eyed.

"She doesn't even know how to tie her shoes, you actually think she can swim? Dammit, shine a light down here!" he cried taking a deep breath as he ducked under the water. He reached into his pocket for the extra pixie dust the Fairy Queen had given him, using it as a source of light.

They weren't that far from the bottom, in fact they had been floating right above a reef. He looked around for a few seconds, seeing Crystal laying on the bottom of the ocean. He rapidly swam toward her, almost losing the air in his lungs. He grabbed a hold of her arm and pulled her up, using the rocks below as a spring board, hoping to hurry his climb to the surface. He grit his teeth, the air in his lungs slowly rushing out of his mouth as he swam. After what seemed like an eternity, he breached the surface. He panted for breath, glancing toward Skull Island, quickly swimming in that direction, where his friends had gotten out of the water. Daring and Dexter rushed back into the water, grabbing a hold of the unconscious Snow Princess, pulling her out of the water.

"Oh godmother, she's completely limp...how long was she under there?" Dexter asked.

"I dunno, couple minutes?" Blake said. He grabbed a hold of her jacket, pulling the zipper all the way down, taking it off her body, followed by her shirt. He placed his ear against her chest, hearing a faint heart beat.

"Her heart is beating, anyone know how to do CPR?" he asked.

"I do, I'll handle the pumps, you just focus in the breathing." Darling cried, kneeling down next to her friend. Blake tipped Crystal's head back slightly, pressing his lips against hers, giving her to breaths of air.

"I swear to god, if Crystal dies because of that little shit, I'm gonna snap his neck clean in half." the black haired boy said, watching Darling start with the chest compression. Once she reached five, Blake gave the girl two more breaths.

"This isn't fair...why is it that good people always have to be the ones hurt? Can't we all just live our lives in peace? Choose our own destiny without having to see our friends suffer? Why is it that other people just want to screw us?" Kitty cried, sweeping her wet locks out of her eyes. Lizzie wrapped her arms around her, pulling her into a hug.

"It'll be fine, Crystal is tougher than this...she'll live." she said softly. A second later, they heard the girl start coughing loudly, a rush of water rushing out of her mouth. She grabbed a handful of sand, panting roughly for air.

"Crystal! Are you alright? Please tell me you are?" Blake cried, grabbing a hold of her face, looking into her eyes.

"Did you...save my life?" she asked softly.

"Um...me and Darling did, yes." he said, sighing with relief. Crystal wrapped her arms around his neck, giving the boy a firm kiss on the lips, not caring about the others who were standing around them.

"Oh my god...really?" Raven cried, throwing her hands in the air.

"Kitty, aren't you gonna say anything?" Lizzie cried.

"Eh...not really, it's Crystal...I already told her I don't mind sharing." she said, giving her best friend a wink.

"Lucky bastard...how come that doesn't happen to me?" Daring asked, looking away from the boy.

"Maybe if you weren't an arrogant shit for brains, you'd have two or even three girls with you. I mean, you are Daring Charming after all." Faybelle said, causing the boy to start crying. Blake pushed the girl back, wiping his lips with his shirt.

"Crystal, you really need to not do that."

"What? You mean I can't thank the man who saved my life?"

"Ahem, I was also involved in that process? Where's my thanks?" Darling cried, crossing her arms in annoyance. Crystal turned to face her, grabbing a hold of her shirt.

"I've never kissed a girl before, but I guess if you want a kiss too, I don't mind giving you one."

"A simple thank you will suffice...now, what exactly do we do? Our pixie dust isn't working, and Peter Pan isn't gonna let us get to Neverland Island." she continued, turning to face the rest of the group.

"We still have our magic, so whatever he threw at us didn't get rid of that." Jessica said, holding her hand up, her magic acting as bit of a glowing torch.

"It doesn't matter, let's just get out of this rain storm. I still don't know how it's raining and how water is moving here. But after what just happened, I don't want to be near the ocean." Blake said, turning to face the giant skull shaped island.

"Well...we can seek refuge inside. Now that we are here, we can plan accordingly, but we're gonna need a boat to get across the ocean." Lizzie said, glancing back toward Neverland Island in the distance.

"I know, how about we use a ship to get there?" Kitty suggested, a grin on her face.

"Where are we gonna find a ship? It isn't like we can just hitchhike you know." Dexter said, wiping his glasses clean of water. She giggled, pointing to the wooden ship moored inside the large cavern.

"We can just borrow that one...come on!" she said, running toward it.

"Kitty, don't just start running! You don't know what's waiting for us in there!" Blake cried, running after his girlfriend.

Now that they were in Neverland, they didn't have long before Felipe found out about their arrival. It was time for them to put their plans forward, the fate of Apple White and Neverland was in the hands of twelve students from Ever After. But even in the new and dark world of Neverland, good people still existed, even if those people were palm sized little fairies, wanting revenge on the blue haired man that caused the banishment of their best friend. These two groups would soon collide...and then, no one would be able to stop them from bringing destruction into Felipe Bluebeard's dastardly deeds.


	87. The Ballad of Bluebeard IX

**A/N:**

 **So, I didn't have a good name for this chapter, so I just named it Felipe is a Dick. I mean, he has been a dick this entire time, but in this chapter he is a massive dick, so I suppose the name fits. Of course in the table of contents for this story, it will be listed differently, but oh well. I have just started writing the next arc of the Story, which I have named, the World Under the Sea. This arc will be a few chapters long, and when I mean a few I mean a lot, this arc so far has nine, and tomorrow will have the finale, fucking finally right? This has been the longest arc to date and I am rather proud of that feat. Of course this arc turned out way differently than I had imagined, which is a shame because this was supposed to be far darker than what currently is happening.**

 **I did find out a little bit more about The Under Sea Kingdom, which I'm still calling Atlantica. I have come up with a plot for this arc, which revolves around the Sea Witch and her collection of voices. It will also involve her daughter Coral Witch as well as Meeshell, who will meet Blake after he's set adrift in the ocean. She's a curious mermaid of course, so she'll want to know who he is and what makes him tick...I'm not sure if I'm going to include counterparts to Flounder or Sebastian...I mean, I want to but I dunno how that would work out. I might include one of Meeshell's siblings, or even bring in one of Ariel's sisters into the mix.**

 **As for the arc that comes after this...well, I'm not gonna say much about it. I've been planning it out for awhile and want to keep that to myself. As I said before, it will involve Fall Out Boy songs, as I have just gotten back into their music. I can't believe I ever stopped listening to them to be honest with everyone. I try to include a lot of music into this story, because this whole story spawned from a single song. Do You Wonder was the song that got me thinking about Way Too Wonderland, which eventually lead to the precursor for this story, which was supposed to be the son of the Knave of Hearts, trying to find his way into Ever After to warn Lizzie of the attack on her mother. Of course that didn't work and I came up with James Hook Jr. a Rebel who like Raven, didn't want to be the villain in his story, but that one flopped. Obviously, you all know which person I picked for this story. And from a single song, a story was born...it's kinda magical and inspiring huh? That's the power of music.**

 **Anyway, I'll leave this chapter to all of you...tell me what you all think, love it, hate it? Let me know in the reviews. I hope you all have a wonderful evening!**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 87

Felipe is a Dick

 _ **xxx(Neverland: Location: Skull Island)xxx**_

Even with the vast darkness of Neverland, the world still had a bit of light in it. It was rather hard for them to understand, but they weren't gonna start questioning it. They were just gonna accept it, along with the sudden movement of water and the harsh rainstorm above them. Blake theorized that thanks to the Time Keeper's influence, that some aspects of the world restarted only for the missing Time Gear to freeze it. The twelve teenagers walked further into Skull Island, the den of pirate loot well known to the Lost Boys of Neverland. Vast riches and treasure had been piled all over the place, and even in the waters below. He tried not to pay attention to it, but there were some who couldn't help themselves and started stuffing their pockets with gold doubloons and whatever else had caught their eyes. They kept walking around the outer edge of the cavern, ignoring the frothy waves slamming against some of the larger rock formations.

As they approached the other side of the cavern, they took notice of the large frigate that had been moored to a rickety looking dock. The ship had been made entirely of wood, which was a bit darker because of the lack of light. The bow of the ship had a beautiful mermaid carved into it, holding an urn in her hands. The mast stood firm from the middle of the boat deck, held up by thick ropes, the sails being furled. There was a flag strung up the pole, completely unmoving as it fell straight down. Blake took notice of its royal blue color, and knew that it was the flag of England. He started growing a bit worried when he saw the name written on the back of it, his hand unconsciously reaching for Excalibur's hilt.

With the sound of the waves being the only thing in the cavern, along with their footsteps, the twelve students moved on. As soon as they reached the other side of the cavern, they noticed the gangplank that had been used as a bridge over the large gap in the rocks. Glancing down they could see the water moving underneath it, anyone who fell in there definitely wasn't getting out. Blake tested it out first, giving his friends a thumbs up, all of them quickly hurrying along. Now on the other side of the cavern, they could fully see the large cliffside that was being blocked by the ship.

It stuck high out of the water, the rickety dock being built around it. There was a wooden stairwell leading to the very top of the rock formation, where a large tree had been planted. If time were moving, the leaves would have been a lush green color, and the bark would have been a soft brown. However this tree looked ghastly and dark, the bark was gray and lifeless, the leaves at the top were a sickly green, and fixed in place as a strong wind had been blowing when time had frozen. Some of the leaves had been stuck in time, having been blown off the leaves. There was a small shack built on the side of the cliff, with a couple lanterns hanging at the entrance, the door being opened. They all reached the end of the path, stopping in front of the wooden structure, looking for a sign of life, knowing full well they weren't gonna find anything.

"Hello? Anyone out there?!" Faybelle cried, her voice echoing through the cavern. Just like she had expected, she had gotten no response.

"You shouldn't do that...you never know who could be hiding here. That's the Jolly Roger, you know...Captain Hook's ship? He could very well be here." Blake said, giving her a scolding look. She huffed, wings fluttering as she looked away.

"Well, we're here now...we might as well check the place out. We need to get to Neverland Island and get Apple. Now that Peter Pan knows we are here, he's gonna blow the whistle on our operation."

"Raven has a point, let's see if we can find a way to reach the island. Even if we take a life boat, we can just row to the island." Darling said, heading toward the small set of stairs near the path.

"Little sis, I appreciate your efforts, but I believe it is my turn. As you know, our father has taught me how to sail a ship. Once we make sure this one is clear of enemies, we can just sail to Neverland Island." Daring said, a proud smirk on his face.

"Hey idiot, what do you need to sail a ship?" Faybelle asked, causing the boy to look at her.

"Obviously, you need to understand nautical terms as well as knowing how to read a map. You must understand latitude and longitude and be able to read an astrolabe to make sure you have your heading accordingly." he said, giving her a charming smile.

"No...I think she means we need wind...you can't sail a sail boat without wind...we don't have a propeller to attach to this thing. So no matter how much knowledge on sailing you got, without wind you can't get far." Jessica replied, causing the boy to deflate a bit, a frown on his face.

"Oh...right yes, I knew that."

"It's alright man, you gave it a good go...it was a good idea. And at least we know you can sail a boat, we might need that later." Blake said, patting his shoulder.

"Blake dear, do you think you could help me clear this ship? Darling is going to inspect the other areas. Dexter has already agreed to come with me, we just need someone else to cover us." Lizzie asked, earning a nod from the boy.

"I'm going too, just in case you need a mage." Farrah said, reaching inside her shirt for her wand.

"Me and Crystal will stay on the boat deck, Lizzie, Dexter and Blake can check the inside. Everyone else split up and check the outside." Kitty said, earning nods from the others. Faybelle grumbled under her breath, knowing she had to climb stairs instead of flying like she was used too.

Blake lead the pack as they moved up the gangplank, appearing on the deck of the Jolly Roger. They didn't see a single soul aboard, alive or frozen in time. He waited to a few seconds before climbing aboard, drawing his sword from his sheathe. Dexter grabbed his shield from his back, attaching it to his arm, also having his sword in hand. Once they reached the door that lead below decks, he gave his friends a nod and threw it open, quickly heading inside. They headed down to the first deck, seeing it was completely empty.

The kitchen area looked like it had just been stocked with food, a few potatoes had rolled off the counter, having been suspended in the air before they hit the ground. Once they had scanned the entire area, they moved down to the second deck, sticking close to reach other just in case something jumped out at them. The final area of the ship was the cargo hold, which had been filled with armament, canon balls, barrels of gunpowder, lighting rods, canon fuses and various lead balls and muskets. He spotted a few flintlocks on top of a crate, and grabbed a hold of them, handing one to Lizzie who looked it over, before tucking it into her belt.

"It has a single shot, don't waste it...and keep that powder dry. You never know when you might need it." he said softly, earning a nod from his friend.

"Well, it looks like this ship was abandoned...It's like Captain Hook knew what was going to happen. He probably went to an area where time had already frozen, just so he didn't get stuck in it. There's no crew, not even Smee is here." Blake said, sheathing his sword at his waist.

"That's a good thing, the last thing we need to do is fight some rogue pirates. We should get back out on the deck, see if anyone found anything." Farrah said. Taking her suggestion, the four started climbing back toward the upper decks, finally reaching the boat deck.

"Did you find anything down there?" Crystal asked curiously.

"Nothing, the ship is stocked, we've even found weapons...but no human life is aboard. Which is a blessing if I'm being honest." Lizzie replied.

"We checked the captain's quarters, it doesn't look like Hook has been here for awhile. There's nothing here that suggests he was even captain of this ship. And if there was, it's been removed." Kitty said, flashing next to Crystal, a disappointed look on her face.

"Well...I guess we don't have to worry about Pirates then...that's a relief. But we still have to figure out how to get to that island. Let's see if we can at least chart a course there...we got a lot of ocean to cover and the last thing we need is to get lost at sea." Blake said.

"I know how to read maps really well, Daring wasn't the only one who was taught how to sail. I just need some light since it's so dark in there." Dexter said, being lead into the Captain's Quarters.

At the same time, Darling and Raven were currently checking the small shack attached to the dock. They door had been affixed in place, thankfully wide enough for them to get inside. Aside from a single bed, a desk and a few books, there was nothing of interest inside. They looked through a few pieces of paper that they had found, but aside from that, it yielded no results. Raven frowned, leaning back against the wall, eyes narrowed in thought.

"We aren't gonna find anything here...I doubt that even if we did, it would help us get across the ocean."

"You aren't giving up on me, are you Rae? We need to work together and figure something out!" Darling said, glancing over to her friend. She sighed, looking out the only window into the darkness of Neverland. She had a choking feeling in her throat, like something bad was going to happen.

"I am aware of that...but collectively, we got three extra vials of Dust, only three of us will be able to fly there. With Peter Pan there, we won't be able to fly under the radar either. If we could just get more dust then that would solve our problems."

"Hey guys, you need to check this out! Faybelle found something at the top of the cliff that she wants us all to see!" Gloriosa cried, standing in front of the door. Darling glanced at Raven who just gave her a shrug, following the brunette out the door.

"We might as well check what all the hubbub is about." she replied. Darling followed suit, a look of curiosity on her face.

She had started thinking back on her previous periless journey in Wonderland. She knew people were in danger and that she needed to use all of her skills to the best of her abilities. This was similar, now that she was in Neverland, she had to adapt to the situation...in Wonderland, it had been simple. Following the rules of Wonderland Logic had been something she had done for awhile. For as long as she had been visiting that world anyway. Neverland's timeless realm was just like that, she had to get around the concept of time, or get rid of it completely. But in order to do that...she'd have to find a way that she could get around time itself. But of course, that was easier said than done.

At the top of the cliff, the rest of their rescue party stood in front of the tree they had spotted below. Faybelle had been standing on one of the higher branches, peering inside it. They all just remained silent for a few moments, wondering why the daughter of the Dark Fairy had called them over in such a hurry. After another few moments of silence, she pulled her head from inside the tree, jumping down to the ground, a proud smile on her face.  
"So, after my preliminary investigation, I have discovered something rather interesting. This tree, is a Pixie Dust tree."

"A pixie dust tree? You mean...this tree can make pixie dust?" Jessica asked, earning a nod from the girl.

"Yup, you are absolutely on the ball Jess. This tree has the power to create hundreds if not thousands of ounces of pure pixie dust. However, without an important ingredient, we can't get any dust. Not that I would want to, regular pixie dust would probably get me sick." she replied.

"No...this is good, if we can find that ingredient, then we can make more dust...we'd be able to fly over to Neverland Island." Blake said happily.

"Except, that special ingredient is Blue Pixie Dust...that's a rare ingredient, even in Ever After...where would we get that?" Farrah asked, a frown on her face.

"How about you leave that to us!"

 _ **xxx(Neverland: Location-Neverland Island)xxx**_

Apple had explored a lot of areas from Neverland Island, all of them being iconic places talked about in the story. But no matter what she did, Felipe would always appear beside her. It was some sort of spell that he had available, no matter where she went, he would just pop up beside her. She tried running into the woods, once she had felt brave enough, and she didn't get far before he had caught her and brought her back to the academy. The second time she had tried to run off, she had run out into the water. Having ditched that ugly dress and corset, she remained in her white shirt and petticoat, hoping to swim as far away as she could from the island. However, she had been caught by some of Captain Hook's henchmen and pulled onto a ghastly looking ship, one that was named the Queen Anne's Revenge, where she currently found herself.

It had been one of the scariest moments in her life. Captain Hook was a tall disgusting looking man, with a round chin and large nose. He had beady eyes and a short pointy looking mustache. He was wearing a tricorn hat, with a dark red coat over a white shirt and short red pants, stuffed into boots. He had laughed outright when she had been pulled onto the deck of the ship, and had instantly been shackled to the mast. He had traced her face with his hook, a grin on his face.

"Now then my dear, you think I'm going to set you free just like that? When you left Neverland island, you subjected yourself to the rough seas. Normally, we wouldn't be able to sail without wind, but this ship is magic you see, with this sword I am able to move it however I please. My crew is filled with filthy scalawags, more disgusting than anything you have ever seen. So, I formally welcome you to the Queen Anne's Revenge!" he said, laughing audibly.

"You don't understand, you have to let me go please! Bluebeard is going to kill me, and he's probably going to kill you too!" Apple cried, causing the man to laugh once more. This time his crew joined in, the same twisted expression on their faces.

"Ahaha, you are quite the funny lass...you don't seem to understand. Felipe is our savior, he's the one who's fighting to save this world...bringing back the time gear from that slimy little fairy. He's going to set us free from this curse...so we don't mind doing his dirty work. In fact, he asked us to keep an eye on you...because some pests have arrived from outer world and he needs to take care of them."

"Pests? No...he can't! Those are my friends!" she shouted.

"Ugh...cry me a river, James down here now! You are in charge of this wretched woman, I've got things to do!" Captain Hook said, glancing up to the wheelhouse. A young man jumped down onto the boat deck, the impact startling the blonde girl.

He was a rather tall teenager, being five foot eleven, easily towering over most of the crew members. He was wearing a white tee shirt, with a black hooded jacket over it, which he kept unzipped. He was wearing a pair of black skinny jeans splattered with white paint, held up by a studded belt. He wore a pair of brown buckle boots, which reached up to his knees. Attached to his waist was a cutlass, with a curved yellow hilt. He silently walked over to where Apple was shackled, grabbing her joined hands, forcing her to stand up.

"Where do you want me to take her father?"

"The brig would be ideal, but we can't have that for our sire's future wife. So the Captain's Quarters will do, I've got to keep my eye out, to provide cover and destroy Skull Island...we cannot let those rogue fairies make more Pixie Dust!" Captain Hook snapped, earning a nod from the boy. He pushed Apple forward, heading toward the Captain's Quarters. He opened the door, shoving the girl inside. She rapidly turned around, glaring angrily at the boy.

"Don't you dare touch me! How dare you?!"

"Hey, I don't like this shit anymore than you do! Do you actually fucking think I like this shit? I have been seventeen for the last twenty years! I wanna go back to the other world, or to Ever After or hell even Wonderland! I don't want to be here anymore!" James snapped, causing the girl to gasp, giving him a firm look.

"How do I know you aren't lying? This could all be a plot against me and my friends." she said, earning a laugh from the young man. He reached for his coat, pulling out a rolled up golden page, holding it up for the girl to see.

"You see this? It's my page in the Storybook of Legends...I got this a few weeks ago...at least I think it was a few weeks ago. I'm destined to be the next Captain Hook, just like my father. I don't want to live that life, and I don't want to live here." he replied. To further prove his point, he reached for the keys attached to the hook, undoing the shackles around Apple's wrists. She rubbed them for a few seconds, the redness of her skin not going away.

"So...you aren't evil? But I heard from Felipe that you were a teacher at Neverland Academy."

"I was...I was one of the principles there...I taught Navigation 101, Treasure Hunting 101, Mermaidology, Pixie Dust Theory and Sword Fighting. You have no idea what it is like to teach a bunch of rowdy kids how to hold a damn sword. Not just that, my students were 32 year olds who sucked at sword fighting, and the Mermaids, ugh...don't even get me started with them. Life isn't better down where it's wetter, take it from me." James replied, earning a giggle from the blonde. She looked away from him, noticing the ship was beginning to turn.

"If you really are a good person, then you'll let me go...my friends are in danger now. Felipe is going to ambush them and he's going to kill them."

"I can't...if I let you go, my father will definitely do something, and it won't be pretty. He won't attack me, I'm his son after all...but he will take his rage out on your friends." he replied, walking toward the other side of the room.

"Then what do we do? Can you help me think of anything?" she asked. He reached into the closet, pulling out a pair of dark jeans, a shirt, one of his spare coats and some boots.

"Yeah, I can prepare you to fight...this dark world has twisted my father. He believes all of the bullshit lies that Felipe feeds him, but it also makes him naive...he probably thinks I'm taking _extra_ care of you. Felipe said he didn't care what we did with you, just as long as you were able to bare his children in the future. Makes me wanna drive a sword through his neck." he said, handing her the clothes he had gotten. He walked toward the door, turning his back to her. Apple quickly understood what he wanted, and hastily started undressing, tossing aside the petticoat and shirt she had been wearing for most of the day.

"Trust me, you aren't the only one who wants to do that. But I have to ask...how long have you actually been here?" she said, slipping her legs through the dark jeans. They were a little tight, but she couldn't complain. She quickly put the shirt on, hastily buttoning it, not bothering to stuff it into her pants.

"It's been twenty one years since time had stopped in Neverland. I got here twenty years ago...according to my mother, she met a man who had made port in England. He had swept her off her feet with the promise of riches, and once he had courted her for that night, he took off, his ship never to be seen again. He left her with a map and a small vial of golden glitter."

"Golden glitter...Pixie Dust?"

"That's right...the map were directions to the Second Star. My mom didn't believe anything and just disregarded it all...but I wanted to meet my father. So I took the dust and poured it over myself, though accidentally. I figured out how to fly with it, and headed to the Second Star, finding myself here in Neverland." He replied, glancing over his shoulder. Thankfully, she had gotten fully dress, and had been slipping her boots on when he did.

"So, you've been here for so long that the days just blended together? Twenty years must be a long time."

"It is...being seventeen for two decades is life altering...I'd be thirty seven right now, if I had stayed at home. It's just so mind blowing...but I'm sure being the daughter of Snow White is a lot harder than this."

"You've got no idea...sometimes it makes me wonder if this destiny is the one that I really want. Don't get me wrong, I still want my happily ever after...but not at the cost of my friends lives." she said, earning a smile from the boy.

"You are a good person Apple. But we have to address the current problem, getting out of here. I know for a fact dad will do something against your friends...we all saw those twelve lights disappear from the sky near Skull Island, that's where we are heading."

"Then we have to leave, before he actually makes it there!" Apple cried, grabbing one of the swords that had been scattered in the room.

"I agree, I'll go talk to him to see if he will tell me anything...I'll just tell him you were struggling and I hate to knock you out."

"Okay, but what if he gets in here and sees me like this? He'll think you are lying...I know, give me a black eye."

"What? Are you insane? I'm not hitting a woman!"

"But James, Captain Hook will hurt you if he finds out you are lying...all you have to do is hit me once in the face and I'll be fine. Trust me, I've been hit before, it's totally fine." she said, giving him a pleading look.

"Alright, if you say so." he replied.

"Awesome...now, when I say go..."

Before she even finished the sentence, she felt the boy slam his fist against her face, sending her sprawling to the ground. She just remained there, stunned by how fast he had reacted. Her cheek felt go numb, the pain of the strike flowing through her face. She felt her eye close a bit, a few tears falling from her eyes.

"Ow, you were supposed to wait until I gave you the signal."

"If I did you would have just chickened out...I'm sorry alright? But you were the one who asked for it. I'll go speak with dad, you uh...I would offer ice but water doesn't freeze in this world...sorry." the boy said apologetically, leaving the room. Apple sighed, placing her hand over her slowly swelling eye.

"Well, at least I got some help...if only I could get to my friends." Apple muttered, her heart beating hard in her chest.

 _ **xxx(Neverland: Location-Neverland Academy)xxx**_

Felipe smirked as he sat back in his chair in the office of Neverland Academy. It was a large spacious room, built in the middle of the tree they had used. It was the highest point in the entire school. It was filled with various awards and trophies all of them being made by kids and drawn in crayon, so it wasn't anything official. There was a round green rug on the floor, looking a bit dark in the low lighting of the room. There were a few candles placed on some of the shelves which had been filled with kid's books. He heard a knock on the door, causing him to sit up, the two fairies who had been serving his tea quickly shot to the door, pulling it open.

"Come in." the man said. Peter Pan walked into the room, standing in front of the desk, giving the man a salute.

"Sire, I've got some news. It seems some travelers breached the barrier, a group of twelve being lead by someone named Blake." he said.

"Hmm...so he made it here after all...do you know where they are?" he asked, placing his hands on the desk.

"Skull Island, they arrived here with the aid of Pixie Dust...I threw some canceling dust and cast them into the sea. But it seems the oceans regained their time and they managed to get away. Your wife was captured by Captain Hook, and she is being kept with them, I made sure of it."

"Thank you for that...she was becoming a bit annoying. I'm sure Hook will keep her in line. I however have things to do, have Hook converge on Skull Island, we will take care of those wretches." he said, earning a nod from Peter.

"Sire...one of them...the violet haired girl...she said you were the one who stole the Time Gear. She said it had been you who cast the curse upon Neverland."

"I see...and you were wondering if it is true? I assure you Peter, they are liars...why would I lie to you? After all, you took me in when I first arrived here. I was a lost boy, I still am...I'm just a little more grown up...but I am still a kid inside. I want to help you get your friends back, but I must find someone who can take care of things, while I search for Tinkerbell. I cannot work alone, which is why I have brought Apple here...if she bares my children, in the future we will have more people to help us." Felipe said, keeping a soft and kindhearted look on his face.

"I understand sire, I will never ever trust outer world people...they are all jealous of Neverland. They all want to live forever, not knowing the suffering that we have faced for such a long time. It hurts having to team up with Captain Hook, but with friends like Tinkerbell, who needs enemies?"

"Good...that's good my friend...go on, we must all head to Skull Island, it is time for us to finish this." Felipe said, standing up from his seat.

"Yes Sire, I shall prepare the ship."

"Don't bother, I shall fly to the Queen Anne's Revenge myself. You keep an eye on the academy, we wouldn't want those outer world people to come here and do anything while they're frozen in time." he said.

"Of course, I will not let them get near this island!"

"Excellent, when we defeat these disgusting bugs...we will celebrate my friend...in the honor of those we have lost to time." Felipe said, walking through the door. Once he had made it out of the academy, he started laughing, the absurdity of what he had just said to the young boy just tickled him. He lay eyes on Skull Island in the distance, a smirk on his face.

"So...the final battleground is set...today is where your friends die Apple, and when you finally lose hope. You will have no choice but to do my bidding."

 _ **xxx(Neverland: Location-Skull Island)xxx**_

The group of twelve would be rescuers looked around, trying to find the source of the voice that had just spoken. They just shared a look, unable to find anyone around them. Blake decided to step forward, glancing around the tree, hoping to see someone hiding behind it it, too shy to show their faces. The voice sounded young, so he figured it had to be a kid, and since kids lived all over Neverland, it was a solid theory. They were probably frightened because they hadn't seen teenagers before. After all, Peter was the oldest of the Lost boys at 14 years old, so they were all probably thinking they were adults. He was just hoping he didn't frighten them.

"Um hello? Do you think you could step out from behind the tree? We promise we aren't going to hurt you." he said.

"We're not behind the tree." the same voice replied, causing the boy to grow confused.

"Okay...where are you then?" Raven asked, suddenly feeling a tug on her skirt. She glanced down, seeing several glowing lights floating in mid air. Upon closer inspection, she realized they were actually fairies.

"Sorry, we don't like wasting pixie dust...you guys are actually the first people to actually understand us."

Blake knelt down in front of them, holding his hand out. The fairy that had been speaking landed on his hand, her wings fluttering slightly as a few granules of pixie dust landed on his palm. She was a rather cute fairy, having long brown hair that reached down to her shoulders, held back by a blue headband. She was wearing a puffed white shirt with rolled up sleeves, along with a jean blue corset with golden buttons on it. She wore a short skirt that reached to her knees, along with a pair of black boots. She had a small sword attached to her waist, the hilt being in the likeness of a Z.

"Hey, I know you...you're that Fairy with the alchemy...I didn't think you'd actually be real." Gloriosa said, causing the small fairy to look over to her.

"Real? You don't believe in Fairies even though we're right in front of you?"

"I think what she means is, she wasn't expecting you to be real. You see, me and Gloriosa here both were in this other world. We recognize you from a movie...you uh...know what a movie is right?" Blake asked curiously.

"Not really, we're not tech savvy fairies...anyway, I guess we should introduce ourselves. My name is Zarina, these are my friends...Rosetta, Silvermist, Fawn, Vidia, and Iridessa. We're some of the few fairies who survived the freeze." she said, pointing to her friends.

"Hello...it's a pleasure...to meet you, do you...understand?" Silvermist said, earning a slap to the head from Vidia, who glared at her.

"They're not aliens, they're just humans...they can understand us just fine."

"Well...this is...interesting I guess? Anyway, I'd like to introduce our friends. My name is Blake, this is my sister Raven."

"Hi." Raven said, giving the fairies a small wave.

"My name is Faybelle, I'm a dark fairy...so don't even try poisoning me with your good fairy dust."

"Ignore her, she's just mad because she can't fly without dark pixie dust...my name is Farrah Goodfairy, I've always wanted to meet Neverland Fairies...you guys are legendary where I come from." Farrah said, giving them a bright grin.

"Haha, I am the charming son of Prince Charming...you can call me Daring." the blond bot said, flashing a smile, causing the six to shield their eyes.

"I'm his younger brother Dexter, this is my twin sister Darling."

"Lizzie Hearts, happy to meet you...it is an honor." Lizzie said, giving them a polite bow.

"I'm Kitty Cheshire, daughter of the Cheshire Cat, and I'm Blake's girlfriend, so don't try anything, because he's mine." she said firmly, glaring at the six fairies who just gave her a confused look.

"That just leaves us three, I'm Jessica Merlin, this is Gloriosa White and finally Crystal Winter. It is a pleasure to meet all of you fine looking ladies...well...tiny ladies." Jessica said, giving them a grin.

"It's nice to meet you all...but we have a question for you all...what exactly are you doing here?"

"Rosetta has a point...Neverland isn't the same as it used to be...the survivors of the Time curse have been acting horrendously. We've been ousted by the remaining fairies of Pixie Hollow, and our friend is missing." Vidia added, giving the humans a judging look.

"Well, the reason why we are here is because we came to rescue one of our friends. Not only that, we came to break the time curse placed on Neverland. That Felipe guy that everyone hails as a hero...is actually a liar. He's the one who stole the Time Gear." Blake said. Zarina frowned, glancing back at her friends.

"See, I was right...there was no way Tinkerbell would willingly lead this guy to something so precious. She was banished by the Fairy Council for no reason...we have to help get her back here."

"Well, the guy we want to fight is on Neverland Island. But since time is frozen, we can't move that boat...Faybelle wanted to make more Pixie Dust, if we use it to fly there we'd be able to end this...and get the Time Gear back." Blake said.

"Then you are in luck, we managed to get some Blue Pixie Dust from one of our friends on the barrier defense. It'll take our situation from a trickle to a roar." Zarina said excitedly.

"But we need a little help...we're out of dust, think you can carry us up there?" Iridessa asked, causing Blake to look at his friends.

"Well...we might actually be able to help with that. We got a few vials left, we can give it to you just as long as we can have some in return. We're gonna need a lot of it if we wanna reach Neverland Island." he said.

"I've got no issue with that...you came all the way here for your friend, it takes a lot of guts to do that. Plus we've been fighting against Felipe for the last twenty years, we're close to defeating his regime...we've got a friend on the other side working to bring Hook down. Once we do that, we'll be able to strike." Zarina said.

"Well, it seems like we struck it rich fellas...we're gonna get Apple back in no time." Darling said happily, handing Blake the opened vial of Pixie Dust. He tipped it over, pouring it all over the Fairy in his hand, earning a few giggles from her.

"Wow, I haven't felt this much dust in such a long time...we've only had less than a cup to share for the last few years. We can barely get a hold of anymore than that."

"Now you'll have more than enough...so you do what you have to do, we'll just wait here." he said, pouring the last few vials over the other fairies, their wings started glowing brighter than before, as they all jumped into the air, hugging each other happily.

"You guys are awesome...you've got no idea how happy we are to be ending this curse soon."

"Not to shit on anyone's party but...there's a ship coming right at us...and it looks rather fast too." Jessica said, pointing to the ocean, where a large frigate was currently heading toward them.

"The Queen Anne's Revenge! That's Captain Hook, and he's coming here, we're totally unarmed!" Zarina cried, shock evident on her face.

"Oh no no no...he's gonna come here, and start shooting us with cannons...and attacking us and...I don't wanna die!" Iridessa cried, dropping to her knees.

"Dess, calm down you have to breathe okay? Just take a huge gulp and breathe." Silvermist said, quickly coming to the aid of her friend.

"Daring, do you know anything about naval combat?" Blake asked, causing the blond haired boy to look at him.

"Barely, naval combat was something I didn't think I would need yet."

"So wait, you can sail a ship but you don't know how to shoot a cannon? God you are useless, we can't even do anything...that ship down there can't move. It's ass end is pointing right at them!" Faybelle cried in annoyance.

"Not for long, Farrah, I wish the Jolly Roger was in a position to defend this island." Blake cried, earning a nod from the girl who flicked her wand. The golden magic swirled around the ship, magically lifting it out of the water, spinning it 90 degrees so that its starboard side was facing the Queen Anne's Revenge, which was still several thousand meters away.

"It won't last for long...come midnight, it'll move back." She said.

"Yes, but you have to remember something. Time doesn't move in Neverland, so we've got all the time in the world. Zarina, you and your friends focus on getting that Pixie Dust, we're gonna need it. Everyone else, get ready...the battle is about to begin." Blake said, earning a chorus of shouts from his friends. Raven held her hands up in the air, using her magic to warp them onto the boat deck of the Jolly Roger.

"I'll go get some powder barrels and cannon balls." Kitty said, flashing into the cargo hold.

"I'm not gonna let those idiots get any closer!" Jessica cried, jumping into the railing in between two cannons. She held her hand up in the air, forming a large ball of light above her. With a shout, she flung it forward, striking the water right in front of the ship, causing it to explode. Water and rocks shot in all directions, but still the ship kept moving forward.

From the upper decks of the ship, brilliant golden glows could be seen shooting straight toward them. It didn't take long for them all to realize the crew of the enemy ship. All of them had drawn their swords, twisted looks on their faces. They totaled over thirty, far smaller than the ghouls they had faced before, but these were humans, and they would be fighting just as hard as the ghouls. The only difference was that they wouldn't paralyze you with a single touch, they would kill you. One of them shot their crossbow at Raven, only for it to be blocked by Dexter's shield, the bolt bouncing right off.

"Alright...I'm definitely gonna get that guy!"

"Bring it on pirates! I will defeat all of you swiftly, for I am the great Daring Charming!" Daring cried, striking his sword against his shield, a valiant look on his face.

"Blake, here...we have to take them out. They're only distracting us to buy time for the Revenge to get here." Crystal said, handing him one of her spare ice guns.

"I know...let's do this!" he said, giving his gun a few pumps, taking aim at one of the pirates, pulling the trigger. The ice shard flew threw the air, striking one of the pirates in the arm. He let out a cry of pain as the ice covered his entire body, making him drop into the water.

The pirates started returning fire, firing their flintlocks at the ship, causing everyone to run for cover. Raven formed a barrier over them as they finally reached the ship, dive bombing the teenagers with swords drawn. She detonated the barrier, causing the nearby ones to fly off in different directions. Blake drew Excalibur from his sheathe, racing toward the nearest pirate, throwing a slash at him, only for him to parry the attack. Fired his gun at the man's head, making him duck to avoid the ice shard. He pushed back with all of his weight, slamming the boy into the mast.

"I'm gonna tear your throat out boy...then I'll round up all of these lovely ladies and have my way with them." he said, giving the boy a grin, his smile being black and disgusting. Blake cringed, pushing the man back. He channeled some magic into his feet, performing a quick reversal, throwing a slash at the man's back. He cried in pain, shortly before being shot in the back and encased in ice.

"Well, aren't you a pretty thing...you know I like girls that can fight!"

"Ew...you are without a doubt the most disgusting man I have ever met!" Darling cried, parrying the man's attack.

He let out a laugh, slashing at her throat with his dagger. She rose her arm, blocking the blade with her arm guard, throwing another slash at the man, who flipped out of the way. He landed in a crouch, springing forward, swinging his arms in wide arcs, hoping to deliver a strike to Darling's face.

"Sit still dammit! Let me hit you!"

"Pfft, as if I'm going to do that!" Darling cried, flipping out of the way, causing the man to slam into the back wall. She threw a kick to the middle of his back, eliciting a cry of pain from the man. He growled, quickly turning around.

"I'm going to kill you girlie...or maybe I'll let you live. It's been awhile since I got good pussy, and you look like the perfect girl for me to relive my stress on." he said, licking his lips sadistically as he sprung forward. Darling drove her leg into his knee, a loud snap filling her ears. The man let out a cry of pain as he fell in front of the helm, his head being under the wheel. The youngest Charming placed her leg right on the man's chest, grabbing a hold of the wheel.

"No...wait please, don't kill me...I don't wanna die!"

"Should have thought of that before you threatened to rape me. I'm not just good pussy, I'm am a knight." she said, giving the man a wink before turning the wheel with all of her strength, a loud snap filling her ears. She shuddered a bit and turned toward the stairs, her focus on the other men that had boarded the ship.

"Where the hell is Kitty with those cannon balls? The Revenge is almost her!" she shouted, cocking her head to the left to avoid an axe that had been swung at her. It wedged into the wood behind her, earning a smirk from its owner.

"This is gonna be fun." he said, licking his lips. She growled, slamming her fist into his face, his head snapping back from the strike. She grabbed a hold of the axe, pulling it free from the wood. She held it above her head, bringing it down hard on the man's chest.

"Damn pirates." she muttered under her breath, not noticing the wide eyed look her twin brother Dexter was giving her. It wasn't long before the ship was rocked by cannon balls, the Revenge had finally gotten close enough to start firing at them.

"Jessica, can you cast a barrier?" Blake cried, pushing back the man he had been fighting.

"Yeah...but I can't hold it forever, and I need someone to cover me!" she replied.

"I got you, just keep this ship safe." Daring said, blocking a hit with his shield, throwing a counterattack at the man, who deflected his strike with his sword.

"What the heck is keeping Kitty?" Blake muttered, a worried look on his face.

Below decks, Kitty along with Gloriosa had been busy gathering up all of the powder barrels and canon supplies they needed. However, they hadn't been expecting some pirates to come down and start attacking them, so far Gloriosa was keeping the two of them back, trying not to let them shoot at the powder, because of they did that wouldn't be good for anyone. But holding back two men with a single sword wasn't easy for the daughter of the White Queen. She had been using her Wonderland magic to her advantage, which was confusing the two pirates a bit. A loud explosion rocked the ship, large pieces of wood flying in all directions.

"Ha! The Captain finally made it to the island, you are all screwed now!" the axe wielding pirate cried, swinging his weapon at Gloriosa, who ducked under it, causing him to miss her entirely. She aimed a kick at his chest, sending him sprawling to the ground.

The other pirate shot forward, throwing several quickly slashes with his cutlass. She parried most of the speedy slashes with her sword, attempting to push the man back. He let out a laugh as he pushed her back, throwing a heavy swing at her sword, snapping it clean in half. Gloriosa's eyes went wide in surprise, unable to register what had just happened. He took his chance, throwing a slash at the girl's neck, she turned in time to dodge the attack, earning a slash in the arm. She screamed in pain, her hand flying to the new cut which was bleeding profusely. Another volley of cannon fire rocked the ship again, blowing another hole in the side of the ship.

"We're gonna get you girlie and your friend too...hey, where did she go?" he asked, glancing around the room. He heard a muffled scream behind him, seeing his friend had been tossed out of the gaping hole in the side of the deck.

"What the? Frank?" he cried, eyes widened in surprise. He saw a bright flash of light in front of him, a bright Cheshire grin appearing in his line of sight.

"Hello, this one is for Briar!" Kitty cried, jabbing a dagger into the man's side, causing him to scream in pain. He started moving backward in surprise, pulling the dagger from his body.

"Gah...you stabbed me, you fuckin stabbed me...you crazy bitch!" he shouted, trying to stop the torrent of blood that was gushing out of the cut. Kitty sprinted toward him, kicking him straight through the hole in the wall, sending him tumbling out the ship.

"Nice Job Kitty, where were you?" Gloriosa cried, pressing a piece of cloth to her injury. Kitty grabbed a hold of it, tying it tightly over the cut.

"Oh you know, neither here nor there, but everywhere." she replied, a mischievous look on her face. Gloriosa glanced over her shoulder, seeing all of the kegs of gunpowder had been teleported out of the room. Before she could ask where they had been taken, a loud explosion rocked the island, knocking them both to the ground.

"Goddamn, how much powder did you fucking use?"

"All of it? I dunno...I saw the ship, imagined myself inside it, found their powder stores and just went for it." she said with a grin, earning a sigh from Gloriosa.

"Jesus...Blake's gonna have his hands full with you."

"Hehe, I know...just imagine when I'm pregnant." Kitty said, giving her a wink.

 _ **xxx(Neverland: Location-The Queen Anne's Revenge-Ten minutes before)xxx**_

Apple had noticed the ship picking up speed after a few minutes. James had come back to shackle her to the bed, telling her that Felipe had come aboard the ship. He had left moments later, just as Felipe was walking in. The man had a smug look on his face as he walked in, giving her a lecherous look, licking his lips as he took in every inch of her. He locked the door behind himself, going as far as putting a chair in front of the door as he started walking toward the blonde girl, who did her best to move away from him. But her shackles prevented her from moving, she was just as trapped as she was before, only this time she had a monster in front of her.

"Hello beautiful...you must be wondering why I'm here? Well that's because we found your friends. Looks like we've caught them in Skull Island...Hook has already dispatched some of his pirates to kill your friends. That's right, they are here...Peter Pan confirmed this to me." he said, stopping in front of her.

"They're not going down without a fight you know, they're gonna kill all of them...and then they'll come for you too." she spat, glaring at the man. He frowned, poking her bruised eye, a frown on his face.

"I told them to handle you with care...but James told me you were fighting back...I guess he got a little rough. But I'm surprised to see you clothed...it seems he can hold his urges back...but I sure can't. I'm gonna take you right here...just as the hail of cannon fire destroys your friends."

"No! No, you will not touch me!" she cried, trying to run away, only for her shackles to hold her back. She tugged on them hard, but they stayed true. Felipe grabbed her by the neck, throwing her back onto the bed.

"You aren't escaping me, you will bare my children, even if I have to force you." he said, a smirk on his face. He reached for her pants and undid the button holding them up. She pulled her legs back, kicking him with all of her strength, sending him flying back onto the floor.

"Help! Please someone help me!" she cried, once again pulling on her shackles. Felipe growled angrily pinning the blonde girl to the bed, he grabbed a handful of her shirt, slapping her hard across the face.

"Stupid little bitch! I don't know if you don't understand this, but I'll tell you again. You are mine! You belong to me, when I want something, you give it to me. If I want your body, you say yes!"

"Fuck you! I will never be yours, no matter what! I will always fight you!" Apple cried, a look of pure hatred on her face. Felipe started laughing loudly, grabbing a hold of her shirt, tearing it off her body.

"Keep fighting, it makes no difference to me! You will be mine, even if I have to treat you like a fucking doll." he replied, forcefully pulling her pants down. Apple grabbed a hold of his arm, biting down hard into his flesh, Felipe tried his hardest to free himself, but she only dug her teeth deeper into his skin, enough to break the skin. He punched her hard in the stomach, causing her to scream in pain. He looked down at his bleeding arm, a grin on his face.

"Oh...that just makes me want to fuck you even more." he replied, swiftly pulling his pants down. He grabbed a hold of her legs, a twisted grin on his face. Apple growled angrily, panting like a feral beast, her lips covered in blood. The look of pure rage and hatred in her eye was enough to scare even the toughest soldier, but that only seemed to turn Felipe on even more.

"Finally, I get to make you mine!"

A loud explosion rocked the entire ship, sending the man flying back into the wall. The shockwave rocked the entire ship, followed by two more stronger blasts that tore apart the floor beneath them. Apple fell down onto the lower deck, the wooden frame of the bed, breaking from the impact, sending her flying forward. The smell of burning wood and gunpowder filled her nostrils, and she quickly stood up, noticing the ship was rapidly taking in water. The explosion had been enough to tear the hull completely apart. The water was already at her waist as she scrambled toward the bed, trying to use it as a way to climb out of the ship.

"Apple, I'm still alive babe...don't worry, this is only a snag in the road. I'll have you bouncing on my dick in no time!" Felipe cried, hanging onto the wall, peering down from the deck above, the sadistic look remaining on his face. He hadn't even bothered pulling his pants up, his member having sprung from inside his underwear.

"I swear to whatever god is out there, I am cutting his fucking dick off." Apple hissed, jumping back down into the water.

She started looking around for a way out, ignoring the laughter coming from Felipe who was pulling his pants up. She realized he was going to come after her if she didn't find a way out. She started moving forward, spotting the destroyed wall that belonged to the room she had just been at, the keys still hanging from the hook. She smirked, grabbing a hold of them, just as Felipe jumped onto the mattress. She took a deep breath diving into the water. Once she did, she undid the shackles, and started swimming downward, spotting a gaping hole in the middle of what was once the hull of the ship. The ship was actually a few hundred feet from hitting the ground, so she quickly swam toward the hole, being sucked out by the moving waves.

Once outside of the ship, she started swimming toward the surface, pausing only to pull her slightly torn jeans up, securing them onto her waist. She was surprised they had even remained on with the force Felipe had used to pull them down. She breached the surface, releasing the breath she had been holding, glancing toward the cavern, seeing several pirates flying around with the aid of the Pixie Dust they had stolen from the fairies. She had seen a few of them falling from the sky, being encased in ice. She started swimming toward solid ground, not wanting Felipe to catch up to her. Once she had reached land, she tied her coat, not wanting anyone to see her bra. She saw the last of the pirates being taken care of by Jessica and Crystal, who froze several of them in a giant ice bubble, which dropped into the water a second later. She took a deep breath, a look of relief on her face.

"Hey guys! Over here!" she cried, grabbing their attention.

"Apple, we're go glad to see you!" Crystal cried out.

"Damn girl, you look beat to hell...but you are awesome! You are still a fighter!" Jessica said, flashing her friend a peace sign.

Apple started walking back towards her friends, who were all rushing in her direction. Before they got to her, a sound of a cannon filled the cavern, the ground in front of them exploded, a smoking crater being left behind. Felipe raced up the destroyed half sunken ship, jumping off the bow, a dark violet light coming off his clothes. He landed on the ground behind Apple, wrapping his arm around her neck. He pressed the barrel of a flintlock against her temple, a smirk on his face.

"Now then, it seems you fuckers are a lot smarter than I give you credit for...you captured Captain Hook and his son I see."

"Felipe you bastard! You said these kids didn't know how to fight!" the man in question cried out. He along with those who hadn't been frozen in ice had been tied together with thick bundles of rope.

"The jig is up Felipe, let go of Apple...this has gone far enough." Blake said firmly, holding his sword out, ready to spring forward if needed.

"Don't you dare fucking move, I'll blow her brains out...that'll be the end of the Fairest of them All. If I can't have her, no one can!" he growled, eyes glowing a fierce blue.

"Dude, look around you! Look at what you have done...you stole a time gear, plunged this world into darkness. You sent ghouls to our school, half of our friends are injured and paralyzed. You've killed seven women already, can't you just fucking stop?" Gloriosa cried.

"Shut up bitch! You think you know me...but you don't! All women are disgusting creatures, all you do is seduce men with your charms and then break their hearts. All my mom ever did was ignore me, all of the girls I liked rejected me...you know how many times I asked Snow White on a date before she went to Ever After High? Plenty, but the bitch doesn't even remember me, I'm willing to bet. You don't know my pain and suffering!"

"Oh, and is that pain and suffering the same to making Neverland suffer hell? You've been holding us all captive for 20 years you lying sack of shit. I never trusted you, that's why I was helping the fairies get Pixie Dust, in hopes that one day we could defeat you. But you got Peter Pan so wrapped around your finger we couldn't move forward!" James shouted, earning a laugh from the blue haired man.

"Shows how much you know about me James...did you hear that Hook? You're own son turned traitor on you and you weren't even aware of it!"

"I'm disappointed in you son, how dare you?" Hook cried, earning a glare from his son.

"Can it dad, you hate this dark world more than anyone!"

"Hey, stop derailing the situation...Felipe, let go of Apple right now...if you want, I'll trade myself and become your hostage. Just let her go, and I'll go with you." Blake said, earning a chuckle from the man.

"You don't get it do you? You think you can sweet talk your way through anything. This bitch is mine, I've already claimed her as mine and I am going to take her...the only reason I'm here is to tell you, if you want her back, then be ready to fight, because by the time you reach me...this one will most likely be dead." he said, slamming his pistol against Apple's head, knocking her out cold. He wrapped his arm around her body, sprinkling some dark pixie dust over himself.

"See you all later, losers! Ahahahaha!" Felipe cried, a swirling mist appeared around him before he shot off into the sky, heading in the direction of Neverland Island. Blake broke into a sprint after him, stopping shy of the water, screaming in anger.

"Goddamn it! You son of a bitch!"

"Did you see that? He had dark pixie dust with him...how the hell did he even get his hands on it?" Jessica asked.

"It isn't that hard, the Dark Pixie Dust tree is accessible to anyone. Dark Fairies sell it for a cheap price, and if he has the money for it, I wouldn't put it past him if he made a deal with them." Faybelle replied, arms crossed in annoyance. She was pissed that Felipe had gotten his had on the very dust she needed to fly.

"What do we do now? We need to go after them, he's gonna kill her!" Crystal cried, a desperate look on her face.

"Crystal, I know we have to get her back...but we can't jump the gun...some of us got hurt in that tussle. Thankfully, Kitty was able to sneak all of that powder into the ship and end this before it started. But the real battle is about to begin, and we can't rush it." Raven said, placing a hand on her shoulder. A golden light filled their line of sight, as a swirling mass of pixie dust bathed the twelve teenagers, making them float off the ground.

"Well, I know it was wrong to use the fight as a distraction, but you kept those pirates at bay. Enough for all of us to get all of this Pixie Dust!" Zarina said, handing them all a medium sized pouch of golden dust.

"That's right, now we can head back to Neverland Island and get that time gear back!" Fawn cried, an excited look on her face.

"We can finally save Neverland, and it's all thanks to you guys!" Silvermist added.

"Us? We barely did anything, all we did was distract some pirates." Dexter said, earning a jab to the ribs from his sister.

"We didn't just distract some pirates, they were most likely going to kill them if they got here. Or if they somehow found out they were gonna make more pixie dust, our distraction help them make more dust, which we can use to fly back to Neverland Island." Darling said, a look of understanding on Dexter's face.

"Well then...I believe it is time for us...and by us I mean me, to save my damsel-in-distress. I shall plunge my blade straight through that bastard's heart."

"Sorry Daring, but that honor goes to me, I made that fucker a promise and I am going to collect it. This is it, the final fight, we have him cornered. He can't go back to Ever After, and he can't go anywhere else...it's time to get our friend back!" Blake said firmly, earning cheers from his friends.

After bumping fists with his sister, the boy shot into the air, flying as fast as he could toward Neverland Island, knowing that Apple's life was in danger. There were still a lot of factors he had to consider and all of the children that were under Felipe's control, but he wasn't going to let him get away with what he had done. He was going to fight Felipe with everything he had, and he wasn't going to let him live.


	88. The Ballad of Bluebeard Finale

**A/N:**

 **Hello everyone and welcome to the finale of the Ballad of Bluebeard arc! This chapter is a whopping 48 pages! This is the chapter where Blake finally fulfills his promise to Felipe. Shit is going down, and no one will be yelling timber! Okay, enough of that...today is the day where your minds are probably gonna explode with confusion. I hope that you all understand the stuff in the later part of this chapter, but again if you don't then I'll answer all of your questions.**

 **Also, if you haven't noticed by now, Jessica is a really flirty girl. She'll practically flirt with anyone, something happens in this chapter that you all might like, it isn't confirming anything or creating a new pairing, but she does kiss someone. I might actually pair her up with someone by the end of this story, obviously not Blake because he's got Kitty. Who knows? I might actually pair her up with Blake in one of the alternate endings. I was actually going to pair up Mavis with Gloriosa since she's had a crush on her since they met back up in Wonderland. I figured hey, I haven't had any relationship like that yet, so yeah I might do that in the future.**

 **After this, will be the Epilogue for this chapter and we will finally move onto the next arc of the Story, which will be based around The Little Mermaid, as I said before. I'm gonna try to have Blake go to every realm, and right now the only ones he hasn't gone to are Agrabah, Mount Olympus, Atlantica, and Gingerbread Land. I was also thinking of adding Pirates of the Carribean into the mix, and have the son of Jack Sparrow, Captain Jack Sparrow Jr, along with Henry Turner and the daughter of Hector Barbossa in the story. I dunno, I imagined Apple wearing a pirate outfit and being in control of the Black Pearl and was like YOOOO this needs to happen, but I dunno when I will have it happen, _if_ I have it happen. I wanted to pay homage to one of my favorite movies Disney has ever made. Honestly, The Curse of the Black Pearl is so far the best one out of the bunch, but Dead Man's Chest and At World's End was good. On Stranger Tides wasn't as good, and Dead Men Tell no Tales was really good, on par with the third movie. So if I do come up with a plot for the future, I might have it, probably in the Spring of their Junior Year.**

 **Well...for now, I'll leave you with this chapter. Chapter 89 will contain more answers about Blake's past and the truth behind everything that has been happening in this story. Yeah that's right...the truth will finally be revealed, why everything is so different from the actual canon...stay tuned for the next episode of Total Drama Island!**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 88

The Final Battle for Neverland

and Apple's Freedom

 _ **xxx(Neverland: Location: Neverland Island)xxx**_

Felipe finally arrived at Neverland Academy. He flew straight toward the ship part of the school, landing right behind the wheelhouse. He tied the unconscious Apple White to the railing, making sure her shackles were tightly secured. He snapped his fingers, channeling his dark magic toward the ocean in front of him. The sparking wave of darkness slowly lifted the waves up, moving them around the massive ship that was attached to the rest of the academy. With a laugh, he gave the wheel a turn, causing the rudder to snap the ropes holding the ship in place. The water pushed apart the wooden beams holding the ship up, allowing it to freely move onto the water. The wooden section of the tree house attached to the entrance of the ship snapped off, crumbling into a heap out on the beach. The children that were taking refuge inside the tree house all ran out of the building, the rattling tree causing several parts of the building to fall to the ground.

Using his magic, he pulled the sails free, using a wind spell to push against the sails, causing the ship to move forward out into the ocean. The ship wasn't battle ready, but it would still make for a good defensive front. He could see several lights shooting in his direction, causing him to spin the wheel toward the port side, forcefully turning the ship. He channeled his magic to the only cannon that was still operational, willing it to fire, sending a large steel ball out at the approaching lights, a grin on his face.

"Come at me! You aren't going to win you Ever After douche bags!" he shouted, a grin on his face. He held his hand out, sending several more blasts of dark magic, hoping to hit the incoming attackers.

Blake darted to the side, avoiding all of the blasts of magic that were being fire at him. He had already locked eyes with Felipe and was going in for the fight. He shot forward flying as fast as the dust would allow him, landing on the deck of the ship. He broke into a sprint, jumping side to side to avoid the magical energy being fired at him. He jumped up, grabbing a hold of the railing as he swung himself over it, driving his foot into Felipe's chest, sending him flying back into the wall. He landed on the ground, letting out a scream of rage as he drove his fist forward, slamming it into Felipe's face. He spun around, kicking him in the side.

Felipe cried in pain, quickly picking himself off the ground, tackling Blake onto the railing, driving his fists into his chest, crying in pain from the contact he made on his armor. He drive his knee into Blake's chest, causing him to shout in pain, the air exploding from his lungs. Felipe let out a feral laugh, punching the black haired boy twice in the face, blood exploded from his nose. Blake growled as he picked himself back up, drawing his blade from his waist, swinging at the blue haired man, slicing apart one of the handles on the helm. He threw a diagonal slash, sending a blast of light at him. Felipe quickly shot into the air, holding his hands outward, a swirling spiral of dark clouds in front of him.

"Take this!" he shouted, the ball exploded into a spiraling twister, which Blake easily deflected with his magic, redirecting him away from the ship.

"You think that weak shit is going to defeat me? Please!" he shouted, pulling his arm back, forming a large saw blade out of darkness, throwing it at the man who easily dodged it. He drew his cutlass from his waist, flying straight at Blake, who rose his sword in time to guard the attack, sparks flying between them.

"I'm just getting started! Peter, children now! We must defend Neverland!" he shouted. From below decks, several lights shot out from the door, all of them flying around the ship, using various pots, pans and wooden swords as weapons.

"Now, attack! We have to protect our friend Felipe!" Peter cried, waving his sword down as he sent the kids into the fray. Blake pushed Felipe back, jumping in time to dodge a swipe from Peter who was wielding a short sword in his hands.

"Peter, listen to me! Felipe is the bad guy, he's the one who stole the Time Gear...Tinkerbell is innocent, she's been in Ever After this entire time! She misses you, she was crying because of what happened! You have to believe me, this man is Evil!" Blake cried, ducking in time to avoid a slash to his face, the tip of the blade slicing off a few hairs.

"You are a liar! Felipe is a good guy, he's trying his hardest to help us bring Neverland back to it's former glory! It was Tinkerbell who did this, it was her that destroyed our world!" he shouted, kicking off the railing as he flew straight at Blake, aiming a stab at his chest, which he easily deflected.

" _The darkness twisted his line of thought...the Peter Pan that I know, that I'm familiar with, would never say something like this!"_ he thought to himself.

"Hyah!" Peter shouted, bringing his sword down on Blake. Blake ducked to the side, just in time for a dark green ball of magic to strike the boy in the chest, sending him overboard.

"Jeez, you're the son of the Evil Queen Blake, start acting like it. If I have to save your ass then you really don't deserve that title." Faybelle said, fluttering down beside the boy.

"Thanks Fay, I guess I owe you another favor. You know...your wings look prettier when they shine gold."

"Shut up, sweet words like that aren't gonna make me change my heart. Go after Felipe, I got this kid...don't worry, I won't hurt him too much." she said, giving him a smirk. He nodded, quickly searching for Felipe, who was currently in a spat with Daring.

He glanced to his right, seeing Apple was still unconscious, tied to the railing of the ship. He sighed, knowing that she was still in danger and that he would have to abandon her for now. He jumped into the air, flying straight at Felipe, driving his sword right at his back, a battle cry leaving his lips. Felipe shot to the side, dodging the strike, watching as Excalibur struck Daring's shield, sending the boy back a few feet, his stance becoming firm.

"Talk about rude...he was mine Blake." Daring said, earning a chuckle from the boy who pulled his sword free, seeing the small indentation on his friend's shield.

"Sorry Daring, but I told you he was mine." Blake said, immediately moving toward Felipe, who tried and failed to hide behind the mast.

"You gotta do better than that you loser!" Felipe shouted, laughing maniacally as he sent more blasts of magic at them, destroying part of the deck around him, large pieces of wood flying in all directions.

Blake sent his own volley of magic at the man, who tried and failed to dodge them, taking several strikes. He jumped into the air, trying to fly with the aid of his dark pixie dust, only for Daring to fly in front of him, bashing his shield into his face, sending him falling back down to the deck. He shot down, aiming his sword down at him, Felipe was quicker, rolling out of the way, Daring's sword embedding itself into the wood. Felipe took his chance, slamming his knee into Daring's face, sending him sprawling to the ground.

"Daring!" Blake cried, dashing toward the blue haired man, who sent a blast of magic at his feet, the explosion sending him flying back.

"Well then Mr. Charming, it seems you will be the first of your friends to go. What a shame...I was a fan of your father...that lowly bastard who stole one of the finest women in the market. Say hi to your ancestors for me." Felipe said, holding his cutlass above his head, about to kill Daring.

A loud clang filled the air, stunning the blue haired man. Darling had arrived just in time to block the attack. She spun on her heel, slamming her shield into the man, sending him flying back. She ran forward, throwing several slashes at him, all of them being parried with great skill. He struck the railing of the stairs leading up to the helm, quickly moving out of the way as Darling slammed her sword into it, her sword cutting through the wood. Felipe panted a bit, sweeping some hair behind his head as he put on a charming smile on his face.

"Well, aren't you lovely...you know I like a woman who can fight." he said, licking his lips. Darling narrowed her eyes, pulling her sword free, throwing several speedy jabs at the man, who deflected them all with his sword.

"Anyone who dares hurt my brother gets no mercy from me." she hissed angrily. The man laughed loudly, throwing a heavy slash at the girl who blocked it with her shield. Her eyes widened when he held his hand up, blasting her with a ball of dark magic, sending her flying back. Her head struck the railing hard, stunning her from the impact, knocking the air out of her lungs.

"Once I kill your friends, I'm gonna do a lot of nasty things to you...I need a back up in case Apple dies unexpectedly!" Felipe cried, a grin on his face.

Blake let out a growl, tackling the man to the ground, grabbing a hold of his shirt. He started punching him in the face as hard as he could, he could feel the pain in his knuckles and the shock going through his arm. All he could see was red, both from the rage and from the blood spraying around him. Somehow, Felipe managed to push the boy off, sending a hard kick to his ribs, cracking a few. He grabbed a hold of Blake's shirt, forcing him to his feet, drawing a knife from behind his back. He smirked, giving him a wide toothy grin despite the blood around his nose and mouth.

"I'm going to end your life boy, you have been a thorn in my side for far too long!"

"Don't you dare lay a hand on my little brother!" a distorted voice shouted angrily. Felipe felt himself being pulled away from Blake by a magical force, making him start flailing his limbs in surprise.

He was sent flying into the mast of the ship, slamming into it with enough force to snap his arm. He howled in pain, clutching his broken limb hard, glancing at the bones that had pierced through his skin. He looked up, seeing the form of Raven Queen floating in front of the boy, her body covered in violet flames. He shook a bit with fear, reaching for a his pocket, pulling a vial of dark pixie dust, pressing it against his lips. He tipped it back, shoving the entire thing in his mouth.

"No matter what you try, you will not escape!" she shouted, snapping her fingers.

Twelve balls of light flashed into existence, flying around her so fast they looked more like a ring. She snapped her arm forward sending them flying at the man at high velocity. He moved out of the way in time, just for the mast to be struck full force. The large wooden beam cracked and splintered falling to the waters below, bringing with it the ropes and sails that were attached to it. A few of the children that their friends had been fighting off had grown fearful, flying away as fast as they could. Felipe however stood up, laughing maniacally, throwing his arms to the sides, glowing a dark violet in color.

"You idiots don't know what you are messing with! I am not going to let any of you win, Neverland is mine to do with as I please! Apple White shall be my wife whether you want that to happen or not!"

"How...how are your injuries healing?" Raven cried, completely shocked to see the man's injuries had almost fully recovered.

"Hate yo break it to ya Raven, but when someone with dark intentions ingests dark pixie dust, things go south real fast. He's probably twice as strong as a normal human being would normally be." Faybelle explained, having pushed Peter Pan back for the time being. Blake pulled himself to his feet, his magic slowly healing his injuries.

"So, that just means we're gonna have to fight at full power. Faybelle I hope you can help us." Blake said, sprinkling some of his extra dust over himself. Felipe shot forward, heading toward the helm, grabbing a hold of Apple who had just regained consciousness. She let out a scream of pain as she was forced to her feet by the deranged man.

"I already told you fucks, this woman is mine. If you want to get her back, then you are gonna have to kill me!" he shouted, shooting off toward the island. Blake grabbed a hold of his sword and placed it back in its sheathe, following after the guy, a look of rage on his face.

"You guys handle the kids, making sure none of them are injured...we're gonna take care of this." Raven said, earning a thumbs up from Jessica, who had been holding back a few kids with her magic. Crystal had been busy throwing snowballs at them, while Kitty was just flashing all over the ship, taunting them into attacking.

"Let's go Raven, before he gets too far! I still owe him for Briar!" Faybelle cried, flying off after Blake and Felipe.

Blake quickly flew above the blue haired man, shooting downward as fast as he could, aiming a kick at him. He quickly turned around, using Apple as a shield, a smirk on his face. Blake's eyes widened and he quickly veered off, taking a blast of magic from Felipe who let out another laugh, continuing his flight back toward Neverland Academy. Blake let out a growl, rapidly climbing back into the air, aiming another kick at the man, this time striking him in the back. Felipe and Apple flew through one of the windows of the school, landing in a classroom. Blake followed right after him, grabbing a hold of Felipe's shirt, throwing him toward the front of the room, slamming him into the wooden desk, which broke apart with his weight.

"Take that you motherfucker!" he shouted, pulling his arms back, charging a magical blast which he immediately shot forward. Felipe stood up, holding his hand out to block the attack, a smirk on his face.

"Nice try Blake, but I got my own dark magic now...it tends to happen when you eat pure concentrated dark pixie dust. You don't stand a chance against me now!" he cried, running forward as fast as he could, uppercutting the boy's chin, sending him flying into the air, slamming right through the ceiling.

"Blake!" Apple cried, eyes wide with surprise and fear. Felipe licked his lips, a smirk on his face as he rose his hand, a wave of darkness wrapping around the blonde's neck, holding her in mid air.

"You must be enjoying this huh you stupid bitch? I already told you once, you will be mine. You stood a chance in Ever After, but in Neverland I am God! You will not defeat me!" he shouted. He didn't notice Raven appearing behind him with a large 4x4 in her hands. She swung it with all of her strength, breaking it over his head, causing him to release his hold on Apple.

"Apple, are you alright?"

"Raven, don't underestimate him! His more dangerous than Courtly and Joey!" she cried back. To prove her point, Felipe stood up brushing the splinters off his suit, going as far as fixing it up and fixing his crooked tie. He let out a small laugh, shaking his head.

"You wanna know something, you guys are starting to piss me off, you truly are...can't you just leave me and my wife alone already?" he asked, sounding almost polite. Faybelle flashed in front of him, slamming her foot right into his face, sending him flying into the back wall.

"How about no? You crazy bastard!" she cried, bumping fists with Raven. Blake jumped down from the hole, brushing a few leaves out of his hair. He grabbed a hold of Felipe, slamming his head repeatedly into the back wall, driving his fist into his forehead.

Felipe let out a shout, sending a wave of magic out into the room causing it to explode, sending everyone in different direction. The beams supporting that part of the school snapped in half, sending part of the building crumbling down. Thankfully Raven was able to cast a barrier in time to protect herself, Apple, Blake and Faybelle. She let out a sigh of relief, though the feeling didn't last long as Felipe shot a beam of concentrated dark magic right through the barrier, causing it to explode. He shot downward, grabbing a hold of Raven, wrapping his hands around her throat, a smirk on his face.

"You wanna know something Raven Queen, I've always sort of admired you and your mother. It was her that lead me to Neverland you know...it was her that opened the portal, she understood my hatred of Snow White...she understood...which was why she sent me here. Without her, I wouldn't as powerful as I am now...but that doesn't condone the fact that you are a bitch. I'm gonna snap your neck now, such a shame...a beautiful specimen like you, going to waste." he said, tightening his hold on her throat, a sickly sweet smile on his face.

Blake groaned as he lifted his head, still a little stunned from the explosion. His vision became clear as he looked around, seeing his sister being pinned to the ground by Felipe, who had his arms around her neck. He let out a feral growl, feeling something in him completely snap. He could feel all of his magic burst from the center of his chest at the same time, enveloping his entire body. He took a single step forward, moving so blindingly fast that Felipe didn't even have time to react. He pinned the man to the ground, slamming his fist in against his face as hard as he could, sending sand and wood in all directions. Felipe quickly got out of his hold, sending the boy sprawling away. He pulled his leg back, kicking Blake in the gut hard enough to send him flying into a nearby boulder, which shattered from the impact.

"You piece of fucking shit!" he shouted, running toward Blake who quickly got up, throwing ball after ball of dark magic at him, his voice distorted as he screamed. He could feel something inside him begging to be released, all of it being concentrated to the center of his chest. He placed his hand over his mirror shard, seeing the magic flowing into his palm.

" _This is it Blake, this is the power I have given you...as my son, you have all of my abilities. And with your signature in the Storybook of Legends, your magic has increased twofold! It is time to defeat this man, who tried to kill my little your, your darling older sister. Don't hold anything back."_

"Thanks mom...I swear this is the first and only time I will rely on your power." he said, his eyes bursting into flame a second later.

He shot forward, pulling his fist back, striking Felipe in the face, sending him flying into the sky. He quickly righted himself, sending a barrage of magical blasts at Blake who dodged them all, jumping into the air after him. He drew his sword from his sheathe, just as Felipe the same with his cutlass. They swung at each other with full force, bang after bang, they didn't let up, using all of the power in their bodies and channeling them into their swords. Felipe was somehow able to flip in mid air, channeling magic into his sword swinging it at Blake, who rose his sword in time to block it. He let out a cry of pain from the shock, dropping out of the sky and onto the sand below.

"This is where you die Blake Queen!" Felipe shouted, laughing as he flew forward, pulling his sword back as far as he could. Blake dug Excalibur into the sand, swinging it as hard as he could, sending globs if sand through the air, hoping to blind his foe.

He succeeded, if only to buy himself a few precious seconds to avoid the incoming attack. He angled his blade, willing it to glow brilliantly, the bright white light bathing the darkness filled area with a beautiful white glow. They both ran at each other, swinging their blades at the same time, blades sparking as they made contact with each other. Blake let out a pulse of light, which caused Felipe to scream in agony. He spun on his heel, driving his foot right into the man's face, sending him flying back. He send another pulse of light at the man, who was writhing in pain as he groveled away from the boy, trying to reach for his sword which had fallen out of his grasp.

Blake drove Excalibur right through his arm, causing him to scream in pain. He placed his foot on his chest, stabbing his other arm as well, twisting the blade a few times, tearing the muscle and skin as he did. He stomped on his knees, snapping them both in half, with each scream he heard, Blake could feel himself wanting to smile. A grin of pure satisfaction appeared on his face.

"That was for Briar, for all of those women you killed...for fooling all of these kids to do your bidding!" he shouted angrily.

"Fuck you! You are all gonna die! Apple White will be mine, MINE!" he shouted, trying to sit up, only for Blake to slam his foot into his chest, cracking a few of his ribs.

"Stop, please! You can't kill him...he's one of my friends!" the voice of Peter Pan cried, the Boy who never aged landed on the sand, dropping to his knees, a pleading look on his face. The rest of Blake's friends were slowly starting to land on the sand, glancing around at all of the destruction.

"Friend? This guy? Look at what he did to your school! To all of Neverland." Blake said.

"He didn't do any of this...this was all your fault! You were the ones who came here, it was Tinkerbell who stole the Time Gear!" Peter cried out.

"No it wasn't...it was this dickhead right here...and I can prove it." Blake said, bending down, grabbing a hold of Felipe's tie, pulling it undone.

"Don't listen to him Peter...he's not going to stop...he's going to kill all of you...if I die, I'll never be able to bring the Time Gear back!" Felipe shouted. Blake punched him right on the mouth, causing him to scream again, spitting up some blood. He grabbed a hold of the chain around his neck, pulling it free. He tossed it over to Peter, the object landing on the sand a few inches from him.

"There's your proof...this friend of yours...had that Time Gear with him from the beginning. He's nothing more than a liar, a murderer, a rapist...and an all around piece of fucking shit."

"No...that can't be...you lied to us...this entire time? It was you? You're the one that did this to Neverland?" Peter asked, a look of disbelief on his face. Felipe grinned, somehow pushing Blake to the ground as he sat up.

"Yes, it was all me! I came here Twenty one years ago and stole the Time Gear. That stupid little fairy went to check on it, and I took my chance. I blamed it all on her, so she would get banished. With her gone no one would know the truth, I prepared this dark world for me to rule! I am God in this world...and Apple White is my bride. And no one will take her from me!" he shouted, channeling some magic into his broken limbs, causing them to start popping back into place. He started moving toward Apple, a deranged look on his face.

Blake growled angrily as he stood up, grabbing a hold of Excalibur. He slammed his foot into Felipe's back, snapping his spine completely in half. He let out a feral scream as he fell back, tears falling out of his eyes. He looked up at Blake, seeing the angry look on his face. He spat at him, cursing his name.

"Fuck you Blake, fuck you and the Evil Queen! I hope you all die in hell! I hope you all die a horrible death and get nothing but unrelenting darkness!"

"Tch...unrelenting darkness...that would be a welcome sight for you...you spent most of your life in it didn't you? Now I get why your mom abandoned you...because you were a lost cause...fucking worthless. Guess I'll just have to send you back." Blake spat, causing the man's eyes to widen, fear evident on his face.

"Please...I don't want to return to the dark...all I wanted was a beautiful woman by my side. But none of them were right...I wanted the Fairest of them All...please you can't kill me...you have to let me go! I promise, we will never cross paths again, I swear...I'll go to some hospital and get help...I can change!" Felipe cried, pleading for his life. Blake let out a laugh, shaking his head.

"Heh...no matter how much he screamed, and planned...and told me he hated me...he never once plead for his life. He was willing to die for his crimes...own up to your mistakes you bastard...besides...I already made you a promise." Blake said, a grin on his face as he rose Excalibur above his head.

Felipe let out a scream of fear as the boy brought the blade down full force. He brought it back up and started swinging, over and over and over. Large globs of blood started flying in all directions as he continued slashing at the man. He brought his sword over his head, bringing it down as hard as he could, a sick crunch filling his ears as he finally sliced the man's head clean off his shoulders, blood pouring out of his neck.

He backed away from the body, shaking his head a bit, finally seeing the man's corpse on the sand. He looked at Excalibur, seeing its pristine white blade covered in copious amounts of blood. He let go of the sword, backing away from it, hands shaking a bit.

"Holy shit...I just fucking killed a guy." he said, glancing at his hands, which were covered in blood.

"Blake...are you alright?" Kitty asked, earning a small laugh from the boy. He turned away from her, running toward the ocean, washing the blood off his face and clothes, scrubbing as hard as he could. The walked over to him, kneeling down next to him, wrapping her arms around him.

"Hey...it'll be okay...you did it to protect Apple. He had it coming, you did the right thing." she said softly.

"I know that...I just want to get this blood off my body, this shit is fucking hard to wash." he said, splashing more water on himself.

"Don't worry about that Blake...I'll take care of it." Lizzie said, earning a nod from the boy. Jessica frowned, poking Felipe's deceased body with a nearby stick, glancing at the blood at its tip.

"Well...he's dead alright...sometimes people influenced by magic can remain alive for a few moments. Even with their heads cut off they can still use magic to heal themselves or reverse time. Thankfully, that isn't the case here...it's just a regular old dead dude."

"Jess, would you at least respect the dead?"

"Oh fuck off Gloriosa...this motherfucker was going to kill our friends, hurt everyone back home. Not only that, he killed seven others and look at the number he did on Apple, not to mention he stabbed Briar. Fuck this guy, his memory, his life, his body...everything about him...just fuck him!" Faybelle cried, resisting the urge to kick the body.

"I'm sorry...I...genuinely thought he was our friend. He said so many things, did so many nice deeds for us...we were all his puppets. We kept the portal closed for him, when people from Ever After could have helped us...Neverland wouldn't be this way if we hadn't believed him." Peter said, clutching the Time Gear tightly in his hands.

"Hey, it's alright Peter...you didn't know okay? He had a lot of people fooled...I think he had himself fooled too. The important thing is that we got that Time Gear back...now we can put it back in place and save Neverland." Darling said, giving the boy a hug. He hugged her back, holding back his tears.

"Poor Tinkerbell...she probably hates me."

"She doesn't...she's missed you for a long time...she's grown into a beautiful woman. She's helped me through quite a lot of things, I'm sure you two have a lot to say to each other when we fix time." Blake said, giving the boy a grin.

"Uh...you guys there's something else about that. I read that book while we were in the observatory and well...remember how it said you have to go back in time, and switch the time gears around?" Jessica asked.

"Yeah, as I recall...it's the only way to connect Neverland back to the severed timeline connected to Temporal Tower...is something wrong with that?" Blake asked, earning a nod from Jessica.

"Well...there is no way we can switch the Time Gears around. Remember, the last time this one was in place was twenty one years ago...back when Felipe took it for the first time. There's a good chance we might run into him then...if we switch the time gears and don't deal with him, then all of this will happen again." she said.

"No...you mean it's an endless loop?" Raven asked.

"A chicken and egg paradox." Dexter said, stroking his chin in thought.

"A what? You mind explaining that to me in detail little brother?" Daring asked, earning a sigh from Dexter, who pushed his glasses up slightly.

"Basically, it's like this. Felipe stole the Time Gear the first time, meaning he caused Neverland to become this dark wasteland. However, I'm willing to bet we went back to the past and switched the gears around, putting the one in the past back here. However, if we did that before Felipe got there the first time, then he would still take it. Meaning all of this would repeat."

"Huh? Wait you said we? We've done this before?" Farrah asked curiously.

"That's insane...we've never done this before...I would remember that!" Gloriosa snapped, eyes widened in shock.

"No...he's right...we have done this before. Remember...that random message that appeared in my watch? I think I was there too..I wrote this message in this watch, and then sold it in the past. I'm willing to bet I was the one who wrote that message in the clock tower as well...then 21 years passed, and Cerise brought this watch for me and I found this message, shortly before coming here. It all makes sense now." Blake said.

"No wonder that magic felt familiar...it wasn't mine at all, it was your magic...that means all of this...this fighting, Apple being kidnapped...it's all happened before...we just don't remember it because of the Time Loop." Jessica said, shuddering a bit.

"Okay...now that we know about it, what's the difference? Why do we know about it now and not before? How come it repeated so many times before without the us of the past realizing it?" Crystal asked curiously.

"I don't think that's it either...I'm sure we realized this too...I think it's a rather simple thing to come by. I mean look at it from a scientific point of view, we would have likely gone to the past, switched the gears around and then come back here. Everything would go back to normal, only for it all to change back when Felipe takes the gear. No matter how many times that happens, we don't remember it, because there's no future beyond that point." Faybelle said.

"So wait...we kept going to the past not knowing time wouldn't move forward. We blissfully switched the gears, fixed time only for it to repeat all over again?" Apple asked, finally standing up, clutching her injured side.

"That makes no sense...if you all went back to the past and then came back, then how come all of this is still happening?" Peter asked.

"That's a good question...what's the difference? What did we do different this time that we didn't do before? It's so hard...this is all a theory, but now that we figured it out...I just can't let go of it." Blake said. Darling knelt down in front of Excalibur, picking it up from the ground, holding the sword up, the blade was still glowing red with blood. She saw some runes glowing as well, her eyes widening a bit.

"I think I figured out why we realized this now...I don't think Excalibur was with us last time...look at these runes that appeared on the blade." she said, holding it out to Blake. He washed the blood off the blade with the ocean water, looking at the runes written on it.

"These are...archaic...Latin I think...it says...the sword that rests in stone...shall be the key to light...wielded by the darkness, and used for the side of good. That's a rather odd phrase."

"Hmm...now that I think about it...it makes a little sense. What if in the past loops we didn't have Excalibur with us? What if this is the first loop where Blake actually killed Felipe with it? Could it be that in past trips, he failed to attain it in Wonderland? Could Joey have even killed Blake during that loop?" Jessica asked.

"That's a scary thought...we've probably done this so many times, each time being different. If Blake died during one of those loops, then he wouldn't have come here...but what was the defining event?" Lizzie asked curiously.

"Nothing significant happened except...no way...what if me and Blake didn't sign the Storybook of Legends one time? What if we fought off Courtly and Joey but didn't defeat them? What if Joey got a hold of the sword and took off with the book and claimed King Arthur's destiny? That could have definitely affected the outcomes of things...when the loop repeated, we were brought back to the point of the change, living our lives all over again until this point!" Raven said, causing them all to gasp. Blake glanced at the blade in his hand, seeing it glowing warmly.

"If that was the defining event...then that means we can change the past...we can go there and kill Felipe before he steals the Time Gear...that way, he won't mess anything up. He won't be expecting it at all...if we just wait, we'll defeat him once and for all." Kitty said, a firm look on her face.

"That's right...if he's dead then he won't be there to steal the Time Gear...meaning Neverland would never become this dark world. We'll return with the Time Gear and place it back in its pedestal, that will restart time for this stagnant world." Blake said, giving his girlfriend a smile.

"Then let's go! I know where the pedestal is, if you want to jump to the past, you'd most likely have to do it from there." Peter said, shooting to his feet, clutching the Time Gear tightly in his hands.

"Okay then, you lead the way."

The green themed boy jumped into the air, floating past the remains of Neverland Academy. Everyone else followed right after him, flying through a worn looking path that lead deeper into the woods. After flying through some twisted tree limbs and large rock formations, they started getting closer to the island's center, where Pixie Hollow was located. They all started seeing small fairies floating in mid air, suspended in time, all of them trying to escape the freeze. A large tree became visible over the hill, this one was three times the size of the one that had been growing on Skull Island. The entire area was once lush and beautiful, separated by seasons. Blake could see large sunflowers and flower fields to his right, along with a bunch of butterflies that had been flying away from the freeze as well.

They all tried to ignore the countless fairies running and flying towards the coast, knowing they wouldn't make it in time to save themselves. After flying past Pixie Hollow, Peter lead them to a cave formation near a large mountain in the center of Neverland Island. There was a small entrance, leading down into what looked like a cavern. They landed in front of it, with Peter still leading the way, using some Pixie Dust to light the way. After a few minutes of walking, they appeared in another clearing, deep under the ground. There was a large hole in the cavern ceiling, allowing for the sunlight to shine inside, though no light was shining into the cavern. There was a large tree, growing around a rock formation in front of a pond of water. He stopped in front of it, pointing to the rock where some markings had been made.

"That's where the Time Gear was kept. This place was only known to the fairies and to those who had immense trust...I guess Tinkerbell decided to check on the Time Gear, and Felipe took that moment to do everything. It makes sense...we were flying around this area and he disappeared..he said he had run out of dust and fallen into a tree...but I remember Tinkerbell giving us plenty before we left school." he said. Blake gave him a pat on the shoulder, along with a smile.

"It's alright...no harm no foul. We know what we have to do, and that means we have to go back...back to the past...Samurai Jack."

"Oh my god...you just couldn't help yourself could you? You piece of shit!" Gloriosa cried out, earning a laugh from Blake who turned to face her, mirth and joy written on his face.

"I'm confused...what are they talking about?" Apple asked, earning a sigh from Jessica.

"It's this really cool show on Earth, I'll show it to you later. Now, stop messing around, we gotta figure out how to go back." Jessica said, tapping her finger against the wall. She felt the indentation of where the gear would go. She looked back at Peter, holding her hand out.

"I need the Time Gear...maybe when I put it in place, I'll be able to open a passage." she said. He nodded, placing the precious object in her hands. She pulled the cord off of it, and placed the gear back on the wall. The sound of a machine starting up filled the chamber, the markings on the wall beginning to glow green, forming an almost petal like formation on the wall.

"Well...what's the verdict?" Raven asked curiously.

"I'm not sure...I guess I can...yes I can." the girl said, pressing the gear into the wall, giving it a bit of a twist. The walls started shaking a bit, the glowing light becoming a lot brighter than before. A shimmering light appeared in the back wall, turning into a swirling portal, which was glowing a bright sea green. The Time Gear fell out of the wall, landing on the ground in front of them.

"Well...I guess this is it. Who's coming with?" Jessica asked, turning to face her friends. Blake stepped up first, followed by Kitty, Raven and Faybelle.

"You have to move in a small unit, so it's best if we just stay here...good luck guys, kill this fucker dead." Darling said, giving her friends a wink.

"Don't worry, Blake already killed him so beautifully, I think he'll be able to do it again."

"I'm gonna let Rae handle it this time, look at her neck...he left such an ugly bruise. She deserves it this time." Blake said, wrapping his arm around his sister's waist.

"Trust me...I am not letting you down." she said.

Jessica took a deep breath, walking toward the portal first. Kitty followed suit, sharing a brief hug with Lizzie before running after the white haired wizard. Blake and Raven walked into it next, followed by Faybelle. Everyone else watched them go, hoping their friends could change the history of Neverland for the better, so that it would never be tossed into the Darkness again.

 _ **xxx(Neverland Island-20 Years Ago)xxx**_

Blake let out a groan as he stirred away, clutching his head tightly. He sat up, shaking his head a bit as he glanced around the area. Jessica, Kitty, Faybelle and Raven were all laying on the ground beside him, all of them unconscious. He moved over to his sister, shaking her awake, her eyes fluttered open and she looked around, blinking a few times in confusion. She rubbed her eyes with the back of her hand, glancing at the sky, eyes widening a bit.

"The sky...it's blue...and the forest is green...I can hear a waterfall too."

"Looks like we made it back...I'm not sure how long it's been...but we haven't got much time." he said softly.

"Ugh...what happened? I feel like crap." Faybelle muttered, popping her back, a pleasurable look on her face. Kitty stood up, shaking the leaves and twigs out of her hair.

"Ah...that was a good cat nap...but where are we? What do we do now?"

"Clearly we're in Neverland...we have to go to the cave...quickly. But don't raise suspicions...last thing we need is to get caught right now." Jessica said.

As silently as they could, the four humans and dark fairy started flying through the woods, heading in the same direction as they had taken before. They heard familiar voices, and glanced up, seeing Peter Pan and his friends flying around, playing a game of tag. They also saw a small blonde haired green dressed speck floating around them. It wasn't hard for them to see that it was actually Tinkerbell, and not the Fairy Queen they had come to know in the future. Blake started looking around, seeing a much younger looking Felipe flying among the group, a happy look on his face. It made his blood boil seeing the bastard alive again.

"Blake honey, we can't waste time...this is the exact moment Peter spoke about...hurry." Kitty said, taking a hold of his hand. He nodded, following after the others.

They landed in front of the cavern they had seen in the future. This time it was vibrant and full of life. The breeze was blowing and the leaves were floating around falling from the trees. After spending so much time in the dark version of Neverland they had started to miss the little things. The warmth of the sun, the pleasantness of a gentle breeze, the sound of flowing water. It was all something that people took for granted, and would be gone forever if they didn't act. Jessica glanced around for a few moments, before leading her friends into the cavern. They remained silent as they walked, all of them thinking the same thing, their hearts were beating hard in their chests, a choking feeling in their throats. They reached the final part of the cavern, seeing the Time Gear set in place.

"Over here, this jutting rock is big enough to hide behind." Jessica said softly. The five moved behind it, all of them kneeling down, peeking through the gaps to see the pedestal where the Time Gear was located.

"So, what's the plan?" Raven asked curiously.

"Uh...you hold him down I stab him?" Faybelle asked curiously.

"No...Raven is taking that hit, I hold him down...Faybelle gets her revenge stab and then Raven channels some magic into his head until he explodes." Blake said, earning nods from the others.

"Good plan, the more he suffers the better...Christ we are all fucked in the head."

"Aw, it isn't so bad Jessie...look at what that fucker did...he deserves this." Kitty said.

"I know...but in this time, he hasn't done any of that yet...he's just an innocent kid." Raven said, a frown on her face.

"You aren't getting cold feet are ya sis? Remember, he tried killing you...he's been planning this since before. There's no salvation for him." Blake added, earning a nod from her.

The fluttering of wings filled the cavern shortly after, causing them all to hush up. Just like they had expected, Tinkerbell had flown into the cave, coming to a stop in front of the precious Time Gear. She put her hand on it, causing the markings on the wall to pulse brightly, sending a small wave of light through the cavern. She remained still placidly staring at the object before her, only for a small laugh to cause her to turn around. Felipe came to a stop in front of her, a grin on his face.

"Hello Tinkerbell...thanks for leading me here...because of you...my plans for this world can truly finally begin!" he said.

"Your plans? What are you talking about? You can't be here!" Tinkerbell cried back, causing the boy to tilt his head.

"Sorry hon, speak up...all I can hear are little chiming bells...I guess that's why they call you Tinkerbell don't they? Well, I'm gonna take this Time Gear now...I must apologize...this is going to change your life...for better or for worse, that's for you to decide. Such a shame, if you were human sized we would have likely had a lot of fun...see ya later little one."

"No! I won't let you touch it! You can't, if you remove this from the pedestal, who knows what can happen?" she shouted, flying at the bow, who snapped his arm forward, smacking her out of the air. Blake gave his sister a nod, both of them springing forward. He grabbed a hold of Felipe, pulling his arms behind his back.

"What the...what are you doing? Who the fuck are you?" Felipe shouted, only to be slammed into the wall. Blake smirked, growling slightly.  
"We've come from the future asshole...we aren't letting you steal this Time Gear. We aren't letting you plunge Neverland into darkness, and you aren't going to become God of this place...we won't let you!" he shouted.

"What...what are you talking about? How do you know that? Who are you?" he shouted. Blake smirked, turning him to face Raven, who had a smirk on her face. His eyes widened in shock, jaw dropping open.

"Mira...what the hell are you doing here?"

"Oh...so you really weren't lying...you really did meet my mom...what a shame. She lead you to your own death buddy...Faybelle, go ahead, get one in for Briar." she said. Faybelle smirked, walking toward the boy, summoning a dagger made out of glass into her hand, stabbing it right into his abdomen. He gasped in shock and pain, glancing down at the weapon that had been plunged into his body, a crimson liquid falling to the floor.

"AH...you stabbed me...you fucking stabbed me you stupid bitch!"

"You stabbed my friend in the side and almost killed her...if anyone is going to do that to Briar, it's going to be me. It is my destiny after all, you are getting away from my wrath today...but not from Raven's. Go for it Rae, make him suffer." Faybelle said, pushing the boy to the ground in front of the Evil Queen's daughter.

"Please, Mira you said I would rule this world...you said I would get what I wanted...Snow White would bend to my will...you said she'd be mine!" he shouted. Raven held her hand up, encasing the boy in a bubble of pure magic, holding her palm open.

"I'm sorry Felipe...but I didn't promise you jack...that was my mother who did that...even though you haven't committed any foul crimes yet, you will. You will...which is why the realms need to be rid of you...goodbye." she said, giving him a smile, slowly closing her hand.

"No...no...NOOO!" he screamed. All of his bones snapped at the same time, his body exploding in a crimson mist. Raven used her magic to get rid of the mess that was left behind, leaving the cavern completely clean of blood.

"Finally...it's over." Kitty said, a smile on her face. She held her hands out, an injured Tinkerbell laying on it. Blake quickly walked over to his girlfriend, taking the fairy into his hands.

"Oh Tink...look at what he did to you...are you alright?"

"I'll be fine...who are you all? How do you know my name?"

"We're from the future...a horrible terrible future. One where Felipe stole the time gear and plunged the world into darkness. Everyone you knew, except those who got lucky, were frozen in time. That man, killed a lot of girls, he injured all of our friends. But we came back to stop him...but we still have to change the future world...we have to change the Time Gear of the future with the one of the past, in order for everything to be fixed." Blake said.

"Wow...the future huh? That sounds like an awful future...does that mean we're all friends in the future?" she asked curiously, a look of wonder on her face.

"Well, we aren't...but you happen to be a very nice teacher in our school. You even become a beautiful and regal queen, helping a lot of people with their problems, and throwing the most epic ball of the year." Faybelle said, making the small fairy grin happily.

"Jessica, it's time...we need to go before Peter and the others show up." Blake said, earning a frown from the wizard.

"There's something else I didn't say...I didn't want anyone to freak out but...when we return to the future to put the new gear in place...Time will be corrected." she said.

"Yeah so? That's what we want in the end." Kitty said happily.

"No...what I mean is...if future Neverland is fixed, time will become stable. We killed Felipe here, that should be having an effect already, but in order to fix everything , we have to plug this sucker in. Neverland would be fine...meaning there is no Curse. Felipe isn't alive to cause it, meaning he didn't plan anything against Apple, he didn't kill those girls, he didn't attack our school. Since he didn't kidnap Apple and brought here to Neverland, we have no reason to come here...all of us from that future...will disappear."

"Disappear? You mean we'll die right?" Faybelle cried, her eyes widened in shock.

"Die? I don't wanna die...there's still a lot I wanna do!" Kitty cried, wrapping her arms around Blake, a fearful look on her face.

"Honey, we aren't gonna die...we just won't have a reason to come back here. Everything will change, Tinkerbell won't get banished, meaning she won't be the Fairy Queen in the future...everything will be screwed up, but I promise you...everything will be fine. We will be together...all of us will be friends again, and I will be by your side. But we can't not change the future, we already have...it's time for us to finish this mission." Blake said, earning a nod from Kitty, who gave him a kiss on the lips.

"Kitty is right...we have to do it, for Neverland. Go for it Jessica." Raven said.

The white haired wizard nodded, pulling the Time Gear from its pedestal, quickly changing it with the one from the future. The wall shook for a few moments, and for a second they all thought time would freeze, but the wall readily accepted it, making the gear glow brightly. She pressed the gear into the wall, turning the gear several times in a clockwise motion. Once she did, the portal reappeared in front of them, glowing a bright sea green in color.

"Well this is it...the portal to the future...a brand new future where that fucker Felipe didn't cause so much harm." she said, glancing at her friends.

"Yeah...I guess I'm ready...even though I'm not happy about it." Faybelle admitted, walking toward the portal. Blake set Tinkerbell down on one of the rocks, giving her a smile.

"It was an honor meeting you Tinkerbell. You helped me so much in the future...maybe we'll meet again...let's hope so okay? Take care of Peter, you have no idea how much he values your friendship." he said.

"I will...I dunno the details but...thanks for stopping Felipe...I was so scared."

"Everything will be fine, we promise...let's meet again in the future okay?" Raven asked, earning a nod from the small fairy who gave them a wave as they all walked through the portal. It flashed out of existence a second later, just in time for Peter and the Lost Boys to appear in the cavern.

"Hey there Tink, how long have you been here?" he asked. She held up both hands, eight fingers raised up.

"Eight minutes...wow, all to check this thing...do you think it's important? We're always told to stay away from it." one of the boys said, earning a nod from Tinkerbell.

"You have no idea how important this is...I guess all of us will find out in the future." she said, though the boys only heard her soft jingles. Peter however gave her a confused look, and for a second, she thought he had finally heard her voice.

 _ **xxx(Neverland Island-Present Time)xxx**_

The portal opened above the cavern, dropping the five teenagers in a heap on the ground. Their friends who had been patiently waiting, sprung to their feet, quickly assisting them. Blake shook his head, groaning a bit from the impact, and from the fact that he had somehow fallen to the bottom of the pile and gotten a face full of his sister's boobs. He of course didn't say anything, knowing he would die if he did. He glanced around the cavern, seeing it was still as dark as he had seen before they had gone to the past.

"So, did you bring it?" Daring asked curiously. Jessica nodded, holding the Time Gear up.

"I did...but before I put it back in place...I have to say this. Returning this to its proper place will change history...Felipe is dead in the past. He isn't gonna be around to plan all of this shit, Apple won't be brought here. We won't have a reason to come to Neverland...so all of us are going to cease to exist." she said.

"Pfft...is that all? We already figured something like that was going to happen. Dexter explained it to us after you left." Darling said, a smirk on her face.

"It was obvious...I mean, if you change the course of time drastically like that, then it would have to change to fit that new history. It's likely that we'll all meet in Ever After High...but things will most likely be different...it's a bit scary to think about." he said, wrapping his arms around Raven, who gave him a hug back. She shared a brief kiss, looking into each others eyes.

"I love you Dex, that won't change. Even if we lose our reason to come back here, we will meet again. I'll still be a Rebel, my brother will still be here, we'll break the Wonderland curse, sign the book the whole shebang...but we have to fix Neverland...because they don't deserve this fate." she said, taking a hold of his hand.

"Anybody else need to admit their feelings of mutual love before I do this? Anyone wanna have a quickie? A threesome maybe? I mean history will change, it isn't exactly cheating." Jessica said.

"I'll take that offer, as long as Kitty is okay with it." Crystal said, causing the girl to grin.

"Hmm...I'm definitely fine with it. I've never been with a girl before, I think I might like her cherry chapstick." she said, licking her lips.

"Okay, enough of that...just put the damn thing in place." Darling said, a look of annoyance on her face.

"Hey wait a minute...I gotta check something." Faybelle said, walking toward the rock formation they had hidden behind in the past. She brushed away some dust, a smile on her face.

"Booyah...time did change, my beautiful name is inscribed in this rock." she said, pointing to the fancy lettering spelling out Faybelle Thorn on the rock.

"Wonderful, you signed your name there 20 years ago and now it's here. Just do it Jess, no use beating around the damn bush." Blake said, grabbing a hold of Kitty's hand.

Jessica nodded, placing the Time Gear in its pedestal. Just like before, the markings on the wall started glowing, only this time the arrows on the Time Gear itself extended outward, just as a clock face appeared on the wall. They all watched the hands slowly move until it stopped on one particular hour, Five Fifty-Five in the morning. The cavern started rattling, the entire world seemingly shaking. Blake pulled Kitty along, wanting to be outside of the cave in case of a cave in. The others followed suit, quickly leaving the cave. After a few minutes of running and flying, they had made it back to the beach, where Neverland Academy was still destroyed. Felipe's body was still on the sand, the earthquake having gotten stronger as they landed.

"It feels like the world is going to break!" Raven cried.

"It just might, you never know what's gonna happen!" Jessica cried.

Suddenly, the world stopped shaking. All of them felt a shiver go down their spine as a light breeze picked up. The sound of water flowing filled their ears as the sea started moving more intensely than before. The clouds above them started parting a bit, the storms that had been frozen for twenty one years finally starting to break up. They all watched in awe as a beautiful aurora appeared in the sky, shining with all of the colors of the rainbow, the stars twinkling brightly.

"An aurora...this world has started moving again." Blake said softly.

"After such a long time...I get to see the aurora again...I only wish Tinkerbell was here to see it with me." Peter said, a frown on his face.

"You know what that means right...the sun is rising...soon, this world will see the light of day, for the first time in twenty years." Gloriosa said, a small smile on her face.

"Whoa...not to alarm you or anything, but Felipe's body just pulled a dipski." Daring said, pointing to the area where the deceased son of Bluebeard once lay.

"Raven killed him in the past, so he shouldn't be here." Jessica replied, arms crossed over her chest.

"Hey...does anyone else feel heavy for some reason? I feel like I can barely move." Lizzie said, causing everyone to look at her. Blake tried moving his arm as well, but it felt like it weighed thirty pounds. He glanced at his hand, seeing a small orb of golden light coming from his palm.

"Time is catching up with us...soon, we won't be here." he said.

"We'll disappear, because we don't have a reason to be here...Time will be rewritten." Raven said softly. She sat down on the sand, pulling Dexter along with her. The clouds had finally cleared away, just as the first rays of sunlight were coming over the horizon.

The wind had picked up significantly by now, the sound of the ocean breeze filling the entire beach. Blake sat down as well, glancing toward the horizon, seeing the disc of the sun slowly start rising from beneath the waves. The golden lights were becoming more apparent now, more and more flowing out of their bodies and into the skies above, along with the golden lights of the survivors of the time curse. It wasn't long before everyone else just sat down, watching the breath taking scene in front of them.

"You know...I've watched hundreds of these...sometimes when I get bored, I just get up early and watch the sunrise from the school roof. I always found the beautiful...regardless of anything I was thinking. It was nothing but a sunrise to me...but after all of this...I'm starting to see it differently." Jessica said.

"Oh? Why is that?" Farrah asked curiously, glancing at her friend who gave her a smile.

"Before, a sunrise meant nothing...it was just something that happened. But this one is special...the sun is rising over Neverland after 20 years...20 long years of suffering caused by Felipe. This dark world gets to come out into the light...this isn't just another sunrise...this sunrise carries the light of hope for this world. It's the first one Neverland will see...and the last one we'll all share together."

"Wow...way to stab me in the heart with those feels Jess...good going." Blake said, chuckling a bit.

"Blake...look at my hand." Kitty said, holding her hand out to him, seeing it was slowly fading away. He smiled, wrapping his arms around her, holding her tightly. He gave her a loving kiss, closing his eyes tightly.

"Don't be scared...I'll be right behind you okay? I love you honey, with all my heart...we will be together again...I know it."

"I know...I love you too...see you later." she replied, giving him one last kiss before she fully disappeared.

"I want my last words to be...boo daddy." Gloriosa said, causing Lizzie to laugh, just as the two of them disappeared. Blake shook his head, lips pursed in annoyance.

"Jesus Christ...good choice in last words I guess." he said.

"Hey Blake? I know this is anticlimactic and all but...I'm glad we met...and I'm glad you are here...you're my little brother and I love you so much. It won't be long now." Raven said, taking a hold of his hand, noticing Dexter, Daring and Darling had already disappeared. He wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her close as the sun fully rose into the sky. Apple took a hold of Raven's hand, giving her a smile as well.

"I love you guys...you did all of this for me. I don't deserve such a kind aunt and uncle, such a wonderful family...this was all my fault."

"No it isn't Apple...you aren't to blame for this...you were just a victim. We all were." Raven said.

"She's right...we'll be just fine."

"I know...still, I'm happy we're family...I truly do love you guys."

"I love you too Apple...and I love you Raven...I'm glad, you're my big sister, I'm glad Apple is my step-niece, and my friend...I'm glad I came to Ever After...tapping that mirror will be something I will never regret." he said, a smile on his face. Their bodies finally disappeared, leaving Jessica and Farrah as the last two sitting in the sand.

"Well, isn't this bullshit?" Jessica asked.

"It's probably because you're so old...time works differently for you." Farrah replied, earning a nod from the white haired wizard.

"That's true I guess...wanna make out? I've never kissed a girl...perfect chance to try it." she said, giving Farrah a wink. She rolled her eyes.

"I suppose, just this once." she said, pressing her lips against Jessica's, running her fingers through her hair. Jessica pumped her arm in the air, giggling internally. It wasn't long before the two disappeared, not even noticing it in their moment of bliss.

From the top of the tower that regulates time, a young looking man overlooked everything that had happened. He had been watching everything intently, unable to fix one particular snag in the timeline, since he couldn't leave the tower unattended. He glanced away from the timeline before him, out toward the light of the morning sun, a warm smile on his face.

"For the longest time, I have been unable to fix the events that took Neverland by storm. I could not leave my tower unattended, but you youngsters did my job for me...and it would be a shame to let your sacrifice be in vain. Time shall remain the same, but the future will be up to you." he said, holding his staff high into the sky, a sea green light flowing out of it, pulsing through all of the realms below.

 _ **xxx**_

The weightless feeling that had washed over him slowly disappeared, and he could once again feel his body. It had been an odd feeling, like he had been floating through nothingness, heading towards the light. The sound of the ocean waves and the scent of salt filled his nostrils. He could feel the breeze blowing, the trees moving in the wind, the sounds of laughter filling his ears. His eyes slowly opened and he was clear blue skies above him. Small white clouds were floating high in the air, slowly drifting in the wind. He immediately sat up, cringing a bit from the stiffness in his body. He popped his back, sighing contently as he looked around the area, finding himself sitting on a beach. He noticed all of his friends were in the same state as he was, in the process of waking up looking quite confused as they glanced around the area. He pushed himself to his feet, brushing the sand off himself as he glanced out at the ocean.

The clouds had parted slightly, the light of day washing over the ocean and the island. It was just another sunrise for some, but to him it was the most beautiful event he had ever experienced in his life. He felt someone take a hold of his hand, standing next to him. Glancing down he saw that it had been his girlfriend Kitty, who had a bright smile on her face. They turned back to the sunrise, just as the rest of their friends had stood up next to them, various looks of confusion written on their faces.

"We're still here right? In Neverland?" Raven asked curiously.

"It would seem so. We all disappeared for a second there right?" Daring asked, earning nods from the others.

"Yeah...but we're still here...does that mean time was fixed? I mean the world is moving." Lizzie added, earning shrugs from her friends. Faybelle floated over to the area where Felipe had been, expecting the sand, not even an ounce of blood had been left behind.

"Looks like it, we killed Felipe in the past and his body isn't here. But look, the school is all fixed up." she said, pointing to Neverland Academy, which had been left in the same state it had been before the battle.

"Hmm...it seems time changed, it corrected itself and took us with it...but we're still here. We can remember the alternate timeline, even though in this world it didn't happen." Gloriosa said, earning nods from the others.

"Yes...none of it happened, and yet it did...and you know what else happened? Jessica and Farrah kissing! I caught that before I fully disappeared." Blake said, glancing at the white haired wizard who shrugged. Farrah looked away, burying her face in her hands.

"I'm not exactly hiding it, hell I liked it." she said, wrapping her arm around the daughter of the Fairy Godmother.

"Just so you know, I don't like girls...it was a spur of the moment thing! We were disappearing, it meant nothing!"

"I'm not letting you live that one down honey...sorry but that one is staying relevant." Faybelle said, a grin on her face.

"Hey guys, how are you all doing?" the voice of Peter Pan cried out from above.

He was floating a few feet off the ground, along with several other children. Apple looked around, seeing all of the children that had been frozen in time had been unfrozen. In fact most of them were flying beside the green themed boy, who had a bright grin on his face. Several fairies were flying around as well, including Zarina and her friends who had been with them during the final battle against Felipe. Even Captain Hook seemed to be sailing around, inside the Jolly Roger, rather than the Queen Anne's Revenge like before. Blake gave the young boy a wave, an equal smile on his face.

"Hey Peter, how is everyone? Are they all alright?"

"Mhmm...everyone is fine...it's weird, my memories are a bit fuzzy. I remember running into Tinkerbell in that cavern where the time gear was. She was injured from being hit by Felipe I think, but she isn't here with me. I can remember everything that happened, with her banishment...but also a lot of other things that all of us have done." he replied.

"That's an effect of time...it seems the Utopian timeline and the Dystopian timeline have blended into one...so you remember events that didn't happen in this timeline, even though they did happen at one point." Dexter said, pushing his glasses up his face. Raven blinked a few times in confusion, glancing up at the kids who had similar looks on their faces.

"Uh...could you maybe tell us in a way we can understand?" one of the Lost Boys asked. Blake shook his head, placing his hands on his hips.

"It's like this, the original timeline is the one where time was frozen...and then there's the one where it wasn't. Both of them are intertwined...like oh...take two pieces of string, one is the dark future and one is the light future, and then you twist them together. So everything that happened, didn't happen but it still happened...do you get it?"

"No, I'm even more lost than before...I just want to know where Tink is." Peter said, a frown on his face.

"She's probably still in Ever After High with everyone else...whoa, if time got fixed...do you think they're alright? Will they even remember what happened?" Crystal asked curiously.

"They probably won't...so that means only all of us here in Neverland will be aware of what happened...that's kinda sad." Apple said, frowning slightly.

"Why? I don't think I want anyone else back home to remember all of the horrible things that happened. You look perfectly fine, no black eye, and you've even got your clothes on, not that horrible pirate get up." Daring said, giving the blonde girl a hug.

"I think it's time for us to go home...a lot of things have happened today...I dunno about you, but I'm tired as all hell." Gloriosa said. Kitty let out a soft yawn, stretching her arms above her head.

"Me too, I could use a cat nap."

"Aw...does that mean you're all leaving?" Zarina asked, floating in front of the humans.

"We have to go for now, but we promise to come back...there's a lot of Neverland we want to see. Especially now that it's light has been restored, we also have to get your friend back here." Blake said, earning a nod from her.

"Okay then...we hope to see you soon, we can show you all over Pixie Hollow...I'm working on this special dust that will turn humans into Fairies for a short period of time. We'll be able to fly around and show you all of our hangouts!"

"If that dust doesn't kill us first." Vidia added, earning a giggle from the Fairy Alchemist.

They six fairies all shared a look of happiness before flying around the humans, sprinkling them with Pixie Dust. They all bid farewell to their tiny friends, before heading off into the sky in the direction of the Second Star. They stopped for a few seconds to see Neverland, without the darkness that was plaguing it. Blake grinned happily, spinning around as he flew, his hair blowing in all directions.

"What's got you all happy?" Raven asked curiously, causing him to look toward her.

"Don't you see Raven, we saved this world...just like we saved Wonderland. Who knows how many times we had to do this, before finally realizing it was a loop? The sun that's shining now is permanent...this is the dawn of a new day. Neverland will never again see darkness like that, and we won't have to fix it endlessly either."

"Blake's right, Neverland is finally free...we got Apple back safe and sound. And even better, if Felipe died in the past, those girls that he killed are perfectly fine...so no one got hurt in the end." Lizzie added.

"That's a happy thought...honestly, I'm hoping that school is back to normal, and no one remembers what happened. That horrid scene, watching all of those CSI's have to pull those bodies out of there...Jesus that's something no one should have to see. Let's just hope dawn came up on Ever After as well...one without someone as horrible as Felipe in it."

"That's a nice thought Blake...we've all certainly grown from it, that's for sure." Crystal added, a bright smile on her face.

"Hey Snow Angel, your boots are untied." Faybelle said, causing the Snow Princess to glance down at her shoes, a frown on her face.

"Oh man...why does this always happen to me? I really gotta learn how to tie my own shoes, even if I got pixies for that!" she said, earning a chuckle from Blake.

"I think we can manage...and we're teaching you how to swim too. You scared the shit out of me down there!"

"Not just you Blake, all of us...the last thing we needed was one of our friends dying!" Daring said.

"Whoa what? Crystal almost drowned?" Apple asked, her eyes widened with shock.

"It's a long story Apple, we'll tell it to you later alright?" Raven asked, earning a nod from the blonde.

The thirteen Ever Afterlings finally reached the Second Star, the shining light that would lead them back to Ever After. They took once last look at Neverland, happy that everything was back to normal for that realm, but even if Neverland was fine, there was still a lot of things for them to do back at Ever After High. The the sun of Neverland to their backs, they all flew through the Second Star, not knowing what awaited them back at Ever After. The future for them was brand new for the first time, free of the loop that had been plaguing them for the longest time, all thanks to the actions of a man who they had unknowingly helped.


	89. The Ballad of Bluebeard Epilogue

**A/N:**

 **Finally, the true ending of The Ballad of Bluebeard is upon us! With the bastard dead and gone, all we can do is move forward, and our heroes this time around get to see the dawn of a new day on their world. Everyone will also get the answers to one of the bigger questions in the story, the true purpose of Blake's existence in Ever After. That's right, that question is finally answered. In Chapter 90, you will get to learn more about his father Jeremiah Queen, along with his fate in the grand scheme of things. God can you believe it? 90 chapters already, insane!**

 **This chapter's ending sets up for the arc after the next one. The arc after this one will be The World Under the Sea and as I said before will be based on The Little Mermaid. The arc after that one will be called The Young-Blood Chronicles. I'm not gonna say a lot of information on that arc, as I want to work out the kinks before I actually start talking about it. Those who are fans of Fall Out Boy will most likely get what my aim for that arc will be. Afterwards, we will have the Dragon Games arc...most likely around Chapter 110 or 120. I haven't decided yet. it's crazy thinking that this story is Ten chapters away from its hundredth Chapter. In fact, once we reach Chapter 97, I will be doing a triple post to celebrate 100 chapters, so you lucky readers get three chapters that night, whenever that may be. However, After I post tomorrow's chapter, which will be the prelude of the next Arc, I shall be taking a break from posting so I can work on The World Under the Sea a little more. I'm currently working on Black Knight, the pairing of Blake x Darling, so I might post that. I still haven't posted Black Rose for some reason. I'm also working on Chapter 2 of Black Apple as well as Chapter 5 of Pantoufle Noir, which will be the finale of that mini series...maybe.**

 **So yes, this chapter will answer some questions, and maybe bring up new ones. I dunno, I'll let you all decide on that. Tell me what you think about this chapter, it's a little shorter than I wanted, but it is an Epilogue, so I guess it's fine. See you all tomorrow!**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 89

A New Dawn

 _ **xxx(Ever After: Location-Ever After High)xxx**_

Blake took a deep breath as he started making his way to the fourth floor of Ever After High. He had been wanting to do this for quite awhile, ever since his return from Neverland. It had been quite the lengthy two weeks. It was June 15th, A few days before the end of the school year. The whole debacle with Felipe was just as they had all theorized, something that had never happened. However everyone still remembered the events of those three days like they had actually happened. It had been quite odd for everyone to speak of those events, even though they had never happened. The attack was never registered in the news, for the rest of Ever After, it hadn't happened at all.

Snow White and Apple had been happily reunited, and she had spent a lot of time speaking about what had happened. Most of the students in the school weren't even aware of what happened, only people close to Apple seemed to remember. Briar had been one of the few people who still bore her scars from that day, and had showed all of her friends the spot where she had been stabbed by Felipe. Even though she knew it didn't happen, she still had the scar of where the knife had entered her body. It had been a hard time trying to accept things as they were.

They had just choked it up as time attempting to fix the timeline, while keeping major events in the minds of those who experienced them. Blake had been one of those few who had kept those memories, which were more than a fleeting dream to him. When he had spoken to Raven about it, she had told him that it had been the same for her, and for everyone else. Everything that happened felt like a dream, so that's what it was going to be to them, a silly dream that they had all shared together.

Upon their return, Blake had immediately gone to the Fairy Queen, or Tinkerbell as she was more commonly known. She had the same thing happen to her...she remembered the day Blake and the others had saved her from Felipe. But she also remembered her banishment from Neverland. As soon as everything had been settled in the school, she had flown back to Neverland to reunite with Peter. She had told him the boy wouldn't let her go, he had been shocked when he saw her new appearance, mistaking her for another woman entirely. He had been quite happy with her new look, since he can understand and hug her now. She had also said that her friends from Pixie Hollow had also been happy to see her again. After catching up with her friends, Peter and Queen Clarion, who apologized for everything that had happened, she decided to come back to Ever After High, to continue her work, not just as a teacher, but as the Fairy Queen she had become. Even her sister Periwinkle was very jealous of her sister, not just for her looks but also her new Queen status.

Everyone in the school had kept on going like nothing had happened. They had started getting ready for their final exams, which all of them were in the process of taking. He had already taken his Advanced Sword and Weapon Training final, along with his Creative Writing, Science and Sorcery and Magicology Finals. He had been on break for the day since the following day he had three tests back to back, so he had decided to take care of what he had to do today. So with his mission in mind, he had started his walk to the fourth floor of the academy.

He came to a stop in front of the Headmaster's Office. He was about to enter the office when he felt someone standing beside him. Glancing to his right, he saw it was his sister Raven, who had been glancing at her phone, replying to Maddie's texts. He remembered, her best friend had been among the ones who had been attacked by ghouls and had been laid up for most of the time after the attack. She put her phone in her purse, giving him a smile before facing the door.

"Holly told me you were planning on coming here after exams. Figured I would do the same...after what happened...I kinda wanted answers myself."

"Yeah...Felipe did say Mom had gotten him to Neverland...we're the only ones who will get answers from her." he replied.

"Well then...let's go." she said, giving him an encouraging smile.

The twins stepped inside the office, quietly closing the door behind them. They walked straight toward Milton Grimm's desk, the man looked up from his papers, a frown on his face. He reached into his desk and pulled out two papers, handing them to the twins along with a pair of quills.

"I had a feeling you two would show up at some point. Sign here, and remember..."

"Don't touch the glass, we know." they said in unison, both scrawling their names on the dotted line. Milton took the papers back, placing them in a special file, reaching down for the button.

"Before you go...how is everything? The whole...Neverland being frozen in time thing...it's affecting all of us. Those memories are starting to fade from most of us, but you all seem to still see them vividly."

"We're doing fine Headmaster...it's a bitter pill to swallow. Honestly...I don't think I'll ever get over what happened. I chopped a dude's head off with a sword, fuck I can still see it!" Blake said, his hands shaking a bit. Raven took a hold of his hand, giving the boy a smile.

"Hey, remember all of that stuff is just a dream now...we've all chosen to believe it is anyway. We saved Neverland, we saved the lives of all of those children and countless fairies. Don't think about the bad stuff that happened, think about the good things that came about after it, the fact that we can move forward."

"Mhmm...a new dawn has blossomed over Neverland. They can move forward too, that's all we can do...the future is filled with endless possibilities. Honestly, I'm just happy I can take my finals without Joey screwing them up." he said with a smile, earning a chuckle from his sister.

"What's this I'm hearing about? Joey messed with your midterms?" Milton asked, causing the twins to look at him.

"Yes...he used dark magic to switch Blake's test answers with his own. That's why his scores were so low during midterms, if not he could have made it to the top ten in the honors list." Raven said.

"It's alright, I was able to get some of my tests up and remade those grades. I remember a time where I used to disregard my school work and my grades. But now that I'm here in Ever After, I decided to take it a little seriously...I'm trying hard and that's what matters. Anyway, can we go see mom now? We got a lot of stuff to talk about."

"Of course...remember, don't touch the glass, by any means necessary." Milton warned, glaring at the twins who gave him a nod. He pressed the switch, opening the door to the tower.

The children of the Evil Queen begun their long and silent walk up the long spiraling stairwell. There was a lot that Blake wanted to say to his older sister, but he didn't exactly how to say it. He didn't know it, but his sister was thinking about a lot of things as well...she had quite a lot of things in her mind that she didn't understand. Ever since she had found out she had a little brother in Wonderland, there had been a lot of questions floating around in her mind. She loved her brother dearly, and she loved her mother as well...but she hadn't faced her yet. Because she was too frightened to find out the truth. It was why she had waited until Blake had decided to visit her to go up with him as well.

"So...how's life?" Blake asked, wanting to make some conversation. Raven turned her head slightly, a single brow raised. The boy pursed his lips a bit, glancing away from her.

"Right, sorry."

"You know, you asked me that when we saved Wonderland. After all of the bullshit we went through, finding out we were actually related...you just asked me how life was. You're a funny guy Blake."

"I'm glad you think so...I dunno...I used to ask my friends that whenever we hadn't seen each other for awhile. I asked you that because...I wanna pick your brain I guess. How are you feeling about all of this?" he asked curiously.

"What do you mean?" she asked, earning a shrug from the boy.

"I mean...the whole family thing...I mean, it's technically been a month since we found out. With all of this Neverland business and Felipe fucking us over, it's been hard for me to just...adjust if you will."

"It hasn't been hard to adjust...from the moment we met all of those months ago, I knew there was something about you. When you started showing signs of having mom's magic, the way you acted sometimes when Henry was antagonizing you, it just...made me see you differently. I always felt like you were my brother even when I didn't know you truly were...if that makes sense." she said. He nodded shoving his hand in his pocket, keeping his left on the handrail next to him.

"Hmm...It does. Don't take this the wrong way but, when I first met you, I thought you were a bad girl. I thought you were just another goth who wanted to send a message to the man by rebelling against the rules...but I started getting to know you and I felt for your cause. It was easy to get why you wanted to write your own destiny. I started seeing you as a sister after I found out about the mirror shard."

"After...what did you think of me before that?" Raven asked curiously, earning a grin from the boy.

"Well, you were that cute goth girl that I kinda wanted as a girlfriend. You had that bad girl vibe, not to mention I'm attracted to goths too...I always hung around them back on Earth. They understood me way more than other people. It's a good thing we found out we were related, cause that would be way more awkward than my wet dream about Apple." he said.

"Hell yeah...that would be a slap to the face, ugh...I can't even imagine that happening. And it's happened before too, I heard some stories about it happening between a Prince and a Princess."

"It's even worse on Earth...holy shit, I remember watching this show once, where this couple had gotten married. It was then revealed that they were brother and sister, not just that, they also had a kid together, it was so weird and gross and ugh...thank Baba Yaga and Headmaster Grimm for discovering that fucking Mirror Shard in my chest." he said, a thankful look on his face.

"Ain't that the truth...so, what do you plan on asking her?" Raven asked, finally reaching the top floor. The door was open, the ladder leading up visible for the two.

"Oh you know...stuff...and thangs." he said, in a bit of a southern drawl. Raven sighed shaking her head as she walked up to the ladder, climbing up the rungs.

"I honestly don't know why you say the things you say half the time. Don't look up my skirt or I'll kill you."

"Whatever, I already know you wear black panties, remember that time we were escaping through the vents? Yeah, I remember." he said, wiggling his brows a smirk on his face. She just scowled, reaching for the trap door above her.

Once Raven had disappeared into the room, he walked toward the ladder, feeling a lot less nervous than before. He had been here once before so it didn't matter to him anymore. He already knew his mother was on the other end of that door so he wasn't going to beat around the bush. He pulled himself up, brushing his pants off a bit as he walked toward the middle of the room. He stood next to his sister, both of them staring at the mirror that contained their mother. The swirling smoke disappeared, showing them the smiling face of the Evil Queen, who drummed her fingers on the glass.

"I was expecting my darling bird to come visit me, not the two of you together...I thought you hated your mommy Blake. What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I have questions...simple as that. Let's begin with this one, do you remember anything about that time loop?"

"So you figured it out, hmm yes, I remember but only vaguely. It was I who lead Felipe to Neverland, and told him about the Time Gears. An artifact that I found during one of my many research trips to the library. I was able to see it in person, before my failed attempt to conquer Wonderland. That beautiful dark world was unlike anything I had seen before. It had no character, and no people to subject my rule upon, so I left it to him."

"Mom, you need to realize that doing that sort of stuff is bad. How exactly do you expect your children to look up and respect you, if you give people like Felipe power? Christ, he killed seven girls, he cut one open and took her uterus out!" Raven cried, her fists tightly clenched.

"Raven is right...that bastard almost raped Apple, he almost killed Briar. He attacked our school with ghouls created from _your_ magic. Don't you get it? Once you spread evil beyond your story, it just hurts the innocents. Do you feel nothing for all of the students here that were hurt by your magic? Our friends?"

"Hmm...not really. Every war has it's losses I'm afraid...you got out Scot free, he could have easily sent real men to kill you all. But he didn't...I knew for a fact that he wasn't going to succeed. One of the many benefits of the Mirror Realm is that it lets me see countless other worlds...including the past of said worlds."

"The past...what are you talking about?" Raven asked, earning a smirk from the woman, who crossed her arms in front of herself.

"You asked me about that time loop correct? Well, I happen to know about the message in the watch, and the message in the tower. How do I know about those if I've been trapped in here the entire time?"

"Hmm...that is a good point. So, you knew that eventually there would be one timeline where we would succeed. So you played your role every time the loop restarted, because you had the knowledge of it happening. You were still eighteen when Felipe first went to Neverland, and the loop would always start there." Blake said.

"Mhmm...I'll clue you in one one thing. This loop was destined to be the different one, and do you know why that is?" the Evil Queen asked curiously.

"Because Blake got a hold of Excalibur...there was an inscription in it...the blade knows when it has to fight the darkness. When he killed Felipe, the scripture appeared."

"You're wrong about that my little bird...that wasn't the defining event. The difference here this time is Blake...you see, in the previous time loop, it was you who lead the charge to Neverland. It was you who found the information about the time gear, you who killed Felipe, and you who switched the gears in the past. Everything that happened was you Raven, every single thing was planned by you." The Evil Queen said, causing her daughter to narrow her eyes.

"Wait a minute...the defining event wasn't me getting Excalibur from Joey...in fact, Joey was never here the last time. And neither was I...the reason this loop was different, is because I exist here. In the previous one, you were an only child Raven."

"What? An only child? Are you shitting me?"

"I'm afraid he isn't sweetheart. As I said before, the Mirror Realm is vast, I can see into any world anywhere from here, including the mirrors to other dimensions and timelines. Blake was never a part of our original story, but as luck would have it, the 34th time this happened, I got pregnant with twins."

"34th? This happened 34 other times? I-I-I gotta sit down." Blake said, grabbing a nearby chair, sitting down into it. He put his head in his hands, eyes firmly shut.

"I can't believe this...so everything that happened this year...was completely different. From Blake's birth all the way to the time you booted him from Ever After High...what was the real reason behind that? Tell me mom, why did you get rid of Blake's existence here? Why did you separate us?!"

"You wanna know the true answer to that question dear?" the Evil Queen asked, earning a glare from her daughter. Blake glanced up, taking a shaky breath, forcing himself back to his feet.

"Yeah...I don't buy for a second that you used me for magic. You said after a year the levels would be normal, and I'm your son...what's the reason for stabbing me with this shard aside from giving you magic?" he asked, clenching his jaw.

"Fine, I knew you'd doubt me. The true reason why I sent my darling son to Earth was simple. Felipe was a smart man, he always figured out a way to keep the loop going. He had a portable booking glass, with dark magic, one can easily see other timelines. When he saw that I had a son, something that was different than the previous times. He made out to change it...he wanted to _kill_ my child. To ensure his success in the future and get what he wanted...didn't you notice how obsessed he was with Apple White?"

"That's true...he said he asked Snow White out a few times...but he was never a student here...or he was a student here once, but after that he cheated the system. He wanted Apple White because he knew she was Snow White's daughter...does that mean he...actually succeeded in one of those timelines?" Raven asked, eyes narrowing in thought.

"Unfortunately yes...you got to Neverland too late two loops in a row...he was able to take Apple's virtue. Not just that, she managed to stab him during the act and he slit her throat, killing her instantly. The major driving force for you going back to the past was her death." she replied, causing the twins to frown.

"What a total dick...so, he was planning to kill me...that was the reason then? The true reason of why I was sent to Earth? Then what's the reason for the mirror shard?"

"It was simple...I am able to see through any mirror, including the one in your chest. It was a way for me to keep an eye on you, to warn you if I felt you were in danger. But that time on Earth helped you out a lot...you are a natural at fighting, and even better with magic. Despite you having less than a year of magical training, you took it on with ease. I had no doubt that you could defend yourself...I brought you back to Ever After...because it was time for Felipe's reign to end. That...and I wanted to see how much you had grown." she admitted, a sad smile on her face. She pressed her hand against the glass, glancing away from the two.

"I understand, you hate me...because I ruined your life...but what can I say? I am the Evil Queen after all...but I am also a mother. I didn't want my little boy and my little girl to die. All those other times, Raven grew up alone...but this time, she finally had someone other than me to rely on. I didn't want that to end...so I sent you to Earth, before continuing on with my take over of Wonderland."

"What about Felipe then? How did he react when he found out Blake wasn't in Ever After?" Raven asked, earning a chuckle from the woman.

"How do you think? He helped me steal the Storybook of Legends, and I promised him to give it to him so he could sign his page...but in the end, it was that page that was his downfall. He signed it remember? During his tale, Bluebeard ends up dying at the hands of his eighth wife's brothers. But his tale was rewritten when Blake reappeared in this world, he was slain in the end, unlike the other 34 times." the Evil Queen said, a smirk on her face.

"So in the end, the Storybook of Legends beat us to the punch...it corrected what happened. With Felipe Bluebeard's registered signature, his story begun, and I was the one who killed him. Karma is definitely a bitch isn't it?" Blake asked, grinning as his sister shook her head, shoving him slightly.

"Yeah it is...I guess we finally got the answers we wanted...the real honest to goodness truth. This is the truth right mom?"

"Yes...it is the truth. You both worked hard for it, but this is the honest truth...I maybe the Evil Queen, but I am your mother first. I love both of you dearly, you are a part of my life...just as I am a part of yours, so maybe you two can...let me go?"

"Tch...nice try mom, but I'm not falling for that one. I guess...if you did all of this to save my life, and to ensure the future for all of us. I can...find it in my heart to forgive you. It's gonna take awhile, so don't expect me to say I love you just yet. I still hate you for what you did to me." he said.

"He's right you know...you could have just left him on Earth and brought him back with a simple explanation. But stabbing him and all this other bullshit? That was uncalled for and you should be ashamed of yourself." Raven said with a scolding tone, causing the Evil Queen to cringe a bit.

"I suppose...ugh dammit, I'm sorry alright? Cry me a rive, you two could do with a little evil in your lives. Seriously, do consider breaking me out of here, we can take over Gingerbread Land together! How about it? Have you ever lived in a gingerbread castle before?"

"Goodbye mom, we'll be back after the summer for our visit." Blake said, turning around, about to exit the room.

"Okay fine, I guess I'll see you then but before you go, that trunk by the door...you might want to look inside." she said, pointing to the red trunk beside the door. Raven and Blake walked over to it, flicking the latch open. When they looked inside, all they found was a weird looking metallic arm, with some Roman numerals inscribed into it. Raven pulled it from inside, glancing back at her mother.

"What the heck is this?"

"It's a crank for the clock tower right? The Headmaster said it was broken, but when I went up there I noticed something was missing. Now that we have this we can turn the tower back on. We'll be able to hear the music that our parents listened to every day while they came here." Blake said, taking a hold of the crank in Raven's hands.

"Yes...you'll have to figure out why I took that crank for yourselves...I can't give you all the answers now can I?"

"No clearly not, we'll see you later mom it was...nice talking to you, I guess." Blake said, flushing slightly.

"Aw, it was nice talking to you too my beautiful baby boy. You take care of your sister, she's the only one you're gonna get."

"Yeah yeah...although I'm sure Rae can take care of herself. She did turn a bastard into goop after all." he replied, jumping down and out of the room.

"Wait you turned Felipe to goop? You have to tell me sweetheart, was it from the outside in? Or inside out? Did you put him in a bubble? Did you put a bubble inside him and expand it until it exploded? You have to tell me!"

"Sorry mom, that's a story for another time, I love you...see you later." she said, giving her mom a wave before closing the door. The Evil Queen sighed, shaking her head as a smile appeared on her face.

"Yes we shall see each other again soon, and it will be outside of this blasted mirror realm. It shall be enlightening for the two of you. Mwahahahahahaha!"

 _ **xxx**_

The gentle sound of chimes echoed throughout the village of Bookend. It had been a pleasant sound that most of the villagers had forgotten, and the young adults had never even heard. With the return of the crank, Milton and Giles Grimm had fixed the clock tower. Now, it once again showed the correct time, along with a beautiful song that seemed to soothe everyone that heard it. Several people had started cheering loudly, having apparently been waiting for the day the chimes had started ringing again. Blake had been at the Observatory waiting for the stroke of noon when the Headmasters were going to restart the clock, and it had been quite alluring to see those hands moving. It was as if a missing part of the school had finally been returned, and with it came peace.

He had been wondering what happened to Henry after their face off in the Evil Queen's mother, but upon further inspection, he found out he was in prison. Since Felipe had died in the past, he hadn't been able to free him in the future. So he was still in his little hobble, cursing and spitting, and sporting a rather long scar on his leg from when Blake had stabbed him. Like Briar, he had memories of being stabbed but in the current time line, he had never happened. Blake was still getting used to that reality, it was a bitter pill to swallow, but it was one he had to accept.

Neverland had been reopened, and people had been eagerly wanting to visit the timeless realm. The Fairy Queen had apparently decided to be the head of tours for the summer, to take flights up to the Second Star. She got to visit her friends while teaching people about the wonders of Neverland, so it was a win-win for her. Blake was happy to know that his councilor was happy and got part of her life back. They had had their final session of the year, he was happy to announce that he hadn't gotten a single nightmare since taking off his bracelet. She had been quite happy with the news, and had wanted to hear about his summer stories. He was rather thankful for her help during the school year, he had gotten over quite a lot of things that he would have never talked about without her.

The wind picked up a bit, ruffling his clothes a bit. It was growing hotter as the summer season approached, it was only a few days now. School ended June 22nd, and then everyone would either be going home for the summer or doing some other thing. He had no plans as of yet, and was waiting for Apple and Raven to suggest something. Aside from going home and meeting the Good King, his step-father. He had been dying to meet the man who Apple loved fondly. He was a bit nervous about meeting him, as he was one of the last family members he had yet to even speak too. But Snow White reassured him that it would all be fine. He was just hoping the man actually liked him, though after everything that had happened, he was sure the man would.

Now that the school year was about to end, he had a lot of things to reflect on. Several things had happened, and now it was all coming to an end, temporarily of course. He still had two more years to go in Ever After High, but for once he was starting to think about the future. He had once been a kid who lived on Earth. One who didn't care about his academics, and couldn't care less about what happened in his life. He knew his parents would take care of him, because they had a lot of money. But now that he was the son of the Evil Queen, and had discovered where he truly begun, his attitude had changed. He hadn't really cared at first, but he had started liking his classes in Ever After, and even when Joey had messed him up, he worked hard to bring his grades back up.

It had been a wonderful year, and he was looking forward to the next one. But he was looking forward to the summer more, he had a lot of things he wanted to do now that he didn't have to worry about school. Including his shake shop, which he had convinced Ginger of letting him start. He had been working on several recipes on his off time, having gotten around twenty four different kinds. The Shamrock Shake was once that he wanted to put on sale as soon as he could as it was his favorite out of the bunch, but he was sure his Strawberry Cheesecake milkshake was gonna outsell the first one. He was just eager to start. He was also looking forward to the end of the year concert that Purple Rhapsody had planned with Yuletide Bliss. It was gonna be a collaboration event, however since Joey was gone and Tobias was mad at Blake for what happened, they had lost two members again. It was a real shame for them, and they had been wanting to just quit.

Of course Melody encouraged them not too, and even Faybelle had been interested in joining their band. After all it was thanks to her that Joey had been captured so she felt like she owed them. Her Cheerleading routines mixed with music would have been quite the addition for them, but they were still taking it all into consideration. The future looked bright for them, and it truly was the dawn of a new day for Ever After High, and all of its students.

"Hey honey, I brought you an apple."

The boy was jolted out of his thoughts, glancing away from the forest. Kitty had flashed in front of him, as she usually did, he had forgotten she was rather sneaky when she wanted to be. With her teleportation magic, she would appear and disappear in the blink of an eye and you wouldn't have even noticed it. He shook his head slightly, giving her a smile, accepting the fruit she was holding out to him.

"A zap apple, nice...I haven't had one of these in awhile. Thanks Kitten." he said, giving her a kiss on the cheek.

"Aw, you're welcome...you know I brought you one just so I could get a kiss from you." she replied, giving him a grin.

"You could have just asked for one you know." he replied, biting into his fruit, just as he expected, it didn't taste like apples. It tasted like peach cobbler for some reason, which he quite enjoyed.

"I know, but kisses are better as rewards than just normal boring kisses."

"Well, I guess we aren't making out then...it isn't gonna be fun if it isn't a reward for you."

"No no...let's not be hasty here." she said, earning a laugh from the boy, who wrapped his arm around her waist, pulling her close to himself.

"Don't ever change sweetheart, I like you just the way you are."

"The same can be said for you then, I love you the way you are. Especially that evil side of yours, you killed Felipe so beautifully that it was seared in my young impressionable mind forever!" she said, giving him a smile. He bit into his fruit, glancing away from her.

"Don't remind me of that, please...I don't think I can ever get over that. Anyway, what are your plans for the summer? I'll either be going back with Raven and Apple or sticking around here."

"Oh you know...I'll be here and there, mostly in Wonderland visiting mom. Though I did hear something juicy, Darling and Dexter were talking about heading to their summer home. Better yet, they wanted to invite our whole class. King Charming already approved it, they've got so much room that it isn't a problem. And you know what's even better, they have a private beach and a yacht!" she said, looking rather excited.

"A private beach huh? That's not bad, I'm sure people wouldn't mind having some milkshakes to cool off. Yes, this sounds like the perfect business venture. Is my sexy kitten interested in helping me?" he asked, earning a nod from her.

"Just as long as I get free shakes of course. Oh, I was thinking of adding smoothies to that, we haven't tried zap apple smoothies yet, imagine that! A smoothie that never tastes the same twice? It would be hextremely cool!"

"Ignoring that very forced pun, you have a point. It would be really cool for that, maybe a zap apple milkshake too. Maybe that can be a signature flavor or something...I should add that to my notebook." he said, reaching into his messenger bag. As he pulled it out, his music notebook fell out, landing open on the floor. Kitty grabbed a hold of it, glancing at the first song she saw.

"Whoa, already working on a new album? Didn't you just finish Heart's on Fire? What's this one about?"

"Actually, I just started this one. You see, this album is gonna be released in a different format. It's gonna be music videos all connected to tell a story. One of my favorite bands, Fall Out Boy did this with their Save Rock and Roll album. Since I wasn't able to rip those videos off YouTube and have them on my computer, I thought we could cover that entire album and shoot the videos here."

"Interesting...that would be really cool. Why is it called the Young-Blood Chronicles though?" she asked curiously.

"Well, that's what the music videos were called. It's gonna take awhile, since it's eleven songs we have to record, and then we have to shoot the videos too. Thankfully, I remember how they were like so I know what to do. It's gonna be awesome trust me." he said, earning a nod from her.

"I trust you...knowing all of the planning you put on the Winter Formal, this album is gonna be spelltacular, but I want to be in it." she said, earning a chuckle from the boy who finished jotting down the potential idea for the Zap Apple shake in his recipe book.

"Hmm...I'm sure I can squeeze you in there. We're gonna cut our vacation short though, in fact I was gonna call up a meeting. Mind getting Lizzie and Farrah for me? I'll need their help with costumes and stuff." he said.

"Sure thing babe, are we meeting at Melody's?"

"That's right, I'm gonna go get Raven, she's gonna be a big part of this too." he said. They shared a brief kiss, before parting ways, looks of excitement on their faces.

 _ **xxx**_

"So Jack, are you looking forward to the concert on Friday?" Pierre asked, practicing his bass, the deep thump of the instrument filling the music room. Jack looked up from his music notebook, a frown on his face.

"I am...but Tobias fucked us over, I could have easily taken over Joey's spot, but we need a drummer. I know how to drum too, but we don't have a lead guitar. I hate to break it to you guys, but I think Yuletide Bliss is done for." he said dejectedly.

"I was gonna say the same thing...Henry's loss was something we overcame. But Joey let us down, and Tobias just...changed too much. There is a solution, getting a new drummer and letting Faybelle into the band, I think she might be our salvation at this point." Frost added, earning a nod from Jack.

"She would definitely bring attention to it...but I think it's time to let Yuletide Bliss die...we need another name, a new band and image. This is the last concert we'll be doing. After the summer, I'd like to start something new." he said.

"I like that idea, so you want me to call Faybelle and let her know what we think?" Pierre asked, setting aside his bass.

"Yeah sure...why not?" the son of Frosty the Snowman said, a smile on his face. A sudden knock filled caught their attention, making them look toward the door.

"Heard you were looking for a drummer. My friend is better than me, but I am willing to learn, if you'll give me a chance."

"Ramona? You wanna join our band?" Pierre asked, earning a slight nod from the daughter of the Bad Wolf.

"That's right...Cerise taught me the basics, and I figured since you guys got screwed over by Tobias, that I'd bail you out. Besides, I think your band needs a little eye candy." she said, a smirk on her face.

"Hmm...you've got a point...Purple Rhapsody has Melody, Cerise and Cupid, and all three of them are incredible singers. I think having Ramona with us would be a benefit, she's attractive, and her voice has a nice somber sound to it. It wouldn't be wise to let her go." Frost said, earning a nod from Jack, who tossed her a pair of new sticks.

"Show us what you can do, we're about to get Faybelle in here too. We got seven days to practice before the End of the Year concert. Come to think of it, when are we supposed to bury the E-corn?" Jack asked, earning blank looks from his friends. Frost stepped away from the grand piano he as practicing at, grabbing a hold of his phone.

"Uh...I believe it's the twentieth, at noon...but I heard from the Yearbook Committee that Raven and Apple were having trouble deciding on what to put in it. Royal Pictures or Rebel Pictures...no idea how they're gonna decide what to put in it...I mean we've had a wild year." he said.

"Ain't that the truth, the botched Spring Fairest, the Winter Formal, Blake being stabbed twice, Joey's betrayal, the Bluebeard Fiasco...that's a lot of stuff." Ramona said, taking her seat behind the drum set that had been set up. She spun one of the sticks in her hand, beginning with a simple beat.

"It'll be an interesting year, that's for sure." Jack said, his eyes drifting toward the young woman behind the drums. Pierre bobbed his head to the beat, following with a simple bass line, which was then followed by Frosty who added in a simple piano line.

"Hey Jack, I think we got our new drummer."

"Not just that, you got yourselves a new lead singer too!" Faybelle cried as she flew into the room, dressed in her school cheerleading outfit.

A sleeveless tight fitting shirt, which was crimson on the front and back, and white on the sides. It bore three golden letters on the front, the initials for Ever After High. She was wearing a short pleated red skirt, along with short white socks and matching white shoes. She had her hair down, with a single streak of red running through it, she was also holding her pom-poms in her hands, shaking them slightly.

"The daughter of the Bad Wolf and the Head cheerleader in our band. Do you think that's enough to beat Purple Rhapsody? They have the daughter of the Pied Piper, two Princes, an angel and the daughter of Red Riding Hood."

"I'm sure it will be...we just need a new name...but for now we'll be Yuletide Bliss, our new image will begin right after. With it will come real songs written and performed by us, not stolen from other people like Joey's were." Jack said, a grin on his face.

"Well then, looks like we have a lot of practice. You just leave the cheering and singing to me, but you better not mess me up." Faybelle said, though her tone was rough, her face betrayed her. She was happy to be part of something cool, aside from Cheerleading of course. Yuletide Bliss's time might have run out, but their new band would surely attract the attention of hundreds, perhaps even millions. Only the future could tell.

 _ **xxx**_

"So, what's this meeting about? It isn't about the End of the Year concert is it?" Melody asked, leaning back in her chair at the studio.

Gathered around were the members of their band, Dexter, Cupid, and Cerise. Along with Raven, Farrah and Lizzie, who were curious as to why they had been called there. Kitty was there as well as Duchess, as they were wrapping up Radio Rebel for the year. Blake reached into his bag, pulling out his music book. It had been one entirely different from the one he had been using for Hearts On Fire. He took a deep breath, a smile plastered on his face.

"Well, I know we just finished Hearts on Fire and will be singing three songs at the end of the year from it. But I've been working on the next album. This one will be covers from one of my favorite bands back on Earth. I wasn't able to bring those music videos with me from Earth and I can't exactly go back to them. Jessica took off for the summer, so I can't ask her...so what better way to do that, than to film them ourselves." he said.

"Film them? You want to make an entire album out of music videos? That's insane." Dexter said, eyes widening from shock.

"Honestly, I think it's a really cool idea. Shatter Me was one of the highest viewed non-profit music videos. It took us three weeks to film it though." Cupid said, frowning slightly.

"That's right, and it took Hopper, Humphrey and Dexter awhile to figure out the suspension wires for Duchess's dancing. Not to mention the A/V and Film Clubs came together to work on this for their first semester project." Raven added, glancing away from her phone.

"I know that, listen I know it sounds really hard...but don't you think it would be cool to try it? I really want to share this album with the world. I know for some it might be copyrighting or whatever, but this band's music...it got me through a lot of shit back on Earth. I remember watching that music video movie every day for a week straight. They inspired me to get out again, after what happened with Gloriosa. If our music can help even one person stop their self destructive behavior, then it will be worth the effort."

"I like that...Blake is right, music is meant to inspire and help people. It's certainly helped me cope with a lot of stressful situations in life, so I'm in all the way." Melody said, a grin on her face.

"Thank you Melody, I appreciate it...what about you three, are you in?" Blake asked, glancing at Dexter, Cupid and Cerise, who all shared a look.

"Well...I guess it would be cool to do something with our summer right? Plus being immortalized in musical and film history. That would be bad ass, so I'm in." Cerise said.

"I'm in too, this sounds hexellent! Being in this band has been so wonderful, and it's shown me a lot of things about how music can bring people together. It's quite lovely I think." Cupid said, flushing slightly in embarrassment.

"The girls are in, and your my bro...so I can't let you down...though I am curious as to why Raven, Lizzie and Farrah are here...mind explaining that bit?" Dexter asked.

"Same with us...what do we have to do with it?" Duchess asked, sharing a similar look with Kitty.

"Well...it's obvious why Liz and Farrah are here...they're our costume department. I've saved up quite a lot of money so the budget is no issue, plus with all of those diamonds that I found in the crystal mines, I'm pretty much loaded. The music video is gonna need a lot of costume stuff...and they're the best when it comes to it. Ashlynn is gonna provide shoes for everyone. I've already talked to her and she's agreed to help us on that front." Blake said.

"It will help to get us out there as designers. Since we can choose our destinies now, I believe going into the fashion industry like my mother is a good choice. I'll always be there for Ashlynn and Cedar decide to fulfill their roles though." Farrah said, a happy look on her face.

"Same with me...I may be the future Queen of Hearts, but I want to do something other than rule my subjects. After all, I want to share Wonderland's style with the entire fairytale world, so I also accept. This will be a lot of practice for the future."

"That leaves our roles...what are we supposed to do?" Raven asked.

"Oh that will be easy...you guys will be part of the antagonist group. You see, the story behind this album's music videos goes like this. The band is fighting against this cult that wants to get rid of music as a whole...so they set out to save rock and roll. They find this suitcase filled with these dangerous pills that turn people evil, and against music. The band progressively gets caught and taken to this other place, where they're tortured. I've actually written the outlines for the first four videos if you wanna read it." Blake said, handing her his notebook. She flipped to the first page, seeing the outline for the song "The Phoenix" written on it.

"Even with that snippet that you just shared, I am hooked onto this idea. What else do you have in mind?" Melody asked, earning a smile from the boy.

"Well, I was thinking of having Yuletide Bliss in this video too, as a collaboration. Everyone has their roles, Purple Rhapsody will be the Defenders of Faith, the ones who want to Save Rock and Roll. Jack from Yuletide Bliss will be the Herald, who wants to help us without cause, Frost and Pierre will be the Problem Solvers, who ended up joining the dark side and are trying to destroy Rock and Roll."

"It says here that Duchess will be Foxes, and that her role will be the Death Adder, I'm gonna be the Head Bitch in Charge of this Evil Cult, thanks for that little brother." Raven said dejectedly, earning a chuckle from the boy.

"Sorry sis, that's how it was written in the original. After that we have Hunter and Ashlynn, the Prince and Princess of Darkness. And I was hoping to have someone important be our God, who will help the Defenders of Faith in their darkest hour. Honestly, I was hoping to either get Headmaster Grimm to do that part, or someone like Professor Piper." he said.

"Have fun getting Headmaster Grimm to play that role. I can easily talk to dad about this, he likes our music a lot. And since I'm his little princess, I can easily talk him into it...I'm actually liking that a lot." Melody said, a thoughtful look on her face.

"Oh look at this, it says Frost and Pierre get Holly and Poppy as henchwomen, not just that, Blake wants them to be dressed in tight fitting leather pants and shirts."

"Pervert~" Kitty said, earning a sigh from Blake.

"Hey, the Head Bitch in Charge had henchwomen and henchmen dressed in leather. They opposed Rock and Roll and were for Heavy Metal, I guess. As long as it's black it doesn't matter, go full goth if you have too. Raven is in charge of her cult, she has full direction of how she wants them to dress." Blake said, earning a grin from Raven.

"Awesome...this is definitely gonna be fun. I hope you two are ready with the dark violets, navy blues and blacks...because I'm going all out." she said, earning a thumbs up from Lizzie and Farrah.

"What about the Foxes? Are we gonna dress as Foxes?" Duchess asked curiously.

"No...Foxes is a singer and in the original film took over a hospital. Everyone turned into a zombie at one point. I was thinking of putting Apple in a sexy nurse outfit, only to realize she'd probably stab me. By the way, you're gonna have to learn how to drive at some point, because that particular song takes place on the road, after The Defenders of Faith escape a mob of children trying to kill them." Blake said, earning widened looks from the others.

"Jeez...you've certainly got a lot of ideas floating in there." Cupid said, earning a shrug from the boy.

"Like I said...I'm just going by what I remember from these videos. Oh, Lizzie I'm gonna need a fedora, a black one." the boy said, a smirk on his face.

"I'll get it done." she said, already jotting down some ideas that she had been dying to try out.

"Okay, will I have to sing at all? You know I can't sing, it always comes out as a honking mess." Duchess said, sounding disappointed.

"Ah...yes I forgot about that...I guess that's where Kitty comes in. We'll have her sing the song, and you'll just lip sync, I mean that's what we'll all be doing in this video anyway. Are you alright with that Kitten?"

"I'm fine with that, just as long as I get to be an Angel during the final song." she said, giving the boy a grin. He wave her a wink and a thumbs up, earning a giggle of joy from the girl.

"This is quite the ambitious project...we're gonna need a lot of extras too. It so happens that my sister and my brother were thinking of inviting the entire class to our Summer home by the coast. We'll be able to ask them to be our extras, I'm sure they wouldn't mind." Dexter said.

"That would be spelltacular, it would be like a big class project...like our own personal movie that we'll be able to watch forever!" Cupid cried out, holding her arms above her head. Duchess grabbed a hold of one, forcing her to sit back down.

"No need to shout, we're all right here."

"Hmm...yes, I do like this...I've gotten quite a lot of ideas. Duchess, Raven you get your picks for the Zombies and the Cult, I'm gonna talk to Briar, see if we can borrow her siblings for The Mighty Fall." he said, reaching for his MirrorPhone.

"Well...looks like our summer project is starting...we can take that time at the Charming's Beach Home to plan this stuff out. We can debut it on the first day of school, we might have to take an entire month to film it. I'll speak to our classmates, see if they're up for it...I'll also speak with my dad and see what he thinks." Melody added.

"Yay! This is gonna be so cool, the future is looking so bright for all of us now that Felipe is gone. No one is hurt, we saved Neverland and now we'll be able to film a bad ass movie. You know, I've always wanted to be in a movie." Kitty said, taking a hold of Blake's hand.

"Well then, looks like your dreams are gonna come true. It's gonna take a lot of work, but it'll be worth it." he said, giving her a kiss on the lips, much to her surprise.

"Don't forget, Joey is also supposed to have his trial in Ever After for the crap he pulled here. If any of you wanna go or at least see the results, then it'll be on the 21st. Of course Purple Rhapsody has a lot of crap to do for the End of the Year concert, anyway." Raven said.

"Mhmm...let's just focus on this for now. We have quite a lot of people to speak with." Dexter said, earning nods from the others.

With Felipe Bluebeard's reign on Neverland over, the students of Ever After High could finally see the future. Dawn had risen on the realms, no longer trapped in time due to one man's actions. The end of the school year had finally arrived, and while the students were looking forward to the summer, they had a lot more to look forward to now. This new album was going to be bigger than the previous two, and with hard work, they were going to make something spelltacular for the whole school, and all of Ever After as well. It was the only thing that Blake truly wanted from this project...even if it helped one person, he'd willingly put all of that effort into it. It would be great, something that would persist until the end of time.


	90. Goodbye Ever After High

**A/N:**

 **Hello guys, welcome to Chapter 90 of Through the Looking Glass. Here's the generic, I can't believe x amount of chapters in this story already spiel. Yeah, I'm gonna keep that short. Yes, it's wonderful that we are finally on Chapter 90. I would like to thank all of you for being awesome and for reading this little tale of mine. It is far from over, there is quite more Through the Looking Glass for all of you to sink your teeth into. Last night, I posted Black Knight and Black Rose so if you all want to check those out, I would be much obliged.**

 **Don't let the title of this chapter mislead you, it isn't the actual ending of the story, just for the school year. The next arc will start with Chapter 91 which will be the prelude, but I am going to take a bit of a break, let a few people catch up for a bit. I wanna rework the plot of this next arc, because it does involve Meeshell Mermaid, and I wanted to flesh out her character a bit. It's a shame that she only has one webisode. I can't exactly get a hold of the novel where she makes an appearance because all of my funds went into Sword Art Online: Fatal Bullet. Yeah, No idea why I wasted 60 bucks on it, but It looked good so I had to buy it. Also, I've been seeing a lot of book covers for new stories, like one I saw this morning was Rosabella and the Three Bears, I found out that those were alternate stories caused by Faybelle's spell, and I'm actually looking forward to reading those. They look interesting at the very least.**

 **Well, this chapter is mostly closing off the previous one as well as ending the official Sophomore year for this class. It is also the end of Legacy Year for all of the students, and the Royal/Rebel conflict has finally been resolved, though without a few snags in the road. It will also set up for the arc after The World Under the Sea, which is titled, The Young Blood Chronicles. You'll get a little bit of information on that arc by reading The World Under the Sea. You also get to see some of our ladies in sexy swimsuits, though I'll leave those up to your imagination...there are 25 girls in this class and that is too many fucking swimsuits to describe, the number of girls in this class is too damn high! Of course, the Freshman class will include Meeshell Mermaid, Justine Dancer, Nina Thumbell, James Hook Jr. Jillian Beanstalk and maybe Coral Witch, I haven't decided yet. I also need to bring in the daughter of Esemeralda, who I have named Esme Gypsy, because I have no other name for her. She will be Pierre's love interest, due to his story. I haven't decided if I'll include someone based on Quasimodo...I think I was gonna have someone who was extremely handsome and normal be the next Quasimodo, but he isn't gonna sign the book because he doesn't want to look like a horrible disfigured person. Of course, Rosabella talks to him, and tells him that inner beauty is the most important thing in life, but he's still a Rebel for those reasons.**

 **I haven't decided truly, but you will all know by Dragon Games if I include those ocs...well Esme is definately gonna be in the story because I've already thought of what she looks like and worked out her part in the story. So yeah...look forward to that.**

 **And now, I shall leave you with this chapter...I hope you all like it. Like I said, if you haven't checked out Black Knight or Black Rose, do give those a read, let me know what you think about them. Shout out to all of my awesome readers, it's because of you that I was able to reach 90 chapters. May there be 90 more! Lol...not really, I doubt this will reach 200 chapters, that's wicked long even for me. See ya when I see ya...**

 **The song used in this chapter is Rolling in the Deep, the Pop Goes Punk version by Get Radio. Since Purple Rhapsody is a Post Hardcore/Rock band, I felt the need to use this version. I just thought Cupid singing this song in this style would have been awesome, but the original by Adele is still really good. I guess either version is good, that's all up to you. Hope you like it's inclusion into this story.**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 90

Goodbye Ever After High

" _It has been quite a long time since the school year had begun. The Students of Ever After High have gone through quite a lot of things this year."_

" _That is right, we had a great deal of events happen. Thronecoming, the Winter Formal, the Spring Fairest, we even went to Wonderland and broke its curse. More recently, we visited Neverland and witnessed its curse being broken as well...but all exciting school years come to an end, and this time it's no different."_ Weiss said, a happy tone in her voice.

" _That's right, the last day of school has finally arrived. It has been a long year, but everyone is excited! We got to see the E-corn being planted, and the growth of a new Yearbook Tree too. It was so very cool, and so was Neverland, and Wonderland and Joey's trial was pretty sick too!"_

" _Brooke, try to stay on topic. I understand a lot has happened, but we must keep everything in order. Ahem...yes, various things have happened. One of them was the Snow Princess's return to the Land on Top of the World."_

" _Yes, it wasn't just her. Her younger step-sister Annaise who had been missing for quite a long time. The two girls had been happily reunited and had a great deal of fun, and even went to visit their aunt Anna down in Arrendale."_ Weiss continued, Chester was about to cut in, only for Brooke to take over instead.

" _Oh oh, there was also the Farewell for the Summer broadcast for Radio Rebel. It's so sad knowing that they won't be in session for the summer. But I am looking forward to that trip to the beach!"_

" _Brooke, again you have to stay on topic...you won't become a good narrator if you keep jumping around!"_

"Oh come on you guys! You can't blame a girl for jumping around, jumping is pretty fun after all! Especially when you bounce like a kangaroo!" Maddie cried, grabbing the attention of the narrators.

" _I suppose that's true...but the biggest part of this year was the arrival of Blake Bigby...er...Blake Queen."_

"We're still getting used to it, it's alright Chester...we don't blame you if you make a mistake." the daughter of the Mad Hatter said, happily continuing her walk towards the school.

" _Yes...when he arrived, we weren't exactly sure what his destiny was going to be. He became quite popular, despite him not wanting popularity. He has his own band, broke the Wonderland and Neverland curses, has Excalibur, saved Ever After from its lack of Wonder after plugging the well. He has good grades, planned the entire Winter Concert, this young man is quite involved in his school."_

" _Daddy, you forgot to mention the yearbook, he wrote part of the yearbook too. And he made Ginger's dreams of running her own bakery happen. He also helped Holly find her sister when they were lost in the woods, and lead a revolt against the evil Felipe Bluebeard to rescue Apple White! This has been the most exciting story ever! I wanna go back to the beginning!"_

" _Brooke, you cannot! We haven't finished telling it yet, that's 89 chapters of stuff we have to go back through. At least wait until we're through telling it."_ Weiss scolded. Maddie snorted, giggling as she took a sip of the tea she pulled from her hat.

"This is so entertaining."

"What's entertaining?" Raven asked, having joined her friend. They were walking through the foyer of the school now, watching the students chatting excitedly about the last day of school.

"Oh you know...listening to the narrators go back and forth. It's been an exciting year you know."

"You know, I wish I could hear them...I feel like they're really interesting people. Especially Brooke, I think we'd get along quite well with her." she said.

"It is a little weird, seeing as Blake can hear them but you can't...I guess he really is special isn't he?"

"I guess? I dunno...anyway, are you packed for the summer? All of us are gonna head to the Charming's Summer home for the first half of the summer. Then we're gonna start shooting our movie, the first half will be the fun planning part."

"I'm totally packed up. I have everything I need right in my hat!" she said, grabbing a hold of her hat, pulling out an entire suitcase from inside, along with another large trunk which had her tea sets and other things. Raven blinked a few times, chuckling dryly.

"Y-yeah, of course your packed, you are you after all. Anyway, give your thanks to the Mad Hatter...he's a total bad ass for agreeing to be part of that mad disco party for our movie."

"Ahuh ahuh, no problem...you know giving it a little Wonderland style would have made it even better. I'm just happy Blake took the suggestion and went with it, it's gonna be so much fun!" she cried. The two finally arrived at their lockers, which were being cleaned for the year.

"It's so weird...after such a long school year, we're finally at the end. It's been crazy, I guess Legacy Year was way different than in the storybooks." Raven said, smiling to herself. She glanced at the pictures on the door, seeing all of the more recent ones she had taken with Blake.

"Yup, but you gotta admit it was way super fun! Especially going home, I still get goosebumps from jumping into that rabbit hole. I can't thank Blake enough for opening that portal for us."

"Mhmm...he's been a welcome change to this school...I feel like we're all more unified now. Not just because we settled the Royal/Rebel conflict, but also because we're all so closer to each other. I'm just happy that my brother is safe and sound."

"Me too, I was able to make so many new friends this year. I am so looking forward to the next one, especially back home. I heard from Gloriosa that she's gonna try to make school there a week long instead of a single day. It should be really fun to have time to explore, but we did graduate so we have no reason to go back."

"High school reunion?" Raven suggested, earning a happy nod from the girl.

"Definitely...say, do you think I should toss this painting? I've slimmed down a bit since I was last painted." Maddie said, pulling out a large canvas that had an image of Maddie on it. It looked almost like the Mona Lisa, down to the smile on the girl's face.

"I...don't know...yes? It looks horrible, what inspired you to get this done?"

"I saw it in a book...yeah...you are right, this is definitely trash!" she said, tossing it over her shoulder, hitting one of the goats in the head with it. He cringed loudly, crying loudly as he tore it apart.

Meanwhile at his own locker, Blake was going through a lot of school work that he was tossing. It was stuff from the first semester that he should have tossed, but for some reason or another kept. He had dragged one of the nearby recycling bins and had been tossing bundles of papers inside, notes that he wouldn't need, pausing to keep all of his graded projects and tests. He wanted a record of his hard work, even the ones that Joey had messed up. There were various things he had looked at, all the way back to his first day of school. He smiled fondly when he saw a Riddlish worksheet from his second day of school. It had been the day he had met Kitty for the first time. The girl who had gone from his friend, to his best friend to now his girlfriend. It was surreal to even think about it now. He set that paper aside along with his graded things, wanting to hang on to it.

"Yo Blake, having fun cleaning your locker?"

"Not really, although I am finding a lot of interesting things in here...what about you Hunter, clean yours out?"

"I did just now. I had a lot of crap inside, along with broken arrows, band posters, a half eaten sandwich from January that had turned into a science project straight out of hell. Oh, and one of Ashlynn's shoes, no idea why that was in there." he said, holding up the blue slipper which had been inside his bag.

"Well, she is the daughter of Cinderella...she's bound to forget her shoes in the weirdest of places. All I seem to have are papers in mine, I turned in all of my text books last Friday." he said, grabbing another stack of papers. Once he had pulled out all of the tests, he tossed them into the bin.

"Yeah, I'm missing one of mine...so that means I'm gonna have to fork over 65 gold for it. But that's besides the point, since there are no classes today, I was wondering if you wanted to hang out in town. The concert is tonight and then we all leave tomorrow with Daring and Dexter."

"I'd love to man, but I promised Kitty I'd go to Wonderland with her. We haven't had a date since before the whole Felipe thing...so I wanted to spend some alone time together. But you don't have to worry, we'll have an entire month to dick around at the beach. You know, Ginger is opening a stand nearby, it's gonna be lit."

"Don't I know it, the people that live in Aquania are gonna be psyched to try her stuff out. Especially those milkshakes you keep bragging about, how come you never make some for your friends man?" Hunter asked, earning a smirk from the boy, who closed his now empty locker.

"Because, I wanted to perfect some of the recipes...and trust me, it's a bit hard when your girlfriend is a damn cat and keeps eating your ice cream. Seriously, last night I let her stay with me for the night, and she was sleeping like a log. So I figured I could go to sleep, next thing I know, I hear her rummaging through my fridge. She had this huge ass fuckin sundae in her hands. Who eats ice cream at 3am?"

"Pregnant girls? Whoa, does that mean you and Kitty got to home base? Blake you naughty dog." the son of the Huntsman said, a grin on his face. Blake glared at him, eyes flashing slightly.

"Get real, we've been together a month and a few days. I'm not just gonna start humping her leg, unlike you...you gotta get hitched to get any. I truly feel for you, I really do."

"Yeah, but it makes it more special. I think it's sweet that Ashlynn wants to wait until the wedding night, not a lot of people do that. Hey, do you think Dexter has gotten to second base with Raven yet?"

"Why the fuck would you ask me that? She's my sister, I'm not gonna straight up go to her and say, Yo Raven, have you gotten laid yet? Like get real man." he cried, closing the recycling bin he had been using.

"If you want an answer to that question Blake, it's no...we haven't gotten to second base yet. Unless you call a dry hump second base." his sister Raven replied, causing the boy to scream in fear, backing up into the lockers.

"Fucking shit balls, don't do that shit Raven! You know I have a weak heart." Blake said, earning a chuckle from her and Hunter. She crossed her arms, glancing towards Hunter, her lips pressed in a thin line.

"You know, it isn't nice to talk about your friend's sex life. It shouldn't be your business, and you shouldn't compare and or wish for some when you get none. It has to be natural, and with someone you love." she said.

"I know that...I was just curious, you know...guy talk and all that crap. I'm gonna go, Raven looks like she wants to skin me alive...sorry. Have fun on your date with Kitty."

"Thanks Hunter, catch ya later. Say hi to Ash for me." he said, waving his friend off.

"What's this I hear about a date? Where are you taking your cat?"

"Not to the veterinarian if you were wondering. She wanted to visit her mom before we went off for the summer. We're gonna have quite the busy schedule during August so I told her to visit home before we left and after we came back to Ever After High." he said, glancing at his pocket watch, it was still eight in the morning, and it was going to be quite a long day for him.

"Hmm, not a bad idea. Me and Apple are heading home tomorrow, and we're spending the week there. Darling told me she had to get everything set up at the beach home before people actually started showing up. You're gonna be helping with the clean up right?"

"That's right, not just me...the rest of our band is gonna head there as well. I know you wanted me to be there to meet the Good King but I promise to visit him when we come back here. I'm just...not ready yet, you know...after all the crap mom did." he said, looking a bit sheepish. She placed a hand on his shoulder, giving him a smile.

"It's fine...I know you need time to get used to it. I mean, it's a little easier spending time with Snow than it is with dad. Don't worry, he's really awesome so he isn't gonna cuss you out or anything for not showing up. In fact he sort of expected it." she said.

"I'm sure he is Rae...and I'm looking forward to that day. Anyway, about our movie...I've been trying to figure out some places to film at. It has to be in a city setting, at least for the Phoenix, Young Volcanoes can be anywhere. But I have the perfect place for that."

"Oh...well explain to me what you want happen in that video so I can get an idea." she said, earning a nod from him. He started walking toward the grand stairwell, as he had to speak with the headmaster about something.

"Well, the movie starts with The Phoenix, the Defenders of Faith, I.E. Purple Rhapsody, will find this briefcase. We open it, and realize that it's some weird pill thing that turns people evil. So we make a decision to take it to one of our friends to get rid of it. The premise is, I handcuff the briefcase to my wrist and leave the house. Progressively, all of us will get kidnapped by various people. My hand actually gets cut off and sent to Dexter as a message, and since you are the Head Bitch in Charge, you are also the one who captures him."

"A double agent, nice...but what about the second one?"

"Oh, that one involves me loopy on drugs, sitting at a table with my stump. I'm all injured and covered in my own blood, and I'll be singing a song, while the rest of the band members get forced into eating food and doing these mind altering drugs. This cult is trying to get us to destroy rock and roll. After we all refuse, it will lead to the next song, where we're all being _conditioned_ into their mentality." he said.

"So, tortured you mean? Hmm...I think I can see it."

"Same here...one of us, either Dexter or Cerise, I haven't decided, kills one of the vixens inside that place, and sets out to free us. He runs into Jack, who's also been captured and sets him free. Eventually, we all get captured and shoved into a van, and that leads into the next video."

"Right, and that would be the song Alone Together right? You've only written the lyrics to those three...along with their melodies. Are you sure you can do that?" she asked curiously.

"Yeah, I can. The thing is...my Ipod died a few weeks before I came to Ever After...and the songs that I had on it were from all of my CDs that I had collected over the years. I never once bought Save Rock and Roll, so I don't have any of those songs on my Iphone at all. I'm writing all of these lyrics from memory along with the melody and everything else." he said, causing her to go wide eyed.

"Are you serious? All of that was from memory? How do you know if it's right or not?"

"Easy, I've heard that album so many times that I know the songs by heart. I can sing one for you if you want?" he asked. She shook her head, waving her hands before herself.

"I'd rather wait...by the way, why did you make me the Head Bitch in Charge?" she asked curiously.

"Because you're the daughter of the Evil Queen. The thing is, this cult is about a bunch of misguided individuals. Your role as leader is to have them all destroy musical instruments, because you see music as something dark and vile. Because as children, the two of us were tortured with music. But we were separated one day, I went on to form a band and move past it, and embrace the music, while you ended up hating and detesting it. So when you saw I was in a band, you felt betrayed...you planned to turn me into a music destroying monster."

"Whoa...that's pretty cool now that I think about it. This cult was trying to get rid of music and creativity, but none of us knew that there was someone far darker behind the scenes. That's what the briefcase is for right? It's filled with that stuff that turns people evil." she replied, earning a nod from the boy.

"That's absolutely right...I can't wait for us to actually get recording. The tenth song, Rat-a-tat is gonna be your song, as you lead the charge in starting the Musical Apocalypse, where music is destroyed all over the world." he said, finally reaching the headmaster's office.

"Hmm...alright, but uh...what are we doing here?" she asked, earning a smirk from her brother, who opened the door.

"To get permission for something." he said simply, walking into the office. Headmaster Grimm was as always, reviewing some paperwork, most likely looking forward to having an empty school during the summer months.

"Mister and Miss Queen, to what do I owe the pleasure of your visit?" the man asked, without even looking up from his paperwork.

"Well, I have a request, if you would allow us of course." Blake said, causing the man to look up.

"You'd like to see your mother before the school year ends?"

"Not at all, we already said our goodbyes to her...it's about something else. You see, we're filming a movie...well it's a series of music videos linked together to tell a story. Purple Rhapsody will be doing most of the musical work, but we were in need of a set for three of the videos. I was wondering if you'd allow us to use the old school for it."

"The old school? Absolutely not, that place is closed off, so it cannot be used." he said firmly, his eyes returning to the papers in front of him.

"Why is the old school closed? I never really understood that...I mean, I get that the castle was finished and there was no need for it. But I wanna know why we can't go down there." Raven asked, earning a sigh from the man.

"It was closed off, because someone lost their life there...in the music storage room. Only the staff is allowed down there as it is where we keep our spare desks and instruments. We've never told any of the newer generations of the incident." Milton replied, a frown on his face.

"The Bella sisters...apparently they ran off...but one of them ended up murdering the other right? One of them tore their pages out of the book and tore them up, and then killed her sister so that their story wouldn't repeat." Blake said.

"Yes...that's why it can't be opened...I just don't want students to wonder in there." the man replied. Blake shared a look with his sister, both knowing they had already been down there.

"Is there another place we can film at? Do you know of any place we could go? Ideally a hospital would do, but we can't exactly just barge into the local one." he said.

"Well, I do know someone who was the owner of an insane asylum/hospital. It was closed down when they bought a new lot for an expansion. It isn't haunted or anything, but the building still stands. I can perhaps get you in touch with the owner, and you can speak with him about this film of yours." Milton replied, a small smile on his face.

"An insane asylum...that's wicked, we can definitely use that in our movie. And it would be convenient too since we have hospital scenes."

"It would, thanks a lot for the help Headmaster. This film of ours isn't just for the band, we plan to get our entire class involved. It just came to me you know, our teachers will ask us on the first day of school, what we all did during the summer. Instead of telling them, we get to show them."

"Well, I look forward to seeing it then. For now, just enjoy your last day of school. There may not be any classes, but it will be awhile until you walk these halls again, at least for class."

"We will, thanks again Headmaster Grimm...who knows, maybe if you are up for it, we can get you into the video. We're planning on filming one of the songs in Wonderland...so it should be interesting." Raven said, earning a nod from the man.

"I suppose I could lend myself to the cause...provided I have nothing to do. Even though you two are off for the summer, I am not. I must prepare for the following year, now that Legacy Day has been postponed indefinitely for this generation."

"Yeah...sorry about that, we take the entire blame for pulling apart the Storybook of Legends. I'm sure the world and everyone that lives in it will be fine just this once. We'll take our leave now, try not to waste all of your time on those papers Headmaster, it's a sunny day outside." Blake said, giving the man a polite bow before turning toward the doors.

"Miss Queen, would you mind staying here for a moment? I'd like to discuss something with you."

"Uh...sure, does Blake need to stay?"

"No, it isn't anything serious...it's about your electives for the following year. Blake and Baba Yaga have already spoken about his classes for the next year so he doesn't have to stay if he doesn't want too."

"Eh...I would, but Kitty just texted me to hurry up. We're gonna be in Wonderland for awhile, so message me if you need me. Love you sis."

"Love you too Blake, don't touch the Snap Dragons, they can get really aggressive when their bothered."

"Unless you have onions, I know...bye sis. I better not see you in Damsels-in-Distressing next year, or I'll be pissed off. See ya." Blake said, finally taking his leave.

 _ **xxx**_

Old Timey Road hadn't changed since the last time he was in Wonderland. It was still a winding road filled with clock faces, all of them ticking at odd intervals. The road was running along side a dark colored stream filled with spade shaped flying fish. They were the same ones that blew rainbow colored bubbles all over the place. It gave the road a very beautiful glow, especially when each bubble was a different color. Kitty had been giggling most of the time, popping each bubble they passed, just because it made a funny sound. It made Blake smile a bit, but it also showed him one of her more lovable sides. Not a lot of people let their inner kid out once they had grown up, wanting to act mature and the like. Kitty was different, he could argue that she was a grown up kid, with all of the pranks she pulled and all of the chaos she spread.

They reached the top of a grassy hill after a long walk, which had bright yellow polka-dotted grass, rather than the lush green he was used too. The violet skies of Wonderland were shining brightly, filled with cotton candy clouds. Blake himself had been sitting on a large tree branch, glancing at the distant Card Castle. He had been leaning back against the trunk, his music notebook in his hand. He had been working on the base melody for the Phoenix and Young Volcanoes, since all he had was the lyrics for both. He would be able to refine them with Melody later on, and perhaps even record them while they were at the Beach House.

He glanced away from the distant palace, glancing at the sheet music in front of him. He started humming the melody in his mind, following the notes he had written only to hit a snag. Grabbing his pencil, he started to erase the notes, only to see several others that didn't flow with the song. He growled in annoyance, tearing the paper from the book, crumpling it up and shoving it into his bag. He frowned, as he started writing the lyrics on the sheet music again, singing them in his mind.

"Honey, that's the fourth time you've done that...having trouble?" Kitty asked, glancing up from the ground. She was holding a dandelion in her hand, which had an actual lions face on it, the white seeds being the mane. He glanced down at her, frowning slightly.

"A little bit, I know the lyrics to these songs by heart and what they should sound like. I already finished Song 1, 4,5,6,7 and 11 because those were the ones that I loved the most."

"Why don't you talk to the band? I mean...you jumped the gun when you suggested this. I know we all agreed to help you but the way you made it sound was like you weren't giving us a choice. It was what you wanted and we were going for it."

"Really? I...wow I didn't notice that. I guess I let this get to my head...I haven't been thinking straight since the Felipe incident. I guess I just needed a creative outlet for all of my stress." he replied, glancing at his notebook.

"How many tracks does Heart's on Fire have? And from those tracks, how many are you the lead in?" Kitty asked. He leaned back against the tree, closing his eyes.

"We got thirteen tracks on that album. From them, six of them are sung by me, two by Cupid, three by Melody, Dexter got one and Cerise got one. Cerise didn't want to sing anything else, we all talked to her about it, and she said she had a song book but wasn't ready to share it with us. And Dexter only did one song because he didn't feel confident with singing more." he replied.

"Could it be that they're all intimidated by you, Cupid and Melody? I mean, the three of you are pretty good singers. Cupid is a natural at it, Melody is the daughter of the Pied Piper so she gets a free pass...but what about you? Do you have any formal training in singing?"

"Not really...well, all of my training comes from singing when I was alone. I didn't start practicing until I got here, when Melody started training our voices." he replied.

"I can see how he and Cerise would feel intimidated then...you came from another world and then started singing like nothing. I suppose some of that can come from the Evil Queen, since she is a surprisingly good singer. Just look at Raven, she doesn't have that much training other than with Guitar and she's an amazing singer. These are things you need to discuss, or else you might have a burn out." Kitty said, causing the boy to sigh. He closed his music book, shoving it in his bag.

"I suppose you are right. What did I do to have a wise and loving girlfriend?" he asked, earning a giggle from the girl.

"Nothing, I sort of dropped in your lap."

He jumped down from the tree, stretching his arms a bit. Kitty jumped into his arms, wrapping her legs around his waist. He smiled a bit, looking right into her eyes.

"How the hell can you do this with that huge ass dress?"

"I just can, a girl can do anything when she puts her mind to it. Wanna go visit mom? I'm sure you'd like to see where she lives." she asked, earning a nod from the boy.

"Sure, I wouldn't mind...just let go of my waist, I don't want to give Sia a heart attack." he said. She giggled, bringing herself back down to the ground. She gave the boy a loving kiss, arms wrapped around his neck.

"Kitty dear, would you mind not warping here when you are handling business with your man? It's rather intrusive."

Blake broke the kiss, backing away slightly from his girlfriend. He glanced around, seeing that he was now in some sort of sewer, with flowing rivers of rainbow water falling in all directions. He looked up to one of the upper parts, seeing Kitty's mother, Sia laying down, eyes trained on the two who had flashed into her dwelling.

"Kitty! Don't just randomly teleport us from place to place like that!" he exclaimed, earning a giggle from the girl.

"Sorry, I couldn't help myself. Hi mom, I just wanted to visit before we head out for the summer, we're gonna be super busy."

"Busy with what my dear? Don't tell me you already plan on having kittens with Blake. Aren't you a little too young?"

"Yes! Yes we fucking are, we aren't even at that stage yet, plus what she means is, we're filming a movie over the summer. So we're gonna be a bit busy with that. We'll pop in from time to time, we're gonna be filming in Wonderland High, at least I think we are. We haven't spoken to Gloriosa about it." he said. Sia sat up, leaning back slightly as she glanced at the pair, a look of curiosity on her face.

"A movie you say? That sounds, interesting...what exactly will it be about?"

"It's a music video series, Purple Rhapsody will be singing an entire album. Then they're gonna make a story with the music videos, chaining each one to show different events to make an entire movie." Kitty explained, earning a nod from the woman.

"Is there a place for me in this project of yours? It would be purrfect if you could squeeze me in."

"Well, we do need a sexy nurse."

"No Kitty, absolutely not! I am not gonna let you put your mom in a nurse outfit, we do need some zombie extras, you can be one of those if you want." he replied, glancing back at Sia who shrugged, giving him a nod.

"It would be an honor to be a zombie for this little film of yours. As long as I get to spend time with my little girl, that's all that matters." she said.

"Aw...thanks mom, I love you too. Can I have a hug?" Kitty asked. The woman flashed down to where her daughter was, wrapping her arms around her.

"I'm so proud of you Kitty, I heard all about your exploits in Neverland, and defending your school. Rather odd, that it felt more like a dream, but you still did your best." she said. She grabbed a hold of Blake, pulling him into the hug as well.

"Oh uh...I'm part of the hug too?"

"Of course, I've grown rather fond of you...you are Mira's spitting image, but you've got a lot of your dad in you. He was a wonderful man, the only one who could actually get your mother to fall in love with him. Did she ever tell you about him?"

"No Sia, she didn't...did you ever meet him?" he asked curiously. She released her hold on the boy, turning instead to face the two teens.

"Jeremiah was a graduate from Wonderland High...he wasn't an important character by far. He wanted to explore the other worlds and found himself in Ever After. By this point, Mira had already graduated from Ever After High, and was in the process of building her palace. In fact, he was one of her hired hands."

"How did he go from a construction worker to her husband? Did he pull some sick moves on her mom?" Kitty asked, earning a laugh from the woman.

"If giving her some black roses counts as sick moves, then I suppose so. He was a charming man, and Mira often times hung out with Sam and Ruby, she had a crush on him you know. Anyway, one day it was couples night, and Mira didn't want to go to the disco alone, so she dragged your father into it."

"Interesting, so that means he started becoming nervous because he liked her. Does that mean there was a...Panic! At the Disco?" he asked. Kitty and Sia just stared at him, causing him to frown. His joke fell flat, because neither of them recognized the band he was referring to.

"If you call him kissing her awkwardly under the disco ball panic? Then yes. She was taken aback by his action, but I also heard from Ruby that she just licked her lips and went for it. She popped his cherry that night, and from that came you and your sister." Sia replied, earning a flushed look from the two.

"Um...mom, what happened after that? Blake told me the Evil Queen apparently told him she was pregnant with twins, and he left. Is that true?"

"No...it isn't. He was ecstatic when he found out she was pregnant with twins, he was whooping for joy, and telling all of us about it. He said he couldn't wait to hold his babies. He was the one that named Raven, while Mira named Blake because she liked the color black a lot. However, her story started affecting her judgment, it wasn't about her life anymore. She started growing more evil, and Jeremiah tried his best to contain it. But destiny is hard to control sometimes...the reason the Evil Queen is still alive today, and not dead because of the boulder that crushed her, is because he saved her life." Sia said, earning a gasp from Blake, who immediately covered his mouth.

"Blake...are you okay?" Kitty asked, earning a slight nod from him.

"I'm fine...I just realized...he pushed her out of the way. Before the boulder fell and crushed her, he saved her life and gave his. She was supposed to die in that story, but in the end he was the one that saved her...I guess I understand why she was so mad now. By why take over Wonderland if my father was from here?"

"I'm not sure why...I guess she wanted to preserve Wonderland? That's something you'll have to ask her yourself. But knowing Mira, she isn't going to make it easy on you. I wasn't even supposed to tell you that, but you deserve to know about your father. Just know that he loved you dearly, he held you just once before the story began." she said. The boy gave her a hug, lowering his head a bit.

"Thank you for telling me this Sia...I really appreciate it."

"Sure, just take care of my Kitten for me, she's the only thing I have left in this world. She may act like a kid from time to time, but she's a lot more mature than people give her credit for."

"Aw, thanks mom!" Kitty cried, joining the hug, much to her mother's joy.

 _ **xxx**_

Blake, along with Melody, Dexter, Cerise and Cupid were currently in a classroom nearest the Legacy Plaza. He had cut his date with Kitty short, because he wanted to discuss something important with them. He had been thinking quite a lot about what Kitty had said to him. He hadn't been giving his friends equal opportunity in the band. He had been acting like the leader of the band when it was in fact Cupid that was the frontman. She didn't have as many songs as he did and he saw that it was a bit of a problem. He knew that Purple Rhapsody was his creative outlet at times, but now that it had been brought to his attention, he knew it was a matter that he needed to settle.

"So, what's this meeting about? We gotta get ready for the concert later on." Melody asked, crossing her arms as she leaned against the wall.

"I know that...first, I wanted to say I'm sorry."

"What for?" Cupid asked, brows furrowed in confusion. Cerise glanced up from her phone, giving the boy her full attention.

"You haven't done anything wrong Blake, at least not that I know of."

"No...I have. We've been together as a band since the talent show way back in October. But now that school's about to finish, I realized that as a band, we've been doing great. But I haven't given you that much chance to shine. Cupid is our frontman, yet I have more songs as the lead than she does. Dexter only has about three or four with all three of our Albums combined, and Cerise...you only have two." he said, a sad look on his face.

"Well, I'm not a singer...I prefer to do back up work instead." Dexter said.

"Same with me, I like singing but I need more practice. I'd rather focus on my drumming than singing, if I'm being honest." Cerise said.

"That's the same for me, I love singing and playing rhythm. I'm just a little shy, I mean...look at how I acted when we did Make it Shine in the castleteria. I could never be in the spot light."

"And I just focus on making the sick beats and playing keys...Blake, do you feel like you are hogging the center stage? Because you have more songs than the others?" Melody asked, earning a sigh from the boy.

"Yes, I do. You guys are my friends, but I feel like I have been forcing my songs on all of you. Sure, you and I work together to write half of this stuff Melody. I planned all of Shatter Me, the song and the stage, and you all gave your input. But for Heart's on Fire, I felt that you all didn't say much. And now for this new project...going in for a movie instead...I just...wanna know what your thoughts are on it."

"Blake sweetie, we are totally in for it. We weren't pressured, you asked us last week if we were in, and we agreed. If I didn't want to be in a movie, I would have told you outright."

"I agree with Cupid, I don't mind the position I am in. But I do agree with you on not having more songs. So I'll start writing my own stuff and pass it onto you and Melody...I think that if we all sing at least two songs per album, it would make our band more unique." Dexter said.

"That isn't a bad idea, I've been writing my own songs for awhile. I just want to take some time to develop my voice a bit. It's a bit husky now, so I just need to find where I belong. When I do, I'll start singing more."

"Okay...I suppose that's fair, what do you think about all of this Melody?" Blake asked, glancing at the white haired girl. She placed a hand on his shoulder, giving him a grin.

"I'm in until the end, no matter what. Remember, I'm the one who owns all of the instruments, and you got me before anyone else. It wouldn't be right to bail on all of you. I do agree that we all need more creativity in the band, to each pitch in our ideas to the band, to make it more unified." she said.

"I agree with that too, we've already agreed to do this movie. How about this, you and Melody handle the lyrics and the melodies, and the three of us will handle set design and location." Cupid said.

"Are you sure about that? That is a massive undertaking, who's our director? We haven't found one yet." Cerise asked curiously, causing Dexter to smirk, pushing his glasses up his face.

"That is where I come in. I have been discussing this for a week with some of my friends and...well, I got our film crew. They're actually waiting outside, I called them the second Blake called this meeting." he said, heading toward the door, throwing it open.

"An entire film crew? That's impressive if he managed to get one." Melody muttered, earning a nod from Blake. A second later, several people walked into the room. Among them was Hopper and Humphrey, along with Cedar and Blondie, who were both carrying some cameras in their hands, along with their MirrorPads. A few other members of the A/V club had gathered up, forming a crew of thirteen people, with Dexter standing in the middle.

"Guys, this will be our team. Blondie is our director, Cedar is our Producer, Hopper and Humphrey will direct our camera crews, and we got our sound guy, Jeff who's helped us with Blondie's show for awhile."

"It will be an honor making a film with you guys. It's gonna come out Just right!" Blondie exclaimed, a grin on her face.

"I cannot tell a lie, this is sounding cooler and cooler the more I get more news. I thought this was all a joke before hand, but when Dexter gathered us up, I realized just how awesome this is gonna be." Cedar added, an equal smile on her face.

"Don't worry about the budget either, Humphrey Dumpty is good with money. As long as we have enough money for production, sets, props and whatever equipment with might need, we'll be able to put together an amazing film." the son of Humpty Dumpty said, a confident look on his face.

"Money is no object, Ashlynn's dad just spoke with a buyer for one of the pink diamonds I found, and the man is gonna pay him 120 million gold for it. I already told Henri that he can keep 100 million of it, so we'll have a decent chunk of money to work on it. On top of that, Headmaster Grimm got me in contact with one of his friends, a man named Gregory, who owns an abandoned hospital. He said we can do whatever we want in there, just as long as we pick up after we're done." Blake said.

"An abandoned hospital? Did anyone die in there?" Hopper asked, looking a bit frightened.

"Maybe? It's a hospital, people were bound to die in it. But that's besides the point, it was closed because they were expanding, not because it was haunted. Cupid, Dexter, Cerise...you three want to be the set designers, well...that one is on you. I'll give you a basic outline of what the video should look like, you guys go crazy with it." the black haired teen replied. Something about his answer really didn't settle his own fears about the place.

"For now, we gotta focus on this concert. We'll be talking more about this movie once the entire class is gathered at our beach house. And don't worry about a thing, this place is huge, big enough for all of us. We'll most likely have it separated into boys and girls and everyone will have a roommate, which isn't bad. We'll be able to unwind and talk more about this with everyone." Dexter said, an almost excited grin on his face.

"Okay then, just let us know what we need to do and we'll do it. This is gonna be a big project for all of us, but come the new school year, we'll be able to show everyone how hard we worked. Not just that, it will also show everyone that our entire class can do something great when we put our minds together." Blondie said, earning a chuckle from Blake who just crossed his arms.

"You just say that because you are dying to go blab about it on your blog. Just give us some time to prepare a bit of a teaser for our fans. Remember, a lot of people outside of Ever After High like our stuff, so this isn't just for us, it's for the fans as well. So don't go spoiling it beforehand, okay?" Blake asked, earning a nod from the girl.

"No worries, it wouldn't be Just Right of me to post things before they're done. Besides, I think it would be better to keep this a surprise. People know we're making a movie, but not what the movie is about right? So how about we wow them all on the first day of school?"

"I like that idea. From now on, this will be a secret affair, between us and our class, and whoever else that's involved. The more secretive it is, the more people will wanna see what it is." Melody added, earning a smile from Blondie.

"Okay then, how about we end this year with a bang then? Let's go finish the set up and start the concert, before people start forming mosh pits and shit." Blake said, earning a chorus of cheers from his friends. They all started filing out of the room, with Cupid staying back, taking a hold of his hand as he was about to leave.

"Hey Blake, I just wanted to say thanks. I didn't have many friends when I arrived at school. But thanks to this band, I've made quite a lot of friends. I wasn't ever confident in my voice, but now I feel like I can sing anything, and express my love in an entirely new way."

"I'm glad then...I'm happy that we're friends. Just remember, you're the frontman of our band, if you feel something is wrong, speak up. Kitty was the one that told me this stuff, and I felt really bad for not speaking my mind about it. I was so focused on me, that I forgot this wasn't just my band."

"It's alright, you brought us all together, so it's as much yours as it is ours. It's alright if you sing most of the songs, I'm totally okay with that. We all have our specialties after all...I was thinking, maybe we can all get something to show our appreciation for the band."

"Our appreciation? Like what, matching tattoos?" he asked. She gave him a nod, glancing at the blackboard.

"I know it sounds silly, but I had an idea for a tattoo design that we can all get. We don't have an actual logo for our band name, so I figured it was time to get one." she said, digging around in her purse for a piece of paper. He unfolded it, glancing at the drawings on it.

"I'm not sure how a drawing of Dexter is supposed to unite us." he said, earning a flush from the girl, who snagged the paper back.

"Sorry, I kept that one for myself. Now that he's dating Raven, I decided to look for someone else. This is the actual design." she said, handing him another piece of paper, which he opened up.

The drawing on the paper was very well done, if he had to admit. It was a heart, which had been drawn perfectly. On the right side of the heart, was a crown, with small crosses around it to symbolize glittering. Beneath it were two quarter notes joined together, with an eighth note under it. The left side of the heart had a black angel wing drawn on it, the detail on each feather being quite pronounced. Above it was a tenor clef, known also as an F-clef in music. Finally, in the middle of the heart itself were the initials for their band, P.R, which stood for Purple Rhapsody.

"Um...what do you think?" she asked. He looked up from it, giving her a nod.

"I like it, this is definitely something interesting...let me guess, the wing represents the Rebels of the school who wish to fly away from destiny, the crown represents the Royals, who embrace destiny, and the heart in the center stands for our love of Ever After High. Brought together by music, which represents the notes."

"Wow, all that from one look? Hate to break it to you, but I saw that one in a day dream and felt like drawing it..but that meaning is so much deeper than that. So we're telling everyone that's what it stands for." she said, earning a chuckle from the boy.

"Oh Cupid, you are an amazing woman...how come you don't have a man in your life yet? You deserve one you know."

"Eh...I'm not exactly focused on that right now. Eventually I'll become an angel, and I'll have someone by my side...but for now, let's just focused on this. Think we can get inked up before we head to Dexter's beach house?" she asked.

"If you're up for it. You are eighteen right? You have to be an adult or else a guardian has to sign for it, at least that's what Melody told me."

"Yeah, I'm eighteen. You don't have to worry about that, come on we're already late for our show. Um, do you think I can take over for the first song? I wrote something that the others have been practicing for a bit." she said, earning a laugh from the boy who wrapped his arm around her waist, leading her toward Legacy Plaza.

"Do you need to ask? The floor is all yours, for as long as you need it!"

"Hehe, thank you Blake. I can already tell this is going to be an amazing summer." Cupid said, a look of sheer excitement on her face.

"The future is bright for all of us. Maybe after this next album, I'll step down from singing and focus on the lead guitar, let you and the others throw your own songs into the mix. I've been in the spot light for too long I think."

"If that's what you want, then I wouldn't mind. I have no issue with you having so many songs you know, this band helps all of us express ourselves. Now that we're actually filming a movie I...wow...I still can't believe it you know, me in a movie? My dad is gonna be so proud of me." she said.

"Damn straight he will, we'll make a move worthy of the gods. Maybe we can hand deliver it to Mount Olympus...I haven't been there yet. I've always wanted to meet Athena."

"Oh she's super nice, but she's got the stern mom look to her. She's really wise too, so if you ever need advice, she is definitely the person to go too. Hermes is really fun, always zipping around with his winged shoes, and the big man himself, Zeus, he's such an awesome person. He lets me throw his bolts whenever I visit. I'm almost as good as he is."

"Now that would be an awesome sight. Cupid, angel of love, throwing bolts at idiots who mess it up big time with their girlfriends." he said, earning a gasp from Cupid, followed by a rather stern look.

"Lightning bolts aren't meant to be abused Blake. They should be used to teach people a lesson when they need it."

"Relax, it was a joke...well, let's face the music, the crowd's starting to get here." he said, pushing her forward. She straightened her back a bit, adopting a more serious look as she started approaching the stage, earning an eyeroll from the boy.

They finally got onto the stage, waving to the gathered students, who all started clapping and cheering. Blake grabbed his guitar, slinging it over his shoulder as he took Cupid's usual spot. He glanced at Melody who silently asked him what was going on. He just shrugged, gesturing to Cupid who had taken a hold of the microphone, tapping it slightly.

"Hello Ever After High, welcome to the End of the Year concert. It's been a long year and a lot of crazy things have happened. But we're all here in the Fairytale world, where a lot more crazy things are bound to happen. We've asked the members of Yuletide Bliss to be here, so that they can also share their music with all of us, so it'll be a shared stage. I hear they have some news they want to share as well."

"That's right Cupid, they're gonna tell us all about the future of their band. As you know, two of their members were...well for lack of a better term, fired, from the band. Or rather, one quit, the other guy just stabbed me. So without further ado, Cupid is going to start us off, with...I guess a song from our album?" Blake asked, giving her a shrug.

"That's right, this song will be on our Heart's on Fire album which releases tomorrow morning, with some bonus tracks from Yuletide Bliss, who was in the process of making their second album. But we collaborated and helped finish it for them to include their songs as a bundle. So here it is, Rolling in the Deep!" Cupid cried, removing the microphone from the stand as she prepared for the song.

" _There's a fire stirring in my heart_

 _Reaching a fever pitch and it's bringing me_

 _Out the dark_

 _Finally I can see you crystal clear_

 _Go 'head and sell me out and I'll lay your ship bare._

 _See how I leave, with every piece of you_

 _Don't underestimate that things that I will do_

 _There's a fire starting in my heart_

 _Reaching a fever pitch and it's bringing_

 _Me out the Dark._

 _The scars of your love remind me of us_

 _They keep me thinking that we almost had it all._

 _The scars of your love, they leave me breathless_

 _And I can't help feeling Like_

 _We could have had it all, Rolling in the deep!_

 _You had my heart inside of your hand_

 _And you played it, to the beat!_

 _Baby I have no story to be told_

 _But I've heard one on you and I'm gonna make your head burn_

 _Think of me in the depths of your despair_

 _Making a home down there 'cause mine sure won't be shared_

 _The scars of your love remind me of us_

 _They keep me thinking that we almost had it all._

 _The scars of your love, they leave me breathless_

 _And I can't help feeling Like_

 _We could have had it all, Rolling in the deep!_

 _You had my heart inside of your hand_

 _And you played it, to the beat!_

 _We could have had it all, Rolling in the deep!_

 _You had my heart inside of your hand_

 _And you played it, to the beat!_

 _Throw your soul through every open door_

 _Count your blessings, to find what you look for_

 _Turned my sorry into treasured gold._

 _You pay me back in kind and reap just what you sow_

 _We could've had it all_

 _We could've had it all.._

 _It all, it all, it all_

 _We could have had it all, Rolling in the deep!_

 _You had my heart inside of your hand_

 _And you played it, to the beat!_

 _We could have had it all, Rolling in the deep!_

 _You had my heart inside of your hand_

 _And you played it, you played it, you played it, you played,_

 _It to the beat!"_

The crowd broke into applause as Cupid took a bow, her wings spread out slightly. She turned to Blake, giving him a wink as she set the microphone back in place. He shook his head slightly as he continued clapping. He had an amazing school year, and had made a great many number of friends. But now, it was time for the school year to end, because the summer was looking more and more exciting. He was glad that he had that talk with his bandmates, because now he felt like they were truly one unit, instead of separate people who played their instruments right. The movie they were planning was going to be great, and even if it wasn't, it didn't matter. As long as it was made with friends, it would beat any other professional movie, at least that's what he was hoping for.


	91. The World Under the Sea Prelude

**A/N:**

 **Hello everyone and welcome to Chapter 91 of Through the Looking Glass. I would like to apologize for not posting anything for the last few days, I've been hard at work to get more chapters ready for posting. I just finished Chapter 95 a few minutes ago. Normally, I would have had ten chapters ready, but I have been playing SAO Fatal Bullet for the last few days. It's actually a really fun game, way better than Hollow Realization, and I didn't play Accel World vs SAO so I can't really say if it was good or not. I'm more into guns than I am into swords, and I gotta say, this game actually makes me want VRMMOs to become the latest new thing, and I hope something like this does get made at some point.**

 **But I am not here to talk about SAO, I am here to talk about this story. This chapter will be the prelude to The World Under the Sea arc, which as I said before, takes place mostly in Atlantica, though right now it took five chapters to actually get there. Yeah, I did some world building and some fleshing of characters before getting to the meat and bones of this arc, while also creating the plot for this arc. This arc will also make mentions to the next arc, The Young Blood Chronicles, which I'm already making drafts of. I've gotten a lot of ideas to make this a unique rendition of this wonderful album by Fall Out Boy, if you not like, you no read...lol, it'll be epic, at least for fans of FOB. Their music helped me quite a lot when I was dealing with depression and stuff, so I wanted to make an homage to this awesome album.**

 **After that, we will move onto Dragon Games and eventually Epic Winter. I'm also going to add Agrabah after Epic Winter, during the Spring of the following year. I will skip the winter season because I don't really wanna do another Thronecoming or Winter Formal segment since I've already done that. I might include parts of the Spring Fairest again, but the arc after Epic Winter will be centered around Agrabah, and we get to see the events of Aladdin 4: Jafar May Need Glasses. It's gonna be an interesting story arc, I'll give you that.**

 **For now though, please enjoy this arc prelude and all of the juicy watery goodness. I'll let you all come up with your own swimsuits for the girls, there are just too many for me to describe and I clearly got no time fo' dat. I'm gonna be taking a little bit of a break for Chapter 96 and work on a one shot for SAO which has been bugging me for a bit. I might post Chapter 92 tomorrow, I haven't decided. I do hope you have a wonderful day, or week if you don't see another chapter. If you don't, then I apologize. I've had quite a bit of writer's block as of late. I have the plot of this arc down, it's just the narrative that can get a bit hard, so I'll be watching The Little Mermaid, along with its prequels and sequel and the television series to get some ideas, though I do have something in the works, I hope you all like what's in store for this arc, see ya later!**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 91

The World Under the Sea: Prelude

Let the Summer Begin!

Aquania was a beautiful seaside city. It was much smaller than Meadow Brook, boasting about 4,000 residents compared to the bigger city which had nearly 200,000 residents. Quaint little homes and small chain stores could be seen dotting the streets, which were paved in traditional cobblestone, instead of the asphalt normally seen in bigger cities. Most of the houses were made of wood, and had panoramic views of Aquania Beach, the biggest most luxurious beach in Ever After. The city was such a tourist attraction, that a resort was built on the western part of the city, which boasted its own artificially made beach and some of the best comforts around. It was quickly starting to fill up with college students, high school students and families dying to leave home and enjoy a well deserved vacation.

The same could be said for the students of Ever After High. The class of 2020 would be staying here as well, in King Lance Charming's summer home. The man had said it was a modest villa, when in fact it was a palace that overlooked the ocean. It was built entirely out of sandstone, which glimmered brightly against the bright summer sun. It had two round towers at either side of it, one acting as a light house for the nearby vessels which would make port in the nearby marina. It was a European style castle, which had three floors, each having several beautiful bedrooms. It also had a fully remodeled kitchen and dining hall. A beautiful ballroom, which was designed to look after the one King Adam had in his own castle, from the Beauty and the Beast story. The castle also had a beautiful entrance hall, the floors being in bright polished marble, with stone walls, each having a portrait of a previous Prince Charming on it, along with one of the current heirs to the home.

Along with the various luxuries, the castle had its own outdoor patio and large courtyard. It also had a large pool and hot tub, a sauna, and its own private beach, which connected to the public one via stone gate. All of the back rooms were facing the ocean and had their own personal veranda that overlooked the beach. The ocean was a glittering blue, and looked very welcoming. But Blake of course had another job, instead of enjoying the beach, he had to help the Charming siblings prepare the castle for their classmates.

Since their class had less boys than girls, the guys ended up claiming the East Wing for themselves. It had been rather convenient, since there were a total of eighteen available rooms, meaning that they would be able to each have their own room. The girls on the West Wing of the castle only had eighteen rooms to share between them. Meaning that some had to have roommates. Blake was in the middle of cleaning the room that Daring had given to him, one that faced the ocean, when he heard a knock on his open door. He glanced over, seeing it was his friend Hunter, who had shed his long sleeved green shirt and vest combo for a sleeveless shirt and shorts. He walked in, whistling a bit in awe.

"This is nice, king sized bed with a canopy, oak furniture, your own desk and lamp and check out the closet. The thing I'm the most jealous of is the veranda. You get a good look at the ocean."

"Yeah...I wasn't exactly expecting Daring to let me stay here. But he said he let me stay in this one as thanks for saving Apple from Felipe. Honestly, I would have settled for something smaller. How's yours?" Blake asked, as he continued dusting all of the dressers he in the room.

"It was really clean. Apparently, King Charming had some guests stay here before so they cleaned up. I didn't really do much dusting, and all I needed was a new lightbulb for the lamp. I already got all my clothes and shit unpacked, Sparrow is helping Dexter with some instruments which are going in the ballroom."

"I'll try to finish up here so I can help them out. I'm all unpacked, got all my music stuff out and ready...I just wanna enjoy the beach man. Heard from Dexter the yacht was supposed to be dropped off tomorrow morning. Can you believe that shit? A yacht, all for our personal use."

"It helps having friends in high places I guess. Still, the sole fact that this castle is going to be housing Thirty-nine people is insane. I feel bad for the girls, they all get to room together while we all get our own rooms." he said, earning a scoff from Blake.

"I don't feel bad at all, more room for me to stretch my limbs. Hey...you ever notice something about our class? Like the fact that there are way more girls than there should be?" he asked. Hunter gave him an odd look, taking a seat at the edge of the bed.

"I dunno...what do you mean?"

"Well, I was doing a headcount when I was reading our yearbook. The girls have 25 students, of course if you take out Crystal who isn't technically with us, it's still 24. There are 17 guys in our class...don't you think that's weird?"

"A little bit, yeah. I always noticed that there was a higher girl to boy ratio in our class but I never said anything about it. Does that mean some of us were supposed to play other roles to fill those in?" Hunter asked, earning a shrug from Blake who started dusting the mirror. He saw a small glint of red in it, and shuddered a bit, grabbing one of the bed sheets from the closet.

"I'm not exactly sure. I mean, Humphrey is supposed to be in Humpty Dumpty and in Alice in Wonderland's sequel, Through the Looking Glass. Daring and Dexter don't have their definitive roles, but once they find their princesses, they'll know what role they got. Jack obviously is the next Jack from Jack and Jill, Pierre is the son of Frollo, you're the next Huntsman, Alistair is the next Alice...it's weird...not that many princes when you think about it." Blake said, tossing the sheets over the mirror. Hunter gave him an odd look, but didn't question what he was doing.

"That is true, when you start thinking about it, Dex, Daring, Hopper and Humphrey are princes...well you are technically a prince too, but not a Prince Charming. I think?"

"Nah...you're right, I'm not a Prince Charming, but I am a Prince. I just don't want to wear a crown, I find those so tacky...I mean I guess it would be a high honor, but when yours is black and surrounded by darkness, I'd rather not. I'd wear a crown of thorns at that point." he said, muttering the last part. Having finally finished, he set down his feather duster, grabbing a hold of his messenger bag and phone, which had been charging next to his laptop.

"That is true...although I've been thinking...if me and Ash get married at some point. I'll become a prince, the heir to her kingdom, I doubt I'd be ready for that. And if you marry Kitty, she'd technically be a princess."

"Except I have no kingdom to rule and I'm not getting one. But for all intents and purposes, I suppose that would be right. Thinking about it, worries me a little. I mean, if I do get married with Kitty, our kids would have both my magic, and hers. They'd be the Son of the Evil King and the son of the Cheshire Cat...so would they play two roles at the same time?" he asked.

"Well if they choose, I guess they do. Remember, we all fought for the right to choose, so they'd have to choose which role to go into. I'm gonna teach my kid about that, that no matter what you always have a choice." Hunter said.

"Atta boy, now all you need is a ring and you'll be on your way to Pound Town with Ashlynn." Blake said, earning a punch to the arm from his friend.

"Pound Town? Really? If anything you and Kitty have been to Pound Town already, even before you were together. Speaking of, what about Crystal? I heard from Daring that you two totally made out in Neverland."

"We didn't make out."

"You totally made out man, don't deny it." he reiterated, earning a glare from the black haired boy.

"We didn't make out...I saved her life, she kissed me. As for where we stand, I'm not sure...I come from a world where having more than one special girl was wrong. It was always one person above all else, no adultery or infidelity and all this other shit...yet despite that, shows like Seeking Sister Wife made it onto TLC, and they should be fucking illegal. The fucking FBI should be kicking in their door for that shit, but they don't...they don't...it's just mind boggling."

"Blake, your getting off topic."

"Right right, sorry. What I'm trying to say is...well it's like this, if Ashlynn said it was okay for you to find another girl while dating her, would you?" he asked. Hunter arched his brow, pursing his lips slightly.

"Not really, I love Ashlynn with all my heart. But if I had two girls in my life, and they were okay with it, and I was okay with it, then we'd try to make it work. In the end, it's love that matters, Cupid taught me that." the son of the Huntsman replied, earning a sigh from Blake.

"Yeah, well Cupid also told me to follow my heart, not my penis." he said, causing Hunter to start laughing. Blake joined in a second later, their voiced echoing through the empty palace.

"Well, we're not even done cleaning and you two are already laughing up a storm? What's so funny? I wanna laugh too."

The two looked up at Darling, who was holding a rag in her hand, as well as a bucket which was filled with soapy water. Instead of her normal outfit, she was wearing something more summer themed, a light blue ruffled camisole, with streaks of white running through it. She was also wearing a pair of white shorts, and some matching flats. Her hair, normally kept down, was up in a high ponytail, a couple strands framing her face. Hunter jabbed Blake's side, a smirk on his face.

"Go on, tell her the joke."

"What joke? I didn't say anything that was a joke." he said, giving him a confused look.

"Yeah you did, tell Darling how Cupid taught you to think with your head and not your dick." he said, breaking into a sprint down the stairs before Blake could grab him.

"Asshole! Come here and face me like a man you pile of shit!" he shouted, only getting laughter in return. Darling sighed, tossing her rag into the bucket.

"Honestly, you boys can be so perverted...what is all this about?"

"Nothing...Hunter asked me if I was dating Crystal, since she likes me and everything. I told him I already had Kitty, and we got into this conversation about love over morals or some shit...I dunno." he said, rubbing his neck in embarrassment.

"Well, what does your heart tell you? Do you like Crystal back?"

"I'm not sure...it's like with Duchess. We're just really good friends and I don't want to mess that up. I took a plunge with Kitty, because I genuinely liked her. I mean, I screwed up with Cerise, you actually think I can handle dating two girls at the same time?" he asked. Darling shrugged, glancing back at the window she had been washing, glancing at her reflection.

"It isn't about being able to handle it. It comes down to love, do you love these two girls equally? Do you love one more than the other? And if that's so, then is there a point in dating them both if you're only giving attention to one? If you truly do like Crystal then you'll find out how to handle it. Especially with the distance you two share."

"I never thought about it that way...and I never considered the distance either. She's a Princess, the next in line to rule the Snow Kingdom...I don't think it would look good for her to date a man who's dating another girl. Add in the fact that I'm the son of the Evil Queen, and you get for a lot of bad press...ugh." he said, glancing at the floor.

"Well, that stuff shouldn't matter. Like I said before, what matters is love...you said you only see her as a friend right? Perhaps you should tell her that, like you did with Duchess. However if there's something else there, I'd want to grab a hold of it before it disappears."

"Hmm...are you speaking from experience? Is there someone that you like but can't have?" he asked. Darling giggled, turning to face the boy.

"A girl doesn't kiss and tell does she? Even if there was, my father wouldn't approve. He'd have to be prim and proper and fit to be with his little girl. Not just that, he'd have to me a real man, able to perform his duty."

"Perform his du...oh god, you mean he even considers...for real?" Blake asked, earning a nod from Darling, who's cheeks were slightly red.

"Yup, he wanted to arrange my marriage with someone, since I don't have a story. But mom rapidly talked him out of it, she said that I should have the right to chose my story, my destiny and my man. I am a Princess Charming after all, so it isn't gonna work the other way around." Darling replied.

"That's true...well...do you have anyone you like? Someone who can perform the duties of a man, and plant his manly seed in your womanly dirt?"

"Ahem...I'm gonna pretend I didn't hear that." Daring said, as he walked past the two with a box in his hand.

"Aw god, don't tell anyone about that!"

"Like I said little sis, I didn't hear that." the blond prince replied, disappearing into the lower West Wing.

"Erm...anyway, there is this one guy I like. But I feel like he won't like me back, I mean...look at who I am. He'd probably just think it was all big joke." she said.

"Darling, you are a beautiful young woman. If this guy doesn't realize that, then he doesn't deserve you. He's a dumb ass for even thinking that you would be too much responsibility for him. I mean, is he even a prince?"

"Not really."

"Hmm...it's not me is it? You don't like me like that right?" he asked curiously.

"No no...it isn't you. Although you are cute, I will admit...and I am curious about...you know, you're performance. But you've clearly got a lot to handle and I know for a fact dad wouldn't approve. No, this guy is...well he's into music." she said, making Blake narrow his eyes.

"A musician eh...I'll figure it out later. Whatever the case, I think you should tell this guy how you feel. He would be more than honored to have someone like you by his side. Not to mention the throng of jealous men that would be at his mercy because you were his gal. Oh wait a minute...it's fucking Jack isn't it?"

"Um, I'll get back to you on that. I gotta uh...go clean some more windows, yeah...see you later Blake!" she cried, quickly running off. Blake watched her go, frowning slightly.

"She likes Jack eh? Not bad, she's got a nice butt too...he's one lucky bastard."

"Again...gonna pretend I didn't hear that." Daring said as he headed back up the stairs. Blake sighed, rubbing his face slightly as he continued down the stairs.

He made it into the ballroom a few minutes later, seeing all of the instruments they had brought. Melody was busy setting her equipment in the booth that had been attached to the room. Dexter and Cupid had been busy looking at the guitars and making sure the amplifiers were in working order, while Hunter helped Ramona and Cerise with the drums, which they had been bringing in from the van that they had borrowed from the school. He still remembered the concert that had happened the day before, where Jack had announced that Ramona and Faybelle had officially joined the band. Not only that, they had also renamed it, Yuletide Bliss was a name of the past. Now they were going by T.O.B., or Tears of Bliss, apparently it had been Ramona who suggested it, and it stuck.

Aside from Jack, the other members of the band had yet to arrive. They had wanted to visit with family before they did, and would be in during the next week. A few others would be arriving sometime during the way as well, so for now, only the Charming siblings, Blake, Hunter, Ashlynn, Melody, Cupid, Cerise, Ramona and Kitty had been occupying the castle. He spotted Cupid struggling with a few things and decided to bail her out before she dropped everything. She gave him a thankful look once he had taken some of her load off.

"Thanks, I was beginning to lose it."

"No problem, where do these go?" he asked curiously, wondering what was inside.

"No idea, it's all spare recording equipment. Melody decided it would be best for us to record the songs beforehand, so we didn't have to worry about recording them and then rushing to film the movie." she said, earning a nod from the boy, who found a clear spot and went to place the boxes down.

"A wise idea, I have all of the lyrics written down for every song. I managed to finish them while I was packing the last of my stuff. I also wrote some of the melodies for the first five songs, that I remember well. We might have to make new melodies along the way, I just wish Jessica hadn't taken off, I could have asked her to give me that album." he said, frowning slightly.

"You could have, but I think it wouldn't make it a cover at that point. I think it would be good to rework it into our style. It would make it more unique." she said. He nodded, glancing at her bicep, seeing the tattoo she had gotten the night before. He glanced at the top of his right hand, seeing the same mark on it.

"Does it still hurt?" he asked, causing her to look at her arm. She shook her head, poking it a bit.

"It stopped hurting...I'm glad that we were all able to get it last night. Especially with that new magic machine, it hurt a lot less than a needle would, and it still got the same effect."

"Yeah, I'm impressed. Normally you'd have to have this shaded in a few times until it came out good, then you'd have to wear some cream until the ink dried. With this, the ink dried right there and it still looked traditional. Magic sure is wonderful." he said.

"Hey you two, stop flirting and start setting some stuff up. Check the van for the extra amps I brought a long, and make sure all of the extra strings, straps and drum sticks made it too." Melody said, jolting them out of their conversation.

"We're not flirting!" Cupid cried out, flushing a bit.

"Could have fooled me...run along now, we need to have this stuff set up by tomorrow, in case we need to record anything. The faster we get these tracks done, the faster we can start planning the video out." she said, earning nods from the two, who started walking toward the back courtyard where the van had been located.

They stepped outside into the back courtyard, staring down at the expansive ocean before them. The courtyard had a single stone path leading down toward the cliffs, a stone stairwell lead down to the beach itself. The areas around the path were lush green with freshly cut grass, lined with blooming flowers and trimmed shrubs. To the very left of the path was the large swimming pool, which was fenced off from the rest of the yard. It was almost Olympic sized, and filled to the brim with crystal blue water. Beside it was an equally large hot tub, capable of fitting at least fifteen people at a time. Next to the pool was the sauna that had been added recently, according to Dexter. The van was parked near the back fence, and had been filled with supplies, along with various musical instruments, food and other cooking utensils.

"The ocean is really pretty, this is my first time seeing a beach."

"Really?" Blake asked, earning a nod from his friend, who reached into the van for one of the large boxes near the edge of the van. Blake took a hold of it, gesturing for her to take the smaller ones.

"Not a lot of time to visit the beach when you live on a mountain filled with gods. Poseidon was always bragging about how the ocean was better than Mount Olympus. That usually lead to Zeus getting mad, challenging him to some game and then they tied. The other gods usually ended up picking up after them."

"What about Hades?"

"Oh him? We don't talk about him often...he barely shows up to Mount Olympus...when he can that is. He was banished to the Underworld after all...or rather tricked into taking over it. I still get kind of annoyed because of that, it must suck having to manage the souls of the dead." she replied, glancing toward the water. She saw something shimmering in the distance, making her narrow her eyes a bit.

"Yeah well, Hades is a dick. He tried killing Hercules, and wanted to unleash the Titans on Mount Olympus. So yeah, fuck him." Blake replied, stopping when he realized Cupid wasn't following him.

"Something wrong?" he asked curiously, causing her to look at him.

"I saw something shimmering in the water, out in the open ocean." she said. He looked out into the sea, trying to spot the shimmering she had seen, but didn't see anything. He shrugged, turning back around.

"I don't see it."

"Hmm...maybe it's the sun reflecting on the water's surface?"

"Oh...maybe it's mermaids." Blake said, giving her a smirk as they walked back into the ballroom.

"Mermaids? Don't even joke about that! There aren't any mermaids around here." she replied, earning a chuckle from the boy.

"What are you talking about? It's the open ocean, that's their domain after all. They all live under the sea! Under the sea yeah, when the sardine begin the beguine, it's music to me!"

"Don't just break into song like that...it was pretty good though, was that one the spot?"

"Pfft, I wish. No, it comes from the Little Mermaid...don't you remember? We had to watch that for Apple's song...or well my song technically speaking." he said.

"Oh yeah...I totally forgot, sorry. Anyway, do you really think there are mermaids out there?" she asked, finally reaching the other side of the ballroom, setting the boxes down on one of the many tables that had been brought into the room.

"Definitely...I mean, there is a Sea Kingdom...the Kingdom of Atlantica, ruled by Queen Ariel and King Eric. Well, those are the current rulers anyway, read that in a book once...hey wait a minute, you should be familiar with Ariel, she's the daughter of King Triton, who's the son of Poseidon!" he exclaimed, causing the girl to look away, wings fluttering a bit.

"I don't exactly hang out with the Gods, Blake. They got stuff to do, I only speak with Zeus because he gives me advice when my father Eros is out on love missions. Mom is usually busy wrangling in all my siblings and the other Cherubs, so I was alone most of the time. It was one of the reasons I transferred to Monster High, I wanted to make friends." she admitted.

"I'm sorry Cupid, I shouldn't have reacted that way. It's just...I always liked the idea of living in the ocean. My sister Sue always made fun of me for wanting to be a merman, swimming around in the ocean. I usually just filled her pillow with mayo while she was showering."

"It's fine...I'm totally over it. You're one of my best friends, so I don't mind sharing stuff about my life. Honestly, I think wanting to live in the ocean is really cool. Plus you get a free clam shell bra."

"Yeah, that is a good point, except I got no tits so it would just look, absolutely dreadful on me. Not to mention I'd have to give up my sexy legs for a tail." he said, earning a giggle from Cupid.

"Are you two sure you aren't flirting? Because it looks like you two are flirting." Melody said, earning a smirk from Blake.

"So what if we are flirting? Are you jealous? Would you like me to flirt you up Melody?" he asked. She scoffed, walking away from the boy, who bumped fists with Cupid.

"She probably is jealous...you know she had a crush on you for awhile. She came to me a lot for advice."

"I know...she confessed to me before we went to Wonderland. Honestly, I would have gone out with her, but I liked Kitty at that time. I only see her as a friend you know?" he asked, earning a nod from the pinkette. The two started heading back to the van, keen on bringing in the last of the stuff.

"I get it, it's totally fine."

"I've...actually been having some relationship problems. Not with me and Kitty, we're totally in love. It's with Crystal...she likes me a lot, and Kitty told me she doesn't mind if we date. She's really open about it, but I honestly don't know what to do." he said.

"Well...it isn't the first time I've had to handle a relationship with more than two people. I met this one boy up in Mount Olympus who had an entire harem once. Dad said it was all for training, love knows no bounds after all."

"Yeah...but what if you are raised in a world where having more than one partner is considered wrong? I mean...is that a thing here? Do people care?" Blake asked curiously, sweeping some hair from his eyes.

"Not at all, it's like I said before. Everyone has different ways to understand love, Aphrodite once told me. That love is one of the strongest emotions someone can feel, and that it can be more powerful than all the other emotions combined. If you love two people, as long as you have mutual respect for both of them, then it's totally fine." Cupid said, earning a nod from the boy.

"I guess you are right...I mean, there are people in our class that have double roles. That means they might have more than one partner, so as long as their in love, that's all that matters. But still...I only see Crystal as a friend right now...and then there's the distance thing, and the fact that she's a Princess, which I guess isn't an issue. It just wouldn't work out for us." he admitted, grabbing a hold of some Cello cases. Cupid grabbed some Violin cases in her hands, along with a dufflebag filled with spare bows and violin parts.

"I would recommend you tell her. It's never good to lead someone on for that long, Crystal is a sweet girl. I'm sure she'll understand, and if she doesn't...well, then she'll be Duchess number 2."

"Don't even fucking joke about that...jeez, she's a wonderful friend, but she's so damn clingy...ugh." he said, shuddering a bit.

"Hehe, sorry, I couldn't help it. Anyway, if you did have a crush on another girl, aside from Kitty. Who would that be?" she asked curiously.

"Uh...well now that I've actually started thinking differently, I'm not sure. I'm sure there are alternate universes where I'm paired up with other girls...in fact I think Maddie mentioned something like that once." he said.

"Eh...what?"

"Nothing...you uh wanna hear a bit of the Phoenix?" he asked. She blinked a few times, giving him a shrug as they set down their instruments.

"Sure, you've been secretive with these lyrics. Let me hear it." she said, leaning against the wall, careful not to strain her wings. He cleared his throat a bit, snapping his fingers to keep pace.

"Put on your war paint!

You are a brick tied to me that's

Dragging me down

Strike a match and I'll burn you to the ground

We are the jack-o-lanterns in July

Setting fire to the sky

Here, here comes this rising tide, so come on!

Put on your war paint!

Cross walks and crossed hearts

And hope to die

Seal the clouds with gray lining!

So we can take the world back

From the heart-attacked

One maniac at a time we will take it back

You know time crawls on when you're

Waiting for the song to start

So dance to the beat of your heart!

Hey, Young-Blood

Doesn't it feel, like our time is running out?

I'm gonna change you, like a Remix

Then I'll raise you, like a Phoenix

Wearing all vintage misery

Nope, I think it looked a little better on me!

I'm gonna change you, like a Remix!

Then I'll raise you, like a Phoenix!"

He took a breath as he ended that part of the song, earning some applause from the people gathered in the ballroom. He flushed a bit, glancing at the floor.

"That was really good, your voice is getting a lot better too. I am definitely looking forward to hearing that with a melody." Cupid said, earning a small smile from Blake.

"Same here...hey, where can we get a Phoenix? I know they exist here."

"Why not just ask Ashlynn? Remember she has a pet phoenix we can borrow. Little Sandella, of course if she's turned to ash by now then we'd have to figure something out."

"I totally forgot about that...I'll have to give her a call later."

"Hey, we only got a few more things to unload...think you can set up the booth for me? I gotta check the instruments we brought along. Some of them were damaged so I wanna fix them up." Melody said, handing Blake her laptop and keyboard.

"I'll do my best, well Cupid...it was awesome hanging out, but duty calls." he said, giving her a wink.

"I know, I'm gonna help around with the instruments. Thanks for the chat, it's been awhile since we've talked like this." she said, sharing a brief hug with the boy before he headed toward the booth. Melody glanced up from her tablet, which had a list of all of the instruments she had brought on screen.

"Are you sure you two weren't flirting? I think there was a little something else there."

"I'm sure, anyway do you need me to do anything?" she asked.

"Yeah, help me restring some of those Cellos over there. We're gonna need those for The Phoenix so they have to be prepared. That's the first song we're tackling." she said.

"I'll get right on it." Cupid said happily, grabbing a hold of one of the cellos she had brought along.

 _ **xxx(The Kingdom of Atlantica)xxx**_

There wasn't a long of things one could do under the water. Normally, merfolk would be going about their business in the underwater kingdom. They would be enjoying a swim through town, visiting shops, preparing for dinner or just hanging out with friends. School was out for the summer, so it meant the kids and teenagers would be hanging around and enjoying their free time. This also meant that one young mermaid had a lot of time for her own explorations of the world she lived in.

Meeshell Mermaid was the oldest daughter of Queen Ariel, who was the current ruler of Atlantica. She had six younger siblings, Melody was the second oldest, at sixteen years old. Then came Marcus, her younger brother who was fifteen. The twins, Merida and Matilda were both fourteen years old. The last of her siblings were the triplets, Maya, Miguel and Machiavelli. They were a tight nit family unit, but some of her siblings could be overbearing when they wanted to be. Each of them had their role in their story, she was the next Little Mermaid, while her siblings were all well...her siblings. Normally, it would be the youngest who would be the next Little Mermaid, but for some reason, her story demanded a girl to be the next Little Mermaid, and she was picked by the Storybook, evident by the Page she had received several weeks ago.

She was a beautiful young mermaid, with long flowing coral pink hair, that fell down to almost her waist, and rivaled even her own mother's hair. She had light colored skin, matching the slightly tanned complexion of her father. While the other mermaids had no issue with swimming around wearing clam shell bras, Meeshell was one of the few that decided to cover up a bit. She wore a sleeveless pale pink shirt with a scaled design to it, bright golden shells were attached to the right side of it, glittering brightly. She wore a bracelet around her wrist, which had been a gift from her mother Ariel, and an heirloom from her grandmother Athena who had passed away a great many years ago.

One of her proudest features was of course her beautiful sky blue tail. As the daughter of the previous Little Mermaid, her tail was a little bit different than that of other merfolk. For one, her scales glimmered in the sunlight, mimicking the shimmering of the water's surface. Her fins were long and angelic in nature, bearing little markings, not even the little tears that usually occurred from swimming around. She took very special care of it, despite a yearning for human legs, she loved being a mermaid. One difference between her and her mother, was that she wasn't banned from interacting with humans. She was just very shy around them, so she normally hid behind rocks to watch from afar.

Whenever she wasn't sunning herself on some of the rocks, her shimmering blue eyes would be scanning the horizon. Whether it was a ship, that might be bearing her future love, or a car driving up an old dusty path. Meeshell was fascinated by it all. She had seen dragons flying over head when she was young, and had always wanted to meet one. Of course Ariel had no idea where to find a dragon, because even she wanted to ride one. Despite being in her late thirties, the Queen of Atlantica still retained her playful nature, and often times left the throne to her husband while she went back to the human world, not only to check on their subjects on the surface, but also to collect things for her personal shoal cave. Hoarder was a word her little sister Melody used, while her brother Marcus was just curious as to why a large iron statue of their dad was sitting in the middle of the cave.

There was one thing that had caught her attention earlier, and that had been the people that had arrived at the large castle. Her mother had told her that one of her high school friends owned that beach home. She theorized that their children would be using it for the summer. She had wanted to get a little closer, but she wasn't exactly a people person. She barely spoke to anyone who wasn't family. And while she was confident with her tail and happy when she was herself, she couldn't help but be a bit fearful of the humans. She had heard stories of how her grandmother Athena had passed away, when she was killed by a Pirate ship that slammed into some rocks. Her grandfather, the previous king, Triton was devastated, and had banned music for several years, before her mother was able to convince him to change the law.

So, while her curiosity was insatiable, she was far too shy to actually get close. So she had gone as far as the rocks near the edge of the cliff, to look at the people who had been at the house. She had noticed that they were all teenagers, around her age. That had made her a bit excited, but it also made her nervous. She couldn't exactly walk up to land and greet them, she had no legs. And until her story begun, she wouldn't be getting any. It made her quite disappointed. So she had decided to return home, and as she did she noticed someone looking where she was swimming. It was only then that she realized her tail had been out of the water. She quickly swam off, hoping the shimmering of her tail didn't attract anyone toward her.

"Oh...that was close. I hope they didn't see my tail." she muttered to herself, glancing back at the surface, a flush on her cheeks.

"Hey sis, there you are! Mom was looking for you!" the voice of her younger sister Maya said, snapping her out of her thoughts.

Maya looked a little different than she did, having inherited some of their father's features. She had slightly darker skin, with long neck length black hair and bright colored eyes. Much like the other mermaids of Atlantica, she was wearing a clam shell bra, which was violet in color. Her tail was a shimmering red color, but lacked the glittering scales that Meeshell's own tail had. It was something that most of her sisters were jealous about. She was wearing a pearl necklace around her neck, a gift from one of her school friends. Meeshell gave her a smile, swimming past her.

"Sorry Maya, I was just getting a good look out our neighbors."

"Neighbors? You mean the beach castle right? There's people inside?" she asked curiously, earning a nod from her older sister.

"They all seem to be around my age. Isn't that exciting? It makes me wonder what they're doing here."

"I suppose...hey sis, check out what I found when I was playing with Ray earlier. I saw it and I just had to grab it, I wanted to give it to my favorite older sister." she said, reaching into her small bag, pulling out a glimmering white and pink conch shell. Meeshell let out a gasp, taking it into her hands.

"This is beautiful, and in such good condition too! Why, I might be able to actually use this as a horn." she said, inspecting the shell to make sure it didn't have an occupant inside.

"We found it near the ridge. I know you and mom said not to head there, because that's where the Sea Witch lives, but don't tell her okay? We got a little far and started swimming back. When we did, we saw it." she said, looking rather sheepish. Her sister rolled her eyes, ruffling her hair a bit.

"It's alright Maya...mom tells us not to go there, but come on...we've all gone there. _She_ goes there, so as long as we're careful and don't disturb the Sea Witch, we'll be fine." she replied.

"Okay...hey big sis...why is it that you wear a shirt instead of clam shells like the rest of us? Are you scared of what people might think?" Maya asked, earning a blush form the pink haired girl.

"I'm not scared...I'm just a little self conscious, that's all."

"Because your boobs are big right?"

"I don't think you are old enough to be talking about that kind of stuff sweetie." she said, earning a frown from Maya.

"Why not? Matilda and Merida are already growing theirs in! It isn't fair that I'm still flat as a board!"

"Maya, it's alright...it's all part of growing up. Just like your brothers, they'll grow into handsome young mermen. Their voices will grow deep, and they'll grow a bit taller and more muscular. If they exercise of course." Meeshell said, giving her a smile.

"It's not fair...I want boobs now!"

"It'll happen sooner or later...I remember when I was your age, I wanted to have boobs too. And now that I have them, it's a bit embarrassing...especially when all the boys keep staring. That's why I wear a shirt now. Anyway, it's time for lunch, so why don't you wash up and round up your siblings." she said, once they had entered the undersea palace.

"Okay...I'll do that...hey big sis...how can we wash up if we're surrounded by water?" Maya asked. Meeshell blinked a few times, giving her a shrug.

"I dunno...the same way we can have fire under water...magic." she said. The black haired mermaid nodded, giving her a hug before swimming off, further into the palace.

She swam through the long hallways she was used to seeing. Passing by a few of the staff who helped out around the castle. It wasn't long until she made it to the throne room where her mother was. Ariel was still just as beautiful as she was when she was younger. She still had her long crimson hair and bright blue eyes, which made her one of the most alluring mermaids in Atlantica. She was wearing a pearl necklace around her neck, which had been a gift from her husband, King Eric, along with a gilded crown that had once belonged to King Triton, that had been passed on to her when she took over. Her sea green tail was hanging over the side of the chair, the trident was embedded in its pedestal, protected by the charm cast on it. Only one of the Mermaid family could touch it. Anyone else would get shocked or even paralyzed by it. Beside her was her most trusted friend and vizier, who also happened to be the Royal musician of Atlantica. A small red crab named Sebastian. It seemed to Meeshell that the elderly crab was telling her mother something, though it sounded more like scolding.

"Come on Ariel, you know how tings work around here. Dat Sea Witch might want you little girls voice."

"I know that Sebastian, but I can't exactly keep my kids inside the castle like dad did for me. I want them to stretch their fins...besides, she hasn't signed the page yet, she has a choice." Ariel replied, not noticing Meeshell had entered the throne room. Sebastian hadn't noticed her either, and continued speaking.

"Dat is exactly why you should protect her! I know dat Sea Witch is planning someting with her daughter. She might be pushin for the story to start!"

"Um...guys?" Meeshell said softly, grabbing their attention. Ariel sat up, stretching a bit as she held her arms out to embrace her daughter.

"Hey baby girl...did you hear any of that?"

"Most of it...are you guys worried about me?"

"Yes, we just want you to be safe Meeshell...now that the Storybook of Legends has been pulled apart, we fear the Sea Witch might plan someting! She might force Coral to steal your page and sign it instead!" Sebastian said, a worried tone in his voice.

"I know that...that's why I went ahead and cast a spell on it." the girl said, summoning her page from within her heart. She handed it to her mother, who looked at the fine print that had been shimmering in bright gold.

"Only someone of the Mermaid family can hold this page. Any signature that isn't that of Meeshell Mermaid, the successor to the Little Mermaid story shall become null and void. When did you cast this spell?" Ariel asked curiously.

"Eheh...daddy was out speaking with some friends...and you went to the bathroom without the trident. I wanted to know what it could do so I grabbed it...I took the chance to charm my page that day too." she said, pressing her fingers together. Ariel glanced at Sebastian, brow arched as she gave him the tiniest of smirks.

"I think she's safe Sebastian...especially if she knows how to use the trident. You don't have anything to fear."

"Okay, alrite! I'll trust dat you know what to do. Just be careful Meeshell, that Sea Witch is nasty. She might trick you into doing some bad tings!" the red crab said, shaking his claw a bit as he hopped off the pedestal, quickly heading out of the room.

"Don't worry about him. He's always been a worrywart, so is there something the matter? Something you wanna ask me?"

"No...um Mom...some people are moving into the beach castle. They seemed my age and...I got a little close. I think one of them saw my tail." she said, her voice being a bit shaky.

"Oh sweetheart, that's wonderful! If there are kids your age out on the surface, this will be the perfect time for you to meet them! You know, I was really curious about the human world when I was your age. The only thing I had against me was my dad, always laying down the law. Oh I know...I'll give you a pair of legs so you can explore up there. It'll be wonderful I promise!"

"No, mom! I don't want legs...I just...I dunno. It was weird and I'm a little frightened with them being so close." she said.

"Hmm...I get it...there's a cute boy up there and your shy that he won't like you for you. You know, when I met your father he had a hard time accepting my mermaid side. You used to have legs too at one point, don't you remember any of this?"

"Yes...I remember this...all of us are born with special magic. Our tails turn into legs on land, but if we get wet then our tails will come back. It isn't until I agree to the Sea Witch's offer that I get permanent legs. Then I have to get a kiss from the boy before sunset on the third day, no later than that, or else my legs fall off, she keeps my voice and I'm her slave for all eternity." she said, sounding a bit dejectedly. Ariel frowned, placing a hand on her daughter's shoulder.

"Honey, is something the matter? Are you having doubts about your destiny?"

"Um...sort of...I mean, I read the page...but to me it feels more like an obligation. I mean, if I already have legs why would I need permanent ones? One day I'll have to take over Atlantica with my future husband, so I'll just have to give them up for a tail again. It also isn't fair to Coral." Meeshell said.

"Coral...right, the Sea Witch's daughter...she was born a mermaid, but she's a lot shyer than you. The poor thing, if Ursula wasn't such a mean aunt, I'd let you play with her. She is your cousin technically speaking." Ariel said.

"I know...but I'm scared her mom will force me into something I don't want to do. You know she wants to steal my voice because she couldn't get yours. It's so creepy too, whenever I swim by her house, all I hear are the screams of those voices and it makes me shiver."

"Well...she didn't want to be a witch either...she wanted to be a singer like me. But her voice was disgusting and horrible, which was another reason why she wanted my voice. Of course our story made it impossible for her to actually keep it. How she survived being shot through with the Trident is beyond me. But she's still up to her old ways." she replied, leaning back in her chair, a thoughtful look on her face.

"It isn't about that either...I am curious about these people though. I guess I inherited that from you. I wish I wasn't so shy about it though."

"Hmm...I have an idea, why don't you just watch them from afar? That's what I did when I was your age. When I saw Eric for the first time, it was love at first sight. Maybe you might meet your Prince Charming up there, oh that would be so cute!"

"Mom...don't do that...it's embarrassing." Meeshell said, her cheeks flushing a bit.

"Oh, you know I love you honey. Just be careful alright, and remember, tap that golden shell if you want to get out of the water. You don't want to walk out naked like I did. I can't believe Scuttle made me wear that sail as a dress too, I miss him." she said, frowning a bit.

"I'm sorry mom, I miss Scuttle too. He was just the best, but he was getting old, at least his children are still around, that's what counts right? That his legacy lives on?"

"You're right, I love you baby girl. Let's go, I'm famished."

"You aren't pregnant again are you? I don't think I could handle another set of kids. You had twins, you had triplets, we don't need quads." she said, earning a giggle from her mother.

"No, I'm not pregnant. With all of you kids being at home, do you actually think me and your father can get private time? Especially with Maya wanting me to use my trident to give her bigger boobs."

"I have no idea what her fascination with those things are. She keeps throwing tantrums about it too. I miss being that young sometimes." she said, making Ariel wrap her arm around her.

"As long as you cherish those memories, you'll always be young. Now come on, before Marcus and Machiavelli eat everything!" Ariel cried, grabbing a hold of her daughter's hand, pulling her along. Meeshell rolled her eyes, matching her mother's speed.

 _ **xxx(Aquania Beach House)xxx**_

"Well, we're finally set up. The booth is ready, the instruments are all in great condition, and the acoustics of the ballroom will definitely help us out." Blake said, taking a look at all of the instruments they had set up.

It looked almost like the music hall back at Ever After High. To the right of the room, were the classical instruments, three Cellos, a Double Bass, a Viola and a Violin. Cerise had set up her drum set in the middle of the room, having added a fourth Tum-tum drum and another Cymbal to it, along with a Cowbell in case they needed it. There was a microphone stand next to the set, lowered down for her to sing into. There was a small amplifier next to the drum set, the microphone being plugged into it.

Three large box amplifiers were set up to the left of the room, next to the guitars. Blake's Gibson Explorer was to the far left, being plugged into a white amplifier, next to it was Cupid's brand new Gibson Les Paul, which had been rather proud about. He still remembered the day when she had bought that guitar, she had fallen in love with it. Dexter's Rickenbacker bass guitar had been placed next to it, also plugged into a white amplifier. Three microphone stands had been placed in front of each instrument. The final instrument that had been brought into the Ballroom was one that had been already at the castle, a beautiful Marble Black Grand Piano. When Melody found out from Daring that they had one, she insisted they bring it in. It hadn't been used in years, and she had gone out to the local music store to get new strings for it. She had spent at least two hours turning it and cleaning it up. It tied everything together quite nicely, in his opinion.

"I agree, I find this set up to tie the room together. We aren't gonna have any balls here anyway." Ramona added, snapping a few pictures of the instruments.

"That means, that for the next month, this ballroom is going to be the sanctum. Me and Blake are gonna take the rest of this week to refine the melodies and make sure the lyrics are alright. Once we do that, we'll start recording with live instruments. When we have all eleven tracks, we'll be able to move to the recording phase, which shouldn't take more than a few days." Melody said.

"That's right...I decided to change something though. There are eleven songs, so I want everyone to sing at least one of them. I want to sing song number 1, 4,6, and 11." Blake said.

"Are you sure?" Dexter asked, earning a nod from the boy.

"Well, if he sings four, that means each of us get two, with Raven getting song number 9. So yeah, that will do...I have no issue with that." Cerise added.

"That means we can have Blake knock out his songs first, we'll then be able to focus on the other songs and get them out of the way too." Cupid said, sounding rather excited.

"Looks like it's all finally coming together...I still can't believe it...a movie, a giant class effort to get it on the big screen. You guys are crazy." Ramona said, a smirk on his face.

"You gotta admit, it is pretty cool. We'll be immortalized on the silver screen forever and ever!" Kitty cried, taking a hold of Blake's hand, pecking his cheek lovingly. He flushed a bit, a smile appearing on his face. Neither noticed the glare Cerise was giving them.

"Yes, but let's not focus on that. It's still three in the afternoon, the sun is shining brightly. It's time for us to go hit the waves!" Hunter cried, having already changed into his swim trunks.

He was wearing a black tank top, slip on shoes and sunglasses on his face. Similarly, Ashlynn was wearing a two piece white bikini, the bottom being hidden by the towel she had tied around her waist. She was wearing a pair of glass heels, and was wearing a pair of sunglasses just like her boyfriend. Her bag was filled with various things, including sunscreen and tanning oil. Kitty giggled, a smile on her face.

"I agree with Hunter, it's time for us to enjoy the beach, before the rest of our class starts crowding it!" she added. Her body shimmered brightly, as she used her magic to don a tight fitting violet one piece. She pulled her hair down, sliding her hair ties onto her wrists.

"Come on Blake, hurry up and change, I'll be waiting for you at the beach." she said, giving the boy a wink as she flashed out of the ballroom.

"Damn cat, at least have the goddamn common courtesy to wait." he said, snapping his fingers, instantly changing to his black and blue swim trunks, his sneakers and a violet tee shirt.

"Okay seriously, every needs to stop abusing magic to change their clothes. The rest of us gotta go up there and change. It isn't fair." Melody snapped, earning a smirk from Blake who started walking toward the courtyard.

"I suppose, but you are friends with the son of the Evil Queen. So you all owe me, just this once." he said, snapping his fingers as a violet wave of magic swirled around his friends, interchanging their current clothes for varied pieces of swim ware. He left the room before he could gauge their reactions. As soon as he stepped outside and looked at the water, he saw a bright shimmer over the waves. He rubbed his eyes, seeing what looked like a tail fin sticking out of the water for a brief second. He smiled a bit, a knowing look on his face.

" _So, there are mermaids out here...if that's the case I can't wait to meet one. That's definitely going to be an interesting conversation. The summer has just begun, and I can already tell it's going to be far more exciting than the school year...eh, that's a stretch."_

The boy started walking down toward the beach, looking forward to relaxing on the sand. The bright shining sun bathed the land below, cementing the beauty of the summer season. Not even he was aware of the adventure he was going to have in the following days.


	92. The World Under the Sea I

**A/N:**

 **Hello everyone, Happy March! You know what that means, St. Patrick's Day, and that means I got a reason to head to Mickey D's, their super awesome Shamrock Shakes! I hope they have the chocolate mint one because I didn't get to try that one last year. But anyway, this isn't about them good ass shakes, but about this story! I must say there are going to be some changes in the future of this tale of ours.**

 **First, I must regretfully say that I will be cutting out the next story arc of this fic, the one that was supposed to parallel the Young-Blood Chronicles done by Fall Out Boy. I've been working at it, trying to see if I could actually work it into the fic, but I cannot. No matter how many times I try to work that plot, I just can't. So, I will be writing it out of the main story and replacing it with another story arc. I haven't decided which one, but for the rest of this arc, there will be no mentions of the movie. I will say at the beginning of Dragon Games that the movie was filmed and that it was a hit, but other than that I will not be writing it out like I had intended. I may have jumped the gun on that one so I had to cut it out before I started it. As of now, I'm on Chapter 96 of this story. Yeah, I was supposed to be on Chapter 106 by now, but I got stuck playing SAO Fatal Bullet for the last week. I finally met all the requirements to actually get the True Ending, and yet the game still fucks me. It's very fun though, if you like FPS games styled to look like MMO's, then I recommend it. If you hate SAO, then tough shit. But this game actually features you playing your own character so that's where it differs from other entrees. I gave it 7/10, because it still has some bugs that need to be fixed, but the story is a good 10/10.**

 **Anyway...I haven't really decided what to do after this arc, I don't want to skip ahead to Dragon Games, I'm not ready to actually write those events, plus I wanted to deal with something else. I just don't know what exactly I'm supposed to do with the spot this arc was going to take. I mean...I did play a shitload of SAO but I don't really wanna do like a three or four chapter arc dedicated to Blake and the gang trying that out. It wouldn't fit, so I might not be posting anything for a little bit while I come up with something. That is to say, this is not the end, and there is no hiatus. I will be working on the alternate endings for now, until I decide what to do with this story. I actually wrote a very lengthy one-shot for SAO, so I might be posting that as well...I might actually turn that into a two shot, but it will spoil the ending of the game for those that do care. Not sure when that will be posted though, I haven't decided if I actually will post it.**

 **If you guys have any ideas that you want to toss my way, I would appreciate it. Just something that I can make a short four or five chapter story arc with that will end this little summer arc on a high note. I really do apologize if any if you were looking forward to the Young-Blood Chronicles arc but I really felt like I didn't fit in that well, at least not as well as The Ballad of Bluebeard, I mean Bluebeard is a legitimate character so it made sense.**

 **For any of you that were wondering what happened to Courtly Jester, I will say that she will be in Chapter 95, so look forward to that. Her official re-entree into the story won't be until the new school year starts, where Blake will get to meet the Freshman class, which will include Meeshell as well. So it should be interesting seeing his reaction when he meets her again. After that, it will be smooth flying towards the Dragon Games. I do hope you enjoy this chapter, let me know what you think. I hope you guys all have an awesome weekend, and remember, kiss your local Irishman or Irishwoman, because that shit is lucky as fuck! Do Svidaniya!**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 92

The World Under the Sea I

A week had passed since Blake had arrived in Aquania. Over that time, he and his friends had been busy recording the melodies to their newest soundtrack. People had started arriving shortly after, all of them amazed with the size of the giant beach house. It wasn't long before half of their class had arrived, all of them enjoying the beach and the summer heat. Most of them had stuck away from the ballroom, not wanting to bother Purple Rhapsody during their recording session. Of course they didn't mind if people watched them play, as long as they remained quiet. So far, four songs had been recorded. They had a few problems with the fourth track and had to record it from the beginning which had set them back a bit. But they had gotten around it, Blake had also recorded The Phoenix, marking it as the first song from their new album that was completely ready.

Ginger had wasted no time in claiming the kitchen, wanting to help the staff cook for everyone. Not only had she been helping them out with meals, she had also prepared everything for her food cart, which she had opened up in the public beach. Whenever Blake wasn't helping his bandmates, he was helping her out. She had brought along all of the equipment he needed for his milkshakes, and they had become quite popular, not just with their classmates but also with the public. Kitty certainly liked them, as she bought one every single day since she had opened up for business. Though with all of the running she was doing with Maddie and Lizzie around the beach, she easily lost the weight before it affected her.

Today however was the day that King Charming brought his yacht from one of his many mansions near the sea. Everyone had been eagerly waiting for the boat to arrive, wanting to go visit the nearby reef. It was one of the things that Blake was looking forward to seeing, mostly because he was looking forward to seeing a mermaid. Dexter and Darling were waiting with him near the large dock at the other end of the house which overlooked the ocean, looking out into the water for the large boat. Raven was nearby with Apple, both of them lost in conversation about one thing or another. Dexter leaned forward slightly, blocking the sun with his hand, straining his vision to see the boat.

"I can't see it yet, are you sure he's coming today?" he asked, glancing at his sister who looked up from her phone.

"Daring left yesterday to meet up with dad, he said he was going to be pulling into the dock by eleven in the morning. And it's already almost lunch time." Darling replied, a look of concern on her face.

"Well, if the boat is white it would be a bit hard to see with the sunlight bouncing off of it. Don't worry about him, if Daring as good of a sailor as he says he is, then he'll be here soon." Blake said, glancing at his sister who was still speaking with Apple about something. He smirked, holding his hand out, conjuring a ball of ice water in his palm.

"You are right about that, he said he would blow the foghorn when he was getting close. He also said, in his words, 'You're jaws will drop harder than the bass drop in Melody's last new single.' So I'm assuming it will be a good looking boat. I mean, we've got like seven." Darling said, shrugging her shoulders a bit.

"Well if he said that, then it must be the hottest fucking ship of this year. Whatever it is, I'm sure it's gonna be something impressive, you Charmings always handle that front really well." Blake said. He rose his arm slightly, taking aim at Raven, releasing the water bubble he had conjured. She let out a surprised scream, shivering a bit from the cold water.

"Blake you shit face! I'm gonna get you for that!" she cried, forming several water bubbles above her head. She flung them all at her brother, who jumped back in time to dodge them all.

"Come on sis! You aren't even trying!" he cried, grabbing a hold of the super soaker her had brought along with him. With a few pumps, he was able to shoot her with a cold spray, which she easily deflected, hitting Apple with it instead.

"Ah, it's so cold! Why are you doing this to me?" the blonde cried, shivering from the cold, her red bikini top darkening from the water.

"Whoops, sorry Apple...I didn't mean to get you wet." Raven said, holding back her giggles, not looking apologetic in the slightest. Blake too his chance, soaking the two girls to the bone, breaking into laughter.

"You left yourselves open! That's like the worst thing you can do when you are in battle." he said. Both girls shared a look, with Apple giving the boy a smirk.

"You know, since we came back from Neverland, I had Raven teach me some magic. I think I've gotten the hang of water magic, in fact I think it might be my element." she said, holding her hand up above her head, forming a giant orb of water. His eyes widened a bit surprise.

"Apple wait, let's talk about this."

A second later, the black haired boy was washed away by the giant orb of water. He sat on the ground, soaking wet as he tried to register what had just happened. Raven and Apple high fived, grins on their faces. It was clear that the young man wasn't going to mess with them in that manner again for awhile. Kitty teleported onto the dock, rising her sunglasses to her head as she glanced at her boyfriend, who had just stood up. He had taken off his shirt and had started wringing it out, a frown on his face.

"What happened to you sweetie? Did you get super soaked?"

"More like mega soaked, Apple picked up some water magic. Not just that, she almost fucking drowned me. I look like a fucking dog at a car wash." he replied, putting his shirt back on.

"I figured I could cool you off, since you decided to cool us off."Apple said, placing a hand on her hips, a smirk on her face.

"Sorry little brother, but you brought that hell onto yourself."

"Yeah yeah, I'll go super soak Maddie and Lizzie, they're already in the water anyway." he said, taking a hold of Kitty's hand as he headed toward the beach.

"We'll let you know when Daring arrives with the yacht, though if he blows the foghorn, I'm sure everyone here will hear it." Dexter said, earning a thumbs up from the boy.

"Don't worry, I'll flash back here when it does get here. Come on Blake, I've been dying for a swim. Maybe if we get lucky we'll find some really cool sea shells."

"Okay okay, don't pull so hard babe. I kinda need my arm to swim!" he exclaimed, following the girl over toward the beach.

The beach that had been empty the week before, was now filled with their classmates. Almost everyone had arrived, save those who were still spending some time with family. They were only missing seven people, Gus and Helga, who had decided to stay back to manage Ginger's store. She had plead for them to come too, but they said they didn't want her store to close for such a long time. Helga also burned easy, so she didn't want to risk turning into a hot dog. Frost was visiting his father in The Land on top of the World, and wouldn't be coming down until the following week.

Along with them, Humphrey and Hopper had stayed behind, wanting to check all of the film equipment for the school. Blondie had told Blake that they had gotten permission from the school to use some of the more high tech equipment. And since they were both tech nerds, they wanted to try out everything, despite sacrificing their summer vacation. The three little pigs had also remained at home, wanting to spend time with their families, though they did say they were on board for the movie and were looking forward to it. The final person that didn't show up was Tobias, but he wasn't invited by Daring or Dexter because of his attitude toward Faybelle. He had outwardly expressed his hatred toward her and had tried hitting her in the past, so they didn't want to cause trouble.

"So, are you having fun? After all of the crap we've been going through we sort of deserve this."

"Of course I am, I'm at a huge house, with my friends and loving girlfriend. I'm recording new music and planning the movie with Blondie, I'm honestly really happy that I get to unwind a bit. I don't have to focus on class, school, work or fucking destiny!" he said. Kitty giggled, jumping into his arms, almost knocking him into the water.

"Well, I'm having a lot of fun too. I sort of want to have more fun, if you know what I mean. Maybe tonight?"

"I dunno Kitty, it's a little early for that I think. I love you, I really do but I want to give it a little more time." he admitted, a flush on his cheeks. She rolled her eyes, wrapping her arms around his shoulders, giving him a kiss on the lips.

"I know you're a little scared, because you don't want to lose me like you did with Cerise. But I promise you, I will never leave you. You're my best friend, my confident and the guy that I love. You make me happy, and even when I get mad, which is almost never, or something stupid happens, I always talk to you about it. Just consider it okay?" she asked, giving him a puppy look. He sighed, looking out into the ocean.

"Dammit, you and those damn blue eyes of yours. Fine, I'll think about it, I'll let you sleep in my room tonight. I like when we cuddle together, that's something me and Cerise never did, we always had to skirt around each other." he said.

"Because of the promise right? I think you told me about it, you made a promise with Ramona so that you would wait until you two got married. I'm sorry you never got far in that relationship, Joey was a bastard. But I'm also not sorry, because if it kept going, I wouldn't be together with you." she admitted, giving him a smile.

"Oh, you are a selfish Kitty aren't you? That's purrfect, but it's good to know that you are open to another girl joining in. I've given it some thought, and I think I'd rather have just you. At least for now."

"Hehe...that's fine too. But if you do fall in love with another girl, just know that I'm okay with her joining us. But just one more, we can't have you starting a harem. You said you didn't like those right?"

"I totally detest them. I don't see how one man can love seven or eight women equally. It's hard handling one relationship, imagine seven more?" he asked, earning a nod from the violet haired girl.

"I know right? That would be a pain in the ass...it's like I said...I am a little curious. I've never been with another girl, I think I'd like to know what that would be like." she said, giving him a wink, subtly licking her lips.

"Stop teasing me you damn cat. Come on, let's go find those sea shells, I can't wait for that damn yacht to get here. I wanna go see the reef King Charming mentioned." he said, pulling his girlfriend toward the water, narrowly avoiding a water balloon Lily had thrown at her boyfriend Dutch.

"You just wanna go out there to find a mermaid. Cupid said you spotted one, with a shimmering tail right? She must be really pretty if you wanna ditch me for her!" she said, earning a chuckle from the raven haired boy.

"Right, because I would totally trade my hot half cat girlfriend for a fish girl. Besides, I haven't actually seen her...all I saw was the shimmering waves. It might have been water, it might have been scales. I dunno...but it would be cool to meet a mermaid, maybe see what it would be like to see their home."

"Hmm...that isn't a bad wish, I think the Kingdom of Atlantica is nearby. Out in the middle of the ocean, where the water is deepest, at least that's what I heard from my mom. She and the class of Classics came to this very city during Summer Break twenty years ago." Kitty said, stopping when the water had gotten past her waist. The water was warm and relaxing, instead of cold like Blake was used to.

"That's nice, it's cool to know we're at the same beach our parents came to. The water feels nice, wanna see if we can find some shells under the water?" he asked.

"Sure...I'm not that good of a swimmer though." she admitted, a sheepish grin on her face. He smiled, taking a hold of her hand.

"Then I'll teach you. If Crystal was here, I'd be teaching her too, she gave me a scare back in Neverland. At least Lizzie helped you out, so I didn't have to worry."

"Yeah, that was pretty scary...my heart was beating so hard. I didn't want to see my friend die, it got to close for comfort back in Wonderland." she said, shaking her head a bit. She didn't want to lose her friend, let alone her loved ones.

"Alright, the best way to teach you how to swim is to get practical. You can swim a little bit, which is good. So I'll just teach you how to float first, that way if you find yourself struggling you can just regain your bearings that way." he said.

"Okay, how do you do that?" she asked curiously, earning a smile from the boy.

"Just lay back, I'll hold you up." he replied, earning a wary nod from the girl.

Meanwhile on the beach, Cerise was taking a break from all of the recording she had been doing. During the week, she had been able to record her first song, The Mighty Fall, which would be the fifth song in the Save Rock and Roll Remix Album. Blake had been rather encouraging when it came to her recording, even training her voice a bit so that it didn't sound so raspy. While she didn't nail any high notes, she had been able to record her parts, along with Jack who had been featured in that song as well. She had been having fun, but now she wasn't exactly feeling that well.

She had been watching Blake and Kitty from afar, watching them act all loving toward each other. She was still jealous that she had become his girlfriend. She had cried a lot, the night that they had saved Wonderland, and had gotten together. She wanted to speak with him, but Ramona had suggested she give it some time. But now that she had, she was just annoyed whenever they showed affection toward each other. She wanted Blake to do that with her, she wanted to be the one he hugged and kissed, and spent his time with. She couldn't help but seethe in anger whenever they were nearby.

Her golden eyes were hidden by her sunglasses, so almost no one would be able to see them. Unless they were nearby, they wouldn't hear her feral growling. She had been sitting on one of the beach chairs, under a large parasol. She was still wearing her crimson cloak, her hood pulled over her head. Aside from that, she was wearing a bright red bikini top, with a gray wolf printed on the left breast. She was wearing a pair of white jean shorts, not wanting to wear the bottom of her swimsuit, as she found it too attention grabbing. Beside her was her basket, which had been filled with snacks, drinks and a few books, which she had wanted to read.

All of that had been tossed aside however when she saw Blake and Kitty had appeared on the beach. Now she was watching the two of them splashing each other in the water. Thanks to her hearing, she knew that he had been teaching her how to swim. Though with Kitty's playful nature, she had been splashing him whenever she had the chance, which had lead to their current water fight. She had unknowingly tightened her grip on her water bottle until it popped loudly, splashing water in all directions. She blinked a few times, glancing at her now wet arm and leg, sighing in annoyance.

"Hey pup, is something wrong?" her sister Ramona, who had been sitting beside her out in the sun asked.

Much like her, she had been wearing her swimsuit, a tight fitting blue bikini, which accented all of her curves in all the right places. Of course, Ramona was more daring than Cerise could ever be, so she didn't mind wearing it. In fact, she was glad that she was getting attention, even from the people in the nearby public beach. The beach was only separated by a short picket fence, so people nearby could look at their beach, mostly young men wondering why there were so many hot ladies at the beach house.

"I'm fine, sorry. I didn't mean to pull you from your sunbathing." Cerise replied in a sarcastic tone, causing the older girl to sit up, pulling her glasses off her face, placing them atop her head.

"Alright, something is chewing your clit, so tell me what it is, or I'll carry you to the water and drop you in the deepest part."

"Ugh...nothing is bothering me okay? Sheesh, can I not enjoy my goddamn vacation in peace?" she cried, turning her head away from her sister. Ramona sighed, glancing toward the ocean, spotting Blake and Kitty in the water. He was teaching her how to swim, or trying too since Kitty kept splashing him whenever she had the chance. She smirked, glancing toward her sister.

"Ah, I get it. You are jealous of Blake and Kitty...you know, I heard from Blake that she was open to having someone else in their relationship. If you still have feelings for him, then why not ask him on a date?"

"Get real! I wouldn't do that, he's a taken man...we were always taught to be with one person. Our one true love, it's our destiny." Cerise said, earning a wide eyed look from her sister. She sat, mouth agape at what she had heard. Once she had regained her senses, she stood up from her chair, brushing her hair over her shoulder.

"Cerise Hood, you and I both know you are a Rebel. You never gave a shit about destiny, so why should it matter now? Love is love, no matter who it's with or how many people are involved."

"I know that, but I'm not into girls."

"It doesn't matter, you don't have to love Kitty in order to love Blake. Although, it would be rather kinky when you think about it, two girls kissing while their man watches. Makes me a little hot." Ramona said, earning cringe from Cerise, who was glad she was wearing her sunglasses.

"Sis, are you a lesbian? I have no issue with that if you are. It's just...you've been staring at a lot of girls recently."

"I'm into both sis, we live a short life. No use in searching for a Prince Charming, or waiting for him to find you. You gotta make due with what you got, that Blondie girl seems like my type. Think she'd agree to a date?"

"Pfft, no. She's totally into men, and they have to fit her criteria, you are barking at the wrong tree. As for my dilemma...I'm sorry, but I just can't be in that kind of relationship. It would be too weird."

"Shame then...I think you three would be alright together. You and Kitty get along, despite your dislike of her. She's a bit more bi-curious than I thought she'd be though. I heard from Raven that she was trying to get Blake to date Crystal, so she might be into both too." she said, earning a shrug from Cerise, who lay back in her chair.

"I guess...I just have to get over these damn feelings for him. Now that we're actually working on a movie, it's gonna be a lot harder than before."

"Cerise...I honestly think you should talk to Blake about this. You've spent too long not discussing this shit, and eventually you are gonna resent him and Kitty. You'll end up losing an amazing friend over your feelings. So when you get the chance, you have to speak with him, no ifs and's or buts about it."

"Ugh...fine, I'll talk to him about it." the hooded girl said, crossing her arms in annoyance. Ramona grinned, giving her a wink.

"You look really hot in that you know, maybe you'll talk him into sexing you up. Maybe getting laid will get you to forget the past."

"Ramona! Shut up, why would you even say that?" Cerise cried, her face flushing red. Ramona chuckled, ruffling her hair slightly.

"Because it's true, you gotta destress a bit, and sadly the only way to do that is to get your tight hole rammed with a cock. I know I wanted you two be married, but I think I trust your judgment. And if it's Blake, it's okay. Trust me, he'd be drowning in pussy if he wasn't dating Kitty."

"Yourself included?"

"Damn straight I'd be included, look at him. He works out on a daily basis, and probably has a lot of stamina. He'd probably make me cum six times before he'd blow his load. Anyway, enough with this sex talk, how's the album coming along?" she asked, sitting back down on her chair, facing her sister.

"We're doing fine...I just finished recording The Mighty Fall. Melody is mixing it right now, and fixing all of the issues. Dexter finished Young Volcanoes yesterday afternoon, and Blake and Duchess recorded Just One Yesterday this morning. Trust me, training a swan to sing is horrible, I guess the term _Swan_ _Song_ fits her perfectly." Cerise said, a smirk gracing her lips.

"Why do you say that?"

"Because, Just One Yesterday is Duchess's literal swan song. She's never gonna sing again, her words, not mine. Once those first songs are mixed, Melody is gonna record Where Did the Party Go. Then Cupid will be recording Death Valley, Raven has Rat-a-tat, and I have Miss Missing You."

"Well, you guys are hitting it hard then. I look forward to hearing your voice during all of this. It's gonna be fun, I get to be one of the vixens in the music video for Alone Together. It's funny, because I'll be giving Dexter a lap dance while Raven is watching the filming process."

"You fucking would. You are lucky Raven is so outgoing and understanding, and this is a movie. Just don't go overboard." Cerise said, earning a nod from Ramona.

"I won't."

The sound of a foghorn suddenly filled the beach, causing everyone to stop what they were doing. They were all looking toward the pier that was attached to the other side of the cliff, seeing the top of a large boat, along with a few antennas and satellites attached to it. Cerise, stood up from her seat, grabbing a hold of her basket, following the others who seemed interested toward the pier.

"Come on, it looks like Daring finally got here with the boat."

"I gotta see this. It's gonna be huge, I can already tell."

At the same time, Blake and Kitty had been heading toward the pier themselves. As soon as they had heard the horn, they knew that Daring had finally arrived. Once they had made it, they laid eyes on the massive ship that had pulled into the pier. It was a large yacht, black in color, which was at least three decks high. It was approximately 102 meters from bow to stern, at least that was Blake's estimate. A loud whirling sound echoed through the beach, as the gangplank was slowly being lowered, being placed right on top of the cement pier. Daring came over the railing, dressed like a typical sailor, hat and all.

"Gaze upon the most luxurious vessel on the market. I apologize for taking so long to get here, father was trying to hurry me up. He got me this beauty as a late birthday present, and for defending the ladies when Felipe was still around." he said, flashing his signature smile.

"Jesus...if this is what a yacht looks like in Ever After, I'm scared to see what a fucking cruise liner looks like." Blake said, still amazed at the vessel he was seeing.

"I agree, this is a floating palace bro." Dexter said, earning a chuckle from the older Charming.

"Indeed, that is why I picked it. This boat is so grand, that it comes with twenty bedrooms, each having their own bathroom. It has a full sized kitchen, and living room. A recreation room, fully equipped, it has two swimming pools, one hot tub. It also features a state of the art garage, and came with four Jet Skis."

"It has a garage...what the hell do you need a garage for?" Darling asked curiously. Daring smirked, pulling a remote from his pocket, pressing one of the buttons. One of the side panels on the ship started to open up, disappearing into the vessel almost like a garage door would.

"Is that a speed boat? You have a boat inside your boat?" Kitty cried.

"Well, now you are just flashing your millions at us." Blake muttered, crossing his arms. By now, the others had arrived, all of them looking at the ship with the same shocked and awed expressions.

"Ah, you're a millionaire yourself. You could buy yourself one of these for the low low price of 100 million dollars."

"Yeah, I'd probably have to sell every organ in my body. I wouldn't even make a quarter of that. Get real man, I probably wouldn't afford a rivet in this puppy."

"Still, it is quite the boat...what did you name her?" Dexter asked, trying to look for the name which would have been painted onto the bow.

"Her name? Why, it's Apple White of course. An homage to the most beautiful woman in my life." he said, giving the blonde a wink.

"Yay...I feel so honored?" Apple said, sounding more confused than impressed. Daring just took it all in stride, laughing it off.

"Anyway, I spotted an inlet not that far from where we currently are. How about we pack up some stuff and take a cruise out on the ocean? We can go camping in that inlet, enjoy the starry night sky."

"Really? You wanna go camping...you?" Raven asked, earning a shrug from the boy.

"Why not? I've never been camping before, and it's all about making the summer count, my dear." Daring replied, sounding charming as ever.

"That's not a bad idea, I personally would love to go camping." Darling said, a grin on her face.

"I wouldn't. Trade the fluffiest bed ever for the cold hard ground? Pass, I'll stay here." Duchess said, turning toward the beach.

"Oh come on Duchess, it's a trip out in the wilderness. We can go skinny dipping if you want, Blake will be there." Kitty said, causing the monochrome themed girl to turn around.

"Are you sure Blake will be there?"

"Blake will certainly not be there. Blake will not go skinny dipping in front of twenty four girls who are his personal friends and would hold it against him for life. He will also not fall for Kitty's antics, no matter how many times she tries to convince him." Blake replied, glancing away from the girls.

"Pussy."

"That really isn't gonna make me change my mind."

"Oh, come on...pussy pussy pussy. You are too afraid to take a risk, right you little pussy?" Kitty said, earning a glare from the boy.

"Fuck off, you are just trying to rile me up. I know your games, your schemes and devious plots. No matter what you say or do, I am not going to do that." he replied, earning a frown from the girl, who resorted to giving him a puppy look.

"Jeez, who would have thought Kitty would suggest something so perverted?" Hunter muttered, causing Ashlynn to raise her brow at him.

"Have you not met Kitty? You actually expect anything less from her? What about you? You wanna find a secluded part of the inlet and have a swim?" she asked, wiggling her brows a bit.

"I'd love too, but you and I both know that you aren't taking your clothes off. So don't even bother."

After awhile, the people who wanted to head on the camping trip, gathered up some of the supplies that had been brought. Half of the class decided to just stay back and wait at the castle. After filing into the beautiful and grand vessel, Daring gave one last blast of the foghorn, before setting course for the open ocean.

Blake was joined by Raven and Apple out on the bow. Among the others that had come aboard for their camping trip was Dexter and Darling, who didn't want to miss out on spending time with their older brother. Briar had come along, not wanting to miss out on a camping trip and on the boat ride, as it was something she wanted to check off her bucket list. Along with her, was her cousin Rosabella, and Blondie who had been doing a summer Vlog for Just Right, as she wouldn't be reporting anything for school. Hunter and Ashlynn had come aboard, with Cerise, Cupid and Ramona trailing behind. It was honestly going to be quite the party.

"This is pretty exciting isn't it? The wind feels amazing!" Raven said, happily stretching her arms, her hair flowing behind her back on the wind.

"Tell me about it, this was such a good idea. Shame that the rest of the class didn't want to come along." Apple added.

"Hey, more room for us. Only twenty of us are aboard, and there are twenty rooms. That means that we all get one, unless you wanna shag in which case, you'll have to share." Kitty said, earning a sigh from Blake, who was leaning against the railing.

"Yo Dexter, does this puppy have a radio? There's a song I wanna play." he called out, causing the boy to look out from the window on the bridge.

"Hell yeah, just connect your phone via Bluetooth, I already turned it on." he called out, earning a nod from the boy, who pulled his phone from his pocket, quickly turning on his Bluetooth.

"Oh great, what song are you gonna play?" Briar asked, rising her sunglasses as she glanced at the boy, who had a playful smirk on his face.

"You'll know soon Bri. So, is exploring a reef on your bucket list? Cause that's pretty much one of the coolest things you can do on the open ocean, aside from drowning of course." he said.

"Duh, why do you think I'm up here? I didn't buy this swim suit to look sexy in it. That's an added bonus, right Bella?" she asked, glancing at her cousin who was wearing a one piece yellow swimsuit with roses printed on it.

"Huh? Yeah, sure...is it supposed to rock like this?" she asked, clearly frightened by the boat's movement. Just then, the song finally started, the loud thumping bass filling the entire boat deck.

" _Aw, shit get your towels ready_

 _It's about to go down!_

 _Everybody in the place hit the fucking deck_

 _But stay on your motherfucking toes_

 _We're running this, let's go!"_

" _I'm on a boat,_

 _I'm on a boat_

 _Everybody look at me cause I'm sailing on a boat!_

 _I'm on a boat, I'm on a boat_

 _Take a good hard look at the motherfucking boat!_

 _I'm on a boat motherfucker take a look at me_

 _Straight floating on a boat on the deep blue sea_

 _Busting five knots, wind whipping at my coat_

 _You can't stop me motherfucker_

 _Cause on I'm a boat_

 _Take a picture trick_

 _I'm on a boat bitch_

 _We're drinking Santana champ,_

 _Cause it's so crisp_

 _I got my swim trunks_

 _And my flippie-floppies_

 _I am flipping burgers, you at Kinko's_

 _Straight Flipping copies._

 _I'm riding on a dolphin, doing flips and shit_

 _The dolphin's splashing getting everybody all wet!_

 _But this ain't Sea World, this is as real as it gets_

 _I'm on a boat motherfucker don't you ever forget!"_

" _I'm on a boat and it's going fast and_

 _I got a nautical themed Pashmina Afghan_

 _I'm the king of the world, on a boat like Leo_

 _If you're on the shore, then you're sure not me-oh!"_

" _Get the Fuck up, this boat is REAL!_

 _Fuck land, I'm on a boat motherfucker_

 _Fuck trees, I climb buoys motherfucker!_

 _I'm on the deck with my boys motherfucker!_

 _This boat engine make noise motherfucker!"_

" _Hey Ma, if you could see me now_

 _Arms spread wide on the Starboard Bow_

 _Gonna Fly this boat to the moon somehow!"_

"I cannot believe you actually have a song like this." Raven said, earning a grin from her brother.

"I can't believe that you believed that I wouldn't." he said, giving her a wink.

"You gotta admit, this shit is thumping." Hunter said, bobbing his head at the Post Hardcore version of the song. Blake put his phone on shuffle, setting it down on one of the tables that was on the deck. After having set the auto pilot, Daring came down from the bridge, carrying a large iron bucket filled with ice.

"Well then friends, since we are out on the open ocean, there are no drinking laws. Only the captain's rule, and since I am the captain...I say my friends can celebrate. Not just for an awesome victory in Neverland and an amazing year, but for an awesome summer as well!" Daring said, sounding rather cheerful.

"Are you sure that's a good idea Daring? Having a boat filled with drunk high school students is never a good idea." Duchess said, earning a giggle from Kitty who snagged a couple of the Apple Ales that was sticking out of the bucket.

"Prude, you just don't know how to have fun." she said, handing the second bottle to Blake. He used his magic to crack open the bottle, clinking it against Kitty's before tipping it back, chugging the entire thing in one go. Once he finished, he let out a loud burp, chuckling a bit.

"Whoo...that hit a little harder than I thought. Not bad, I actually like the taste...but that's the only one I'll have for now." he said. Hunter shrugged, grabbing one for himself and Ashlynn. It wasn't long before everyone, except Daring and Darling had snagged a beer, unwinding a bit and truly enjoying themselves.

 _ **xxx(Under the Sea)xxx**_

Meeshell had spent the last week keeping a close eye on the people at the beach house. And she had made quite a few discoveries, along with getting a few names. The most prevalent ones were Daring, Darling, Dexter, Raven, Apple, Blake and Kitty. They were the ones who had spent the most time on the beach, especially at night when the others were mostly inside for the night. She didn't know who was who, but she had been paying attention, trying to figure out which named belonged to which face. The only people she had positively identified was the boy named Blake, along with his girlfriend Kitty. She had been blushing a lot whenever she saw them being affectionate with each other. She had also felt something else, a pang of jealousy. It had been a bit odd, but she was jealous of the couple and their love. It was also why she had been watching them so intently.

One of the things she had also noticed was that there was someone inside the house that loved music. It was mostly during the afternoons, but a beautiful sound had been pouring out of the castle. The voices of two young men and three young women. It had been so alluring that she had almost gotten onto the beach to hear it. It wasn't a secret that she loved music...she was fascinated by it. Her dream was for her voice to be heard by millions, but she was too shy to actually sing, despite her voice being the most beautiful one in the sea. According to her mother of course.

However, she had resorted to playing catch up with the massive vessel they had boarded. Several people had stayed behind, but the most interesting ones had gotten on the boat. So she had been following it for awhile, wondering where it was that they were going. She had heard one of them mentioning a reef, and the only reef that was in the area was near a small inlet that she and her siblings loved spending time at. It was on an island that was nearby, and was uninhabited by humans. It was normally a tourist attraction whenever local cruise liners had wanted to stop by. Her mother had always told her to be careful, since humans were rather vindictive, and wold do anything to catch a mermaid. She was always prepared to fight if she needed too, but these people didn't look like the ones that would bring harm to her. She just wanted to know which among them was the one who had been singing the night before. She knew it was a boy, and he was part of the group that had boarded the vessel. But even she couldn't keep up with it. She breached the surface briefly, panting a bit for air. She saw the frothy path the boat had taken, and looked ahead, spotting the black ship in the distance.

"Whatever happened to slow moving sailboats? Those were always so easy to keep up with." she muttered.

"Would you like a little speed boost then?" a firm voice said, forcing her to turn around. Her eyes widened a bit when she saw the hulking form of the sea witch behind her.

Ursula was a shrewd of a woman, once extremely beautiful, and the sister of her grandfather Triton. He had cursed her with ugliness for trying to steal the Trident from him. Her skin was a sickly violet, as if she had been poisoned by a deadly sea creature. She had a mop of white hair on her head, along with what looked like a crown. Her chest was covered by a black half dress that covered most of her body. Instead of her once beautiful golden tail, she had eight lengthy tentacles, black in color with thousands of little suckers on them. It had been the punishment of her brother for her to live out as a shrewd banished from Atlantica for all eternity. The kingdom that she was meant to rule together with her brother, became nothing more than an ambition for her to acquire, and she had failed in that endeavor. Meeshell backed away from her, a forced grin on her face.

"I'm...I'm fine. You know...I can always just take a leisurely swim that way. Um...bye." she said, diving into the water, hoping to put some distance between her and the Sea Witch. However, the woman didn't let her go so easily, sending her two eels to stop her.

"Wait right there honey, I'm not gonna hurt you. You seem to be interested in those humans that passed by. I heard something rather interesting...some beautiful music, but an even more alluring voice. I think you and I can strike a deal."

"I'm not getting you anything Ursula. Mom told me all about you, and how you tried to take over Atlantica. I'm not falling for your tricks!" she said, a firm look on her face.

"I can see that, I wasn't going to offer you anything. I just needed a bit of help...to persuade my daughter to...you know. Fulfill her destiny." she said. It only took a moment for Meeshell to realize her cousin Coral had been with them.

Much like herself, Coral was a beautiful young mermaid, being a couple years younger than her. Coral was rather beautiful in her own way, her most interesting feature was her skin complexion, which like her mother, was a dark pale blue, almost violet in color. She has delicate facial features, bright green almond shaped eyes, a small button nose and full lips. She also had a crimson red tail, with bright colored scales, and delicate soft pink flecks. Her tail fin was also a soft pink in color, and quite beautiful. Her hair, rather than white, was a dark shade of blue, almost black, and was decorated with a few pieces of coral and some shining pink pearls. She gave Meeshell a shy wave, looking away from her.

"What is all this about?" Meeshell asked with a sigh, crossing her arms.

"It's nothing, this one is a little too scared to embrace her destiny. Despite having gotten her page, she says she isn't ready for the role. So I tasked her with a simple mission, there is a voice up there that has piqued my interest. All I want her is to take it and bring it back to me, that is all. Once she does, I shall release the voice back to its rightful owner." Ursula said, earning a chuckle from the daughter of Ariel.

"You must truly think my brain is made out of clam chowder. I know for a fact you aren't going to do that. I'm not dumb, and you shouldn't force Coral into following her destiny. If she doesn't want to follow it, then she shouldn't have too." Meeshell replied, earning a growl from the Sea Witch.

"Of course! You say that because you have it made. Even if you don't sign the Storybook of Legends, you still get your mother's throne. Even with the line of succession, your hands will be the first to touch the trident! What do we have? A dirty little hobble...I'm just conditioning my daughter so she can take your kingdom from you!"

"Mom, that's enough okay? I don't want to do this...it isn't right stealing the voices of people. You've already done that to so many, can't you just quit it already?" Coral asked, her delicate voice laced with anger. Ursula chuckled, shaking her head.

"No voice is the perfect voice. After all dear, I want to be a successful singer one day, and I need to have the right voice! This is perfect training for you...in fact, until you find and take that voice, you will not be allowed to come home."

"What?" the two mermaids cried in unison. Ursula laughed, preparing to swim away.

"That is correct, tell your mother Ariel I said hi...and tell that bastard father of yours that he's an asshole. My side still hurts from where he threw that Trident, as if smacking me with a ship wasn't enough." she snapped, swimming off.

"Mom, are you serious? You can't just leave me out in the cold to sleep by myself. Mom, come back here!" Coral shouted, receiving no reply from her mother. Meeshell wrapped her arm around her shoulder, giving her a smile.

"It's alright Coral, you know how much of a bitch your mom is. You can stay with me for as long as you need. I know you are too good to steal a voice from someone."

"I just...ugh, I can't believe this! Who just tosses out their fifteen year old daughter into the wild ocean? Shows how much she actually cares about me." she said, bowing her head dejectedly.

"Don't say that...I know in her twisted soulless heart she loves you. Anyway, I'm following some interesting people...you wanna go see them?" she asked, giving her cousin a grin.

"Isn't that dangerous? What if they attack us? You know there are those sickos who like mermaids."

"Eh...we'll be fine. They're going to the nearby reef on that uninhabited island, we can hide behind the rocks. Come on, it'll be fun...and it'll help distract you from your mom." she said, holding her hand out. Coral hesitated for a few moments, before taking Meeshell's hand, a smile on her face.

"Okay...let's go."

"Awesome, I hope you can keep up. I'm the best swimmer in the ocean!"

"Ha, that's a lie, I'm the best swimmer in the ocean, in all seven seas in fact!"

"Then you better get ready!" Meeshell said, earning a confused look from the girl.

"Ready for what?"

"To eat my bubbles you snail!" she replied, releasing her hold on the girl's hand, swimming off rather fast. Coral shook her head, propelling herself forward after her cousin.

"You aren't beating me Meeshell, I'll definitely school you in this!" Coral said, earning a grin from her cousin.

"Then prove it! First to reach the reef wins!"

"You're on!"

 _ **xxx(Coral Reef-Near the Uninhabited Island)xxx**_

Blake took a deep breath, steeling his nerves as he jumped off the highest deck on the yacht. He held his hands out, landing in the water with a loud splash. The sea of bubbles cleared from his vision, allowing him to see the beautiful reef below the water's surface. Thanks to Raven's magic spell, no one needed to use goggles to actually see. However, there wasn't a spell that allowed them to breathe underwater, so that was still an issue. All around him, fish of different sizes swam in large schools. The different colored coral could be seen growing from the rock formations on the bottom of the ocean. He had seen a great number of fish, including a barracuda and even an eel which had been hiding between some rocks. Feeling the sharp call for air, he started swimming for the surface, taking a breath once he breached the surface.

The thumping music filled the entire area, Daring had anchored the boat near a large uninhabited island. The inlet would be their campsite for the night. The Mega Yacht not only had a speedboat, which Daring and Dexter were using, but also four jet skis, and even two large water slides, which their friends had been using nearly for the entirety of their arrival at the island. Some of the girls were sitting on inflatables, while others had remained on deck, not wanting to swim. Everyone else was either in the water, or in the process of climbing the water slide to take another dip. Only he and Hunter were brave enough to actually dive from the top deck.

"Hey Blake, how's the water?" Raven called out from the deck. He gave her a thumbs up.

"It's great, come down here! The reef is really cool, there are hundreds of fish everywhere."

"Maybe later, I don't want to get my hair wet." she cried back. Unbeknownst to her, Ramona and Cerise had crept up behind her. Without warning, the two girls grabbed a hold of the Evil Queen's daughter, lifting her over the railing.

"Gah, no please!" she cried.

"Long live the King." Cerise cried, pushing the girl into the water. Blake burst into laughter as his sister hit the water, already swimming towards her. She surfaced a second later, holding her hand up to the two girls, flipping them the bird.

"Are you alright sis?" Blake asked, causing the girl to turn around, sweeping her soaked hair behind her head.

"I'm fine...but those two are fucking dead when I get out of here." she said. He rolled his eyes, taking a hold of her hand, pulling her away from the boat.

"There's this really cool eel I want you to see. I really wish there was an underwater breathing spell, it would definitely make this more fun." he said.

"Yeah, well magic can't solve every problem. I wish there was too, but unless you wanna share air, there's no other way to stay down there longer than a few minutes."

"Ew, I don't wanna kiss my sister...well, I guess if you were dying it'd be okay. But you're not, so ew." he said. Once he reached the right spot, he took a few deep breaths of air, plunging himself under the water. Raven did the same, swimming down to the reef after her brother.

Along with them were a few of their friends, Briar and Blondie who had brought her underwater camera to snap pictures. Blake took a hold of Raven's hand, grabbing onto the rocks as they looked around the reef. He pointed toward the two jutting rocks, seeing the eel he had mentioned, sticking its head slightly past the crevice it had taken refuge under. Blondie had wondered over to them, snapping a few pictures of the eel, which slowly receded into the cavern. Blake looked around, trying to find something more interesting, his eyes catching sight of something. He saw a shimmering blue tail just as it hide behind an underwater rock formation. His eyes went slightly wide, only for him to release the breath he had been holding. He swam to the surface, coughing a bit when he breached the surface.

"Are you alright? You looked a bit startled." Blondie asked, panting slightly from the lack of air.

"Didn't you...see it? The tail?" he asked.

"What tail? You do know there are thousands of fish down there right? You have to be more specific." Raven said. He groaned, brushing his hair out of his eyes.

"It was long, blue and it was shimmering. As if the sun was shining on it directly...tell me you saw it Blondie, you were looking in that direction." he said.

"Um...I didn't see it, but I was filming that eel. I didn't stop until I breached the surface. Hang on a second." she said, pulling the side screen from her camera. She pressed the rewind button, down to when they were still under the water. She started looking through the video, frame by frame, until her eyes caught something. She paused the video, showing the camera to the boy.

"Is that what you're talking about?" she asked. It indeed showed the image of a tail, partially behind hidden by the rocks. It looked like it was shimmering, but there was nothing else attached to it.

"Yes, I was right...it looks just like the shimmering me and Cupid saw last week. It has to be a mermaid, who else would have scales like that?"

"A mermaid? That's a little far fetched Blake...I mean, I know they exist but nowhere near here." Raven said.

"If it is a mermaid, then we probably scared her off. There's no chance that she'd stick around after all of the noise we've been making." Blondie added, earning a frown from the boy.

"I was looking forward to meeting one...maybe one day I'll actually see one. I mean, that could just be some rare fish...though I know it isn't."

"Keep your chin up little brother...you'll definitely see a mermaid. If you believe there's one out there, then there is. You just have to be calm on your approach, try not to scare her off." Raven said.

"Anyway, Blake do you mind if we speak for a bit? It's about the music video for Where Did the Party Go. I just wanted to get a general idea for it, so I can direct it well enough."

"Sure hon, what do you need?" he asked curiously.

"Well, let's head back to the ship. I guess I can speak on the way...I know you wrote the outline, your character goes to the hospital chasing the rest of Purple Rhapsody. But how exactly do you want to make it look?"

"Well, the main character is suffering from that mind control from Alone Together. After Duchess plays that song in Just One Yesterday, we head into the hospital. I'll be under a sort of psychosis, I'm seeing a bunch of zombified hospital staff along with some patients, but the hospital is actually empty. I want it to flash back and forth, I also wanted Melody to be following me, adding to the psychosis...she is singing this song after all so she has to be in the video."

"Okay...I think I have a general outlook. I was actually going to pitch an idea, if Raven wants to hear it out."

"Uh...sure, I'm part of this just as much as anyone else...what's your idea Blondie?" Raven asked.

"Well, for Rat-a-tat, I was thinking we have someone else as the Head Bitch in Charge. But you're still singing your part of the song...I wanted someone who fit the role better. Someone like Snow White perhaps?" Blondie asked. Raven and Blake shared a look, with Raven bursting into laughter.

"Yeah, right...as if you're gonna get that stick in the butt in on this."

"It's not a bad idea...imagine the Fairest of them All as the head honcho of an evil cult? What if Snow White separated us, and turned you against music, while I embraced it. That would be your driving force for this entire movie, you'll be the one trying to get that briefcase by any means possible, because you don't want to fail Snow White." Blake said, sounding rather excited.

"Hmm...I like it, though I do feel demoted, I still get to sing most of the song. The parts you were going to sing can go to Snow White instead, plus it would be awesome if we got our sister in on this." she said.

He reached into his pocket, pulling out his MirrorPhone, which was thankfully water proof, and protected by magic. He searched his contacts until he found Snow White's number. He dialed it, pulling himself onto the deck of the yacht, next to the stairs.

"You actually think she's gonna say yes?" Blondie asked curiously, earning a shrug from Raven.

"It's a hit or miss thing...if not I can always sing the song in its entirety."

"Hey Snow, it's Blake...are you busy right now?" Blake asked, having put the call on speaker so that Raven and Blondie could hear.

" _Not at the moment. How is my daughter doing? I hear you guys are on vacation...in fact, I hear water. Are you on a boat?"_

"We are, don't worry, we're all safe. Apple is on deck, she doesn't want to go swimming yet. Something tells me she's making out with Daring though." he said, earning a laugh from Raven.

"Yeah right, she doesn't like him that way anymore. Then again, Daring is charming enough to get a kiss from her. Anyway sis, we have a question for you, so sit down if you aren't already." the daughter of the Evil Queen said, earning a sigh from her older sister.

" _Alright, what is this about?"  
_

"Miss Snow White, this is Blondie Lockes speaking. How would you like to be in a movie? We're filming one as a summer project and were wondering if you were up for it."

" _A movie you say? You've piqued my interest."_

"Well...the movie is basically based around Purple Rhapsody's latest album. It's a series of music videos cut together to tell a story, the movie is gonna be around an hour long, but we've got our whole class in on it. We needed someone for two of our videos, and you fit the bill."

" _What part would I be playing? If I were to say yes of course?"_ Snow White asked. Raven glanced at Blake, giving him a nod. He sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Um...well you'd be playing the role of...the Head Bitch in Charge. Before you hang up, listen to me first." he said, already sensing his sister was about to end the call.

" _Well? I'm waiting."_

"Right...sorry. Anyway, the Head Bitch in Charge is the head of an evil cult, hellbent on destroying music. All you have to do is sing a sing with Raven, break some musical instruments, appear in the eleventh video for a couple scenes and that's it. Please do consider it, it would be an amazing opportunity, plus wouldn't you want to be in a movie? That's something even my mother wouldn't be able to do. You'd have that one over her, forever a part of history. Not just as Snow White, but also in a small indie movie done by your daughter's generation." he said, an almost pleading tone in his voice. He heard a bit of shuffling on the other end of the line, along with the subtle creek of a chair.

" _Blake, Raven...Blondie...you had my interest, now you've got my attention."_

"Yes! This is gonna be so damn cool...Miss Snow White, I'll email you all of the information. We won't start filming until August, school starts September 22nd so we'll be finishing before school starts. However, we do need you to record your parts with Raven ahead of time so the music is ready."

" _Alright, I suppose you'll get in touch with me. Give her my information Blake, this movie sounds interesting. Don't disappoint me."_

With that, Snow White hung up, earning cheers from the three teenagers. Their excitement was evident on their faces. The three of them, along with all of their friends were unaware of the two pairs of eyes watching them from a distance, curiously wondering why the three were so happy, and who they had been speaking with.


	93. The World Under the Sea II

**A/N:**

 **Hello everyone, welcome to Chapter 93 of Through the Looking Glass. This will be part 2 of The World Under the Sea, and will explore a bit more of Meeshell and Coral as they watch our favorite Ever Afterlings enjoy their summer. As I said before, I will not be writing The Young-Blood Chronicles as I have been unable to fit it properly into the story. So I will instead write something else, most likely some filler chapters before the next arc. I have been given an idea by Savvyman52 which I will indeed use, most likely for one or two chapters, revolving around Blake's milkshake stand, which I spoke briefly about but wasn't exactly gonna focus on. I have a few other things planned as well, and maybe even a cross over into another one of my stories, but that last one is actually less likely.**

 **I apologize for the short authors note, I'm watching the Walking Dead right now so I'm trying not to waste a lot of time. So I will see you later with the next update, hope you like this chapter! Let me know what you think...**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 93

The World Under the Sea II

Things started winding down near sundown. People had gotten tired of swimming around in the vast beautiful ocean, and had decided to head onto the beach. The island that they were at wasn't very big, it was mostly rocky around the outer perimeter. However there was a path that lead into the thick forest, which was lined with leafy green trees of various types, tall palm trees reached high into the sky. Seagulls could be seen nesting atop the palms, and flying around the island. The inlet wasn't very big, and was in the shape of a horse shoe, with golden sand. A few tents had been put up on the sand, some being big enough for a few people while others preferred to sleep in their own solitary tent. Near the center of the beach, was a large gathering of wood, that all of the guys had been fetching from the nearby forest to start a bonfire.

It had been Daring's idea of course. He had said that without a bonfire, it wasn't a traditional camping trip. Dexter had been asking him for awhile it was that he had even wanted to camp, with no avail. Blake however figured that he was just trying to get Apple's attention, as he had been staring at her for most of the day. She had mostly hung out with Briar and Blondie, spending a few minutes with Raven and Ashlynn in between. It seemed the oldest Charming was indeed smitten by the Fairest of them All, though it was clear she was loosing interest in the boy. It made Blake wonder if she was still struggling with her destiny, or going to fulfill her role in Snow White.

He had stopped questioning it after awhile. Blake was more focused on helping Duchess with her tent than whatever their captain was planning. She was quite adept at many things, dancing on water was one, ice skating was another. But clearly setting up a tent wasn't one of those talents. Despite her obvious dislike for camping, she had bought herself quite a big tent, and would be sharing with his girlfriend Kitty who hadn't brought one for herself. Thankfully, Blake had camped out so many times with Gloriosa as a kid that he knew how to easily set up a tent, no matter how big it was. His childhood friend was currently helping Maddie out with her tent, or trying to since the Mad Hatter's daughter couldn't find her tent poles, despite pulling out an entire suitcase from her top hat. Wonderland magic was odd sometimes.

Since they were outside handling the set up and sleeping arrangements for the night, that left the girls responsible for dinner. Ashlynn had teamed up with Briar and Apple to make their food. They had been quite impressed when Daring showed them to the full sized kitchen on his Mega Yacht. It wasn't only stocked with all of the cooking utensils they would need, but had two full sized refrigerators filled to the brim with different types of food. There were even some expensive looking cuts of meat in the freezer. It was as if Daring had stocked for a longer journey than they had expected. Of course once the first group returned, he would be bringing those who stayed behind out to the island. He wiped some sweat from his forehead, finally finished with the set up of the tent.

"Well Duchy, you're tent is all set. It was a pain in my ass, but I finally got it up." he said, stepping back from the rather large tent. It was a black and white tent with three large compartments which acted as separate rooms for people to sleep in.

"Thanks Blake, you're welcome to stay in it for the night. I never truly planned on using it, but you know how life is. The sand doesn't actually feel too bad."

"Well, I might take you up on that offer. I didn't bring a tent of my own, and staying alone inside the boat doesn't sound appealing. Just stay to your room and not in mine?" he asked, earning a nod from the girl, who gave him a smile.

"You needn't worry about a thing Blake. You're my friend, and I think I already know you don't want to move forward with that. That doesn't mean I can't taking in the scenery." she said, her eyes tracing his lean muscular frame. He shivered a bit, glancing away from the girl.

"Yeah...I figured."

"Hey guys, I brought the sleeping bags!" Kitty announced, startling the two teens with her appearance. Duchess let out a sigh, grabbing the black rolled up bag from her arms, leaving only a violet one and a blue one in her grasp.

"You gotta stop doing that, one day someone might hit you." Blake warned, earning a giggle from his girlfriend.

"They can try, but kitties are very agile. So they'll have to be prepared to get their eyes clawed out."

"Did you bring my antibacterial polyester feather pillow with you? You know I can't sleep without it."

"What? No, I didn't bring that. That was all on you Duchess." Kitty said, claiming her part of the tent, the room on the very left. That left Blake with the one on the very right. Duchess placed her hands on her hips, a pout on her lips.

"You were supposed to bring it Kitty, now I have to go and get it. Ugh...sometimes you can be so inconvenient!" she snapped, turning back toward the yacht. Thankfully, it had come with its own gangplank that extended outward toward the beach. It made Blake question how more technology advanced Ever After was compared to Earth.

"What's up with her?" Gloriosa asked, having approached her childhood friend, earning a shrug from him.

"She wanted some specific pillow to sleep on. I dunno, so what's up? Having fun?"

"Sure am, it's been awhile since we've all had a camp out. Maddie made it a little challenging, but we managed to get her tent up after awhile. I'll be rooming with her for the night. Shame that Lizzie didn't want to join us."

"Well, she's a bit busy designing things with Farrah. I really appreciate all of their hard work, but when we get back, I am definitely pulling them away from it. They need to enjoy the summer too." he said, glancing back to the sleek yacht, still impressed with it's sheer size.

"Still, it's insane how you moved on from singing to making movies. How many things are you good at?" she asked, earning a chuckle from the boy.

"I'm a Jack of all Trades, Master of None I'm afraid. The only things I'm certainly good at is writing a story, writing a song, ice skating, hockey and skateboarding. And I guess anything that has to do with magic." he said, giving her a wink.

"I suppose. Listen, I wanted to talk to you, it's really serious, think we can get away from everyone for a bit?" she asked, earning a nod from the boy, who looked toward his girlfriend who was in the process of building a small sand castle.

"Kitty, honey I'm gonna look for seashells with Gloriosa. We'll be back in a few minutes alright?"

"Okay, bring me some white ones would you? My castle needs a few flags." she said cheerfully, not taking her eyes away from her building.

The two friends started walking toward the edge of the beach, keeping their eyes open for a few seashells. He managed to find a few, which he put in his pocket. Gloriosa remained quiet, possibly gathering her thoughts. It had been awhile since she had been along with her best friend, after everything that had happened, they hadn't had much of a reunion. They hung out sure, but now that school was out for the summer, and they didn't need to save someone from a demented man, she had the time to speak her mind. Having gone far enough, the brown haired princess stopped walking, having gotten near the waterline. She took a deep breath, turning to face her friend.

"There's a lot I've been meaning to talk about. I haven't had the time, with us being in school, me managing Wonderland High and the whole Felipe incident. We haven't had the reunion I always thought we were meant to have."

"It's alright Gloria, I'm not sad or disappointed. Real life is just complicated sometimes, we thought we would ride to the end of the year with smooth waves. We didn't think that fucker Felipe was going to attack Ever After High in such a fucked up manner. I'm glad he's dead." he replied, spotting a light pink shell in the sand. He picked it up, looking it over for imperfections.

"I know, but there's a lot we haven't talked about. Especially about that night, before I left Earth."

"Oh...that...right." he replied, glancing away from the girl, more interested in the sea.

"Listen, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that to you, I'm the worst person in the world. You told me how you felt, poured your emotions out to me. I didn't give you a yes, I just disappeared without a trace. I made you suffer, I made you depressed and suicidal. I don't deserve to be your friend after all of the suffering you went through, because of me. It's been eating me alive since we met back up."

"Gloriosa, it's alright. I put all of that behind us okay, I'm not mad at you. There was a time where I was in love with you, because I wanted you to have someone good in your life. I was oblivious for an entire year. But after Joey told me you two were dating, everything made sense. Remember that day, when we were talking about our wishes?"

"Oh...yeah, I remember that day. How Joey stabbed me in the back, and how you wouldn't stop trying to make me laugh. Despite all of my crying, I never did. You had to take me back to your house to put on Alice in Wonderland, because you knew how happy it made me." she replied. Blake placed a hand on her shoulder, giving her a smile.

"That was the day I realized that I loved you. I wanted to make a move right there, during the time we watched that movie. When you rested your head on my shoulder. I was fifteen, well...sixteen now that I think about it. My heart was beating a mile a minute, that peach scented perfume you always wore was driving me mad. I just wanted to kiss you right there, but I didn't."

"Why didn't you? I wouldn't have minded...I think it would have made me forget that douche bag." she admitted, glancing up at the boy.

"I didn't kiss you...I guess because I was scared. I didn't want to ruin our friendship, and I thought...if Joey finds out, he's probably gonna get pissed. I thought he had a crush on you too, I didn't think you two were actually...well you know." he said, brushing his bangs from his eyes.

"Being in that relationship was the worst mistake I ever made. Something that I regret, he mistreated me. Swore at me, called me a stupid bitch. With you, it was always different...so gentle and warm. And loving...I don't know why I picked him over you. Maybe because I didn't want to give you anymore things to worry about."

"Right...I was still dealing with the fact that I was adopted. Even though I had found out when I was eleven...you were always there for me. I always thought back to those times you know, when we were both twelve." he admitted, earning a flushed look from the girl.

"Um...there was something else...before we met Joey. Remember that time when we went to Niagara falls? When we were on the deck looking down at the New York side of the falls."

"I remember that...god that was awesome. Millions of gallons of water, all of them pouring over the edge. It's one of my fond memories."

"Yes, mine too. But what I mean is...do you remember when I told your mom that we were heading to the bathroom? Don't you remember anything else from that point on?" she asked.

Blake narrowed his eyes in thought, trying to recall that memory. It had been a long time since that happened, so he didn't remember most of the day. The finer details at least, he did remember her taking his hand and leading him away, but he didn't really remember anything else from that point on. The other things from that day just made him forget everything else.

"Sorry, I don't really remember anything else. We didn't jump off the falls in a barrel did we?"

"Pfft...no. That wasn't it...we went to the bathroom, but the girls bathroom was full. So I brought you into the boys bathroom to..well pee. Don't you remember, we uh...went in the same stall because we were too scared to be alone in our own stall. We...you know...kissed."

"We kissed? In a men's bathroom in Niagara falls? That doesn't sound really appealing."

"Oh it wasn't, it smelled like piss in there. I was just shy, and it was a peck, you didn't really say anything. We just went on like nothing happened, holding hands the entire time. A week later, Joey moved to town and we became a bit...distant, but not at the same time."

"Hmm...I really don't remember that. Oh that's so embarrassing though, kissing in a men's bathroom?" he asked, earning a giggle from Gloriosa, who swept some hair behind her ear.

"Not my proudest moment, but now you know I did like you at some point. I still did, but I knew that if I left Joey for you, he'd do something about it. I regret ever being with him, he manipulated me into sleeping with him, saying that it would make our relationship stronger. He wasn't even that good."

"Too much information Gloria, that's just something I really don't need to know. Then again, you two were virgins, so obviously he wouldn't be good." he replied.

"I guess you are right, let's just say...I can screw myself better with a dildo than he could ever screw me. That's saying a lot, but that's not why we're here. I just wanted to say I'm sorry for everything...for leaving, and for not giving you an answer. I'm a bitch, and I don't deserve your friendship."

"Now now, don't give me that. You're my childhood friend, my best friend forever after. I liked you before you were Gloriosa White, and I'll always see you as a friend. I love you, I'll always love you." he said, earning a sigh from the girl, who shook her head.

"Yeah...I figured you'd say something along those lines. You're a much different person here, vibrant and alive. Despite you being the Evil Queen's son, you have a good heart. I love you too you know...I'll always love you, but just because I do doesn't mean you can snag me into your harem." she said with a wink, earning a laugh from the boy.

"Harem...right, that isn't gonna happen. There are only three other girls who like me that way, aside from Kitty. Briar admitted her feelings to me during the Queen of Hearts's party, Melody confessed to me way before that, and Apple told me how she felt before the Spring Fairest. Of course there's Duchess, but I think she's moved on." he said.

"Still, I didn't think you'd be so popular here...even though you were the one who hung out with the goth kids. I think that brooding attitude was part of you being the son of the Evil Queen. Always alone, apathetic and uncaring, but Ever After changed you, for the better." Gloriosa said, causing him to glance back at her, arms crossed over his chest.

"Apathetic and uncaring? I don't think that describes me now sweetheart. I'm happy being here too, it's where I belong." Blake said with a grin, causing her to roll her eyes.

"Mhmm...I agree with that. You truly blossomed, and you kept my promise...you took school seriously. You made friends, got yourself a loving girlfriend, and you're a hero. And you are still just a Junior, it makes me want to know what kind of crazy shit you'll pull this next school year."

"You'll have to wait and see I'm afraid. We gotta give the Freshmen something cool, that shows just how dedicated we are to our school. That's one of the reasons why I wanted to get the entire class involved in this movie. It isn't just because I like music, it's because this is something I want to share with the world. Fall Out Boy helped me out when I was depressed, and kept me from doing stupid shit. So I want to pay homage to their music." He said, glancing at the sky.

"I figured, shame I didn't bring my stuff from Earth with me. Fall Out Boy was my favorite band too. You're an awesome singer, so I know you'll handle it. It's also sweet that you want your bandmates to be more involved, not a lot of bands do that, they all have their roles. You want their voices to be heard, just as much as yours is."

"Hey, we're Purple Rhapsody. We all became a band because of our own special talents, but because we wanted to do something cool. It was Cupid that started this, with her song Set It All Free. It was then that I became a lyricist and song writer, working with Melody to come up with our songs. Although, I do take most of the credit for Shatter Me, I wrote that from the ground up." he said, glancing at the tattoo on the back of his hand.

"I figured, it's still one of my favorite songs. But I think I like your version more than the original, and Lizzie is an amazing singer. I didn't think she had that in her."

"Well, I built the performance around her. She designed the outfits, me and Jessica, along with Dexter designed the stage. I built the box that would run the lights...it was just...awesome. Really wish you could have seen that live."

"Same here...but at least I have the video you guys shot. I know now that this version of The Young-Blood Chronicles is gonna be amazing. I can feel it in my bones." she said, winking as she quoted another one of her favorite songs. He chuckled a bit, glancing back towards Duchess's tent, where Kitty had built a massive sand castle. He saw Maddie and Bunny with her, both helping to make it bigger than before.

"That thing is massive, I think I'm gonna bring these shells back to her. She's gonna come over here eventually." he said, grabbing a few more shells he spotted.

"Yeah...you should go back. She loves you a lot, I can tell...she was never one to worry about boys growing up. But knowing that she picked you out of all the guys in school. It speaks volumes about how she sees you."

"Right, I've had a crush on her for awhile too. Way before anything that happened I guess. We played a lot when we were kids, both of us are remembering that now that I discovered my lineage. I guess if I got the chance to name her, I got the chance to love her too." he said, a smile on his face.

"Before you go, I have something to give you. Something that I should have given you years ago. Don't worry, I spoke with Kitty earlier so you aren't gonna get in trouble."

"Eh? What do you mean by that?" he asked, causing the boy to face his friend. She gave him a smile, leaning forward, pressing her lips against his in a kiss. His eyes widened a bit in surprise, having not expected her to do that. She pulled away before he could do anything, giving him a smile.

"That's the only one you'll get from me. Now go on, help your girl finish her castle, she's been waiting for those flags forever."

"I...okay, see ya later I guess?" he said, earning a nod from the brunette. He walked off, heading back toward Duchess's tent, seeing the White Swan had returned with her pillow, along with various other amenities.

 _ **xxx**_

Meeshell and Coral had been watching the people that had arrived on the abandoned island, for nearly the entire afternoon. After her run in with the Sea Witch, the young mermaid and heiress to the Atlantican throne had wanted nothing more than to indulge her curiosity. Now however, she had decided to take care of her cousin, who had been tossed out into the ocean by her mother until she fulfilled her request. Coral had remained mostly quiet during the entire watch, hiding behind some rocks that were jutting out of the sea, several hundred meters away from the yacht.

They had gotten a little braver, now that they had settled on the beach, they had decided to hide behind the boat itself. Coral had never seen a human before so she had been totally entranced by them. She had been watching them intently, memorizing their mannerisms, the way they moved and spoke. She had been curious about the glowing flames in the middle of the beach, along with the scent of cooking food that was starting to drive her insane. She had wanted to get closer, but Meeshell had taken a hold of her hand, silently telling her not to get close. She had been watching a couple of people near the shore for awhile, wondering what they were saying, only to see the girl kiss the boy. She had flushed a bit when she saw that, wondering if that was what true love was like. Of course she had also seen that same boy with the violet haired girl that could disappear. She figured it was more of a friendly kiss than a romantic one.

"Meeshell, can we please go back? I'm starving, and that food is only making me more hungry." Coral begged, earning a sigh from the pink haired girl.

"Just a few more minutes, I wanna see what they're doing."

"You've been saying that for the last two hours. They're just messing around on the beach, it's getting late. I'm sure Queen Ariel will get mad if you aren't back."

"She's fine with me being out here. We aren't that far from Atlantica anyway, just an hour swim away. We'll be fine, there's seaweed we can much on." she replied, as if on cue, a large bundle of green seaweed floated past them. Coral begrudgingly grabbed it, biting onto one of the sickly green leaves.

She glanced back at the beach, as she silently munched on her snack. She did a head count, knowing that there were twenty-one people who had been aboard the vessel. Noticing that all twenty-one of them had been on the beach, and seemingly had no plans of returning, she figured she could get something better to eat. She glanced toward the bow of the ship, seeing the silver chain connecting to the anchor coming from the side of it. She bit her lip, glancing at Meeshell who was hidden behind the forepeak of the vessel, her eyes focused on the people on the beach. Nodding to herself, she grabbed a hold of the chain, giving it a few tugs, before wrapping her arms around it, pulling herself slowly out of the water.

She struggled to keep herself on the chain, due to the weight of her tail, which she tried wrapping around the chain. She let out a soft yelp when she slipped, almost hitting the water, her tail fins inches away from the water's surface. She took a deep breath, tightening her hold on the chain as she kept climbing up toward the railing.

"Alright Coral, I think that's enough for now. We can go home if you...Coral?" Meeshell said, her eyes widened a bit when she noticed her cousin was missing. She saw a few water droplets on the water's surface and looked up, seeing the young mermaid halfway up the anchor chain.

"What are you doing? Are you insane?" she hissed.

"I'm hungry and seaweed isn't helping. Come on, aren't you curious to see what's in here?" she asked, giving the girl a grin. She reached the railing, glancing around before pulling herself onto the deck. She she did, she felt her tail start drying up, morphing into a pair of legs.

"Coral, get down from there! You're my responsibility and I don't want you to get hurt!"

"Meeshell, there's something wrong with my tail, it turned into legs!" she cried back. Coral forced herself to stand up, legs wobbling as she hung onto the railing. Meeshell sighed, shaking her head.

"All mermaids are enchanted that way. When we get out of the water, our tails turn into legs. But for me, I'll get my permanent legs when you take my voice. Now get down from there."

"Aw, but this is so fun...what's this thing between my legs though, I've never seen it before, it's kinda hairy."

Meeshell held back her blush, deciding to go up onto the boat to bring her cousin back. She was easily able to climb onto the deck, sitting down on it as she kept herself lowered. They were higher up than before, so the people on the beach wouldn't easily see them. She felt her own tail start turning into legs, the first time it had happened to her in years. She wiggled her toes, smiling a bit at the strange feeling.

"Wow, yours is hairy too! That's so weird!"

"Coral, there's a lot I have to teach you about human anatomy, and now it isn't the time. Let's just go back home and I'll explain everything later." she said, standing up on her legs. She had a bit more balance than her cousin, though she felt foreign with them.

"Aw...can we at least take a look around? And find the kitchen?" she asked, earning a sigh from the older girl.

"Fine, but we're getting a snack, that's it...come on." Meeshell said, taking a hold of her cousin's hand, pulling her along. Coral almost fell a couple times, resting most of her weight on Meeshell's shoulder.

Once they had gotten used to their legs, they walked toward a nearby door, slowly pulling it open, walking inside. Their eyes widened a bit when they saw the massive living room. It was absolutely beautiful, with wooden floors and round white carpets. There were some white leather couches and love seats, some bright green plants, and some flat mirror like device that they hadn't seen before. The lights had been dimmed down, enough for them to see, but not bright enough to blind them. Coral saw another door and started walking toward it, grabbing onto the handle, pulling it open.

"The kitchen might be this way." she said, stepping into the hallway.

"Coral, we can't just explore this ship. We might get caught, and this looks like the staterooms instead of the kitchen. Come on, let's find the kitchen and go." Meeshell said, only to be ignored by the young girl, who walked into one of the open rooms.

"Wow, look at this...there's a lot of cloth here." she said, grabbing a hold of a skirt that had been laid out on the bed. It was a dark violet black color, like the one she had seen the goth girl wearing.

"That's a skirt, girls wear those to look pretty. There are also jeans which are a little tight fitting, but I prefer skirts over jeans." Meeshell said, earning a nod from the blue haired girl. She started looking through the dresser, finding something else in the middle drawer, holding it up for her cousin to see.

"What's this for?" she asked. Meeshell sighed, face palming silently.

"Underwear, you put it on to hide your modesty. You know, the thing between your legs?" she replied. Coral nodded, glancing at the garment, deciding to put it on. She let go of the elastic, hearing a dull snap as it hit her skin. She glanced at herself in the mirror, humming to herself.

"Not bad, I think I'll try this skirt on too."

"Coral! We didn't come here to try on clothes, come on!"

"Just this one, I doubt whoever owns it will care. I'll put it back, I promise!" she said, earning a sigh from the pinkette.

"Fine, I'll go find the kitchen. You just...put that back when you are done." she said, leaving the room. She started looking around, heading back the way she had come, stopping in front of another open door. She hated to admit it, but even she was curious as to what lay inside.

It was another bedroom, and inside it was a suitcase which was gold in color. It lay open, with various garments spread about. She moved toward it, grabbing the first item from the top, a folded pair of lacy red panties. She glanced around for a few seconds, before deciding to try the garment on. They were a little tight on her, but it wasn't anything that bothered her. She grabbed a hold of the light blue skirt that had been sitting near the bottom of the suitcase. Since she already had a shirt on, she didn't need to search for a matching top. She slipped into it, glancing at her reflection in the mirror.

"Not bad." she muttered, glancing at the garment.

The skirt was almost floor length, and had a scaled design to it. It almost resembled a mermaid's tail, with two ruffles resembling flecks. The flowing skirt opened up near the bottom, allowing her legs the freedom to move without it being tight. She swept her hair behind her back, standing firm with her hands on her lap, a small smile on her face.

"Wow, you look amazing with that on!" Coral cried, grabbing her attention. Meeshell turned her head, eyes widening a bit when she saw what her cousin was wearing.

She had kept the violet black skirt on, and had put on a pair of rose themed panty house. She had grabbed a pair of pink heels with small golden broaches and feathers on them. She had grabbed a short sleeved pink shirt, with golden embroidery on it, along with a golden necklace that had a blue bird on the center. Along with that, she had a couple golden bracelets on her wrists. Meeshell felt her jaw drop, her eyes looking the girl over.

"I...whoa, you look amazing. But where did you get everything else?"

"I sampled from the other rooms of course. The heels in that other room didn't fit me, and trust me it was hard to actually stand in them. Thankfully, I got my balance! Come on, let's go find the kitchen!" she said, heading toward the door.

"Coral wait, you have to put that back!"

"I will, jeez you have to live a little cousin. Let's just focus on finding something to eat, we can put everything back and then go home. I promise!"

Meeshell sighed, wondering when her normally shy cousin decided to actually grow a backbone. She supposed since there was no one around and she was with family, she could truly express herself. She couldn't deny that she didn't look gorgeous in the ensemble that she had picked for herself. She figured she could indulge her cousin for now, allowing her to wear the outfit she had picked, just as long as they got out before anyone came aboard.

 _ **xxx**_

"Okay, so after we got away from security, Blake thought it was a good idea to go to another place. There was this huge slide that was really popular, one of the biggest ones in the country. It was around four am, so we were like, fuck it, we're in England, we might as well do something memorable. So we jumped the fence, and started climbing to the top, running right over the security guards that were looking for the ones who tripped the alarm."

"That was a great night. Gloriosa was the only one who could fit through the trap door, and actually got into the slide. She ran all the way to the slide, only to find the fucker pad locked. When she heard the radios she started running back, that's when we got caught, though we had masquerade masks on so they couldn't even tell who we were. We almost got caught too, we had to lay down in some bushes. If they looked down, they would have definitely seen us." Blake said, finishing the story his friend was telling, taking a swig from his beer bottle, finishing it off.

"You guys are insane, you know that?" Raven asked, poking the fire in front of them with a stick. Gloriosa giggled, leaning back on her arm, drinking from her own beer.

"Well, when you vacation in another country, you sort of wanna do something memorable you know? Climbing a slide was the only thing that popped in our minds. That was back when Joey was remotely cool."

"As I recall, he was the one that pussied out of the crane we climbed. It was too high for him, and he got sick and scared. He was fucking crying when we made it to the top floor and looked down. Gloriosa was the one that made it all the way to the top, while I stayed with the crane operator. I dare say that was one of the best days of my life. Running from the cops however, that was another story entirely." Blake said, chuckling a bit, earning a few laughs from the others.

"What kind of other reckless stuff did you guys get into?" Kitty asked curiously, wrapping her arm around his waist.

"Not really, we did a lot of parkour back home, but never any crazy climbs. People were just impressed that a girl was actually willing to do that kind of shit. Gloriosa was setting female standards all across the globe. After all, she was the only one with the balls to climb that crane in the first place." he admitted, earning a flush from the girl.

"You flatter me, it was your idea just as much as mine. If I have balls of steel then you have adamantium balls for actually making it up there with me. And Joey has marble sized balls for staying on the twentieth floor like the puss he is." she replied, earning a laugh from everyone.

"We gotta do some crazy shit like that, at least once." Hunter said, earning a frown from Ashlynn.

"Absolutely not! I am not going to let you climb to the top of a tower, even if you have proper training!"

"He's not gonna grow into a big boy if you keep holding his hand Ashlynn. Though I agree, nothing reckless like climbing a crane, do something tame. I've been wanting to try parkour for awhile, maybe we can all get together and do something." Briar said, earning a nod from the others.

"Well, what can you do that isn't reckless but still really fun?" Daring asked curiously.

"Um...how about you stay at a store the entire night after they close? That's always fun. We never did anything like that...does Ever After have an Ikea?" Gloriosa asked curiously.

"The hell is Ikea?" Duchess asked, confused at the name.

"This really sweet furniture place...I remember this guy stayed in one for twenty-four hours. It was the funniest shit ever, especially with the loud food and the damn firework he lit inside the damn store. He's a freaking legend." Blake said, cracking open another bottle, his fifth one for the night. His friends were already around the same number of drinks, so no one really told him to watch his drinking.

"I dunno, that would be a bit dangerous don't you think?" Alistair asked, a worried look on his face.

"I agree, and you could get into a lot of trouble if you get caught. I don't think I'd want to do that." Bunny added, earning giggles from the girls.

"You two are adorable, always agreeing with each other, but I gotta agree too. That's a risk I'm not willing to take." Rosabella said.

"Me too, I'd rather not go to jail so early in life."

"So...that means you are willing to go to jail then Cupid? I don't think prison stripes suit you. Pink is your color after all, you are the angel of love." Kitty teased, earning a flush from the girl who looked away from her friend.

"I'm not the angel of love yet. I gotta work at it, once I understand the true meaning of love, I'll get my wings. Or so I've been told."

"Well, it's getting late...how about we all turn in for the night? How long are we staying out here Daring?" Raven asked, standing up from the sand, brushing herself off.

"As long as you like, we can go back tomorrow if you want. Of course we all packed for a week, so we might as well stay here."

"I agree with him, it isn't every day that we can go camping. And the water is just great, I'm gonna get more pictures of the reef tomorrow for the album." Blondie added.

"Me too, we can add them to the yearbook, part of the summer section. Now that the tree has been planted, we can update it as we please until we graduate!" Darling said, earning excited looks from the others.

"This will be so much fun! I've never seen the sky glittering so brightly before, and this dizzy tipsy feeling is really cool. My tea totally tastes better with Gin!" Maddie cried out, downing an entire kettle filled with tea and alcohol. She let out a loud burp, passing out a second later, quiet snores coming from her.

"Who the hell was managing her alcohol intake? I thought we agreed not to let her drink too much. Maddie by herself is bad, imagine her when she's drunk?" Apple cried, sounding a bit mad.

"Uh Apple, it was your duty to manage her alcohol intake." Blake pointed out, earning a growl from the blonde. She forced herself to her feet, stumbling a bit as she grabbed a bottle of booze that hadn't been opened.

"Godmother you are all useless! Blaming this shit on me like it was my fucking duty. I have no friends, the only friend I have is 40 ounces of 151 proof straight vodka!" she cried, cracking the bottle open, pressing it against her lips. They all watched in awe as she tipped the bottle back, downing its contents as if it was water.

"Holy shit, Apple you're amazing!" Blake cried, a look of awe on his face, his cheeks were flushed red, due to the alcohol he had consumed. The blonde tossed the empty bottle at a nearby rock, breaking it into pieces, wiping her mouth with her arm.

"Ah...all is right with the world." she said, only to pass out a second later, landing in Raven's arms. She looked her over, sighing with relief.

"I'm gonna get her into bed, and flush her stomach. How the hell she drank that without dying is beyond me...good night everyone." Raven said, dragging her friend toward her tent. Everyone just split off after that, with Dexter putting the fire out. Blake and Kitty stumbled toward Duchess's tent, only for the boy to stop, rubbing his eyes slightly.

"Babe, did you bring my stuff from the boat?" he asked curiously.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"You know, my pillows and the extra clothes?" he said. She blinked a few times, giving him a grin.

"I uh, forgot. Hehe."

"Jesus, fine I'll go get them...and I was actually considering having sex with you tonight. Guess we'll have to wait until later."

"What? No wait, I'll just flash to the ship and get it. You wait here, I'll be back." Kitty said, only for the boy to hold his arm up.

"I'm fine, I'm gonna grab a shower while I'm at it. Maybe throw up all this alcohol cause I feel a bit sick. You just get to sleep, okay honey?" he asked, earning a sigh from her. She wrapped her arms around his neck, giving him a kiss on the lips, pressing herself against him.

"We're you...seriously considering it?" she asked, looking into his eyes.

"I have been considering it babe, but obviously not with Duchess in the tent. I was just joking around, don't worry it will happen soon. When the time is right, and it will be magical and awesome, and hot. Just like you've most likely been imagining." he replied. She grinned, kissing him again, licking his lower lip. He eagerly kissed her back, pulling her closer to himself, moaning into her mouth. She pulled away from him, giving him a wink.

"I'll stop here, so we don't start making babies on the sand. Go on, get your things, I'll most likely be asleep when you get back." she said, giving him a hug. She turned back toward the tent, wiggling her hips as she walk. Blake rolled his eyes, turning back toward the ship, stumbling a bit as he walked.

Once he was back on the ship, he headed toward the room he had claimed. He heard something akin to a spoon dropping to the ground, causing him to stop before the hallway to the staterooms. He blinked a few times, his vision slightly blurred from the effects of the beer. He saw the kitchen door was open, and the lights were on. He was going to check what had fallen, but quickly lost interest, deciding to go to his room. Once he did, he closed and locked his door, walking over to the bed where his suitcase was. He started searching for some clothes to take his shower, a yawn escaping his lips.

"I'm so damn tired, stupid alcohol...drinking sucks. I'm just...gonna lay down." he muttered, brushing his suitcase aside, laying onto the bed. His eyes fluttered closed, as he fell asleep.

"Did you hear that?" Meeshell asked, causing Coral to look up from her food. They hadn't found anything that didn't need cooking, so they had just grabbed some canned food to eat, along with a tub of ice cream they had been sharing.

"Hear what? All I heard was you dropping that spoon."

"No...I feel like I heard someone come into the boat. But that's odd, I saw them drinking from bottles and I think they all went to sleep. The fire is out." she said, glancing out the nearby window. Coral shrugged, finishing the last of her food, grabbing the ice cream she had found.

"This stuff is amazing! What do you think it's made out of? It's all cold and minty and it has these little brown chips in it."

"It's ice cream, I remember eating this when I was really little...maybe we should go." Meeshell said, turning toward the kitchen door, hearing the sound of something being pushed off onto the ground, the thump made her stop, her heart skipping a beat.

"I heard that...someone is in here." Coral said, shivering slightly in fear. Meeshell grabbed the ice cream and put it back in the freeze, placing all of the dirty utensils into the sink.

"Come on, we're getting out of here." she said, taking a hold of Coral's hand. She didn't say anything, following the girl back toward the staterooms, only to hear someone inside. She quickly turned around, ducking into the nearby stairwell.

"But the clothes, what about the clothes?" Coral hissed, a frightened look on her face. Meeshell opened the first door she saw, walking into the bridge. All of the high tech looking gadgets caught her attention, but she wasn't going to let herself be distracted.

"Uh...we can't go back down there...let's just leave the clothes here. They'll probably think someone was changing here for some reason and forgot to pick them up." she said, pulling the zipper on her skirt, quickly taking it off.

"Man...I really liked this stuff too." the blue haired girl muttered, taking off her shirt, brushing her hair out of her face. She took off the necklace and armlets, along with the skirt and underwear she had taken. She took off the shoes and the panty hose, placing them all in a small pile behind one of the chairs, along with Meeshell's skirt. The two girls started moving toward a nearby door, only to find it locked.

"Great...now this one won't open. Look around, there might be a key somewhere." the older mermaid said, earning a nod from her companion. She started looking around the panels, searching for a key or a button that would open the door.

She saw a bunch of buttons that were all lit up, and started looking at each color. She glanced toward Meeshell who was looking through some of the drawers near the back. She held her hand up, pressing the red button on the panel. The boat rocked a bit, a loud whirling sound filling their ears. Meeshell spun on her heel, glaring at her cousin.

"What are you doing?"

"Opening the door?"

"No! Don't just press random buttons, you don't know what they do!" the pinkette cried, pressing the button Coral had pressed moments before, causing the whirling to stop. Coral noticed something on the nearby wall and walked over to it, grinning at her cousin.

"Look, this one opens the doors." she said, gesturing to the button panel on the wall.

"Okay, just search for the right one."

"That's just a waste of time. I'm gonna press them all."

"No wait don't!"

It was however too late, as Coral just brushed her hand over the buttons, pressing them all at the same time. They heard the sound of several locks clicking, including the one to the room they were in. Meeshell grabbed a hold of her hand and started speed walking toward the door, rapidly pulling it open. She moved over to the railing, climbing on top of it, diving down into the water, followed by her cousin. Their legs glowed a brilliant blue, as they morphed back into their tails, a rather odd feeling for the two.

"That was a close shave...whoo! You gotta admit, that was pretty fun!" Coral said, earning a giggle from her cousin.

"You're right Coral, trying out those clothes, that food. The feeling of being caught, it was all so exhilarating, but let's not tell my mom about it. Let's just say we were star gazing and lost track of time, don't tell anyone anything about the boat, this island or the people, okay?"

"Alright, come on I'll race you back!" the daughter of the Sea Witch cried, shooting forward with a single stroke, a smile on her face.

"Hey! No fair you can't get a head start over me!" Meeshell cried, trying to catch up to the blue haired mermaid. If the two had paused for a moment, they would have noticed the raised anchor which no longer held the boat in place. And they would have noticed it slowly start to drift out on the ocean waves.


	94. The World Under the Sea III

**A/N:**

 **Hello everyone, welcome one and all to Chapter 94 of Through the Looking Glass! This chapter shall be part three of The World Under the Sea, the arc that four chapters in still hasn't taken Blake under the sea, but above it. I promise, part four will finally take us under the water...maybe. I wanted to develop the plot a bit before actually having them go to Atlantica, so that's why it's taking a bit for Blake to actually head there, do not fret, it shall be happening soon. I am currently working on Chapter 98 and the plot of this arc is finally kicking in. Let's just say, there are things that are still affecting certain characters, just because their story is over doesn't mean they aren't gonna stop trying to get what they want, after all the Evil Queen has done it before.**

 **After this arc, I will be adding a few filler chapters before carrying onto the next arc, which will be centered around the Neverland Fairies. Yeah, it seems redundant to go back to Neverland an arc after The Ballad of Bluebeard, but this arc will be more Pixie Hollow centered than Neverland as a whole. As I said before, I wasn't able to actually work The Young Blood Chronicles into the story, despite all of the planning I did for it, so the latter half of this arc will be pulling away from it. I hate writing something out of my story, I always try to make it work, but this is an instance where I couldn't. So that birthed the El Dorado arc, an homage to one of my favorite movies growing up. I was thinking of doing Treasure Planet instead, but I couldn't fit that into the story either. So I went with El Dorado instead, and since Neverland is a place filled with Pirates treasure, it made me wonder where Captain Hook acquired his Plunder, hehe...the arc itself will pull away from Blake and every one else for the first time in the story, and will be instead focused around a young Music-Talent Fairy named Tenor, who you will all learn more about later. Hopefully, I've worked this arc a bit the past few days and the plot makes more sense than The Young Blood Chronicles did, at least I hope.**

 **Something else that I have been considering is adding a realm based on the Descendants series, which also deals with the children of fairytale heroes and villains. I figured Blake and Raven would most likely be weirded out seeing a world similar to Ever After but so different at the same time. This is still in consideration since I haven't seen this movie yet, yeah...I came two and a half years late to the party it seems, I just found out there's plans for a third movie and here I am searching my local listings for the first one...Jesus I need to watch more television, or rather less Investigation Discovery, as that's all I fucking watch that's actually interesting. Seriously, I pay over 200 bucks for a shitload of channels and there's nothing good to watch, or at least nothing I haven't seen yet. I can't tell you how many fucking times I have seen Dante's Peak this fucking month...ugh...I miss my Netflix account.**

 **Anyway, I shall leave this chapter out there for all of you. For all of my readers of the North East...enjoy the snow, I know I am...not. For everyone else, including my bro who lives in North Carolina, screw you, you all get rain and I get snow, you suck!**

 **The Song Lyrics used in this chapter belong to a Fall Out Boy song titled Champion. I dunno why I put it in this chapter, but I was listening to it and it just fit, I recommend you listen to both versions of it, they're really good, but I like the Remix just a tad more. Have a good night everyone!**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 94

The World Under the Sea III

Blake groaned as his eyes opened, the dull throb in his head becoming sharper as he sat up. He rubbed his eyes, vision blurred slightly as he looked around the room. Sunlight was streaming through the window, hitting him right in the face. He looked around the room, realizing he had passed out in his stateroom back on Daring's yacht. He shook his head a bit as he looked around, seeing his suitcase on the ground, a bit confused as to why it was on the floor. He shrugged, grabbing some clean clothes from the pile, standing back up, clutching his head in pain. He grit his teeth, growling a bit as he channeled a healing spell into his head, soothing the pain slightly.

"I'm never drinking that much again...I'm sure Apple feels worse than I do." he muttered, briefly remembering the bottle of vodka the blonde girl had drank before passing out.

He started walking over to his personal bathroom, stepping through the door, not bothering to close it. He was sure Kitty was going to wake up soon and realize he wasn't in the tent, and would flash into the room. He figured he could use the peace and quiet for the moment. Once he finished his shower, he got dressed in the clothes he had chosen, a bright blue button down shirt with white hibiscus flowers printed on it. He put on a pair of swim trunks over his boxer shorts, a pair of white socks and his Converse sneakers, making sure the laces were tight so he wouldn't get sand in them. He brushed his hair back, making sure to keep his hangs out of his eyes. The final thing he grabbed was his phone and his bracelet, which he put on around his wrist. He glanced around briefly, searching for his pocket watch, only to realize he had left it back at the mansion. He shrugged, leaving the stateroom a second later.

"I might as well cook myself breakfast. This thing is fully stocked, that means I can go out." he said, smiling slightly.

He walked into the living room, noticing the door to the kitchen was slightly ajar. He was sure Ashlynn and Apple had closed it after they had finished bringing the dishes back. He remembered volunteering to wash them all with Blondie and Cupid, though it was mostly for them all to discuss more things about the movie. He passed through the door, briefly looking inside the room, not finding anyone inside. He made his way over to the fridge, pulling it open. He looked around briefly, seeing a lot more food than he had been expecting.

"Hmm...what do I go with, traditional? European? Japanese? Eh, I don't wanna cook rice right now. Hmm, maybe I can make lunch for breakfast, yeah that sounds like a better idea." he said, opening the freezer, grabbing a box of frozen patties.

Once he had pulled out everything he would need he turned to the stove, grabbing a skillet and placing it on, turning the flames on. He walked over to the knife block to grab one of the knives, pausing briefly when he saw some dishes in the sink. He saw two spoons, a fork and a ceramic bowl. He grabbed the bowl and looked inside, seeing a light green liquid inside that smelt of mint. He sighed, rolling his eyes.

"Kitty probably snuck in here for ice cream and didn't even wash her dishes. Typical, make the first one up wash them." he muttered dryly.

He pulled apart the patties, placing one on the skillet, turning back to the sink. Once he had washed the dirty dishes, he returned his attention to his cooking. He reached inside his pocket for his phone, seeing it was already ten in the morning. People would have started waking up by that time and would have likely been walking around the boat. He choked it up to the alcohol and continued making his meal. It was just a simple burger but even then it took precision to make it, at least in his eyes.

After several minutes, he had finished making his food. It wasn't exactly restaurant quality, and it lacked lettuce and tomatoes, because he was too lazy to cut some up. He grabbed one of the soda bottles inside the fridge and cracked it open, leaning back against the counter as he started eating his meal, a small smile on his face. It was these moments of silence with good food that he really enjoyed in the morning. He would have likely been in class if school was in session, most likely tired and bored. His friends always made school more exciting, but being alone was sometimes a good thing too. He got to just enjoy the solitude away from people.

He glanced toward the windows, expecting to see the small island they had been docked in front of. He set his food down, slowly walking toward the kitchen door that lead outside. He pulled it open, walking out onto the deck stopping just shy of the railing. He blinked a few times, rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand, once again looking out at the island that wasn't there. He took a deep breath, biting his lip as he looked around, walking up to the railing, glancing behind the yacht, only to see nothing but the open ocean around him.

He swiftly turned around, running through the kitchen towards the stairs leading up to the bridge. Once he reached it, he stepped inside, looking around at all of the navigation instruments. He went toward one of the nearby panels, tapping the screen, zooming out of the map. He noticed the red line trailing from the uninhabited island they had been camping at. He also saw the city of Aquania which was two hundred nautical miles away from his current location. The island itself was only a hundred or so miles away. He let out a growl of annoyance, glancing at the panel next to it, seeing several buttons that were all lit up.

The only button not lit up in that row was the port anchor. The button would have been lit up if the boat had been anchored down. Clearly the boat had drifted because the boat itself hadn't been anchored, and not it was too late since he was out in the middle of the ocean. He didn't now how to start the boat, let alone drive it. He grabbed a handful of his hair, wanting to slam his hands down on the panel, but he knew that would just make things worse. He turned around, glancing at the floor, noticing a pile of clothes near the back cabinets. He moved over to the pile, kneeling down in front of it, grabbing the skirt that had caught his attention. He held it up, brows furrowed in confusion.

"Raven's skirt? What is it doing here? Briar's leggings, Cupid's heels? Was someone in here?" he asked aloud, as if anyone could hear him.

He also noticed the blue skirt that had been in the pile. He had remembered seeing Ashlynn pack it into her suitcase. It was a mermaid style skirt that Lizzie had designed just for her. And it was slightly wet, much like Raven's skirt. His eyes widened a bit as a random but plausible thought crossed his mind. He stood up, a grin on his face as he turned back to the panels.

"Of course, there were a couple of mermaids in here! That explains the clothes, how the boat became unanchored, the spoons and bowls. That means they are real and I wasn't just seeing shit!" he said cheerfully, his happiness diminished when he realized his situation.

"But...it also sent me adrift. I guess they didn't know how any of this works, they live under the water, of course they wouldn't know how it works. Well, the least I can do is anchor myself down so I don't keep drifting." he muttered, pressing the starboard anchor, along with the port anchor. The whirling sound filled the room as both anchors started being lowered. He didn't know if the boat had stopped or not, but he prayed that it did.

He started walking back down into the kitchen, carrying the clothes he had found back with him, placing them on the nearby couch. He decided to finish his breakfast and think about what he was going to do next. He was out in the middle of the ocean, in a high tech boat that he didn't know how to operate. His friends were stranded on an island, with a couple jetskis and a speedboat, which wouldn't get them near Aquania or the yacht itself. So they were also stranded, which made it a worrying thought. He grabbed his phone, trying to see if he could call Kitty or Raven, only to see that he had no bars where he was.

"Great, you gotta be shitting me. We at least had a signal on that island, probably because we were so close to Aquania. Now that I'm out further away, the signal is weaker. Come on Blake, you gotta think of something, you gotta grab someone's attention." he said, closing his eyes in thought.

 _ **xxx(Uninhabited Island)xxx**_

Kitty hadn't had a good night, not just for the alcohol but because she just didn't feel comfortable overall. She felt much more at home when she took a nap in a tree, but since the only trees around them were palm trees, she made due. She had never seen a cat on the beach, but she was sure they didn't like them at all, because she sure as hell didn't. She stretched her limbs, patting the floor of the tent next to her, expecting her boyfriend to be sleeping soundly next to her. Brushing her hair out of her eyes, she looked around, seeing he wasn't there, in fact she didn't even see anything that lead her to believe he had even come back. Knowing him, he probably passed out in his room back on the ship. She gathered her hair up into a ponytail, crawling through the open compartment.

"Oh my, Duchess certainly is an interesting sleeper." she said, smiling slightly. Duchess was laying face down on her sleeping bag, almost spread eagle. Her hair was free of its ponytail, covering most of her sleeping face. She snapped a few pictures of the sleeping girl, keen on using it as blackmail later on.

She pulled open the small flap, finally coming out of the tent. She stood up, yawning as the sunlight bathed over her skin. She opened her eyes, expecting to see the black yacht still in place, only it wasn't. Her jaw dropped slightly in surprise, and she ran toward the water's edge, stopping just shy of the shore. She rubbed her eyes, hoping it was all just a figment of her imagination, but sadly it wasn't. The only thing that was still on the beach were the two jetskis and the speedboat that had been placed on the beach. Her heart started beating hard, worry written on her face.

"Guys, GUYS! Wake up, we have a situation!" she cried out, running back toward the tents. Duchess was the first to leave her tent, clutching her head, teeth grit from the hangover she was suffering from. She brushed her hair down, glaring at the daughter of the Cheshire Cat.

"God, what? I'm hungover and here you are shouting at the crack of dawn!"

"First off, it isn't the crack of dawn, it's like ten in the morning. Second, the boat is gone!" she cried, pointing to the ocean.

"Gone? What the hell do you mean it's gone, it's right...where is it?" she replied, rubbing her eyes slightly.

"What's with all the commotion?"

"Ugh...what time is it?"

"Why do I feel like someone took a jackhammer to my head?"

"That's what you get for drinking 40 ounces of 151 proof straight vodka in one go. Remind me never to buy Ever After Clear ever again."

"Everyone, I know we're all hungover and look and feel like shit. But we have more pressing matters to attend too. The boat is gone!" Kitty cried. Daring brushed his hair out of his eyes, a smile on his face.

"Ahaha, Kitty you're jokes aren't that funny. The yacht was firmly anchored in place. There is no way it could have moved." he said, arms crossed, a proud smirk on his face.

"Hey Daring, I dunno if you got boat insurance when you bought that Yacht, but I sure hope you did. It's gone, Kitty is right." Dexter said, causing the boy to open his eyes. He let out a scream, dropping onto his knees.

"No...it just can't be gone! She was so young! I didn't even get to try out her sauna, or her hot tub. She had built in cup holders!" he wailed, slamming his fists against the sand.

"What a baby." Ramona muttered, running her fingers through her mattered hair.

"Uh, you do know that we are all stranded here right? We don't know where the yacht is. We have no food, no clothes, we can't shower and we all smell like a goddamn brewery." Cerise said, glaring at her sister, making sure her hood wasn't blown off by the sea breeze.

"Wait...has anyone seen Blake? He wasn't with me when I woke up." Kitty asked, a look of worry on her face.

"I dunno, I was dealing with Apple for most of the night. She threw up in our tent so I had to wash it out in the ocean water. The boat was still there when I did. This was around eleven or twelve. I thought you anchored the boat Daring?" Raven said, causing the boy to look up at her.

"I did. I had the port anchor down, there was no way it drifted off unless someone weighed anchor."

"Well, I do remember seeing Blake going into the boat, he said he was going to take a shower. But I never felt him come back, so it's possible he passed out in the boat. He wouldn't be the type to just take off either." Duchess said, an equal look of worry on her face.

"I know, how about we just call him? Maybe Daring can help him get back to the island!" Cupid said, earning a nod from Blondie who already had her MirrorPhone out.

"Good idea Cupid, I'll see if I can reach him."

"Don't bother, if he's adrift inside that boat then he's in the middle of the ocean. The signal won't reach his phone, so he won't be able to connect to us." Dexter said, earning a frown from his blonde friend, who confirmed his suspicions.

"Kitty, can't you just teleport to him? You said if you knew what a place looked like, no matter how far it was, you could teleport there."

"Darling has a point, can't you just teleport to where he is?" Alistair asked, earning a sigh from the girl.

"I can, but that doesn't exactly help us does it? We still don't know how to drive the boat. And while I can teleport one person with me, I'm a little off my game due to this headache. I doubt I can actually get there right now." she said.

"Okay, what about you Raven, can't you teleport there too?" Gloriosa asked. Raven sighed, glancing at the sand with a frown on her lips.

"Not really. I can only teleport short distances, probably from here to Aquania. But since I don't know how far Blake is out in the ocean, I can't teleport directly too him. My teleportation isn't the same as Kitty's, I need more than just an image. I suppose if I can make a connection to his magic, I could get to him, hypothetically speaking."

"Oh great, awesome. That means we still got a way back to the mansion, we won't smell like booze and ass for days on end."

"Hunter, come on could you at least not say stuff like that?" Ashlynn snapped, causing the boy to blush bright red.

"You know, there is something I don't get. If the boat was firmly anchored, then how did the anchor come undone?"

"Good question Bunny. Perhaps it wasn't anchored like we thought it was, perhaps it came undone due to the currents. But that shouldn't do anything, I mean it is an anchor. It's supposed to keep the boat in place." Alistair replied.

"Maybe it was mermaids!" Cupid said, earning scowls from everyone else.

"Yes, and maybe the leprechauns were the ones that helped them get onto the boat itself. They conjured up a rainbow that took them onto the deck. Get real Cupid, mermaids wouldn't do that. They fear humans, why would one of them even bother getting onto a boat?" Duchess said, causing the girl to look down in shame.

"Come on Duchy, no need to PMS on her. It is a plausible theory, maybe one of them got curious and got onto the boat. Maybe they didn't know how to work shit and were pressing things at random." Kitty said firmly.

"Whatever the case, I think we should all focus on packing things up. Raven can you teleport us to Aquania?"

"Sure Rosa, I can easily get all of us there. If we get more fuel, we can take Daring's speedboat and look around, using this island as a sort of base. He couldn't have drifted that far in that many hours." the daughter of the Evil Queen said.

"Hexcellent, then let's all just pack up. Daring, would you help me with my tent? I'm still a little hungover." Apple said, stumbling toward her red tent.

Kitty looked out into the ocean, a look of worry on her face. Raven placed a hand on her shoulder, giving her a reassuring smile. They didn't need to say anything, both were thinking the exact same thing. Blake was a resilient person, who could get himself out of many situations. If he had been able to fight off his ex-best friend and was able to find a way to Neverland, then he could definitely survive being a adrift in a fully stocked yacht, for as long as it took. They just hoped he wasn't hurt.

 _ **xxx(Under the Sea)xxx**_

After a rather fun night, Meeshell and Coral were once again spending time together. Ariel had been a bit disappointed when her eldest daughter brought the next Sea Witch with her. But when They explained what had happened, the Queen of the Merfolk had welcomed her with open arms. Her other children, with the exception of Maya, were all wary of her. It was due to her being the next Sea Witch that they had distrust in her. She was supposed to fool Meeshell into signing a contract, only to steal her voice and claim the sea crown as her own. Coral had already said she didn't want to be the next Sea Witch, and had even given Ariel her page from the Storybook of Legends.

Even with all of that, the only one who had agreed to give her a chance was Maya. Breakfast had been awkward, with her trying to make small talk with Meeshell, who did her best to keep her at the table. Thankfully after breakfast was over, and she had helped Meeshell wash all of the dishes, or at least make sure they were cleaned off. After that, they had decided to take a swim out in the great open ocean.

"So big sis, how were the humans? I know you were watching them for awhile." Maya asked, earning a small smile from her sister.

"They were interesting. They sat around a campfire, were telling stories and were cooking some delicious smelling food. We were so close to going out on the shore too."

"We had even more fun on the ship. Did you know when you get out of the water your tail turns into legs? And there's a funny thing between them with lots of hair!" Coral said, earning a confused look from Maya.

"I knew about your tail turning into legs. But what's that hairy thing about?"

"No no...you're too young...I'll explain what that is later. Coral try not to mention that part again would you?" the pink haired mermaid said, earning a nod from her cousin.

"Wait...you said you were on the ship...what ship? Was it a pirate ship?" the younger mermaid asked, an excited look on her face.

"It wasn't a pirate ship. It was a yacht...at least I think that's what it was called. It's a big luxurious boat filled with a lot of stuff. We tried on some of the clothes inside, ate some of their food and looked around. It was really cool."

"Aw, that's not fair big sis! Why didn't you take me with you? I wanted to go on the boat, I wanna try clothes and see the hairy thing!"

"Well, looks like you'll get your wish. I think that boat from last night is out in the ocean. That anchor looks familiar." Coral said, pointing to the boat that was in front of them. It was in a part of the ocean that was deeper than the anchor was long, so it wasn't anchored down. Meeshell stopped in her tracks, swimming toward the surface, her head slowly breaching the waves.

"Whoa, it's big." Maya muttered, glancing at the sleek black boat that was floating on the water's surface.

"You're right, this is the same boat...why is it called Apple White though? That doesn't sound like a good name for a boat." Coral noted, earning a shrug from Meeshell.

"Maybe it was for sentimental reasons. Maybe the captain liked some girl named Apple White so much that he named his boat after her."

"That's so creepy...come on, let's get on it and see what there is to see!" Maya cried, hurriedly swimming toward it, only for her sister to grab a hold of her tail fin, pulling her to a stop.

"Now now, what did I tell you about swimming off before assessing the situation? Maya, you are 12 years old. Do you know what sailors do to young mermaids like you?" Meeshell asked, causing the girl to shake her head.

"Oh, that's easy. They take them and put them in the brig of their boats, then they use their magic to slowly turn them into wood. Where they then mount their bodies to the bow of the ship, so that everyone can look at them when they get to their next port!" Coral said. Maya adopted a fearful look, her eyes widened in shock.

"Are you serious? I don't want to be turned into wood!" she cried.

"Which is why we need to watch before we act. Coral weighed anchor yesterday, so the boat probably drifted from the island. That means there's at least one person aboard. We have to make sure he or she is a good person before attracting their attention." she said, earning a nod from Maya, who wrapped her arms around her sister, burying her face in her chest.

"Thanks big sis, for always looking out for me."

"You're welcome sweetheart. Now there aren't any rocks we can hide behind this time, so we'll have to remain under the water close enough to see but far under so they don't see us."

"What about the currents? Won't they just pull us away?" Coral asked curiously. Meeshell frowned, giving her cousin a nod.

"We can just hang onto the anchor, it's far from the sides of the boat. We'll be able to see without them seeing us." Maya suggested, pointing to the anchor chain.

"I guess that's not a bad idea, let's just watch. If there's no one inside, then let's get more ice cream." Coral said, swimming toward the anchor.

Meanwhile aboard the ship, Blake was in the living room, trying to think of a way to head back home. He had been considering finding a way to start the ship, but it wasn't as easy as he thought. Sailboats were easy to sail, because all it had was a simple wheel and rudder mechanism. So as long as he had good wind, he would be able to turn the ship around and sail back in the same direction he had come until he had found the island. But with this yacht, it was different, it didn't have a wheelhouse or a wheel, it had several panels and some joysticks, which he assumed was how you were able to steer the ship. There was so much there, that he didn't feel like messing with anything.

So he was sitting in the living room, trying to figure out a way to bring the attention of someone to him. He was in the middle of the ocean, didn't know how to activate the emergency beacon. Couldn't radio back to the coast guard to grab their attention, because he didn't know what frequency they were on. He was just sitting in a large raft, a large luxurious raft stocked with food. He would be fine for awhile, but he was still worried about his friends. He wanted to teleport back to Aquania, but he didn't want to just leave the ship either, since Daring had payed a lot for it. He wouldn't be able to look him in the eye if he left the ship adrift in the ocean and be unable to at least try to save it.

"There has to be something I can do. Come on, I can at least steer the ship, maybe not turn the engine on, I'll just have to figure out how to use the rudder." he muttered, climbing onto his feet. He started heading back to the Bridge, glancing around the large room.

He stood in front of the main console, glancing at all of the screens. There were three that caught his attention, the center one was the one that directed the ships course. It was the one that was showing him what direction the boat was currently drifting in. The one on the left, he assumed handled the engines, the thrust and everything else. Then the one on the right was the one used to input the ships heading. This was all based on assumption of course. He really wished he was more versed in navigation than in something useless. He was good at sword fighting, good at magic, could handle parkour and ice skating well enough, and was a good skater. But a sailor he was not, and it showed. He looked around for a few seconds, taking a deep breath.

"Well...if I'm gonna turn the boat, I can't do it with lowered anchors. So, it's best we raise those for the time being." he said, pressing the two buttons, causing the anchors to slowly be lifted out of the water. It wasn't as if they were doing anything. He was sure he was above a deep part of the ocean, meaning they wouldn't hook into anything.

He grabbed onto one of the joy sticks, taking a deep breath as he started to move it toward the starboard side. He felt the ship slowly start moving, since there was no forward thrust, that meant that it was taking a lot longer for it to turn than he wanted to. He looked around the panel, keeping the joy stick to the very right as he searched. He saw a button that read Port Bow Thruster and was tempted to press it, but he knew that it was probably a bad idea. He glanced down at the screen, seeing the ship was slowly turning toward the starboard side, slowly but surely.

"Come on boat, your turn slower than old people fuck!" he exclaimed, his anger finally flowing out of him.

He noticed the blinking arrow on the screen in front of him had also started to turn. Noticing the sticks next to it labeled Starboard Stern Thruster, he decided to turn the engine on, pushing the sticks slightly forward while keeping his hand on the joystick. A few minutes later, he started easing off on the stick, pulling back on the thrusters shutting the engine off. He had succeeded in turning the boat back around, now all he had to do was follow the red line back and he would reach the island in no time. He sat down in the leather chair behind him, settling into it as he looked at the screen in front of him.

"Well, I might as well just keep watch." he muttered to himself.

What Blake didn't realize however was how boring keeping watch actually was. Since the yacht was just drifting in the waves, he wasn't actually heading anywhere fast. He didn't trust himself turning the engines on. Standing up from his seat, the boy decided to go back down to the lower deck, where the game systems were. He walked over to the entertainment system, pulling the cupboard doors open, only to see there were no games for him to play. He frowned, gritting his teeth in annoyance.

"Of course, leave it to Daring Charming to buy a huge ass boat, with game systems not buy any fucking games. I guess I can check the recreation room." he muttered, heading down the other hall. He went down another flight of stairs to the third deck, there were only three areas down there. The engine room, the cargo hold and the recreation room.

He passed through the doors, flicking the lights on, eyes widening a bit. There were a couple pin ball machines at the very back of the room, along with old video game cabinets. There was a flat screen television mounted onto the wall, with a few more gaming systems, placed on a shelf below it. There were no games for any of them either, so Blake knew it was pointless to even bother. There was a billiards table in the center of the room, and on the far left was a poker table where people could gather up for a game. There was a small bar stocked with alcoholic beverages, as well as a mini fridge, filled with food, snacks and non alcoholic drinks. He pinched his eyes, walking over to the fridge, taking a few Mountain Dew bottles from within, slamming it closed.

"Goddamn it, this is the last time I fucking drink and decide to take a fucking shower. I'm gonna go out on deck if anyone cares! Yeah that's right, I'm going insane!" he shouted.

Back on the outside, Meeshell, Coral and Maya were still watching the boat intently. They figured someone was definitely inside, since they had witnessed it making a U-turn. However it didn't speed off as they had been expecting. It kept going at the same speed as before, at the mercy of the waves and the currents. Maya had attempted to get on the deck when the chains were being raised but Coral had quickly pulled her away before she got too high. The ship had passed them, so now the three were just floating on the water's surface, not that far from the ship, but still far enough so that whoever was on it didn't see them.

"Ugh...I'm so bored! Can we go inside the ship? If not I'm just gonna go home!"

"We can't Maya, like I said you can't just get aboard. You don't know who is in there!" Meeshell cried.

"Yeah, it could be a psycho murderer hellbent on gutting cute mermaids." Coral exclaimed, causing Maya to splash her in the face.

"Get real, whoever is in there isn't a killer. Oh oh, what if it's a cute boy? MeeMee needs a boyfriend!"

"Maya, just drop it okay, it's dangerous. We aren't going to board the ship, that is final."

"Aha! I get it, you are scared that if there's a cute boy in there he'll see you naked! You can't go up there because your tail will turn to legs, and that hairy thing Coral was talking about will come back. I guess that's a good reason, but you can't just sit back either. MeeMee you need a Prince Charming, so go up there and check it out!" Maya cried, earning a groan from her sister.

Coral just giggled, her eyes darting around from cloud to cloud, trying to see if she could spot any shapes in them. She felt something scaly brush her hand, causing her to duck below the waves. When the bubbles cleared, she saw that it was some fish that had been swimming around. She grabbed a hold of one, holding him close to her ear, narrowing her eyes a bit as it spoke in a hushed tone.

"What...are you certain?" she asked, earning a slight nod from the fish. She gave him a pat on the head, releasing his hold on him. She quickly surfaced, taking a hold of Meeshell's hand.

"Bad news, some of the fish swam ahead and noticed there's some rocks rising out of the ocean. They aren't large enough to breach the water so they can't be seen. That boat is headed straight for them."

"Seriously? So that means if it hits the rocks, the boat will sink. Whoever is in there will get hurt or worse! Big sis we have to warn them!" Maya cried, a worried look on her face.

"I dunno...I mean, what if they hurt us? What if they don't understand our language?"

"What if it's a cute boy? Remember our story, you help a prince out of a sinking ship and kiss him back to life! This could finally be the start of your story! Of course I'm not stealing your voice, but still...wouldn't you want to fulfill your destiny?" Coral asked. Meeshell ground her teeth together, eyes tightly closed as she weighed her options.

"Alright, you got me there. Stay close, I'll see if I can get their attention." she said, diving into the water just as fast as she could.

On deck, Blake was sitting on top of the hot tub, which had its cover on. He had all of his soda bottles next to him, along with various snacks he had brought along with him. He also had his MirrorHome, playing some music. The day was beautiful, there were barely any clouds in the sky, the waters were calm and it was nice and balmy, not to hot and not to cold. If he was with his friends, he would have definitely been enjoying himself. But since he was adrift, his mind was filled with more worry than anything. He grabbed a hold of his music notebook and turned to a clean page, passing all of the lyrics for the entire Save Rock and Roll album, choosing to write an original song.

"Hmm...what is this one going to be about? I know I got something in his boggled mind of mine." he muttered to himself.

He lay back, allowing the gentle rocking of the ship to relax him a bit. He started seeing words floating around in his mind, sometimes people asked him if it was easy writing lyrics. His reply was always the same, it depended on the mood and the style of the song. If there was an idea, then he could easily write a song, if there wasn't...then it was very difficult. It was almost like writing a story, when you have writers block, you can't go on. Lyric block is something he often developed, but Cupid and Melody always helped him out, making their songs a lot more involved and unique. There were only thirteen songs he had written by himself, and eleven of them weren't even his own, they were only cover songs. He frowned, opening his eyes as he glanced at the sky.

"There has to be something, I can't just drift here. If I put my mind to it, I can do anything!" he said cheerfully. He knew he was alone, but hearing his own voice was honestly keeping himself. He immediately sat up, a smile on his face.

He grabbed his fountain pen and started writing down some words that had popped into his mind. He made sure to separate each part into bars so it wouldn't look so clunky. After about five minutes, he put his pen down, reading the words back to himself. He hit pause on his song, licking his lips a bit as he started tapping his fingers on the hard wood, trying to find the correct beat.

"I'm calling you, from the future

To let you know, you've made a mistake

And there's a fog from the past that's

Giving me, giving me such a headache

And I'm back with madness!

I'm a champion of the people who

Don't believe in Champions

I got nothing but dreams inside

I got nothing but dreams

I'm just young enough to still believe,

Still believe

But young enough not to know what to believe in!

Young enough not to know what to believe in!

If I can live through this!

If I can live through this!

If I can live through this!

I can do anything!

If I can live through this!

If I can live through this!

If I can live through this!

I can do anything!

Champion, Champion

Champion, Champion!"

He nodded to himself, grabbing a hold of his pen again. He had come up with an excellent first verse and Pre-chorus, but he still had a lot to work on. He had to at least finish the song, and maybe if he did early enough he could start working on a melody. The first one would be the drum line, since this sounded more like a rap, and one had to have a solid beat in order for it to sound remotely good. He was about to play his music again when he heard a loud splash near the ship, causing him to drop his pen. It sounded like something had dropped into the water. Either that or someone had breached the waves. He quickly set his notepad down, walking over toward the starboard side of the ship, looking over the side of the ship. His eyes scanned the waves, trying to find something, an animal or even a person if that was the case.

"Hello? Is there anyone out there?" he called out. He got silence in return, just as he had been expecting. He shrugged, turning away from the railing.

"Hey, over here! On the other side!"

He froze, pushing himself away from the railing, his head snapping toward the port side of the yacht. He started running forward, reaching the other side of the ship in a few strides, grabbing onto the railing. He started looking around, but he didn't see anyone. The voice had sounded female, so he had been expecting to see a girl or a woman out in the water. He looked around, but he didn't see another boat anywhere, and there wasn't any land. He shook his head, brushing his hair out of his eyes.

"I must be seeing things. There aren't any girls here, I must be losing my mind...is cabin fever this bad? Or is it boat fever in this case?"

"Oh wow, Maya was right...it is a boy. Hey, down here, in the water!"

Blake shook his head slightly, glancing down at the water, eyes widening a bit when he saw a pink haired girl, hanging onto what looked like a dorsal fin. It wasn't hard for him to see that she was riding with a dolphin, a bottle nose at that. He rubbed his eyes slightly, glancing at the water, eyes widening a bit when he saw the shimmering scales just below the water.

"No way...you're a mermaid! Are you the same one from before? With the shimmering tail?"

"Wait...you saw me before? That doesn't matter, listen you've got to stop your boat. There are some rocks up ahead that are sharp enough to pierce the hull. You could get hurt or worse, you have to stop right now!" she cried, earning a frown from the boy.

"I can't. I'm adrift, I barely know how to steer this thing. I was able to do a U-turn earlier, but that was sheer luck. Can you at least tell me if there are any rocks that I can anchor onto?" he asked.

"Give me a minute, I'll be right back." she replied. She said something to the dolphin, speaking in some weird language before ducking under the water, giving him a good look at her tail for the first time.

" _Wow, an honest to goodness mermaid. Cupid was right, there are mermaids out here, I am so gonna rub this on everyone's faces back home!"_ he thought to himself, a smirk on his face.

"Okay, so bad news and worse news, which do you want first?" the mermaid called out, grabbing his attention.

"Just hit me with it."

"Alright, if you say so. Bad news, there are no rocks for you to anchor your boat too, so you can't stop. The worse news, the rocks I mentioned are literally right..."

The boy was flung forward as the boat struck the rocks jutting outward. The entire boat came to a stop, tipping to the starboard side slightly as it came to rest on the rocks. Blake was stunned for a few seconds, hearing the sound of his soda bottles, phone and various other things falling throughout the ship, the loud grinding sound making his ears ring slightly. He sighed, slamming his fist lightly on the wooden deck. He grabbed a hold of the railing, looking down at the water, seeing the mermaid from before, a cringe on her face.

"Ooo, I'm so sorry. I should have told you the worse news first."

"It's uh...no problem. My friend has boat insurance...uh...the damage isn't too bad is it?" he asked curiously. She ducked beneath the waves for a few seconds, looking around at the hull for a few seconds before coming back up.

"One of the sharp rocks did pierce the hull, but as long as the ship itself doesn't move in any direction, it shouldn't sink. This area is actually really low, so even if it did sink, it would hit the bottom fast, so the bridge would likely stay above the water." she said, sounding a bit cheerful.

"The bridge...right. Hey listen, this is a shot in the dark here but, were you...on this boat last night?"

"Huh? Me...on a boat? Why would you say that? I'm a mermaid...I can't go on boats!" she said, sounding a bit sheepish.

"Really? I read in a book back at my school, that the mermaids in Ever After are enchanted. If they step out onto land, they get legs. But that isn't true for the daughter of the previous Little Mermaid. She's supposed to be given permanent legs by the daughter of the Sea Witch. After which, she is given three days to get a kiss before sundown on the third day. Then, since she fails, her legs fall off and her tail returns, her soul then belongs to the Sea Witch. Some crap happens, she gets the Trident, tries to take over Atlantica only to die in a blaze of glory from either being rammed by a ship or getting a Trident thrown through her body, if you play Kingdom Hearts 2 at least." he said, giving the girl a glittering a smile. She blinked a few times, sweeping some hair behind her ear.

"Wow, would you look at that. He knows our story sis, I say this is quite the lucky find. And he's pretty cute too." another voice, belonging to a black haired mermaid, said, rising from the water. Next to her was a third mermaid, shyly hiding behind the pink haired girl.

"Your story? Wait wait wait...you two...you're the daughters of Queen Ariel aren't you? And you must be Ursula's daughter, judging by the skin color and the hair...am I right?" Blake asked curiously.

"Um yes, you are right. My name is Meeshell, I'm Queen Ariel's eldest daughter, this is my sister Maya, my mother's youngest daughter. And this is my cousin Coral Witch, daughter of the Sea Witch. It's so nice to meet you." she said happily.

"Wow, you are really outgoing today sis, normally you would be shying back. What's got you so confident? Do you think he's your prince?" Maya teased, earning a blush from her sister.

"That isn't it, you know I'm comfortable in my own tail. I'm still really nervous, but sometimes you have to put yourself in new situations and face your fears!"

"Face your fears huh? I'm not gonna hurt you, I'm actually quite the nice person. My name is Blake Queen, I'm the son of the Evil Queen. It's nice to meet you guys."

"The Evil Queen? From Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs? You're her son? My mom is like her best friend, I didn't even know she had a son!" Coral said, a surprised look on her face.

"Yeah, not a lot of people know she has a son...up until a few weeks ago, she only had a daughter. My older sister Raven, some shit happened, I signed the Storybook of Legends, and well...it's just a long story. Anyway, do you think you can do me a solid and go to Aquania? I mean, if it isn't too much trouble. Someone's gotta tell my friends I'm out here."

"We'd love too!" Maya said cheerfully.

"Maya! What she means is, we would love too, but you know...we don't like interacting with the humans. And it's almost time for lunch, we uh...gotta go back." Coral said, grabbing a hold of Maya's hand.

"Well, you can't just leave me stranded out here! At any moment this ship can dislodge and sink, and there aren't any life boats. The jetskis don't have enough fuel to make it back to the island. Please, just help me...I got ice cream...I know one of you ate some of it last night." he said, a smirk on his lips.

"Sis, what's Ice Cream?" Maya asked curiously.

"Uh well...it's hard to explain...it's something you gotta try." Meeshell replied, earning an excited look from the younger mermaid.

"Okay, I'll definitely help you out Blake, just as long as I get that ice cream. Help me up, and I'll go where ever you need me!" she said, holding her arm out. He grabbed one of the life rings from the ship, tossing it overboard.

"Maya, are you insane? Remember what happens if your tail dries up!"

"Ugh...I know, jeez. Your tail dries up, turns into legs and you get the hairy thing in between. If you think I'll be embarrassed, I'm not going to be. I wanna try that Ice cream!" she replied, grabbing onto the ring.

"Whoa wait a minute, before I pull you up I'm gonna ask you a question. Do you not...you know, have clothes for your bottom half?"

"No! We're mermaids, we don't need clothes from the waist down. We got scales and tails, flecks and fins. What do you think we would need clothes for?" Coral asked, giving him a confused look.

"Okay then, before I pull you up then, you need clothes. I'm not gonna have three half naked girls, one of them being twelve or so on the boat. You wait here, I'll bring you some of my sister's stuff, in fact I'll bring you the stuff you put on yesterday. Just...wait here okay?" he asked, earning nods from the three mermaids. He disappeared into the ship, the door closing after him.

"Well, this is certainly going to be a productive day. But what exactly are we gonna do?" Coral asked, earning a shrug from Meeshell.

"I dunno, but the least we can do is help him out of this situation. Maybe mom can help us, we'll just take him back with us."

"Sis, I don't think you've noticed. But he's a human boy, not a merman, meaning he's got no tail. So he won't be able to come with us, he probably won't be able to hold his breath long enough to see the palace." Maya said, earning a sigh from the girl.

"I got a solution for that. Let's just...get to know him first, see if we can actually bring him back. Maybe we can find his friends and bring them back here, help him out." she said.

"Whatever the case, he offered us ice cream and that's all that matters. That mint chocolate chip was amazing, and if I get more for free, I'll help him out. Even if I have to use my dark powers to help him." Coral said, glancing at her hands briefly. Blake returned a second later, placing the folded clothes on the deck next to the railing, along with some towels.

"Alright, I couldn't find anything for Maya...she's younger than you two so she can't fit into anything. The smallest I could find is something from my friend Bunny, she's really tiny so you might fit into that. Meeshell I'll pull you up first. That way you can pull your cousin and sister without me."

"Why? Is something the matter? Why can't you pull us up with big sis?" Maya asked, earning a sigh from him.

"Because, you are a girl and I am a guy. It is indecent for a guy to look at a girl naked, unless it's his wife or girlfriend."

"Oh...then why don't you take your clothes off? I mean, isn't it better to be naked if other people are naked too?"

"It doesn't work that way little one, just trust me. Meeshell I'll pull you up, hang on to that ring tightly okay?" he asked. Meeshell gave him a nod, grabbing onto the ring, slipping it around he arm, grabbing onto the rope.

The boy gave the rope a firm tug, gritting his teeth a bit as he started pulling the young mermaid out of the water. She was actually a lot lighter than he had expected her to be. He continued pulling up with all of his strength, feeling the rope slip a few times. Finally, Meeshell was able to pull herself over the railing, swinging her tail over it, slowly lowering herself onto the deck.

"Wow...it's so pretty." he said, his eyes scanning her tail, taking in all of the glimmering scales.

"Oh, thank you. I use a lot of sea slug goo to keep it shiny." Meeshell replied, earning a slight look of disgust from the boy. He knelt down, reaching for her tail only to pull his hand back. She smiled, grabbing it and placing it on her side so he could feel the scales.

"So, what do you think?"

"It's almost like a fish, but not at the same time. It feels like regular skin, that's so weird...but it's also so cool. Uh oh, it's starting to change." he said, backing away from her. He handed her a towel, turning on his heel.

"Uh...dry yourself with that, if you need help I can help you. Just put the skirt on and I'll help you afterwards." he said.

It took them a few minutes, but they were finally on the deck, with all of the girls being dressed. Blake fiddled around with the outfit he had given to Maya, making sure the skirt was secured around her waist with one of his spare belts. It was still a little loose on her, but it would do for the time being. She had remained barefoot, struggling to walk, but her sister was coaching her through it, with a grin on her face.

"Hey, what's this? A music book?" Coral asked, grabbing Blake's attention, he flushed slightly, placing a hand behind his head.

"Yeah, I'm one of the lyricists in a band back at Ever After High. We're actually gonna be filming a movie this summer."

"Wow, you sing and your an actor?" Meeshell asked curiously.

"I wouldn't call myself an actor...this is just for fun you know?"

"He goes to Ever After High, weren't you gonna go there big sis? What happened? Did you chicken out?" Maya asked, earning a pout from the pinkette.

"No, I didn't chicken out. I just...haven't given it much thought."

"Well, not to push you to a decision or anything, but I do suggest you go there. It's such an amazing experience, you'll be among friends, there are awesome people and you'll have loads of fun. I've actually saved two worlds while I was there, Wonderland and Neverland." he boasted, a look of pride on his face.

"You saved Wonderland? I heard the Evil Queen put a curse on it...would you mind telling us the story?" Meeshell asked, earning a nod from the boy.

"Sure, I would love too. We can get to know each other a little better, come on, there's plenty of ice cream and I got a lot of time on my hands. Plus I would love to get to know you, you know I've always wanted to meet a mermaid, especially someone as cute as you little Maya here." he said, patting the girl on the head, earning a grin from her.

"Aw, I know I'm cute...come on, say it again, call me adorable and cute and everything else you can think of!"

Meeshell rolled her eyes, ignoring her sister's antics. She was still a bit nervous about spending time with a human. She had however made herself a promise, that she would help him get to his friends. It was after all her fault that his boat was adrift and now stuck on some rocks, most likely taking in water as they spoke. She was sure her mother would help him, and if she didn't, she could always use the trident to help him get home. What she didn't know was that there was two sets of eyes looking at them from the ocean, two of them being a bright shade of yellow.


	95. The World Under the Sea IV

**A/N:**

 **Hello people of Earth! Welcome to Chapter 95 of Through the Looking Glass...this shall be part 4 of The World Under the Sea. I apologize for doing posts every two days, but I must if I want to build up my chapters. I'm currently working on my backlog so I can get enough for the Hundredth Chapter special. Once I post Chapter 97, I shall be doing a triple post, not only to finally reach one million words, but also to reach One Hundred Chapters! I can't believe I'm already there, it's been a long time coming. But I am already there and I am only gonna keep going after that, and I wanna thank all of you for sticking with me!**

 **But let's no celebrate too early, we gotta get through these next few chapters first. I have already started working on various new arcs, including the next one, which I will keep to myself. I have edited a lot of stuff which will differ a lot from what I said in the previous post, and I will be keeping it to myself. The Descendants crossover might happen, if I watch the movies at some point and get enough knowledge to come up with a good plot. I know another author did a Once Upon a Time crossover arc for his story, so I will be attempting something similar with Descendants, and it's classic Disney villains too, so they will be versions that Blake is familiar with, and it would be rather interesting to see how Blake and Raven react to meeting Evie, their sister from another dimension, the possibilities are endless with that stuff.**

 **I have also been considering crossing over with one of my own fics, but I shall also keep that to myself. I must first continue that fic to a point where the cross over will work, so I can then cross post chapters onto those stories, which I think I can't do in this site actually. I don't think you can have two stories with the same chapters, which means extra work for me...joy. But it will also further impulse that story for when I do pick it back up. The crossover with Descendants and this story will be thanks to Jessica Merlin and her interdimensional traveling, because as you know, she creates war in other worlds and destroys the lives if millions even though she doesn't mean too. She's a perverted young wizard responsible for sinking the Titanic in one iteration of Earth and her magic is responsible for bringing Joey into Ever After. But yeah, now you know who's the direct cause of those two events, if they do happen at least.**

 **Well, I do hope you like this chapter, I am having fun with this arc, because the Little Mermaid is a fond memory of mine growing up. Yes, I was among those kids who said, wow I wanna be a merman and live with Ariel in Atlantica, it looks like fun! At least until I remembered the movie and Ursula scared me as a kid and Eric killed her with a ship...still, girls swimming around in clamshell bras...it's a plus. Still wanna know how they get it on down there though, that has been something that has been bothering me for most of my life. I mean, do they just...make eggs and the guys fertilize them like fish do? Or do they go the human route and just...intercourse all over the place? In which case where does one put it in? None of these questions will be answered by the way, just something for you all to chew on while reading this chapter. Olly Olly Oxen Free!**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 95

The World Under the Sea IV

 _ **xxx(Location, Aquania: Beach House)xxx**_

It had taken awhile, but Raven managed to bring everyone back to the Charming's Beach castle with no issues. The first thing everyone did was get cleaned up, to get rid of the smell of alcohol all of them had lingering on them. After they had gotten ready and reconvened in the dining room, away from the rest of their class, they had started discussing ways to potentially reach Blake who was still out in the middle of the ocean. Daring had decided to go to the nearby pier to rent out another sail boat, so he could start looking around. Dexter would take the speed boat, leaving two others following along on the Jet skis. Duchess had left as well, using her swan form to get a good look from the air. That left everyone else in a state of worry over what had happened, with Raven being the most anxious of the group, beaten only by Kitty who hadn't stopped pacing since they had arrived.

What was supposed to be a fun experience for all of them had quickly gone sour. They didn't want anyone else to know that the boy was missing, because that would only make things worse. Melody had been asking for him, saying she was done mixing three of their tracks and needed his opinion. Bunny had been the one to tell her that he was out in town and wouldn't be back for awhile, just to buy them some time. The daughter of the Pied Piper could tell something was wrong, but she shrugged it off, taking Cupid with her instead to check things out. Kitty finally stopped walking in circles, a firm look on her face as she glanced at Raven, who had been looking out of the nearby window for quite some time. She took a hold of her hand, wordlessly pulling her out of the room they were currently at and into the empty hallway.

"I can't take just waiting around, I wanna go out there and look for him." she said. Raven frowned, placing hand on her shoulder for reassurance.

"Kitty, I know that you are worried about him. We all are, but we can't just leave without telling anyone. I know my brother, and he'll be fine."

"Yes, I know that but...can you blame me? I'm his girlfriend, it's natural for me to worry. Normally I wouldn't, because he can handle himself, but he's alone on a boat in the middle of the ocean. One he can't sail, what if something happens? What if the boat sinks?"

"I doubt the boat will sink. If he's adrift, as long as he doesn't ram into anything, he should be fine. Even better, there should be someone out there, a cruise, a fishing vessel, a ship that he could attract. He may not know how to use communication devices, but I'm sure he knows how the foghorn works." the daughter of the Evil Queen said, a smile on her face. Kitty turned away from her, holding her arms nervously, chewing on her lower lip.

"You're really worried aren't you? You feel like your heart could burst at any moment from worry...it's sweet, how much you care for him."

"I love him Raven, of course I'd be worried. He's been so kind to me, to everyone, and just the thought of him being gone. It's scary, I didn't say anything, but when I disappeared back in Neverland, I was scared shitless. I thought I would never see him again as I just...ceased to be. It was like swimming in a current, not going forward or backward...just floating there."

"Hmm...I felt the same, but I felt something else too. All of you were there...it wasn't as if I was alone. I could feel your warmth, your spirits were with mine in that darkness. Then there was nothing but light, and we woke up on the beach. It's odd, knowing how someone can become so important in the grand scheme of things." Raven noted, wrapping an arm around the girl, giving her a side hug.

"Yes, he truly is the cat's meow isn't he? But you can't count us all out, we're all important. After all, we're the next generation of Fairytales all brought together to succeed our parents. Course, that isn't gonna happen anymore, but it doesn't matter. You two unified our school more than you care to admit." Kitty replied, earning a nervous chuckle from the girl.

"I didn't do anything other than speak my mind. If people adopted my mentality, and decided to fight for their destiny, than more power to them. We aren't dictated by destiny anymore, we're not going to bend like reeds in a current of misery anymore. We are who we are."

"Have you been watching anime? That sounds familiar!" the daughter of the Cheshire Cat asked, earning a flush from the older girl.

"Shut up! Blake has an interesting collection and he lets me borrow whatever interests me. It just so happens that he also had Black Butler on BluRay, don't tell anyone I watched it."

"I'm pretty sure everyone knows you are into magical butlers who kill shit on a daily basis. I personally prefer gory stuff, I've watched High School of the Dead twice already, it's such a good anime. But anyway...I think I'm gonna go."

"Go? To Blake you mean?" Raven asked, earning a nod from the girl, who took a few steps away from her.

"I'm sorry, you might think I'm a little selfish. Daring and Dexter took off, and I was gonna bring them with me. I can't wait anymore, this worry sucks too much."

"Hmm...alright, if you have to go then I can't stop you. I would go with you, but then no one here would have a means to travel. If you do get a good look at the area, come back and tell me. That way I can teleport Daring and a few others with me." she said, holding her hand out. Kitty gave her a smile and a wink, shaking Raven's hand with her own.

"I will, thanks for the talk sis, I really needed it."

"No no, none of that...you aren't married to that dufus yet. Before you go, take this crystal ball with you, it'll keep us communicated." she replied, flushing slightly as she handed the ball to the grinning girl. Kitty giggled, turning away from the older girl.

"You know...that name has quite a nice ring to it. Katherine Cheshire Queen, I think I'll keep it."

With that, the girl disappeared, her famous Cheshire grin hanging in the air for a second, before also flashing out of existence. Raven sighed, brushing some hair out of her eyes as she turned around, spotting Apple behind her, a small smile on her face. Raven didn't say anything, too surprised to acknowledge any thoughts. She glanced away from the blonde, looking out the window.

"So...you heard all of that?"

"Not all of it, but I did hear the part about Neverland. I'll admit...I was scared too...but I'm happy that everything turned out great. Those two have something special, something that even Joey can't ruin."

"Trust me, if he even tries it I'll murder his ass. Besides, he's in jail right now, so it isn't like he's going to do anything. We should focus on this search, or on keeping it under wraps as much as possible." Raven said, earning a nod from the blonde. She turned around, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear.

"Hey Rae, um...about last night...could you mind not telling anyone about...about the vodka? I uh...started drinking back when Felipe was still alive. To relieve some of the stress...that's how I was able to down that entire bottle without dying."

"Really? You're okay now though, right?"

"Yes, yes I'm fine. I quit that as soon as we all came back, just...keep it to yourself. Everyone else thinks it was drunken me doing something for the first time. People will ask how it was possible, just...don't say anything." she said, a pleading look on her face. Raven gave her a nod, pulling her into a hug.

"If you ever need to talk, you can come to me...or Blake or even Briar and Blondie. They're your friends, I know that situation was stressful, so I don't blame you. Just as long as you quit for good."

"I did...like cold turkey. It sucked, but I managed...come on, Hunter found Blake's pack of Cards Against Humanity, and we're playing a game to keep calm. You won't believe some of the stuff we've come up with." Apple said, earning a chuckle from the violet haired girl.

"Trust me, with that game, damn near anything is possible."

 _ **xxx(Wonderland Penitentiary)xxx**_

Joey shuddered a bit, glancing up from the slop he had been given, looking toward the windows. It had been a few weeks since he had been sentenced in Wonderland, and about a week since his sentence in Ever After. Surprisingly enough, he avoided life imprisonment in Ever After, as the things he did were merely plots and conspiracies that he was never able to fulfill. He only got fifty years, tacked onto his attempt at murder and plot to dethrone the Queen in Wonderland. In total, he had 100 years in prison, which to him was just as bad as a life sentence. The good thing was that he could appeal to the courts and try to get it reduced, but knowing her firm Snow White was, and the fact that he directly threatened a Queen, he was sure he wasn't gonna get out soon.

The Wonderland Penitentiary was quite the modest prison. A lot of people sat on Death Row, waiting their decapitations at the hands of the Queen. He was at least protected by Ever After's ruling, he wouldn't get the death penalty, because he didn't care. Being charged as an adult had made things worse for him, he was sure if he had been sixteen, he would have gotten off easier, but since he was seventeen, going on eighteen, the sentence was much harsher. He had noticed that the female prisoners were also kept in the same prison, separated into different cell blocks. Block A was Death Row, Block B were dangerous criminals and murderers, kept under high surveillance. Block C was the block he was in, the minor criminals and people who attempted murder. Block D and E was where the women were kept, a much smaller block. There was a Cell block for minors, but since he was tried as an adult, he got to go into the big boy cell block.

It hadn't been so bad, at first it had been horrible. He had been teased and bullied by everyone, those capable of using magic had to wear canceling bracelets. Himself included, so they couldn't try to escape. After awhile, he got the hang of it, started working in the kitchen, and had volunteered for community service. Anything to help lower that prison sentence. Now however he just kept calm in the cafeteria, reading whatever books interested him from the library. He was currently there, sitting at his usual table alone. He had been thinking a lot about what had happened to him while in Wonderland. Being put into solitary had sucked, but he had a reason. He had been caught fighting one of the other prisoners. They had thrown the first punch and he defended himself. He had been thankful for Mr. Knight's training now, though he lacked a sword, he was still a good fighter. So he had easily gotten some respect while inside the prison.

He heard the sound of a tray being set down on the table, and briefly looked up, seeing the person that had joined him was none other than Courtly Jester. The would be queen of Wonderland was also incarcerated for what she had done, though her sentence was a little harsher. Since she was the daughter of the Joker and was a greater threat than Joey, she had gotten two consecutive life sentences. She wouldn't be free for the rest of her natural life. She had been trying to appeal her case as well, but like him, she wasn't going to get out any time soon. She remained silent for a few seconds, her face, once white with make up was now free of the paint, even her white diamond had been missing. Her hair had been pulled from its bun, falling down past her shoulders. To him, she looked almost like Harley Quinn, a beautiful young woman who was also twisted in the head. He glanced back at his book, not wanting to say anything to her.

"I do hope you don't mind me sitting here."

"Why would I care, among the shitheads and idiots in this prison, a welcome face is better than being alone." he replied, turning the page in his book. He wasn't that interested in the story, but it was better than being bored.

"I wanted to apologize. It was partially my fault that you were brought to this place. Perhaps it would have been better if I left you, you wouldn't be here if I had."

"Hold it right there honey, I chose to help you. I was already planning on murdering the Queen, stealing the Storybook, Excalibur and killing Bigby. It was all me, so I got my just desserts, I'm here because of my dumb ass choices. So we're both at fault for what happened."

"I...suppose you are correct. Why did you want to kill Blake so much? What about him annoys you?" she asked curiously, earning a sigh from the brown haired boy.

"I hate him because he has everything I could ever want. He had a family that loved him, video games all the new systems. My girlfriend like him more than me. He got brought to a new world, did better at school, is a fighter, has magic, girls like him because his nice. The reasons are infinite. He's the person I wanted to be."

"Why couldn't you just be a better person without having to hurt anyone? I heard part of your trial in Ever After. Exposing a girl's diary entrees, planning to kill various people and theft of destiny? I mean...I did want to steal Lizzie's destiny, but I didn't go that far." Courtly replied, earning a glare from the boy.

"You enslaved an entire school and forced them to do your bidding. I think that counts as going too far. Not to mention the only person who could have done something, got away because you weren't paying attention. If Alice could sneak into the school and throw a wrench in your plans, you deserved to brought down." he admitted, earning a growl from the girl. She quickly calmed down, lowering her head.

"Yeah yeah, did you have to say it in that bloody manner though? I didn't need to be turned into a ninny." she snapped, shoving some food into her mouth.

"Anyway, I've had a lot of time to think...I realize that I fucked up. Not because I got caught, but because I was an idiot and wrote everything down. Faybelle screwed me over, but I suppose when you start dating the Dark Fairy's daughter, something is bound to happen. She was just a means to an end anyway." he replied, returning his attention to his book.

"A means to an end...you mean to tell me that you started a relationship with someone, because it benefit you? I think I get why you are here. Sure, I wanted to be a queen, because I was always shoved to the bottom of the deck, forgotten by every other card in the suit. But your plans failed because you were too ambitious, and let your jealousy get the best of you."

"Shut up!"

"I only speak the truth. How else could someone like Blake Queen defeat you? You had the power of the Evil Queen, Excalibur you had magic! Yet he was able to disarm you, he was able to defeat you, twice! I think you should rethink your priorities, then again since you are stuck here for awhile, you won't exactly be able to do anything about it." she replied, a small smile on her face.

"Yes, I get it. No need to fucking rub it in, I'm so over it. I failed, big whoop, Blake won in the end. He got his life back, he got a family and he's got friends. He's a hero while I'm a big fat zero. Given the chance, I would do it all over again, there is a lot that I'm not through doing to that kid. Making his life hell would be the greatest reward ever."

"And that's why you are never getting out of here. Look at where we are, in prison. We are here to pay for our crimes...I've already come to terms with my own decisions and have moved past them. All of the rage that I felt towards the Queen of Hearts, and Lizzie...my Queens, I left it in the past. If you can't forgive yourself, then you won't be able to forget it and move on. I wish I had a second chance, to prove to everyone that I am sorry, but I'll be here until the day I die. I can't even see my father...he loathes me now."

"Heh...at least you have family here. I got not one, not my mother, not my sister, and definitely not my dead beat father." Joey spat, snapping his book closed.

"I'm not sure about any of that...but the road to recovery starts with forgiveness. If you can't forgive yourself for what you did, then you'll just stew in that rage. You'll stew in it until you end up becoming so full of rage that you'll become bitter. There's a chance for you to get your appeal through, I hand wrote a letter to the Queen of Hearts and she has granted me appeal...perhaps if you do something good, you'll erase all of the bad things."

"Why are you telling me this? Why do you of all people give a shit?" he asked, his eyes staring into her own. She shrugged, setting her spoon down, finally finished with her food.

"I see a lot of myself in you. Blinded by wants, jealousy, rage...because you felt unwanted and unloved. I wanted to make an impact in Wonderland, and I did...a bad one. Now it's time for me to become a good person, and I will...maybe I'll get out of here, maybe I won't. But if I do, then I hope you follow my footsteps and forgive yourself for what you did. Even if you have no friends on the outside, I'll be your friend...after all you know what they say..."

"Yeah yeah, birds of a feather flock together...I know. Fine, I'll see to it that I...think about what you said. I wish you luck with your appeal, maybe I need some of that Wild Card in me to get mine through." he said, earning a small smile from Courtly.

"Don't worry, I'll make sure you at least get a hearing with the Queen. It's the least I can do, after all I was partly responsible for landing you in here. You wanna play a game of cards? I promise you, I won't play any wild cards." she said, reaching into her sleeve for a deck of cards.

"Eh...why not, I'm not that bad at poker." Joey said, smiling genuinely for the first time in awhile.

 _ **xxx(The Open Ocean)xxx**_

"And that ladies, is how the nine of us were able to save Wonderland and break its curse. It took a lot, but we were able to save the Queen of Hearts, get the Storybook of Legends back and give everyone their pages." Blake said, finally finishing his story.

The three young mermaids were looking at him with awe, making him grin happily. They had been hanging out for awhile, listening to his tales from Ever After High, including his adventure in Wonderland. To say they were enthralled was putting it lightly. They, especially Maya had been hanging on his every word, leaning so far forward in their seats that they had almost fallen. They had also tried soda for the first time and so far they had drank several cans of Mountain Dew, littering the glass table in front of them.

"Wow...I can't believe it...you're a hero!" Meeshell said, clasping her hands in front of herself, her eyes glittering in amazement.

"Please tell me you have Excalibur with you? Can I see it? Can I hold it? You have to let me hold it, please!" Maya cried, earning a laugh from the boy.

"Sorry sweetie, I don't have Excalibur with me. It's back at the Beach House. I didn't exactly feel the need to bring it with me, I'm not exactly fighting monsters out here."

"Still, learning that you are in fact the son of the Evil Queen is quite the shock...seeing your page with your signature on it. You are so much more different than I thought, wouldn't you become evil by signing it?" Coral asked, causing the boy to shrug.

"Yeah, I suppose you would. In fact, the influx of magic did nearly drive me to the dark side. My sister Raven almost killed Courtly when her magic took over her. But I was able to snap out of it, she has a good heart, filled with more light than darkness. We vowed to use our dark magic for good instead of evil. Though it comes with varying results." he admitted, rubbing his neck in embarrassment.

"Wow, so you really can change your destiny. You don't have to play your role if you don't want, momma was right! Hey, does that mean I'll get to sign my page too? All of us got it weeks ago!" Maya asked, earning a smile from the boy.

"If that's what you want, you can sign it. But all you will get is a part in your sister's tale, after all Meeshell is the next Little Mermaid, technically speaking, it should be you. It was the youngest who was the Little Mermaid last time. Does that mean tales change here?"

"I'm not sure...I don't exactly know how the Storybook of Legends works. My mom did go to Atlantica Junior High before heading to Ever After High to finish her studies. Perhaps she knows more than she lets on." Meeshell replied, rubbing her chin in thought.

"As long as I can choose not to be evil, I'm entirely happy. I want to write my own destiny after all, if the son and daughter of the Evil Queen can do it, then so can I!"

"Why don't you want to be the next Sea Witch Coral? I mean, aside from hurting Meeshell of course. Is there another reason you don't want to fulfill your role?" Blake asked curiously. She sighed, giving him a nod.

"My mom is a little weird, she uses her magic to help folks out. But those who don't will often times lose their voices to her. She only takes people's souls when they're valuable. She has a collection of voices, both human and merfolk. She's trying to find the perfect voice so that she can become a famous singer."

"That's not creepy in the slightest."

"I know right? Whenever we swim past her house, you can always hear them screaming. It gives me goosebumps every time!" Maya said, having grabbed her bowl of ice cream, taking a bite from it, shivering from the cold.

"Well then Coral, I truly hope you find your Happily Ever After. I know you will, when you turn fifteen, we'll welcome you into Ever After High with open arms. In fact, if you two are interested, I can take your files to Headmaster Grimm. He's always eager to meet new fairytales, and twist their mentality so they follow their destiny." he said, earning a vigorous nod from Coral.

"Oh yes! I'd love to go to Ever After High, it sounds like such a fun place! What about you Meeshell?"

"Um...I dunno...I'll think about it. I've never been in a place with a lot of humans before, or away from the sea. I don't think I would be welcome in a place like that." she said, sounding a bit sad. Blake chuckled, placing a hand on her shoulder, causing her to look up at him. He gave her a smile.

"Hey, there's no need to be scared. You'll be among friends, I know tons of people who would just adore you! Lizzie would definitely start an entire fashion line based on your story. Apple, Briar and Ashlynn would totally like you too, and I'm sure Blondie won't stop pestering you until you agree to an interview."

"An interview? You're friend is a reporter? Oh...that doesn't sound like a good idea. I don't want everyone to look at me like that, it would be so embarrassing!" she said, looking down at the floor.

"Don't worry Blake, she's just nervous whenever she's out of the water. She gets shy, but she's a really awesome sister, and she has a beautiful voice. Hey, you two sing, can you sing a song together?" Maya asked.

"Maybe...I mean, I am working on something right now. It's a shame too, I would love to take you back to the Beach House. We have an entire set up in the ballroom, instruments and even a recording booth. We're in the process of recording our newest album, which will be part of the movie we're filming."

"Newest album? How many albums do you have?" Coral asked curiously, earning a grin from the boy.

"We have three. There's our first album, which is an EP titled, Set it Free, which includes our most popular songs, Set It All Free, Somebody, Strike Back and our cover of Hysteria, a song from Earth. Then there's our first studio album, Shatter Me, which was the best selling album from an indie high school band. And then our most recent one was called Hearts on Fire, which released on June 22nd."

"Shatter Me? That sounds familiar...I remember mom tuning into a concert from Ever After High, and there was a song that was played with that name." Meeshell said.

"Yup, that was us. The Winter Formal, our band name is Purple Rhapsody, I didn't think Atlantican People enjoyed our music so much. That's a testament to our hard work, and I am proud of that!"

"Purple Rhapsody, you guys are legendary back home. Everyone who's anyone has your music, mom had to go to the surface to create special pods with your music in it, because we can't have technology down there. This is so cool, now you have to sing something with big sis, trust me, her voice will be amazing in any of your songs!"

"Maya, it's okay. They're busy enough as it is, I couldn't impose, besides that's too much for me. We're here to help get him home, not record a song with him." Meeshell said, earning a frown from Maya.

"Hmm...I think we can squeeze her into one of our songs. Song number 11 in our new album, we need someone to sing back up. If you are up for it, I can talk to Melody to record it. It's the only one we haven't worked on, because her father has to record his part. We try to do it all in one take so we don't have to waste time with editing."

"That would be so cool, though I guess people would be confused. They would probably start wondering who's voice that was...which would bring more attention to the song now that I think about it." Coral said, adopting a pensive look.

"A-anyway...I think we should just focus on getting Blake back to his friends. How exactly will we get back?" Meeshell asked curiously.

"Actually, would you mind if I visited Atlantica? I sort of have this list that I want to fulfill in my life time. Snow White is my sister, so I already met her, I met Cinderella, Aurora, Alice, the Queen of Hearts, Peter Pan, Tinkerbell, Red Riding Hood, Maid Marion, the White Queen, Jack B. Nimble, the Cheshire Chat, Jack Horner and Odette. Ariel is on that list too, and I wanted to meet her, especially if Arista is there." the boy said, a slight flush on his face.

"Arista?"

"Why do you wanna meet Auntie Arista, Blake? Do you find her cute maybe?" Maya asked.

"Uh...let me explain. Back on Earth, all of your stories have been adapted into movies for people to watch, and even Television series. Arista was always the cutest out of the bunch, and she can definitely play a saxophone. Ideally, I would want to meet all six of your aunts, if possible."

"Good luck with that. Attina has a family, which was why she couldn't take over Atlantica, Andrina wasn't interested, and is somewhere across the globe. Aquata is on land, Adella is a pop star sensation, Alana is getting married soon and Arista...well she owns a bar in Atlantica if you wanna meet her." Coral said.

"Are you sure you don't have a crush on auntie Arista? I mean she's only twenty eight, you can totally date her if you want."

"No, it isn't that Maya, besides I have a girlfriend. She just seemed like the easy going one of the bunch, since Ariel was obsessed with going to the human world...anyway, the question stands. Do you mind if I go back with you? I understand if you disagree, it's totally fine." he said.

"Oh, it's no issue bringing you back. It's just...Atlantica is very far in the ocean, farther than any human can swim normally. You'd probably drown if we took you with us." Meeshell said, a look of concern on her face. Blake frowned, leaning back in his seat.

"Right, I totally forgot that...if isn't as if I can conjure up a tail either." he said.

"Yes you can." Coral said, causing Meeshell and Maya to look at her.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Well, I'm the daughter of the Sea Witch, I have her magic running through my veins. I can easily give him a tail, but it would cost him his voice, temporarily of course. I wouldn't want to impose that on him."

"Sorry Coral, but I like my voice. Without it, I wouldn't be able to say things like Waterloo or pistachio or she sells seashells by the seashore." he replied, causing the three to groan.

"Um...not to scare anyone, but there's a floating smile behind Blake...it's weirding me out." Maya said, pointing just past the boy. He turned around, blinking a few times when he saw the smile. He sighed with relief, standing up from his seat.

"Kitty, no need to by shy. How long have you been standing there?"

"Not long, I got here just before you started talking about this Arista girl. You better not be leaving me for her, I'll be really mad. And you know how vengeful cats are." she said, dropping her invisibility, causing the three mermaids to gasp in surprise.

"You know I wouldn't trade for the world."

"D-d-did she just...a-appear out of thin air?" Maya cried, shaking slightly in fear.

"Oh, yeah she did. Girls, this is Kitty Cheshire, the daughter of the Cheshire Cat, and my girlfriend. She was one of the girls who helped me save Wonderland." he said, pushing the girl forward.

"Hello, it's very nice to meet you. Meeting new people always makes this kitty purr, you all look so adorable, especially you in the middle." she said, giving Meeshell a wink. She flushed, glancing at the floor.

"Stop flirting Kitty, it isn't appropriate. Anyway, these girls are all characters from _The_ _Little_ _Mermaid._ Meeshell and Maya are sisters, with Meeshell being the next Little Mermaid, and this is Coral, daughter of the Sea Witch." the boy said. The three girls waved shyly, earning a wave in return from Kitty.

"I'm so glad you are alright honey, everyone back home is worried. We tried keeping it under wraps, but it won't be long until people find out. Daring and Dexter are out here looking for you and the boat. Daring taught me a few things to at least get it back to the island."

"That wouldn't be ideal...the boat struck a reef, so it can't be moved...in fact, it might be taking in water as we speak." Meeshell said, as if on cue, the boat tipped slightly, the list to Starboard becoming more apparent.

"Yeah, this puppy is going down."

"Well, maybe we can just teleport home then...everyone is worried sick." she said, earning a frown from the boy.

"I would love to go home, but I want to go to Atlantica too. Call me a little selfish, but I wanna go there now. Everything will be fine, all you have to do is go back and tell them I'm fine." he said.

"There's still the issue of the tail though...how are we gonna get him a tail?" Coral asked curiously.

"Oh oh! I got it, Meeshell can just take mom's trident! It has a lot of magic, and it was the way granddad was able to give her legs. She can just give Blake a tail, he can visit Atlantica and we can transform him back. It's foolproof!" Maya said.

"Oh...I dunno, I had considered it myself. But mom would be mad if we took the trident without asking. Maybe we can make this a formal affair, you know mom is always eager to make new friends...if only we had a lifeboat." Meeshell said, a sigh escaping her lips.

"There should be a jetski or two still left aboard. If we take those then we can bring you close to Atlantica, remain on the surface until your mom comes back. Besides the boat is going to sink so it's best if we hurry." Kitty said, heading toward the bridge.

"Right, come on...we have to go down to the garage, its aft toward the engine room." Blake said, heading toward the staterooms, followed by the three mermaids.

"Oh wait...if there's water down there, then our tails will come back. These clothes will be useless...I think we should take them off, just in case." Coral said, causing Blake to stop. He snapped his fingers, sending a wave of magic directly at their garments, making them glow violet for a second before it returned to normal.

"There, now your clothes are enchanted to disappear when you have a tail, and reappear when you are land. No need to worry!" he said, giving them a wink.

"Wow, magic is so cool!" Maya said, a look of amazement on her face.

Blake reached the last door in the hallway and pulled it open, grabbing a hold of the handrails as he walked down. He turned the corner once he had made it to the bottom deck, seeing the water had been nearing the back of the boat. It was sinking rather rapidly now, down by the head if he had to guess. He continued onward to the engine room, the sound of the garage doors whirling open filled the entire room.

Once inside, they headed through to the garage area, seeing a bit of water in the pool area where the two Jetskis were. Blake gestured for the girls to go ahead of him while he climbed aboard one of the jetskis, pressing the on switch. He revved the engine a few times, causing it to shoot a bit of water into the air. Meeshell, who was the only one who remained looked at it in awe.

"What is this? I know it's called a jetski, but what is it for?"

"Well...it's kinda like a boat, but for one person. It's hard to explain, basically this lets you zoom around on the water without having to use a boat. You can actually go really fast on one of these, and normally there would be a law against how fast you can go. But none of us really follow them." he replied.

"Blake, the water was starting to reach the living room, the boat is starting to tip forward." Kitty said, after she flashed into the room. She climbed onto the second jetski, starting it without issue.

"Meeshell, it would be best for you to go on ahead. I wouldn't want you to get hurt, we are gonna blast out of here." Blake said, earning a nod from the pinkette, who ran out the garage door, jumping into the water.

A second or two later, Blake and Kitty drove out of the boat, just as the garage started to fill with water. They stopped shortly after, frowning at the sight of the vessel as it had started going under. The area around the bow was already under water. Blake patted the bag at his side, glad that he had grabbed it before the ship started going under. He shook his head, glancing at the mermaids who were floating beside them.

"Well, lead the way. No point in staying here, I'll have to explain to my friend that I was the one who ruined his boat. I'm sure I can pay him back somehow."

"You know Daring will understand. It wasn't your fault that the boy went adrift after all." Kitty noted.

"No..it was my fault. I was the one pressing buttons last night, so I'll take full responsibility and pay him back. I'll probably have to go out on land, and work my tail off, but I will. That's a solemn swear, promise." Coral replied, a firm but sad look on her face.

"Aw, don't let this sour our mood. Come on, Atlantica is this way, let's see if those silly water cycles can keep up with natural born talent!" Maya cried. She gave a shrill whistle, a second later a pair of dolphins breached the surface, crying loudly in joy.

"Hey not fair! You can't just summon dolphins out of the blue like that! It's not fair!"

"Come on Kitty, let them. Dolphins are pretty fast, but we're faster, so I don't mind a little race. And trust me, this one isn't gonna be like the one back on Crystal Peak." he said, releasing his hold on the brakes. He cracked his knuckles, twisting on the throttle turning sharply in the direction the mermaids and their dolphins were swimming.

Meanwhile beneath the waves, a certain Sea Witch was keeping her eyes on the group of five. She had been watching them for awhile, ever since her daughter had run across them. Flotsam and Jetsam had informed her of quite a lot of things, but seeing it all in person was even better. She let out a small smirk as she stared at her cauldron, wringing her hands a bit as she stared at the fumes coming from them.

"So, that boy is in a band eh? And he's not that bad at singing, that little snippet of song is actually quite interesting. That means he's got a handsome voice. A voice that's prime for the picking." she said, a grin appearing on her face. She turned to her eels, giving them a nod.

"Flotsam and Jetsam, you need to keep an eye on them. They'll be heading to Atlantica, when you have the chance, you bring the boy to me. But first you have to capture the girl, his oh so precious girlfriend...she'll be our leverage on getting his voice. When we do, step to our of plot will begin." Ursula said, earning two sharp cries from the eels, who shot into the distance. She turned back to her bookshelf, seeing all of the shells containing other voices.

"Hmm...in order to fool him, I'll have to adopt a new persona. Thankfully, I can mask my voice, Ariel may have gotten away with hers..but this one isn't." she said, glancing toward the souls she had strapped and turned into slugs.

"Ah, you all look at me like I'm crazy? After all this time, you wanna make another go at the trident? Why yes, yes I do. Triton isn't there anymore, he isn't the ruler of the seas, it's just pathetic little Ariel. She may be an adult, but she is still a child! I shall rule the seas, me, Ursula the Sea Witch! It was my throne, Poseidon is my father just as well as he was Triton's! So the seas rightfully belong to me!"

She grabbed several ingredients from her shelf, tossing them into the cauldron, causing an explosion of violet and blue mist. She grabbed one of the shells on her shelf, cracking it like an egg. The golden light that came from it flowed into the cauldron with a loud yet beautiful scream. She stirred it with her wooden spoon, holding her hand up crackling with magic.

"Dark winds from the Caspian sea, Black waters from the Mariana trench, make this potion turn me into a wench! Add in some beauty, add in some spice, my voice irresistible will make everything nice! And with this, that trident shall be mine!" she said, laughing maniacally as she threw the ball of magic into the cauldron.

Once she had stirred it, she grabbed a nearby ladle and spooned some into a glass. She stared at the bubbling violet liquid, a grin on her face as she pressed it to her lips, drinking the concoction in one go. She let out a pained scream, dropping the glass which shattered on the rocks below. She started screaming as the potion took effect, changing her horrible voice to a very beautiful, dulcet tone, her skin and bones felt like they were being broken and stretched. Rather than continue screaming, they evolved into a shrill laugh as her potion entered the final phase of the transformation. All the while, the souls she had trapped watched in awe and fear of the Sea Witch's terrifying power.

 _ **xxx**_

"Well, this is it. The area right below us is where Atlantica sits, about a mile or so under the water. Maya and Meeshell went ahead of us to speak with Queen Ariel, so I suppose I'll keep the two of you company for now." Coral said, shyly looking away from the two.

"Wow...there really is nothing here. Just...water, this is a bad place for kitties like me. My paws are gonna get all wet!"

"Oh come on, you can swim perfectly fine. I am ashamed though, you don't have your swimsuit on, and you look nice in it." Blake said, giving her a wink. She flushed brightly, giving him a grin.

"You two...really love each other don't you? I wish I had a relationship like you two do."

"Aw, sweetheart...one day you will. A nice strong merman will sweep you off your tail, you'll get married, have lots of kids and live happily ever after!"

"I really do hope that happens Kitty. Sadly since I'm the daughter of the Sea Witch, no one wants to even speak to me. Who would speak to someone like me? I'm ugly, my skin is blue and my mother is a horrible person."

"Hey don't say that! You are a beautiful young woman, with lots of amazing qualities, I'm sure of it. You look adorable, and skin color shouldn't matter. Our friend Bunny has pink skin, and our other friend Crystal has light blue skin due to her ice magic. Things like that shouldn't and don't matter. If you can't find a man in the sea, then you'll definitely find one on land." Blake said, earning a nod from Kitty.

"Blake is right, I mean look at me. My skin has a light lavender tone due to my mom, but we are totally in love. Those are trivial things that shouldn't matter. As for your lineage? Look at Blake, son of the Evil Queen, and he was still able to swoon the ladies with ease." the girl said, earning a sigh from the boy.

"I wouldn't say swoon, two clingy girls isn't swooning the ladies. They like me because of the good things I did, and how I helped them."

"So...Blake is the Evil Queen's son and he has throngs of girls after him. What's your secret? What can I do to get a throng of girls after me? Uh...guys, I meant guys!" Coral said, correcting her mistake, a light pink flush on her cheeks.

"Well, you need to have confidence. Guys and girls love when people are confident, and without it well...I guess your shyness is attractive. Just don't be scared to do things out of your comfort zone. Don't belittle yourself, and always smile. Guys totally like girls who smile, and this one right here, likes girls with blue eyes."

"Yeah, it just so happens that most of my friends have blue eyes. Except the few that have brown eyes and the fewer that have green eyes. Honestly, it isn't just eye color, what makes me like a person is how they act. If they have a beautiful personality, are kind and generous and gentle, then you'll get a chance. Hell, even someone like our friend Faybelle would get a chance, she may be evil but I can see there's good in her too." Blake said, earning a frown from Kitty.

"Oh, is that how it is? You wanna trade me for her? I get it, it's because she's flexible, because she's a cheerleader and she's a fairy. I'm sorry I can't be who you want me to be!" Kitty cried, earning a sigh from the boy.

"Blake, you shouldn't have said something like that! You hurt her feelings!" Coral scolded.

"No...that's just Kitty being Kitty. Trust me, this one will tease you for anything, prank you when you least expect it and just generally make your day a living nightmare. But she's still cute, awesome and an excellent kisser!"

"Aw...thank you honey. I love you too!" the daughter of the Cheshire Cat said, blowing him a kiss.

"Oh, I get it...you just go back and forth with each other because she's mischievous. Okay, I'll keep that for reference...now, what about kissing? When do you do it?"

"That's all on you, if you wanna go ahead and kiss on the first date, that's fine. If you like a person and they're dense like I was, just go for it. I remember my ex-girlfriend Cerise, literally kissed some sense into me." he said, earning a giggle from Kitty.

"Yup, I remember you telling me that one. I prefer the sweet and gentle kiss, or the surprise kiss. Or when you wake up in the morning after a night of hot passionate sex and you two just kiss for no reason. Those are the best ones."

"Oh my god, here we go...you and the damn sex. We haven't even been at that stage yet, so how would you know about it? Wait...you haven't had sex yet, right?"

"Hmm...nope. I want you to be my first, even though I won't be your first, oh yeah that's right...I know...I know a lot about you. What your Prince Albert looks like, and who he's been inside. You thought I was asleep, but I wasn't...I was there, and I was watching." she said, causing him to go wide eyed.

"Seriously...okay, we'll talk about this later. This is not the time to fucking speak about this!"

"Um, Blake...Kitty...what's sex?" Coral asked, causing the two to look at the young mermaid, eyes wide in surprise.

"You...don't know what sex is?"

"No...should I? I mean if it was important, my mom would have told me right?"

"Oh sweetheart, it's been such a long time since I met someone so innocent. I'm gonna break her mind...listen up Coral, when a man and a woman love each other very much, they often times get hitched. During the wedding night, the man will..."

"Kitty, shut your fucking mouth, or so help me I will drown you!" Blake snapped, earning a giggle from the girl, who covered her mouth with her dainty hand.

"Aw...and I was getting to the sexy part."

"Seriously, you two are just confusing me. I think I'll just ask Meeshell what it is...she seems to know. Maybe if it's fun, we can all have sex together."

"Don't...just don't say that." Blake said, trying to ignore the loud laughter that erupted from his girlfriend, who did her best to stay on her jet ski.

A few moments later, they saw Maya and Meeshell breach the surface a few feet from where they were. Along with them came someone Blake never thought he would ever meet. He gasped in awe, a smile splitting his face from ear to ear. Before him was the Queen of Atlantica, and one of his favorite characters when he was growing up. The previous Little Mermaid, Ariel. Her crimson hair and blue eyes were just as bright as he remembered. There were a few differences from the Disney version he was used to, like the slightly darker skin tone, and a few blemishes on her face, but she still looked just like that. He often wondered how it was that Disney and Ever After could be so similar yet so different in so many ways.

"Well, I was expecting a big group of people Meeshell. The way you said, it sounded like you had more friends."

"Sorry mom, I guess I was a little excited. This is Blake, we met on his friend's boat, which sunk because I wasn't fast enough to let him know about the reef. The girl is Kitty, his girlfriend, she's the daughter of the Cheshire Cat."

"And Blake is the son of the Evil Queen, but he's really nice! He gave me ice cream, and soda and promised to let me hold Excalibur." Maya cried excitedly.

"Oh, he did, did he? Well if you say he's a good person then I believe you. You look familiar, have we met somewhere?" Ariel asked curiously.

"Me? I...no. This is our first time meeting, huge fan by the way...you look exactly how I imagined. I have so many questions for you, so I do hope you can answer them."

"Of course, just as long as you indulge my curiosity. If you know about me, then you know how curious I can truly be. Though I can't shake this feeling that we met somewhere...are you sure we didn't pass each other on land?"

"Ah, Miss Ariel...I think I know where you say Blake! Did you see Ever After High's Winter Concert? He's the lead guitarist for Purple Rhapsody, so you might have seen some of their music videos." Kitty said. She narrowed her eyes a bit, gasping in realization.

"You are! Oh, this is such an honor! I was totally floored by your performance in the Winter Concert, and that music video for the song Heavy was amazing, and very sad too. Especially when I found out it was a tribute to a person that had passed away."

"Yeah, Chuck Bennington was a legend. Linkin Park and Fall Out Boy carried me through some depressing times. But that's all behind me, a lot has happened in my short life. And I want to use music as a way to pave a new road, so I can share the same songs that helped me with the people of Ever After. If one song inspires a person, if one song saves a person, then I know all of my hard work means something." he said.

"Wow...I didn't think you loved music that much." Meeshell said, giving him a warm smile.

"I can see you truly do like music. Perhaps a sampling of our musical culture will inspire you, I don't normally do this. But since you are friends of Meeshell and Maya, I think I'll allow it this once. Tell me, how well do you know how to swim?" Ariel asked.

"Very well in fact, my friend Gloriosa forced me to learn. We practice a sport called parkour, and sometimes you gotta run from the authorities. If that means swimming down stream to get away, then get ready to jump off a bridge." he said, giving her a grin.

"Despite being a kitty who dislikes water, Blake refined my swimming. I'm still learning, but I can handle myself just fine." Kitty added, earning a nod from the redheaded queen.

"I suppose if you are ready, then I shall give you temporary tails. You'll be our guests in Atlantica for the day. I'm sure my people and friends would love to meet two land dwellers." she said, raising her trident out of the water.

"Whoa wait...this isn't gonna hurt right? We aren't getting stretched?" Blake asked.

"No...it's just a bit of a tingle, trust me...you'll actually find it pleasant."

"That doesn't sound good." Kitty said, ignoring the queen's playful laugh. A wave of rainbow colored light flowed across the water toward the two teenagers flowing up their bodies.

They watched as their legs started shimmering brightly, slowly changing into tails. Their clothes disappeared entirely, their legs being replaced by scales. The light slowly died down, allowing the teenagers to glance down at their new appendage. Blake brushed his hand where his one of his legs used to be, feeling the new scales that covered his new tail. His tail was colored in a light sky blue, shimmering slightly, almost like Meeshell's tail. Kitty meanwhile had a violet tail, matching her pigtails, she was also wearing a bright red clam shell bra covering her modestly sized chest, while he was shirtless now.

"Well, I gotta say, you are quite the chiseled young man. I can see you do like your exercise. If you have Excalibur then you must train on a daily basis correct?" Ariel asked, her eyes tracing the boy's muscles.

"I do, even when I'm on vacation...a knight must always be ready to defend their charge. Since my friend Lizzie named me her personal retainer, I have to train hard. Of course, my friend Darling, her other retainer, is way better with a sword than I am." he said, earning a giggle from Kitty.

"Are you serious? You are a force to be reckoned with! You chopped a guy's head off with a sword, that makes you a way better knight than anyone else in our school."

"You did what?" Maya cried, earning a sigh from the boy.

"I can explain, it has to do with the Neverland curse that we all broke. This bad man, the son of Bluebeard, named Felipe...ended up kidnapping our friend Apple White, my step-niece. He cursed all of Neverland with darkness, attacked our school, killed people...he needed to be stopped. I'll tell you all in detail later, just know that when someone you love is in danger, sometimes death is inevitable, I mean...I did get stabbed twice in Wonderland after all." he said, tracing the wound Excalibur had made.

"I would like to hear everything from you Blake, you are quite the interesting young man. Come on, I'll guide you all down to Atlantica, I promise you it will be a wonderful time." Ariel said. Blake and Kitty wasted no time in jumping into the water, diving below the waves.

 **A/N: Sorry for pulling your dicks, five chapters and we finally get to the sea. I promise next chapter will finally be the one where Blake and Kitty see Atlantica for the first time...and ladies...I guess, sorry for pulling your tits? Or hair...yeah let's go with that. I'm wearing gloves by the way.**


	96. The World Under the Sea V

**A/N:**

 **Hey all you people! Welcome to Chapter 96 of Through the Looking Glass, this will be the fifth part of The World Under the Sea. I have in fact just finished chapter 100 and let's say, it's gonna be steamy, hopefully you all look forward to that. Afterwards, I shall begin Chapter 101 and I still haven't decided what exactly I will make it about. I have been considering the crossover idea with one of my other stories, but in order for it to work, I would have to progress that story to a point where I would be able to cross post chapters to make sure each story made sense, but at that point, you'd have to read that story for it all to make sense and for you to understand where this character comes from and I really don't wanna put you all through that. So I might just go on with the next arc of the story, which will start with the Point of View of a new character, in fact most of that arc is planned to be in someone else's point of view. It might feel sort of like a side story, and I guess that's what I'm aiming for.**

 **After that of course comes the Dragon Games arc, which will then lead into Epic Winter, and you all know that after that I will be riding on the originality train until the eventual end of this story. It's gonna be fun, I'm actually rewatching a lot of my childhood shows and reliving my childhood so it's been a train of nostalgia for me for most of the week. Although it's been hard finding these shows on the internet but nothing is ever easy, especially when it comes to research. You never find what you need and when you do you don't need it. That's how life works I guess...**

 **Anyway, I hope you guys like this chapter, you all finally get to visit the underwater realm of Atlantica, you know after six chapters. Yeah you all finally get to see what is it like for Blake and Kitty to be under the sea as Merfolk. In the next few chapters you all get to see more of that. As for the three chapter post once we reach chapter 97, whatever day I decide to do that, I will be posting each chapter at different times, but you will all get three chapters on that day, to finally reach 100 chapters. In fact, Chapter 100 happens to be the finale of this arc, so you all get to finish this arc on chapter 100. I might take a bit of a break after that from posting to rework the next arc's plot a bit. I really want to do a cross over into another series for a bit, so we can see Blake and a few others in a different world and in a different situation. But I truthfully don't know which one, and no I'm not doing a Monster High crossover, I don't really feel comfortable writing anything crossing into that series because I'm still not...well I still don't like it very much, so I don't feel like writing something I don't like, that's like being taken to a fancy restaurant and being limited to E'Scargot because it's the special and your mom ordered for you. It's like forcing that horrible medicine when you were sick as a kid...not really fun. So I will be avoiding it as much as possible.**

 **Well...I'll see you all later, I shall now prepare for The Walking Dead, which I said I wasn't gonna watch, but I'm too invested into to actually quit...yeah...season 9 is looking like a trainwreck and we haven't finished 8, by far the lowest point the series has gone. But dammit, I will stick with it until the bitter end, just like I did with Fairy Tail despite it's shitty fucking ending.**

 **Song Used In this Chapter: Part of Your World, from the Little Mermaid**

Key: Regular Text: Blake singing

 _Italics: Ariel Singing_

 _ **Bold Italics: Ariel and Blake singing**_

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 96

The World Under the Sea V

It hadn't been long since Blake and Kitty had transitioned from their human bodies into their mermaid ones. It had been a little odd at first, but thanks to Meeshell he had been able to learn rather quickly how to swim with a tail. It wasn't that much of a change from normal swimming, and he in fact went further than before. Kitty had been struggling a bit, as she hadn't been a great swimmer in her human form, but Maya had been teaching her too and she had also gotten the hang of it. It was an amazing feeling to be swimming through the ocean and being able to breathe, as well as see clearly without the aid of magic. Blake had been amazed by it all, all of the beautiful coral formations, the schools of fish swimming about and the other larger animals dashing around in the water. He was glad his MirrorPhone was water proof and had an upgraded underwater lens, because he would have been disappointed if he hadn't been able to record his journey like he had done in Wonderland.

Queen Ariel had been playing tour guide on their way to Atlantica, showing the two visitors all of the places she liked. It had been a bit odd hearing most of the information she was going share from the black haired lad. He had tried his hardest not to say anything, but after awhile he couldn't help himself, and Ariel just giggled every time he beat her to the punch. He was a knowledgeable young man who know more about her than anyone else in the world, even her own husband at one point. They had stopped for a break in an area near Atlantica, the glowing golden lights being visible from a distance, they were about a half mile from the underwater kingdom now.

Blake recognized that area of the kingdom, it was a place that Ariel often times liked to come to to be by herself. It was a small area with rising blue walls and a large smooth rock near the bottom. Long stalks of seaweed grew from the tops of the rocky walls, being stuck to the walls. Maya had been munching on a few leaves, trying and failing to convince Kitty to eat a piece of it. The daughter of the Cheshire Cat had made it abundantly clear that she wasn't interested. Coral had been playing with a few fish that were nearby, Angel Fish if he had to guess. She didn't really speak much since Ariel had shown up. Meeshell had stuck close to her mother, aiding in her tour guiding as they swam to Atlantica.

"So Blake, are you enjoying yourself so far? You look like you've been dropped in the middle of Wonderland." Ariel said, earning a chuckle from the boy.

"Do I? Sorry, I've always wanted to come down here. You see, back on Earth there was this show called The Little Mermaid, which was based on your adventures before your story began. Atlantica seemed like such a fun place to be, and I was always entertained by the shenanigan of the week."

"Really? People on Earth know all about us?" Meeshell asked, earning a slight nod from the boy.

"There are some notable differences between stories, but it is all mostly the same. I like to call Earth Realm the _Real World_ since you know, we live in Ever After, a place for Fairytales. There are various versions, but the most popular ones are the ones done by Walt Disney, he brought them all to life. It's odd, the stories here seem to be a mix from the original version and the Disney version, especially the Little Mermaid." he said, explaining a bit of his old world's stories. Ariel and Meeshell shared a look, both of them looking quite confused.

"Hmm...what else do you know about us then?" Ariel asked curiously, causing the boy to cross his arms, glancing up at the surface, almost two miles above his head.

"Let's see, your father King Triton banned music for several years. It was after a Pirate ship tried to catch you all. They were attracted by your mother's singing, and tragically you lost her in that attack. I remember you met a young fish named Flounder who you followed to this underground music bar, lead by Sebastian who had repeatedly told you not to make music because it was illegal."

"Oh wow, that is all so totally true. Sebastian always talks about the good old days, and how he was the main act in that club. Auntie Arista decided to revive it and it's doing so well now!" Meeshell cried out, a look of happiness on her face. Ariel however was quite surprised at the detail the boy had given her. She had come to terms with the loss of her mother years ago, but the old club was a rather fond memory of hers.

"Okay, what else do you know about my life?"

"Well...there was this other thing, well...in my world, there is a sequel story to The Little Mermaid, which takes place twelve years after the original story. Ursula's sister, wants revenge on you and Prince Eric for killing her sister. So she tricks your daughter Melody into coming back into the ocean so she can kill her. But as far as I know, that hasn't taken place here."

"I do have a younger sister named Melody, she's sixteen years old. But I don't remember her doing all of that. Plus we would know if Ursula had a sister right mom?"

"That's right, it seems that's where our worlds differ. Still it is quite intriguing knowing that another world knows so much about us. Yet this world seems to work on its own, how fascinating." Ariel said, a look of wonder on her face. Blake chuckled a bit, a smile appearing on his lips.

"There's a smile I'm familiar with. That look of wonder and curiosity, reminds me of my friend Lizzie when we all went back to Wonderland."

"Oh Blake, you should totally sing her that song! You know, the song she sings in her grotto? It would totally blow her mind!" Kitty said, finally getting away from Maya, who looked annoyed that she hadn't tried the seaweed.

"Song, what song?" Meeshell asked, earning a chuckle from the boy.

"Well, Disney movies back in Earth Realm are known for two things, amazing animation and stories, and their music. Each movie has a few songs which brings more action into the movie. There's one song in particular that is my favorite out of the movie, it's one Ariel sings in her grotto. When she dreams of going to the surface." Blake said, causing Meeshell to look at her mother, who had a warm smile on her face.

"I remember that song, it's been quite a long time since I've sung it. Would you mind, singing a bit of it?" she asked.

"It would be an honor." he said happily, sitting down on the large rock in the center of their rest stop.

"Look at this stuff, isn't it neat?

Wouldn't you say my collection's complete?

Wouldn't you think I'm the girl, the girl who has everything?

Look at this trove, treasures untold

How man wonders can one cavern hold?

Looking around here you think, sure

She's got everything!

I got gadgets and gizmos a-plenty

I got whozits and whatzits galore

You want thingamabobs? I got twenty!

But who cares, no big deal, I want more!"

Blake opened his eyes, about to continue the next part of the song when Ariel beat him to the punch. She set her trident on her lap, having sat down next to the boy.

" _I wanna be, where the people are_

 _I wanna see, wanna see them dancin'_

 _Walking around on those_

 _What do you call'em? Oh-feet!_

 _Flipping your fins you don't get too far_

 _Legs are required for jumping, dancing_

 _Strolling along down a...what's the word again?_

 _Street!"_

"Up where they walk, up where they run,

Up where they stay all day in the sun!

Wondering free, wish I cold be, part of that world!

What would I give, if I could live out of these waters?

What would I pay, to spend a day, warm on the sand?"

" _Betcha on land, they understand_

 _That they don't reprimand_

 _Their daughters!_

 _Proper women, sick of swimmin'_

 _Ready to stand!"_

" _ **And ready to know, what the people know!**_

 _ **Ask them my questions and get some answers!**_

 _ **What's a fire and why does it, what's the word?**_

 _ **Burn!**_

 _ **When's it my turn, wouldn't I love, love**_

 _ **To explore that shore up above?**_

 _ **Out of the sea...wish I could be, part of that world!"**_

As the two finished their duet, the girls started clapping loudly, pulling them both out of their trance. Blake blushed brightly bowing his head in embarrassment, while Ariel just smiled placing her hand on his shoulder. It had been awhile since she had heard someone with a voice like his, especially a young man. Most of her daughters were good singers, but her sons didn't enjoy singing much, except Machiavelli who seemed to have picked up rap as of late. She was quite impressed with his talent.

"You've got an amazing voice Blake, I can tell you truly do love singing. Do you practice a lot?"

"Almost every night, my friend Melody helps me with vocal exercises. She's the daughter of the Pied Piper so she knows best when it comes to singing. She coached me and Cupid for our band, and is finally getting our friend Cerise to sing a little more." he admitted.

"She's doing an amazing job Blake! I heard part of a song you were writing when you were on that boat, and it was pretty good. But your vocal range is wonderful, and you complimented my mom's voice so well." Maya said, causing the boy to flush even more.

"Well look at that Blakey, you're getting fans in the ocean. You better not leave me for any of them, or I swear I'll turn in to a nasty kitty!" his girlfriend teased, earning a huff from the boy.

"Trust me, you are enough to handle as it is. I doubt I'll leave you for someone else, I love you too much."

"I have to say though, for someone so young you've got quite the talent. Would you be willing to play something down here for my subjects? If you'd like I could bring the rest of your band down here. Music is a way of life here, and hearing something from land would be a wonderful experience." Ariel said, earning a vigorous nod from the boy.

"Definitely! We're filming a movie in a few weeks, and got a few songs from the new album down pat. You'll be the first to hear it!" he replied. Ariel gave him a grin, looking quite excited herself.

"I look forward to it, oh this is gonna be so much fun! Let's get on with the tour first, we've got a lot to see. You can both stay in the palace for the night and tomorrow we can go get your friends!"

"Awesome, thanks a lot Queen Ariel. I promise you'll love our music, we've been working very hard these last few weeks." Blake added, earning a giggle from the older mermaid.

"Sweetheart, you can drop the formalities. You may call me Ariel, friends of my daughters are friends of mine." she said, giving the boy a wink.

 _ **xxx(Near the Uninhabited Island)xxx**_

Hunter had decided to team up with Dexter to help search for their missing friend. Along with them they brought Ashlynn who's ability to talk to animals would come in handy. With them came Blondie and Alistair having used the two Jetskis that had been left behind when they had left the island. Daring had rented a boat from the nearby pier for the time being in order to search further out. Thanks to all of the fuel they had packed, they had been able to search further than before, using the Island as a basis. They were currently two nautical miles away from the island, it was visible just over the horizon. Alistair and Blondie had gone ahead of them to scope out the area to see if they could find anything, and had been communicating with them via Walkies that they had brought along just for the occasion.

Ashlynn looked a bit worried, glancing at the water from her spot near the front of the boat. Dexter hadn't been going at max speed as he didn't want to waste fuel nor crash into any rocks, as the area was quite rocky. Hunter had been using his binoculars to look out into the distance, but hadn't spotted anything. The sleek black vessel or the inflatable lifeboat that had come with it. He doubted Blake even knew about it, but he was a smart person so he knew what to do if something happened to the ship. He lowered the binoculars from his ears, rubbing his eyes slightly, glancing over at Ashlynn. He placed a hand on her leg, giving her a reassuring look.

"He'll be fine. Remember, he went through a lot of crap recently, so I'm sure he can handle a few hours alone in a stocked yacht."

"I know, but it seems whenever we try to relax something always happens. After Wonderland, we couldn't even rest and study for the finals before we were dragged into that battle. I know it didn't happen technically, but it still took a lot out of us." she replied, tugging her her bikini top, making sure the strings were firmly tied.

"It'll be fine, it is something that could have happened to anyone. We've got the rest of the summer to relax and stuff. Even with our project, we can all still have fun!" Dexter said, earning a nod from the auburn haired girl, who swept her dyed pink strands behind her ear. The static of his radio caused him to slow down a bit, so the engine wouldn't be picked up on the receiving end. He held it up to his lips, pressing the side button.

"Hey, did you find anything?"

" _Dexter, this is Blondie...me and Alistair split up about a mile ahead. There was a bit of a wider area and he took the right. I was exploring the left most area and...well it isn't good, over."_

"What do you mean it isn't good, what did you find? Over!" Dexter exclaimed, a look of dread on his face. It was silent on the other line for a few seconds, an audible sigh filling the speaker.

" _I found Daring's yacht, it looks like it struck a reef, and it sunk pretty deep. It touched the bottom before the whole thing went under. I was able to make it onto the bridge but no one was inside. I even checked the staterooms and managed to pull some luggage out. But it's a bit of a hard swim...over."_

"Shit." Hunter muttered, bowing his head slightly. Ashlynn took a hold of her radio, biting her bottom lip before speaking.

"Blondie, this is Ashlynn...did you...find him? Over."

" _Heavens no! The boat is completely empty, it looks like there were some others with him though. I found some cans of soda in the living room, along with some dishes that had been left behind. It's safe to assume he abandoned ship when the water started rising. Hurry up, here I'm not that far out, over!"_

"Roger, we're tracking your radio now for the coordinates. Stay outside, we can't risk you getting hurt in there, over and out!" Dexter said, grabbing a hold of the sticks next to the wheel, pushing them forward. Hunter and Ashlynn grabbed onto the sides of the boat as he had pushed it to full speed.

"Where do you think he went? I mean if I was in that spot I would have stayed on the bridge." Hunter said, earning a shrug from Ashlynn.

"There were two jetskis left on board, so he might have taken one. However, Blondie said something that stuck out to me. She said there were several cans of soda in the living room along with some food bowls. Who do you think he was with?"

"Kitty maybe, Raven said she had teleported to the ship." Dexter said.

"Nah, I doubt it...well it's possible. But the way she said it, it made me think that he was with other people. But with who? Who would just come onto a random boat? Maybe rescuers?" Hunter asked curiously, a pensive look on his face.

"I doubt it, Blondie would have run into another boat wouldn't she? So far we haven't seen a single boat. So it couldn't have been rescue, plus Blake doesn't know how to work anything on the ship. So it might be someone else."

"Hmm...if it wasn't another person, and it wasn't Kitty then...who else could have...oh wait of course! Remember that video Blondie showed us? The one with the shimmering tail? That totally belonged to a mermaid! What if Blake actually made contact with them?" Ashlynn asked, earning odd looks from the two boys.

"Mermaids? Blake met a couple of mermaids and let them on the boat?" Hunter said.

"Sounds a little far fetched if you ask me."

"Oh, you two don't believe in anything! It makes total sense, maybe the mermaid who's tail they saw has an interest in him. So maybe he met her and she told him about the boat sinking, and he left on a jetski with her. Maybe she's helping him back to Aquania!"

"Or maybe she's the daughter of the mermaid Queen and she took him to her underwater kingdom! Come on Ash, get real, mermaids are afraid of humans. Do you actually think a couple of them would just hop aboard, partake in some fizzies and just leave?" Hunter said, a look of disbelief on his face.

"Sometimes the world works in amazing ways, you mister have to believe. Trust me, Blake left with a couple of mermaids maybe even with Kitty. I believe in that so much I can taste it!"

"We'll find out soon enough...I just hope Daring has boat insurance, he's gonna have a conniption when we tell him." Dexter said, not at all looking forward to sharing the news with his older brother.

 _ **xxx(Atlantica, the Sea Kingdom)xxx**_

Blake and Kitty were in awe of the kingdom that lay before them. The city of Atlantica was a lot bigger than they had expected. It looked almost like a city would on the surface, with the houses and stores made out of natural rock formations. The streets were smooth and had various forms of underwater plant life and coral formations. The merfolk were swimming around, chatting amicably with one another. Some of the children were swimming around happily, laughing without a care in the world. Beautiful golden lights sat atop ivory posts, which defied all logic in their minds. The most alluring part of the underwater city was the large castle at the very center. Just like he had imagined, it rose from the ground in beautiful towers, connected by bridges and archways, lit up by the glow of magical light. The hustle and bustle of the settlement truly did make it feel alive, everyone was at peace and harmony. It truly looked just like how he had imagined it to be.

"Okay, out of the realms I've visited in my time here, Atlantica is high on the list. Number two in fact." Blake said, a look of wonder on his face.

"What's number one?" Maya asked curiously, causing Kitty to giggle, ruffling her hair.

"Wonderland of course, he was totally in love with my home for far longer than anyone else. It's quite the story, which we'll tell you later on...I'm sure you know how we all saved it already."

"I do, Blake told me, MeeMee and Cora earlier today. Hey Blake, how come no one knew you were the Evil Queen's son for a long time?" she asked curiously.

"I'd like to know that myself...I went to Ever After with all of my sisters and heard stories of your mother, but I never really met her." Ariel said. Blake adopted a frown, placing his hand over his chest right where his Mirror Shard was. He traced the scar where it had entered with his finger.

"I lived in Earth, you already know this. As it turns out, my mom took me out of this world for my own safety. When she brought me back, she put a few curses on me. She stabbed a Mirror Shard in my chest, to keep an eye on me. The first curse, was that I couldn't leave Ever After, for if I did, it would explode and kill me. The second curse, if my sister Raven used her magic to remove it, I would get magical poisoning. The third one, if I removed it physically, it would explode and the shards would shoot into my heart."

"Oh my, I'm so sorry...I shouldn't have asked."

"Don't worry about it Ariel, he's already accepted it. In fact, the whole Neverland curse thing ties into why the Evil Queen booted him out of Ever After. You see, this mean bastard of a man named Felipe Bluebeard, stole a precious time gear from Neverland. That caused time to freeze for twenty years, and we got stuck in a loop trying to stop him from doing it. During one of those loops, the Evil Queen got pregnant with twins, effectively breaking the chain. Blake here was the one destined to kill Bluebeard for all of his atrocious crimes." Kitty said, earning a sigh from the boy.

"It's still a little fresh...he kidnapped my friend Apple, did horrible things to her. He killed seven women, convinced an entire world that he was going to break the curse when he was in fact the cause of it. He tried to kill my friends, attacked my school...he needed to be stopped. In the end, it was his own destiny that bit him in the ass. Bluebeard was destined to lose his head, I was just the one who held the sword."

"So, that makes you a hero then. You saved a lot of lives in the end, so don't be sad. I know a lot about Bluebeard, his father was around during my time as the Little Mermaid. My father King Triton told me to always stay away from strangers. He also told me if I ever met a Blue bearded man to head for the hills. I'm honestly glad his son can't do those horrible things anymore, as morbid as that sounds." Ariel said.

"No worries, as long as your girls are safe, that's all that matters. If I didn't chop his head off, someone else would have."

"Anyway, how about we show you around town? I'm sure mom has a lot of stuff to do." Meeshell said, earning a groan from Ariel, who swept her crimson locks out of her face.

"Can't I just come along with you for a few more minutes? Paperwork is sooo boring!"

"Mommy, you have to do it. Remember what daddy said, if you don't do the paperwork then you aren't getting any treats when he comes back from his business trip." Maya said, scolding her mother.

"But Maya, just a few more minutes?"

"No mom, go to work!" she snapped, earning a sigh from the woman, who turned to face her guests.

"I truly do hope you enjoy yourselves. We'll go to Aquania later on and get your friends, I'm sure they'll love it here too. I have to get that pesky paperwork done, so I have to go."

"It was awesome meeting you Ariel, maybe if we get the chance, we can record some songs together. I'm sure fans of Purple Rhapsody will enjoy that. And it would make me really happy if we did." Blake said.

"Definitely, I would totally love to have a song with an amazing singer like you."

"Okay, mom! Stop stalling, get a move on...the faster you get home, the faster you can finish your paperwork!" Maya said, pushing her mother along.

"Alright, alright...I'm going. See you all later!" Ariel cried, bidding farewell to the youngsters as she swam back toward the palace.

"So, what do you wanna go see first? The market district? The park? Music city? You might find some souvenirs there too." Meeshell asked, listing all of the interesting locales.

"How about the music club? I know I won't be able to meet all of your aunts, but it would be awesome to at least meet Arista."

"Sure, it's this way. We haven't seen Auntie Arista in a few weeks, she's been busy remodeling. She's single and ready to mingle if you catch my drift." Maya said, earning a slap to the head from her older sister.

"Stop trying to pawn our aunt off to the first available bachelor. Not even, Blake has Kitty."

"I don't mind being in an open relationship, and I wouldn't be opposed to sharing, especially with a cute older mermaid." Kitty replied, licking her lips suggestively.

"But isn't having more than one girl like really bad? I thought you were only supposed to have one?" Maya asked.

"Well sweetheart, love knows no bounds. Some people have one person they care for, some people have two, three or even four! It all depends on you and how you feel. You should always talk to whoever it is you are in a relationship with, and let them know how you feel. Never let them convince you to get into something you don't want to do, and never let them touch you in places you aren't comfortable with. Tell your sister or your mom if that happens. You can even tell me, I'll come here and stab them for you." Blake said, ruffling her hair a bit.

"Um, Meeshell I have a question for you. It was a bit of an odd one so that's why I didn't ask it when Ariel was around. Do you know what sex is? Is it something fun?" Coral asked. Meeshell gasped from the question, bumping into a lamp post that had been directly in front of her. She rubbed her face, glaring at the blue skinned girl.

"Why would you ask me that now?"

"I dunno, Kitty was talking about it earlier. She said something about a man and a woman, but that's it. I just wanted to know what it was, and maybe if it was fun we could all do it together!"

"Wow, I can't believe you are fifteen and don't know what sex is...that's so sad." Maya said, arms crossed with a look of pride on her face.

"You know what it is? At such a young age?" Blake asked curiously.

"Mhmm, because I'm a big girl! Not even my brothers Machiavelli and Miguel know what it is."

"Yeah, because you got up one night for a drink of water and saw mom and dad in the middle of it, that was the most embarrassing talk of my life." Meeshell said, a flush on her cheeks.

"Whoa...that sucks, I mean...I learned about the deed from my mom, but actually walking in on your parents? That is so...weird." Kitty said.

"Not as weird as seeing your neighbors doing it across the street in broad fucking daylight." Blake said, tossing his two cents into the pot. He had been glancing at a snow globe in a nearby trinket shop, along with some decorative bracelets and necklaces.

"Seriously?" Meeshell asked, causing the boy to look away from the glass.

"Mhmm, I was practicing my skateboarding one day and bam. Nearly got hit by a car."

"This is all well and good, but I still don't know what it is!" Coral cried. Meeshell sighed, cupping her hands over the girl's ear. After a few hushed whispers, she swam back continuing the tour, with a blushing Coral trailing behind them.

"I wanted to tell her so bad...it would have been funnier if I did it. I had models and drawings and everything." Kitty said, a disappointed scowl on her face. Blake gave her a kiss on the cheek, causing her mood to shift.

It didn't take them long to reach the Music District of Atlantica, which was aptly named Music City. The sounds of various underwater instruments drifted through the area. A lot of unique sounds could be heard mingling with the cool ocean waves. He wasn't exactly sure how it was that sound still worked underwater, but he didn't question it. There were a couple teenage mermen playing on their clarinets while another young girl was blowing into a conch shell, making an almost trumpet like sound. There was someone playing on a xylophone nearby, adding to the pleasant cacophony of sounds drifting throughout the area. As they swam further they could hear the soft thumping of drums, along with the smooth sound of an alto sax mingling with the strings of a violin. This area was alive with music, and it all felt so natural, if he wasn't seeing it with his own eyes, he would have thought he was playing a video game, and the melodies around them would be the game's music.

"I can't believe what I'm hearing, it feels so natural! Is this really how this are always is?" Kitty asked, glancing around in amazement. Meeshell gave her a nod, a warm smile on her lips.

"Yes, Music City has been around since my mother returned music to Atlantica. It used to be an extension of the Market District at one point. But this area has now become a hub of musicians and anyone who just loves music. With my father's contributions and a little bit of my mom's magic, we've been able to create new instruments, including underwater electric instruments."

"I can play the flute, the piano and the clarinet! Big sis can play a bunch of instruments too, but her favorite is her voice!" Maya said.

"Well of course, she's the Little Mermaid, so she's gonna use her voice a lot more than an actual instrument." Coral pointed out, having finally gotten over the embarrassment of getting _The Talk_ from her cousin.

"Something tells me she'd be really good at A Capella. We can totally start a barbershop quartet, with Blake being are handsome and smooth baritone and Meeshell being our high pitched singer. I'm sure Melody is gonna love this!"

"Knowing her she would, she is the daughter of the Pied Piper after all. I'm sure she'd be down for anything, and she'd probably turn it into a dubstep song, somehow." Blake added.

"The music club is over here, would you like to take a look around this area for a bit? Maybe you can find a new instrument to take home with you. There's quite a large selection available."

"Hmm...that would be cool, although if I learn more instruments, I'm sure the readers will start calling me a Gary-stu again. Isn't that right Brooke?" he called out, glancing at the skies above him.

" _Eh? What? I wasn't paying attention, what was the question?"_

"Ah! Who the heck was that? There's a voice in my head and it sounds weird!" Maya cried, rapidly blocking her ears.

" _Whoa wait...she can hear me? Yes! Finally, It isn't just me, Maddie and my parents anymore, whoo hoo!"_

" _Brooke, try to withhold your excitement. We're trying to narrate here."_ Chester added, an amused tone in his voice.

" _Indeed, and don't you fret Blake, you are a perfectly normal young man, the notions of which you speak do not apply to you. Those who think that can stew in it. We see you as a wonderful talented young man, so go for it, I personally recommend the ocarina."_

"Oh, nice choice Weiss, I'm definitely buying one now. Meeshell, is there a place around here that sells Ocarinas? I want to get one, and don't worry...I got money on me." he said, patting the leather bag that was slung around his shoulder. He had cast a spell on it to protect the items within from being water logged.

"There's no need for that, I'll happily pay for it! You are my friend and a guest here, so I want you to have an awesome experience. How about you Kitty? Would you like an instrument for yourself?"

"I dunno, I don't really play anything, aside from guitar. I guess it's never to late to learn though...how about a saxophone? That way I can seduce Blake with my rendition of Careless Whisper."

"No, don't get her a saxophone, please...we're all gonna regret it if you do." Blake said, grabbing a hold of Meeshell's hands. The girl's eyes widened a bit in surprise, a flush on her cheeks.

"I-okay...I guess we can find something else for her...come on. There's a huge music store in this direction." she said, pulling him along, a small smile on her face. Kitty rolled her eyes, a mischievous smirk on her face.

" _So, it seems the Little Mermaid found a potential prince charming. I guess she isn't that bad in the looks department, and she has nice hips. I wouldn't mind letting Blake tap that. He's so lucky he has me as a girlfriend...all I have to do is convince her and she'll be ours."_ she thought to herself.

"Uh...why are you smiling like that?" Maya asked curiously, causing Kitty to blink a few times, eyeing the younger mermaid.

"Hmm? Oh, no reason...I think your sister is going to find her Prince Charming soon, he's a lot closer than she thinks." she replied, giving her a wink, swimming after the two. This of course left Coral and Maya confused as to what she was getting at.

Blake and Meeshell had arrived at a nearby Music store, which was as Meeshell said, much bigger than the other shops. Blake had found it a bit odd that she hadn't let go of his hand, but he didn't really mind it. He was a curious person so he would have likely lost himself if she hadn't held onto his hand. The store before them was filled with hundreds of instruments, from guitars to violins to classical instruments like pianos, made out of smooth stone. It must have taken quite a lot of time to make it, but since wood was less buoyant than rock, he was sure the piano, despite its weight, would have moved if not floated away. There were other merfolk in the store, all of them moving about the store talking among themselves or asking for the opinions of each other. All of them gave polite hellos to Meeshell, earning the same in return.

Blake noticed a lot of people had immediately approached her. Despite her bring a princess, he could tell she was shy around people she didn't know. But now that she was back in the water, she seemed more at ease. She was outgoing, talkative and curious just like Maya had said she was. He didn't know any of the people she was talking too, but they were all chatting like old friends, and they possibly were. She did mention Atlantica had a school, so they might even know each other. He could tell he was the subject of conversation, as quite a lot of mermaids were looking at him, making him blush in embarrassment. He swam toward a nearby rack of instruments, finding them more interesting than the conversations they were probably happening.

"You must be quite important if Lady Meeshell brought you here personally."

Blake turned around, meeting the piercing silver eyes of a young mermaid. He hadn't been expecting someone to approach him so readily, but seeing the name tag attached to her bra put him a little at ease. He noticed she had lengthy light blue hair that reached down to her mid back, she had fair colored skin, with a few freckles around her nose, her nose was small and her lips were full and pink. She had an hour glass body, a moderately sized chest, and a very alluring tail. It was a light orange in color, with light tangerine flecks around her waist, her tail fin was also a soft tangerine color. He noticed her clamshell bra was also a light tangerine in color. She gave him a smile, a single thin brow raised in curiosity.

"I know I'm beautiful, but there's no need to undress me with your eyes."

"Huh? Sorry I didn't mean to stare for so long...I'm, not from around here." Blake admitted, rubbing his neck in embarrassment. She giggled, glancing at the crowd.

"Neither am I...I came from a far away village miles from here. I needed a job and it just so happened that they needed a cashier here. The name is Shelly, what's yours stranger?"

"Me? Oh my name is Blake...you could say I'm not from around here either. I'm from...another world entirely."

"The surface world right?"

"Uh...you could tell?" he asked, earning another giggle from the girl, who grabbed one of the horns from the shelf, looking it over briefly.

"You look like a fish out of water...or rather a human in water. I can just tell you aren't used to the whole merman thing, don't worry though, you're doing just fine. So, I'm obligated by store policy to shove some specials down your throat. We have a sale going on this week on wind instruments, buy two get the second one at half price, a real bargain if you know what I mean."

"Thanks, but I'm actually just looking for an ocarina. I'm interested in playing something other than a stringed instrument." he said, earning a nod from the mermaid, who headed over toward the other shelf, followed by the boy.

"Well, I've got this one. It's made with a very pretty seashell, the wheel here changes the pitch as well. They're a bit better than the normal ceramic ones we normally get. And since I think you're cute, I'll give you a discount." Shelly said, placing it in his hand. He looked at it, testing its weight a bit.

"Wow, this reminds me of the ocarina I saw in a movie once. One of the greatest ones of my childhood, Gather together all three, their treasures combined tame, the beast of the sea." he said, a fond smile on his face.

"Oh, a prophecy? Sounds interesting, perhaps if I ever find myself on land, you'd like to show me that movie? It sounds interesting." Shelly said, giving the boy a grin. He saw her eyes flash briefly, making him look away, a dry laugh leaving his lips.

"Yeah sure, any time."

"Did you find what you were looking for Blake? Sorry about that by the way, those were some friends from school." Meeshell said, causing the boy to place the ocarina in her hands.

"Shelly here recommended this one. It looks really cool doesn't it?" he asked, earning a frown from Meeshell. She looked the instrument over, turning to Shelly, giving her a once over. She noticed the name tag on her bra, and relaxed a bit.

"I don't believe we've met before, are you new here?"

"I am, I come from another kingdom of mermaids...it's called Atlantis." Shelly said, causing the pinkette to narrow her eyes.

"Atlantis? You're a Neverland mermaid?"

"Mhmm, born and raised in those timeless waters. I've been twenty-four years young for the last one hundred years. I needed some new waters to swim in, and since the curse was recently broken, I was able to find myself a portal to Ever After. I hope you don't mind me joining your people, Your Majesty." the young woman said, bowing politely.

"No no...it's just, odd seeing new faces around here. Everyone in Atlantica has lived here their entire lives, only a few are from other colonies or from the surface."

"Queen Ariel is very accepting, it's much livelier here than in Neverland at least. Anyway, I'll take care of any and all questions you might have, I have to go back to work now...it was nice meeting you two." Shelly said, returning to the counter as a line had gathered before it.

"She's nice, and the ocarina she picked out is really cool too." Blake said, glancing back at Meeshell who glanced at the instrument in her hands.

"I dunno, this feels a bit weird to me. Are you sure you want this one?" she asked, earning a nod from the boy.

"It's the one I want, let's go find an instrument for Kitty. One that isn't a saxophone or anything that might piss anyone off."

"Alright, I think a flute would do...she looks like the kind to play one. There's a lot of them over here, why don't you pick one out for her? She is your girlfriend after all." the pinkette said, pushing the boy toward the flutes.

"Okay...I'll be just a few minutes." he said, earning a smile from the girl. Meeshell turned her attention to Shelly who was happily cashing out the customers that were in line. She glanced at the ocarina in her hands, quickly going to the wall of instruments. She switched it for an identical one, nodding to herself.

" _I don't trust that mermaid, those silver eyes look strangely familiar...and I feel like I've heard that voice before."_ she thought, eyes narrowed slightly. She shook it off, glancing outside where her sister, Coral and Kitty were, the three of them dancing to the music a small group of locals was playing.

"I'm over thinking things."

"Hey Meeshell, what do you think of this one? It isn't exactly the metallic ones I'm used too, but I think she'll like it." Blake said, holding the instrument out to the girl.

He had picked a light lavender flute, with golden keys and small carvings in the body of the flute itself. The lip itself was made from an alabaster sea shell which had been smoothed out and cut into a small oval so it wouldn't bother the player too much. The keys were small and round, decorated with small glittering coral bits. It was a truly amazing looking flute.

"You have a good eye Blake, I'm sure she'll love it. I'll go pay for these, you go wait outside, it shouldn't be long." she said reassuringly, earning a nod from the boy. Meeshell turned toward the counter, setting the two instruments down on the counter before Shelly, who gave her a smile.

"So, paying for your friend? That's real sweet of you."

"They're guests in Atlantica for the next few days. If I don't show them hospitality then I'm not being a good host. My mother always says that having good relations with land dweller and all visitors is always good."

"She's a wise woman then...that boy though, you got your eye on him?" Shelly asked, making small talk as she placed the two instruments into some cases.

"Of course not, he's got a girlfriend. I'm not going to get in between them, we're just friends."

"Yet you can't help yourself, your mind is saying no but your heart is saying yes. I can help you get him you know, it isn't that hard." she said, earning a curious look from the girl.

"No...no. I respect him and his relationship, I'm not going to do anything. He's a wonderful charming young man but I am a princess first and foremost, and I shall behave as such. What do I owe you?" Meeshell asked, a stern tone in her voice. Shelly smirked, leaning forward on the counter.

"Two hundred shillings, but for you they're on the house...call it a...gift, from a friend to a friend." Shelly said. Meeshell placed four silver coins on the counter, grabbing the cases into her hands.

"Sorry, but I know the owner of this establishment and I wouldn't want him to get mad. If he does he'll dock your pay and that's something I don't want happen to you. I hope you like living here in Atlantica, Shelly. Feel free to come to the palace later, maybe I can get my mother to meet you."

"We've met already, I had to formally register as a citizen. She's quite lovely, be seeing you Meeshell. Tell Blake my goodbyes." she said, giving the girl a wink. She bowed politely, swimming toward the door. Shelly leaned forward, her lips curling upward into a smile.

" _My plan is coming along just fine, when he plays that ocarina his voice will be mine. If I combine it with this one, I'll definitely get on the charts...for sure."_ she thought, a grin on her face.

"So then, Lizzie got mad and struck her ball full force. Blake here was walking with an enchanted pie and if he stopped singing it would explode. When Lizzie's ball slammed into it, the look of fear on his face was priceless, he was covered in pie right after." Kitty said, causing Coral and Maya to laugh much to Blake's chagrin.

"Guys really? It wasn't even that funny." Blake muttered from his spot on the bench next to them.

"Hell yeah it was, especially at lunch. Lizzie once again got mad and threw a salt shaker, and Blake happened to slip on it. He landed ass first on his apple and his lunch went all over his new shirt. It was hilarious!"

"Please Kitty stop! I'm gonna pee myself." Coral cried, clutching her sides as if someone was tickling her. Blake grumbled under his breath, a look of annoyance on his face. He felt Kitty press her lips against his cheek, giving him a grin.

"Aw come on honey, it's all in good fun!"

"Yeah, but it doesn't have to be the embarrassing moments! I don't have anything on you so it's not like I can return fire." he said. He noticed Meeshell approaching them, holding two cases in her hands.

"Here you are, two awesome souvenirs from the land under the sea. A flute for you, and an ocarina for you." she said, handing the two guests their instruments.

"Wow, thanks Meeshell...I don't know how to play the flute but I'll definitely have fun learning!" Kitty said.

"Same here, it's gonna make our music so much more alive. Here, I'll put them in my bag so we don't lose them." Blake said, placing both instruments in his messenger bag.

"Can we go visit Auntie Arista now?" Maya cried out, an excited look on her face. Meeshell gave her a nod, causing her to grab Blake and Kitty's hands.

"Come on, come on! It's this way!" she said, pulling them along.

"Ah...man this kid has a strong grip!" Kitty cried, earning a laugh from Blake, who at this point had gotten used to being pulled around.

 _ **xxx(Ocean's Surface)xxx**_

Dexter cringed when he pulled up next to the yacht that belonged to his brother. Blondie had been waiting for them on her jet ski, along with Alistair who she had called. Just like she had said, the boat had sun all the way to the bridge, between her and Alistair, they had been able to recover all of the luggage aboard placing it in the flooded bridge. Most of their things had been waterlogged and a few things were ruined, but they were in a much better state than the yacht at least. The young prince wasn't exactly sure how to break the news to his older brother, in fact he hadn't told him yet. He was too afraid to see his reaction, but he knew someone had to tell him, so he had been preparing himself for that task.

Hunter and Ashlynn had been chatting with Blondie, trying to figure out the facts. She had told them that Blake's things had been in his room, but his messenger bag was missing. They all knew that was where he kept his music book and he wouldn't leave without it. Since it wasn't on board that meant that he had taken it with him. The garage doors were open and the jet skis that had been inside were also gone. So that meant they had been taken, but they hadn't spotted them at all further out. So they weren't exactly sure where he had gone. It was obvious that Kitty was with him, since both jet skis were gone instead of one. It was an interesting conundrum indeed, and one that had a very complicated answer.

"This just makes no sense, I mean where exactly would they go? There aren't any islands around here. It's not like they made it back to Aquania either." Alistair said, a look of curiosity on his face.

"Well look at the boat, it's facing the other way. So that means at some point they managed to turn, but they hit a reef. The area over here is much deeper, so when the boat turned around it got too close to this area. They at least managed to get the jet skis out in time." Hunter added, brushing his hair out of his face.

"I'm telling you guys, it's mermaids. It has to be, where else would they go? They're not dead, they have no fuel to make it to the uninhabited island or back to Aquania. If they're not on the water's surface, then they're under it. I'm sure of it!" Ashlynn said, a firm look on her face.

"How can you say that? Where's the proof?" Blondie asked, earning a glare from the princess, making her chuckle dryly.

"It's just a gut feeling. When they were all in Wonderland, I knew they had gone there first hand, this feeling is the same as that one. They're with mermaids under the sea, meaning they must have gone to Atlantica, it's nearby actually. I remember my mom coming to Aquania during her summer break, and she met with Ariel, the current Queen of Atlantica. She must have found them!"

"Well...while I do agree it is a bit out there, it makes more sense than anything else. Right now there aren't any islands for them to go too, just open ocean. If Queen Ariel found them, she must have taken them down to Atlantica. But that also means she might take them back to Aquania, so we have better luck going back there and waiting." Dexter said.

"That's doesn't sound Just Right to me! They may be with Queen Ariel, but they may be somewhere else too. I don't feel comfortable leaving my friends out here. I know Kitty would teleport him back to the beach house, so that means Ashlynn is right...sorry I doubted you."

"It's fine Blondie, I know you like the cold hard facts. You are a reporter after all, if nothing is true and doesn't make sense, than it isn't Just Right for you." the girl said, earning a giggle from her friend.

" _Dexter, little bro do you copy?"_

"I do Daring, go ahead...did you find anything?" Dexter asked, holding his radio up, waiting for the static to clear.

" _Indeed, it seems two of our jet skis were left out in the middle of the ocean. I just ran into them not that long ago, the area seems very deep. Have you found the yacht yet? Over."_

Dexter grit his teeth, glancing back at the sleek black ship, currently beneath the waves. He didn't exactly know how to say it, but he was going for it anyway. He turned away from his friends, glancing out at the open ocean.

"Listen man, this isn't gonna be easy for me to say, and it won't be easy for you to hear. The boat stuck a reef, and it sunk all the way to the bridge."

" _Is that it? Worry not dear brother, I've got insurance! This was all a bizarre accident, so it's all well and good. I was expecting something worse to happen. If I had fully lost it, then it would have been a problem, we can still salvage it at least. A little water damage isn't an issue, I'll track your position and head there now! Over and out!"_

"Huh...I guess I was scared for nothing." Dexter said, turning back to his friends.

"Well, I'm gonna call Bunny back home and let her know we found the boat. I'm sure Raven is dying for news, but not finding Blake is worrying...let's just hope he's with mermaids like Ashlynn said. I'm sure we'll solve this riddle soon enough!" Alistair said, earning a snort from Blondie, who took a few selfies of herself in front of the sunken boat.

"Of course we will! We have the Riddle Master himself with us, I'm sure you'll get to the answer, and it'll be Just Right!" she said, giving her fellow blonde a wink, snapping a few pictures of him.

"Hmm...I wonder what it would be like to have a tail...I've always had dreams of being a mermaid." Ashlynn said, glancing down at her legs.

She had been wearing a mermaid style skirt that Lizzie had designed to her, the aquamarine sequins glittering brightly in the sun. She fixed her bikini top a bit, seeing the look Hunter had been giving her. She smirked, pushing her chest out slightly, her breasts bouncing slightly. Dexter chuckled quietly, knowing full well that Ashlynn was teasing his friend in a rather provocative way.

"Hey, with our luck Blake will talk to Queen Ariel, and we'll all get to see what Atlantica is all about! This will be a special scoop from me to everyone back home, and it will be the best one of the summer! Up until the movie of course!"

"Mhmm...let's just focus on finding them first, maybe Daring will share something with us when he gets here." Alistair added, earning nods from everyone. Even he himself knew that Blake was definitely with some mermaids, it was just who he was. Trouble followed him everywhere and usually landed him in interesting situations after all.


	97. The World Under the Sea VI

**A/N:**

 **Man, insomnia is a pain in the ass...it leads to me staying up through the night and sleeping through the day, sometimes making it hard to keep a day to day schedule. That's why this chapter is being posted so early in the morning, because I haven't slept for shit...it's always fun when you can't sleep, not really. I was contemplating on tackling Persona 5 for my fourth play through, but I figured I would start editing chapter 97 and get it ready to post. So here it is for all of you, chapter 97 of Through the Looking Glass. I must say, my math might be off. With all of the gathered chapters including the three I will post for the 100 chapter special, I don't think I will reach 1,000,000. I believe I will reach it, in fact I went back and added something extra to Chapter 100 just for all of you, and to extend it a little bit, but even with 49 pages, I don't think I will make it. I just gotta believe though, so I'm sure I will even though my math isn't the best.**

 **I have also written a chapter dedicated to a pairing I have neglected, no not Blake x Cerise, that one is coming soon. This one is actually with our beloved Cupid, who has been forgotten on the Alternate Ending Train, for far too long! But fear not, her chapter has been written and it shall be posted, I assure you all! It is a bit different than others, as it will once again be original and not based on any given chapter. It will take place after Way Too Wonderland, so you can all fit it into the plot as you please. It also includes a song, but details on that during that Authors Note.**

 **This chapter will be Part 6 of The World Under the Sea. You know, after writing 100 chapters I realized that I have gotten tired, not from writing, I could never, but of rejecting plots and rewriting shit. I'm on chapter 101 right now and I don't exactly have an angle, I don't want to skip ahead to Dragon Games, and I don't exactly want to skip to the next filler arc either, but writing single chapters can be a bit taxing after you have exhausted some of your best ideas...I may just skip to the next arc, since I had to cut out The Young Blood Chronicles after so much planning went into it, that's pretty much what killed my motivation. But I said I was gonna stick with this to the end and goddamn it, I will. That's also why I'm looking into crossing over into other series that might fit into this, so I can introduce something new into the story. Long haul stories like this can get very taxing, I'm sure...there's this one dude on here who's been writing a Super Smash Bros story for like four years or something and that dude is a total fucking boss. I'm not saying I want this story to become that, but I want this story to mean something and to stand out from the others out there. Which is why I strive to deliver as much content as I can. It makes me happy seeing your reviews and hearing your thoughts.**

 **Anyway, I shall leave you with this chapter, I'm tired as shit and I wanna see if I can get some sleep. But I will most likely post the Cupid chapter before this one, so just uh...check that out when you can and enjoy your day. I wish luck to everyone in the North East, as we are getting hammered by Skylar, the snow started getting heavier here in New Hampshire, and it's bound to get heavier...really wish Dominoes was open right now...**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 97

The World Under the Sea VI

The Catfish Club was one of the most recognized in all of Atlantica. It was a building constructed entirely out of light blue sea stone. It had lots of beautiful coral formations being in bright pinks, blues and yellows, and was decorated with seaweed and kelp stalks, making it look very natural. Since Blake had stopped questioning magical things, he decided to embrace the large neon sign that spelled out the name of the establishment, which had a sign in the shape of a catfish. He wasn't sure if catfish even existed in the ocean, but if they did then they certainly would love to know they had a club named after them. The large windows were wide and open and doubled as doors at times. Some security mermen were posted at every entrance, so minors couldn't get in, though since it was day time it was open to everyone.

Seahorse drawn carriages could be seen parked out in the lot, not many of them as people were just swimming toward the club. Meeshell had said that most of the teenagers hung out there during the day, as the adult serviced kicked in at eight in the evening, so no one under the age of eighteen could get in without an Identification or permission from their legal guardian. A lot of teenagers tried sneaking in with fake ID's in the past and that lead to tighter security. She had said her Aunt Arista had accidentally served alcohol to a minor and had gotten in a lot of trouble, and almost lost her operation license, if it wasn't for the boy coming out and saying it was his fault directly. As a result of that, Ariel had made it a strict rule to firmly identify everyone. Blake briefly questioned how they even got alcohol under the sea, and Maya told him that it was imported and enchanted to people could actually drink it.

The thumping bass and bubbles leaving the club told him and Kitty that they were in for some amazing music. Despite them liking a lot of hardcore rock and post hardcore music, they weren't sure what to expect from a society who was only recently introduced to electric instruments. So them hearing a sharp bass like that meant that they were going to incorporate a lot of classical instruments in ways that they wouldn't normally see. And it was honestly exciting them a lot more, if they weren't being pulled by Maya, they would have most likely swam toward the entrance at full speed. They stopped before the two Bouncer Mermen, who were dressed in black suits and had dark glasses on their face. They crossed two large golden spears before them.

"Welcome to the Catfish Club, please present your identifications." one of them said firmly.

"Um, we have ours but our friends are guests of the kingdom. Is there a way we can talk to Arista?" Meeshell asked, causing the second bouncer to lower his glasses.

"My apologizes Miss Meeshell, Madam Arista is a bit busy at the moment. She said she had to handle some finances for the club and wouldn't be able to see anyone. I don't want to get in trouble, you know I would let you in, but I truly am required to see legal identification."

"Well, we do have our Ever After High ID's. They list our age and stuff, would that be alright?" Blake asked, handing the man two passport looking booklets, which contained his and Kitty's identifications, which were up to date. The man flipped the first open, eyes widening a bit.

"Son of the Evil Queen? Since when did she have a son? Didn't she have a daughter?" the man asked, earning a nod from his co-worker.

"Indeed, Raven Queen, last I heard...are you pulling our tails boy? This Identification looks fake."

"It isn't, I assure you. My name is Blake Jeremiah Queen, I'm the youngest son of the Evil Queen, and Raven Queen is my older twin sister. This is Kitty Cheshire, daughter of the Cheshire Cat, both of us are Juniors in Ever After High right now." Blake explained. The man handed the identifications back to the boy.

"Well, the girls can go in...you on the other hand have to stay outside. We aren't exactly sure if you are the son of the Evil Queen, so you must wait here. You too Miss Coral Witch, we don't trust the daughter of someone who's attacked our kingdom before." the man said, earning a frown from the girl, who bowed her head dejectedly.

"Hey! Cora is the nicest person I've ever met! Don't judge her for what her evil shrew of a mom did! Let our friends in this instant!" Maya cried, pounding her tiny fists against the muscular form of the large merman.

"Miss Maya, I must apologize...these are the laws and rules that her majesty has asked of us. If you can prove that they are indeed the people they claim to be, or in Miss Witch's case, gets permission from the proprietor, we'll let you in." he said firmly. Maya puffed her cheeks, a firm look on her face.

"Fine! I'll just tell Auntie Arista to dock your pay, maybe even fire you!" she cried, swimming past the two.

"Maya! I'm so sorry, I'll get her back here. Will you guys wait out here for a bit? Sometimes Maya likes doing things without thinking."

"Hmm...sounds like another mermaid we all know rather well." Blake said teasingly, earning a giggle from the pinkette who slipped past the guards. Silence encompassed the area, only the low thump of the drums inside adding to the mostly silent area. Kitty cleared her throat, getting the attention of the two bouncers.

"So, Jafar, the Joker and Scar are all on an airship. The pilot turns to them and asks, are any of you uncircumcised? So the Jafar flips up his robes and says, Shut up stupid! You don't even know English! The Joker turns to Shang and tells him to open his eyes, but he says, I'm not squinting you crazy bastard, you're the one who gave me these glasses!"

"Oh my god, Kitty shut up!" Blake cried, placing his hand over her mouth, a muffled giggle leaving her lips.

"Hey kid, what's the difference between a land dweller and a lump of seahorse shit?"

"What?" Kitty asked, having pulled Blake's hand from her mouth. The merman smirked, holding back his own laughs.

"The land dwellers drink wine, but the horseshit smells good."

Blake sighed as the two continued trading jokes back and forth. Coral seemed to be laughing from all of the jokes, even though he himself found them a bit distasteful. He just hoped Meeshell and Maya would hurry up.

The inside of the Catfish Club was more alive than the outside. The club opened up to a large dance floor where several teenagers were swimming. Above them was a ring of glowing lights all of them blinking in different colors, the illuminated floor tiles providing most of the lights in the establishments. Some angler fish hung around near the walls providing a bit more extra light. To the very back of the club was the bar, the shelves were filled with different sized bottles, all of them being alcoholic in nature, but the bottom shelf was non-alcoholic beverages which was being served to everyone who was underage. Merfolk from the ages of ten to eighteen could be seen swimming around, those that were drinking stayed away from the children, but everyone was mostly there for the music. In the upper span of the second floor was the DJ booth, where the current MC was making his music, directing the band to play all of the hottest hits. Even with the underwater electronics, people were still into the classics.

She looked around for her little sister, seeing her speaking with the bar tender, who pointed toward a door next to the bar. She closed the distance, hoping to grab her before she passed through the door but was too slow. She frowned, passing through the door right after, seeing her little sister slowly moving toward the back.

"Maya! Get back here right now, our friends are outside waiting for us!"

"MeeMee! I'm happy you came, come on we can both talk to Auntie Arista! Her office is this way...come on!" her sister cried, beckoning her to follow.

"We can't leave them out there sweetie, come on we can go do something else!"

"No! Blake wanted to meet our Auntie so that he can cross her off his list. He isn't gonna meet any of our other aunts because they're not here, so we have to do this for him. He's our guest, didn't you say that?" Maya snapped, earning a sigh from the black haired girl. She did have a point, she had said that earlier in the day. She gave her a nod, earning a happy cry from the younger mermaid.

"Fine, let's talk to Aunt Arista, and see what she says."

"Yes! You are awesome big sis, I totally love you! Even though I'm jealous of your boobs!" the girl said, burying her face in her sister's chest, causing her to sigh audibly.

They continued moving through the halls, seeing several doors. One of them was labeled Costume Prep, while another one was called Instrument Storage Room. Meeshell knew that the club sometimes did special performances and even sung operas that her father brought from the surface. She had sat through an opera once and had found it so boring she had fallen asleep, she did however enjoy one called Phantom of the Opera, and had been trying to get her aunt to put it on again, but she hadn't given her a reply. Finally they arrived at the last door which was labeled, Club Owner, and had a large crimson A under it, the first letter of Arista's name. Meeshell remembered Arista and her mother getting into an argument because she borrowed her hair brush without asking, and they had been fighting over it since it had Ariel's initials on it, even though all of them had the same first initial in their name. It was always fun to listen to stories of their past.

"Are you sure she's gonna do something about it?" Meeshell asked curiously.

"Duh, she's our aunt and we're her favorite nieces. She has to help us, besides I'm gonna get her to meet Blake if it's the last thing I do! It's time for her to get married, even Adella has a boyfriend, _Adella_ who was single for most of her life, has a boyfriend. We gotta rectify that sis."

"Maya sweetheart, I think we shouldn't mess with our aunt's love life."

"We'll see about that! Auntie Arista! You're favorite niece has come to visit!" Maya cried, bursting through the door, startling the blonde mermaid who had been looking through some papers.

"Gah...Jeez, Maya I've told you not to do that!" the woman cried, glaring at the ravenette mermaid who had a mischievous look on her face.

Arista was a beautiful young woman, the fifth youngest daughter of Triton. She was currently thirty-four years of age, and one of the most desired women in Atlantica, due to her natural beauty. She, like Ariel had soft ivory skin and long yellow blonde hair that was tied into a high ponytail, a long bang covering one of her soft blue eyes. She had an hour glass body, that a lot of mermaids would die to have, along with a nice chest, hidden by crimson clam shells. Her tail was equally red, with soft pink flecks and a matching tail fin. Around her neck, she was wearing a beautiful necklace, made out of small sea shells, with one long pink drill shell as the charm. Much like the rest of the Atlantican Princesses, she was one of the most sought after bachelorettes under the sea. And she was one of the pickiest as well, not finding a single man or woman to suit her tastes.

Once the initial shock wore off, she relaxed a bit, placing a hand on her chest. She was always happy to see any of her nieces and nephews, but her work schedule was always packed. Whenever she had the chance she would drop by the palace and visit her younger sister. However for the last month she had been planning a lot of shows for her club as well as handling the financial aspects of the club itself. She had to replenish stock, replace some broken instruments, pay to bring more alcohol from the surface. She had been stressing quite a bit, and seeing her two nieces, despite her being busy, was a breathe of fresh air that she definitely needed. She wrapped her arms around the two, hugging them tightly.

"I'm so happy to see you two. I'm sorry I haven't dropped by the palace in awhile, managing this club by myself can get a little hard. How are your parents doing? And your siblings?" she asked curiously.

"We're all doing great! Big sis just graduated from Atlantica Junior High so she'll be going to high school in the fall. I've been trying to convince her to go to Ever After High with our new friends." Maya said, a grin on her face.

"Ever After High? Oh my, Meeshell that would be a wonderful opportunity for you. Trust me, you'll have the best time of your life going there. Your mother and all of your aunts went there when we were growing up, it was how Ariel met Eric after all. Do consider it, would you?"

"Sure Auntie, I'll consider it. Um, about those friends of ours, they wanted to come into the club, but they only have EAH identification cards on them. The bouncers won't let them in, would you mind telling them it's alright?" Meeshell asked.

"Normally, I'd like to meet them, but if they're students of Ever After High then they deserve admittance. Actually, I think I will meet them, it's been awhile since I've met any of your friends. I need a bit of a break from all of this adult crap too." she said, causing Maya to pump her fist cheerfully.

"Yes! Auntie Arista, you are totally gonna love them...there's this boy who's totally cute and he's into older women. I think he has what it takes to finally marry you and make some babies for you!"

"Maya! Stop trying to peddle Blake onto our aunt, he has a girlfriend!" Meeshell snapped, earning a toothy grin from her little sister.

"But MeeMee! Kitty said she was alright with having an open relationship! Don't you want our favorite aunt to have babies so we can mother them and junk? We need more cousins, that aren't stiff like Francis and Tamara." She said, shuddering a bit.

"While I do agree that Attina's kids are as stiff as her, it doesn't mean you can just shove some random boy in my face. Besides, he's probably three times younger than I am. I've already told you, I want someone who's sweet, kind, appreciative, enjoys saxophone music and is willing to work late hours here and make this club the best in the world."

"Yes I know, I guess we'll have to wait until he graduates, what a drag." Maya muttered, causing Arista to laugh, ruffling her hair.

"Just like your mother, there's so much of her inside you that it's bursting at the seams. Come on, let's go meet your friends, they must be bored waiting outside."

"Knowing Blake, he probably is. Kitty talks too much sometimes, but she's really sweet. Wait until you hear him sing! He did a duet with mom earlier and his voice is amazing!"

"Oh, a singer? Hmm, maybe I will take your offer into consideration Maya...perhaps a younger man is what I need. I can show him the ropes after all." Arista said, giving her young niece a wink, earning a look of sheer excitement from the ravenette.

 _ **xxx**_

"What's the difference between a snowman and a snow woman?" Kitty asked, a smile on her face.

"I'm not sure, what is the difference?" the bouncer replied.

"Snowballs!" the purplette replied, bursting into giggles right after, along with the bouncers who had been trading jokes back and forth for the last twenty minutes. Blake had been leaning against the wall of the club, playing Tic-tac-toe with Coral, and losing as the girl was actually quite good at it.

"What do you get when you cross breed a shark and a cow?"

"I dunno, what do you get when you cross breed a shark and a cow?" Kitty asked, a look of confusion on her face.

"I dunno, but I wouldn't try milking it."

"That's a good one...okay, two elephants meet a totally naked guy. And after awhile, one elephant turns to the other, a confused look on his face and says. 'I honestly don't know how he can feed himself with that thing!'"

"Ugh...this is so boring." Blake muttered, drawing an X on the top corner of his board. Coral drew a circle beside it, dragging her finger down through the three circles, once again winning the round.

"Fourteen to fourteen, you wanna call this off?" she asked, glancing at Kitty and the bouncers who were laughing at a particularly dirty joke.

"If you want, I was never very good at this game. Wish I had my Cards Against Humanity with me, then again that game is for more than two people." he muttered.

"Hey Blake, I wanna ask you a question."

"Sure, go for it." the boy said, erasing the board that he had drawn previously. Since he had nothing better to do, he figured he could continue the game. He let Coral go first, allowing her to place her Circle in the middle of the board. He sighed, blocking the corner.

"Why aren't you evil? You said you signed the Storybook of Legends right? Shouldn't you be...well, poisoning Apple White?" she asked. He blocked her next circle with an X, deadlocking their game and causing another tie.

"Well, for one it's actually a shared job. Me and my sister both have the same role, to be the next Evil King and Queen, so we would both poison Apple. Thing is, we don't want to do that..we're not evil at all. I wasn't raised by my mother, I was raised in a kind environment, surrounded by a wonderful family. I was taught to be a good person, no matter what shitty hand I was dealt. I never accepted myself as part of their family, until I was brought back to Ever After at least."

"Oh...I guess that makes sense...forget I even asked that, okay?" she said, deciding to draw the next board.

"No, it's fine. I'm sure your mother is pressuring you into doing things you don't want right? Pushing you to steal Meeshell's voice? To be evil, to steal the trident and try to take over Atlantica when you know that isn't gonna work. Listen sweetheart, no one and I mean no one, not your mom, not your dad and not your story, can tell you what to do. The only thing that can is right here." he said, pointing to the middle of her chest. She pressed a hand against it, feeling the steady beat of her heart beneath her sternum.

"My heart? Mom said that following my heart would be against destiny." Coral said, earning a frown from the boy.

"Yeah well, no offense but your mom is wrong. Look at you, you are a beautiful young woman with her whole life ahead of her. Do you wanna be turned into an ugly octopus because of your story? Do you really wanna be a sea witch? To turn bad and steal voices and souls and shit just like her? If not, then follow your heart, do what you want, not what anyone else tells you...be free of destiny. We all have a choice, that's what me and Raven fought so hard for." he admitted, glancing at the skies, or rather the surface miles above them.

"But what if I can't find anything I'm good at? What if my destiny is the only thing that I've got to fall back on? I don't want to disappoint my mother, but she doesn't seem to understand either."

"Honey, the world isn't smoke and mirrors. Children disappoint their parents all the time, but they also make them feel proud! Whatever you decide to do with your life, is something that you will own up to. Something that makes you happy, why shouldn't you have a Happily Ever After? Why shouldn't any of us have one? I am the next Evil King, I accept that, but just because my name is on a piece of paper, doesn't mean I'll let myself be guided by it. My mother will accept me for who I am and if she doesn't she can stew in it. Not like I give a shit what she thinks." he replied, clenching his fist tightly.

"Do you...not love your mother?" Coral asked, glancing up from the mostly ignored Tic-tac-toe board. Blake glanced away, noticing Kitty and the bouncers were looking at him, curious looks on their faces. He frowned, glancing instead at his tail, glancing at all of the scales on what were once his legs.

"No...I don't. I can't love my mother, not after she kicked me out of my home. Not after she brought me back and stabbed me in the chest with a mirror. Not after she lied to my sister, not after she cursed me so I wouldn't go to Earth! Not after she used my memories against the people that had raised me...and definitely not after her magic turned my best friend into a psychotic monster hell bent on killing me. So no, I don't love my mother, and I doubt I ever will. But just because I'm her son doesn't mean I have to be like her, I have that choice. I fought tooth and nail against her twice, the consequences of her actions have fucked me and Raven over on too many occasions. And I'll keep fighting, even if I have to drag my ass to the battlefield, I will fight against her with every fiber of my being."

"But...you could die." Coral said, so softly that he barely heard it. The boy chuckled, ruffling her hair as he leaned back against the wall.

"If giving my life means I could save my friends from her evil grasp, then I'd gladly give it. I was ready to give it back in Wonderland, and I was ready to give it to defend Apple back in Neverland. If my life can set them free, then I am totally alright with giving it up."

"Don't say stuff like that Blake! Think about all of our friends back home, your sister! Me! How do you think I would feel if you died? I can't even imagine it, that sick twisting knife in my heart was bad enough the first time! I'm still getting over almost losing you in Wonderland. Don't fucking make that mistake again, or I swear I'll hate you forever." Kitty cried, a look of anger on her face.

"Sorry honey, I know you don't like remembering that...I'll try not to get shanked in the back again, no promises." he said, giving her a wink. She growled, crossing her arms over her chest.

"I swear, when we have kids I'm gonna tell them how much of an asshole their father is. I hope they don't turn out like you."

"Well if they turn out like me just remember, they'll be half Kitty Cheshire, so you get half of me and half of you in them. Imagine disappearing tiny Evil Kings running around the house?" he said, a smug look on his face.

"Hmm...you are definitely right. Alright fine, I'm breaking up with you, I am not gonna have that do deal with for the next fifty years of my life." she said, holding her nose up high as she looked away from the boy.

"Eh, Alright...I'll leave my bedroom door open in case you change your mind."

"Hehe, you two have such a beautiful relationship...you joke around, play pranks on each other. Even through serious moments, you can also make anything lighthearted... I can tell you love each other very much." Coral said happily.

"Well, that's the thing with destiny honey bun. Me and Blake, we're not meant to be together, but we tossed that shit out like yesterdays garbage! We're together because we're in love, not because destiny pushes us towards each other. We're from different stories after all."

"Hey kid, word of advice? I think you should do as the same as them. I think I was a bit too harsh when judging ya. You look like a wonderful young woman, without an ounce of the Sea Witch in ya. Follow your heart, it can't steer you wrong." one of the bouncers said, earning a smile from the blue haired mermaid.

"See, this is why True Heart's Day needs to come back to Ever After. I'm gonna slip Headmaster Grimm twenty gold when I see him next, he needs to allow us to celebrate this." Kitty said, causing Blake to groan.

"Blake, do you think I could come back to Ever After High with you and Kitty? I really want to see what life is like...out of the sea...away from my mom."

"Sure, we'd love to take you back. I think you would make an awesome student there, we'd show you the ropes. All of our hang outs in Wonderland and Bookend! I'll even take you on a ride on my pet dragon Cadence, you'll have loads of fun!" he replied, giving the boy a smile.

"A dragon? I've always wanted to see a dragon up close!"

"Well you'll definitely have fun, Cadence is an amazing flier too. I'll tell you the story of how Blake found her egg and hatched her. It all started when he and his ex girlfriend Cerise, went to Hood Hollow to meet her older sister Ramona." Kitty said, completely enthralling the young girl. He glanced at his pocket watch, glad that he had enchanted it so it wouldn't get water logged. Meeshell and Maya had been gone for quite awhile, so he didn't know when they'd come back. He decided to stretch his tail a bit, swimming toward one of the parking lot lamps.

" _Ah, this is amazing...the cool water is so refreshing. I'm sure I would be suffering from hypothermia if I was on the surface. But it feels cool down here, it truly is an interesting place."_ he thought to himself.

"Hello Blake, I wasn't expecting to see you again so soon."

The boy glanced over his shoulder, surprised to see the familiar face of Shelly, the girl he had met back at the music shop. She lacked her name tag, most likely having clocked out for the day, or on break. She had a purse in her hands, that looked to be made entirely out of seaweed, woven together to make a bag. He was curious about what was kept inside, but after hanging out with most of his female friends, he knew it was next to impossible to know what was inside, unless the girl was his sister or Apple. He gave her a wave, leaning back against the lamp post slightly, keeping himself as straight as possible.

"Hi Shelly, I wasn't expecting to see you so soon either. Did you just get off?"

"Ugh...I wish, I'm on break. Figured I could have myself a swim through town, see what's changed and what's not."

"What's changed? I thought this was your first time here?" the boy asked, earning a giggle from the girl.

"Did I say that? Sorry, I did come here as a little girl but it was such a long time ago, that I barely consider it a visit. We didn't stay long either, just visiting friends I think? I was only three so who knows. What's wrong? Can't get into the bar?"

"We're waiting for Meeshell and Maya to speak with Arista, the bar owner. They're taking their time too." he admitted, glancing worriedly at the club. Kitty and Coral were both amicably chatting, and the Bouncers had stepped inside for a moment, though he didn't know for what.

"Hmm...sometimes at places like this the owners can be a pain in the ass. I remember being at a club just like this one when I was younger, they wouldn't let me in because I wasn't of age. I did get myself a sweet fake ID though, bought it every time." she said with a smirk, a playful look on her face.

"Oh? Fake ID huh? Are you a bit of a rebel Shelly?"

"Mhmm, I always like to stick it to the man...I have dreams of being a singer though. But my voice isn't good, I think I would be good too...I'd just my voice to rule over everyone and everything, like an iron fist!" she said firmly, earning a dry laugh from the boy.

"That's uh...interesting. Well, you look rather young, not much older than I am, I say go for it. Singing is an acquired skill, so if you do vocal exercises I'm sure you'll be stealing the hearts of millions soon enough. I have a friend who can coach you if you want?"

"I dunno, you're all hip and cool! I'm a little too old for your crew I think." she said, causing the boy to shake his head.

"No, you wouldn't cramp our style. You don't look that old, you look almost like my sister."

"Oh go on dear, that makes me so happy. I'm glad that you think I'm so pretty and young, I'm actually a lot older than you think. A _lot_ older. But anyway, if you have time then let's hang out, have you played your new ocarina yet?" she asked curiously. The boy shook his head no, earning a frown from her.

"That's no good, you have to try it at least. Or else you won't ever learn how to play it. Go on, bring it out! I can teach you how to play it." she said. The boy shrugged, reaching into his bag for the instrument Meeshell had bought him. He pulled it out of the case, holding it out to her.

"You know, this also reminds me of one of my favorite video games. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. It was such an awesome RPG, I definitely gotta play that with Dexter sometime, he'd definitely love it." the boy said, though mostly to himself. Shelly glanced at the instrument, grinding her teeth in anger.

" _Damn, that pink haired wench switched instruments. I can't enchant this one in front of him, I'll give myself away. Guess I'll have to improvise."_

"Let's see if I remember any easy songs...oh, I got one...but this area is a bit too loud. The thumping of that bass won't let us concentrate, this is a beautiful instrument, and it sounds better away from other sources of music, there's a spot nearby that should work." Shelly said, earning an odd look from Blake.

"I suppose...I'm sure Kitty and Coral will be fine if I take off for a few minutes. You gotta be back for work soon right? So we won't be gone long."

"That's right, five minutes tops, maybe ten. Come on, it's this way." she said, taking a hold of his hand, leading him away from the club, toward some nearby businesses.

"Uh...is it alright for us to be back here?" he asked, once they had reached an empty alleyway. Normally he would want out of that alley at all costs, but he was with a friend so he trusted her judgment.

"It's totally fine. Let's see, there's this song my mom taught me as a little girl, sorry if I mess it up." she said, bringing the ocarina to her lips. A beautiful melody came from the small instrument, a light whistling, which almost sounded like a flute.

"Wow, it sounds almost like a leaf whistle." Blake said, impressed with the sound of the small instrument. He cringed as the woman accidentally played a sour note, causing her to pull the instrument away from her lips.

"Sorry about that, guess I'm not as good as I thought I was."

"No no, you did great! Better than I would have at least." he said. Shelly smirked, biting her lower lip slightly.

"Well, I am thankful that you think that. You know, there aren't that many guys like you here in Atlantica. Guys with such a carefree personality."

"Carefree? I just like my music, I wouldn't say I'm carefree, not in the slightest." he admitted, flushing a bit. She placed a hand on his shoulder, tracing one of his scars with her fingertip despite her holding onto his ocarina.

"Hmm...what a shame, such supple skin blemished by these scars."

"Whoa, stranger danger...I think I should go." Blake said, causing the woman to grab a hold of his arm, pulling him back.

"Oh come on, don't tell me you don't like this?!"

"Sorry Shelly, I have a girlfriend. Were I single, I might consider it, but I don't really wanna do this to her...I think I should go back." he said firmly, trying to pull his arm free.

"I'm sure she wouldn't mind, she looks like the typed that would be into open relationships. You can indulge me just a bit." she said, grabbing his hand, placing it on her chest. The boy swallowed hard, glancing away from the woman.

"I can't."

"I can tell, you're a breast man aren't you? Look at that doll by your side, she's got nice rack. So does Meeshell, I can tell you wanna hit that, I saw the way you looked at her in the store. Wouldn't you like a bit of experience?" she asked, her voice sounding a bit huskier than before, more aroused.

"Not really no...I'd like to discover that aspect myself...and I wasn't looking at Meeshell that way, not at all. I have a girlfriend and I respect her, despite her own mischievous nature. I think I should go, please Shelly." he said, earning a frown from her.

"You're acting like a bit of a prude...I guess I'll just have to take the reins." Shelly replied, pressing her lips against his own. His eyes widened a bit in shock, not expecting the mermaid to actually kiss him. He grabbed a hold of her shoulders, forcefully pushing her back.

"Shelly! I told you I have a girlfriend, I'm sorry but I'm going back. I don't think you and I should be friends anymore." he said, about to swim away, when the woman blocked his path, licking her lips.

"You liked it, didn't you? Come on, I got fifteen minutes left on my break. Haven't you ever wanted to screw around with a mermaid? I can give you a blow job so good you'll be doing flips for the next hour."

"I said no! I respect my girlfriend Shelly! If I were single, then maybe but the fact of the matter is, I am not. So please just let me go!" he snapped angrily, brushing past her, snagging his ocarina as he did.

"I'm not letting you go so easily boy. Beluga servuga, come winds of the Caspian Sea! Larengix glaucitis et max laryngitis la voce to me!" she chanted, sending a wave of magic at the boy which slammed him to the ground. She grabbed a hold of the ocarina he had discarded, holding it out to the boy.

"Now Sing for me! Sing!" she cried. Blake grit his teeth, realizing what the woman was trying to do. He resisted, bit his lip and tongue but couldn't. He opened his mouth, feeling himself start to sing.

" _Aa-aa—aah Aa-aa-aah!"_

"Yes, keep singing! Give me that beautiful voice, the voice that I was denied pales compared to yours! It shall be mine and mine alone!" she chanted, cackling evilly as the boy continued to sing, the golden light finally left his throat, swirling into the ocarina. He fell back to the ground, looking at the woman wide eyed. He grit his teeth, shouting at her at the top of his lungs, except...it was quiet. He tried screaming, but nothing came out, he reached for his throat, eyes widening in shock.

"Looking for this? I'm afraid you can't have it my dear. I tried being nice to you, but you tried me for far too long. If I cannot have Ariel's voice, then I shall take yours. That duet you two sung was beautiful, I think after some molding, it will do me well." she said, a smirk on her face. The boy sprung up from the ground, his hands glowing violet with magic.

He pulled his arms back, forming a large ball of swirling energy within, throwing it right at the beautiful siren. She laughed as she swam upward, dodging the attack, which blew apart part of the nearby wall. She rose her hand, throwing her own attack at the boy, a swirling violet cloud that morphed into a fist, sending him flying back into the ground. He lay there, gasping for air eyes widened from the pain.

"You think that darkness of yours is enough to beat mine? I've got a good forty years on you my dear. The son of the Evil Queen you may be, but her power and strength you do not have. This voice belongs to me, and if you want it back, you'll have to fight for it."

" _Fight for it? Give me a break lady, I will get my voice back...I swear to god I will!"_ he thought angrily, glaring at the woman who just floated in place, chuckling a bit.

"Ah right, you can't speak...I guess you must be thinking something along the lines of, I'll get my voice back, just you see. Well, you are welcome to try, but there is only one thing I want. If you wish to have your voice back, then bring me the Trident! Without Triton here to rule over Atlantica, the kingdom shall be mine, as it rightfully should have been! I can get my tail back permanently, my beauty, my crown! Do this and I shall give you back your voice. If not, then kiss it good bye...hmm, perhaps you should have agreed to the blow job...at this rate it would have been your first and last!" she said, cackling loudly as the boy flipped her the bird. She rolled her eyes, flashing out of existence in a purple mist.

He ground his teeth together slamming his fist against the ground. Bubbles floated in all directions around him, his face reflecting his anger and hatred. He had completely trusted Shelly, and hadn't even sensed her magic power at all. He realized only then that she was in fact the Sea Witch herself, Ursula who had transformed into a beautiful young woman. It was then that he started wiping his mouth, spitting loudly at the sandy ground.

" _Ugh...I kissed a fucking old lady...shit! I gotta get back to Kitty, she'll help me get my voice back!"_ he thought, pushing himself up, swimming fast toward the Catfish Club.

 _ **xxx**_

"And you convinced him that there was a ghost, and he ran off crying?" Coral asked, earning a vigorous nod from Kitty, who had a grin on her face.

"Oh yeah, he was such a puss too. Of course that prank had it's repercussions. Because of it, Blake lost his first love Cerise and it lead to a downward spiral that lead us to Wonderland, where Blake got stabbed twice by Joey. But you know this already." she said, frowning a bit.

"Hey, no frowning! You're Kitty Cheshire right? I know everything happened and it all became sour, but Blake seems happy now. Maybe it wasn't meant to be with Cerise, but you at least got your chance right?" she asked.

"That is true...I like ya kid, you know just how my mind works!" Kitty replied, wrapping her arm around Coral's waist. Meeshell and Maya came from the club a second or so later, followed by their aunt Arista.

"Hey guys, sorry for the wait. We had to take care of something inside, Auntie, these are my friends, Kitty Cheshire, Coral Witch and...hey where's Blake?"

"Huh? Oh he was here a moment ago...he's probably somewhere nearby. Well hello, you must be Arista Mermaid, Kitty Cheshire, pleasure to meet you. Are you into girls? I think my boyfriend would be open to a relationship with you."

"See auntie? He's totally okay with it." Maya said.

"First off, no I'm not into women...second, you are seventeen and I'm thirty-four, so that wouldn't be morally correct. And three, the boy isn't here so you can't make his choice for him." the blonde said, looking rather annoyed. Kitty giggled, holding her hands up in defeat.

"You're right, but I assure you...once you see him, you won't resist his charm. You'll just want to be hugged and kissed by him until the wee hours of the night, I promise you!" she said with a wink.

"Wow...I can see a lot of Siamese in you, too much for my tastes. She was always the most mischievous of our friends. And you're Coral Witch correct? Daughter of Ursula?" Arista asked, turning to face the blue skinned mermaid, who bowed her head in shame.

"Um...Yes your majesty...I'm sorry, I can tell you don't like me. I'll just leave."

"Hey, no need for that. Ursula is an evil ugly disgusting witch, but I'm not gonna blame her child for what she herself did. Besides you remind me of Ariel when she was younger, always so shy. But behind those eyes lied a curious mind, I see quite a lot of her in you. Chin up, I can see the good in you." the blonde happily said, causing the girl to smile brightly. A few moments later, Blake appeared before them looking quite tired from the swim. He placed a hand on his chest, catching his breath for a bit.

"There you are, sheesh where were you? You weren't tail chasing were you?" Kitty asked. He glared at her, pointing to his throat a couple times, earning a confused look from the girl.

"What, your throat hurts?"

"Hmm...I don't think that's it. It's something else...did you eat something weird?" Meeshell asked curiously. The boy shook his head, opening his mouth, screaming despite his lack of a voice.

"Hey, it's completely silent! That's a neat trick, did you accidentally cast a spell on yourself?" Kitty asked. The boy face palmed, reaching into his bag for a quill and an ink well, along with his notebook. As soon as he uncorked his ink well, the ink floated out of the jar, mixing into the water.

"Oh, that's bad luck...I remember Ariel used to do that after coming back. You need some underwater ink hun, my name is Arista by the way, pleasure to meet you." the blonde woman said, holding her hand out. He looked at her, eyes widening a bit as he shook her hand, his worried look morphing into a grin, a flush on his face.

"Nice to meet you too Arista, say are you single? Wanna go on a date?" Kitty asked, mimicking his voice, earning a glare from the two.

"Kitty, now isn't the time for that! Blake, what's wrong? Why can't you talk? Did you hurt your throat?" Meeshell asked. The boy sighed silently, placing his quill and notebook back into his bag. He instead grabbed a marker and swam over to the sand, stabbing the hard plastic into the sand. He started writing a message out on it, drawing the curiosity of the girls.

"Wonder what he's writing? Maybe a poem?" Maya asked.

"Why a poem?" Coral asked, earning a shrug from the young mermaid.

"Riddlish, he's fluent in it...so maybe he'll just do that!"

"I doubt it, he speaks in Riddlish only when he wants to speak in code, or wants to piss someone off, mainly me. Though I'm fluent in it too, so I can always understand and decode what he says." Kitty admitted, wrapping her arm around Maya's shoulders, pulling her close to herself. The boy finally moved away, allowing the girls to see his message. Meeshell narrowed her eyes, reading it out loud.

"The girl from the music shop, Shelly, stole my voice. She was Ursula in disguise. She cast a spell on me and has my voice in the ocarina Meeshell bought me. If I don't bring her the Trident, she'll keep my voice forever, I'm sorry." she said, glancing up at the boy, seeing the apologetic look on his face.

"Dammit! Even after all this time this woman still schemes, she doesn't give up! We need to tell Ariel about this so she can zap the shit out of her!"

"No we can't!" Coral cried, grabbing Arista's wrist as she prepared to swim off.

"Why not? Don't tell me you're protecting her?!" Kitty cried, a look of annoyance on her face.

"Absolutely not! I'm just saying, I know my mom better than anyone...if we tell Ariel and she goes to zap her with the Trident, she'll break Blake's voice. He'll never be able to sing again even if he gets it back. We can't take that risk!" she said.

"She's right, the Sea Witch would do that. Hmm...she said she wanted the Trident right? Why don't we just give it to her?" Meeshell asked, earning a gasp from Arista, who glared into her eyes.

"Are you insane Meeshell? You give her the Trident and that's screwing us all and Atlantica forever!"

"Yeah, I know...but I never said we had to give her the real one right? With its magic we can just take a large piece of coral, cast an enchantment on it and when we have Blake's voice back, we just get out of there! It's fool proof!" Meeshell said, a proud smirk on her face. A golden light blinked in front of Blake, flashing into a rolled up scroll. He pulled the red lace from it, unrolling the paper. He read its contents, frowning as he handed it to Meeshell, who read it out loud.

"I felt the need to send this little note to you. Flotsam and Jetsam are keeping an eye on all of you. I request the real Trident, if you try anything foolish, I will break his voice. You have until sunset, three days from now or else his voice shall be permanently damaged or better yet, melded into mine. Make your move Mermaids, I shall await your answer, tootaloo!"

"Son of a bitch! What a fucking cunt, when I wrap my hands around her fat head, I'm gonna snap her goddamn neck!" Kitty shouted, clenching her hands tightly. Coral pulled her hands away from Maya's ears, a wide eyed look on her face.

"Wow...and I thought Attina had a colorful vocabulary when she was mad...you've left me impressed Kitty. Truly you have." Arista said, a look of amazement on her face. Blake waved his hands before himself, pointing to his throat, hands out in a questioning look.

"What about your voice? Well we get it back of course...ugh...this is such a hassle though. She wants the trident and we're being watched, we can't exactly make a plan can we?" Meeshell said, crossing her arms in defeat.

"She gave us until sunset on the third day...that's oddly specific." Maya added, causing Coral beside her to gasp, a look of realization on her face.

"Of course, she gave us the same time limit she gave Ariel. You have to get the prince to fall in love with you, by sunset on the third day, that is to say you must get him to kiss you. If you fail to do that, your legs will fall off and your voice will belong to me, for all eternity. It's the same thing, just twisted to fit Blake a little more."

"Leave it to Ursula to still be salty about something that happened so long ago."

"Of course she's still salty Ari! You all live in the ocean, I'm surprised none of you have kidney failure from all of this salt water." Kitty said, earning a glare from Blake.

"Now is not the time for jokes Kitty. Take this seriously!" Maya said gruffly, pointing at the daughter of the Cheshire Cat. Blake sighed, throwing his hands up in defeat.

"Three days huh? I'll go make some calls, I got a few favors to call in from five people that owe me. If we're gonna get Blake's voice back, we have to gear up. Ariel isn't the only one who has magic, before daddy left for Mount Olympus, he left special weapons for all of us. So we'll band together and storm the Sea Witch's hobble and we'll get Blake's voice back!" she said firmly.

"Uh...you just spilled your plan out, wouldn't those two eels hear it?" Kitty asked.

"I doubt they're hearing is that good. They can only see us, but they'd have to be very close to listen to us. Trust me, I'll get back to you, for now you take Blake back to the palace and explain everything to Ariel. We'll all come up with a plan."

"Okay, I trust you Arista...are you sure you don't wanna go on a date with Blake before you do though?"

"KITTY!"

"Alright, okay sheesh. No need to yell all at once, especially you Blake, you got no say in this, literally!" she said, giggling as her boyfriend sighed, shaking his head in disappointment.

"Let's just go to the palace...it'll be alright Blake. We'll get your voice back, so don't worry, you'll be just fine!" Meeshell said, placing a hand on his shoulder. He flushed a bit, giving her a nod.

"Are you okay Cora? You haven't said a word for the last few minutes...we're not mad at you, you know." Maya said, taking the girl's hand in her own.

"I know that...but it's my fault that this happened. I didn't even sense my mom's power...if I had my full powers, I would have stopped her. I would have prevented her from taking Blake's voice. Now, he's probably gonna get a broken voice back, and won't be able to sing anymore!" she cried.

"Hey, it isn't your fault Coral...just calm down, we'll think this through...okay?" Meeshell asked, reaching for her hand. Coral ducked back, swimming away as fast as she could, sobbing loudly.

"Cora!" Maya cried, about to swim after the young witch. Blake took her hand, causing her to look at him. He shook his head, pointing to himself before raising his hand toward Coral, who was just out of sight.

"Okay...you go bring her back...come straight here, then I'll take you to the palace. I'll make those calls, you three talk to Ariel. We'll get this done, okay?" Arista asked, earning nods from everyone. With that, they all split up, hoping to solve this new problem before it was too late.


	98. The World Under the Sea VII

**A/N:**

 **Hello everyone and welcome to The 98th Chapter of Through the Looking Glass. I apologize for posting this at 2AM in the morning, but I've been having a bit of issues with the story. You see after writing 100 chapters of something for so long, you sort of tend to run out of ideas. This has happened to me, and the writers block has been quite severe, enough for me not to write anything for the last week. I've been struggling with Chapter 101 and what to make it about for awhile, since I don't want to skip right to the Dragon Games. I do have a Pixie Hollow themed story arc before the Dragon Games arc, but I didn't want to write that after The World Under the Sea, I wanted to have something different, so I wrote four different drafts of it, didn't like it and deleted all of them. Finally I settled on an idea, that I hope you all like. I will be crossing it over with one of my other stories, the Hellfire Dragon Slayer, but I will not be posting those chapters yet because I haven't written Chapter 102 yet.**

 **So, I did a little miscount and wasn't able to reach 1,000,000 words with three chapters, so guess what? You all get Four chapters instead of three. Which is also why I am posting this right now. I will be posting the remaining three chapters throughout the day at different times. I've got them all prepared so all I gotta do is hit submit and they'll be up and ready to read. The next one should be up around 7AM or so and will be Chapter 99. Yeah, I know it will put me in a corner, but I'm already in a corner as it is so I don't really mind posting the four chapters I got. It gives me time to gauge the reviews and see what you guys think, sort of like a trial test. I'm most likely gonna continue with the cross over idea, I mean Chapter 101 is mostly about that, especially during the end. While I do recommend you skim through The Hellfire Dragon Slayer to at least know some of the characters, I will be adding their full character appearance, bio, magic and goals into my bio, in my created OCs list, so you all can refer to that. You don't need to read that story at all to get what will happen in this one. But if you wish to familiarize yourselves, you can go ahead. After this massive post, I won't be posting anything for Through the Looking Glass for awhile so I can work on the plot and stuff, so you've got the time. Feel free to read all 57 chapters of The Hellfire Dragon Slayer if you want.**

 **Yes, this has been a long time coming, my biggest project to date finally reaching the hundred chapter milestone. It reminds me of when I first started writing it back in November. I was struggling so much with Chapter 1, and now here I am struggling with Chapter 102. I can't even imagine what other adventures Blake will go through in this series, on the road to the end. I might be crossing over to other series to keep it more interesting, it's actually something I have been considering for awhile now, so I'll keep you on your toes. Leave your comments below telling me what you think about this chapter, or this idea in general. I'm always looking to read your comments and questions. Maybe I'll even throw a Danganronpa themed chapter or arc for those fans of The End of Hope's Peak Academy, which I haven't updated in awhile, for those reading this, I apologize, I'll get back to writing that soon enough! I promise, I've just been reworking the plot a bit, replaying the games and working on this so I haven't had the time.**

 **Again, I would like to thank all of you for staying with this story for so long. It's been a wild ride, but we're still in it and will be for awhile. So stay tuned for more.**

 **Ah yes, to my guest reviewer...I must say, I wasn't that triggered by your comment. I was just deleting all of the guest reviews that I saw, I actually did this for most of my other fics, I didn't really just delete yours. I do agree with what you have said, New Hampshire is suffering a lot with Opioid addiction, it's a shame that people resort to these drugs. In fact, I believe Georga is also suffering a lot from it, I remember hearing something about the area north of Atlanta being called the Opioid Triangle or something because of all of the deaths that have been registered in that area. All I can do is tell people to quit that nasty habit, but once you start, it's hard to quit. If I can at least help one person or inspire them to quit or make their dreary day just a bit better with my writing, then that will be enough, sadly there isn't more I can do.**

 **Which is also why I direct this next one to the guest Sergio who read my Cupid x Blake story. I'm glad that you decided to seek help and get your addiction under control. It is quite hard to drop something once you do, trust me I used to smoke a lot when I was younger, but I realized that shit was just killing me slowly, so I quit and I'm a lot healthier than before. It was even worse for me since I had a history of Sleep Apnia and Asthma in the family, so I was really making a dumb ass choice. But I quit and I feel way better than before, nothing better than taking a deep breath of fresh air, regretting it immediately after because a car blew its exhaust right in your face. Yeah, city life isn't fun sometimes.**

 **I leave you all with this chapter, I hope you like it...as I said before I will be posting the rest periodically though the day. If you are fans of Sword Art Online, I am working on a story based off of my playthrough of the game Fatal Bullet, which I will be posting as well...so stick around for that. If not, then I hope you give it a shot, I know the series isn't that...goodish...? But the games aren't that bad, just above mediocre, and this time you get to play as not Kirito so it's actually really cool. Have a good rest of your morning! See ya at 7AM!**

 **The song used in this chapter is called You're Gonna Go Far Kid, by The Offspring, one of my favorite songs. I've seen so many AMVs with this song it's insane. Sadly half of them got taken down for copyright, which is a shame, but the Deku one from Boku No Hero Academia is actually really good, check it out if you like.**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 98

The World Under the Sea VII

It didn't take long for Blake to find Coral. In fact, she had been in an area just south of the west entrance to Atlantica. It was an area he was familiar with from the story, a shipwreck that Ariel often times went to to rescue human things. The ship was much more broken up than he remembered, possibly due to how much longer it had spent under the water. The sails were ripped, and two of the three masts had broken and fallen over the side of the ship, laying in a pointed heap on the ground from where it had broken in half. Splintery remains of broken boards lay on the ocean bottom, too heavy to float up to the surface. Cannons and their balls lay on the sandy floor, where they had come to rest from the long trip to the bottom from the world above.

The ship came out of the shadows like a ghost ship, reminding him a bit of the Flying Dutchman, a ship that supposedly terrorized all manner of sailors. The broken bow, once beautiful was digging into the soft earth of the ocean bottom, the wooden mermaid at the front, all but eaten by the tiny mollusks and other small animals currently breaking the wooden vessel apart. The rocky area around the ship's resting place was rather intriguing, sharp rock formations rose from the ground in sharp spikes, while other flat rocks lay about. Sickly green plant life and coral was also dotting the area, though not as much as the reef he had seen the day before. The sunlight cut through the oceans surface beaming down to the ocean bottom, giving the area a bit of a heavenly look. Despite the wreck of this ship being a graveyard for those who had perished long ago, if any had perished, the area looked very alluring.

The daughter of the Sea Witch sat facing the wreck, on a raised rock formation that overlooked the ship itself. The ship was further down from the underwater bluff. Blake could feel the nearby currents as well, carrying a cool rush of water around the small valley, he could even see a shark out on the prowl for prey, though thankfully it hadn't noticed either him or the young mermaid. If it had, it didn't seem to care more enthralled in the area around the ship and all of the fish that were currently seeking refuge within. Coral had her face in her arms, her hair flowing softly behind her on the soft moving currents. He could hear her soft cries from where he was floating, making him frown.

There was a lot he wanted to say, but due to his current predicament, he couldn't exactly say it. It made for a rather pressing situation, he knew Coral blamed herself for what Ursula had done. But it wasn't her fault, and Blake knew that. It was his own fault for trusting a stranger readily, and for not following his own instincts. He had felt odd when he had followed Shelly into that alley way, and had wanted to bolt as fast as he could, but he didn't. He just trusted her, and it turned out to be the Sea Witch in the guise of a beautiful young mermaid. After the initial shock of losing his voice dissipated, it had been replaced with the fact that an old woman had basically forced herself on him, and it made him shudder in disgust. He was sure gonna need a lot of bleach to wash himself off after he left the ocean, at least that's what he thought.

He didn't do anything at first, thinking of a way to cheer the young mermaid up. But since he lacked a voice, he couldn't exactly speak to her, or sing to her like he had been planning. Whenever he was down he would always write a song or focus on music, and he didn't have that option. Sighing quietly to himself, he slowly approached the young mermaid, sitting down beside her. Ever so slightly, she picked her head up, her deep blue eyes looking him over. He gave her a smile, the only thing he could give her. She instead looked away, a soft whimper leaving her lips.

"You shouldn't be here, you should go back with Meeshell and just leave me be. It's because of me that my mom took your voice." she cried, muffled by her arms. He shook his head, pointing to himself.

"It is! My mom kicked me out and told me that I had to get a voice for her. One that had piqued her interest, and she took yours...she took your voice, she had been planning this ever since she heard you sing. She isn't gonna give it back, and it's all because of me!" she cried, bursting into tears, her small body shaking from her sobs. Blake sighed, pinching his eyes. He desperately wanted to speak, but he just couldn't. His eyes widened a bit, a smile appearing on his lips as he reached for his MirrorPhone.

Coral sniffled a bit as she heard a soft clicking coming from beside her. She had seen the device before, he had told her that it was a means of communicating on the surface. A device that was used to surf the MirrorNet, listen to Music and speak with friends and family. He finished typing the message out on the screen, tapping the Speech bubble on the side of it, holding the speaker upward, a mechanized female voice drifting from it.

" _Listen Coral, what happened isn't your fault. You're mother is a mean woman, who still wants revenge on Ariel and Eric for what happened. This has nothing to do with you, I was gullible and followed her like an idiot, so the loss of my voice is my fault, not yours. We will get it back, so don't blame yourself."_

"But it is my fault! My mom was most likely tracking me down, and when she saw me make contact with you, she jumped into action! If I hadn't met you, she wouldn't have found you or your voice. You'd still be able to speak." she countered, earning an annoyed look from the boy. He hurriedly typed out his next message, holding the phone out once more.

" _Coral, you aren't listening to me! Don't blame yourself for what your mom would have inevitably done. She would have still found me, she would have still tricked me, and she would have still stolen my voice. Remember what I told you before, you are your own person. Your mother doesn't dictate what you do. Her actions are her own, not yours, don't blame yourself for them. You don't see me blaming myself for what my mom did to Wonderland do you?"_ the phone chirped, causing the girl to face the other way. She bit her lip, sweeping her hair behind her head, the strands flowed with the water, moving back into her face.

"I suppose you are right about that...but I can't deny that it isn't my fault. Because it is...I'm sorry Blake, but you aren't changing my mind...I think you should go. Don't speak to me, I'll try to stay away from Meeshell and the others. My mom always ruins everything, when I finally had friends, she had to go and do this...she truly does hate me."

Blake glanced up at the surface above him, silently asking the Fairy Godmother for some assistance. He rapidly typed his message out on his phone, holding back the urge to slap some sense into the girl. He pressed the speech bubble, making sure the volume was as high as he could. He couldn't exactly yell but he hoped this would do for now.

" _Look! It doesn't matter of she loves you or not! It's clear that your mother cares only for herself and not for you. She wants you to take Meeshell's voice so that you can steal the trident and she can rule Atlantica, it's always been about her. I'm sure she only had you just so you could fulfill this role. But you don't have to fulfill it, you can be free, you have to love yourself instead of love her! Look at me, I detest my mother with everything I am, with every breath in my lungs. I don't know if I'll ever love her, I doubt I will. You don't have to love her at all, not when she screws you over all the time!"_

Coral looked away, remaining silent after hearing his message. She thought back to when she was still a little girl. She always wanted to play with the other merchildren, but her mother never let her. She was raised in a cavern, and was taught evil spells, witch craft, potion making. She was conditioning her to become a Sea Witch. She was naturally shy, because she didn't know how to react around other people. When she finally made friends with her cousin and some land dwellers, despite her nerves making her shiver more than a newborn, her mother had to go and ruin it. Her friend was right, she didn't have to love her mother, not when her mother didn't love her. She grabbed a hold of the seaweed beside her, crushing it in her hand.

"You're right...if I want to grow as a person, and find my way in life...then I have to let go of what's holding me back. My mom has done nothing but train me to be her, when I'm not her. I'll never become her, I will never hurt people like she does! I'm not going to steal voices, I'm not going to take over Atlantica! I want to be my own person, through my own merits I will become someone in this world!" she said, wiping her tears away. She pushed herself away from her seat, holding her hand out to the black haired boy.

"Come on Blake, let's go back to Atlantica. We'll get your voice back, and then some!" she said, earning a thumbs up from the boy.

 _ **xxx(Aquania: Beach House)xxx**_

"Raven, when is Blake coming back? We gotta record this stuff and we're wasting time. We were supposed have two songs done today and he's out there goofin off." Melody snapped, earning a sigh from the daughter of the Evil Queen. She could tell the white haired girl was stressed, but she couldn't exactly tell her what was going on.

"Yeah, Dexter was supposed to join us too but he's been gone for awhile. In fact what happened with Kitty? She's not down at the beach. Blondie, Alistair, Ashlynn and Hunter are gone too." Cerise noted, tugging on her hood a bit.

"Uh...they're all...getting groceries at the store. You know, feeding nearly forty people for the entire summer takes a lot of food. So I told him to go out and buy some stuff." Raven said, rubbing her arm. Noticing her nervousness, Cupid decided to help her friend out, standing by her side with a reassuring smile on her face.

"That's right! They're new to town so they had to search for the supermarket, they should be back soon." she said.

"I was just at the supermarket, and they weren't there. I figured that was where they were, so I took a jog down there and didn't see them." Ramona said, arms crossed as she glared at the pinkette.

"Alright Chariclo Arganthone Cupid, tell me where Blake is right now or I will pull every feather from your wings. You don't want them to look like a bald chicken would you?"

"No! Don't you dare touch my wings Cerise Hood, or I'll shave your ears!" the girl threatened back, causing Cerise to cover her ears, over her hood.

"Hey, let's not punch each others tits or anything. Cerise, Melody I understand that you both need Blake right now. However he is currently...unavailable. He told me to cover for him alright so I can't say exactly where he is right now." Raven said, a firm look on her face.

"No he didn't." Maddie said, grabbing the attention of all the girls. She took a sip from her tea cup, having set her table and kettle next to a nearby window. Lizzie looked up from her design book, setting one of her colored pencils aside.

"What do you mean by that Madeline, dear?"

"The covering part of course! If he had asked Raven to cover him, than she would be thoroughly covering him. But she isn't, in fact my friend Brooke told me exactly where he is and what kind of adventure he and Kitty are currently having." she said, taking another sip from her cup.

"Brooke did? Wait who's this Brooke girl again?" Ramona asked, causing Raven to sigh as she leaned back against the wall.

"She's a narrator...her parents, Weiss and Chester supposedly narrate all of our events. I don't buy it, but she totally helped us in Wonderland, so I know she exists. I guess if Maddie knows I can't really keep this a secret anymore. The reason Blake isn't back is because he's in Atlantica right now."

"Atlantica? You mean the mermaid realm? Are you serious right now?" Melody asked, disbelief in her face.

"I'm not lying and I am serious. I gave Kitty a crystal ball before she left for the yacht, and she told me they were heading there. Apparently the Queen of Atlantica invited them personally to stay there for a couple days. Sorry for keeping this to myself, but she was the one who asked me too."

"It's fine...but it really does put us off...how did he even get there anyway?" Cerise asked curiously.

"He crashed the boat, or rather the boat hit a reef. Thankfully he met three mermaids and made friends with them. One of them happens to be the daughter of the previous little mermaid, her name is Meeshell. She sounds adorable just by that name alone, oh I can't wait to meet her! I'm gonna make her drink loads of Earl Gray!" Maddie cried, causing her pet mouse of the same name to run off.

"Aw, you scared the poor dear. You gotta be more specific, I must say this is quite intriguing. I was designing a sea themed fashion line for the early fall, to incorporate it with our Young-Blood line." Lizzie said.

"I gotta admit, the kid always finds himself in the darnedest of places. Wonderland, Neverland and now Atlantica? What's next, Mount Olympus?" Ramona asked.

"Hopefully not, I'm not ready to go home yet...I just know the other gods will tease the hell out of me for not being a full angel yet." Cupid said, bowing her head dejectedly. Raven was about to say something, when a bright violet light flashed out of her pocket. Reaching inside, she pulled out the crystal orb that rested within, tapping it with her finger, a holographic screen appearing from it.

"Hey Kitty, is something the matter?" she asked, seeing the distressed look on her face.

" _There is, I'm not gonna beat around the bush Rae...the Sea Witch stole Blake's voice. She tricked him by pretending to be a young mermaid and is now keeping his voice hostage. We have three days to bring her the Trident or else she'll break his voice. We need someone with your strength and magic to go up against her."_ she replied.

"The Sea Witch?"

"Great, what are the odds of that? Why is it that Blake always somehow manages to attract the attention of some villain?" Ramona asked, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Because he's the main character duh! Weiss and Chester told me that we're all main characters but he gets special treatment!"

" _He does not Madeline! Everyone is special in this story, it just so happens that he is a rather interesting young man. After all he did save Neverland and Wonderland."_ Weiss said, causing the girl to giggle.

"I'm pretty sure that makes him a main character then...eh, it's perfectly fine. As long as he leaves the kooky to me, we won't have an issue...I'll be watching him!" Maddie replied, glaring at the ceiling for a few seconds.

"Whatever! We have a major issue, if Blake is missing his voice then he can't sing! That means we won't be able to record anything new, we need to help him get his voice back!" Cupid cried, earning a nod from Melody, who adopted a firm look on her face.

"Cupid is right, he's an integral member of our band. Not to mention this Sea Witch needs to quit stealing voices, I've heard rumors that she has a collection in her grotto, all of them screaming eternally."

"That's so creepy. I'd love to help you guys out, but I'm a little too busy at the moment. Raven, perhaps you should get a move on, Blake could benefit from having his older sister with him."

"You're right, thanks Lizzie. I'm going, anyone else want to come along?" Raven asked, earning nods from Cerise, Cupid, Melody and Ramona.

"Been awhile since I've been on an adventure, and I missed out on the last one. So count me in." the daughter of the Bad Wolf said, wrapping her arm around Cerise's shoulder, much to her dismay.

"I'm going too, Blake's been a real friend to me recently, and has listened to a lot of my problems. So I need to repay him for his kindness."

"I agree with Cupid, besides I could use some inspiration. Maybe I can make some new beats based off the sick tunes from Atlantica. The realm under the sea is quite popular with their music after all."

"Alright then we're going. Kitty, is there a place where we can meet up? We won't be able to get down there without tails. Perhaps the Mermaid Queen could help us?" Raven asked, earning a grin from the purplette.

" _Don't you worry Rae, I got this. There's an area of the ocean where me and Blake left our jet skis, about three miles from where Daring's boat hit the bottom."_

"Perfect, let's just hope Daring and Dexter found the damn thing, we might need their help on this one...I'll see you soon Kitty. Make sure my brother is fine alright?"

"Hehe, of course! I'll take extra care of him, if you know what I mean." Kitty replied, giving the girl a wink before ending the communication. Cerise growled audibly, her eyes glowing a slight gold.

"That damn cat, always being so racy and saucy. Godmother, what does he see in her?" she muttered dryly. Ramona cleared her throat, grabbing the hooded girl's attention. She gestured to the others, earning curious looks from them. Cerise flushed, turning out of the room.

"I'm gonna put my swimsuit on, I'll meet you on the beach. Don't follow me."

"So...she really is in love with Blake, that's so sad." Cupid said, bowing her head sadly.

"She has to accept that Blake has moved on, or grow a pair and tell him she likes him. Cheshire has been trying to get Blake a second girlfriend for some reason or another, maybe she might be that second girl he needs." Ramona added.

"Isn't that weird though?" Melody asked, glancing at her MirrorPhone for a brief second.

"Not really, if they all like each other than it's fine, I think. Let's not worry about their relationship status, let's just prepare to go down there." Raven said, heading out of the room.

"Oh, does that mean we get to wear our sexiest binikis? I've been dying to wear this violet one for the last week."

"Na-uh, violet is my color, stick to blue, it goes better with your body shape and eyes. Besides our lower halves will be mermaid tails, so I doubt the bottom even matters." the daughter of the Evil Queen replied.

"Of course it matters, even as a mermaid I want every merman and mermaid to look at my awesome hips. Maybe I might find myself someone down there, who knows right?"

"I could help you if you want? I did bring my arrows just in case, maybe I can finally learn about true love. Of course, that's it! I have to get two different species together, that makes total sense! I'll get my bikini on, this is gonna be fun!"

"Ugh...none of you have priorities, Jeez we should be worrying about Blake's voice not how our tits will look like under water." Melody snapped, her comments falling on deaf ears.

 _ **xxx(Atlantica: Palace)xxx**_

The Palace was quite bigger than Blake had been expecting. It was exactly like he had seen in the television series. Unlike other palaces which were mostly closed off, the Atlantican Royal Palace was 90% open, lacking almost any and every wall imaginable. The only places that had walls were the private quarters for Ariel's children and staff, the dining room and of course the restrooms and offices. There was an ivory path that lead to a large courtyard garden, which he remembered seeing in one of his favorite video game series. For some reason he had been expecting to see a large clam with a glowing green orb to the very back of it, or someone asking him to practice some godawful button mashing song. Thankfully that wasn't the case.

Ariel's children had been quite curious about meeting the new arrivals. They had all been wary of Coral, but Arista had let them know that she was a good person. Right after they had gotten there, she had swam in the direction of the Throne Room to speak with Ariel. Meeshell had been speaking with her for awhile now and hadn't come out yet. That left Blake and Coral surrounded by six pairs of eyes all of them curiously looking at the two. Despite Maya telling them a bunch of stories of Blake's exploits, her siblings were all wary of him. And since he couldn't exactly speak he didn't know how to communicate with them. So he just sat on a bench far away from them, playing Tic-tac-toe with Coral again, who was much in the same position as him.

"This is so awkward, wouldn't you say?" she asked softly, earning a nod from the boy. He cut her circle off with one of his X's, ending the game in a tie. She sighed, using her fist to wipe the board away, drawing a new one in its place.

" _I wish I could speak, I think we would all get along better."_ the automated voice of his MirrorPhone cried. This fact made Coral frown again, she balled her hand tightly wanting to do something. It was already sundown on the surface, and Atlantica would soon become dark for the night.

"They do like music, but I'm a horrible singer so I wouldn't bother."

" _I doubt that, come on...have you never tried to sing?"_

"Of course I have! I got vocal lessons from my mother, she always wanted to be a popstar. She said our story robbed her of her dream, which was why she was collecting voices. I think I'm a good singer, but my mom always said I sung like crap...so I guess I must sound like crap." she said dejectedly. He narrowed his eyes, hurriedly typing out his next message, almost cracking the screen as he pressed the Speech bubble.

" _If I gave you some song lyrics would you sing?"_ he asked. She blinked a few times, shyly looking at the seabed.

"Maybe...it's so embarrassing though." she said. He rolled his eyes, reaching into his messenger bag for his music book. He flipped through some pages, finally reaching a song he had written the lyrics of, one of his favorites back on Earth. He handed it to her and she looked them over, a small smile appearing on her face.

"These lyrics aren't that bad...did you write them yourself?"

" _No, they're from a song that I listened to growing up. It always cheered me up as a kid, and I was gonna have Purple Rhapsody cover them as a bonus song to our next album. But if you are brave enough to sing them, then I'll let you cover it."_

"Really? You'll let me be on your album? But I'm not that good of a singer, I mean it's more casual singing!" she cried. The boy ruffled her hair a bit, making her flush slightly. He typed out his reply, holding the phone out to her.

" _I promise, and when Blake Queen makes a promise. He keeps it, just ask Bluebeard, he'll tell ya."_ the phone chirped, earning a dainty laugh from the girl. Maya swam over to them, a look of annoyance on her face. She looked back at her siblings, blowing a raspberry in their direction.

"My siblings are all idiots. It seems like me and MeeMee are the only sensible ones. Melody is too uptight, just like Aunt Attina, Merida is more worried about having a boyfriend just like Aunt Adella, and Matilda keeps taking Merida's things without asking just like Aunt Arista...sheesh, I think I'm the only sane one among them!"

" _Well, it's nice to see them getting their defining roles...it makes me wonder where you fit in the grand scheme of things."_ Blake's phone cried out, earning a huff from the ravenette mermaid.

"Nowhere of course! I am me, not what that silly book dictates. Anyway, their all being butt-heads. Momma, MeeMee and Auntie Arista are all busy. Looks like it's just us."

"Um...actually, I think I'd like to get their attention. They don't trust me because I'm Ursula's daughter. And they don't trust Blake because he can't speak for himself. He gave me some song lyrics, and I wanna sing them...but I peeked at the sheet music and we need some instruments we don't have here." she said. Maya giggled, clutching her sides a bit. She took the sheet music from the girl, flipping through the pages.

"I got this, Sebastian! Get your red crabby butt here right now! I got a new song just for you!" she cried out. Blake would have been giddy at meeting an important story character, but he forced himself to be mellow, the last thing he needed was to make an ass of himself when he couldn't speak. It wasn't long before an old looking crab swam into the courtyard, looking quite annoyed.

"Maya! How many times must I tell ya not to shout when I'm working? I have too many tings to take care of you know! What is this about a new song?" he asked, floating before the girl. She smirked, pushing Blake and Coral in front of her.

"These are my friends, Blake Queen and Coral Witch, before you say anything, they're really awesome people. Coral isn't evil and neither is Blake. We're having some issues because Coral's meanie mom took his voice. Coral wants to sing a song and we need instruments, since you are the royal musician for our kingdom, I figured you wouldn't mind."

The old crab looked at the music, being quite impressed with how well it was written. He turned to face Blake, the obvious author of the song, giving him a look. He didn't know many young people who could write a good song that wasn't computerized or a remix of an old song. He nodded slightly, turning to face Maya once more.

"This is a very well written song, I can tell the composer worked hard. It won't take me long to assemble the right instruments here, are you sure you wish to sing this?"

"Yes...I just want to...break the ice a bit." Coral said, adopting a brave look on her face. She stayed as straight as possible when she faced the old crab.

"I shall be a few minutes. Come with me Maya, we must select these instruments carefully to get the right tune flowin!"

The two left shortly after, leaving Blake and Coral alone once more. The girl was focused on the lyrics in her hands, looking a bit nervous. Blake placed a hand on her shoulder, giving her a reassuring look. She took a deep breath, shaking the nerves out of her system.

"I'm gonna practice these for a bit. It's been a while since I sung anything, I sure hope my voice can handle it." she said, sitting down on the sea floor, glancing at the words before her. Blake had no doubt in his mind that she'd be able to nail those lyrics.

Meanwhile on the surface, Kitty, along with Meeshell and Ariel were all waiting for Raven to show up. The daughter of the Cheshire Cat had convinced the Mermaid Queen to turn her friends into mermaids for the time being. She knew that with Raven on their side, the Sea Witch would have a much harder time if it came to a magical battle. She had been very worried when Meeshell had told her what had happened. But she had also said that the boy was still his cheerful self despite not being able to talk now. They had been waiting in an area of the ocean with some rocks jutting out of the water. Kitty remembered them to be the same ones that Ariel had jumped on top of during her story.

The crimson haired woman was calmly sitting on the biggest rock, clutching her trident tightly in her hands. She hadn't been expecting Ursula to pull a cruel move, especially ask for the Trident again. She was a bit nervous, as the last time the Sea Witch had gotten a hold of the magical item was when she forfeit her soul for a pair of legs. Her father King Triton had switched places with his daughter just so her soul wouldn't be given to the Sea Witch. It was the role she was meant to play now that her daughter was the next Little Mermaid. Meeshell could tell her mother was in a bit of a funk, but she didn't really know how to speak to her, so she just remained silent. Kitty had been sitting on the lowest rock, keeping her tailfin submerged in the water, giggling at the antics of the dolphins around them. They had been splashing each other and her for awhile now, and while normally she would be mad to be wet, she couldn't stay mad at the cute dolphins for too long.

"How can you be so happy? Aren't you worried about Blake at all?" Meeshell asked curiously, causing Kitty to look at her. She gave her a smile, sweeping her wet hair behind her ear.

"I am worried, I can feel that sharp sting in my heart, that sick feeling of something bad happening. But I would rather be happy than be worried. I mean, this is Blake we're talking about...with Raven by his side, his nearly unstoppable. He'll get his voice back, so there's no need to worry at all."

"But there is a need to worry! What if Ursula breaks his voice? He'll never be able to sing again! He loves to sing, he said so himself. That song he wrote on the boat told me enough." the pinkette countered, earning a sigh from Kitty.

"Meeshell, trust me. Even if Blake's voice is broken, he isn't gonna stop doing what he loves. He'll find a way to sing again, and if not then he'd still be a part of his band. He can play guitar, and he's one of the lyricists, so he would still do a lot. Just believing in him and Coral, we'll be fine." she said, patting her tail in a comforting way.

"Kitty has a point baby girl. I heard most of his stories, especially the Wonderland one and the Neverland one. He's a lot stronger than he lets on, despite being the son of the Evil Queen. You should believe in him, still...I can't help but worry. Ursula is a cunning woman, she'll go through any lengths to get this Trident from us. Even as far as pushing her daughter to act earlier than dictated in our story." Ariel said, glancing at her reflection on the trident's surface.

"I feel really bad for Coral...she's had such a hard life. Sometimes, I wish we could switch places, she deserves a better life. She deserves my role instead of hers." Meeshell said firmly, earning a curious look from Ariel.

"Sweetheart, you don't truly mean that do you?"

"I do mom...I was considering...signing her name in my page of the Storybook. I wouldn't mind giving her my happily ever after, especially after all the stuff she's been through."

"You know, it takes a lot of balls to do that. To actually consider giving your happily ever up for someone else. You my friend are one hundred percent Rebel. Are you sure you don't want to come to Ever After High with us in the fall? You definitely deserve to be there." Kitty said.

"I...I might." Meeshell replied, flushing slightly. Ariel smile, wrapping an arm around her daughter, holding her close.

"I love you so much sweetheart. You have truly grown in the last few days, you aren't that shy mermaid anymore. I just wish you were more valiant on your legs than in your tail."

"Mom! It's a work in progress! You know I feel better in water!" she cried, earning a giggle from Kitty.

"You know, if you do give your happily ever after to Coral, I can still hook you up with your fairytale prince. There are plenty of bachelors back in Ever After, and there are some in our class too."

"I think I'm fine for now."

"Right, if you say so. I did notice how you were looking at Blake, I can hook you up you know. I wouldn't mind letting such a cute mermaid go out with him." she said, giving the pinkette a wink.

"Kitty honey, why are you trying so hard to get Blake another girlfriend? Are you not happy with your relationship?" Ariel asked curiously. Kitty leaned back against the rock, glancing at the rapidly reddening skies.

"I am extremely happy with my relationship. But, I feel like Blake deserves more than just me...I mean, he was booted from our world, stabbed with a mirror when he came back. Ridiculed for a bit, almost killed, turned evil, the list is endless. I just want to make sure he's happy."

"Have you ever stopped to consider what he wants? I mean, he's pretty adamant about not getting another girlfriend, despite you pushing toward it. Honestly, I think there's something you aren't coming to terms with...perhaps it has to do with your sexuality." the older mermaid said. Kitty sat up, giving the woman a curious look.

"My sexuality? I'm one hundred percent bisexual, I thought you knew this...I mean, it's quite easy to pick out from how I act."

"I figured, I mean you were staring at a few mermaids in town...I'm happy that you embrace yourself wholeheartedly. But remember, you aren't the only person in that relationship. You have to think about what Blake wants as well. Is he the man you want to marry in the future? Remember, you'll be with him until death do you part, so you have to make sure your wants are settled before it comes to that."

"Mom is right, I've seen a lot of young couples get married, only to be divorced not long after. In fact, some of those relationships are so toxic that they won't even stare at each other. I had to sit through a lot of those when I was fourteen, so I could learn how to run a kingdom. It made me scared to fall in love." Meeshell said, placing her hand over her heart.

"I guess for those who rely on destiny to find their Prince Charming, they'll never experience the warm fuzzy feelings we get. I remember when I realized I liked Blake...it was after the Spring Fairest. He felt like he was to blame for what happened, when it was all my fault. If I hadn't bragged to my mom, then she wouldn't have cursed the school."

"But you were able to break it in the end. That's all that matters right?" Ariel asked, earning a nod from the girl.

"That is true...I mean, we drank champagne that night, and just talked. I wanted to kiss him so badly. But he had just broken up with Cerise, I acted like I didn't care but I did. Seeing him hangout with Holly, and kissing Apple...it just burned my insides. For a second, I thought he wasn't going to pick me, and I honestly didn't have a back up plan if he didn't."

"Hmm...could it be that you don't feel adequate then? The reason why you want him to have another girlfriend I mean." the red haired mermaid asked, earning a shrug from Kitty, who tapped the water beside her, attracting one of the dolphins to her.

"I don't really think about that...he told me I was perfect...but sometimes I wonder if I am. I guess you are right Ariel, maybe that's one of the underlying reasons I want him to have another girlfriend. Because if he's happy with her, then he wouldn't need someone broken like me."

"Hey now, don't say that! You aren't broken, not at all Kitty...I spent a long time watching you all from afar. The first week at the beach house, I noticed how in love you two are. All of the splashing, the swimming lessons, the water balloons. When you two would kiss under the moonlight, it reminded me of my mom and dad, and that love that they have. You aren't perfect, but you aren't broken...I mean come on, none of us are perfect, not even the great Snow White." Meeshell admitted, earning a giggle from Kitty.

"Ain't that the truth...I suppose you are right. None of us are perfect, not even our fairytale parents...I guess that's also what lead us all to revolt against destiny. It too isn't perfect, I guess our generation will go down in history. The first generation to flip the Storybook of Legends the big fat one." she said, holding her hand up the middle finger raised to the skies above.

"Hehe, I think all of you are quite special...makes me want to visit Ever After High, see just how much it's changed. I think it would benefit you if you went Meeshell, you'd be surrounded by friends." Ariel said.

"Yeah...you're right...I think I will go. Just as long as Kitty doesn't abandon me when I get there!"

"No promises, I'm sure Blake will be happy to give you the tour...maybe Coral can join us too. She could use more friends, though I'm sure Maya will miss the two of you. She's such a cutie, when I have a daughter I hope she's just like her."

"Trust me, you don't want Maya as a daughter. She may be tame because Meeshell is around, but when she isn't...head for the shipwrecks, because hell will break lose. Believe me, I try my hardest to hide from her, and I'm her mother!" Ariel cried, causing Meeshell and Kitty to laugh. A loud splash followed by several cries tore them from their mirth, making them all look toward the ocean, the dolphins swam in the same direction, helping the five girls that had literally dropped into the water.

"Ugh...Raven! You were supposed to freeze the water before dropping us into it!"

"Sorry Cerise, I sort of forgot. You know how hard it is teleporting five people three miles into the open ocean?" the girl in question cried, sweeping her hair out of her face, ignoring the fact her make up was currently running off her face.

"Hey girls! About time you showed up!" Kitty cried, waving her hand in greeting. They all turned to face the girl, eyes widening a bit when they saw her tail.

"No way, Kitty you're a mermaid?" Cupid cried, eyes widened in shock.

"Not bad, she looks kinda hot."

"Ramona! Keep it in your pants would you?" Cerise snapped. Ariel giggled as she dove into the water, approaching the five girls, followed by her daughter and Kitty.

"Welcome, friends of Kitty Cheshire! My name is Ariel Mermaid, I'm the Queen of Atlantica...this is my daughter Meeshell, the next Little Mermaid, it's a pleasure to meet you all!" the woman said cheerfully. Meeshell hid behind her, feeling a bit shy of the new arrivals.

"It's an honor to meet you, your majesty. I'm Raven Queen, these are my friends, Cupid, Cerise, Ramona and Melody, daughters of Eros, Red Riding Hood, the Bad Wolf and the Pied Piper respectively. I hate to ask but, has my brother kept himself out of trouble?"

"He's been a wonderful guest. However, the Sea Witch decided to ruin everything, which is why I asked Kitty to call you. You are the daughter of the Evil Queen, your magic should be on par with hers."

"It is, and if it isn't, Blake will help me out. When we're together, we're unstoppable." Raven said, in a reassuring tone. Ramona reached for something behind her back, Ariel noticed that it was a sword, a rather familiar looking sword.

"If they aren't, then I brought this just in case. I would hate to resort to this, but it's better to have it and not need it, then need it and not have it." she said, making the mermaid queen swallow hard.

"Alright, I'm glad that you are all here. I'll transform you all into mermaids so you can come to Atlantica with me. We have a few days to prepare, it would be best not to jump the gun. It is entirely possible that she is watching us right now."

"Even if she is, we aren't letting her get away with this. She can't just do what she wants anymore...we just gotta teach her a lesson, like Ever After High students know how to do." Cerise said, a smirk on her face. Kitty giggled, choosing not to say anything.

"Then let's get too it! Now I promise, this won't hurt a single bit." Ariel said, holding her trident up.

"She's totally right, it'll hurt a lot!" Kitty added, laughing maniacally as the magic drifted toward the girls, the look of fear on their faces egging her on.

 _ **xxx(Atlantica: Palace Courtyard)xxx**_

Sebastian had assembled a band quite quickly. He had reassured the young boy that all of the instruments would replicate the same melody that was written on the papers he had been handed. There were various instruments, all of them mimicking the same instruments on the surface. There was a Bass playing bass, a Manta Ray playing cymbals, an octopus playing the xylophone, and various other sea critters with a lot of other instruments. By now, Ariel's kids had been intrigued, and Maya had been doing her best to keep them in place, even a few townspeople had gathered around the courtyard, having seen all of the instruments that had been gathered. It wasn't often that a concert happened in the palace, so they wanted to see it.

"Blake, I'm a little nervous...I think they're expecting Meeshell and not me." she said, glancing at Blake who rolled his eyes, typing his reply on his phone.

" _They might, but they'll be more impressed with you. I heard you rehearsing those lyrics and you sound wonderful. Just shake a fin and give'em hell!"_

"Okay...I will! Thanks Blake, I really appreciate this!" she said, giving the boy a hug. He flushed brightly, hugging the girl back. He gave her a small slap on the back, jolting her forward from behind the rocks they had been at. She sighed, moving toward the center of the stage, the mutters filling the air.

"Hello, my name is Coral Witch, d-daughter of the S-sea Witch. Um...I'm gonna be singing a song today...I-I hope you l-like it." she said, stuttering a bit. She looked down at Sebastian, who gave her a wink as he rose his conductors staff, preparing the orchestra. She took a deep breath, as the first notes begun to play.

" _Show me how to lie_

 _You're getting better all the time_

 _And turning all against the one_

 _Is an art that's hard to teach_

 _Another clever word_

 _Sets off an unsuspecting herd_

 _And as you get back into line_

 _A mob jumps to their feet!_

 _Now dance, fucker dance_

 _Man, he never had a chance_

 _And no one even knew_

 _It was really only you_

 _And now you steal away_

 _Take him out today_

 _Nice work you did_

 _You're gonna go far kid!_

 _With a thousand lies_

 _And a good disguise_

 _Hit'em right between the eyes_

 _Hit'em right between the eyes_

 _When you walk away_

 _Nothing more to say_

 _See the lightning in your eyes_

 _See'em running, for their lives!"_

" _Slowly out of line_

 _And drifting closer in your sights_

 _So play it out I'm wide awake_

 _It's a scene about me!_

 _There's something in your way_

 _And now someone is gonna pay_

 _And if you can't get what you want_

 _Well it's all because of me!_

 _Now dance fucker dance_

 _Man, I never had a chance_

 _And no one even knew,_

 _It was really only you_

 _And now you'll lead the way!_

 _Show the light of day_

 _Nice work you did,_

 _You're gonna go far Kid!_

 _Trust, Deceived!_

 _With a thousand lies_

 _And a good disguise_

 _Hit'em right between the eyes_

 _Hit'em right between the eyes_

 _When you walk away_

 _Nothing more to say_

 _See the lightning in your eyes_

 _See'em running, for their lives!"_

" _Now dance fucker dance,_

 _He never had a chance,_

 _And no one even knew_

 _It was really only you!_

 _So dance fucker dance,  
_

 _I never had a chance_

 _It was really only you!_

 _With a thousand lies_

 _And a good disguise_

 _Hit'em right between the eyes_

 _Hit'em right between the eyes_

 _When you walk away_

 _Nothing more to say_

 _See the lightning in your eyes_

 _See'em running, for their lives!_

 _Clever alibis, Lord of the Flies!_

 _Hit'em right between the eyes!_

 _Hit'em right between the eyes!_

 _When you walk away_

 _Nothing more to say_

 _See the lightning in their eyes_

 _See'em running, for their lives!"_

The last notes drifted through the courtyard leaving a rather tired looking Coral. In the wake of her song, which she had performed spelltacularly, much to the surprise of the crowd was silence. Blake of course being proactive, started clapping loudly, followed by Maya who then lead the rest of the crowd into a round of applause and cheers. Coral's eyes were wide, not knowing what to do, she turned to Blake, who bowed to her, a sign that she should do the same, which she did. Some of the crowed were calling for an encore, but Sebastian took over, saying that she had only prepared one song, but that he would instead play some new stuff he had been working on. Coral drifted off the stage, falling to the seabed in a heap, still shaking from the nerves.

"Oh my...that was...wow."

" _I know, the feeling never truly goes away does it? You wanna go out there and do another one?"_ Blake asked through his phone. She shook her head, a few bubbles drifting away from them.

"Absolutely not! One is enough, I don't think I can go back out there, my heart is beating so damn hard I...I just need a breather." she admitted, taking a few deep gulps of air.

"I must say, that was a wonderful song Coral, you did absolutely amazing!" the voice of Ariel said, causing the two teenagers to turn around.

"Ah! You're majesty, I'm so sorry!" the girl cried, bowing her head apologetically. Blake swam toward his sister, hugging her tightly.

"There's no need to apologize, you have such a beautiful voice, you should sing more. Share it with all of Atlantica!" Ariel said, placing a hand on her shoulder, a motherly look on her face. Coral hugged her tightly, earning a hug in return.

"Thank you, this is the first time someone actually liked my singing. Ariel, is it alright if I call you mom from now on? I know we haven't spent a lot of time together, but I see you more as my mom than my real mother." she said.

"I don't mind at all dear...you can stay at the palace for as long as you'd like. Meeshell already told me of your situation, and though your cousins don't all see eye to eye yet, they'll get used to you soon enough."

"I can't believe you came all the way here Blake, you really do have a knack for getting into the affairs of other realms." Raven said in a scolding tone, earning a sheepish grin from the boy.

He noticed all of his friends had tails now, just like he did. Raven's was a deep hue of violet, with shimmering aqua flecks and tail fins. She was wearing a black clam shell bra, which went rather well with her overall color. Melody had an odd colored tail, being mostly white in color, with light pink, blue and green scales following a pattern, almost like the dye in her hair. She wore a white clam shell bra, her hair being tied into a ponytail, and her headphones rested around her neck. Cerise still had her hood, despite not really needing it, her tail was a dark red color, with light pink flecks and tail fins, she wore a red clam shell bra, which had her pinned to it. Ramona had a navy blue tail, with golden scales, flecks and fins. He noticed she had Excalibur strapped across her back, he didn't question why, he really couldn't. She was fiddling with her bra a lot, and for half a second thought she was going to take it off. He glanced at Cupid, finding her a bit different.

Her tail was the same color as her hair, a light glittering pink color, with soft pink flecks and tail fins. Her bra was a baby pink in color, and was mostly covered by her hair. But he noticed she didn't have her angel wings on her back anymore. He pointed to her, mimicking wings with his hands. She tilted her head a bit, a smile appearing on her face.

"You're asking about my wings right?" she asked, earning a nod from him.

"Well, Ariel's magic couldn't transform her wings too. It was either she gets a tail or she kept her wings, it's all because she's technically a demi-god. So the trident's magic had trouble transferring it around properly." Raven explained. The boy just looked at her confused, shrugging it off.

"You know Blake, you really know how to piss me off. I was done mixing all of our music, got it all ready to record, then you go and lose your voice. Guess you're gonna have to leave the ladies in your life to fight this battle for you." Melody said, a smirk on her face. The boy hurriedly typed his message out on his phone, holding it out for them.

" _Heh, right! You are just jealous that even without my voice I'm a better musician than you. Though I do appreciate your help, you look really sexy with a tail, winky face."_

"Winky face?" Kitty asked curiously. The boy flushed, typing out another message.

" _Sorry about that, my phone doesn't emote well."_

"Anyway, now that we're all back together, for the most part...what's the plan? We have three days to do something right? How about we just swim to the Sea Witch's gave and beat the fuck out of her?" Ramona asked, earning a glare from her little sister.

"We can't do that you idiot. She has Blake's voice, if we try rough housing it, she might break it. That's a risk none of us are willing to take, it is his voice after all."

"Hmm...well she took Blake's voice because it interested her. How about we just make her believe she doesn't need it?" Cupid asked, earning curious looks from the others.

"What do you mean by that Cupid?" Meeshell asked.

"Well, if she hears a better voice, a more...appealing one, then she'd give Blake's voice back. He's an amazing singer, but he isn't the best out there. No one is the best singer, but there has to be someone who sings just a tad better than him."

"Of course there is, Ursula wants Ariel's voice, she always has." Raven said, glancing at the red headed mermaid, who frowned.

"That's right, she's always wanted my voice...and then when she couldn't have it, she wanted Meeshell's. But we can't trade our voices for Blake's, it isn't her plot after all. She wants the trident in the end."

"Why does she even want your voice though? That makes no sense, especially if she wants the trident instead." Melody asked. Meeshell cleared her throat, grabbing their attention.

"Ehe, that's my fault. You see, as a baby I was a bit mischievous, so my grandfather put a vocal recognition spell on the trident. Anyone who's part of the Mermaid lineage can move it from the pedestal, but to truly unlock it's full potential, the voice of either mom, or me are required. It's entirely possible that when one of us delivered the trident, she'd steal our voice then and there."

"Shitballs! What do we do then?" Kitty snapped, looking quite annoyed. Coral remained silent, rubbing her arm in disappointment...even though Blake had told her it wasn't her fault, she knew it was. She was the only one who could actually fight her mother. She sighed, about to leave when Blake took her hand.

"Hmm? I was just gonna use the restroom." she said. He gave her a stern look, causing her to sigh.

"Alright fine, I was gonna go talk to her, see if she'd actually agree to releasing your voice. I'm her daughter, she has to listen to me!"

"I appreciate you wanting to speak with her Coral, but trust me...she'd just use you. I know my mom would use me given the chance. We need to think this through...away from all of these people. After all this is very serious." Raven said.

"Sorry, I should have just taken you to the palace. My sister Arista is waiting for us there, let us all reconvene there. It's almost dinner time anyway, how about some local food? I'm sure you'd love to sample our underwater cuisine." Ariel said, earning a nod from Blake, who placed a hand on his stomach.

"Well, someone is starving...we'll take you up on that Ariel, thanks. I'm sure one of our friends would love to see how you make food down here." Raven said, following the redhead toward the palace, with Blake keeping a firm hold of Coral so she wouldn't swim away. He knew she was going to try to leave, and it wouldn't be ideal for that to happen.


	99. The World Under the Sea VIII

**A/N:**

 **Welcome to Chapter 99 of Through the Looking Glass. I am gonna keep this authors note brief, so you can all read this chapter. This will be part eight of The World Under the Sea, let me know what you all think. I hope you all have a magnificent morning.**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 99

The World Under the Sea VIII

Nights in Atlantica were rather cool, unlike on the surface when the cool breeze helped to push the heat back. Being surrounded by cold water helped keeping one from overheating. It also made people fall asleep a lot faster. Blake was more relaxed down at the bottom of the sea than he had been on land. He wasn't sure if he was ever going to relax like this when he eventually returned to the surface. He did miss the stars, as all he saw above him was dark water. The moonlight did cut through which provided the land below with white beams of moonlight, often being covered by the clouds from the world above. He had been given a guest room with a patio all for himself. The girls had been sleeping in their own room, which had previously belonged to the daughters of Triton. Since Ariel had sons and daughters, she had given the boys their own room while the girls had their own room.

He almost wished Hunter, Alistair, Dexter and Daring were down there. Even Sparrow would be welcome, if only to give him a bit of company. Raven had told him that Daring had found the boat and he was already making arrangements to get it pulled from the sea and sent in for repairs. As it turned out, everything was enchanted with magic, so the interior didn't even suffer water damage. It was quite lucky, though he still did feel bad for crashing the ship. He heard a knock on the side of the doorway, and glanced over his shoulder, seeing Kitty leaning against the frame. He held his hand out, silently beckoning her over.

"Hey, just wanted to keep you company. The others don't mind if we share a room, that's the last thing I want for you...to be alone. Hey, since you don't have a voice, does that mean you have silent thoughts?" she asked.

" _Don't make me hit you."_ he typed, earning a giggle from the girl, who grabbed a hold of his arm, hugging it tightly. They both looked out into the ocean, seeing the merfolk who were out during the late night.

"Everything is so at peace here. Reminds me a lot of Bookend, and the school...I miss it you know. Summer is fun, but I sort of get antsy when I don't have my mind on something, it's been forever since I knit anything too." she said, almost expecting him to reply. When she received silence, she just continued looking out into Atlantica.

" _Kitty, I'm sorry. When Shelly lead me away to steal my voice, she ended up kissing me, and forcing herself onto me. I kissed an old lady, and I feel so horrible."_

"Honey, it's fine. That wasn't your fault, she wanted to steal your voice alright? I'll get her back...for us. I feel like I need to apologize to you though...so I'm sorry." she replied, causing him to look up at her. He typed out his next reply.

" _What for? You haven't done anything to me...at least I hope not."_ the phone chirped. She pushed herself away from him, facing the wall, her head bowed slightly.

"I've been pawning you off to other girls recently. Trying to get you a date with Arista, and finding you a second girlfriend. I wanted to apologize for that...I acted that way because well...I'm a bit insecure about our relationship. I wanted you to have another girlfriend, so that maybe if you ever decide to leave me, you'd have someone else with you."

" _Why would I leave you? Do you know how much it hurts hearing that? Kitty I love you...with all my heart. I've loved you for awhile now, since the Spring Fairest."_ the boy's phone cried out. Kitty remained silent, shyly turning to face the boy.

"I know...you've told me that...and I love you too. It's just...I don't know, this is my first relationship. I act all weird, I don't know if I should be more affectionate like Duchess, or act a bit more open like Crystal. I don't know if I should admire you from afar like Briar or write my wet dreams down like Apple. It's odd, my chaotic heart is filling my mind with fluff and I don't know how to clear it out."

" _You don't have to be like anyone. I don't love Duchess, and I don't love Crystal, or Briar. I kinda have to love Apple, I mean she's family...but you get what I mean. What I'm trying to say is, I'm dating Kitty Cheshire, so just act like yourself. That's who I fell in love with after all."_

"You're too good for me, you know that? You deserve someone better...not someone like me. I think the reason why I want you to have another girlfriend isn't because I'm scared that you'll leave me. It's because I'm not secure with my sexuality." she admitted, causing the boy to tilt his head in confusion.

" _Why do you say that?"_ the phone cried, earning a sigh from the girl, she was getting annoyed of that grating mechanical voice.

"I told you once right? That I wanted someone who was the cat's meow in my life? Well, that means anyone would do...boy or girl. I struggled a lot with it growing up, so I never really told anyone. I love you Blake, I do...but aside from guys, I'm also into girls."

" _So, you're bisexual...and you wanted me to get another girlfriend so you could experiment? That's a little odd but...I guess if that's what you want."_

"What I want...wait what? You're willing to actually do that for me?" Kitty asked, disbelief written on her face. The clicking of his fingers on his phone filled her ears for a few moments, before he finally had the thing speak.

" _If it makes you happy, then that's fine. In the end, you make me happy, it wouldn't be right if I didn't make you happy too. So I have no qualms with doing that for you, just as long as you stay by my side."_

The purplette smiled, wrapping her arms around the boy, hugging him tightly. She pressed her lips against his, moaning into his mouth, a small purr escaping her lips. Blake wrapped his arms around her waist, rubbing the small of her back, his touch was enough to make the girl shiver. They pulled away after a few seconds, hugging each other tightly. He ran his fingers through her hair, happy with hearing her content sighs and feeling her heart beating in her chest.

"We'll get your voice back, so you can tell me how much you love me. I'm getting a little tired of that phone of yours. I guess you are too huh?" she asked, looking into his eyes. He gave her a nod, an annoyed look on his face. She pressed her cheek against his, a grin on her face.

"I love you Blake, you're so understanding with me. Having a bisexual girlfriend is gonna be tough, you know I'm gonna have twice the fun. You better be ready to handle two girls instead of one."

Blake sighed as she kissed his neck, licking his throat lovingly. He was in for it big time once this matter was resolved. No matter what, he would do whatever it took to make his girlfriend happy. She meant the world to him and if it meant making her happy would involve getting another girlfriend, then he didn't mind. He grabbed a hold of her chin, pressing his lips lovingly against hers. He was sure if he was on land, he and Kitty would have gone further than this, and it hurt him having to make her wait longer than he wanted too.

Coral waited for the others to be asleep before leaving. It had been a little hard since Meeshell had been keeping watch of her. Blake had told her she would most likely try to leave. It was embarrassing to be treated like a five year old, but her efforts paid off. Around midnight, Meeshell had succumbed to sleep. She got off her bed and wrapped her blanket around the girl, who had remained sitting up against the wall. She smiled, giving her a kiss on the cheek in silent thanks before moving through the window. She waited for a few seconds for the guards to pass before swimming away from the palace. Atlantica was mostly silent at night, with few party goers or people out for some late night shopping or strolls being on the streets. It made it very easy to leave without being caught.

She swam out through the northern entrance of the kingdom, heading out to the open ocean. It was a path she had traversed many times with her mother. She would always silently glare at the palace muttering hatred under her breath. She would then talk Coral into doing the same, but after awhile she realized that her mother was just sour due to how her life had turned out. She didn't like her mother anymore, not after Blake had opened her eyes. She had always thought that since she was Ursula's daughter, that she had to love her and had to love what she did. But seeing the boy who adamantly refused to love his mother the Evil Queen, for everything she had done, she realized that she had been wrong her entire life.

She didn't have to love her mother, not if that meant she had to suffer. Her mother didn't love her, she just saw her as a tool, a tool that she was going to use to get the trident. Because of that, she had stolen her new friend's voice. She had the final straw, she was going to face her mother and finally push herself away from her mother. Though she was fifteen years old, she knew if she didn't get away from her mother, she would suffer for the rest of her life. She was going to bring back Blake's voice, and she was going to free the souls and the voices her mother had stolen and collected for the last years of her life. That's why she had left Atlantica and her friends, because she wanted to do this alone. She was the daughter of the Sea Witch, and she was going to use what little magic she had against her mother.

She didn't make it to her mother's grotto. Flotsam and Jetsam stopped her before she arrived, swimming around her so fast that they created a whirlpool. She had experienced this before and easily broke out of it, channeling her magic to her hands, spinning in the opposite direction. With a snap of her fingers, she broke the spiraling waters apart, sending the two eels in different directions, both hitting a nearby rock hard enough to be knocked out for the time being. She heard a small laugh above her and glanced up, seeing her mother, still disguised as Shelly, sitting on top of the rock formation that had been her home for fifteen years. She took a deep breath, glaring at her mother.

"I've come for my friend's voice, not just that. I came to tell you that I no longer wish to be by your side mother. In fact, I don't want to call you that anymore."

"Is that so? You know, you've been rather annoying as of late, refusing to follow destiny, not stealing Meeshell's voice. Making friends with our enemies? I could have forgiven all of that...but siding with them? That's a low blow even for you daughter. It makes me wonder why I even had you in the first place." Ursula said, making the girl gasp in shock. She shook her head, her firm look not wavering from her face.

"I could care less what you think of me. I always felt out of place here, and that was because of you! You made my life hell, forcing me to learn dark magic, potion crafting, always getting me to hate people I had never met. Meeshell is the sweetest person I have ever met, Ariel took me in when you kicked me to the curb. And finally, when I had friends to call my own, you messed it all up! I'm only gonna say this once, give me Blake's voice, or I swear I won't respond for my actions!" she snapped, hands crackling with magic. Ursula chuckled, pushing herself off the rock, holding an ocarina in her outstretched hand.

"This is what you want, his voice? Tell me...why do you fight so hard for it? Is it only because he's your friend? Or because he's someone else to you?"

"Someone else? What are you even talking about? It doesn't matter! His voice belongs to him, it's a beautiful sweet precious thing, and I will give it back to him! You should be ashamed of yourself Ursula, for doing this to young innocent people!" she spat. She felt so empowered telling her mother that, calling her by name. The grin on her face was one of sheer pride.

"I am ashamed, ashamed that I have you for a daughter. I suppose this is what I get for forcing destiny down your throat. I wasn't expecting you to turn against me, but this makes for quality entertainment. I guess I'll have to things to hold hostage now." the woman said, flinging a dark blast of magic at the young mermaid. She flipped out of the way, watching the wave break a boulder apart.

Coral's eyes were wide with shock, not expecting the woman to actually do that. She swam out of the way, dodging several other blasts of magic that were flung her way. She threw a few back, which were easily deflected by the much stronger witch. She let out a growl, placing her hands on the seabed, lifting them up to create a wall of sand, absorbing some of the magical blasts Ursula had sent her way. Using her magic, she turned that wall into balls of sand, which she flung in her direction, nailing her in the chest. She swam as fast she could, hoping to grab the ocarina out of her hand, only for her to get stuck in the chest by Ursula's powerful tail. She gasped in pain as she slammed into boulder, falling into a heap on the ground.

"It's funny how you think you can actually fight against me. You don't have your full power child, so you can't go toe to toe against your mommy. You'll never get this voice back, and you'll never see your friends again." Ursula said, raising her glowing hand above her. Coral grabbed some sand from beneath her, flinging it right into her face.

She slammed her fist into Ursula's stomach, with all of her strength, rapidly turning around, slapping her face with her tailfin. She placed her hands on her chest, using all of the magic power she could muster to shock the older woman. Ursula let out a pained cry, grabbing a hold of her daughter's hair, yanking it as hard as she could. She uppercutted the girl with all of her strength, sending her flying back. Another tail slap sent her toward the ground. Coral groaned in pain, trying to force herself to stand. A scream tore through the ocean as Ursula blasted the girl with her magic power.

"You impudent little bitch! I am going to teach you some respect for defying your mother. You will become the next Sea Witch, even if I have to sign your name in the Storybook of Legends!"

"You will not! I-I am going to be whatever I want!" Coral shouted, breaking away from her mother's spell. She reached behind her back, her normally smooth skin was seared from the magic, and she was scared to actually look at it. She grit her teeth in pain, the salt water wasn't exactly helping her at all.

"If you live through the night that is, I doubt you will...with that puny amount of magic, you'll never be able to defeat me. How will your friends react? When they see you aren't among the living anymore?"

"Pfft, as if I would let myself be killed by the likes of you. Sometimes, I wish Ariel and Eric would have killed you, it would have done us all a favor." Coral snapped, earning a laugh from the woman, who clutched her sides with genuine mirth. Flotsam and Jetsam joined her, both glaring ominously at the young mermaid.

"Sweetheart, if I hadn't lived then you wouldn't have been born. Is that what you want? For you to disappear? Because I can have that arranged."

"The only one who's going to disappear is you!" Coral cried, pulling her hands back. She threw a swirling ball of magic at Ursula, who dodged it with ease, throwing a larger one back.

Coral did her best to dodge the incoming blasts, but Flotsam and Jetsam had surrounded her. She threw punches and tail slaps at the two eels, but they were to fast. Jetsam went for a bite at her throat, which she easily deflected, grabbing a hold of his lithe body. She spun around as fast as she could, slamming Jetsam into Flotsam, sending the two flying off with a blast of magic. Two screams of pain filled the air before they fizzled out, remaining silent a few seconds later.

"Flotsam, Jetsam! Poopsies are you alright?" Ursula cried, concerned for her friends safety. She swam toward the two eels, eyes widening when she saw the burnt remains of the two eels.

"You killed them!" she screamed, causing Coral to gasp, backing away slightly.

"I didn't mean too, they were going to kill me!" she cried back. Ursula growled angrily, her facade cracking a bit as she forced the disguise to disappear, returning her to her original form. The ocarina turned into a yellow spiral shell, identical to the one she normally wore around her neck.

"I'm going to make you pay for that, you useless blow fish!" she shouted, forming a large cloud of smoke above her.

She flung it toward Coral, willing it into a spinning spear. The girl barely dodged it, crying in pain as the smoke cut into her side, crimson blood flowing into the water. She grasped a hold of her tail, gritting her teeth. The look on Ursula's face told Coral that she meant business, and she was going to die if she didn't fight back. She bit through the pain, using all of the magic in her body to form her own weapon, a sword of glowing violet light. She swam toward her mother, swiping the weapon as hard as she could, only for Ursula to grab it with her bare hand. She snapped it in half, throwing a punch right to the girl's face. She saw nothing but stars and bubbles in her vision as she fell to the seabed.

"Weak, pathetic! That's all you are, you aren't worthy of being my daughter...you are just a useless wretch!" Ursula cried, wrapping her tentacles around the girl's frame, squeezing her as tightly as she could.

"Fuck...you!" Coral choked out, causing the woman to squeeze harder. She could feel her bones wanting to break from the strain, her tail had started going numb. She couldn't breathe, the constant need to get oxygen in her lungs begging her to take a breath. She started seeing dots in her vision, tears falling from her eyes.

" _I can't...die here...who'll...get Blake's voice back? I need...to fight!"_

She used all of her strength to pull her arm free, forming a small knife with her magic. She stabbed it into Ursula's tentacle, all the way to the hilt, causing the woman to scream in pain, blackish red blood flowing into the water. Coral took a breathe of air, coughing loudly from the strain. She felt dizzy and sick, almost wanting to vomit from the lack of oxygen. She looked up in time to dodge an incoming attack from the Sea Witch. She swam as fast as she could, aiming her small knife at Ursula's throat, only for the woman to dodge the attack. She grabbed a hold of Coral's hair, swinging her over her shoulder into the ground, slamming her into the sea bed. The girl let out a strangled cry as the air left her lungs. She felt her arm snap from the strike, but was in too much pain to voice it.

Ursula wrapped her hand around Coral's throat, lifting her off the ground with ease. She let out a smirk, slapping the girl as hard as she could with her free hand.

"A little girl needs discipline...you will learn by the numbers, I will teach you. You are my daughter, the next Sea Witch! I think it's about time you trade in this tail for some tentacles like mine. They'll suit you better my dear." she said.

Coral let out a growl, slamming her tail into the woman's chest, finally being free of her grasp. She cradled her broken arm as she tried to swim away, only for Ursula to grab a hold of her tail fins. She formed a knife out of her magic, slicing right into her tail, blood and scales flew into the water, along with a scream of pain. The Sea Witch smirked, slashing another gash right across her back, over the sickly pinkish blue scar that had formed before.

"Don't worry, those won't kill you...but they'll sting like a bee sting. It'll take me awhile to prepare the perfect spell for you, I wish I had the trident, it would have been much easier to rip this tail apart from you. But that doesn't mean I can't have my fun slicing it, it's so beautiful after...just like mine was before I was turned into this."

"You're...sick." Coral hissed, earning a slap to the face from the woman. She fell to the ground, another cry erupting from her throat. She looked at her arm, almost vomiting when she saw a sharp bone piercing her flesh. Ursula once again grabbed her by the throat, slamming her into the wall, pain exploded into her mind, and all she saw was red for a few seconds before the sea cleared it away.

"I'm not sick...I'm just teaching you a lesson. The same lesson my brother taught me, after all...this is all parenting. I have to be evil to set my child onto the right path. You wanted to get the boy's voice back, but you just landed yourself in hell...after tomorrow, you will be ready to perform your task as the next Sea Witch. You will get Meeshell's voice, and you will get that trident for me."

"Screw you! I will...never...do that!"

"Aw...it's so funny listening to you...thinking you have a choice. Sorry my sweet, but these are the consequences you face...for messing with me...for killing my special friends!" she replied, pinning the girl to the side of the wall, conjuring some magical chains.

The last thing Coral saw before she passed out, was her mother cackling to the heavens. She realized in that instance, that she should have stayed back at the palace with Meeshell and her friends. Because she had jumped the shark, she had put herself in danger. She only hoped for the sweet embrace of death to take her away, only then would she be released from the torment of being Ursula's daughter. Of course she knew several people would be against that line of thought. For a brief moment before she passed out, she thought she heard his voice. Sweet, and entrancing...just like she remembered.

 _ **xxx(Atlantica: Royal Palace)xxx**_

Mornings in Atlantica were just as peaceful as Blake had imagined. He had been sleeping contently when he slowly awoke, a beam of golden sunlight hitting his face. He was a bit annoyed at first but he was glad to have a quiet wake up call instead of his sister Raven knocking on his door in the morning. Kitty was sleeping soundly next to him, he had been watching her for awhile now. He gave her a kiss on the cheek, smiling inwardly when he saw her smiling in her sleep. She wrapped her arms around him, burying her face into his shoulder, not bothering to wake up. He enjoyed those moments of peace with his girlfriend.

It also allowed him time to think and reflect about everything, especially his future. Kitty had told him the night before that she was bisexual, and while he didn't care what her preference was, he was touched that she had confided that in him. Of course he had already figured out she had a liking toward girls, she had been looking at Gloriosa a lot, as well as a few of their mutual friends. Having met Meeshell, she had been looking a lot at her. He didn't know if Kitty was attracted to the pink haired mermaid, but he figured maybe he wouldn't mind dating the girl. He had been thinking a lot about getting another girlfriend, if only to appease Kitty's wants a bit.

Having two girlfriends also meant two people he could share his love with. That wasn't an issue, but he just didn't want them to start fighting over him, like in some animes he had watched before. He didn't really see the appeal, he was always taught to stay faithful with one girl. He did see love triangles being a thing and a lot of them always worked out, while others usually ended up being messy. He knew he loved Kitty too much to let it end, but now that he had started thinking about Meeshell, he couldn't get her out of his mind. She was sweet, kind, gentle, a good swimmer and had a beautiful shimmering tail. She had a beautiful personality, and he wanted to get to know her more. If Kitty was attracted to her, then he would learn to love the Little Mermaid as well. It would be an awkward transition, but he would definitely get used to it.

"Blake, Kitty! Are you awake?" the voice of Meeshell cried, startling him out of his thoughts. He sat up in his bed, rubbing his eyes a bit as he grabbed his phone. Kitty yawned loudly, glancing toward the door.

"You know it's bad luck to wake up a cat in the morning right?" she cried out, sounding very annoyed. Meeshell swam into the room, a rather worried look on her face.

"I wouldn't be disturbing you two if it wasn't important. I woke up just now and I didn't see Coral at all. I thought she had gone to breakfast early, but my mom hasn't seen her. I checked the entire palace, she's gone." she cried.

" _What? Are you sure she's gone? Maybe she's in town?"_ Blake's phone cried out.

"I figured that was the case, the guards went out into the city and did a quick sweep of the nearby parks. She wasn't at any of them, she was acting antsy last night...she might have gone after her mother."

"What an idiot! We told her that everything would be fine, why would she go face her on her own?" Kitty cried.

" _Because, she figured it was her duty. I mean, if my mom broke out of her mirror, wouldn't it be my duty to get her back in there? She's my mom after all...Coral feels the same."_ the automated voice replied, earning an aggravated sigh from Kitty.

"This is all my fault, I fell asleep when I was supposed to keep watch of her. Now she's out there, doing who knows what? She could be hurt or worse!" Meeshell cried. Kitty wrapped her arms around the girl, hugging her tightly.

"Hey, it's alright...she'll be just fine. This is nobody's fault alright, not even her own. She's just stubborn, we'll go find her and bring her back. So don't worry about a thing, okay?" she asked softly, taking a hold of her face, wiping her tears away as she looked into her eyes. Meeshell nodded shyly, her cheeks flushing pink.

"I uh...I'll tell mom. B-breakfast s-should be...downstairs." she stuttered, dashing out of the room, almost bumping into Raven who moved just in time to avoid being hit.

"Whoa, why is she in a hurry? I mean, I know Coral is missing, but she was blushing."

"Oh...nothing's wrong, I think I went a little too far with her. She might be having some conflicting emotions, which Blake is gonna have to handle. You promised after all." she said, giving the boy a wink.

"Blake...what is she talking about?"

" _The number you have reached is unavailable. At the tone, please record your message, when you are finished recording, please press 1 for more potions."_

"Potions?" Kitty asked, earning a sigh from the boy.

" _Ducking auto-correct."_

 _ **xxx**_

After having a quick breakfast, Blake, Kitty, Meeshell and the others left the palace of Atlantica, heading toward the dwelling of the Sea Witch. They were all 100% certain that their young friend had gone to pay a visit to her mother. Blake had Excalibur with him, along with a shield he had borrowed from Prince Eric. It was a round shield, unlike the ones he had been used to. It had two trident markings on it, along with some other markings on it and various letters, which Cupid had told him were ancient Greek characters. He didn't want to take it with him, but the man reassured him that Ursula was a powerful foe, and that he would need everything he could if he planned to fight her.

Arista was still getting their back up, but whoever she was getting was still a few hours away. She refused to say who she had contacted, and even Ariel was adamant on staying silent. She had riled up her forces, in case the Sea Witch decided to attack her kingdom. Even though this was just a quick survey mission to see if they could find Coral, they knew it could go south very fast. The last thing they needed was to fight against the Sea Witch on her turf.

They didn't want to risk having Blake's voice being broken by her. He had told him that he didn't care about his voice, and that he cared more about Coral. Raven begged to differ, but he had told his older sister that the life of his friend was much more important than his voice. His friends were happy that he was willing to give up something so precious for the life of his friend. It was what they had come to see from the son of the Evil Queen, there wasn't an ounce of selfishness in his heart. Even when his life could very well change for ever, he cared more about someone else than himself. They doubted he would ever change his ways, and they hoped he never did.

They came to a stop near the old grotto, Blake and Raven could feel it in the air. A familiar wave of dark magic was lingering in the area. They moved first, keeping their eyes all over the place. Raven saw a few slash marks on the sand, along with the burnt skeletons of two eels. Blake hovered over them for a second, cringing a bit when he realized that they were the remains of Ursula's pet eels, Flotsam and Jetsam. They had been killed by a blast of dark magic, which meant Coral had fought against them. The older twin looked toward her brother, not knowing what to do, before she spoke however, she heard something moving, the sound of bubbles along with a slight hiss. Raven paused as she looked to the top of the grotto, eyes widening a bit.

"So, you didn't just come armed, you came armed and with people. I didn't think you'd actually bring the daughter of the Evil Queen with you...let me guess, you came to get your voice?" Ursula said, arms crossed as she stared down at the gathered teenagers.

"Damn straight we did! Give my brother his voice back, or I swear I'll burn you alive!" Raven snapped angrily, her hands swirling with darkness. The woman looked at her, laughing loudly as if she had just been told a funny joke. She paused to wipe the tears from her eyes.

"Brother, him? When did Mira have a second child?"

"That doesn't matter to you! You are in direct violation of our laws Ursula, for attacking our friend and stealing his voice, you are under arrest. So come quietly, and release Coral! We know she's here!" Meeshell snapped, adopting a firm persona as she faced the current Sea Witch.

"Now now sweetheart, I thought I gave you some clear cut instructions. I require you to hand over the Trident, when you do I shall give him his voice back. However, if you want Coral back, then you must do me a favor...you must give me your voice and your life in return." she said, a smirk on her face.

"Just give it a rest already lady! You failed once to get Ariel's voice and the trident, you aren't going to get it. Your story is over, so let go of your daughter and give Blake his voice back!" Ramona snapped, causing the sea witch to look in her direction. She smirked, having noticed her wolf ears.

"Ah, you must be the daughter of the Bad Wolf, my you look strikingly similar to Ruby. Might you be their daughter? I see a crimson hood among you too, sisters perhaps?"

"Why should that matter? We're here for Coral not for anything else, give her back, and Blake's voice. The Atlantican Royal Army is coming here soon. So no matter what we will get what we want! Make it easier on yourself and give up!" Cerise snapped, anger coursing through her body, her eyes were flashing gold. Cupid was doing her best to keep her from springing forward.

"Oh? Is that so? I guess I'll have to step it up then." Ursula said, disappearing from sight.

The ground around them started rumbling, sending streams of bubbles toward the surface. Blake held his arm out in front of Raven, stopping her from moving forward. The ground suddenly cracked open, the grotto disappearing entirely as a solid slab of rock sprung out of the ground, crackling with electricity. The teenagers all noticed the young mermaid that had been strapped to that rock, being held in place by two thick onyx chains. Blake gasped when he saw that it was Coral, looking rather injured, with various cuts on her skin and tail, he even saw a bone poking out of her arm. She lifted her head slowly, her eyes opening slightly as she glanced down at her friends. The cackles of Ursula filled the area, a thick cloud of dark smokey water appearing around them.

"You all think you can come to my place and demand things from me? I already told you all, I want the trident! But if I cannot get it, then I'll make do with a few of these." the witch said, reaching behind her back, pulling a crackling blue bolt of lightning from a sack.

"No way! That can't be!" Cupid cried, her eyes widened in shock, trembling in place as Ursula ran her finger over the top of the bolt.

"Ah, so you recognize what this is then? That means you know the destructive powers behind it!"

"Cupid, what is that she's holding?" Raven asked, causing the girl to finally react. She turned to look at her friend, the blue light coming from the bolt lighting up the fearful look on her face.

"That, is one of Zeus's specially crafted bolts. My father told me several of them had been stolen a few years back. But I wasn't aware who had done it, along with them, there were other things taken. Helio's lantern, capable of channeling pure sunlight into it, Athena's visor, capable of giving anyone who wears it infinite wisdom and tactics for warfare, Apollo's bow, and Poseidon's trident, a more powerful version of King Triton's." she said, earning a laugh from Ursula, who spun one of the bolts in her hand.

"I wasn't aware we had a goddess among our ranks...oh wait, I remember seeing you once. You're one of Eros little kids, the one that was adopted by Aphrodite, how cute. You know what they say, one man's trash is another man's treasure, it is a terrible way to find out you are adopted though."

"Shut up! Cupid isn't worthless or trash! Her parents love her very much, and are way better parents than you! You think we're scared of you because you have god weapons? Well go ahead and try us! We aren't scared of you!" Kitty cried out, a firm look on her face.

"If you say so...get ready because I'm coming at you!" Ursula said, flinging the bolt in her hand right at Kitty. Blake swam in front of her, deflecting it with his shield, crying in pain as the magical lightning shocked him.

"Blake no!" Raven cried, swimming toward her brother, only to be slammed into a rock by another bolt.

Ursula reached behind her back, pulling out a trident much larger than the one Ariel carried. It was made entirely out of water, with rocky bits around the forked spikes and handle. She rose it into the air, using its powers to part the ocean around them, making all of the teenagers fall to the now dry ground. She stabbed the object into the sand, the swirling light around it keeping the water back.

"What's she doing?" Cerise cried, trying to move. Since her legs had been traded in for a tail, she couldn't run, or even get near the water. She grasped at the ground, the mushy wet sand providing no traction at all.

"Poseidon's trident isn't like Triton's. While Triton's trident is loaded with magic and gives him control of the oceans, it serves more as a way to protect Atlantica, the merfolk were all created by him after all. Poseidon's trident gives the wielder full control of the seas!" Cupid explained, her eyes focused on the large object in front of her.

"That's right my dear, and since you are all mermaids at the moment, you won't be able to attack. You won't even be able to dodge my bolts!" Ursula cried, throwing one directly at Cupid. She moved out of the way, but the electricity was still enough to hurt her. She howled in pain, her body crackling from the magic. She was about to throw another bolt when a large ball of violet light struck her shoulder, causing her to turn around.

"Tch...you actually think you scare me with those sissy bolts? I've seen the ones Zeus's uses, and their much more menacing than that! You can't even use them right!" Raven taunted, holding herself up, using the rock behind her to keep herself upright.

"You know, I am impressed with you, Raven Queen. Your mother was so proud of you when you started gaining your magic. It's a shame you turned into a goody two shoes. Are you sure you don't want to join the darkness? I promise, you'll be able to rule over Snow White's kingdom, like you were meant too!"

"You aren't going to sway me to the dark side. I resisted the pull of evil once, we both did actually...and we aren't gonna fall for your crap." the dark haired girl replied, throwing another ball of magic at her, only for Ursula to deflect it. She growled, reaching behind her back for a beautiful white ivory bow, she pulled the string back, an arrow forming in it.

"Then you'll join the rest of your friends in oblivion! You just happen to be the first one to go there!" she cried, releasing the arrow. A dull clang filled the air as the arrow was blocked. Ursula's eyes widened in shock.

"What? How can you have legs? You were a merman!" she cried, as Blake lowered his shield, a smirk on his face. He had dried his tail off as best he could, and it had changed back to his legs, clothes and all. With his own magic, he had enchanted himself so water wouldn't change him back.

"Duh, did you forget one important thing Ursula? When a merman or mermaid dries their tail off, they get their legs. The worst thing you did was part the seas, because now you have to deal with Excalibur." Meeshell said, forcing herself to stand on her legs, which had finally dried off enough to become usable.

Ursula let out a scream as she started moving toward the trident, hoping to get her hands on it. Cerise cut her off, having raced in front of it, a smirk on her face. The old witch came to a stop, reaching for a bolt behind her back, throwing it at the young hooded girl, who was pushed out of the way by Blake, who blocked the attack with his shield, this time being able to deflect the lightning without being shocked. He sprung forward, drawing his sword from his back, slashing at the woman's neck. Ursula leaned back, dodging the blade as much as possible, only to hear something break, a golden light filling her eyes.

"No, no! That voice was mine!" she shouted, trying to reach the golden light that flowed back into Blake's body, his throat glowing a bright gold.

"I want my first words to be...Boo Daddy." he said in a deep voice, causing Kitty to start laughing. Ursula growled, turning her attention to the purplette, her hands glowing violet.

"Well, if I can't have your voice then I'll just take yours!" she shouted, moving toward Kitty. She just stood in place, giving the woman a grin as she flashed out of the way, appearing behind her.

"Aw...is the octopus starting to get mad?" she asked, causing the woman to turn around. She grabbed a bolt from her bag and threw it as hard as she could at the young woman, only for her to flash out of existence. The bolt sailed forward, slamming into Poseidon's trident, the magic surrounding it exploded, making it fizzle out. They all watched as the giant walls of water slowly started falling back into place.

"Quick, grab a rock or something!" Blake cried out, snapping his fingers as he grabbed a nearby boulder to stop himself from being washed away.

The pressure of the water was too much for them all, and threw them all for a spin. Their legs slowly morphed back into tails, aiding them in the water that had finally been set free. Blake looked around in confusion, holding Excalibur tightly, only to be blinded by a bright golden light. He swiped his sword in front of him, unable to see where he was aiming his swings. He cried in pain as he felt someone slam their fist into his chest, he hit the ground hard, the air exploding from his lungs. Ursula grabbed the boy by the throat, just as his vision was starting to return. She slammed her magic coated fist into his face, sending him flying back, and with her tentacles she threw him against the rock where Coral was still chained.

"Heh...fighting in water is better than out of it. What was I thinking?" the sea witch cried, reaching into her bag for a bubbling brew. She pulled the cork from the bottle and drank it in one go. She started cackling loudly as she grew in size, her body crackling with dark magic.

"Oh my godmother, it's so hideous!"

"Kitty, be fucking serious for once. Jeez, can't you see this woman wants to kill us?" Cerise snapped back, causing the girl to sigh.

"No need to get your tailfin in a twist, sheesh...try to be funny and they yank your chain."

"Now isn't the time pup, we gotta get ready to fight this thing. Here are the spears Ariel gave us, they're enchanted with light magic for us to take care of this hag." Ramona said, passing out the weapons Ariel had given to them, just in case they had to fight.

Raven swam forward, kicking her tail as hard as she could, slamming her entire body into Ursula. The woman smirked, using her tentacle to throw the young girl back. She shook her head a bit, pulling her arms back, forming a large beam of dark magic, striking her in the center of the chest. The large half human, half octopus woman let out a scream of agony, once again reaching for a bolt behind her back.

"Raven Queen, your life is forfeit!" she cried, her voice deep and oozing with anger and hatred. Blake swam out in front of his sister, holding Excalibur up to absorb the lightning. With a flick of his wrist, he sent the magic back, shocking the woman enough to stun her.

"Quick, everyone attack now! It'll take a lot to pierce her skin, but we can still do damage!" the boy cried, swimming forward, slashing at Ursula's chest with Excalibur, with every slash the woman howled in pain, as holy light seeped into each wound.

Raven chanted spell after spell, flinging them with rapid succession at Ursula's face, while Ramona and Cerise busied themselves using their spears. Thanks to their half wolf blood, their strikes were a lot stronger than normal, managing to pierce softer areas of Ursula's skin. Cupid managed to snag one of Zeus's bolts from the woman's bag, just as she regained her senses and stirred the waters with her arm, sending them all flying back.

"You got your free hits, now it's time for one of my own!" she cried, turning to face her daughter, who was still chained up. She held her arm above her head, forming a ball of darkness which she threw at the young mermaid, her screams of pain carried through the water, snapping them all from their stunned state.

"Coral!" Meeshell cried, swimming toward her cousin. Ursula smirked, grabbing a hold of the next Little Mermaid, wrapping one of her tentacles around her body, squeezing her hard.

"Daughter of Ariel, you wish for me to cease my attacks on this useless wretch! All you have to do is simple, bring me the trident, forfeit your life and your voice to me. Only then shall I set her free!" the woman said, conjuring up a golden contract, similar to the one Ariel had signed several years ago.

"No...Meeshell please...don't...listen to her!" Coral cried out, looking up at her friend, the hazy look in her eyes prevented her from seeing right. All she could see was violet, pink and gold. She tried moving her arms toward the light, but the chains kept her in place, she had long since lost the feeling in her right arm from the broken bone.

"Let Meeshell go Ursula! And Coral, they don't deserve this!" Blake cried, bashing the woman in the face with his shield. Meeshell slipped from her grasp, moving quickly toward Coral. She managed to break one of her shackles with her spear, only to be slammed into the ground by Ursula, who had trapped Blake with one of her tentacles, Excalibur having fallen out of his reach.

"I'm being quite benevolent I think, I could easily destroy all of you...actually I think I might. Maybe if I return Ariel her deceased daughter, she'll give me what I want!" she snapped, tightening her grasp on the two teenagers.

"Cerise, Ramona try to get at her face! Kitty, Cupid you have to get Blake and Meeshell outta there!" Raven cried out, flinging more magical orbs at Ursula's arms, trying to get her to free her brother and her friend.

Coral groaned in pain, everything was flowing so slowly for her. The voices were distorted, her eyes were blurred, but all she saw was a hulking black and purple mass. She reached her free hand over to her other shackle, using what little magic she had left to break it. Once she was free she slowly fell to the ground, unable to move. She noticed a glowing blue bolt sticking out of the ground not far from where she had fallen. She pushed herself with her remaining arm. Her tail too broken and weak to help her swim toward it. She heard her mother scream loudly, a crackle of lightning floating through the air.

"I have too...fight too...mom...is out of control." she muttered, having turned to the fight. Ursula had been shocked, and she saw a few blurs dashing at her. She could see a few others on the ground, helping the injured, just before Ursula slammed one of her giant tentacles into the ground, rocking the area around them.

" _If only I had my magic power...the only one who could defeat the Sea Witch, aside from Ariel, is another Sea Witch."_ Coral thought to herself. She turned back to the glowing bolt, eyes widening a bit as her vision started to clear. She saw her reflection on the bolt, a look of realization on her face.

"Of course...I have the power...that means I can defeat her...even if it means, becoming like her." she said to herself. She took a deep breath, placing her left hand over her heart, summoning her page from within.

It was a page from the Storybook of Legends, one she had read quite a lot after she had gotten it. It had her picture on it, a cute smile on her face. It also contained an exempt from the Little Mermaid, along with a snippet of the contract she was meant to make Meeshell sigh. She looked at the paragraph above the dotted light, feeling a tightness in her throat as her eyes hovered over each word.

" _I, Coral Witch here by pledge my destiny. With my signature, I assume the role of the Sea Witch in the next iteration of The Little Mermaid. I am also responsible for all curses, hexes and magical charms that I create or may fall under while fulfilling my role in this story."_

"If it means...I'll have the power to save my friends, then I pledge my destiny...I will stop the Sea Witch, even if I have to become her." she snapped, holding her hand out. A golden light swirled in her palm, turning into a beautiful feathered quill, dark in color as she placed it against the line.

"She's too strong! We won't be able to easily defeat her!" Raven said, helping Blake into a sitting position. Loud crackles of lightning filled the area as Ursula threw bolt after bolt at Ramona and Cerise, who had been stabbing her with their spears. Thanks to Meeshell, Cupid had gotten a hold of Apollo's bow, and had been using it as well, but that seemed to anger the Sea Witch even more.

"Sis, if we combine our magic...we might be able to defeat her...or at least buy enough time for Ariel and her army to get here." the boy said, cracking his shoulders a bit, as he grabbed a hold of Excalibur.

"I guess we're gonna have too...we need to get Coral off that pedestal and get her out of harms...hey, where did she go?"

Blake's eyes snapped to the stone tablet, seeing the chains that once held the young mermaid were broken. His eyes fell to the ground, seeing the deep drag marks on the sand, he followed them until he saw the young mermaid, having stopped before a lightning bolt that had been stabbed into the ground. His jaw dropped when he saw the page in her hand, along with the quill she had been using. He started swimming toward her, gritting his teeth in pain.

"Coral don't! If you sign that page you'll become the next Sea Witch! This isn't what you want, we can still fight!" he cried.

"No we can't! This is the only way, I'm sorry Blake, but this is the way it's gotta be!" the girl cried back, finishing the last stroke of her name. The quill disappeared, the page glowing a brilliant gold, causing the Sea Witch to turn around, eyes widening in surprise.

"What's this? Finally decided to embrace destiny?" she asked, as Coral forced herself up.

The golden page spun around the girl, restoring all of her injuries, her magic power growing in strength. She glanced down at her beautiful red tail, which she had come to cherish during her entire life, slowly be split into eight tentacles, each of them being covered in hundreds of little suckers. Her navy blue hair slowly turned white, flowing into a tight ponytail. With her transformation complete, she grabbed a hold of the lightning bolt, spinning it around her fingers, tracing the edge with her finger tip.

"Come my daughter, let us join forces to defeat these Brats!"

Coral on the other hand, gave the woman a dainty laugh. She held her hand outward, blasting the woman with a thick plume of dark smoke. She used her new tentacles to close the distance between her and her mother. She rapidly stabbed the lightning bolt into the woman's body, with each rapid stab, more lightning coursed through her body, shocking the daylights out of her. She swam up to her face, blasting her up close with a giant ball of crackling magic.

"This is for all of the shit you put me through all of these fucking years. I hate you! I hate you, I hate you, I HATE YOU!" Coral shouted, flinging ball after ball of magic at the Sea Witch. Ursula tried to get away from the relentless assault her daughter had begun, but had rapidly met her end when she slammed into a rocky bluff. Coral threw the bolt in her hand, nailing the woman right in the center of the chest. Ursula let out a feral scream, unlike anything they had ever heard before. She fell into a heap, unconscious from the powerful bolt of lightning she had taken to the chest. She slowly started shrinking, as the last of her magic wore off, flowing all toward Coral, as she was now the new Sea Witch. She glared at her mother for a few more seconds, before falling to the floor, panting for breath.

"Coral, are you alright? Tell me your fine, please?" Blake asked, kneeling down next to the girl. She gave him a grin, giggling a bit as she lay back.

"I'm more than fine...I finally feel free! You have no idea how much rage I just let go of...I can finally start my new life. And don't you worry, I'm not gonna steal Meeshell's voice...I'm glad that you got yours back Blake." she said. The boy sighed, hugging his friend tightly.

"You idiot! You shouldn't have come here all alone, you could have died!" he said.

"She wasn't going to kill me...she was going to torture me and force me to sign my page. I knew the only way to defeat her was to sign the page, and accept my destiny. Just like you and Raven did back in Wonderland, now I can do whatever I want, and I have my full power too." she admitted, holding her hand up, forming a ball of magic in her palm. While she struggled to make a medium one before, it now came to her like second nature.

"Coral! Oh my godmother, your tail...it's gone." Meeshell cried, earning a sigh from the girl, who forced herself to sit up.

"Meeshell, it's fine...just because I have tentacles now doesn't mean I'm not a good swimmer. That means I have an even better chance to whoop your sorry tail when we race." she said happily. Kitty knelt before the girl, handing her a golden pendant.

"This was around her neck, despite her saying she hated and loathed you...it can tell it was all a lie. Look at the picture inside." she said. Coral held the locket for a few moments, before opening it. The picture inside was one of Ursula holding her newborn baby in her arms, a smile on her face. The engraving on the lid of the locket said _"For my precious bundle of joy"_ on it. Coral felt tears pricking her eyes, and quickly wiped them away, closing her hands on the pendant.

"Thank you Kitty...I think you're right too...she has an odd way of showing love. I suppose it's her in nature to act like a witch, but even witches can fall in love." she admitted, smiling contently.

"Meeshell, everyone! Are you all alright?" the voice of Ariel called out, causing them all to look back. The Mermaid Queen had come fully prepared, with several soldiers at her side including her husband.

"We're fine, we managed to defeat the Sea Witch! But Coral had to sign the Storybook of Legends to do it!" Blake said, helping the young witch up. She secured the locket around her neck, smiling up at the Mermaid Queen.

"It's alright Ariel, I finally understood something that I was struggling with for awhile. My mother doesn't exactly emote well, but I know deep down she loves me...I think she didn't want the trident at all, she wanted Meeshell's voice, because she wanted me to become a pop star in her stead. She didn't even hear my actual voice...I think she and I have a lot to talk about. It's gonna take awhile for me to love her again."

"Well, she'll be doing the talking from behind bars. I'm sorry Coral, but she has to be arrested for her crimes. We're stripping her of her powers and detaining her right away." Ariel said, holding her Trident out at the woman, casting an enchantment over her.

"That's fine...and I promise, I'm not gonna turn out like her...it's just like Blake said about Raven, her heart was too good to become evil. I think I'm the same way...I'll teach my mom that too. There's still a lot that I'm learning after all." she said, a bright smile on her face.

"You're really brave Coral, and you truly did learn what it mean to sacrifice your happiness for the sake of your friends. I think you should be rewarded for that. If my dad gave your mom tentacles, then I think I can give you back your tail, you deserve it after all." Ariel said, giving the girl a wink, using her trident to turn Coral's tentacles back into her crimson tail. She let out a happy cry, hugging the woman tightly.

"Thank you so much Ariel, thank you, thank you, thank you! I promise, I'm not gonna let you down! Can I still call you mom? If you don't mind that is."

"Sure honey, whatever makes you happy."

"Alright! Finally, we're all here to kick some octopus tushy. Come on bring her out, where is she?" the voice of Arista called out, having arrived at the open field, seeing the soldiers stuffing Ursula into a large wagon, all of her tentacles being shackled.

"Arista? Dude, you are like so late to the party, no joke...we already kicked Ursula's butt." Ramona said, earning a huff from the blonde.

"Are you serious? You couldn't have waited like...ten minutes? Ugh, they're not gonna let me hear the end of this. Oh Arista, you totally pulled us away from our real lives for this? What a waste of time!" the blonde cried.

"Ahem, I don't sound like that...be more poignant little sis...you own a business, act like a business owner and not as a child."

"Attina! Adella won't stop bothering me!"

"It isn't my fault, she keeps poking my side, stop it Alana, sheesh!"

"Ugh...even as adults all of you are so intolerable."

"You love us anyway Aquata, you just wanna go back to the surface so you can stare at that hunky husband of yours."

"Shut up Andrina, I'm gonna slap you silly if you don't cut the crap!"

Blake let out a small squeal as the daughters of Triton all showed in in the field. They all looked just like he had imagined them to be, he hadn't been expecting them all to actually show up. But here they were, all of them lined up from oldest to youngest, with Attina being the oldest and Ariel being the youngest. They were all holding some form of enchanted weapon, perhaps the ones that Arista had mentioned once before. Kitty started fanning his face a bit, which morphed into a grin.

"Aw great, Raven did you bring the bucket list? This one has to make several check marks on it."

"Bucket list? What bucket list?" the daughter of the Evil Queen said. Kitty took a deep breath, a smirk on her face.

"Well, Blake made a bucket list, the top fairytales characters I wanna met before I die. He already checked off, Cinderella, Aurora, Ruby, the Queen of Hearts, my mom the Cheshire Cat, Jack B. Nimble, the Big Bad Wolf, Mr. Knight, King Charming, King Henri, Snow White, Peter Man, Captain Hook, Tinkerbell, the White Queen, Tailor Quick, The March Hare, Jack Horner, the Mad Hatter, and now he has to check off Attina, Andrina, Aquata, Adella, Arista, Alana and Ariel off that list."

"I...wow, seriously? A bucket list?"

"Shut up sis! You're the one who wanted to meet Tailor Quick at one point, so don't even start with me!" the boy hissed, causing his sister to huff in annoyance.

"Eh...how about we all head back to Atlantica? I mean...the day is still young and I'm sure all of you are tired after that ordeal." Ariel said, grabbing the attention of the bickering siblings.

"Uh...yeah that would be a wise idea. Hey, where's Melody? I thought she was coming with you guys." Blake said.

"Oh...her? Yeah, she found Sebastian's music room, let's just say they got into a debate that still hasn't ended. We should go check on them." Eric said, earning groans from the others.

"So wait...we were totally pulled out of our lives for nothing? That's such crap! You know I have so many gigs lined up on the mainland, and now I have to refund tickets!"

"Oh quiet you, it's been forever after since we've had a family reunion. Besides, I'm happy to see my favorite nieces and nephews, so it isn't a waste for me." Attina snapped, silencing Adella who instantly became shy. Ariel rolled her eyes, patting her older sister's back as she swam.

"Come on, I'm sure we can get you that gig and an interesting audience too." she said with a wink.


	100. The World Under the Sea Finale

**A/N:**

 **Well, here we are everyone, Chapter 100 of Through the Looking Glass. It has been a long time coming, but you all finally get to read it. This will actually be the finale of The World Under the Sea. I figured I would make Chapter 100 the end of the arc, it made a bit of sense at the time, what way to reach the big 100 than ending the arc here?**

 **I never thought I would be reaching 100 chapters with this story. I thought I would write down whatever I had floating around in my head, and once I had a good plot, I would continue writing something else until I was able to continue it. That's my basic writing process, whenever I run out of ideas I usually just put a story on hiatus and work on something new. It's not a really good work ethic but it gives me time to work on the plot of the story while my current muse is being written down. I actually wanted to make this story a long haul, all the way to the end, but it's been getting steadily harder to continue. That's the thing, with long stories like this, after a while you start losing your drive and I'm surprise I didn't quit during chapter 50 or even chapter 60. I guess what was driving me forward was Way too Wonderland. That special was what inspired me to actually start writing this, and when I finally wrote it, I guess I started slowing down.**

 **That would also explain why The Ballad of Bluebeard was a bit of a mess in my opinion. I wanted it to be something different, but instead I wrote that convoluted plot with Neverland in it. I mean it was still good, but I have no idea how that even came to be. The World Under the Sea was one of my favorite arcs because of course it is based around The Little Mermaid, which was one of my favorite movies growing up. So that's why I enjoyed writing it...and no it too is done. Chapter 101 will be the prelude to another new arc, but I have no idea when I'll get around to writing it, real life has been getting its grubby hands dirty, so while I do have free time, I got other things to do. Plus I just have no good ideas right now, so I don't want to skip to Dragon Games right away.**

 **I would like to thank everyone who read this story, from the first chapter all the way to the hundredth chapter. This story has been really important and really special to me, whenever I got bored I would channel my time and effort into it. It isn't the best, but it isn't the worst either, and I think I did okay. There were a lot of missed opportunities though a lot of good stuff that I came up with after certain arcs were written, like how I should have maybe waited for Blake to actually be in a band, since I had other ideas that centered around him singing in secret before being found. Or how there was going to be a longer battle in Spring Unsprung, but I condensed it to finish the arc a little earlier. Who knows, maybe I'll add those ideas in a separate file or something, I dunno. Then there are the side stories, maybe during this small break from this story, I'll work on those so I can continue them as well. I have been ignoring most of them for a long time, while not bothering to write others. I've been meaning to write the Blake x Cerise story for awhile, and I wanted to finish Pantoufle Noir as well, but I just haven't had the time. Like I said in Chapter 98, I will be doing a few cross overs here and there, to other series and even my own stories. So look forward to those.**

 **Finally, I will say that this chapter is quite long, but I am not sure if I'll make it to a million words or not. That was my goal from the very beginning with this three chapter post, and the reason why I'll be posting the Prelude to the next arc tonight as well. Even if it isn't long enough, at least you'll get something interesting at the end. Yes, it has finally happened, the lemon that you all probably wanted but weren't sure if it was going to happen. And it is quite lengthy for your reading pleasure, so I hope you enjoy it. I will be back around 10PM or so to post Chapter 101, so until then sink your teeth into this juicy chapter, where Blake shall explore his new relationship with Meeshell Mermaid, as well as seal the deal with Kitty. Once again, thank you all for sticking with me this long. I hope you all continue reading this story and its new chapters for as long as I am able to continue it. See you all later!**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 100

The World Under the Sea Finale

A few days had passed since the battle with Ursula, and they had been rather long days. Blake and everyone else had to return to Aquania after the second day in Atlantica, much to the disappointment of Maya, Coral and Meeshell. It wasn't that they had overstayed their welcome, in fact Ariel had made them honorary citizens of Atlantica, and had given them special charms that whenever they were near the sea, a single tap would allow them to regain their tails and they could visit whenever they wanted. Blake had also gotten to meet and hang out with Ariel's sisters, having learned quite a lot of things about them. But after everything was said and done, they had to go back to their friends, who were all worried about everything.

Blake had explained everything in detail to all of their friends, along with a lengthy apologize to Daring about his boat. The young Prince Charming had laughed it off, saying the boat was fine, in fact they took him to the pier to show him the fixed Apple White, which had been completely repaired. He was at least glad he was able to get his boat fixed. His other friends were rather jealous of Blake and the adventure he had had in Atlantica. Due to this, they had put off their plans for the movie for a few days, giving them all a break to enjoy the summer. After everything was said and done, it was still summer vacation and they wanted to enjoy it to the fullest.

Ursula had been arrested for her attack on Blake and against Atlantica. Ariel had stripped her of her powers, and had put her in prison for a long time. Coral had also been trying to speak with her mother, but the woman didn't want to speak to her, screaming her betrayal to her whenever she got the chance. The young mermaid witch figured she would need a bit of time for her to cool off, and had decided to not speak with her for the time being. Ariel had helped her settle into the palace, and while she wasn't an crowned princess, she was still treated as one, and even a few mermen had asked her out on a date, which had embarrassed her a lot. Meeshell had helped her out and given her a bit of a boy talk before sending her on her way, but she had come back, to nervous to even talk to anyone. Even though she was a fearsome witch now, she was still the same Coral they all knew and loved, and that wasn't going to change any time soon, even with her signature in the book.

Even now that only two days had passed, Blake was able to reflect on a lot of things. He had new friends that lived under the sea, got to meet one of his child hood heroines, and sort of awkward cartoon crush, got to defeat a sea witch, though that was mostly Coral. He was able to swim with his own tail and spend time in Atlantica, one of his many dreams growing up. He was entirely happy, but he was also sad...because he was so busy with the movie he was planning to film, he wouldn't be able to spend more time with Meeshell and her family.

He had gotten to know Meeshell a bit better as well. She was her mother's spitting image, highly curious, a wonderful singer and a loving person. Kitty had been hanging out with her as well, and had broken the touch barrier with her, hugging her a lot. The young mermaid had figured she was being overly friendly, but even Blake knew she was trying to get somewhere the young mermaid was still too naive to understand. He had been considering asking the girl on a date, but he wasn't sure how she would react. She was adorable, especially when she was showing them all about the sea critters around them. Even when Kitty had wanted to eat a few of them due to her nature as a cat, a single stern look from the mermaid had sent those thoughts careening in another direction.

Now he was back where the adventure started, or rather back at the Beach House in Aquania. Now that he had access to his own tail, he could go for a swim whenever he wanted, but he wasn't looking forward to going to that Uninhabited Island. He had been tending to Ginger's stand, impressed with the clientele she had been able to get in the short period of time she had set up there. She had kept her cart right against the fence separating the Beach house with the public beach. He himself had been making some of his milkshakes for the crowd, which had also gotten rather popular with all of them. He only have ingredients for six shakes instead of the twenty-four that he had created, tried and tested, but even those six had been very popular.

"So Ginger, in the last couple days that I haven't been here, how much money have you made?" the boy asked, glancing at his boss once their current customers had left.

The daughter of the Candy Witch, had been preparing some new pastries to replace the ones she had sold. She was wearing a candy themed apron over her pink bikini top, and tan shorts. She placed the pan in the oven, pulling out the one filled with cookies which she placed on the cooking rack. She turned to face the boy, reaching for her notepad, flipping through a few sheets of paper, humming to herself as she pressed her pencil eraser against her lower lip.

"Well, I've been selling the cookies for a fifty cents a cookie, two for a dollar, five for a dozen. There's also the cupcakes which I've sold for a buck each, the muffins for two, not to mention all of the shakes, cakes, smoothies, ice cream...can I get back to you on that?" she asked, scrawling something on the paper.

"Hehe...sure. I'm sorry for leaving you all alone for a couple days, I wasn't expecting to be cast adrift in Daring's boat. Or to meet the daughter of the Little Mermaid." he admitted. He grabbed a few cupcakes that had yet to be decorated. After grabbing the correct frosting tip, he started the process of decorating each one, just like he had been trained to do back at Spell's Kitchen.

"Somehow you always get to meet cool people. Take me with you next time would you? You get to have all the fun, it's time I went on an adventure too."

"Don't worry, the next adventure I get tossed into head first, you'll be my go to gal, promise." he said, giving her a wink.

"I better be...so what was it like down there?"

"It was wet...and cold. You know something, I realized when you are under water, you don't feel wet at all, you only feel wet when your on the surface...isn't that crazy?"

"I guess? What about the food? What did you eat down there? Anything interesting that you wanna share?" she asked, having switched pads. He rolled his eyes, setting aside the finished cupcakes, grabbing one of the snowflake cookies she had made, biting into one of the points.

"I knew you'd ask, so I came prepared. The typical Atlantican dish consists of various seaweed themed and kelp themed dishes. While they do consume fish, they only consume certain species, the more aggressive ones, like sword fish. They also do eat tuna and salmon, but the salmon often times are left alone until they can breed before they are gathered. Male salmon usually die after they breed."

"Interesting, what about shellfish? Do they eat any of that?" Ginger asked, jotting down the notes.

"Shrimp mostly, they avoid eating crabs because well...their royal musician is one. They do eat lobsters but only ones that are a little more instinctual instead of...sentient, if you will. They do eat squid as well, though they often times avoid it, the ink doesn't taste good." he replied.

"Fascinating, anything else?"

"Uh...yes actually...thanks to Ariel's magic, specially trained chefs are able to prepare surface foods. They also have this really amazing pasta dish, it's like pesto instead made with seaweed and kelp, it's fucking amazing."

"I'll take your word for it, until I can try it myself. I've read a lot about the Atlantican cuisine, now I'm so close to trying it, that I can taste it. This is gonna be amazing for when I open my restaurant." she said, giggling happily as she jotted everything down. Blake shook his head, finishing his cookie as he watched his friend go to town on her notepad. He already knew she wanted to transition into cooking food along with baking, so he was sure she was going to make an excellent chef.

"Thanks a lot for all of that information Blake, you can take the rest of the day off if you want. I mean, you aren't really working for me right now, but your shakes have made us popular, so I still gotta pay you."

"Alright, are you sure? You know I have no issue helping you out."

"I managed two days by myself, so I can manage the afternoon. Go on, you have to enjoy the summer. And you've been staring at the sea a lot since coming back, maybe you should go take a swim or something." Ginger said, earning a nod from the boy. He took off his apron, folding it up and placing it in the bottom drawer. He gave Ginger a brief hug before leaving, wishing her luck for the rest of the day.

He found himself walking down the coast, away from the Beach House. The golden sand started turning rockier as he started approaching the nearby bluffs. He figured he could get some work in on the movie, as Melody was still working on the tracks themselves. They still have to record song number 9 and song number 11, since they both involved Snow White and Professor Piper, so they wouldn't be recording those until their return to Ever After High in mid July. By then they would start filming the first music video for their new album, My Songs Know What You Did In the Dark, it was unanimously agreed that would be the first song they wanted to record. After that, they would record the Phoenix and continue going down the list until everything was filmed. They were hoping to do it all in few takes to limit how much time they took during a day. It took about four days to film a single music video, so if he timed it right, they could get all eleven done and still have time to relax before school.

As he glanced up from the rocky ground, since he didn't want to fall, he noticed a familiar pink haired girl, sitting on a large rock staring out into the ocean. It wasn't hard to recognize her, due to the shimmering aquamarine skirt she was wearing, the white heels that had been gifted to her by her mother in case she ever wanted to head to the surface, and the golden jewelry she was wearing on her wrists and around her neck. She turned her head slightly, noticing him out of the corner of her eye. She gave him a shy wave, quickly climbing down the rocks, landing down on the sand below.  
"Hey, I was hoping you'd come down here! I really didn't wanna go up to the beach house."

"Why? You know our friends would welcome you with open arms." the boy said, shortening the distance between them. She giggled, glancing out to the water.

"Can you blame me? I'm a different person on land, I'm a fish out of water and a fish without her tail."

"That's true...what exactly did you come here for? It wasn't to sun yourself was it?"

"Hmm...not really...and it wasn't to look for a prince charming either. My mom wanted to invite you and your friends to a concert, however we can't invite everyone so it's limited to those who were with you when we fought against Ursula, plus a few others. Unless we can figure out a way to include everyone without bringing attention from the human settlement that is."

"My friends will understand, besides we got MirrorPhones, so we can stream it directly up here. I'm sure Melody will enjoy herself thoroughly. I still can't believe they argued for three hours about what reed was better on what saxophone." Blake said, earning a sigh from Meeshell, who leaned up against the large boulder behind her.

"Yeah, Sebastian can get really into it, you should meet his son, just like him in every way. Coral wanted to come, but she got roped into taking care of the triplets, now that our aunts are all gathered up, Melody and the twins have to watch everyone else."

"Well, we'll hang out again soon. Now that Coral is going to Ever After High, we'll have even more time to hang out. She's like the little sister I always wanted, she even called me big brother before I left. I can't wait to see what shenanigans you two get into once you both head there." Blake replied, earning a nod from the pinkette. She swept some hair behind her ear, smiling a bit as the salty sea breeze picked up.

"I'm looking forward to it Blake, I really am." she said happily.

"Um...Meeshell, did you speak with Kitty at all...before we left?" the boy asked, causing her to look at him.

"About that...I uh...wanted to apologize to you for something. I felt so weird, which is why I didn't say goodbye to you when you left. It was so awkward and I really needed some time to think about it all." she said, earning a sigh from the boy.

"Let me guess, she kissed you and you felt weird because two girls shouldn't kiss? Or, it isn't that they shouldn't, it's that you've never seen it and don't know how to come about it? Am I in the ball park?"

"Yes...but she's your girlfriend, I didn't want to make you mad." she said, rubbing her arm sheepishly. The boy chuckled, placing a hand on her head, causing her to look up at him.

"I'm not mad, well...I am annoyed. Kitty jumped the gun, even though I told her to let me handle this. But since she isn't here, I guess I'll do the confessing for the both of us. Meeshell, me and Kitty like you...in the romantic sense, I wanted to get to know you, but Kitty convinced me to to start liking you, and I guess I did...love is weird, don't question me."

"This is...well, not the most traditional of confessions. My mother told me that when I found my Prince Charming, I would feel a swell in my heart. It wouldn't stop beating, I wouldn't stop blushing and I'd feel butterfly fish in my stomach. I felt it when I took your hand back at the music store, and when Kitty wiped my tears away. That's why I'm so conflicted." she said, sounding a bit disappointed.

"I get it, traditional romances involve a man and a woman, but you like a woman and a man at the same time. Listen, Cupid has told me a lot of things about love, including this one. It doesn't matter if it's between two people or three, or four. As long as the love is pure, it'll work out. Kitty told me she loves me, but she's struggling with her sexuality as well, which is why I wanted to make her happy. I guess what I'm trying to say is, if you are willing, would you be our girlfriend?" he asked, holding his hand out to the girl.

"I...yes, I will...this is another adventure, and I'm curious to see where it will lead me." she said, earning a grin from the boy, who's cheeks were dusted with pink.

"Awesome...well since Kitty already got a head start, I guess I get next. However, I want the honor to be your first date, since she took your first kiss, is that fair?"

"Mhmm, that's fair. Um...don't get mad at me or anything but, the night before we went after Ursula, I was watching the two of you kiss. It was so romantic, you reminded me of my parents when I was younger. Promise me we'll do that too...that's something I've always wanted to have." Meeshell said, earning a nod from the boy, who took a hold of her hands in his own.

"Don't worry, we'll give you that and more."

The boy leaned forward, kissing the waiting lips of the eager young mermaid. She was still inexperienced and he could tell that by how shyly she was kissing him. He wrapped his arms around her waist pulling her close as he deepened the kiss, going as far as slipping his tongue into her mouth. Her eyes widened a bit in surprise, closing once more as she passionately kissed the boy back. Kitty hadn't done that with her before, it was an all new experience. She could faintly taste sugar on the his lips, and she craved it, she wanted to know what it was that he had eaten before. Their tongues fought for dominance with his easily winning the duel. They pulled away for air, only to kiss again, this time Meeshell took the initiative, pinning the older boy against the boulder, wrapping one of her legs around his waist, which he took a hold of to keep themselves balanced.

They didn't know for how long the they had been kissing, but hearing someone clear their throat was enough for them to pull away from each other. They both had the same startled look, noticing Blake's sister Raven, along with Kitty and Apple had joined them. Apple was blushing brightly, not expecting to catch her close friend in such a precarious situation. Raven was used to seeing her brother and Kitty doing something like that, so she had been expecting it, and Kitty was grinning from ear to ear. Meeshell backed away from the boy, fixing her skirt as she glanced at the floor, her curtain of hair shielding her face.

"I would like to begin my three part apology by saying, Kitty you are a wonderful person, with a beautiful personality. Further more, I would like to apologize to Raven and Apple who I may have with my unladylike behavior."

"Hey hey hey, I beat a lot of wholesale ass for something less than that." Kitty said, earning a curious look from Meeshell. She sucked her teeth, glancing briefly at Blake before shifting her gaze back to the mermaid.

"You uh...get forty-five percent power."

"Whoa what? Forty-five? What about me?" Blake asked, arms crossed in annoyance.

"Aw, you get ten percent silly, we're the ones dominating this relationship. So we'll use our vagina power against you, how does that feel? You get to do the bidding of two beautiful girls instead of one!"

"Raven, kill me."

"You're being melodramatic, you're the one that wanted two girls in your relationship instead of one." the young woman replied.

"Please, just kill me...just take a knife and really twist in there. Because that would me way more painful than this scenario right here."

"Sorry Blake, you have to deal with your Princesses all on your own. We came down here because Melody wants you to hear the finished cuts of the Save Rock and Roll album. But here you are, smooching with your girlfriend. I gotta say though, Meeshell you were quite daring when you went in for the second one."

"Apple please, you're embarrassing me!" the pinkette cried, earning a giggle from Kitty, who disappeared, reappearing next to the mermaid a second later. She wrapped her arm around her waist, rubbing her side.

"It's fine...we'll be able to talk you through everything okay sweetie?" she asked. Meeshell nodded, earning a kiss on the cheek from Kitty.

"Well, I guess we can head up to the mansion...you wanna come along Mee?"

"I'm...not ready for that yet...I think I'll go back home and tell mom about the concert. Maybe we can find a way for all of you to see it without alerting the people of Aquania?"

"We'll figure it out, see you later Meeshell...don't worry, I'll make sure this idiot doesn't hurt you. After all, he's used to dealing with Kitty, I'm sure a sweet girl like you is what he needs to keep him grounded...come on you." Raven said, pulling the boy along.

"Come on, can't I get a goodbye kiss?"

"No! You got plenty of kiss a few minutes ago...come on, this is important. My mom finally fully agreed to be the Head Bitch In Charge, let's not disappoint her!" Apple cried, taking his other arm. Blake sighed, giving the pinkette a wink as he was pulled away.

 _ **xxx**_

Convincing Meeshell to join him on a date had been the hardest thing for Blake since drawing the gate that took them to Wonderland. It took a lot of coaxing, smiling, kissing and begging to actually get the shy girl to agree. They had decided to go out the day after the concert, which had been a huge success. Thanks to Melody, who had been able to rig some underwater music devices, and Dexter who with the help of Raven was able to enchant a lot of tech, they had been able to have a rather amazing concert. Now, the Atlantican Palace courtyard had underwater monitors so that everyone could see the action down on the stage, and they had been able to rig everything to transmit signals to the surface, so that everyone else could watch it. Purple Rhapsody had also debuted two songs from Save Rock and Roll, the Phoenix and Where did the Party Go, along with Tears of Bliss who debuted their first EP after going through the restructure of their band, and Blake had to agree, the people of Atlantica and everyone in their class was totally floored by Faybelle's ability to sing and Ramona's skill with the drums. They had been on par, if not better than Purple Rhapsody during the night, and had even played for Alana who had written her own music for the night. It had been one of the best events he had been a part of, even better than the Winter Formal, though Shatter Me did still have a special place in his heart.

Hopper and Humphrey, along with the rest of their film crew had also arrived. They had decided to use some of the surrounding forest around Aquania to film two of their music videos. Hopper had already made arrangements with the owner of the Asylum back in Meadow Brook, and would be filming parts of Young Volcanoes and Where Did the Party Go inside for their movie. Blake was looking forward to everything, especially having seen the outfits that Lizzie and Farrah had designed, he had been totally floored, and when he reviewed some of the props Dexter had been able to get, he knew he was going to have a lot of fun, especially with the rather realistic hook the young prince had been able to get.

But he had pushed that to the back burner, deciding to focus more on his new girlfriend. Meeshell, despite being shy was a curious little thing. She had been pulling him along, asking a lot of questions, which he was thankfully able to answer. She hadn't even displayed any of her normal shy tendencies, which he was glad for. It made it a lot easier if she was distracted by something interesting instead of shyly hiding behind him and avoiding human contact. She had told him she just felt better when she was in the water, but that she had to be brave if she wanted to explore the human world. She hadn't mentioned anything about her destiny, and he was sure Ariel would be okay with anything her daughter decided.

"It's a little hot, isn't it sweetie? Wanna get something to drink?" Blake asked, having entered the Pleasure District of Aquania. It was an area near the Market District which was filled with various restaurants, clubs and shops for kids, teenagers and adults to have fun and unwind.

"Um, okay." the girl replied, giving him a bright smile. He looked around for something interesting, finding a nearby Hocus Latte. He was at least familiar with them, so he decided to go there.

"Jeez, that line is long as hell...what's going on over there?" he asked out loud, earning a shrug from Meeshell who was also curious.

"Dude, you don't know? Hocus Latte is doing a sale for the week. They're introducing milkshakes to the menu, buy two mediums at menu price and get a large one for free, and their pretty good too." a young man, around Blake's age said. He noticed the boy was carrying a cardboard cup holder in his hands, with four cups nestled inside.

"Milkshakes? Are they that good?" Meeshell asked curiously.

"Of course they are little lady, you should get in that line before they sell out for the day. Trust me, you won't regret it." the young man replied, carrying on his way, happily drinking his shake.

"Sold out huh? Hocus Latte normally makes coffee and tea and other coffee shop snacks. I've never heard of them going into the shake business...but I guess we can give them a try, how about it?" Blake asked, glancing at Meeshell, who was fanning herself with her hand.

"I dunno, I don't do well in the sun for too long. My skin burns easy and the line is past the awning. Can we go somewhere else?" she asked politely.

"Sure honey, I don't mind...let's keep looking." he said, pulling the girl along.

They didn't really go far, in fact a few shops down, and nearly across from Hocus Latte. There was another shop, a rather small one but it looked more humble than the big chain store. There was a large decal on the door in the shape of a milkshake cup with a red stripped straw sticking out of it. The name of the store was AquaShakes, and it looked like it was also a shake shop, though it seemed as if this one specialized only in shakes. Blake glanced at Meeshell who gave him a small nod, he pulled the door open and walked in, the small bell jingling to announce their arrival. The store was rather small, and reminded Blake of a fifty's style diner. The wall was lined with booths, all of them having panoramic windows that looked out into the streets. Near the back of the shop were some smaller tables, and the front counter had some red stools before it.

There was a bigger area near the doors with more tables. The walls were painted a soft baige color, with some decals on the walls, in the shape of cups, cookies and various other snacks. There were only a few people inside, an elderly couple sharing a booth, and two young girls who seemed to be chatting about one thing or another, while glancing at their computer screen. There was a young man sitting by himself at the counter, glancing at his phone every few seconds, it was as if he was waiting for someone, the look of disappointment on his face made it apparent that the young man had probably been stood up by a girl. It made Blake rather sad, especially since he had brought his girlfriend with him into the shop.

"Welcome to AquaShakes, home of the best shakes in Aquania...grab a seat anywhere you like. There's plenty of room for you to choose."

"Oh...thank you sir." Blake said, giving the man a polite bow before leading Meeshell to a nearby booth.

The man looked to be in his early forties, with dark brown hair, slicked back with gel. He was wearing a white tee shirt, with a pair of brown slacks. He had a pink apron over his clothes, decorated with small patches in the shape of shake cups, he also wore a name tag in the center of the apron, the bold black letters spelling the name Rodger could be seen.

"This is pretty quiet, but it looks like such a cute place." Meeshell said, once she and Blake had found a booth near the entrance.

"It might be because of Hocus Latte. This usually happens, a place is popular for years, and then a big chain store opens up and people go there instead."

"Why?"

"Name brand recognition. Hocus Latte is known all over Ever After, there's one in Bookend, where I live. There's one in Meadow Brook, there's one here, and there's one in High Village too. There's even a small one in Hood Hollow. They're like the McDonald's of Ever After. Since people know them, and know their coffee is good, they'll go there instead." Blake explained, earning a nod from Meeshell, who frowned as she glanced at the larger coffee shop.

"That's so sad...why would people do that?" Meeshell asked, earning a sigh from the boy, who just shrugged, leaning back in his seat.

"It is what it is. One day there's a really popular bookstore that you frequent, it has all the books you like to read. You spend all your time there, enjoying the silence, and then the next week bam, an even bigger book store opens up. You see less and less people there, the inventory shrinks, and eventually it closes down. You just lost your favorite place and have to move to the bigger shop like a goddamn sheep, it's the way of life I'm afraid." Blake replied, glancing at the plastic menu on the table.

"So it happens with book stores too? What about other things? Clothing shops? Music?"

"Mhmm, it happens with music all the time. It'll happen to our band too, one day there will come a time where Purple Rhapsody isn't as famous as their hay day. People will move onto the next fad, and our music will fall into obscurity, only enjoyed by the people of our generation. Of course it will resurface again years after, and become popular briefly. The difference between clothing stores and music is simple, our voices are recorded forever, so even if we lost popularity, after our band is gone, people will still enjoy it." he replied.

"Hey man, you're really putting me in a funk with all this talk. This is my favorite shop, I kinda don't want it to die." the boy sitting at the bar said, having turned to face them.

"We're so sorry, we didn't mean to disturb you." Meeshell said, bowing her head, her hair covering her face. The boy chuckled, chewing slightly on his straw.

"It's fine miss, I just don't want this place to close down or anything. This place has been around for a long time, my parents met here when they were my age. It means a lot to me...name's Frankie by the way." the young man said, shaking Blake's hand.

"I'm Blake, this is my girlfriend Meeshell. It is a shame that this place isn't getting business. How long has this been happening?" he asked curiously.

"All month basically...ever since Hocus Latte opened up. This was primarily a shake shop, but they do serve coffee and ice cream." one of the girls replied.

"That's right, Yvette and I have been coming here since we were five, we're regulars. We even convinced Rodger to get free wifi in this place to get the hip and cool kids flowing through the door." the other girl, a young blonde replied.

"Yeah, and it boosted sales for an entire year, but then that damn cafe opened and now I'm getting barely enough to scrape by." Rodger replied, bringing two strawberry milkshakes for the girls on a silver platter. Blake hummed to himself, glancing at the menu briefly.

"Well, Hocus Latte just launched some new shakes, but I've tried them all. They did this in the early spring back in Bookend and all of the students of Ever After High seemed to really like them, they were subpar though." he said.

"Ever After High? You live near the school?" Frankie asked curiously, earning a chuckle from the black haired boy.

"I'm a student, son of the Evil Queen actually." he said, in a rather boasting manner. They all backed away from him, causing Meeshell to shoot up to her feet.

"Don't worry, he's really sweet and kind, he doesn't have an evil bone in his body. I promise!" the girl said, easing them a bit.

"Well...if you tried their stuff, can you at least tell me why it's so popular?" Rodger asked.

"It isn't the shake itself, I mean it's good, but not mind blowing. It's the sale they're having. Buy two medium shakes and you get a large one for free. And since it's hot outside, a shake really does hit the spot, and so would a smoothie, which from here I can see is also on sale. So if you wanna get clientele, you have to offer a sweeter deal." Blake said.

"A sweeter deal? All of our shakes are half off and small ones are one gold instead of the normal 1.29." the man said.

"Maybe you should try something new? I mean, these flavors are generic, chocolate, strawberry, vanilla, peach...even the smoothies are a little bland looking, no offense. I'm sure they taste wonderful, but what you have to do is make them look more appealing, I assure you, people will come by in droves."

"Seriously? What are you, a Milkshake Connoisseur?" Frankie asked, earning a giggle from Meeshell.

"Not really, but he does work for the daughter of the Candy Witch. If anyone knows pastries, it's Blake. He makes some really amazing snowflake cookies."

"Hey, what can I say? I got addicted to those during the winter, had to beg Ginger to let me snag that recipe. Anyway, Rodger if you don't mind, could you show me to the kitchen?" he asked.

"Um...alright, follow me kid." the man said. He didn't know if he could trust the young man, but he had no other options and he didn't want to admit he was desperate for customers.

Blake was rather impressed with the kitchen. It had everything a shake shop needed, including various blenders and mixing machines. It not only had food processors, but it also had coffee machines, cappuccino and espresso machines and even a couple machines for smoothies.

"This is pretty sweet, I can see aside from shakes you also offer burgers and other things. This reminds me of a shop called Creamland, me and my friends used to go there whenever I went to visit family."

"Thanks kid, my folks were the one who started this place up several years ago. I managed to upgrade a lot of the stuff, including tweaking the menu, my wife is the one who handles the cooking, but she's been a little under the weather. So I have to manage this all alone, that also might be why I barely have customers, since it's rather slow."

"Hey, you can't help it right? When a loved one is sick, you have to double down and do what you do best. Thankfully, you have me here to help you. Now then, I need a few ingredients...strawberry ice cream, fresh strawberries, cream cheese, graham crackers and whipped cream...do you have all of that?" he asked.

"Of course we do, we're a shake shop...but what do you need all of that for?" Rodger asked. Blake chuckled as he washed his hands. He grabbed one of the nearby aprons and put it on, tying it behind his back with ease.

"I'm gonna make a shake of course."

Rodger was honestly confused, but he decided to trust the young man. He went to the back to get the ingredients. Blake snapped his fingers as he conjured up his shakebook, normally he would keep these recipes to himself, but he could see similarities between the shakeshop and his once favorite bookshop back in Toronto. He didn't want that to happen to such a beloved place, so he was going to do anything he could to stop that from happening. He flipped through the recipes he had tried, stopping on number 17. He grabbed a shake glass along with a nearby blender, and a spoon, just as Rodger came back with a cart that carried all of the ingredients he had requested.

Rodger watched as the young man took the graham crackers he had brought, along with a glass bowl and crushed them. It was the oddest thing he had ever seen, but he just stayed silent as he watched the young man work. He took four scoops of strawberry ice cream, along with some fresh cut strawberries and tossed it all in the blender. Afterwards, he spooned some cream cheese into it, followed by some of the graham crackers. He capped the blender and started blending it, keeping his hand on the lid.

"I need some strawberry syrup, preferably a bit thick."

"I think we have some of that." the man said, returning to the fridge.

He came back just as the young man had finished blending the shake together. He grabbed the syrup and the spoon, pouring a bit onto the utensil, running it along the inside of the shake glass, as well as the top, allowing some of it to drip down the sides. He poured the shake into the glass, the syrup looked a lot brighter now, adding some swirls into the overall look. Blake shook the whipped cream can for a few seconds, before spreading some on the top, adding some graham cracker bits to it. He took half of one and dunked it into the shake, adding a sliced strawberry, which he balanced on the side of the glass. Lastly, he added the iconic shake straw to it, passing it to Rodger who just looked at it oddly.

"Wow, this is...pretty."

"One thing I learned about life, is that if it's flashy, it attracts people. I'm not exactly refined in this, but one day I just wanted a shake, and remembered this recipe. I've had time to experiment with friends and myself and they all like them. I call this one, Strawberry Cheese Shake."

"You mean...like a cheesecake? In a shake?" Rodger asked, earning a nod from Blake, who gave him a grin.

"Go for it, trust me you'll love it."

The man shrugged, grabbing a hold of the glass, not minding the small smears of strawberry syrup on the sides of it. He took a sip from the drink, his once bearing a look of uncertainty, now bore a look of impression and surprise. He took a few more gulps from it, setting the glass down before he gave himself brain freeze. He turned to the young man, a firm but happy look on his face.

"How many more of these can you make?"

"Do you have plenty of fresh ingredients and ice cream I can use?" Blake asked back, earning a nod from the man.

"We're fully stocked, we haven't dipped into most of it this month."

"Break out the sandwich boards, we're getting your customers back." Blake replied, flipping to the first page of his book, seeing the familiar green shake that started it all.

"It's time to give these Aquanians a minty treat these summer. It's sure to shake the ants out of their pants. Meeshell, I need your help!" he cried out, glancing through the open window that looked out into the dining room.

"Eh? Okay...be right there!" the pinkette cried, unsure of what the young man was plotting.

 _ **xxx**_

"And that was how I, Daring Charming, was able to sign two hundred autographs without breaking a sweat." the blonde prince said, earning a sigh from Gloriosa and Cupid. She, along with Daring, Apple and Lily were walking through Aquania, wanting to explore a bit of the city and also get some groceries for the house.

That had of course turned into a showboat session where Daring told his war stories of him being swamped by young women. He had gone on and on about signing an infinite amount of autographs without breaking a sweat. Lily was extremely board, and was considering smacking the boy with her crook, but was silently talked out of it by Cupid. The young Shepard had decided to take a walk with her friends, as her boyfriend Dutch had been playing video games with some of his friends, and she didn't want to bother him. Gloriosa had wanted to get some coffee from Hocus Latte, which was the only reason, aside from groceries that she had even tagged along. Cupid had just been dragged into it all, as she had been dragged along with no say in the matter. It was how the group of four were now walking to the nearby supermarket.

"Not that signing autographs isn't fascinating Daring...but it totally isn't...so please, don't bore us with the details." Lily said, earning a chuckle from the blond man, who wrapped his arm around her.

"I apologize my dear, perhaps I should speak about my run in with some vile sheep. And how they were all corralled by a small itty bitty piglet and a man who had the utmost of faith in him."

"Daring, maybe you shouldn't wrap your arm around her yeah? She isn't single anymore. Second stop talking about Babe, it was a good movie, but goddamn it, you watch it every week and that shit gets old fast." Gloriosa said, earning a silent thanks from Lily, who was finally released from the man's grasp.

"My mistake, I thought you fine ladies wanted to hear all about me during this walk. I was just expressing my gentlemanly charm." he said, giving the three a dazzling smile, which was amplified by the sun. the sound of a car horn echoed through the street, followed by a loud crash and breaking glass. Gloriosa quickened her pace.

"No one wants to hear your war stories or about your groupies...but if you are a true gentleman, then you will pay for our drinks at Hocus Latte." the brunette said.

"I agree, a true gentleman and Prince Charming, will pay for the drinks of the fair ladies accompanying him." Cupid said.

"I just want free shit, I don't care...just pay for my drink." Lily replied, earning a chuckle from the prince.

"Ah...I see, it is quite alright, I am quite content with paying for your drinks. After all, it is the duty of a man to pay for the things his ladies want."

"Whatever...there's Hocus Latte, I heard there were doing a milkshake sale today. Wonder if their any good?" Cupid said.

"It's Hocus Latte, of course it's good. I mean this is the Ever After equivalent to Starbucks, just with less white girls." Gloriosa said, heading toward it.

"Hey, if you guys want good shakes, try AquaShakes instead. They're doing a sale right now, buy three medium shakes and get a free one. They're also giving out free ice cream, definitely check them out." a young man said, carrying a glass mug with a rather festive looking shake. Gloriosa eyed it carefully, seeing it was bright green in color, and had several shamrocks on it, along with green sugar sprinkles and mint leaves.

She broke into a sprint, dodging all of the people that were coming out of the shop, managing to actually get in. The diner style shop was booming with customers, every seat was filled and even then people were just standing. The sound of the register repeatedly opening filled cut through the voices, making her look toward the counter, where a happy looking man was placing money inside. He took an order slip and handed it to someone just beyond the window, only to receive a platter with three shakes on them, which looked rather familiar to her.

"What is this? Look at all of these people!" Cupid cried, impressed with the sight before her.

"It's overflowing...hey these shakes look familiar. Isn't that a Strawberry Cheese Shake? There's a Shamrock Shake right over there too, and the Salted Caramel Pretzel too." Lily said, pointing out several shakes that had caught her eye.

"Hey ladies, welcome to AquaShake, we're having a special today, what may I interest you in? We're trying out a new menu." a man named Rodger asked, a smile on his face.

"Uh...by any chance is there someone named Blake back there? These shakes look a lot like his." Gloriosa asked.

"Why yes, he is back there. You wouldn't believe it if I told you, just an hour ago, this shop was dead. He had that cute girlfriend of his stand outside with a sandwich board, singing some song he came up with on the spot, and boom. Check out the clientele, it's amazing!"

"I'll say...well go for it ladies, whatever you want is on me."

"Nutella Pretzel supreme with extra caramel." Lily said, earning a chuckle from Rodger, who wrote it down with ease.

"I want a love shake, that was always my favorite, oh and have him draw a little heart on it, tell him it's for Cupid."

"Alright, I'll let him know...what about you miss?" Rodger asked, glancing at Gloriosa.

"Uh...give me a cheeseburger, with extra pickles, hold off on the onions and add some pepper to the fries. For the shake, I'll take the Banana Fafana with a hint of nutmeg." Gloriosa said, earning a curious look from the man, who just shrugged it off.

"I'll have what she's having my man, put it on my card." Daring said, giving the man his card.

"Alright, your orders will come in a few minutes...I would tell you to sit but there's no where to sit. At this rate we might have to get some tables for the outside."

"You know, it's amazing that Blake always helps out so many people...I mean not only did he help Meeshell and Coral...but now he's helping this small business flourish." Cupid said, a smile on her face.

"Well it is Blake we're talking about...he's gonna do anything he can to help anyone. Despite being the son of the Evil Queen, he's got a heart of gold. He's handsome, sweet, and doesn't boast about himself or stew in his own arrogance." Lily said, glancing at Daring who was looking at himself in his mirror, doing various faces.

"Ugh...don't remind me...still, Lily does have a point...I missed out on a great guy, I hope he can truly take care of his girls."

"Girls...plural?" Cupid asked curiously.

"Yeah...where have you been? He's dating that girl Meeshell now, and Kitty is dating her while dating him. He was talking to Raven about it, did you fall asleep or something?" Lily asked curiously.

"Ah...dammit! I was supposed to help them get together! How am I supposed to get my angel wings if I don't learn the meaning of true love?!" she cried, causing a few people to look at her. Gloriosa patted her head, giving her a smile.

"You'll find it soon young padawan. Time to feast, it is." she said, grabbing a hold of the platter Rodger had brought out.

The summer was just beginning, but even then everyone had an interesting start to it. Now they had friends under the sea as well, and Blake managed to sway the heart of a beautiful young mermaid. The future was looking bright for the students of Ever After High, the summer was still young, and they were all looking forward to seeing what shenanigans they could get themselves into. All they knew was that it was hot, the food was good and they were surrounded by good company, and that's all anyone would every truly need while they were young.

 _ **xxx(Giggity)xxx**_

It was a rather cool night in late June. After the amazing concert in Atlantica, Daring decided to take some of his friends to meet some curious merfolk who wanted to see the underwater kingdom themselves. Meeshell was a bit busy tending to the tours, along with Coral. That left most of the beach house completely empty, the twenty that had been to the uninhabited island had decided to stay behind, since the boat could only carry so many people. So most of them were out on the beach, at a big bonfire that Raven and Apple had started. Normally, Blake would have been outside, partaking in the party that was being thrown down there, but he wasn't up for it. He just wanted to stay inside and work on some music. He had been working on Save Rock and Roll for awhile, but wanted to work on an original album, one that didn't have translated songs or cover songs from ones he heard on Earth. It was a little challenging, but Champion was the first song he had finished that was entirely original. He had taken Cupid's advice and let his heart do the writing, and had finished that song, and even wrote the melody entirely by himself, something he almost never did.

It was only nine at night, he had a busy day working at AquaShakes. He had been completely ecstatic when his shakes brought the dying shop business. It had only been a couple days since he had his first date with Meeshell and helped that shop, but they had been seeing more business in a single week than they had in the last couple months. He had gone as far as leaving his Shake Recipe book with Rodger so that he could use them in his menu. He was glad that he was able to use something he had been doing for fun to help someone who was in dire straights. As long as it helped Rodger and his business, he didn't mind sharing his creations with the world. He took a glance at his lyric book, glancing at the lyrics he had written for a new song, a frown on his face.

"This could use a bit of work...maybe Meeshell can help me come up with something." he muttered to himself.

"You aren't thinking of replacing me with her, are you?"

He glanced over to his bed, seeing his girlfriend Kitty laying on it. She was playing something on his PSP, Final Fantasy Dissidia by the sounds of it. She hadn't been playing video games long, but she had gotten really into Final Fantasy during the last few weeks of their second semester. She had all but taken ownership of that handheld, and had gotten half of the characters to level 100 just by playing against the computer and redoing the story mode over and over. He closed his lyric book and set it aside, turning to face his girlfriend, arms crossed as he leaned back into the chair.

"Not really...I like the two of you equally. Though you gotta give me one, Meeshell and I just started dating. We need time to get to know each other and dating is a good way to do that. I already worked out a schedule for the two of us, you get her tomorrow, then I get her Tuesday, so on and so forth."

"That's cool, I just got Sephiroth to level 100, you should congratulate me." the girl replied, not bothering to tear her eyes away from the handheld.

"Well that I quite the accomplishment, but you do know that I got all of them to level 100 during my first play through of that game right? You know, before you deleted my save file."

"Mhmm, I'm sorry...I really didn't mean too, I just didn't know how to save properly, that's why I'm trying to redo everything you did." she replied, earning a smile from the boy.

"I love you Kitty, you know you don't really have to do that. Games are more fun when you play them together. When we get back to Ever After High, we can play some other games together, I got quite the collection after all." Blake replied.

"I know that, do you think we can do a stream on the Apple Plays Channel? Apple and Raven had been keeping the channel alive by playing Super Mario World, and it's hilarious seeing Raven flip out whenever a Goomba kills her."

"Yeah, I'm surprised she hasn't broken my SNES controller yet, Apple is doing great with that game. But what do you have in mind?"

"Well, you know how Cerise is totally obsessed with Pokemon? I was thinking we do a speedrun through the games. There are three versions of each one, we can start with Red, Blue and Yellow and see who beats it first. After that we move onto Gold, Silver and Crystal, Ruby, Sapphire and Emerald, Diamond Pearl and Platinum and...well that's where the chain stops."

"Right, Black and White only had two games and then the sequels, so that wouldn't be good, then XY and Sun and Moon...that will make it hard, but it will still be fun. I'm sure Cerise would be down for that...we just gotta talk to her. She's been acting a little weird around us whenever we do run into each other." Blake said, earning a sigh from Kitty.

"Yeah, I'm trying to be a nice girl to her, but she always butt's heads with me...I think it's because she missed out on you."

"Kitty, don't say that. Cerise doesn't like me that way anymore, she told me already when I last asked her."

"She could be lying." the girl said with a smirk, finally putting her game on pause, placing the device on the night stand. She got onto her knees, stalking her way to the edge of the bed, eyes filled with mirth.

"She could just be sucking it all in, because she hadn't gotten over her feelings for you. Because she wants what she can't have."

"Kitty, don't say that shit...if that is true then that isn't funny. That shit sucks even worse than being unable to love someone or admit your love for them." the boy scolded. She giggled, licking her lips seductively as she wiggled her brows a bit.

"I know that, I apologize...but you gotta admit, if she just bucked up then she would have snagged you before you snagged Meeshell. I wouldn't have minded, even if I do hate dogs."

Blake sighed, glancing away from the violet haired girl. Sometimes she said and did things that he didn't really understand. She was the daughter of the Cheshire Cat, so he knew it was in her nature for her to do that stuff. But there were times where he did want to call her out on it and scold her for what she did. Of course, he couldn't say anything when he saw her eyes. His own weakness always lead him to being dismissive of her actions. It was beginning to wear him down, but that was his own fault, one doesn't control what they like after all. He did however know that he wasn't going to let himself be dominated by her, at least not tonight. He stood up and closed the distance between them, grabbing a hold of her tee shirt. She looked at him oddly for a second before he bent down, capturing her lips in a kiss.

She wrapped her arms around his neck, holding herself up against him kissing him back with fervor. It had been awhile since the two had been alone, since he had been busy at the shake shop and she had been helping Melody out with some of the music. She was giddy at the fact that she had the boy all to herself. Even though they were both dating Meeshell now, she had to play the selfish card and keep him to herself, at least for now. She pulled Blake forward, lying back on the bed with him on top of her. They separated, chuckling a bit.

"Well, it seems you're eager for this little make out session." the boy replied.

"What can I say? It's been two days since I got a bit of my drug of choice. I could kiss you forever if it wasn't for the fact we gotta breathe." she replied, kissing his cheek. She pushed him back slightly, reaching up to undo her pigtails, allowing her hair to fall down her back.

"Yeah...me too, sadly I'm addicted...I just can't quit you." Blake said, almost sarcastically as he kissed the girl again. She eagerly returned it, snaking her hands under the boy's shirt, touching his smooth skin. Normally, he would have done something about it, but this time he let her do as she wished.

The girl pulled away from her kiss, sitting up on the bed and reaching for the hem of her shirt. She easily took it off, tossing it down on the ground, remaining in her lavender colored bra, which had little pawprints going across it. Blake swallowed hard when he glanced at her chest, he had seen her like this before but only on the beach. This had been the first time she had actually gone this far while they were kissing. He had a feeling that she wanted this to go in the other direction, and while he normally would have told her he wanted to wait, the other less rational part of him said that it was fine for them to do it. He shook his head slightly, taking off his own shirt, sweeping his hair out of his eyes.

"You know, I never get used to seeing those scars." she said, tracing them with her finger.

"I know, I think they make me look tough...don't worry, Melody said she'd hook me up with her tattoo artist again. I'm gonna have him do stitches right across it."

"Hmm...that would make you look sexier than before, maybe I should get a tattoo too. Some butterflies right on my boob, so you can look at them whenever you want."

"Honey, I already do that. Kinda hard not to stare at them when your pushing D's." he said, earning a giggle from her. She reached behind her back, fiddling with her clasp a bit as she unhooked it.

"You know I'm not gonna let you leave this room until you satisfy me. I would say you walked into this one, but I sort of forced it on you." Kitty said, causing the boy to roll his eyes.

"I am aware yes...it's alright, you've wanted this for awhile. So I think I'll be able to transition into this, besides I have done this shit before. So I'm gonna make sure you are satisfied." he replied. She grinned, tossing her bra aside, she grabbed his hand making him squeeze one of her breasts.

Blake bit his cheek a bit as he started massaging her breasts, earning soft sighs from the girl. He started kissing her neck, leaving a small trail of kisses and bite marks, earning a soft mewl in return from the girl. He buried his face in her breasts, placing a kiss right over her heart before taking one of her nipples into her mouth.

"Come on Blake, don't be afraid to bite it. I know you want momma's boobs so they're all yours."

"Don't...no role play please." the boy said, glancing up at the girl who just pouted. She gestured for him to continue sucking on her nipple, he swirled his tongue around it, taking small bites of the fleshy nub.

Kitty pushed him back after a few seconds, pulling him up to his feet, placing another kiss on his lips. She wrapped an arm around his neck, pushing herself close to herself. The kiss was a bit sloppy and chaste, but neither of them cared. Blake could feel his heart beat quickening as his blood started rushing to another area of his body. His girlfriend smiled a bit during their kiss, her other hand trailing down to his shorts. She easily undid his belt, pulling the button and zipper down with ease.

"Looks like someone is a little happy, you've been a naughty little boy haven't you? Guess I'm gonna have to do something about that." the girl said, her voice above a whisper as she took his length into her hand.

She knelt down before the boy, pressing her lips against his head. She licked her lips seductively, licking the boy's length. Blake grit his teeth, knowing full well that the violet haired girl was just teasing him. He bit his lip as she ran her tongue around his shaft, stroking it a bit and spreading her spit all over it. She rubbed her thumb over the head, spreading a bit of pre cum on it, only to suck on her thumb, swirling her tongue seductively over it.

"Kitty, I swear I'm about to blow my load on your face, stop teasing me."

"Hehe, I knew it...I just love doing this to you, even before this I knew you really liked looking at my girls. You like them don't you? Big titties like mine?"

"C-cups are fine for me." the boy replied, scratching his cheek a bit. She rolled her eyes, knowing that was a lie. She knew her boyfriend better than anyone and he did tell her he liked C's and D's, despite his claims.

She finally decided to get down to business, wrapping her lips around the head of his penis. She swirled the tip of her tongue around his head, before taking his length fully into her mouth. Blake gasped at the foreign feeling, clenching his eyes shut as his girlfriend bobbed her head on his girth. She sucked on his length a bit making him gasp again as she released her hold on his dick with a pop. She grabbed a hold of his length with both hands, pumping him for a few seconds.

"I can't wait until you fuck my tight little cunt with this. It makes me want to skip all this shit, but I wanna enjoy every moment of it." she said.

"I know what you mean...I'm sure you already know what I'm capable of."

"I am, watching you and Duchess go at it only made me hornier for you. But watching you and Crystal, going at it like wild animals on that bed, after you cast the soundproofing enchantment, holy shit that was amazing, the best show ever." she said, giving him a perverted grin. That caused the boy to snap his fingers, casting that spell over the room as he had forgotten before.

"Yeah well, allow me to do something that I didn't do with either of them." he said, grabbing a hold of her arm, pulling her to her feet. He took a hold of her face, giving her a sloppy kiss. He grabbed a hold of her left breast as she wrapped her arms around his neck. His hand snaked its way down her side and up her skirt, where he grabbed a hold of her precious jewel.

"Oh, you just wanna play with my pussy don't you? Not like I'm gonna stop you." Kitty said giving him a grin. She backed away from the boy, pulling the side zipper down, stepping out of her skirt. She tossed it aside, pulling down her paw print purple panties along with it. She sat down on the bed, spreading her legs for the young man, a grin on her face.

"Go on, I know you wanna play with her." she said with a cocky wink, biting her lip seductively.

Blake tried his hardest to ignore her antics, knowing she was just teasing him. He knelt down before the girl, reaching for her most intimate area. Her lips were slightly parted and flushed pink, soaking wet with her own juices. She had trimmed the hair above her moist entrance, forming a bit of a landing strip. He started rubbing the small nub of flesh above her entrance, earning a groan of pleasure from the girl. He lowered his face, grabbing a hold of her legs as he started licking her vagina. Kitty threw her head back, giggling happily as she his tongue licked her pink folds. She grabbed a hold of his head, running her fingers through his hair as he continued making out with her labia.

"Hgnn...fuck! Oh my godmother that feels so good, use your fingers please!" the girl all but shouted. The boy smirked as he slipped a single digit inside. He didn't feel anything barring her entrance, and decided to slip a second finger inside.

As he continued licking her succulent folds, and listening to the melodious cries of pleasure, Blake decided to give the girl her first orgasm. He continued rubbing her clit while pumping his hand inside, searching for a small nub of flesh within. After a few seconds, he found what he was looking for, if the small spasm Kitty felt was an inclination. He pulled his face away from her sex, swirling his fingers around the hard nub, and rubbing her clit. Her screams would have definitely attracted the attention of someone, should he have not cast that spell. He continued thrusting his fingers inside her pussy, ignoring the strain in his arm. One final scream was all he heard before a rush of clear liquid burst out of the woman before him like a dam, covering part of his chest and arms.

"Holy shit...that was...amazing." Kitty cried, having lied back in the bed, a bit spent from what she had just felt. It had been mind breaking, all she saw was right as the pressure built up. As she felt her body growing lighter she pushed hard making it that much more of an intense experience. Blake licked his hand, a smirk on his face, it didn't take much for Kitty to sit up, grabbing a hold of his hand, suckling on his fingers, licking up every single drop of her cum from his hand.

"Jeez, don't tell me you like this shit."

"You're the only person aside from myself who has made me cum. I wanna lick this all off you." she said, going as far as licking his arm, purring slightly as she did.

"I...couldn't help but notice that...you're really tight, but I didn't feel anything in there."

"Oh that? Don't worry, I'm one hundred percent virgin...do you think with my active life style, I wouldn't have broken my hymen years ago? How do you think I would have fit the dildo whenever you made me horny?" she asked, causing the boy to shake his head.

"Sheesh, I'd like to think you don't use that stuff...but here you are spouting off about it."

"Pfft, you should see Lizzie's, it's way bigger than the one I have...whoops, I wasn't supposed to tell anyone that, my bad." the girl said, not at all feeling sorry for what she had said. He took her lips in another seductive kiss, grabbing a hold of her ass as he did.

The girl grinded against his length, wrapping her lips against the head of his dick. He groaned a bit into his mouth as he squeezed her legs together, thrusting slightly into the small gap. Kitty moaned loudly as his length rubbed against her clit, he saw her pupils shrink slightly as she dug her claws into his shoulder blades, taking his lips into another kiss, practically shoving her tongue into his throat. He could feel the sharp scratches on his back but he didn't really mind it. She pulled away from him, licking her lips as she did.

"I'm gonna milk the fuck out of your dick. You better not blow your load early, or we'll be at it all night until I'm satisfied." she said, pushing the boy onto the bed behind him.

Blake watched, swallowing the lump in his throat as she climbed onto his lap. She grabbed a hold of his penis, lining herself up sighing contently as she eased down onto it. She waited for a few seconds, feeling her walls stretch to accommodate his size. After awhile, she started to move, moaning loudly in pleasure. She threw caution to the wind, knowing that no one could listen in. Blake grit his teeth hard, meeting her thrusts, watching the girl bouncing on top of him. The new feeling was rocking his body, sending a pleasurable tingle through his entire body. Soft squelching sounds added to the screams coming from Kitty's mouth. She leaned forward, hugging him as he grabbed a hold of her rump, thrusting into her wet hole.

"Harder, I know you can go faster than this." Kitty cried, biting into his shoulder blade as he quickened his pace. It was his turn to leaving some marks of his own on her body, as he slapped her rump causing her to scream in pleasure. His other hand snaked up her back, leaving a few scratches as he continued thrusting into her.

"I'm about to cum, please Kitty get off." the boy pleaded, causing the girl to get off his body.

She groaned a bit when she was forced to pull him out of her body. She smirked, taking his length into her mouth sucking all of her juices off of it. He grabbed a hold of her head, gathering her hair up in a single hand as he thrusted into her mouth, his head hitting the back of her throat. She gagged a bit, coughing when she released her hold on his length. She pumped his penis, her spit mixing with her own juices. She suckled on his balls, swirling them around her mouth before releasing them with a soft pop.

"Are you good? The dam isn't threatening to break is it?"

"No, but I'm about to break this bed from how hard I'm gonna fuck your pussy." the boy replied, earning a happy laugh from the girl. He stood up from the bed, gesturing for her to lay down.

She watched with glee as her boyfriend rubbed the tip of his dick against her nether lips, shortly before pushing himself inside. He placed his hands on her knees, thrusting into her as hard as he could. Her pants evolved into screams, the bedsheets being in a white knuckled grasp. Her entire body was rocking, breasts bouncing with each thrust, every single time their bodies met was another pleasurable jolt that raced through her body like lightning streaking the sky. She could feel that familiar build up of pressure in her body, begging for sweet release. She opened her eyes, looking right into Blake's vibrant green ones.

"I'm close, fuck me Blake, fuck me hard and deep. Make this kitty howl in pleasure!"

He gave her a nod, turning her slightly as he grabbed one of her legs, hugging it tightly as he continued thrusting into her. He started thinking about baseball, Bill Buckner's fuck up during game 6 of the World Series of 1986. He recited Science and Sorcery questions and answers, anything to prevent himself from reaching his climax, which thankfully was working rather well. Kitty's sharp intake of air let him know she had finally hit her peak. He pulled out just as she started rubbing her pussy, sending the rush of liquid in all directions. He wrapped his mouth around her entrance, drinking up as much of her sweet juice as he could.

Despite having that adorable hazy look on her face, Kitty sat up grabbing a hold of Blake's face. She licked the cum from his face, which was dribbling from his chin, capturing his lips in a kiss. Her mind was almost blank as she kissed the man of her life, tracing every single muscle with her hands. She pressed herself against his body, she wanted more, she was addicted to this feeling, she doubted she could ever find anything else to replace her knew favorite drug. Blake released his kiss on the girl, pushing her lightly back onto the bed, ignoring the sopping wet sheets. She got onto her hands and knees, spreading her legs for the boy, kneeling down so that her rump was in the air, giving him a good view of her dripping cunt.

"Come on boy, I know you wanna play hide the sausage...come on, the hole is all ready for you. It's nice and slick so it won't give you any trouble."

"I'm gonna shove it in your ass if you don't stop teasing me."

"I wouldn't mind that at all actually, maybe next time." she said, giving him a wink. He grabbed a hold of her hips as he thrust in himself inside, making her squeal in surprise and pleasure.

He started slow, pacing himself as he focused on going as deep as he could. Kitty's walls were squeezing him again, and thus his internal battle begun once more. He picked up speed as he settled into a rhythm, allowing his girlfriend's beautiful song fill his mind. Kitty's screams were muffled a bit from pressing her face against a pillow, a look of pure bliss on her face. He spanked the girl a few times, leaving a nice red hand print on her butt, adding to the scratch marks he had given the girl before. He took a hold of her arms, pulling her up as he continued thrusting upward into her vagina.

"Oh my godmother, you're going so damn deep. I love the way your cock feels inside me, it's driving me insane!" the girl cried, eyes closed as he kissed her neck, suckling on the smooth skin. He left a nice red bite mark behind, a smile on his face.

"I feel the same, your pussy is so tight and warm...why did we wait to do this again?"

"You were being a prude, but now I get to fuck you every day, wait until Meeshell gets a load of you." she said with a giggle. The boy stopped for a few seconds, catching his breath. He massaged her breasts as he hugged her.

"Let's wait for awhile with her...I wanna get to know her okay? I'm already falling in love with her, like I did with you. Don't poison her mind, and keep your tongue in your mouth. Not in her vagina."

"Message received, let me be on top again?" she said. The boy smiled as he pulled out of her, once again laying down on the bed.

She eagerly climbed on top, this time in a reverse cowgirl position, spreading her legs as much as she could. Once Blake was comfortable, he gave her a nod and she lowered herself down on his length. He started thrusting into her, that familiar melody entering his mind again. He controlled his breathing with each thrust, making sure not to leg to of his girlfriend who was mewling in pleasure from every single thrust he took. He picked up the pace, loud slapping sounds adding to the cacophony of sounds.

"You're going in so deep, I can feel you hitting my cervix."

"You feel amazing too, I don't know how long I can continue." the boy said. Kitty jumped off the boy, much to his displeasure. She took his dick into her mouth again, humming and purring as she serviced the boy, swirling her tongue around his head.

"Fuck...you really love sucking dick don't you?"

"It's like my own personal brand of cat nip. This is it for you, I know your balls are filled with all of that delicious cum. I'll give you a riddle, if you guess it right, I'll let you cum inside...how's that sound?" she asked.

"I don't wanna get you pregnant, it's too early to have a litter." Blake said, as she released his dick again.

"I'm on the pill, I'm sure you know this, but they work 100% of the time here, and I take them regularly. I was waiting for you to shove this juicy cock in me since back in Wonderland. So I'm prepared, do you want the riddle?" she asked.

"Sure, before I get soft." he said, making her chuckle as she pumped his length.

"I start with M and end with X, I have a never ending amount of letters, what am I?"

"A mailbox, that was easy Kitty."

"Well duh, I want that cum so I made it easy...now come on, finish up. People will start wondering what we're up to...especially that sneaky Duchess, maybe she and Cupid are watching right now." the girl said, laying on her back again.

"I expect that from Duchess, but not from Cupid, that would just be weird." he said. He slipped himself inside, both gasping at the familiar feeling.

"Rock my world honey, give me that delicious cum of yours."

He wasted no time in heeding her request. This time he didn't hold back, he used the last of his stamina to please the girl beneath him. His eyes traced her entire body as he continued his rhythm. Her brilliant blue eyes that were filled with mischievousness, her curly violet her that fell perfectly around her, her blemish free skin and her shapely curves. The sound of her voice screaming his name with each thrust, her perfectly kissable lips, her bouncing breasts and cute naval, her long legs wrapped around his waist.

She was beautiful, and he was glad that she had let him of all people do this with her. He had never thought he would get this far in a relationship with someone like he had with Kitty. He loved everything about her, despite who's son he was and what world they were in. He had been completely infatuated, his heart beating hard as he continued pleasing the girl. He could feel that familiar knot in his stomach, his breath hitched as the tingle became unbearable. Kitty let out a loud moan, a familiar rush of liquid hitting his waist. He hadn't even realized his girlfriend had came all over him. He continued thrusting into her as hard as he could as she rid her own orgasm.

"Kitty, I'm about to cum."

"Give it to me honey, fill me to the brim...I wanna feel that hot cum inside me."

He continued thrusting into her for as long as he could, finally feeling the pressure hit its peak. He let out a groan, shooting three globs of cum deep inside the girl. He panted hard, his mind going blank as he filled the girl to the brim with white cum. He fell down on top of her, almost passing out as they rode their orgasm. The girl hugged him tightly, they were both panting, covered in sweat and smelled like sex. The scent of cum mixed into the other scents carrying in the room, if they weren't already tired, they would have likely gone at it again. Kitty kissed the boy's cheek, tears falling from her eyes.

"I love you so much Blake, thank you...thank you for allowing me to pleasure you like this. For giving me your trust, your love and your body."

"I love you too Kitty, it should be me thanking you. You were there for me through the bad times, helping me through so much. I'm so happy that you are here, that I could love you like this. I'll love you for as long as you let me, your love is my drug, and I'm totally addicted to it. I love you with all of my heart." he said, giving the girl another kiss. She wiped her tears away as she kissed the boy back. She could feel the excess of cum running down her leg as he pulled out, it was starting to drive her mad.

"Wanna take a shower? You filled me to the brim and then some, but I wanna fuck a little more." she said.

"Sure, it's gonna take a little longer for me to cum now, so I gotta take advantage of that." he said, standing up from the bed. He picked the girl up bridle style, leading her toward the bathroom.

"Hey Blake, promise me that after we graduate we'll get married okay? I've been toying with the idea of being your wife for awhile now...can you do that?" Kitty asked, earning a chuckle from the boy.

"What ever you want, if marrying you makes this kitty purr, then I'll just have to kneel for you. Let's get this cum out of you, we can't eat it all after all." he replied, earning a giggle from the girl.


	101. The Land of Fairies Prelude

**A/N:**

 **Hello once again guys! This is Chapter 101 of Through the Looking Glass! This chapter is going to be the prelude to the newest arc, which will be crossing over with the Fairy Tail series, as well as my own story, The Hellfire Dragon Slayer. I actually had a challenging time writing this chapter, because I couldn't come up with anything for it. It took me four days before finally reaching this as the final plot for it. I figured I would revive my love of Fairy Tail through my current work, and if I don't pick the story back up while I'm taking a break from it, then this might be something Fairy Tail fans will like. Sure, it looks out of place, but I don't really care. I think I have what it takes to pull the cross over off, but I gotta think of a villain for them to take down or some shit, because that's how it works.**

 **Now, this chapter will include a snippet into that world, as well as the main characters for it and what magic they will be using. I will be writing extended profiles for the characters in my story. So everyone will know who they are, what they look like and their magic, if you've read The Hellfire Dragon Slayer, then you'll be familiar with those people, but you won't have to read that story for this to make sense. Just as long as you're familiar with Fairy Tail, you'll most likely fit right in, it will take place after the Grand Magic Games.**

 **As I said before, I don't have a plot worked out, but the beginning chapters are going to be mostly exploration, and handling a few quests with the Fairy Tail gang before shit gets real. I'm not sure what that will be about, but it's gonna be interesting. I will also be adding this cross over to the Hellfire Dragon Slayer, so I might have to continue that story up to the point where this one starts just for it all to make sense, besides I've been meaning to continue that story for awhile, so I might just pick it back up. I was reading the beginning chapters and man, there are a lot of mistakes I gotta fix. I might just rewrite all of chapter one to make it a bit better. It's gonna be awhile before I write something for it though, as I gotta read all 57 chapters so I can get a good idea in. It's gonna be fun, so I hope you stick around for it. I might include cross overs to other series in the future, I was actually thinking of crossing over with Hyperdimension Neptunia, one of my favorite RPG series. I have a story for that series as well, which I was going to use as a base for the crossover, but I wasn't satisfied with that plot, so I deleted it for this one.**

 **Well...I'll leave you all with this chapter, I do hope you all like it. We should have reached 1,000,000 words with this one, so that is a momentous occasion...I always wanted to write something with a million words. This is an amazing achievement that I am happy to share with you. Sure a Million words might not mean anything, but it is still something I have dreamed of doing for years. Just like that writer who is still writing his Super Smash Bros. story, he's an inspiration and a legend, holding the record for the longest story on fanfiction, at over four million words, last time I checked. And it's still going too, that takes dedication. I'm not saying Through the Looking Glass will go down that route, but I am happy where this story is for now. So I hope you all enjoyed this Quadruple Post, as I will not be posting anything for awhile so I can restructure the plot and stuff. I hope to see you all soon, have a great day everyone!**

Through the Looking-Glass

Chapter 101

Going to another World

 _ **xxx(Location: Aquania)xxx**_

Summer was the season where school children everywhere was able to enjoy themselves. No one had to worry about class projects, and homework would be irrelevant until the next school year. It was also the time families decided to go to the beach, enjoy the hot weather away from home and just forget it all. It was the same for high school students, not yet adults, but not children either. They had a lot of privileges that many didn't have. For one, they were old enough to not need adult supervision all the time, and were able to do quite a lot during the summer. This was true for any group of young people, but even more so for the students of Ever After High. The sophomore class, now considered juniors, were hanging out at King Charming's summer home. The entire class had been having fun by the water, hanging out with friends and getting to know each other more than they did during the school year.

Not only were they doing that, but they were preparing for the class project that they had all agreed on. They had two weeks before they were set to return to their beloved school to begin the first round of filming. Purple Rhapsody had already filmed their first video, for the song My Songs Know What You Did In the Dark, currently being edited by Hopper, Dexter and Humphrey, who had been pouring through several takes deciding which ones would make the cut and which ones wouldn't. It had been the most fun that anyone had in quite awhile, Blake had been enjoying himself a lot, especially because the video was coming out exactly like he had remembered it, of course with his friends as the lead in stead of everyone else that had been in the original. He was sure everything was going to come out looking fantastic, and was looking forward to seeing the movie in it's entirety when it was finally finished. He just wanted it to be done already so he could relive one of the greatest moments of his life, but Melody insisted on getting everything right. Blondie had also told him to focus all of his work on the filming and to hold back on his excitement, after all she was their director and she didn't want anything to come out wrong.

However, since there was nothing for them to do, that meant there was a high chance of boredom. Even though it was summer, Blake had done most of the things he had wanted. He hung out with friends, threw water balloons at his sister whenever he had the chance, went on dates with his girlfriend Kitty, had visited his second girlfriend Meeshell in Atlantica when he got the chance, and had even gone to the water park with Lizzie and Maddie. There wasn't a lot that he could do, and since there were only two weeks left before they headed back, there wasn't anything he wanted to do. He had wanted to hang out with Cerise and Ramona, but the older girl had told him that her sister was busy doing something, and she was practicing with her band and learning more about drumming, so she couldn't hang out with him. Cerise had been acting a bit weird since he had introduced Meeshell to her, but he didn't exactly know why.

Kitty had been off with her Wonderland friends, who had found a natural spring that lead to their home. He had wanted to go with them, but had decided against it during the last minute. He and Kitty had been spending quite a lot of time together, getting closer than ever before. He was glad that he had a moment of peace for himself, since the girl was always messing with him, teasing him or more recently, having sex. One could only take so much sex before both parties grew tired. She had been beaming ever since they had become intimate, and had been overall happier. Raven had figured out what had happened between them and didn't know if she should congratulate him on his deed, or embarrass him for it. He had however told her that if she let it slip that he and Kitty were having sex, that he would announce to their class that she was a screamer, as he had heard her and Dexter getting it on the night after he and Kitty had been together. She had forgotten to put up the soundproofing spell, and while everyone was outside they had found time for themselves. Unfortunately, Dexter's room was right next door and when he was passing by, he had heard everything. They had agreed to keep their mouths shut on each of their respective romances.

Due to his boredom, he found himself in the living room with his laptop, watching a movie on the cinema style television the Charming's owned. He wasn't alone of course, Lily, Dutch, Cedar, Holly, Hunter and Ashlynn had been with them, having had enough of the bright sunlight for the entire summer. They had been watching some Quentin Tarantino movies, having been convinced by Blake that they were some of the grittiest stories ever created on Earth, currently they were watching Pulp Fiction, and they had gotten to one of Blake's favorite parts, evident by how he was leaning on the couch, a small smirk on his face as he watched the expressions of his friends.

" _You ever seen that show cops? I was watching it one time, and there was this cop talking about this gunfight he had in this hallway, with this guy right? And he just unloaded on this guy and nothing happened. He didn't hit nothing, it was just him and this guy. I mean...pfft, it's freaky but it happens."_ Vincent said, glancing at Jules who had been patiently listening to his friend drone on, keeping his eyes on the road.

" _Look, if you wanna play blind man, go walk with the shepherd. But me, my eyes are wide fuckin open."_

" _What the fuck does that mean?"_ Vincent asked, glancing at Jules in confusion.

" _It means that's it for me. From here on in, you can consider my ass retired."_

" _Jesus Christ."_

" _Don't blasphemy!"_

" _Goddamn it."_

" _I said don't do that!"_ Jules snapped, glaring at Vincent who was still confused by his friend.

" _Hey, you know why the fuck you freaking out on us!?"_

" _I'm telling Marcellous tonight, I'm through."_

" _Well why don't you tell him at the same time why?"_ Vincent asked, earning a sigh from his friend.

" _Don't worry, I will."_

" _I bet you ten thousand dollars he laughs his ass off."_

" _I don't give a damn if he does."_

Vincent rolled his eyes, leaning back in his seat slightly as he glanced behind his seat at their passenger, Marvin.

" _Marvin, what do you make of all this?"_

" _Man, I don't even have an opinion."_ the young man replied, causing Vincent to turn around, holding his gun on his seat, unknowingly aiming at the man.

" _Well you gotta have an opinion! I mean, do you think God came down from heaven and stopped..."_

 _ **Bang!**_

Vincent and Jules both screamed in surprise and shock from the discharge. The back window was coated in blood and brain matter from the shot, seeping into the seats. Blake chuckled a bit from the reaction his friends had, the girls having jumped a bit from the gunshot, while Hunter and Dutch just cringed from the unexpected gore.

" _Oh, what the fuck is happening, oh shit!"_

" _Aw man, I shot Marvin in the face."_ Vincent said, a look of disbelief on his face. Jules turned to him, glancing at him angrily.

" _Why the fuck did you do that?"_

" _I dunno man, I didn't mean to do it, it was an accident."_

" _Oh man, I've seen some crazy ass shit in my day, but this.."_

" _Chill out man, I told you its an accident. You probably, uh...went over a bump or something."_

" _Hey, the car didn't hit no motherfucking bump!"_

" _Hey look man, I didn't mean to shoot the son of a bitch. The gun went off, I dunno why!"_

" _Well look at this fuckin mess man. We're out in a city street in broad fuckin daylight here."_ the man said, looking a bit ashamed at what he had done.

" _I don't believe it man."_

" _Well believe it now motherfucker! We gotta get this car off the road. You know cops tend to notice when your driving a car covered in fuckin blood."_

" _Just take it to a friendly place. That's all!"_

" _This is the valley Vincent, Marcellus ain't got no friendly places in the valley!"_

" _Well Jules this isn't my fucking town man!"_

" _Shit!"_

"Well, you weren't kidding when you said this was gritty." Cedar said, earning a chuckle from the boy.

"I think you of all people should know that I don't lie." he replied, giving her a wink as he leaned back in his seat.

"It's funny, I thought swears in movies just happened. But watching this, I realized all of the uses the word motherfucker has...I think I would like having this man narrate my life." Lily said, earning a curious look from Hunter.

"Why?"

"Honey, she has sheep to deal with. I'm pretty sure her life could use that word to spice things up a bit." Ashlynn replied, still watching the movie, entertained by what was happening.

"If you like this, wait until you see Kill Bill, you're gonna want a katana after that one."

"Speaking of that, what happened to your katana Blake? You used to carry it around all the time, and I haven't seen it recently." Holly asked, earning a frown from the boy.

"When I was fighting against Joey in Wonderland, I channeled too much magic into it. He baited me into using one of my sword techniques and I jabbed his shield with it. It ended up shattering the blade, in fact if it hadn't been for Lizzie, the one who would have gotten his head cut off would have been me." he replied, a frown on his face.

"That would have sucked, no lie."

"Hey, I have a question for you Cedar, and it's been bothering me for awhile. You're made of wood right? Do you have...organs inside?" Holly asked, earning a blank look from the girl.

"I'm only partially made of wood, my skin is wood. Everything else is mushy on the inside, why would you ask that?"

"Because, Holly wanted to write a story about you stealing kidneys from people, since you're made of wood and don't have them, apparently." Blake said, returning his attention to the movie, grabbing some gummy worms from the small container on the table.

"Seriously?" Dutch asked, earning a nod from Holly, who jotted it down on a small notepad.

"Since we all can choose our destiny now, I've decided to become a novelist. So I just wanted to confirm that, you know...for writing purposes."

"You aren't gonna ask people for other more perverting things right? Like their performance bed or anything? Right?" Lily queried, earning a chuckle from Hunter, who got slapped on the arm by his girlfriend.

"No, I'd rather base that aspect from my own experience. I'm only eighteen so I'm not gonna worry about that right now."

"For I have...the magic of porn, the magic of porn! I got them nudies, and a bowl of popcorn! The magic of porn! Where cumshots are legal, and bitches are regal, when slobbing that corn on the cob!" Blake sung, causing Ashlynn and Cedar to laugh. Lily held back her chuckles while the boys just shook their heads. Holly rolled her eyes, sighing in annoyance as she crossed her arms.

"I love how you assume I watch porn."

"Don't flatter yourself sweetie, we all watch porn." the black haired boy replied.

"That's true, I caught Hunter watching Skinny Teens that Ride Fat Cock 3...I was weirded out at first, but I joined in after awhile." Ashlynn replied, earning a wide eyed look from Hunter.

"Dude...why the hell would you tell them that?"

"What? We were sharing experiences, it's alright honey...I know you wanna try that stuff. But only when I see that ring on my finger."

"Damn dawg, you got it so bad." Blake replied.

"Okay, since we're sharing experiences, then I'll share mine. I was bored one day and was sifting through Cupid's search history. She doesn't have a password on her phone at all and she fell asleep. I found this thing called Back Door, so I clicked on it, and I shit you not, I watched the dankest porn this side of Ever After." Cedar said, causing Blake to look at her.

"What was it called?"

"Back Door Sluts 9."

"Holy shit." the boy said, his voice slightly above a whisper. Dutch and Lily shared a look, before glancing at the daughter of Pinocchio.

"What? What's wrong with you two?" Holly asked curiously.

"Holly, you just don't know...that movie is...it's the dankest of porn. They say Back Door Sluts 9 makes Crotch Capers 3 look like Naughty Nurses 2." Lily replied, earning a vigorous nod from Blake.

"It got like...19 awards in the porn awards. That's some shit you don't mess with, I think I gotta talk to Cupid. She's been searching for the meaning of love for awhile now and this is definitely not it." Blake said, reaching for his phone, about to shoot off a text to one of his best friends when bright sparkles filled their line of sight. A few moments later, a soft glittering pop filled the room, revealing none other than Jessica Merlin.

The white haired girl looked rather bored, her usual blue sleeveless dress with stars had been replaced with a light blue halter top. It had various little stars and white sparkles on it, making it glitter in the light. She was wearing a pair of bikini shorts with frayed pockets and white sandals. Her white hair was tied in a side ponytail and she was wearing a pair of dark sunglasses. Her wrists had been decorated with golden bracelets, expensive looking ones. She sighed as she stuck her wand in her shirt, the handle sticking out from her cleavage.

"So, this is the Charming Estate? I gotta say, it is rather...charming."

"Hey Jess, wasn't expecting to see you here. Where have you been?" Blake asked curiously.

"Neither here nor there my friend, I got a list. But if you must know, the top three places I visited were Modor, Hogwarts and Lugnica."

"What? I've never heard of those places." Cedar said.

"Well, Jessica is a wizard, so she has enough magic to travel between dimensions. In fact, she's been to so many different iterations of Earth that each one is different. She sunk the Titanic in one Earth, started a nuclear war in another, and even went to a version of Earth suffering a Zombie Apocalypse." Blake explained.

"Oh...so those places you mentioned were different worlds?" Ashlynn asked curiously.

"That's right Ash, dad doesn't travel much due to his running his school. So he sent me on a few errands, you know what they say. One does not simply walk into Modor, so I had to take a back route. That was a pain in my ass, never had I fought so many fucking orcs in my entire life. Sheesh, but I was finally able to meet up with Gandalf, we talked and went on our merry way. He gave me this special jewel for my dad."

"A special jewel? You got a special jewel from Gandalf? What does it do?" Blake asked curiously.

"It's a synthesis material. It's something that Dad uses to make new wands for his students. He also needed special materials from Hogwarts which is why he sent me to meet up with Dumbledore, don't worry, this was before Half Blood Prince so he isn't deceased."

"You know, I never really bothered to ask about the places you've been to Jessica. I bet you've been to a lot of awesome places...places that might serve as inspiration for my stories! You gotta take me to one, please?" Holly asked.

"I'm down, I got nothing better to do. I got enough of sitting around doing shit, I'm a wild spirit so I can't sit in one place for too long unless I have too. I can take you to Earth, so you can see how that place works."

"Except I can't go...remember? I step into Earth and I die." Blake said, frowning. Jessica scratched her head, tapping her chin with her finger.

"That's right...did you ever get a handle on that curse? Like the stipulations?"

"I think I remember hearing about them. The first and important one was that Blake couldn't leave Ever After and go back to Earth. It was one the Evil Queen put on him to prevent him from going back. The other two would be irrelevant at this moment." Cedar said.

"Wait, I think that this only kicks in if he goes to Earth. He visited Wonderland and Neverland, and those are other worlds. So as long as he doesn't go to an Earth of any kind, he should be fine." Hunter said.

"Yes, but those two places are realms connected to Ever After, so if I leave the Fairytale world, I could die. You should all go, I think it would be an amazing experience for all of you." Blake replied, glancing at the ground.

"I don't want to go anywhere if my friend is at risk of death. It wouldn't be fair to him especially if he has to be left behind. You're one of my best friends Blake, and I wouldn't want you to miss out on this." Holly said, wrapping her arm around his waist in a side hug.

"I wish I could go into the Mirror Realm, so I can punch your mom in the face. She really pisses me off." Jessica said, earning a small smile from the boy.

"Hmm...you know, I just arrived at an interesting observation. You see, Blake's curses are simple, if he goes to Earth, the shard explodes, if he removes the shard himself, he gets magic poisoning, and if Raven tries to remove it, the shard explodes. So you can't touch the shard at all, but that doesn't mean you can't touch the curse itself." Lily said, causing everyone to look at her.

"What do you mean by that?" Dutch asked.

"I think I know, if you touch the shard in any way, Blake is dead. But the Evil Queen never did anything to prevent someone from removing the curse itself. That means, someone can remove the curse preventing Blake from leaving Ever After."

"That's right...why didn't I think of that? If I could remove that curse, I could have gone back to Earth. Then again, we didn't wanna take any risks. I can't remove the two other curses, as their directly tied to the shard itself, but if someone removed that leaving curse, I could travel around with no problems!" the boy said excitedly.

"It is a little dangerous though. I think we should let Raven handle this, since she has more experience with magic. Sadly she's out with Dexter and we don't know when she'll be back." Ashlynn replied, causing everyone to grow silent. Jessica narrowed her eyes in thought, a smile working its way onto her face.

"Well, I do have one solution. You all wanna go to another world, but until Blake gets this curse removed, we're grounded in Ever After. So, we're just gonna have to break that pesky curse of his." she said, twirling her wand between her fingers.

"Whoa, I'm not letting you mess with my curse. If you wanted to kill me, I'd just hand you a loaded gun!" the boy cried, earning a smirk from the wizard.

"He's right Jess, maybe you shouldn't mess with dark magic like that." Holly said.

"Guys, remain chill! I got this...like I said, the only thing we have to do is get rid of the traveling aspect of the curse. I wouldn't dare touch the Mirror Shard...one thing I learned about dark magic, is that one can easily rewrite it, with the right spell. I've been working closely with my dad to see if I could break it for him, and I think I have one that might work." she said, aiming her wand at the boy.

"Holly, if anything happens to me...tell Kitty that I love her with all my heart, tell the same to Meeshell okay? Hunter you get my manga collection, Ashlynn you can keep all of my figurines and video games...Cedar, I want you to take care of Cadence for me, make sure she eats well and has her vitamins. Give my porn to Kitty, she'll know what to do with it." the boy said, earning a sigh from Jessica.

"Stop being so melodramatic...I know time magic, if you die I can just warp back in time. Now then, sit still, this could either be quick and painless or long and painful."

"Oh yeah, cuz that sounds appealing!" Hunter said, shoving his hands in his pockets. The white haired wizard called her magic, a light violet glow appearing around Blake's body.

"This young man who's life has changed, a powerful curse has he attained. Take away this stipulation, allow the travel to other nations! Break now this travel curse, that's holding him prisoner in this world, so that he can travel around, unhurt by his curse. Untie the chains that hold him here, and break it from the shard that keeps him here!" she chanted, flinging the swirling mass of magic at the boy. It slammed into him, swirling around him before sinking into his chest. A dark chain appeared around his body, quickly being dissolved by the light, a single loop was still attached to the glowing mirror shard, only for it to break entirely.

"Ah...am I dead?" the boy cried.

"No...no I don't think so...what was that though?" Holly asked.

"It looked like a chain, a dark chain that was snaking its way around Blake...I even saw it sinking into the ground here." Cedar noted, earning a nod from Jessica.

"Yes, that's because he was literally chained to Ever After. He could travel to Neverland and Wonderland because those were realms and not other worlds. But the spell I used on him utilized holy light to dispel the darkness. That's what was able to break the chain, in fact it was a bit weakened now that I think about it."

"Weakened? Why is that?" Ashlynn asked.

"I think I know...Blake was stabbed through with Excalibur, maybe it's holy light weakened the curses cast on him. That's why Jessica was able to break it so easily." Hunter said. Blake reached up for the center of his chest, feeling the warm shard resting within.

"I don't know how to explain it, but it feels like a weight has been lifted off of me. The could feel this thing just...holding me back whenever I moved around, in a magical sense of course. But now it's just...gone."

"That was the chains...you are now able to freely leave and come back to Ever After. That means if you wanted, you could go visit your family!" Jessica said. The boy sighed, shaking his head.

"Nah...it's alright, the Bigby's aren't my family, besides they don't remember me as their son. It's totally fine...but now that I am free, what are we gonna do? Where will we go?"

"Well...how about we celebrate this momentous occasion and let Blake decide? I think that would be the right thing to do." Cedar said.

"Yeah yeah! Blake is a total otaku when it comes to anime and manga, that means he can pick an awesome world to go to. One that I can abuse the shit out of for my next novel!" Holly cried, an excited look on her face.

"We'd love to join you guys, but we gotta go. Me and Lily are gonna head to the nearby farm."

"That's right, I'm gonna get myself a sheep dog...that way I'll have an easier time wrangling in my sheep." Lily added, taking a hold of the blond boy's hand.

"Aw, alright. I hope you find the right dog, when it comes to sheep herding dog, you have to make the right choice. Hey, maybe you should get yourself a sheep pig." Blake joked, earning a giggle from the blue haired girl.

"I just might, see you all later." she said cheerfully. She and Dutch took off, speaking amicably as they went.

"So, have you picked a world to go to? Come on, you gotta have something in your head." Holly said, in an encouraging yet despirate tone. She was very eager to go to another world. The boy shook his head, unable to pick anything.

"Hey Blake, you wanna meet Junko Enoshima?"

"Hell no, I don't wanna fucking die. Plus I really don't wanna have to pick hope or despair, and I'd rather not have my friends potentially turning into Ultimate Despair. No, we need a world that's fun...a world that isn't dangerous, a world that Holly can get inspiration from...hmm...anything fit that criteria?" he asked. Jessica smirked, twirling her wand.

"I think I have a good one."

 _ **xxx(Magnolia Town, Fiore)xxx**_

The year was x791, it had been seven years since the core members of the number one guild in Fiore had disappeared. It had been a sad day for everyone associated with them, as they saw the steady decline of members until the guild was at the bottom. But even then, they didn't give up, and when their core members returned, they joined the Grand Magic Games and swept the competitions with ease, regaining their old title and their guild. Members were joining left and right, and they had once again regained their status. Even now, people were requesting members outright, sending special missions just for them due to their popularity. This meant that most of the newbies didn't get a lot of hard work, but it was still a fun place all around. For young Aiden Flame, nothing could make him smile more than seeing his family growing in size.

He was currently sitting at the bar, downing a mug of root beer that the resident barmaid, one Mirajane Strauss had given him. He had just gotten back from a request with his friends. His girlfriend Wendy was still out with Team Natsu, as she had been requested along with them. He, Iona, Zera and Chelia had been requested in the faraway Terracotta Town to deal with a rogue band of mercenaries. They didn't stand a chance, especially with Zera's spacial magic and the combination of Hellfire Dragon Slayer and Sky God Slayer magic. They weren't even good mercenaries despite what the reports said. Still nothing beat the sense of accomplishment they all got when they brought down a band of dangerous people. Now they were in between missions, resting up for the next adventure.

Aiden himself didn't know what the future had in store for him. He had suffered the supposed loss of his friends and had been aimlessly wondering Fiore for awhile, along with Zera and their friend Coco. Thankfully, everyone on Tenrou Island came back unscathed, or rather uninjured from Acnologia's attack. He was still curious as to what Zeref had been doing on Fairy Tail's sacred land, and why he knew his name. He had been searching for information on the Black Wizard but had found nothing on him. All they knew was that he had supposedly died a long time ago, but Zera had confirmed to him that the man was still alive. He needed to find out why he had reacted the way he did when they met. But he knew that he wasn't going to find a single shred of information, he also needed to know why Acnologia felt the need to attack all of them on that fateful day. Whatever the case, the Dragon of the Apocalypse was a dangerous foe, and one that needed to be brought down. If the battle of the dragons in Crocus hadn't attracted him, then what was his reasoning for randomly showing up on Tenrou? Was it because of Zeref or for another reason? These were questions that had been plaguing him for awhile.

"Hey Aiden, are you doing anything? I was kinda hoping we could go on a quick mission." the voice of Yuna said, bringing him out of his thoughts. He gave her a smile.

"Sure, I don't mind. It'll be a few days until Yamato comes back from her mission, Coco and Phoebe are due back tomorrow morning, so it will just be you, me, Zera and Iona. If that's fine with you."

"I don't mind...you know I've noticed, Team Flaming Skies has grown a lot. Ever since Iona and Yamato decided to merge teams with us again, we've been getting a lot of missions. I guess it's all due to the Grand Magic Games." she said, earning a nod from the boy.

"I think so too...although it was most likely for the battles we all had. Me and Wendy dominated the double's match. Still wasn't expecting the whole roulette thing, though it did give us the extra points we needed to advance." the blue haired boy replied.

"Yup, and Minerva was also kicking ass, that team up she did with Erza to defeat Sabertooth in the finals was awesome. Too bad we had to fight those pesky dragons right after. Overall, it was an amazing experience...say, how about this mission? It's just a simple extermination quest." Yuna said, pulling an A class request from the board, handing it to her friend.

"Help Wanted, eliminate some golems that have taken over a diamond mine. Upon completion, you will be awarded 3,00,000J. Come to the Mayors office in Greenville for more information...huh...three million just to clear a cavern?"

"Maybe it's because it's a diamond mine?" Chelia said, approaching the two, with Zera by her side. The boy shrugged, handing the paper over to the pink haired God Slayer. He still couldn't get over how much she had grown during those seven years, he still had the image of a little girl plastered in his mind, and now she was almost a grown woman.

"She's right, diamonds are precious minerals and not to mention expensive. So if this town relies on their diamond mine for a source of income, then they won't be able to stay afloat. Not to mention Golems can be rather dangerous in large groups. I think we can take them on." Zera reassured, a smile on her face.

"Yeah, just try not to Fairy Glitter everything in our path...I'm still seeing dots in my eyes from last time." Aiden said, earning a huff from the girl.

"I'll let Iona know that we're about to leave, we'll most likely be gone for a few days so let's all meet up at the train station. I'll get the request approved by Mira while I'm at it."

"Alright Chelia, we'll see you at the train station then." Yuna said, with that the group of four split up, all heading to their respective homes.

Due to the taxes he had yet to pay, Aiden had been unable to buy his mansion back. Despite being the winners of the Grand Magic Games, he hadn't been able to do anything about it. He had talked to the bank but they weren't being lenient at all. Instead he had saved up some money from all of the requests he had been taking and ended up buying an apartment building in Magnolia Town. He lived on the second floor with Wendy, Carla and Phoebe, while Zera, Coco and Iona took the first floor. Yamato and Minerva had claimed the third floor, since they were the adults of the team and didn't want to cramp their style. Of course, he had his friends over more often than not. Gray and Natsu always found away to get in, Sting and Rogue visited Minerva all the time and Lucy hung out with the girls whenever they were all together. He didn't mind it at all, plus since he was the landlord of the apartment, as long as it wasn't destroyed, he let them do whatever they wanted. Better yet, the two buildings next to him were vacant so there weren't people to complain about the noise either.

Once they all got home, Aiden headed straight for his house unlocking the door. He was greeted with silence, since everyone was out on call. He decided to go to his room and gather some things for himself, a few bottles of motion sickness pills, extra clothes and money just in case. He glanced at himself in the mirror, seeing the scar he had gotten in Edolas all of those years ago, which to him was only a few months back. Being stuck in time really threw him for a loop sometimes. He was still wearing the same outfit he had bought when he and Zera had arrived in Magnolia for the first time. The colors really did suit him.

He was wearing a black over coat, with a white lapel, and blue flames printed on it. He had of course taken one of the sleeves off and completely mended it, leaving his right arm completely exposed. Underneath he wore a blue tank top, which hugged his body nicely.

He had traded his shorts for a pair of long black jeans, with a white leather belt. He was also wearing a pair of leather boots that reached up to his knees, and had a hit of armor on the front to enhance his kicks a bit. His guild mark sat proudly on his right bicep, a bright blue Fairy with a tail, the namesake mark of his guild, the mark of his family and one he had come to cherish. He slung his bag over his shoulder, nodding to himself once he double checked everything. He waited by the front of the house for Zera and Yuna, before the three of them headed to the train station to wait for Chelia and Iona.

"You know, we could have just waited for them at the house." Zera said, fixing her shirt a bit.

She was wearing a sleeveless collared shirt, with a ribbon tie around her neck, which was red in color. Around her torso she wore a light orange corset, with black markings printed on it. She wore a matching white skirt with an orange stripe on it. She had also gotten a brand new pair of black tights, preferring to keep her old boots. She had decided on leaving her arms bare, though she did wear a few bracelets around her wrists. The markings tied to her spacial magic were visible for all to see, she also knew Fire Make Magic, as she had been trained by Aiden who had taken her in as his apprentice. Unlike him, who had managed to pull off both styles, she had only been able to master Dynamic Fire Make, meaning she could make creatures out of fire with ease. The only Static Fire make she could use was to make swords, but that's where it ended. Thanks to their training with Gray, a user of Ice Make, they had increased their arsenal, but she was still a learner, and despite fire and ice being two different things, the creativity behind their spells was still there.

"Yeah, but Chelia takes forever to get her hair right. It's much better to wait out here, because if we wait at home, we'll be more tempted to not do anything. We're still lazy shits sometimes." Aiden replied, earning a giggle from Yuna.

Oddly enough, Yuna had taken to the school girl style recently. She had the ability to use Requip magic so she could change her outfit on a dime. Currently, she was wearing a long sleeved white blouse, with an ascot around her neck, which was bright blue in color, and had a Fairy Tail pin attached to it. The shirt had been made to leave her shoulders bare while still retaining the sleeves, she was wearing a navy blue pleated skirt which reached down to her mid thigh. She wore thigh high black stockings, with black garter belts attached to her underwear. She wore a pair of boots which only reached up to her calves, and were black in color, with a slight heel to them. They had pointed toes to aid in her attacks, though her style of magic allowed her to again her powers from her different outfits, this one was just for hand to hand combat, which she had started getting better at.

"She's become more of a girly girl now, I remember when she was all rough and tough. Now she just focuses on her appearance more, wonder why?" the boy said. Zera and Yuna shared a look, silently asking themselves if he was serious.

"I dunno how to answer that Aiden...I mean, she's a girl...your age...who's attracted to you." Yuna said, as clearly as she could. The boy just scoffed, popping a few motion sickness pills in his mouth.

"She's like my sister, I doubt that's the reason. Though she and Wendy have been getting into boob related spats lately...hmm..." the boy replied, scratching his chin in thought.

"Please lord, tell me he isn't this dense?" Zera said, clasping her hands together looking at the sky.

"I've known him for longer, trust me, he is."

"Hey guys, did you just get here?" Chelia cried, running toward her friends, a small suitcase in her grasp. Aiden glanced away from the sky, noticing Iona wasn't with them.

"Lia, where's Iona? Isn't she coming?"

"Nah, she decided to stay in town. She said she was too tired from the last mission and wanted to rest up. She was gonna head back to Crystal Cove to check her old home." the girl replied, straightening a bit. Yuna and Zera noticed her push her chest outward a bit, her breasts jiggling slightly. The boy nodded and turned around, heading toward the ticket booth.

"We'll be in Greenville for awhile, so make sure you have everything we need before leaving. You girls gotta take a leak, this is the time to do it." he advised. Just like that, Chelia's attempt went to waste, causing her to bow her head in disappointment.

"Aw, don't worry sweetie...he'll notice soon. You know how crazy he is about his Sky Maiden."

"But...but I'm the adorable badass." the girl said, causing the two girls to hug her tightly.

"Trust me, being in love with that idiot is a little rough, been there done that. I was gonna sing him a song, but in the end he politely rejected me. I've since put that all behind me...but I will definitely help you get a chance, but you gotta talk to Wendy first." Yuna said, earning a nod from the pinkette.

They all stood at the platform waiting for their train, tickets in hand. Chelia stood next to Aiden, a shy look on her face. She glanced at Yuna, who gestured to her clothes, silently telling her to ask him a question. She gave her a nod, tapping the boy on his shoulder. He gave her a look, a small smile on his face.

"What's up? You didn't forget anything did you?"

"Um...no. I uh...what do you think of my outfit? I just bought it and wanted to know what you thought."

She was wearing a sleeveless green hooded vest, over a sleeveless white top. She was wearing a black pleated skirt which reached down to her mid thigh, along with matching thigh high stockings and black heeled boots. She had her waist length pink hair tied up into twin tails, with golden ribbons, blowing slightly in the soft breeze that had picked up. He also noticed the peppery body spray she was wearing, a hint of cinnamon with a bit of light cherry blossom, a rather odd combination. She wasn't one for make up, so she wasn't wearing any which made her that much cuter in his opinion. Her green guild mark was on the front of her thigh, in a place where she could proudly display it. He gave her a smile, patting her head lightly.

"You look cute, I'm sure someone will take notice of that. You might even get a few dates in Greenville, just remember if someone does anything to you, call me before you kill them. I wanna see you destroy their innocence first." he said. She huffed, looking away from the boy.

"Is that it? You don't notice anything else?"

"Uh...yeah, the cinnamon and cherry body spray is a nice touch. I like it."

She smiled, hiding her annoyance. She had been hoping he would notice the new shirt she was wearing, which would have brought his attention to her chest, but sadly he didn't get the clue. She glanced back at her friends who just gave her at thumbs up for effort. The train arrived a few seconds later, the group of four waited for the people inside to disembark. Aiden took a step forward, bumping into a black haired teenager that hadn't been paying attention. The shared a look, with the boy apologizing.

"Sorry man, didn't see you."

"It's fine, nice hair...really dig the pink."

"Oh? Thanks, my girlfriend convinced me to get it, you know how it is right?"

"Oh yeah, definitely. See ya around...come on girls." Aiden said, walking into the train followed by his teammates.

Blake watched the train for a few seconds, not recognizing any of the four that had walked inside. He shrugged, walking toward the front of the train station, where Jessica was waiting with Hunter, Holly and Ashlynn. His eyes widened a bit, jaw dropping when he realized where he was. The massive city in front of him was littered with stone and wooden buildings, the streets being paved with yellow cobblestone blocks and had magic lamps. There were people of all ages walking around, some merchants had set up shop in front of the station, hoping to get the tourists and other people to buy their wares. A beautiful cathedral was in the center of the town, the bells tolling loudly as they did every hour on the hour. Jessica gave them all a smile, placing her wand in her dress.  
"Sorry about warping us directly into the train. I couldn't exactly drop us in a field, too dangerous. But now I welcome all of you to Magnolia Town, in the beautiful country of Fiore!" she said, spreading her arms almost like a tour guide.

"Wow, this looks like a pretty advanced town. Despite it looking a bit medieval, but why here of all places?" Holly asked, earning a grin from Blake.

"Because, we're in one of my favorite anime and one of the ones that introduced me into it. This is the world of Fairy Tail, the rowdiest guild in Fiore, this place is full of magic, adventure, awesome fights, not to mention cute girls. This place has it all! I always dreamed of coming here, and now that the travel curse has been lifted it's a dream come true!"

"Hehe, glad you are enjoying yourself. Now then, to make you all fit into the world a little more, allow me to give you all a gift!" Jessica said, snapping her fingers.

In a bright light, that caused a few people to look over, their outfits all changed, fitting more of the world style that they were going for. Blake was now wearing a sleeveless violet shirt, with a leather jacket over it that was left open, the lapels being white in color. It had a high collar which was folded down, a single sleeve had been ripped off, leaving his left arm completely bare. He was wearing a pair of brown pants, held up by a leather belt, and wore matching black boots. He noticed Excalibur had been strapped to his waist, and felt a lot more magic power coming from it. In fact, he felt a lot more magic within himself as well.

Hunter was now wearing a short sleeved green shirt, with a black vest over it, which had been buttoned up. He was wearing a pair of durable looking jeans, with a black belt around his waist. He was wearing a pair of leather boots, much like Blake's, only his had a few belts and buckles. Strapped across his back was a magic crossbow, which he had taken off to look at, his eyes scanning the sleek looking weapon.

Holly was wearing something completely different to her normal attire. She was wearing a light pink spaghetti strap shirt, which looked like it had been made of silk. She was wearing a brown corset over it, made of leather hide, and had golden embroidery and black stitching around it. It had crossing black cords on the front, which tied into a large light pink and black bow at the front. She also noticed ther the corset was pushing her breasts up a bit, making them look a lot bigger than they normally looked. She was wearing a pair of tight fitting white shorts, which had orange suspenders on them, but were left down instead of around her shoulders as they would be normally worn. She wore a pair of black thigh high stockings, along with her normal pair of heels. Her lengthy auburn hair had been pulled into a high ponytail, being kept up with a white ribbon, she also had a flower pin on her bangs, keeping them out of her eyes.

Finally, the last one who received a new outfit was Ashlynn Ella. The young princess had received a long sleeved blouse, which had the sleeves rolled up to the elbows, and had the top three buttons undone, showing a bit of her cleavage. She was wearing a light gray ruffled skirt, with two layers over it being rather frilly in style. She was wearing a pair of long dark blue tights, and had a pair of glass boots, which were glittering brightly in the sunlight. She wore two crossing belts around her waist, both of them having a dagger attached to them, the leather bound hilts bore blowing jewels on the pommels. She was wearing a pair of fingerless gloves on her hands, her fingernails having been painted a dark blue in color.

"There you go, you look FABULOUS!" the girl screamed, extremely proud of her work.

"Jessica, I can't walk around in this! Look at this, I'm wearing a corset, and its making my boobs look bigger!" Holly cried, gesturing to her chest.

"Oh honey, that isn't the corset, I gave you a bit of a bump. The girls in this world are usually seen as eye candy...just wanted you to fit the trend. You all look fine, trust me. Besides, you wanted to write a story right? In order to characterize your characters you need to get a feel for style, you don't want them running around in the buff do you?"

"In a sense you are right, but you gotta remember Jess, not everyone is as open as you. I think you should give Holly her normal boobs back." Blake said, crossing his arms, resting most of his weight on a single leg.

"No, it's fine...I think I'll keep them for now. I'm in a new world, its not like our friends are gonna see us."

"Hey, where's Cedar?" Hunter asked. As if on cue, their friend was walking away from a nearby trash can, a sickly look on her face.

"Ugh...I don't do well on trains." she said, rubbing her stomach.

"I totally forgot that...sorry Cece! Oh, I'll give you an outfit as well, since your sick, you get your pick. Anything you want." Jessica replied.

"Anything...well I did like my Spring Fairest outfit, can I get that?" she asked. The girl nodded, flicking her wand in her direction, in a shower of sparkles. Cedar's outfit changed to the one she had worn during the Spring Fairest, down to the colors in her hair. She looked really well, and it matched the rest of their style.

"Well...now that we are here, what are we gonna do?" Ashlynn asked.

"We're gonna take some quests and shit! But in order to do that, we gotta join a guild. By the way, I need to know what kind of magic you all want, this will be temporary of course. You'll be able to use any style of magic from this world while you are here."

"Sweet! That means I can be a dragon slayer...ugh but those are so over used, even in fanfiction. Hmm...I already use darkness magic, so maybe something based around that."

"Be more specific Blake, you and I know how extensive this world's magic is." Jessica said, earning a sigh from the boy.

"Fine, Shadow God Slayer magic, I've never seen that been done." he said. The girl nodded, flicking her wand in his direction. He felt himself grow a bit lighter as a new type of magic entered his body. He held his hand up, calling it forth, seeing a dark violet mist flowing from his hand, it had melded with the magic he had gotten from his mother perfectly.

"There you are, you should have spells already ingrained in your mind from that. But don't overdo it...now then, any suggestions for the others?" she asked, glancing at their friends.

"Oh, since Cedar is the daughter of Pinocchio, she should have Wood Make magic. It makes sense wouldn't you think?"

"Wood Make magic?" the girl asked curiously.

"It's a type of maker magic, basically if you put your fist into your hand like so. You can say Wood Make along with whatever you're thinking about and make it out of wood. You can make weapons, monsters, anything really." the boy explained.

"Sounds like fun, no lie I think I can dig that magic."

"One wood maker spell coming right up! What about you three?"

"Oh, I want glass magic...maybe I can attack people with glass shards!" Ashlynn said, making Blake cringe at the thought.

"Sure, I can do that...what about you Hunter?" Jessica asked.

"Well, I'm good with weapons...maybe a type of weapon magic?"

"Requip it is, Holly your the last one!" the girl said, turning her attention to the daughter of Rapunzel, who had her finger on her chin, lost in thought.

"What's a really cool magic that's rare, barely used but really awesome?"

"Um...Devil Slayer magic. I mean they've only used Ice Devil Slayer magic canonically, so there isn't any other type out there. Maybe fire or lightning would suit you." Blake said.

"I like the sound of that! Give me Fire Devil Slayer magic, and make my flames green!" the girl requested. Jessica nodded, once she had finished with Hunter's request, she turned her attention to Holly, giving her the desired magic she had asked for.

"Well then...all of you should know what to do...it's almost instinctual. But as soon as we leave this place, the charms will be broken. You can't take this type of magic with you, unless you really want too. I just don't want anything back to happen in Ever After, since we all live there and shit."

"Aw, you really do care about our world. That's probably why you haven't destroyed it yet right?" Ashlynn asked, earning a glare from the girl.

"I'm not a world destroyer! I just happen to be at the wrong place at the wrong time! Sheesh, let's go to Fairy Tail before they close for the day, and try not to spill anything about us being from Ever After. The last thing we need is people looking at us like we're fuckin aliens."

Blake shook his head, following after Jessica who had taken the lead. He looked around, barely holding his excitement, he and Holly were practically bursting at the seams. He had never thought he would actually be in Fiore, in the Fairy Tail world. It had always been his dream to visit this world and have a brawl with some of the mages from the rowdiest guild in Fiore. Although, he did remember that boy back at the train. He didn't look familiar at all, but he sensed a great deal of magic coming from him. He did notice the Fairy Tail emblem on his bicep, so he was definitely a member of the guild. Perhaps he was someone like him, from another world, or maybe Fiore took a different turn this time around, who knew? All he knew was that he was in for the adventure of a life time.


End file.
